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Importance of Cross Cultural Management

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INTRODUCTION The increasing level of globalization within services industries has brought many challenges – including how to manage a culturally diverse workforce. Managing a multicultural workforce, either within a business unit or within a global corporation can be a challenging task for managers. For individuals, understanding the complexity of cultural diversity is a life-long learning task that is relevant to the world of work, the community and in global contexts.
It is therefore important that students within subject areas of tourism and hospitality are able to get wider understanding of the relationship between social and cultural theory (cultural difference, ethnicity, nationalism, cultural identity, cultural taboos, cultural shock, cultures colliding, equality and diversity) and create opportunities where these theories can be effectively applied to practice. Cultural diversity education in the curriculum plays a pivotal role in systematically enabling students (indigenous and international) to develop cultural diversity competencies and skills.

The following are the reasons why the study of cross-cultural management is important: Globalization of services and production and the increasing diversity of domestic workforces mean that few organizations or individuals at work can afford to ignore culture difference. People are not homogeneous and individual differences are the basis of diversity. One must understand the cultures involved for the organization to run as proficiently and efficiently as possible The need for understanding different cultures is necessary as Cultures have their own way of interpreting things and what is good for one may be bad for others. And what is believed to be an essential for one group may not be necessary for others. Hence with this diversity an organization has to understand and adapt sensitively to different

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