Essay Example on Cultural Dilemma: Educating Employees to Deal With Culture Shock

Introduction

People find themselves in a cultural dilemma due to cultural differences when they go to a different country. The American culture is different from Chinese culture, so employees who work in the Royal Business Bank face challenges when interacting. The employees need to have culture concepts to be able to deal with the challenges that come with culture shock. The education is meant to help the employees deal with challenges that they face in the workplace as well as in everyday life.

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The education and training should be done on the host country which is America to help the American employees, and those from other nationalities cope with aspects of Chinese culture that may be affecting their performance. The training will also help the Chinese employees in America to adapt to a different culture. Among the challenges that the employees face include language barrier and culture shock. On the other hand, the organization faces the challenge of cultural identity, management of human resources. However, these can be effectively solved through strategies such as language training and education as well as cultural competency and exploration.

Management of employees across cultures requires unique expertise because the challenges faced by the employees in foreign countries are unique and different from the challenges that managers experience managing employees. The unique challenges experienced by the employees might make the company fall if they are not handled carefully. The managers should make the right decision when hiring employees that are going to represent the company in a foreign country. The employees will face the challenge of adapting to selling the company products to people that have different spending habits. The way the Americas spend on purchasing new items is entirely different from the way people from China spend their money.

CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

Communication Hurdle. Communication is a critical aspect for any company that aspires to succeed both locally and internationally (Lu, & Fan, 2017). In international business, this becomes a critical aspect because both the employees and the customers are from the different cultural background. In this case, if the management is not serious in dealing with this problem, they will not only end up losing customers, but the employees will also be unproductive. To solve the hurdle of the language barrier the bank should either make use of translating services or train employees on different languages (Brownlee, & Lee, 2017). There are trusted companies that offer interpretation and translation services to reputable organizations like Royal Business Bank. One of these agencies is KWintessential which is a leading agency for language needs. The former employees of Royal Bank have complained about the organization indicating that there is an element of racism. In the bank, Chinese employees are the majority, and they mainly converse in the Chinese language. This makes the American employees and their counterparts from other countries feel discriminated.

Culture Shock

The culture of the United States is different from that of China (Reynolds, 2017). This means that an employee of Chinese origin will take time before he/she learns and adapts to the United States culture. Relocating to a different country means that one has to learn the values, beliefs, languages as well as ideologies of the host country. This is however not as easy as it may sound because one is likely to keep a reference to his/her culture. Some of the employees from China and other countries may find it compelling to adapt to the strange environment. This is likely to affect their productivity for some time until they adjust to the distinctive culture. Since the company is Chinese American, it means that the issue of culture is real. If the Royal Bank human resource manager does not critically handle this issue, then the employees will be distracted for some time. This will be primarily caused by the difference in values and beliefs between the Chinese employees and their counterparts from the United States and other countries whose culture is different.

Workplace Etiquette

Proper etiquette in one country may not be a good one in another. This means that foreign employees, for example, may refer to a colleague or customer as Mr. /Miss while in America they refer to someone using the first name (Reynolds, 2017). In such an instance a client or colleague may find it offensive if addressed inappropriately. That is the reason why the Royal Bank managers need to train employees on the culture of America and what they find acceptable or not. This will help in avoiding cultural conflicts between people of the two diverse cultures. Training foreign employees on the basic cultural differences will help them work more productively. This is because it boosts the confidence of employees by ensuring that they are fully skilled on the job. The customers' satisfaction levels depend on the employees so if they are unable to meet the expectations of the host country's people; then they will not have a competitive advantage over other banks.

Ensuring that employees are culturally competent is an essential consideration for the bank now and in the future. This is because for its growth strategy the bank may in future open subsidiary branches in countries where the host country's culture is entirely different from that of China. The company has to employ people from different races; otherwise, they will be promoting racial discrimination. However, employing people from different cultures without offering necessary training can be catastrophic for the company due to the disparity in language, beliefs, and values.

Cross-cultural competency is vital in ensuring that the working environment is conducive for employees of all different cultures (Deresky, 2017). If utilized accordingly cultural diversity in a firm is beneficial as it provides a pool of ideas and solutions for a particular challenge. When employees are from diverse cultures, they will provide a hint on how the problem can be solved as it is applying their culture. Through this pool, the manager can choose the most applicable. This means that a culturally diverse firm is rich in ideas. This is however applicable only if the team members can work cohesively despite their cultural differences. Initially, there will be a conflict among the team members, but with time they will get along well and create mutual understanding. Well, there is a danger if the team members lack cross-cultural skills.

Cross-cultural competency enables team members to put themselves and their ideas in the perspective of other employees (Deresky, 2017). The views raised are culturally conscious to avoid conflicts that may arise when a team feels that their culture is being undermined. A culturally competent employee understands the beliefs, values, and assumptions that each group makes. Being culturally competent also means that employees can integrate different perspectives to come up with an amicable solution for a problem. When employees are trained on cross-cultural competency, they develop an ability to deal with conflicts that arise in the workplace effectively rather than react negatively. Cultural diversity creates a third opinion because when two or groups of people present their views, they will all be integrated to create a single solution that is acceptable to all.

Cultural Identity

Every organization has a culture that I different from that of other organizations. Organizational culture identity refers to the unique organization values, beliefs, and goals (Deresky, 2017). The culture is developed during the development process of the organization and is to be strictly followed by all workers. It is believed that there is a link between culture and organization performance. The organization has to incorporate different cultures to create a culture that takes care of all distinct cultural differences.

Royal Business bank should ensure that both the managers and employees promote the culture of the organization culture. The performance of the organization depends on its culture (Deresky, 2017). In this case, where employees of the organization are from different cultures the manager has to ensure these cultures are unified into one to increase the performance. A strong, unified culture increases productivity because it gives employees a reason to work and increases their satisfaction towards work. This unified culture requires the effort of management. Employees have to be fully aware of the organizational culture so that they can work towards it. Otherwise, there will be a conflict because each will do what he/he thinks is best.

Human Resources

Cross-cultural education depends on the competency of human resource management (Deresky, 2017). When a firm is in a foreign country, the human resource management is faced with a challenge of ensuring they employ personnel from different countries with different cultures. Royal Bank is a Chinese American firm, so it is expected that the majority of the employees are Chinese. They also have American employees because they cannot have a company where all employees are from one race. This would be catastrophic and would affect the bank's performance because racial discrimination is a very sensitive issue. No one would want to do business with a company that promotes racism. Bearing in mind that the bank is located in America it means that if the consumers realize that the company fosters racism, they will not want to obtain banking services from them. On the other hand, they cannot entirely employ the people from the host country and fail to give employment to the Chinese citizens. This would cause a catastrophic ethical dilemma.

This is the reason why the bank has decided to employ people of diverse cultures and deal with the challenges that come with it later. This is achievable through various education and training strategies that should be incorporated both during hiring as well as hiring. Every employee should work towards the achievement of the organization's goals and objectives regardless of their cultural differences. Training is also aimed at helping the employees learn about different cultures and how they should incorporate them all to boost mutual understanding.

STRATEGIES OF OVERCOMING THE CULTURAL DIVERSITY BARRIERS

Translation and Interpretation

When employees are from different countries conflict arises both among the employees and between the employees and the client. The former cannot be dealt through translating services, but the later can be handled by hiring reputable translation services. The official language in America is English while Chinese communicate in their local language. What this means is that if the Chinese cannot communicate in English, then there will be a language barrier between them and the clients. If they cannot understand each other, it means that the quality of the services provided will be poor. The management should, therefore, ensure that they always have a professional who can help when such a challenge arises. Companies such as Kwintessential provide such services at an international level.

Language Training and Education

Effective communication is essential in international business (Gurchiek, 2017). Through language training and education, employees learn each other's language thereby easing communication when performing tasks. Foreign language training is not only beneficial for the organization but also employees' personal growth. An employee who can communicate in both native and non-native languages can work anywhere around the globe.