Chapter 4 Notes

INBU 4300: International Business and Management Exam 1 Short Answer Notes CHAPTER 4 Cultural Invisibility Few managers see culture, or even consider it to be significant in day to day operations of a organization Globalized organizations are beyond nationality - False 2/3 saw no impact what so ever; Cultural Blindness Diversity does exist and affect the ways in which we operate within organizations People label managers who see differences as prejudice, racist, sexist, ethnocentric, unprofessional This encourages managers to blind themselves from diversity, choosing not to see differences People often inaccurately perceived as the same (projected similarity) Diversity Causes Problems People rarely believe that cultural diversity benefits business organizations Increases complexity and difficulty in developing company wide policies Hard to reach a single agreement Potential Advantages Divergent processes Enhanced creativity, problem solving skills, improved perspectives with multi-national clients, and enhanced understanding of the dynamics of communication patterns Avoids groupthink: if a group thinks something is right, more likely to agree with the members of the group (the majority), not see what is wrong with the situation Manage the impacts of cultural diversity rather than manage diversity itself