Introduction
The past few decades have witnessed an exponential growth in the number of companies operating across borders. The workforce has thus become more diverse as there is not only exchange of goods and funds, but most importantly transfer of talent, i.e. human capital. In order to gain and maintain the edge over competitors, multinational enterprises (MNEs) are hiring experts from all over the world to work either in global virtue teams or to be assigned in other countries. These experts from diverse cultural backgrounds each bring to the table a different set of cultural values, and depending on the cultural distance, this may result in cultural clash and expatriate or sojourners maladjustment in their host culture, which is detrimental …show more content…
This paper examines cultural diversity and its corollaries through the case of a European family moving to Malaysia. In fact, Sasha is a high-profile German executive with an impressive resume; however, she does not seem to be doing well in her new host country, which is taking a toll on her psychological well-being and makes her doubt herself as a mother. Andrea, the husband, is an Italian Organizational Psychologist who also had a job opportunity in Malaysia. Unlike Sasha he was able to gain the cooperation of his work team and is balancing his work and family responsibilities rather well. What could explain Sasha’s misfit in Malaysia while she has been so successful in other nations? What could happen if the situation is left unaddressed and how can the issue be resolved so that the entire family can have a meaningful and productive experience in their new host culture? We can get a better understanding of this issue by comparing and contrasting the three cultures in question in relation to the …show more content…
146) as “…values, attitudes, meanings (attributed to language), beliefs, and ways of acting and interacting that are learned and shared by a group of people over a period of history and are often taken for granted as reality by those within the ‘said’ culture.” Three different cultures are in light in this study: Germany, Italia, and Malaysia. Contrasting these three cultures based on Hofstede’s dimensions of individualism/collectivism, power distance and Schwartz’s (2011) cultural values will shed the light on the effects of deep-level cultural differences that gradually appear as people from different cultural background work together (Van Vianen et al., 2004). Let’s mention however that individuals within a culture differ in the extent to which they share similar value priorities, so we are focusing on the salient cultural values in this study.
1.1. Collectivism/embeddedness vs. Individualism/autonomy
Malaysia is a highly collectivistic country where self-transcendence is highly valued; Malays are interdependent and the group’s welfare takes precedence over that of the individual. In a work context, belonging to a team as well as being accepted by the referent group take precedence over individual work. On the other hand, Germany (67) and Italy (76) are highly individualistic cultures where individuals define themselves in terms of “I”. Individual self-interest prevails over that of the group;
The past few decades have witnessed an exponential growth in the number of companies operating across borders. The workforce has thus become more diverse as there is not only exchange of goods and funds, but most importantly transfer of talent, i.e. human capital. In order to gain and maintain the edge over competitors, multinational enterprises (MNEs) are hiring experts from all over the world to work either in global virtue teams or to be assigned in other countries. These experts from diverse cultural backgrounds each bring to the table a different set of cultural values, and depending on the cultural distance, this may result in cultural clash and expatriate or sojourners maladjustment in their host culture, which is detrimental …show more content…
This paper examines cultural diversity and its corollaries through the case of a European family moving to Malaysia. In fact, Sasha is a high-profile German executive with an impressive resume; however, she does not seem to be doing well in her new host country, which is taking a toll on her psychological well-being and makes her doubt herself as a mother. Andrea, the husband, is an Italian Organizational Psychologist who also had a job opportunity in Malaysia. Unlike Sasha he was able to gain the cooperation of his work team and is balancing his work and family responsibilities rather well. What could explain Sasha’s misfit in Malaysia while she has been so successful in other nations? What could happen if the situation is left unaddressed and how can the issue be resolved so that the entire family can have a meaningful and productive experience in their new host culture? We can get a better understanding of this issue by comparing and contrasting the three cultures in question in relation to the …show more content…
146) as “…values, attitudes, meanings (attributed to language), beliefs, and ways of acting and interacting that are learned and shared by a group of people over a period of history and are often taken for granted as reality by those within the ‘said’ culture.” Three different cultures are in light in this study: Germany, Italia, and Malaysia. Contrasting these three cultures based on Hofstede’s dimensions of individualism/collectivism, power distance and Schwartz’s (2011) cultural values will shed the light on the effects of deep-level cultural differences that gradually appear as people from different cultural background work together (Van Vianen et al., 2004). Let’s mention however that individuals within a culture differ in the extent to which they share similar value priorities, so we are focusing on the salient cultural values in this study.
1.1. Collectivism/embeddedness vs. Individualism/autonomy
Malaysia is a highly collectivistic country where self-transcendence is highly valued; Malays are interdependent and the group’s welfare takes precedence over that of the individual. In a work context, belonging to a team as well as being accepted by the referent group take precedence over individual work. On the other hand, Germany (67) and Italy (76) are highly individualistic cultures where individuals define themselves in terms of “I”. Individual self-interest prevails over that of the group;