What Are the Cross Cultural Issues in Hrd and How Do You Manage Such Issues?

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Let's first define culture as the way in which each of us is programmed to behave in the environment. Cultures are like icebergs; some features are apparent to anyone not in a fog, while others are deeply hidden. Above-the-surface features include overt behaviours: how people - dress, eat, walk, talk, relate to one another, conduct themselves during public ceremonies such as weddings or funerals. Also included are such things as social distance. Other aspects are so far below the surface that they are hard to recognize. We may see evidence of these aspects, but we usually can't pinpoint them precisely and usually don't have a clue where they came from. They are hard to define even for our own culture because we take them in with our mother's language. This might include such things as: • how we encode and retrieve information • What is justice? • Music? • Proper parenting? • Beauty or ugliness? • What meaning is attached to "teaching" stories? • What does being well educated mean? • What constitutes status? And so on the list is endless. Cross-cultural issues also arise at the organizational level, because companies in different countries organize their daily business differently. Some of the most noticeable differences include the: • Relative hierarchy of departments. The relative power of the various departments within a corporation is often a function of the country where the corporation has its headquarters. • Way information is shared and distributed. The way information moves within a company varies significantly from country to country. • Hiring process. Cross-cultural differences are fairly significant in this area. More importantly, there are significant differences in the types of skills that companies in different countries look for in candidates. Cross cultural differences, can negatively impact upon a relocation assignment

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