Leading and managing diversity in a cross-cultural workforce in Chinese investment organisations in KwaZulu-Natal.
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Date
2011
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Abstract
At present we are living in a global market economy. As a result, international business and
cooperation between two or more counties is a growing phenomenon. Global business
managers and leaders are challenged to broaden their minds to create new methods of leading
and managing what has become an increasingly diverse and cross-cultural workforce. This
workforce will bring with it both advantages and disadvantages to global organisations. In
general, the global leaders and managers will face the challenge of how to cope with workers
from diverse cultures, whilst at the same time respecting the needs of workers from their own
culture. There is also the problem of dealing not only with the workforce, but also with
partners, competitors and customers from diverse cultural backgrounds. In global organisations
the biggest challenge is how to effectively organize, lead, manage and monitor diversity in a
cross-cultural workforce. More and more leaders and top managers are becoming aware of the
importance of learning about various cultures, different languages, cross-cultural
communication and negotiation skills in a global context.
The global business environment influences the development of Chinese businesses; more
and more Chinese companies are exploring foreign markets, and in recent years many Chinese
investment organisations have invested in and are thriving in the South African market. Most
of these are operating in the clothing or textile companies. Starting up a business in a foreign
country is a difficult task for any manager or leader. They face many barriers including having
to cope with different languages and with differences in culture, politics and social
environments. This is especially true of the situation in South Africa, as South Africa is a richly
multi-cultural country with many cultures and subcultures that observe different religions, that
use different languages and that display different habits. This study will investigate how
Chinese managers and leaders can be led to a better understanding of these differences so that
they can formulate new organisational cultures that maximize their companies’ success in a
global environment.
In these case studies the sample selected will be the Chinese clothing and textile industries
in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). Although the leaders and managers of Chinese investment
organisations in KZN have attempted to increase their awareness of the local management
culture and have tried to learn more about local political, social and economic structures, they
still have not placed sufficient emphasis on language training and cross-cultural knowledge
acquisition. Despite the fact that they already have basic language, communication and
negotiation skills with which to deal in some measure with a cross-cultural workforce, this
study shows that Chinese managers and leaders have to further improve their understanding
and their communication skills.
Description
Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.
Keywords
Diversity in the workplace--Management., Cultural pluralism--KwaZulu-Natal., Management--Cross-cultural studies., Multiculturalism--KwaZulu-Natal., Theses--Business administration.