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To Recognize Cultural Diversity that Influences Knowledge

Sharing in an Organization

RAJ MAHAM Iqra University, Islamabad, Pakistan

Email: [email protected]

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of cultural diversity on the business communications i.e., knowledge

sharing and working relations. Workforce that is sensitive to multicultural aspects of an organization is

now essential for knowledge sharing. In today’s world, a diverse work force is required in international

and multinational organizations, which cannot rely on just limited managers and experts with multicultural

knowledge and skills. Managing diversity in an organization is a challenge to succeed in the business

word. The researcher collected the data from the different organization s in Islamabad and used data

analysis to provide recommendations and finalize conclusion.

Key Words: Cultural Diversity; Knowledge Sharing; Working Relations.

Background

The importance of cultural differences and diversity has an impact on the workforce in an increasing

globalized business world. Multinational companies (MNCs), for example IBM, do not necessarily receive

the bulk volume of income and earnings from their home country but from foreign countries due to cost

incentives and as part of a globalization strategy.

While the globalization approach impacts the workforce, the latter’s portability and movements affect

working relations due to the adjustments requirement by the migrating group. Due to the adjustment

challenges, workers in Europe are less likely to move in anticipation of job and career opportunities

compared to workers in America. This means that the opportunity cost of migration in Europe is greater

than in America. This further reflects that corporate culture dynamics have less influence compared to

national cultures in Europe.

There is a great need in understanding cultural differences and diversity in the workplace that effects the

business communication as it is an obvious fact because most societies are literally multicultural, and many

organizations and individuals collect and pool their resources to break geographic and cultural limits.

Introduction

Within the organization managers are dealing with numerous cultural groups and different cultural

backgrounds. Due to globalization, one is likely to work with Irani, American , French, Indian, Chinese,

and all sorts of other different cultures. As cultural differences cause problems in understanding and

interpreting what other individual is doing. It is very important factor to distinguish the people from

diverse cultures and backgrounds as they have different ways of dressing, expressing personality, and

dissimilar ways of perceptions.

Cultures can be varying in different dimensions, as explained below:

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Low context culture in which things are open, clear, explicit, and depends on actually meaning of what is

said and written. A high context culture in which communication assumes as commonality of knowledge

and views.

In Polychromic cultures people like to do multiple things while it is reverse in Monochronic cultures where

people like to perform one task at a time in a specific order and they are very particular about time and

exact place for everything as they do not believe in interruptions. Well Past-oriented cultures are based on

traditional values and pattern of doing things as they believe in old management style and Present-oriented

cultures prefers the short-term goals while Future-oriented societies are more interested in long term

benefits.

Time is taken as a restricted resource in some societies which is being used up. They think that time is

running like water running from a drain to be used before its runs down the drain or it's wasted. However,

other societies think that restricting time would simply result in an over flow and spillover effect.

In some cultures people believe in the power that got all the authority and powers is considered to be the

boss and this structure many aspects of life. The boss always true as after all, he is the boss and what he

does is correct (Geert Hofstede).

In individualist societies, individual character, personality, uniqueness and self-determination are valued.

People get appreciated if he/she are a self-made or have their own rational thinking and identity.

Collectivist societies expect people do well in groups (Geert Hofstede).

Objective of the Research

My objective is to recommend ways to incorporate the understanding of what can be the impact of cultural

differences in the sharing of knowledge and also support more discussion about cultural diversity and

differences that impact on communication and also discuss that why is it important to have the knowledge

of others culture to do business effectively and efficiently in this world of innovation. The environment of

organization where diversity is high has a good working relationship or not. My study is restricted to

organizations of Islamabad; I am working on the subcultures working in the different organization of

Islamabad.

My study has taken into account the business practices in the contemporary world that includes

multicultural communication, negotiation, management and other business practices. These challenges are

complicated due to the cultural variations, diversity and their effects on business communications,

relationship and doing business in the twenty first century.

Rationale of the study

The rationale of the paper is to review the cultural diversity literature and aim to investigate research results

on the effects of cultural diversity on knowledge sharing and at the same to determine whether an

organization where diversity is high has good working relationships. The study is conducted in the private

organizations of Islamabad. This changing arena realizing differences and diversity lead to new

dimensions and promising school of thought on how to manage human resource and organizations for

effective and efficient performance in today’s globally competitive business environment. The researcher

tries to figure out different management techniques and application to deal with the challenges and

opportunities by a diverse cultural business environment.

Literature Review

Due to globalization and spreading of the technologies all over the world it has created the shortage of

skilled workforce . One of the unintended consequences of the shortage has been the increased cultural

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diversity of the workforce. Diversification of the workforce provides companies with access to different

ideas, skills, and it enhances the companies’ competitive edge (Elmuti, 2001). However, management has

to provide mechanisms and adjust structural arrangement in order to reap the benefits that accompany

diversified workforce.

In both global and organizational contexts, one of the principal responsibilities of the manager of a project

team is to generate interpretations and solutions to problems through the exploration of diverse views and

opinions. The broader the collective perspective of a project team is, the more likely the group will generate

a wide variety of potential solutions to a problem. One may assume that, given that members of different

cultures have different kinds of frames of reference, a team composed of members from different cultural

backgrounds would be interested in knowing the way of solving problems and sharing knowledge. On the

other hand, cultural diversity may impede the sharing of knowledge, as there is a lack of personal

compatibility and common language.

Companies with a diverse, multicultural workforce tend to rely on workshops to develop knowledge

management skills among people from different backgrounds. These training sessions may emphasize ways

to shorten the amount of time it takes to solve problems and explore alternative courses of action. However,

these sessions usually lack a very important component, which is focusing on building mechanisms for

knowledge sharing. Without these mechanisms, the work of the team will not reach adequate levels of

performance that have a substantial impact on the effectiveness of the organization. In order for both to

take advantage of a diverse workforce, and to allow employees to perform at their full capacities, managers

should promote a cultural environment that is responsive to the employees’ specific cultural needs (Elmuti,

2001). Organizations need to put in place multicultural communications tools to overcome language and

cultural barriers.

Effective management of a firm’s knowledge assets is an essential factor to achieve a sustainable

competitive advantage in today’s market (Drucker, 2001). A firm’s knowledge encompasses a mix of

framed experience, values, contextual information and expert insight that makes possible the incorporation

of new experiences and information (Davenport & Prusak, 1998). According to Watad in 2002, knowledge

about the skills which are needed to boost organizational effectiveness through innovation and flexible

Knowledge Management infrastructure. Knowledge sharing that really helps in organizational learning

(Ford & Chan, 2003) and the development of new skills that certainly leads to organizational innovation.

Knowledge sharing is the process of transmitting knowledge within the firm, as different cultures are

working within the organization that can affect the process (Ford & Chan, 2003). Different things which

are critical to effective knowledge sharing are trust, common languages and beliefs (Simonin, 1999).

Knowledge sharing within mixed cultural groups become difficult, as requiring more time and effort than

in homogeneous cultural groups (Ford & Chan, 2003).The “identity-group affiliations” concept (as

discussed by Thomas and Bendixen, 2000) can be problematic when one looks at the variety of sub-

cultures existing within the corporate culture. Thomas and Bendixen (2000) make a valuable prediction that

“the challenge facing South Africa today is for managers to harness the richness of the many ethnic groups

so as to enhance productivity and facilitate global competitiveness. This demands an understanding of

ethnic values and how they impact on global competitiveness”. This statement is also very valid from a

knowledge-management perspective. One should never lose sight of the fact that companies exist to make

money.

Global trade is a big game in today's world of business. Understanding cultural differences and diverse

workforce relating issues can mean winning or losing the deal at the very first meeting. That can create a

huge impact on your status and the way your business is viewed by the others. Knowledge of traditional

culture is often focused on the symptoms rather than causes (Varmer, 2001). For example, Enron lost a

major contract in India because both parties recognized the symptoms; i.e. Enron pushing things up to save

time and money, and the Indian authorities wanting to take their time to gain trust and confidence in the

business process; but did not realized the causes for each other’s opposing strategies. Hence cultural

differences and its causes pay an important role in international negotiations (Jeswald W. Salacuse).

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Working Teams with mixed and diverse abilities are more fruitful (Owan Hideo ,Nickerson, Barton H,

Hamilton, Barton H and Jackson A). As Diversity that helps the organization in competing with the

foreign markets (Hershey H. Friedman). The people in technological places are drawn to places known for

diversity of ideas and liberalism (Florida, Richard and Gary Gates (2001). Organizations need fresh and

varied ideas to flourish and guarantee a balanced flow of ideas is as identical workforce is not usually

produce creative solutions and ideas to solve the issues faced by a business world (Hershey H. Friedman).

Work force and cultural diversity can tremendously beneficial in improving morale, critical thinking,

process skills and greater teams and understanding environment. The diversity is increasing vary rapidly in

today’s world as all the multinational are booming because of diversity we have certain limits and delimits

of cultural diversity like skills, knowledge. Understanding of cultures are enhanced while some problem

like conflicts, misunderstanding can occur etc (Sonal pathak (2011).

In addition to knowledge, the ethical behavior of employees plays a greater role in international business

since it is different from normal cultural uniformity observed in national organizations (Mahdavi, 2001).

Since knowledge is not enough to present feasible guidelines on ethical behavior for employees involved in

international business and communications, legislations such as The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977

and Sarbane Oxley Act of 2002 serve as a guiding reference. However, to improve knowledge and concepts

from an academic point of view, the culture-based consequentiality model is one of the reference points

used to describe how differences in culture influence the ethical behavior of employees making decision

involving ethical factors (Robertson and Fadil, 1999: 385-392).

Culture differences based on varying perceptions, beliefs, norms, customs and behaviors often lead to

miscommunication underlining the need for awareness raising of other cultures and sensitization to these

differences to counter the possibility of misunderstandings and conflicts in international communications

(Guijum Zhang).

Appoorva Bharadwaj highlights the following factors that affect business communication: the role of

individual, approach towards formality and status, attitude towards uncertainty, attitude towards time, role

of hierarchy, role of gender, choice of communication channels, and degree of formality.

Cultural diversities affecting business communication may not only occur in international business but also

in national business as sub-cultures within a country lead to cultural differences. This is evident in the

American culture which is a mix of several cultures migrating into North American and having their

respective roots in original cultures (Triandic, McCusker, and Hui, 1990). While the Asians, African and

Hispanic cultures in America have roots that encourage collectivism, Caucasian culture has roots in Europe

that promote individualism (Hofstede, 1980, Inkeles, 1983). Studies have shown that Individualist Vs

Collective approaches have an effect on working relationships and performance. Early (1993) assessed the

difference in performance between 163 managers from China and Israel (Collective Approach) and

American (Individual Approach) and found out that Chinese and Israeli managers work better in a group

while American managers work better alone. Further supporting this finding, Perkins (1993) found that

perception about organizational structure in terms of horizontal, flat and matrix also depend on the culture.

Therefore, managing diversity is not only about recognizing cultural differences in people but also a

management challenge (Vaughn, Billy 2006). Ensuring smooth communication across a cross-cultural

organization is part of the challenge. Judi Brownell, in her article “Developing Receiver-Centered

Communication in Diverse Organizations” states that two individuals may never perceive the same

message the same way. This stresses the need for communicators to be precise (Brownell, Judi 2003). The

communicator requires three skills for effective communication in a culturally diverse organization: self

monitoring, empathy and strategic decision making (Brownell, Judi 2003).

In addition to communication, cultural bias is another challenge for the management to overcome. This

includes prejudice and discrimination. While prejudice is a negative attitude, discrimination is an adverse

behavior towards an employee of an organization because of her or her cultural background (Cox, Jr.,

Tayloer 1991).

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The management also has to be cautious of assimilation that can result in a negative impact for the

organization. In assimilation, the individual is forced to adopt the culture of the dominant group and

repress his or her own original identify leading to fatigue and tension in that individual that adversely

affects his or her performance and hence the organization’s running (Fine, Marlene G). While nonverbal

communications may be consistent across cultures, such as emotions of happiness or sorrow, the variation

occurs in the expression of such feelings (Michelle LeBaron).

For an effective harmonization of various activities in business, the understanding of cultural diversity

should go into the designs of especially corporate structure. This stress on a cultural awareness in order to

achieve successful managers(Geert Hofstede 1989).

Conceptual Frame Work

Cultural Diversity

Cultural diversity in pakistan comprises numerous diverse cultures and ethnic groups: the Punjabis,

Kashmiris, Sindhis in east, Muhajirs, Makrani in the south; Baloch and Pashtun in the west; and the ancient

Dardic, Wakhi, and Burusho communities in the north.

Knowledge Sharing

To congregate knowledge from various local or non local markets, individuals have experience from a

number of different countries were intentionally recruited as knowledge of different cultural helps in

achieving a better understanding of local costumers and their different ideas of a product and different

nationalities in the department was of a more general nature. Mixed nationalities are preferred to avoid

groupings based on cultural and linguistic affiliation, brining communication even at the more professional

level. Top management also wanted to have diversity in terms of education the valuing of variety in

nationality led to the common argument that prejudices did not exist in International business.

Working Relations

As different ethnic background is working can effects the working relations they have, language issues had

a certain impact on interaction. The members of the International business have to communicate across

linguistic margins. Though, Language exhibited by all employees, using English as lingua. As a part of

diversity management strategy, management knows importance of social interaction for the sharing of

knowledge, social arrangements were initiated. Organization attempts to become culturally diverse and

bring up a common culture, the local culture is very important for influencing the daily working practices.

Sample

The sample is taken from the private organization of Islamabad, the study is concluded on the basis of 30

private organization from each bank 1 employee are given questionnaires in total the sample size is 30

employees each from different organization.

Cultural

Diversity

Working

Relations

Knowledge

Sharing

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Results

Descriptiv e Statistics

30 34 76 50.37 10.617

30 0 10 4.17 2.335

30 3 18 6.57 3.002

30 6 30 14.17 5.559

30 5 22 10.33 3.594

30 0 38 14.93 8.505

30 2 5 3.53 .937

30 1 5 2.97 .928

30 1 5 3.07 1.311

30 2 5 3.80 .847

30 1 6 3.73 1.230

30 1 5 2.37 1.189

30 1 5 3.67 1.155

30 1 5 3.67 1.213

30 1 5 3.70 1.149

30 1 5 3.20 1.375

30 1 5 3.87 1.167

30 1 5 3.07 1.230

30 1 5 3.33 .922

30

Frequency dis tribution of

with respect to number of

employees

Frequency dis tribution

with respect to number of

workers from baluchi

culture in your

organization

Frequency dis tribution

with respect to number of

workers from sindhi

culture in your

organization

Frequency dis tribution

with respect to number of

workers from punjabi

culture in your

organization

Frequency dis tribution

with respect to number of

workers from pukhtoon

culture in your

organization

Frequency dis tribution

with respect to number of

workers from urdu culture

in your organization

Frequency dis tribution

with respect to number of

workers from international

culture in your

organization

Frequency dis tribution

with respect to workers

diversity making

environment condusive

for working

Frequency dis tribution

with respect to smooth

communication when

dealing with other culture

in an organization

Frequency dis tribution

with respect to problems

occurance in a diverse

workforce

Frequency dis tribution

with respect to employees

having low moral do to

cultural difference

Frequency dis tribution

with respect to

satisfac tion with diversity

management team

Frequency dis tribution

with respect to language

barrier when transfering

knowledge from one

culture to another

Frequency dis tribution

with respect to hesitation

while dealing with another

culture

Frequency dis tribution

with respect to occurance

of miscommunication due

to difference in cultures

Fequency distribution with

respect to low moral and

cultural difference

Frequency dis ribution with

respect to cultural

diversity effec ting team

spiri t

Frequency dis ribution with

respect to diverse work

environment having

problem of cultural bias

Frequency dis ribution with

respect to decline

individual productivity

Valid N (l istwise)

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

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Conclusion and Recommendation

The challenge is effective knowledge sharing to ensure smooth working relationships. Managers must not

only have knowledge on cultural differences within the organization and while working with other

organizations, but must also know the causes of such variations across difference cultures. Managers

should show high standards of ethical behavior and respect towards other cultures. A failure to do so would

lead to miscommunication, misunderstanding, conflict and failure in knowledge transfer between and

within organizations. Managers must also be sensitive to the cultural backgrounds that dictate whether the

employee uses an individual approach towards work and works better individually or whether the

employees uses a collective approach towards work and works better in a group. The cultural background

also dictates the level of comfort for an employee regarding various organizational cultures and would

assist the manager in placing the employee accordingly. The manager must also be aware of importance of

exact knowledge to be shared and negative impact of cultural bias and assimilation in organizations.

Management should promote knowledge sharing along formal structures that exhibit a formal reward

system and incentives. A commonly used practice entails moving from rewarding individuals to rewarding

groups, or devising incentives that promote sharing at both the

Limitations and Future Directions

The study is conducted on the organization of Islamabad only. The literature review has been limited in

accordance with the time and resources provided for this study. The researcher advises that further research

to remove the adverse effects of cultural diversity within and between organizations around the world.

References

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Appendix-A

Questionnaire

1. Name of organization.

2. Number of employees.

3. How many worker from balochi speaking working in your organization

4. How many worker from sindhi speaking working in your organization.

5. How many workers from pujabi speaking working in your organization.

6. How many workers from urdu speaking working in your organization.

7. How many workers from international culture in your organization.

8. Diversity makes an environment conducive for workers.

9. How much smooth is the communication when dealing with other culture in an organization?

10. How often problems occur in a diverse workforce.

11. How much you satisfied with the diversity management team.

12. To what extent language is a barrier when knowledge is transfer from one culture to another.

13. How much you hesitate when dealing with another culture?

14. How often miscommunication occur due to difference in cultures.

15. How much you think that management successfully Implemented diversity in the workplace

policies

16. Do you feel due to this cultural difference employee have low morale

17. Does cultural diversity effects the team spirit.

18. Does your organization provide you to deal with cultural diversity?

19. How much you think your diverse work environments has the problem of cultural bias.

20. Do you think productivity to go down as individual productivity suffers?

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