Publisher's Synopsis
Culture is the way of life of a group of people, which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, customs, and other capabilities and habits acquired by them as members of a particular society. The global integration and interaction in business, governance and shared international problems involve different cultures, thereby creating high levels of cultural diversity in workplaces, in interactions, and around negotiation tables. The global environments entail that those individuals from different races and cultures; with different values, expectations and perspectives work together to achieve common goals or resolve common problems. Some major cultural constraints, therefore confront these individuals and organizations as they operate overseas. These constraints arise from the unfamiliar factors and problems that are associated with the international environments and value systems. The first constraint is the cultural diversity of the international environments and the effects such have on the ways people work in and manage companies and organizations. The second constraint is the ethical issues related to dealing with different values and ethical standards. The problems posed by these cultural differences are reduced by the awareness of the differences in cultural values and beliefs, verbal and nonverbal communication patterns, and approaches to decision making and conflict resolution. This book, therefore, examines the cultural issues involved in working or serving abroad and makes recommendations to help private, public, international and government nonprofit organizations achieve the desired goal of improved management and productivity by their officials who serve abroad.
