Essay incultural management

ESSAY INTERCULTURAL MANAGEMENT

It has been a well-known fact that companies must deal with the differences of cultures when it comes to management. With the development of an increasing open world driven by technology & Internet, companies have been dealing with a change in their staff that became more diversified with some factors such as the brain drain that became more common in different aspects of our world economy. In fact, since the 2000’s, the migration of people from a country to another has been more and more constant because of people that wanted to leave their country in search of opportunities and with countries that have been seeking for qualified workers coming from elsewhere. Depending on where we put ourselves, the individual freedom can represent a loss for some poor countries and a win for the most-industrialized ones. So, for now on, people in companies must deal with other people that came from elsewhere and understand them to be able to work efficiently. This phenom is not only a person-related subject but can also be extended between two companies from different countries. Indeed, cultural understanding is key when it comes to negotiation & communication. A Senegalese company will not act the same as a Chinese company when it comes to management. A Chinese company that wants to implement their products in another country, must compare the different cultural dimensions and point out what are the similarities and differences. Dr Geert Hofstede has been working for years to understand the cultural factors in a country when it comes to management. There are 6 cultural dimensions found by Hofstede which are Power distance, Individualism vs Collectivism, Masculinity Vs Femininity, Uncertainty avoidance, long term vs short term avoidance and indulgence vs restraint. Those cultural dimensions have been created in order to a support to help understand how a culture acts in their daily lives and their business. In this essay, we will focus our thinking on Senegal, and we choose to discuss two distinct cultural dimensions that are Power distance and Masculinity Vs Femininity. We will describe each of them dimensions and establish their relevance.

Senegal is an African country located at Africa’s westernmost point. This country is typically located in West Africa and surrounded by Mauritania, Mali, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Senegal has a population over 15 million and the capital city is Dakar with over 3 million of inhabitants. The capital is one of the smallest cities in the country but a lot of people from more precarious cities came to Dakar seeking for chances to get a job. After gaining independence from France in 1960, Senegal has been one of the most stable democracies. Despite having a clear gap between the rich and the poor, Senegal has always been a country willing to develop a strong growth in order to decrease the inequalities in the country. Senegal is a country acting in a full emerging process, especially with the discovery of oil in its soil which can help increase the wealth in the population and make Senegal, one of the producers and exporters of oil in the world. When reviewing the case of Senegal within the dimensions found by Hofstede, we can observe that one of them has a pretty high score compared to the other ones.

Power distance is generally very high in countries in Asia or Africa and Senegal is no exception obtaining a score of 70 when it comes to Power distance by Hofstede's standards that are the acceptance of the hierarchy by the people from the community  that applies unquestioningly in their daily lives. The notion of respect is very important in Senegal and it encompasses several aspects of the Senegalese society such as work and family. The society is driven by principles that certify that everyone has a defined role and out pass them can be considered as a felony to the society. An employee and its superior have the same kind of relation than a dad and his son. There is this notion of respect that has a huge role in relationships and is part of the culture. Generally, an employee will always going to have someone much older than him as his superior, which means someone with more experience and more background. This gap between their experience in the work is what makes the superior legitimate in his spot. Respect for the elderly is also a factor to be considered because it is considered as a sacred tradition in Senegal. In a Senegalese company, an employee must talk to his superiors with respect and he is dependent on its superiors which are the only ones capable to give him work. In a Senegalese company. It can be difficult for a young employee to speak their voices and generally promotions are earned and not given. It can happen that employees’ answers to their superiors by their surnames because managers and employees have shared something special that creates more personal bonds, but it doesn’t change the fact that the respect for the elderly must be given and demonstrated. The company is personified by the CEO, he is the one people of the company answers to. He is considered as the supreme authority.

        On the other hand, Senegal scores 45 when it comes to masculinity, which means that Senegal is considered as a country with a feminine way of society where people tend to look for consensus in disagreement and when equality and solidarity values are highly perceived. Conflicts are resolved peacefully with compromise. Some elements are real and can justify this review such the fact that most of the political conflicts in Senegal have concluded with peace. In fact, Senegal has known several transfers of power that have always been made peacefully, unlike other countries such as Ivory Coast. Last elections in Senegal were quite troublesome but at the end, the former president, Macky Sall easily won re-election and his opponents that have been adopting a pretty brutal campaign against him, certified that they wouldn’t contest the results, which could have been a possibility in another African country where political atmosphere is more tense. Thus, I would rather say that Senegal has more a masculine culture because of the value of paternalism that has always existed in this country. Indeed, people are willing to go to work to help their families through poverty which is an important issue in Senegal. Men are mostly going to seek higher positions to take care of their families (wife, kids and even parents sometimes) which will stay at home. Women in decision-making positions is a recent trend in Senegal, due to the emergence of new ways of thinking from the younger generation, inspired by what they learn in occidental countries, which can be the opposite of what is being taught in Senegal, where traditions are important and where men are the ones supposed to take care of the family and take the most suitable positions to do so. Values such as courage are very widespread in Senegalese culture with examples such as the expression “Gor gor lu” (“Courage!” in French) , which is something said to push employees and make them want to perform as much as possible with the future of their families on their hands, especially for those coming from villages surrounding Dakar. Social relations are important, but the notion of achievement is more important, people want to obtain positions of power to be considered as someone that achieves something in life. It relates with social relations. It is important to show that you succeed in something.

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