Work Life Balance

The following assignment discusses about the cross cultural differences and the kind of impacts that it make in the global business. The global business deals about the business deals and the business management issues across the world. It describes the various issues that the employees might face in the context of cross-cultural diversities. This concept has to be reviewed in prospect of the Chinese people going to Australia for work and the treatments they face at the time of working there. The multinational companies send the people to different countries to work in and thus they face many unwanted situations and many factors are responsible behind it. Here a comparative study will be presented to see the various aspects of the cultural differences.

Balance is an important component, which systematizes the existence of the individuals. The significance of balance can be perceived from various perspectives. As a matter of specification, personal life and workplace are the two most important scenarios, where the balance finds its most common applicability (Hill, Cronk and Wickramasekera 2013). Countering this, personal life and workplace are interrelated with each other. Balance is an agent with links both the spheres. Counter arguing, maintaining balance between personal life and the workplace helps the individuals to synchronize their life. All these aspects are applicable even for the Chinese employees, starting a new workplace life.

Taking a cue from the aspect of settlement, the Chinese employees might face difficulties at the initial stage. Landing in an entirely different country is like being stranded in an island. Exposing adaptability skills adds firmness in the existence of the individuals (Nahavandi 2016). On the contrary, emerging as failures in adapting with the environment adds to the survival strategies. Working hours is also considered as one of the agents in terms of projecting the balance that is needed for survival. As a matter of specification, the working hours in China are 09:00 AM to 17:00 PM, with one hour lunch break (Theguardian.com 2017). The salary wages are in alignment with the working hours. The evidence for this is the revelations of China Labor Bulletin, which states the escalation in the minimum wage from 1120 Yuan in 2010 to 2190 Yuan in the era of 2016 (Clb.org.hk 2017). This type of working hours is justified in terms of the health conditions of the employees. According to the revelations of The Guardian, Chinese workers, on an average, toil hard between 2000-2200 hours in a month (Theguardian.com 2017). Further, the article brings relief for the workers with the declaration of Saturday and Sunday off. This is owing to the noticeable decline in the working hours, which has adversely affected the quality of the products and services (Theguardian.com 2017).

Working Culture

In comparison to china, the working hours in Australia are evenly spread between 7AM in the morning till 7PM in the evening. Duty served beyond these hours makes the employees liable for overtime rates. These are the regulations, which the government officials of Australia are entitled to follow. In order to reduce the stress of the employees, there are rest breaks and meal breaks in between two shifts (Fairwork.gov.au 2017). This seems justified in terms of the declaration of 38 hour working week. This declaration adds to the symbolic significance of the name of the Commission, Fair work.

Application of the theoretical framework in this context helps in the achievement of better understanding regarding the shift in location of the Chinese employees. The central place theory provides a deep insight into the demographics of the people within the urban system of settlement. The important components of this theory are the number of people migrating from one part of the country to another; the quantity of migrating people and the location into which these migrating people are shifting (Rothaermel 2015).

As per the assumptions of this theory, the native population of the foreign country is designated as the evenly distributed. This is owing to the organized approach in terms of fulfilling the basic needs of the population. Herein, lays the appropriateness of the phrase central spaces as the services revolve around the requirements of the population. The inclusion of the migratory people strains the demographic needs of the native population. Specifically, it compels the government to put on their thinking caps in terms of satisfying the needs of the localities as well as the tourists. The tag tourists might raise questions upon their citizenship; however, owing to their predicament in the initial phases of settlement, the tag seems appropriate (Wild, Wild and Han 2014). Herein, lays the symbolic significance of the aspect of balance, as there is a compromise with the centrality of the natives in their own country. Viewing it from other perspective, display of conscious and rational attitude in catering to the needs of both the local people and the foreigners, systematizes the task of fulfilling their needs. This systematization aligns to the true essence of the term balance.

Introducing attractive facilities for the Chinese employees would prove beneficial for the government of the foreign country. Within this, providing equal access to the Chinese employees would help the governmental officials to generate high revenues and profit (Peng 2016). This is possible only if the government has sound financial stability. Lack of adequate financial resources would act as a compromise with the basic needs of the natives. Not mentioning the foreigners in this category is their inclusion within the natives, which generates the hope of preserving the balance needed for running the operations in an effective manner.

Culture is an essential element in terms of the growth of an individual. Maturity in the performance of the actions reflects the culture in which the individual attained nourishment. Every individual is bound to abide by certain rules and regulations for enhancing their stay within the society (Ferraro and Brody 2015). Violation of these rules acts as an isolation for the culprits, which makes their existence hell like. These aspects are applicable even in the workplace scenario. Every company and organization identifies certain norms, which projects the culture, within which the business operations are carried out. Within this, an important component is the provision of safe and comfortable working environment to the employees, which results in the creation of creative and innovative outputs. Along with this, ensuring the safety and security of the employees falls within important parameters of workplace culture. Typical examples in this direction are averting the situations of harassments, discriminations, and biasness among others. There are high tendencies that the Chinese employees might face these issues upon their penetration into the new workplace scenario (Cavusgil et al. 2014). Assuring the Chinese employees about the facilities of filing a suit or claim against the culprits would reflect the attempt of the personnel to preserve the organizational culture.

Apart from this, taking extra care of the foreign employees, such as, the Chinese ones would add to the reputational status of the foreign companies. Hiring employees from the foreign lands, such as China is bound to raise conflicts in terms of carrying out the organizational tasks. Achievement of negotiation through the means of settlement provides platform to every employee to voice out their opinions (Mangan, Lalwani and Lalwani 2016). This provision also reflects an attempt to preserve the culture of the organization.

Making fun of one’s traditional culture is equal to the snatching away of citizenship. This act dishonors the cultural heritage of the country and degrades the personality of that individual. Herein, the foreign employees feel isolated, where the integrity of the organizational structure is destroyed. Simultaneously it is the violation of The Workplace Traditionalism, which creates negative image in the minds of the Chinese employees. This negativity gradually detaches them from the professionalism that is needed for strengthening the position within the workplace (Aronczyk 2013).

Harassments and discriminations are the most common issues, which spoil the sanctity of the workplace environment. Harassing the employees without reviewing the incident in depth reflects the violation of the workplace culture by the managerial authority. This kind of behavior by the managers creates a bad impression upon the employees. Exposing the attitude of racial discrimination towards the Chinese employees contradicts the inner essence of the workplace culture. This contradiction spoils the mindset with which the employees penetrated into a different workplace environment (Peteraf, Gamble and Thompson 2014). This spoilage aggravates their complexities in terms of possessing better employment opportunities. Bearing in mind the cultural diversity of the employees while setting the rules and regulations would help the personnel of the foreign land workplace to preserve the dignity and individuality of the employees such as the Chinese ones. This valuation is a projection of attempts towards maintaining the culture, tradition and norms of the workplace environment.

Shifting from one part of the county to another snatches away many memories from the individuals, which they have cherished during their stay in their native place. This situation is also applicable in the workplace scenario (Chand and Tung 2014). Working in a particular environment develops a comfortable zone for the employees, from where they do not wish to get out. Rather, they fear to change their workplace in terms of adapting with an altogether new environment. The main reason for this hesitation is the failures, which would qualify them as inefficient in terms of carrying out the business activities. Herein, the personal attachment gets entrapped within the heavy work pressure.

Viewing it from other perspective, workplace does not account the personal affairs. Rather, the employees are entrusted with the responsibility to consider the personal life and the workplace as two different aspects (Kasemsap 2015). In order to follow this rule, the personal life of the employees has taken a back seat, owing to which they hardly get time to spend with their family members. This issue seems true even for the Chinese employees and their family. The employees would go out for jobs, while their family members would try to find happiness in the things that are there in front of them. Upon finding a job in the unknown land, the family members of the employees would feel the absence of the head of the family. These issues are an indication of the slow and gradual fading away of family bondage (Wirtz, Tuzovic and Ehret  2015).  However, if the Chinese employees used to live in guest house or as Paying Guests, then they might have had attachment with the caretakers.

An in-depth understanding of the aspect of attachment can be achieved by referring to the attachment theory. Speculation of the family bondage and the bondage with the caretakers, the family bondage attains a higher pedestal. This is owing to the warmth and care provided by the parents, relatives and peers.  This warmth and care is missing in case of the caretaker attachment. Countering this, if the caretaker is perceived as a family member, then the distance between the employee and the family members is reduced to a great extent (Weiss 2014). Counter arguing this, no one can take the place of the family members. Herein, the symbolic significance of the word caretaker is limited from attaining a different shade of familial relationship.

If the Chinese employees come alone, then the aspect of caretaker would seem appropriate. This does not mean that they would not miss their family; however, the provision of uninterrupted internet connection would reduce the distance between the employees and their family members. This is due to the means of Skype, video calling and video conferencing among others.  On the contrary, if the Chinese employees come with their family members, then, they would not miss the warmth, care, affection and unity of the family members (Manuj 2013). Herein, the propositions of the attachment theory are nullified. Countering this, stability within the familial relationships adds color to social and emotional parameter in an individual’s life. This contradicts the actions of nullification for the propositions and assumptions of the attachment theory.

Communication is one of the most effective means of solving the problems. Individuals need to communicate with the neighbors in order to reduce the stress of drab monotonous work pressure. Absence of communication adds to the difficulties of the individuals in terms of strengthening their societal existence (Waters and Rinsler 2014). The Chinese employees would encounter certain language problem. As a matter of specification, fluency in English would not be a problem for the Chinese, however, the accent would create communication gaps between the Chinese employees and the natives of the foreign lands.

Upon their selection in the companies of the foreign companies, the Chinese employees can be provided with linguistic training. Increasing the frequency of these trainings would help the Chinese employees to attain a better grasp over the other languages (Cascio and Boudreau 2016). Allowing them to give presentations to the foreign clients would help the managers to assess the capability of the employees in terms of making practical application of the learnt skills. Emerging successful I giving these presentations would improve the communication skills of the employees. This improvement is possible only if the employees maintain the practice of talking in other languages learnt. This would gradually enhance the personality of the employees.

Along with this, adoption of proper communication channels would help the personnel of the foreign companies and organizations to convey important information to the employees, including the Chinese ones. Within this, care needs to be taken that every employee understands the information that is being transmitted (Jeston and Nelis 2014). For this, language translating options needs to be installed within the profile of the customers. This option would enable the employee to read the conveyed message in his mother tongue. If the news of the organizational events is put in the languages that the employees are familiar with, it would prove beneficial for the employees, especially the Chinese ones to maintain the pace with the events. Otherwise, the employees would be compelled to hear terms such as “backdated”, “old-fashioned” among others. Hiring an interpreter would help the personnel of the foreign companies to understand and translate the language of the Chinese employees (Frynas and Mellahi 2015).

Viewing it from the other perspective, regular surfing of the website portals would make the personnel aware of the problems encountered by the employees, especially the Chinese ones. This regularization would result in the introduction of facilities, which helps the Chinese employees in enjoying the opportunities that the other employees enjoy. Possessing of financial flexibility would help the personnel to avert the situations of communication gaps. Countering this, introducing such facilities would generate conflicts among the Chinese and the other employees in terms of the facilities introduced (Berger and Meng 2014).

Prior to the welcoming of the Chinese employees, if training is given to the managers and employees on Chinese language, then the employees would be exposed to a workplace environment, where equality is an agent for attracting and luring the guests. Even this issue possesses flexibility to face differentiation in opinions, as most of the employees do not want to do something extra for their colleagues. Within this, it is also seen that some of the employees are eager to learn a new language, as they want to enhance and upgrade their preconceived skills, expertise and knowledge. Having a team with the second motive would result in the professional upgradation of the Chinese employees (Jeston and Nelis 2014).

Every individual possesses a personal space of his own. Within this, intrusion of the others is considered as an interference into the personal affairs, which mostly attains the expression of disliking. The word “space” in the heading related to the locale where the individual resides. Te parameter of “personal” can be considered as the ways and means in which the individual beautifies the available space. Herein lays the conjoined significance of the phrase personal space (Waters and Rinsler 2014). Viewing it from the other perspective, attainment of a space generates a tendency within the individuals to personalize it. This tendency aligns with the traditional conventions of human behavior. These aspects align with the propositions and assumptions of the Personal space theory. Maintaining continuity with the discussion, personal space comprises of the interaction between the individuals and their selves. This interaction proves helpful in terms of evaluating the effectiveness of the exposed performance. These aspects seem true even for the Chinese employees (Weiss 2014). Upon entering the threshold of the workplace, the employees would be provided with a place, which would be kept for the sole purpose of employees’ usage. As per the usual behavior of the employees, they do not want to compromise wit their personal space. This limits the scope and area of the other developing employees. Attaching the case of the migrating Chinese employees, if the native employees do not wish to share their space wit the Chinese employees, then the foreign employees would be restrained from attain professional development (Wirtz, Tuzovic and Ehret 2015).

This personal space is one of the parameters of the proxemics as proposed by E.T. Hall. The intimate space aligns with the personal space. Te major drive behind this is the lack of a third party, which enables the individuals to carry out the allocated tasks without any interruption. This is also applicable for the Chinese employees. Further, the personal space can be perceived as a categorization of the societal space. The Chinese, upon their penetration in the foreign lands, would search for a living space, were they would live alone or with their family members (Chand and Tung 2014). This space might not be according to their wishes; however, it would serve the purpose of shelter that is required for the basic survival. Moreover, it also safeguards the privacy of the employees, which relates to the parameter of personal. Intrusion of the neighbors is needed for the purpose of companionship; however, it destroys the independence of the employees. 

In this part of the discussion, the various factors that work behind beliefs of a Chinese person while going to Australia and work will be discussed here. Believes mean a set of perceptions that a person has grown up with since his childhood. Chinese culture is one of the oldest cultures in the world that dates back to thousands of years ago. They have certain cultural influences on their native people like that of the dragon, lion dance, Peking opera and some others. The Chinese people are Buddhists by religion. They have their own set of religious beliefs that they abide by. These beliefs are imprinted on their minds from the teachings of their elders.    

When these people grow older and search for jobs they have to mix with various sorts of cultures and social dynamics. These people are generally collectivists by nature because the studies say the idea of collectivism has influenced a big part of the Asian continent. There are some other beliefs that work behind them as well. Chinese people believe that their dead ancestors had a great set of influence on their wee-being on how they were revered in the past. These may be considered as misconceptions or superstitions, but these are the beliefs the Chinese people have. The Chinese people believe in collectivism set of psychology where they learn to co-exist with one another (Rosenbusch and Cseh 2012). They learn to put the blame on the situation rather than putting it on the individual person.

The Australian culture is quite different from that. They believe in the modernist theories and they are much rational, logical and free of superstitions in their approach to life. These people always believe in the collectivism because they do not put the blame on the situational factors but they put the blame on the concerned persons for their faults. When the Chinese people go to a new place, they generally cannot adapt to that place because they are very late in trusting a person. They always suspect the newly met people and it takes time to acquire their trust (Cingano and Pinotti 2012).

The matter of acceptance and status of the Chinese people in the different Australian society is going to be described here. It is very obvious that when some Chinese people will be selected to go to Australia, he will have to settle there permanently to live and work there. One of the most common working styles in the offices is the team work. A team consists of a few members and they look after a project so that a collective outcome can be processed sincerely (Galegher, Kraut and Egido 2014). Suppose in such a team a Chinese person is placed and he has to do the projects being involved in the team where he has no compatriots. In the beginning, situations may arise that the Chinese person will have difficulties in adjusting to the situations. The same thing could happen to the other members as well who have to work with him. The persons may not accept his presence in the team and direct some bad, insulting words at him. These could de-motivate the Chinese person. The rules of the multinational organizations are generally depended on the universalism. Universalism is a fact where all the employees or group of people, belonging to a different class have to be treated as the same by the authority (Anttonen 2012). All the employees should be under the same guidelines and they should always abide those rules, contrary to that of the Particularism where rules are flexible for everyone and the rules depend on the various circumstances (Westphal 2012). In this form of ideas, double standards may exist because there will be no co-existence among the groups of different social identities because very normally they do not respect or even know each other. There are impacts of the neutral culture and affective culture felt as well. The neutral culture centers on being more detached and in well control of themselves. The statements that are given by the followers of this culture express their views in somewhat monotonic statements. The followers of the affective culture express their views and ideas in warm and heartfelt ways.

Responsibility is one thing that is very important in the sphere of the business management. Business management is a very critical idea that has to deal with the global developments in the business (Adekola and Sergi 2016). Profits and losses are the indicators that run a business. The main responsibility of the employees is to keep the profit moving so that the organization can proceed towards a growth. The factors of cross-culture have a huge impact on the successful outcome of a business (Thomas and Peterson 2014). In an organization, the management generally decides the members of a certain team and this is based on the skills of the concerned person and not his cultural belongings.

The factor of skill development is very crucial for the welfare of an organization (Galiie et al. 2012). The prime responsibility of the team members is to work hard together and bring the desired results for the organization. The performance of the employees is reviewed through the appraisals each year. This is up to the employees on how they would perform in difficult situations. It needs a lot of stamina and mutual understanding if the team wants to attain a positive result. If the team members indulge into quarrels and misunderstandings, the performance of the entire team is going to fall and that would affect the growth of the organizations (Park and Shaw 2013). It is, therefore, desirable that the employees should put all the cultural differences aside and perform their responsibilities so that the organization can reach their desired objectives. The difference between individualism and collectivism should not shed any negative impact on the organizational performances (Gorodnichenko and Roland 2012). Organizational culture should be such that the outside people should be impressed with the unity in the diverse cultures (Alvesson 2012).

Conclusion   

In the concluding section it can be said that the global business management has many factors that can be highlighted to justify the impact of this type of management on the organizational performance and culture. In this discussion, most of the important factors regarding the global business management have been discussed. It is very important to note that the global managers have a very tough job to handle in this scenario because they have to make sure that no miscommunications or misunderstandings can arise from these situations. Both the cultures have to be respected and they should be allowed to be given their own space so that a universal approach to global business can take its place.

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