How do MNCs deal with confusion about cross-cultural dilemmas?
Multinational corporations employ a leadership competency model across cultural regions. This model has comprised of specific behaviour and personal characteristic description that enables corporations to be effective in their jobs. Corporations codify suitable attributes, leadership competencies and behaviours within the LCM outline, and this is essential, as it is the key method through which, organisations classify their leadership abilities. LCM enables corporations to achieve their organisational objectives as this model entails universal behaviours that uphold a polycentric perspective that organisations require to adapt to the confined context (Del et al, 2012).
According to the concept of global social responsibility, Multinational corporations should concern themselves with the economic and social outcomes of their decisions. Issues of social responsibility, focus on unequal opportunities and poverty around the world, consumer concerns, the safety of employees and the environment at large. MNCs use their power and capital skills to play positive roles in managing the global socio-cultural and economic problems. MNCs have a positive impact on least developing countries as they provide managerial training, new technology, infrastructure, jobs and investment capital as an important way of helping deal with the cross-cultural dilemma confusion (Del et al, 2012).
Moral universalism
Moral universalism as a position of meta-ethics states that certain moral systems or moral values can apply to everyone. Other terms for moral universalism are moderate moral realism, universal morality or minimal moral realism. Moral universalism is ethical objectivism and it claims that a moral value applies to an individual despite his/her personal opinion or their common cultural opinion. Moral judgement excludes characteristics such as gender, religion or race. Moral universalism concerns base on morality outside opinion as it does not imply that the existence of morals is separate from humanity itself (Del et al, 2012).
Ethnocentric approach
This approach is a staffing policy that companies employ and mainly has global strategic orientation. Headquarters mainly adopt this policy as they use it to send employees from the home country to a host country. This approach employs best in some circumstances such as sending a team away to a host country to help in setting up of a new plant and training subsidiary personnel on the use of a new system. This is beneficial as it enables employees to gain worldwide experiences in order to acquire a high level in management of their headquarters. This is since international managers need an international exposure and a broad perspective (Ungson & Wong, 2007).
Ethical relativism
This theory argues that morality is comparative to the standard of an individual’s culture. That is an action is right or wrong depending on the moral standards of the society that carries out these norms. An action may be morally correct in one society but wrong in another society. According to this theory, there are no universal moral principles, as the only moral norms against which the practices of a society measures are its own. If this theory is correct, there can never be a universal framework for reaching agreements or resolving moral on ethical matters involving members of diverse societies (Ungson & Wong, 2007).
Within this theory, a society determines right and wrong through a combination of emotions, logic, experience, social preferences, ‘rules’ and patterns that appear to convey the most benefit as they are not absolute. Morality is what keeps a society together, and a society that has constant moral conflict may not survive for long. This means that there should be an accord between right and wrong in order for a society to perform well. Example it appears to be universal amongst cultures that killing, lying, stealing is wrong, and when an individual practice these counterproductive principles, they receive punishment (Ungson & Wong, 2007).
References
Del, G. M., Carayannis, E. G., & Della, P. M. R. (2012). Cross-cultural knowledge management: Fostering innovation and collaboration inside the multicultural enterprise. New York: Springer.
Ungson, G. R., & Wong, Y.-Y. (2007). Global strategic management. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe.
