Cross-Cultural Management

Question One

Cross-national cooperation and coordination could sometimes become a hotly contested topic, especially when it comes to matters that lead to the success of a project. In our case, some visible problems could lead to challenges in implementing a project that is of international concern.

The language barrier is one of the greatest problems that both sides are facing. According to the text, the fact that few people in the project were bilingual posed a great challenge to implementing the purpose of the whole project. Secondly, intercultural perceptions also seem to be of great concern to the U.S. and Honduras military personnel. At some point, one of the U.S. officials almost found himself in a confrontation after he had uttered words that angered one of the Hondurans. It is, therefore, important for people to make it a point to first learn about other people’s cultures before using a language that would bring in misunderstandings.

Question Two

The current situation in the United States has been as it was in the past. The two countries cannot be considered to have good relationships, which does not seem to be changing any time soon. As a result, any military activity similar to that of Honduras would have various economic, political, and security issues (Abbas, 2015) that might be of concern to both countries.

First, the economic implication would be that the United States would have to spend more resources considering the international boundary distance between the two countries. More resources would be required to transfer the equipment and personnel to the Middle East country. Due to the differences in cultural practices and beliefs, it is expected that the Afghan people would be opposed to the move, citing the differences between the two countries. Politically, the system of government in the two countries is far much different.

The security concern to be observed in Afghanistan would have been the issue of radical groups who are against the presence of the United States Army in the country. This could be a recipe for more terrorist attacks both to the United States and to Afghanistan for the anti-government groups.

Question Three

Global organizations, including military organizations, need to include culturally diverse personnel in their projects. The main challenge that was exhibited during the whole process was that of intercultural differences that made it difficult for the United States military to execute their mandate in Honduras. This could have been worse were it not for the fact that they at least had select individuals who were familiar with the Spanish language, and it was their native language, too.

Secondly, it could be advisable that the management of such organizations consider the complexity of the situation regarding cultural differences and the implications of having people in the project who are not conversant with the local language and cultural aspects of the community. Putting this into consideration would go a long way in helping deal with such matters, as seen in the article.

Question Four

For good governance and inclusivity, there is a need to ensure that within the rankings of organizations such as the United States military, there is a multicultural team that encompasses Grissom & Mueller (2016). One of the main advantages of a multicultural team in such an establishment is that management of issues in places where cultural differences are prevalent becomes easier to handle. As a result, good relationships and a conducive working environment are established in the process (Ring et al. 2016). The most important aspect of a cross-cultural setup is the relationship between the people involved; hence, ensuring that all people within the organization are on good terms and respecting other people’s views is of great importance.

References

Grissom, A. R., Lee, C., & Mueller, K. P. (2016). Innovation in the United States Air Force: Evidence from Six Cases (No. RR-1207-AF). RAND Corporation-Project Air Force Santa Monica United States.

Abbas, H. (2015). Pakistan’s Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army, and America’s War on Terror: Allah, the Army, and America’s War on Terror. Routledge.

Ring, J., Nyquist, J., & Mitchell, S. (2016). Curriculum for culturally responsive health care: The step-by-step guide for cultural competence training. CRC Press.