Introduction
The act of communication between people is something that can become often overlooked or taken for granted. The ability for one person to convey their thoughts to someone else in a manner that is clearly understood by both parties is remarkable. Although this communication hardly seems remarkable in the context of everyday life, when a person attempts to communicate with someone without a common language or culture, the struggle becomes evident. This ability to communicate is truly tested when people of different countries and cultures are forced to work and converse with one another.
With the world “getting smaller” by the use of technology and travel, more so than ever communication and understanding of other cultures is demanded of people, especially in the business world. International managers in a truly global world now need to possess a basic knowledge of cross-cultural methods for running international organizations. To illustrate this importance and the implications of culture for international management, I will use a scenario as an example for this paper.
Imagine that I work for an international organization based in the United States that has recently opened an office in Kabul, Afghanistan. Myself, possessing an excellent reputation for work in cross-cultural situations, has been chosen to lead and adapt to the Afghan culture and staff for a six-month assignment. Using the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini as a reference about the Afghan culture, I will analyze and compare the differences between the two cultures (United States and Afghanistan) that will aid in the management of two distinctly different peoples. Utilizing The Kite Runner, country comparisons on the econom ...