Organisations today have people coming from different parts of the world, representing different cultures. These differences may be based on attire, attitudes, behaviour, etc. While there might be certain pros and cons across every culture, the point of focus is to build a cross-cultural understanding. To develop a synergetic relationship that treats organisational development as the ultimate goal. The concept of cultural relativism has gained importance as a result. Cultural relativism is the idea that a person’s beliefs, values, and practices should be understood based on that person’s own culture, rather than be judged against the criteria of another.
Beyond the organisational level, there are cross-cultural interactions between governments as well. Each country interacts based on its culture. While requesting and doing favours can be considered normal in the business world, not many may be in support of the concept. Modern businesses grow using the concept of leverage: making investments to result in profits greater than the initial investments. These investments may involve gifts or favours as well. The ultimate goal is to maximise the benefits one can derive from their initial investment. On the international level, while in a country like China, this may be a part of the culture but on the other hand in the United Kingdom, this may be considered unethical.
As emerging economies like Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRICS Nations) become a more integral part of global business, Sheila Puffer and Daniel McCarthy, professors at the Northeastern University, said that its time for western economies to analyse business methods in these markets, understand how integral and commonplace favours are doing business there, and make distinctions about which practices are ethical. The emphasis should be to build a clear distinction between gifts and bribes, since gifts without the same level of acceptance, agreement and cultural background are largely considered unethical.
Harman Singh