Cultural Differences

Diplomarbeit von Sabine Janach

Abstract:

This thesis handles a topic which is of high importance for all companies doing business internationally . But nevertheless there are still less companies who make this a subject of everydaylife. What I am talking about is culture, cultural differences and cross cultural management.

What makes it so difficult for people of different cultures to communicate, to work together, to live side by side in harmony without misunderstanding ? It is our culture and the difference between our cultures often mentioned not at all. But at the latest if there appear problems you will recognize the differences in understanding, thinking, behavior, … This thesis should make a small contribution to get a better understanding that culture is something we must accept and that we can not neglect if we are doing business internationally.

To broaden the background knowledge of the reader chapter 2 gives a short overview with demographical and economical data of the last thirty years of both countries. In chapter 3 I continue with the main topic – the cultural dimension (theoretical background followed by some models of identifying different cultures, the cultural profiles of both countries, the Singaporean culture and its characteristics, behavior and problems as expatriate in Singapore, do’s and don’ts. Chapter 4 shows then a concrete example. It starts with the theoretical background concerning Business Process Reengineering followed by the detailed description of the projects in Singapore and Austria on which I have collaborated for altogether eleven months.. The chapter ends with the topic Business Process Reengineering and change or Management of Change (MOC) respectively. Last but not least chapter 5 which deals with the question how culture influences the business culture, the implementation of Business Process Reengineering and the Management of Change. With a critical outlook concerning this topic I want to round off the thesis.

Gang der Untersuchung:

In der Arbeit wurden von mir Vorgangsweisen, Erfolgsfaktoren und Ergebnisse von Reenginering Prozessen vor dem Hintergrund zweier unterschiedlicher gesellschaftlicher Kulturen beschrieben und problematisiert.

Bei den beiden Vergleichskulturen handelt es sich um die von Österreich und Singapur. Die Reengineering Projekte fanden dabei im gleichen global agierenden Unternehmen statt. Die empirische Arbeitsbasis war durch zwei Praktika innerhalb dieser Firma gegeben.

Die Arbeit teilt sich in folgende Abschnitte auf :

- „Cultural Dimension“ : mit kulturtheoretisch-analytischem Einstieg und praktischen Fallbeispielen.

- „Concrete Example“ : das Reengineering Projekt in Singapur.

- Reengineering und Changemanagement.

- Interkultureller Vergleich bzw. Kulturdeterminaten bzgl. Des Erfolgs von Reengineering- und Veränderungsprozessen.

- Kritischer Ausblick und Empfehlungen für Mitarbeiter und Führungskräfte, die interkulturelltätig werden wollen oder müssen ...

Die ganze Arbeit ist in englischer Sprache verfasst.

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