Cross-Cultural Considerations in Change Management. Exploring the Impact of Culture on Communication and Participation in Emerging Markets China and India

Master's Thesis from the year 2022 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,3, University of Applied Sciences Aschaffenburg, language: English, abstract: Do cultural differences affect crucial success factors for change management processes in the cross-cultural work environment, and if so in which way? This thesis provides an insight into the scope of cultural influences on the immediate success or failure of change processes. More precisely, it discusses the cultural influences of China and India on change management processes, using the two success factors communication and participation as examples. This way, awareness is created for cultural differences and impressions of conflicts along the change process due to cultural differences are provided. Already described approximately 2,500 years ago by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus is the constant change of society. Change is not a part of life, rather life consists of constant change, he claimed. His statement is still valid today. Global megatrends influence each individual, the society as such and of course also all kinds of corporations, institutions, and organizations, acting within the society. The influence of global megatrends leads to a shift in economic systems and forces companies to rethink. Adaptability to the ever-changing environment is the key factor for success for enterprises and will become more and more important over the next five to ten years. Megatrends like the digitization and globalization enable or even require oversea business relationships, cooperation with and expansion to different continents. Cross-cultural teams are more common than ever, various employee's expectations, needs and ways of working collide in an increasingly dynamic and complex work environment. Companies with worldwide operations undergo global change processes, not only local ones. Emerging markets are of particular interest as the global economy and the availability of skilled labour shifts Eastwards. Additionally, a company undergoes several transformative steps which trigger internal change when growing. It can be noted that cross-cultural change processes, are not a one-off occurrence but are increasingly needed in varying degrees of intensity.