As one could observe in the above information, effective and efficient international managers possess all of the characteristics that effective and efficient domestic managers possess. International managers, however, have to be willing to adapt to a new culture and the new ideas that come with it.
• An international manager must be willing to research the new lifestyles and cultural norms before entering the new operational facility. For example, an international manager should discover how to motivate his or her new employees. Just as often happens domestically, not the same things have motivated everyone. For instance, in Western culture, “choice” is highly motivating. There are many utilised theories that demonstrate that choice enhances employee job satisfaction, motivation, and how an employee performs. We know that the United States often encourages and promotes employee autonomy.
• The option of having work-related choices is a driver for employee satisfaction and his or her efficiency and output. Having the freedom to choose their hours worked, to participate in decisions made, and to contribute to their future career planning, enhances employee satisfaction and performance of both American and Hispanic employees. By contrast, Asians enjoy how much responsibility they have. This predicts their job satisfaction and performance. For example, while Americans perform better at and are more satisfied with work activities that they choose to do, some Eastern countries and employees perform better at tasks that trusted others have chosen for them; for instance, their manager. On the other hand, Asians are motivated by the tasks collectively decided upon by their entire group of colleagues— unlike the independent and autonomous Americans.
• Job satisfaction, success, new challenges, and self-respect motivate United Kingdom employees. Indian employees are motivated by their individual contributions and movement “up the ladder,” recognition, job security, and the image of the company for which they work. No two cultures are alike. Each has its own beliefs and value systems. As a result, different things motivate different people. Not only this, but different things motivate different people at different points of time. It is just another challenge that the international manager must be prepared to handle.
• Giving adequate thought and being able to delegate effectively are other key characteristics that effective and efficient international managers must have. However, international managers need to understand when and where to use this as well. For example, Mexicans do not like it when an authority figure gives up his or her power. Yet in other cultures such as in the United States, employees do not like to be highly supervised and they prefer not to be given explicit directions for every task. They rather enjoy the freedom to tackle a task the way they see fit.
