Avatar-Based Management Techniques for Breaking Down Language and Cultural Barriers in Modern Russian Corporations

Introduction

In the context of globalization of the economic community, the cross-cultural communication and business manners are critical management concerns “in many processes such as making decisions, building consensus and in the process of reaching agreements” (Tsui, 2007). As multicultural corporations today are shaping strategic alliances and also creating joint ventures in many countries, individuals at managerial positions and professional-level positions must be well trained possessing cross-cultural communication competencies. In the contemporary world, multinational corporations should provide opportunities for their managers to be effectively engaged in cross-cultural communication in order to obtain the essential knowledge, skills and directions for managing the cultural divergence. Sheu and Sedlacek (2004) identified cultural diversity as the differences among groups of people with definable cultural backgrounds and different worldviews and beliefs that may affect communication. At the societal level, the literature provides evidence that cultural diversity would be the key to success for multinational companies, because they employ and serve individuals from different cultural and racial backgrounds. As such, it would be significant to understand how communication between different individuals affects organizational performance. The following provisions open this thesis:

• •

  Cross-cultural managers have to increasingly interact with their partners from other countries as a result of mergers, acquisitions, shaping strategic alliances, and creating joint ventures;

• •

  Active involvement of domestic companies in international operations requires managers to develop new competencies related to the implementation of strategies for interaction with individuals and organizations, whose behavior is determined by other value and cultural priorities, and they use different languages to communicate;

• •

  There is a growing number of multinational organizations whose employees must recognize and respect differences, interests of cultural and social groups, show political correctness and reject discrimination;

• •

  The nature of competition is also changing. From the competition between enterprises and suppliers, the world is increasingly moving to the competition of countries or even groups of countries.

The relevance of research results presented by the authors in this chapter is determined by the following circumstances:

• •

  Russian companies and the Russian Government are searching for ways that would be effective for business professionals and organizations in breaking down cultural and language barriers;

• •

  There is a huge demand for qualified specialists in cross-cultural communication in Russian corporations;

• •

  There is a growing demand for specialized trainings and seminars, aimed at acquiring skills in cross-cultural communication competencies by individuals at managerial and professional-level positions.

The possibility of highlighting the above circumstances determined the relevance of this chapter, the purpose of the research and caused the need for its further development. The theoretical and methodological basis of this research was the scientific books and publications of leading Russian and foreign scientists and professionals. The methodology of this paper is predominantly based on information derived from secondary sources. The problems of management of cross-cultural organizations and the resolution of intercultural conflicts in corporate structures are disclosed in the works of Russian and foreign researchers such as Hofstede (2010), Holden (2015),Lewis (2011), Krichevsky, and Dubovskaya,(2011),Kochetkov (2015), Myasoedov (2018),Persikova (2018), and others.