Significance of recognition of Australian and Singaporean cross-cultural differences in the decision-making process

A new phenomenon facing multi-national organizations in the new millennium today is globalisation. Globalisation implies that, in order to remain a prospective position in the world market, an organization has to sustain a competitive advantage. Many factors influence competitive advantage. One is an appropriate procedure for decision-making processes; that is to respond in time to actual situations in the world market. The appropriateness of the decision processes depends on the understanding of the cross-cultural differences of those who participate in the decision process. It seems to be of particular importance that managers understand how national culture supports an employees' decision. This paper is an attempt to clarify similarities and differences between Australian and Singaporean participants in decision processes. In this respect, the research has been done among Australian and Singaporean students of Monash University Faculty of Business and Economics. The conceptual framework is based on Hofstede's national culture dimensions, and Janis and Mann's conflict model. It introduces the correlation of cultural dimensions and dimensions of the conflict model. The results show that while national culture does play a part in the role of decision-making, each dimension of culture affects a different dimension of the conflict model