Cultural Differences

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.There is a short overview with demographical and economical data of the last thirty years of both countries. It continues 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. After this I explain the theory on a concrete example : a Business Reengeneering project realized in both countreis (Singapore and Austria) on which I have collaborated for altogether eleven months. At last I answer 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. Kurze Inhaltsbeschreibung : 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 sowohl in einen rein theoretischen Teil und eine praktischen Teil. Es wird erklärt worauf bei internationalen, interkulturellen Arbeiten und Projekten geachtet werden, wie sich Kultur auf Business Reengineering auswirkt und worauf ich in meinem Projekt achten musste.