Management in how does it vary across cultures 1.

. Executive Summary Culture plays a major role in an organization to manage the operations, processes and the employees. The management will vary according to the different cultures. Both management and the culture are interdependent on each other. In a multi-national company, the employees are from different cultures and they need to be managed and organized to resolve the conflicts that arise due to the cultural variations, if possible. ence, the different management styles will be adopted by the human resources to resolve the cultural variations in the wor! place. "part from the culture, the organization, corporate and wor! cultures will vary according to the demand and supply situations that an organization faces in the long run. The need for cross cultural management is very important in the corporate culture. #ifferent people from different races will be wor!ing in corporate companies and hence the different approaches and ways the companies adopt will vary from one culture to another. The culture adopted by one organization may be good for a particular set of people but it may be bad for the other set of people wor!ing in the same organization. The effectiveness of the management will be seen in the organization if the same can handle the situation effectively. The different theories developed by people li!e Trompenaars and ampden-Turner have defined some standards which will reduce the cultural variations in the management styles. These theories are discussed in this document to give a brief understanding of the management in different cultural environments. I have selected IB$ as the client to implement the management theory. %&'T analysis will give a overall picture of the company and how the recommendations can be drawn from the %&'T analysis. 2. Terms of reference I(m a business consultant in Ceridian human resources, a multi-national human resources development company and want to develop a model for my client, IB$, a software giant which is having the operations across the globe and is operating amidst different cultures. This model should define the management styles which will reduce the cultural variations and thus create a good wor! environment for the development of the wor! culture and thus the business. IB$

approached our company as they need a better solution to handle the variations in the cultures which are caused by the vast size of the company across the world. 3. Overview of the Situation There are different reasons for the cultural variations in an organization. %ome of the variations which are figured out for the better understanding of the culture of the client are) a. ultural !ominance IB$ recently ac*uired many companies across the planet and those companies have become the integral part of the organization under the global name, IB$. But however, when these companies are ac*uired, the wor! culture and the employees are absorbed into the parent company, i.e. IB$, and hence the company will face problems in training them according to the policies and procedures of the company. The parent company culture will be dominated over the ac*uired companies and hence the employees may feel an insecure feeling and hence the company has to ta!e necessary steps to change the mindset of the employees of the ac*uired companies. + all, ,--./ ". Multi#le ultures The cultures of the ac*uired companies and the parent company may vary according to the type of wor! that had been offered in the respective companies. The local environment may vary according to the conditions and the cultural traditions will also vary depending on the goals and objectives, the different strategies and methods followed in the company. These variations need to be rectified according to the goals and objectives of the parent company and a global corporate culture needs to be defined for the better understanding of the policies of the organization. The employees of the ac*uired companies will try to resist the change, protect their own identity and hence this will result in the cultural variations. +0arsson, 1isberg, ,--2/ c. !ifferent cultured #eo#le "s the $3C will be hiring the people of different cultural bac!grounds, as the company will be operating in different geographical locations, the different cultures will prevail in the company. "n office location in 0ondon, 45 will practice different wor! culture when compared to the

office present in Bangalore, India. The time variations, cultural variations and the wor! culture will affect the management styles and these styles will be confined to a particular region. ence, the management should design a global strategy to implement a global managerial style to handle the different cultural variations. "part from these reasons, the possible reasons which affect the thin!ing of the managers in the company are) a. $ac% of awareness of the differences The managers sometimes may not have an idea of the differences in the cultural bac!grounds and hence this may result in the monopoly of the particular culture in an organization. ". $ac% of understanding Though managers !now about the cultural e6istence in the organization, they cannot understand the conse*uences of the issue and hence this will underestimate the impact of the culture on the company and hence will create problems in the short run as well as long run. c. &nwillingness The managers, though !now about the variations in the culture, the effects of the variation but they will not be willing to adopt the changes which will critically affect the performance in the organization. d. $ac% of resources The managers are aware of the situation and are about to do something to handle the situation but they will not get proper resources li!e intercultural sensitiveness, appropriate methods to handle the situations. "ll these different types of problems will create a varied cultured environment in the organization which will drastically affect the performance of the employees as well as the organization. '. (nalysis of the situation

I have chosen the theory proposed by Trompenaars and

ampden-Turner in the year ,--7 to

analyze the situation. "ccording to this theory, the different value dimensions which will describe the nature of the culture in IB$ are discussed in this section. The first value dimension is about the differences between the universalism and the particularism. &niversalism vs. )articularism IB$ follows universalism to define rules at the wor! place. The company will ma!e use of the broad rules to fit the situation in the e6isting environment through which the global culture can be implemented. The universal rules had been defined by the organization to create a global environment such that the employees will have standard sets of rules and regulations which need to be abide by the same to create a friendly wor! environment. ommunitarianism versus individualism IB$ encourages communitarianism which enables the employees to wor! as groups. The individualism will develop selfish mind among the employees and thus ruin the relationships among the employees. ence, the company had developed the policies related to communitarianism such that there won(t be any scope for the individual focus rather all the employees are treated with same respect, irrespective of their cultural bac!grounds. (naly*ing vs. +ntegrating IB$ follows the way of integrating when it comes to the employees of the organization. The integration will always be needed to create a feeling of brotherhood in the organization. The employees are to be treated as one and thus build a better relationship for the development of the company. 84nited we stand and divided we fall8 will be the motto of the company in building a strong integrated team. +nner,directed vs. Outer,directed Inner directed will enhance the people to thin! and judge with their own minds and thin!ing will be given the utmost priority. But outer directed will reflect the real wor! decision ma!ing based upon the e6periences of the employees. IB$, being a multi cultured company, did not encourage the inner directed rather encouraged the outer directed perspective to improve the real world

e6perience in the organization. The different cultured people will have different ideas and if they are implemented in the organization will create a havoc and hence a real world acceptable thin!ing will be helpful to improve the standards of the company. Time as se-uence versus Time as synchroni*ation Time as a se*uence will ma!e sure that all the events occur in a time se*uence where as the time as a synchronization will process all the events at a single point of time. IB$ follows the time as synchronization so as to integrate all the processes and operations in the organization which will be independent of the cultural variations to promote the integrity. "ll the events will be synchronized in parallel such that they will be fulfilled and implemented at a particular point of time. (chievement versus ascri#tion The employees in IB$ will be given status and promotion according to their performance rather than the seniority or cultural basis. The employees( day to day performance will be calculated and they will be given the right performance appraisal and the promotion. These appraisals will not depend on the cultural variations of the people as well as the regions. IB$ is impartial towards the employees and they will be given right position and responsibilities in the company based upon their performance and the understanding levels. E-uality vs. .ierarchy The people in IB$ are considered to be e*ual and there won(t be any discrimination according to their age, se6 or the race. The cultural variations are not even ta!en into consideration when given the priority to the employees. The right people will be assigned the right wor! and they will be encouraged in the organization. the organization. S/OT (nalysis Strengths IB$, being a $3C, had its operations in all the continents on the globe and hence the management styles that are followed in the organization are of global standards. The standard policies and procedures that are followed by IB$ strictly implement a mono cultured ierarchical superiority is not given any importance in

environment in the organization. The different cultured people in the organization are the assets for the company. The most friendly environment that was created among the employees is due to the steps ta!en by the management of the company. The management styles followed by the company across the globe are globalized and hence there will not be any discrimination of the employees based upon their cultures. /ea%nesses IB$ is ac*uiring the companies across the planet so as to maintain the position of 3o. ,. In the process the companies are being absorbed into IB$ and the problem is mainly due to the different cultured environments that prevail in both the companies. The employees are not willing to change their mind set so easily due to the fear of job loss or power and hence they resist the change. IB$ doesn(t have strong rules which can control this resistance. The rules and regulations have to be changed so as to create a hostile management style to fi6 all these types of problems so as to create a single cultured environment across the company. O##ortunities IB$, being the world(s largest IT company, had trained resources to handle the multi cultural environment. #ue to the global management strategy, the company can modify the rules and regulations whenever needed the managers will do the rest of the things. The strong management of IB$ will loo! after the change in the organization with complete cooperation with the employees. The global processes of the company will allow the employees to adjust to the changes very fast. Threats The resistance from the employees is the major threat for the organization. Though IB$ is striving hard to maintain a friendly environment for the employees, they are not in a position to implement the management styles in the company due to the resistance from the employees after the ac*uisition. The integration of the employees is really a problematic for the organization to create a global structure which can wor! as a single cultured entity. 0. 1ecommendations and Solutions

In order to implement the global changes in the company, the following recommendations are to be considered a. IB$ should fre*uently analyze the management performance and should modify the styles according to the changing re*uirements. b. The human resources of the organization should be made wor! closely with the human resources of the ac*uired companies in the initial stages to improve the mutual faith and trust. c. The cultural variations are common in any industry and thus the organization should ta!e necessary steps li!e ma!ing 9nglish as the medium of communication, following the global steps to increase the transparency, providing the employees the freedom to choose their respective fields to wor! and not forcing them to wor! according to the build up pressure in meeting the deadlines. d. :olicies have to be modified to eradicate the abusiveness against the employees thus reducing the regionalism, racism and other types of discrimination. e. The corporate culture varies in different geographical locations according to the local environment and hence the employees should be trained according to the local as well as the global strategies to improve the performance as well as reduce the indifferences among the employees. f. Implementation of the global strategies for the operations is the better solution rather than designing the local strategies. This will increase the efficiency of the management in IB$. 2. 3orecasts and Outcomes ;ollowing the above recommendations, IB$ can see the effective change in the short term as well as long term. But the company will be in a healthier position if it adopts the changes for longer terms. Communication will play a major role in the effective implementation of the proposed changes. IB$ will create a friendly environment for the employees which involve the effective interaction among the different cultured environments, motivation and leadership s!ills improvement, interactions among the different groups and thus promotion of the universalism among the employees as well as the company. The more is the transparency in the management

processes, the more will be tendency of the employees to build a good company. The employees are the !ey resources of the company and they will build up even a better organization with their traits and this will be seen in the nearest future if they are treated e*ually. The different problems that arise due to the communication gap will be completely eliminated with the e*uality among the employees. 1eferences <,= all &. $anaging Cultures) $a!ing %trategic 1elationships &or!. Chichester) >ohn &iley

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