b. Multiple Cultures
The cultures of the acquired companies and the parent company may vary according to the type of work 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 acquired companies will try to resist the change, protect their own identity and hence this will result in the cultural variations. (Larsson, Risberg, 1998)
c. Different cultured people
As the MNC will be hiring the people of different cultural backgrounds, as the company will be operating in different geographical locations, the different cultures will prevail in the company. An office location in London, UK will practice different work culture when compared to the office present in Bangalore, India. The time variations, cultural variations and the work culture will affect the management styles and these styles will be confined to a particular region. Hence, the management should design a global strategy to implement a global managerial style to handle the different cultural variations.
Apart from these reasons, the possible reasons which affect the thinking of the managers in the company are:
a. Lack of awareness of the differences
The managers sometimes may not have an idea of the differences in the cultural backgrounds and hence this may result in the monopoly of the particular culture in an organization.
b. Lack of understanding
Though managers know about the cultural existence in the organization, they cannot understand the consequences 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. Unwillingness
The managers, though know 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. Lack 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 like intercultural sensitiveness, appropriate methods to handle the situations.
All 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.
4. Analysis of the situation
I have chosen the theory proposed by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner in the year 1997 to analyze the situation. According to this theory, the different value dimensions which will describe the nature of the culture in IBM are discussed in this section. The first value dimension is about the differences between the universalism and the particularism.
Universalism vs. Particularism
IBM follows universalism to define rules at the work place. The company will make use of the broad rules to fit the situation in the existing 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 work environment.
Communitarianism versus individualism
IBM encourages communitarianism which enables the employees to work as groups. The individualism will develop selfish mind among the employees and thus ruin the relationships among the employees. Hence, 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 backgrounds.
Analyzing vs. Integrating
IBM 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. "United we stand and divided we fall" will be the motto of the company in building a strong integrated team.
Inner-directed vs. Outer-directed
Inner directed will enhance the people to think and judge with their own minds and thinking will be given the utmost priority. But outer directed will reflect the real work decision making based upon the experiences of the employees. IBM, being a multi cultured company, did not encourage the inner directed rather encouraged the outer directed perspective to improve the real world experience 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 thinking will be helpful to improve the standards of the company.
Time as sequence versus Time as synchronization
Time as a sequence will make sure that all the events occur in a time sequence where as the time as a synchronization will process all the events at a single point of time. IBM 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. All the events will be synchronized in parallel such that they will be fulfilled and implemented at a particular point of time.
Achievement versus ascription
The employees in IBM 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. IBM 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.
Equality vs. Hierarchy
The people in IBM are considered to be equal and there won't be any discrimination according to their age, sex or the race. The cultural variations are not even taken into consideration when given the priority to the employees. The right people will be assigned the right work and they will be encouraged in the organization. Hierarchical superiority is not given any importance in the organization.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
IBM, being a MNC, 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 IBM strictly implement a mono cultured 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 taken 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.
Weaknesses
IBM is acquiring the companies across the planet so as to maintain the position of No. 1. In the process the companies are being absorbed into IBM 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. IBM 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 fix all these types of problems so as to create a single cultured environment across the company.
Opportunities
IBM, being the world's largest IT company, had trained resources to handle the multi cultural environment. Due 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 IBM will look 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 IBM 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 acquisition. The integration of the employees is really a problematic for the organization to create a global structure which can work as a single cultured entity.
5. Recommendations and Solutions
In order to implement the global changes in the company, the following recommendations are to be considered
a. IBM should frequently analyze the management performance and should modify the styles according to the changing requirements.
b. The human resources of the organization should be made work closely with the human resources of the acquired 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 take necessary steps like making English as the medium of communication, following the global steps to increase the transparency, providing the employees the freedom to choose their respective fields to work and not forcing them to work according to the build up pressure in meeting the deadlines.
d. Policies 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 IBM.
6. Forecasts and Outcomes
Following the above recommendations, IBM 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. IBM will create a friendly environment for the employees which involve the effective interaction among the different cultured environments, motivation and leadership skills 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 key 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 equally. The different problems that arise due to the communication gap will be completely eliminated with the equality among the employees.
References
[1] Hall W. Managing Cultures: Making Strategic Relationships Work. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 1995
[2] Larsson R., Risberg A. Cultural Awareness and National versus Corporate Barriers to Acculturation. In Gertsen, M. C., Soderberg, A., Torp, J. E. (eds.) Cultural Dimensions of International Mergers and Acquisitions. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1998. pp. 39 – 56.
[3] Richard Mead, International management: cross-cultural dimensions, blackwell publishing, UK, 2005, ISBN 0631231773
[4] Dean Tjosvold, Kwok Leung, Cross-cultural management: foundations and future, Ashgate publishing limited, England, 2003, ISBN 0754618811
[5] Forster Nick, Expatriates and the impact of cross-cultural training, Human resource management journal, Vol 19, No 3, p 63 - 78, 2000
[6] Shuchih Ernest Chang, Chin-Shien Lin, Exploring organizational culture for information security management, Industrial management and data systems, Vol 107, No 3, p 438 - 458, 2007
