ORGANIZATION CULTURE CHALLENGES IN MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES
Name: Ibrahim Matar Mohammad Hassan Al Malih
Student Number: 2846603
Course: TBS 981 Managing in Multinational Companies
Lecturer: Dr. Ritu Seghal
Institution: University of Wollongong in Dubai
City and the State: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Date: 03rd April 2012
Organization Culture Challenges in Multinational Companies
Introduction
Because multi-national companies employ staff from a variety of national cultures they face more challenges in developing a cohesive and inclusive organizational culture than domestic companies do. This statement can be proved considering Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory. Multinational companies are companies operating in more than one country. Companies enter international markets so that they can improve their sales hence boosting their profits, get cheaper source of raw materials and increase their market share (Ajami and Godard 2006). However, these companies face a challenge of developing a cohesive and inclusive organization culture. Organization culture refers to patterns, values and ways of coping with experiences that develop during the history of the organization and are followed by all the members of the organization (Johnston 2008). This essay shows how Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory explains the cultural difference between staff from different nations. It later presents the argumentation on how multi-national companies face the challenge of developing cohesive and inclusive organization culture. Lastly, it gives real life examples on this issue.
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory shows the challenges multinational companies face in managing staff from different cultures. He conducted an IBM survey study in order to prove a comprehensive model arguing people from different cultures of the world tend to differ in six dimensions of value. These dimensions include power,...