'Case Study of a Cross-Cultural Organization\r'

'Organizational mankindner Final: Clayton J. Ollarvia [email&#clx;protected] com Organizational Behavior October 4, 2012 Looking into snuggle S. A and its disconnect with Cross-ethnical converse and decisions cling to SA is a Swiss Comp either engaged in the nutrition, health and easilyness sectors. It is the holding fellowship of the nose Group, which comprises subsidiaries, associated companies and common ventures through turn out the initiation. It has such paradox units as solid food and Beverage, hold close Waters and hold close comestible. It is also dynamical in the pharmaceutical sector.It divides its products into Powdered and liquid drink fittings, Water, milk products and Ice thrash nigh, Nutrition, Prep atomic add together 18d dishes and cooking aids, Confecti starry, PetC atomic number 18 and Pharmaceutical products. The hold tight Group is managed by geographies (Z whizzs Europe, Americas and Asia/Oceania/Africa) for most of the food and beverage  business, with the exceptions of come on Waters, draw near Nutrition, Nestle Purina Petc ar, Nespresso, Nestle maestro and Nestle Health Science which argon managed on a global basis †these we c tot from each oney the glob eachy Managed chtype Aionshipes. We also gain joint ventures such as Cereal Partners Worldwide and Beverage Partners Worldwide.In regards to the operations elsewhere, Nestle USA caters to cravings on this side-of-the-Atlantic, from a childs sweet tooth to a grown-ups caffeine fix. The company is a major supplementary of Swiss food giant Nestle S. A. Nestle USA produces hundreds of rise-known food brands, including frozen pizza pie (Tombstone, DiGiorno), chocolate and candies (Baby Ruth, Goobers), beverages (Nestea, Tasters Choice, Nesquick), juices (Juicy Juice), canned milk (Carnation), ice cream (Edys, Haagan-Dazs), baking honorables (Nestle Toll House, Libbys), and prep atomic number 18d meals (Stouffers, Lean Cuisine). http://www . hoovers. com/company/Nestl%E9_USA_Inc/cysfyi-1. html Specifically where I see Nestle could benefit from representing most of the Organizational Behavior practices is in the realm of ( transit-ethnical) decision making and in Personality Traits. Nestle motives to recognize how to make decisions based upon more(prenominal) than hardly gross sales goals. A common definition of decision-making is the process of choosing a form of action for dealing with a problem or an opportunity. Schermerhorn, John R. (11/2011).Organizational Behavior, 12th Edition [1] (VitalSource Bookshelf), Retrieved from http://online. vitalsource. com/books/9781118426319/id/L9-1-1 unity of the biggest problems with Nestle is that it is indeed a global company. A majority of the Presidents and Vice-Presidents and senior staff all reside in Switzerland and travel inconsistently to former(a) countries and regions. This traveling paying back makes it hard for management to be able to stiffly know how to 1. Communicate with some former(a)s in some other countries and 2. interpret the differences in pagan mores from commonwealth to country.Moreover things that affect the miserliness in the Eastern countries does non effect the west. However, more than deally they expect things to work in equivalent if non the same counsellings from refining to socialization and economy to economy. What this problem lends itself to is a lack of crabby ethnic management and ability to agnize the captivate expressive styles to address other cultures. Although those of the Swiss culture tend to be very manner-able and well liked, practically times we would find them somewhat unrelenting and moderately rude on conference calls and colloquys.A large faction of what I saw was miscues from four-in- pass alongs not being able to communicate across assorted ethnic and cultural lines. This was even more evident with regional managers having to circulate information to retail op erations across the gross profit and into other geographies. After going through all of our upcoming TCO’s I would like to check out how stipulation an reason of the communication process and given particular proposition incidents of cross-cultural communication problems, I platform to amaze a strategy for improving organisational performance through the improvement of cross cultural management process. Nestle should first look at adopting a very extensive guide to cross cultural sensory faculty * All managers should be privy(p) to cross cultural communication programs to ensure respectfulness with cultural guidelines At the beginning of every cross-cultural management process is an combat amid dickens or more members of disparate cultures. In this encounter both musicians communicate, watch, and react to each other’s behavior. This behavior and communication is often not construe in the correct way, alone according to the cultural program of the ob server.Because it is dif? cult to understand the other’s theorizeing, interpretation is often wrong and does not bear insights into the attitudes and c be fors of the communicators or moveions. Culture can stovepipe be described through three important c at a timepts: determine, attitudes, and behavior. All three reduceify culture and hold us to several(predicate)iate from other cultures. A stick with of current literature consistently indicates that the contemporary business context is globally interdependent and interconnected.It further expresss that integrated blow overers should provide opportunities for their managers in planetary as auguryments to wear upon cross-cultural business etiquette in order that they get out excel in their interpersonal relationship overseas. (Sizoo, 2007, p. 84) organism that Nestle has so many plants, locations and does business in over 100 countries worldwide, one could argue that it would be essential to feel multi cu ltural norms and ethics guidelines. passim my tenure, the main focus of the organization was to produce sales based upon projections from Head Quarters.This can be problematical seeing as anticipations for sales is not burden based upon the social economy. cross-cultural mis understandings often have some seemingly deep roots. Even if we verbalise with peck in English and communicate promptly what we intend to say, the message comes across contrastingly than anticipated. Recognizing the need for a Nestle cultural program would be a dif? cult task. Most tribe are born and bred in a very concomitant cultural environment, they can only if perceive and understand the world, their deeds, and counterparts’ reactions through their very own cultural aspect.This perspective is a strong ? lter through which most pack understand, interpret, and process information in a grouchy way. And in most cases, these same people do not recognize this ? lter. Our own culture and way of insideng business seems sovereignly consistent and â€Å"normal” that we can simply think of a better or contrary way of doing things and managing in ? rms. I would argue that this watch out is also true for managers who grew up on the other side of the world; they have their own (very logical and often very successful) ideas almost how to do business.A good portion of cross cultural misunderstandings come from how people think and feel about other cultures, which I would argue is made up cosmopolitanly of stereotypes. Stereotypes are generalisations ch group Aion us to simplify, classify and in general attempt to make sense of the world. They occur when we empathise qualities about a person based on evidence of a single characteristic. For example, we whitethorn assume that because someone is Hindu that they work in the IT department. This surmisal is likely to be based on our antecedent incur of people with Hindu people or from information we have ga on that p ointd from the media or other people.The problem is of course that stereotypes do not ever apply. It is certainly not the case that all Hindu people work in information technology. We are most likely to hold stereotypes about groups of people who we do not perceive to be like us and of whom we have limited experience. It is essential for a company the size and with as much touch on as Nestle to be able to understand the negative aspects of both behaviors of cross-cultural misunderstandings and avoid stereotypes and mulct how to cross-culturally manage both organizationally and or on the institutional level.I would argue that this means having enough knowingness of both their host culture and their home culture to be able to make correct managerial decisions regarding its organization’s work force, its commercial markets, the company in which it operates, and the country, which is its host. A good example of Nestle’s non-understanding of cross cultural awareness is the all but forgotten Nestle Infant Nutrition scandal of the 1970’s. here(predicate) Nestle sent several(prenominal) of its work-force into three world countries in order to refer their infant nutrition.Now at the time the formula was doing well in countless other countries and was practically evanescent off the shelves. However, one of the KEY necessities for the formula was for it to be added to water. Being that at the time no one in Switzerland chose to know enough about these third world locations to see that the water that they had access to was wildly polluted and all but poisonous to undersize children. If Nestle had taken steps in preparing managers for planetary assignments, they would have been abreast of cultural sensitivity, understanding the grandness of maintaining business relationships, and impression management.They should be informed about the complexities in international cultures and human resources management The way people communicate varies wide ly surrounded by, and even indoors, cultures. One aspect of communication style is phrase usage. crossways cultures, some words and phrases are use in different ways. For example, even in countries that share the English language, the meaning of â€Å"yes” varies from â€Å"whitethornbe, Ill consider it” to â€Å"definitely so,” with many dark glasses in between. (http://www. pbs. org/ampu/crosscult. html) This theory alone is what makes having a feasible and understandable guidelines for multi-cultural communication.We leave admit that the difficulty in crafting such a document would be not only time consuming but also, mettlesomely tiring as in order to name such guidelines one would have to familiarize themselves with hundreds of different cultures at any given time, however I would argue that a successful guidelines would not just solely be based on the particularised interactions of each country but instead be focused on a general understanding of how managers and ALL employees should seek to treat each other across local, national and especially international lines.The comminuted process of making decisions, reaching mutual agreements, and grammatical construction consensus has taken a new dimension because of differences in business etiquette and ethical practices. Cross-cultural awareness skills and interpersonal negotiation competence are a pre-requisite to effective management of a multination workforce. (Okoro, 2012, p. 132) Cross-cultural awareness encourages the wisdom of cultural differences season also noting similarities through which communication, understanding and relationships can be forged. The following points reflect the value of gaining a stronger sense of cross-cultural awareness:Reduces misunderstandings and enhances confide • Understanding and trust can be deepened when each administration is more aware of how its and the other government’s cultural background influence their percepti ons, values and decisions. Aids in planning, setting goals and problem answer • Each organization can plan and problem solve more effectively as they depart be more attentive to what is important to them and the other party Communication, though variously defined, generally describes a process by which information is exchanged among twain or more people in a given context.Ultimately, this process of exchanging information is bound by a purpose: that is, to reduce uncertainty and develop a common understanding among the participants (Kawar, 2012). Cross ethnic communication is another(prenominal) area that I reckon Nestle could immensely benefit from on a global scale. Not all too mingled to that of awareness communication allows you to take what you know via that of awareness and be able to translate those things into how you speak and interact with you clients worldwide.Success or failure in managing a various or multicultural workforce more often than not depends on the ability of managers to communicate effectively with people from different backgrounds and nationalities. transnational business is the outgrowth of globalization, which is driven to begin with by economic interdependency and advances in technology, but the success in global business ventures volition be affected by the inability of international managers to understand appropriate business etiquette, tradition, and values ask to conduct business among nations of the world. (Okoro, 2012, p. 132)Okoro assesses that management and communication scholars have consistently argued that the success of managers on international assignments depends largely on effective cross-cultural communication. Because of its importance, a number of high-growth organizations competing globally make a conscious parkway to hire multi-lingual people from varied cultural backgrounds and nationalities. Here in particular is a place of great opportunity for Nestle to grow importantly. Having a manage r in play that is already familiar with the customs and languages of the area is vitally important to the success and boilers suit outcome of the business.Now the issue comes into play is that while Nestle does have staff all around the world in numerous countries that are indigenous to those specific areas, they still have a strong expectation and in some ways an imposing will on those people. How does that affect the communication process? sanitary If in any given country it is ill-mannered to wags one finger as they speck in so far that practice is customary in Switzerland, that in and about itself makes for very difficult deliberations. Cross- cultural communications problems may occur if all individuals within a squad do not use the same language, nor norms.In these situations, for ease of communication, the team often chooses a common language that they can use for group communications. Communication differences between individuals can occur on several different levels b ut for the sake of consistency I will use the finger example I used in the previous paragraph: Gestures form a significant part of methods of communication. However, there are some if any universal gestures. Non-verbal behaviours or ‘body language qualify considerably from one culture to another.For example, a high level of eye contact is considered a sign of attentiveness in some cultures and a sign of rudeness in others. In some cultures individuals are encouraged to express their emotions openly, while in others openly demonstrating feelings is discouraged. These differences in body language can lead to misunderstandings between people of different cultural backgrounds. Norms are culturally defined rules for determining acceptable and appropriate behavior (Okoro) They include those that govern social situations and conversational routines such as greetings, making requests, and expressing various emotions.In intercultural communication interlocutors may be tempted to tran sfer their cultural norms to contexts that are not appropriate In conjunction with this Sizoo states that, while some organizations recognize the importance of international business, knowledge and development programs often deal inadequately with the authorization conflicts that result from cross-cultural interactions. Too often this learning addresses only the cognitive levelâ€focusing on the dos and don’ts. When managers pursue careers in international business they must prepare for a animation in a impertinent cognitive, affective, and behavior context.That preparation must include learning cross-cultural considerations intellectually, emotionally, and experientially. I believe that Sizoo’s outline for effective communication training is as draw. I. Cross Cultural interrogate II. Handling a Cross Cultural situation With Cross Cultural interviews the gist of it is each participant interviews one extraneouser who is from a culture different from his or he r own, and whom he or she has never met before. This manipulation provides experience and builds skills at the first deuce levels of cross-cultural management, self and interpersonal.This orientation into cultural norms will help management better decipher different cultures and how to geological fault the ice. I have seen the contrary of this especially within Nestle in the early stages of my career. In two distinctly different interactions with management I was told, once that my manager had never worked with an African American man and that he needed to adjust how he communicated since there may be a barrier between us. In a different interaction another manager, while speaking with an Asian coworker said hey I love Chinese food, can you make any by yourself.Having to initiate and manage an interaction with foreign stranger addresses the emotional challenges of developing cross-cultural expertise. With use cross-cultural events Sizoo states that, each cultural incident describ es a realistic cross-cultural misunderstanding, four plausible explanations for the misunderstanding, and an evaluation of each explanation. In this activity trainees discuss and demonstrate the cross-cultural incidents. The emphasis is on having participants project themselves into the scenario so they â€Å"experience” the cultural conflict motionally as well as intellectually. This type of training could be paramount in helping managers overcome communication problems that may arise while dealing with a cross-cultural organization. I use the example of the formula flogging once again here. I would argue that although no one could have readily predicted that such a tragedy would have occurred, if managers were teach on how to withdraw problems culturally then I would argue that the explosion of public opinion would not have happened.Being high prepared to deal with cultures is one of the key fundamental necessities of any successful business. Now while Nestle was abl e to finally recover if people had been trained in this process a bit preferably than, again perhaps things would not have escalated to the points that they did. through with(predicate) this process managers would learn how to accept the virtual inevitability of making some cross-cultural errors, but not to accept repeating the errors. They would also learn that errors in appropriate behavior are far worsened than mere inability to speak the host country language.The participants further learn to strategically recover in such situations and soon afterwards seek out explanation of their cross-cultural error from a member of the host culture. The key take away with this exploit is that management learns how to develop and over time eventually master communicating cross-culturally in hostile environments. inside the cross-cultural news portion of the exercise, managers would be requisite to find a newspaper or cartridge clip article that describes an American work organization ad apting, or having difficulty in adapting, to the culture of a foreign country.Participants present an analysis of the cross-cultural differences to the group as a whole and explain why the American organization was successful or unsuccessful in resolving its cross-cultural differences. This allows for managers to get firsthand experience of a similar company to Nestle (ideally) and go some of the struggles that they are currently experiencing. This first hand ensures that managers will be able to not only potentially defuse similar situations in the proximo but even potentially understand the communication process in order to better promote a smoother transition to other cultures.In cross-cultural communication, anxiety and uncertainty are heightened by cultural variability. If the differences between cultures are profound, anxiety and uncertainty would adjoin when members of the different cultural groups engage in cross-cultural communication. In the same way that theories such as The Theory of Communicative Competence (as described by T. A. McCarthy) suggests that cross-cultural norms practices etc should be taught in schools, is the same was one could argue that cross-cultural communication should be taught by all those organizations, similar to Nestle that have offices all other across the globe.With both of these initiatives I would think that Nestle would be able to propel itself by leaps and bounds over cross-cultural boundaries. And yes to be bonny Nestle has moved to rectify SOME of the issues outlined in this expose, however again I do believe that there does still exist some behavior and speech that is not conducive to the cross-cultural atmosphere. 1. Schermerhorn, John R. (11/2011). Organizational Behavior, 12th Edition [1] (VitalSource Bookshelf), Retrieved from http://online. vitalsource. com/books/9781118426319 2. Sizoo, S. , Serrie, H. & Shapero, M. (2007). Revisiting a Theory-Supported Approach to Teaching Cross-Cultural oversight S kills. Journal Of Teaching In International Business,18(2/3), 83-99. doi:10. 1300/J066v18n02_0 3. Okoro, E. (2012). Cross-Cultural Etiquette and Communication in Global Business: Toward a Strategic Framework for Managing Corporate Expansion. International Journal Of Business & Management, 7(16), 130-138. doi:10. 5539/ijbm. v7n16p130 4. Kawar, T. (2012). Cross-cultural Differences in Management. International Journal Of Business & Social Science, 3(6), 105-111.\r\n'