Home Furniture Management - Case Study Example

HOME FURNITURE MANAGEMENT College Home Furniture Management In the 21st century, many business organizations have laid downstrategies to the international market in an effort to increase their business profitability. As domestic markets become saturated, most business firms create an international strategy to invest in growing markets for their products. While new market segments provide organizations with opportunities to grow, they pose a great challenge to the management and these challenges may lead to the failure of these organizations. International market segments have unique business characteristics, customer demands, regulations and cultural differences. In principle, international markets require unique approaches due to the variation in market characteristics. Home Furniture Ltd is one of the business organizations that have expanded its business strategy in the international market in an effort to increase its profits. In these new markets, the organization has faced the challenges of deploying effective leadership in a multi-cultural environment. For the organization to position itself in this business market, it is crucial to re-strategize and develop effective leadership strategies desired in the modern business environment (Stahl & Brannen, 2013). A close analysis of the organizational management in Home Furniture ltd will reveal the weaknesses and the strategies that can be used to realign the organization in the international market. Globalization and cross-cultural management are terms that emerged as a result of organizations efforts to expand their business operations in the international market. Business globalization has many advantages to the organization and this is why many organizations are pushing their operations in the international market. Global strategy helps organizations to take advantage of emerging market segments where business potential is higher than in local markets. This provides an opportunity for the organization to optimize their profits by investing in rapidly growing markets. Also, globalization helps organizations to increase its customers which will have a positive impact on the performance of the organization. As competition becomes severe in local markets, organizations are pushed to invest in geographical markets to ensure that they survive the severity of this competition. However, the international business market has many risk factors that threaten new market entrants. First, the cultural factors influence business strategy. In the international market, the organizations has to work with different cultural attributes that influence the not only the customer tastes and preferences but also the employee performance (Bhagat et al, 2012). On this note, a multinational company needs to develop a leadership strategy that suits the cultural tastes of the new markets. As Home Furniture Ltd launches its international strategies in North America, Arab and Asian countries, the matter of cross-cultural management is crucial for the survival of this organization in these markets. The three market segments are distinct and characterized by different cultural behaviors. For instance, in North America, the organization should anticipate to have a multicultural work environment. In Asia countries on the other hand, it is common that the locals are less familiar with the English language (Clark & Vemuri, 2008). As a result, the cultural factor is expected to influence the business performance in various ways. First, the cultural factor is likely to be replicated in the work environment, hence impacting on the cohesive behavior of the work group. One issue that is likely to arise is the issue of communication among the work mates. The idea of the British manager to implement English language communication may be way out of place in this organization. In Arabian countries where English is not common, introduction of English language is likely to affect communication among employees as well as customers. As such, this is likely to affect the worker cohesion which is essential for business success. For an organization to perform in a cross-cultural environment, effective team work is essential. From this point of view, Home Furniture Ltd needs to implement cross-cultural management to ensure that the employees’ performance is optimal. When entering a new market segment, it is crucial for an organization to conduct a thorough research on the cultural characteristics of the particular market environment and the way this influences business. A thorough market research is crucial to establish the possible effects of culture on the performance of the employees and customer attitudes. To overcome these challenges, Home Furniture Ltd needs to focus on the formation of cohesive multicultural work groups. To develop efficient work groups, the organization needs to provide effective communication channels at all levels of organizational. Communication ensures that each person in the organization has the freedom to express themselves in the best way possible. The efficiency of the communication channels determines the extent to which team members are able to come together and agree on issues (Fatima Oliveira, 2013). On this note, the language of communication should be chosen depending on employee characteristics; it should be one that every employee is able to understand and communicate efficiently. Streamlining communication will open the opportunity for teams to develop a strong relationship despite their cultural differences. Additionally, it is crucial for the organization to enhance cultural integration within its business network. Cultural integration allows people from different cultural environments to come together and share in a positive manner. On this basis, the organization should foster cohesion in the organization but giving the employee the opportunity to understand each other to ensure that they can get along much smoothly. For instance, the organization is likely to face great challenge in handling the Asian market where rigid religious believes affect worker cohesion. In forming multicultural work groups, the organization needs to develop an organizational culture that is fair for every person irrespective of their cultural and religious heritages (Eisenberg et al, 2013). One way that Home Furniture Ltd should enhance cultural integration is by providing social functions that will allow come together and interact freely so that they learn from each other. This way, member of the workgroups will come together to form close relationships that will foster their cohesion. Secondly, the organization must prepare to handle intercultural crisis that are likely to emerge in such business markets. Remaining culturally neutral is the only way that the human resource management in Home Furniture ltd can prepare to handle cultural issues that emerge among workgroups. The human resource should ensure that all employees understand the organizational goals and that it is the role of each member of the team to contribute in the development of these goals. Leadership style in cross-cultural business environment varies from one market segment to the other. As Home furniture Ltd operates in different cultural environments, leadership competencies are necessary for the organization to survive in these markets. Adler & Gunderson (2008). state that global competency is necessary in foreign business markets. One the necessary characteristic for global leaders is that they must understand the value of behavioral approach in the business environment. Since cultural is expressed in unique behavior among employees, managers must be able to detect these behaviors and develop strategies to induce healthy organizational behavior. Secondly, leaders in foreign markets must be able to utilize employee feedback in developing corrective actions within the organization. As employee express themselves through the open communicational channels, the leaders should utilize this information to foster effective organizational behavior in the organization. Ability to develop corporate training programs will assist leaders to develop competence within their employee network and establish strong work groups. Effective leadership in foreign business markets will allow organizations to position themselves within the new business environment. In the international markets where Home furniture ltd has invested have different cultural attributes that can need to be addressed using different leadership styles. For instance, the Asian markets are characterized by strong cultural attributes that are hard for managers to tackle. Notably, unlike other market segments, the Asian and Arabian citizens are more resistant to cultural changes and will maintain their cultural attitudes even in the employment sector (Syed & Özbilgin, 2010). Most of these cultures feel that the western cultures are more superior and that they dominate the employment sector. To fight inferiority complex, human resource managers should provide motivative leadership to foster the morale of these employees at work. They should help to see themselves as equal human beings in the work environment. On the other hand, North American markets are characterized by complex cultural structures that affect employee cohesion. The employee population in North America comprises of many different cultures and Home furniture leaders must approach the complex employee behavior. However, the employees in this environment are less attached to their cultures and transformative leadership would help to change worker attitudes (Szkudlarek et al, 2013). In this view, Home Furniture Company should apply different leadership styles in their different target market segments. Diversity management is one of the issues that have come up in the 21st century international markets. Human rights activists have pushed for global diversity management strategies in the international business environment as part of their commitment to ensure that people are not discriminated on the basis of the gender, race, culture, religion or even colour (Erlenkamp, 2007). The main objective of diversity management strategies is to ensure that all citizens in the world are provided with equal chances of developing and growing despite the characteristic differences that exist among them. For an organization to maintain its corporate image in the international business environment, it is crucial to pay attention to the diversities that exist within the environment they operate. To design an effective diversity management, Home Furniture Company needs to identify the diverse characteristics of population in the markets that they exist. For this company, the issues of religion, culture and gender are likely to emerge within the Asian markets. On the other hand, in North America, the issues of culture and colour may arise, demanding unique diversity management strategies for each market segment. The human resource managers in Home Furniture Ltd should develop a diversity management policy to ensure that diversity issues are addresses in every market segment. First, the human resource should develop diversity strategies that are unique to their market segments. In Asian market, the issue religion should be addressed by providing freedom of worship in the work environment. For instance, those who worship on Saturdays should be allowed to do so while those who worship on Sunday should have the freedom to do so. In a technical company such as Home Furniture Ltd, gender equality is an important factor in developing a diversity management policy. To achieve this, the organization should provide equal positions and remuneration females and males. In North America where race differences have been a controversial matter, the human resource managers should consider developing a health interracial relationship. Minority groups such as black American in North America are sensitive to discrimination the human resource managers should take this consideration while designing their diversity policy (Erlenkamp, 2007). The organization should provide equal remuneration and promotion on the basis of merit and not race or colour. An effective diversity management policy will give the organization a good corporate image that is essential to attract customers into its business environment. In conclusion, the challenges of a establishing business in a cross-cultural international business environment can be overwhelming for human resource managers. While global strategy helps organization to differentiate into emerging market and take advantage of increased customer numbers, cultural issue are likely to threaten the survival of global investors. Therefore, it is crucial for organizations such as Home Furniture Ltd to develop effective cross-cultural management strategies to remain profitable in foreign business markets. The human resource managers in this organization have a role to understand the cultural issues that exist in different market and work on strategies to develop effective workgroups in these environments. Unique leadership styles are needed in for each business environment to ensure that optimal approaches are used to address the cultural issues that exist within different markets. Additionally, the issue of diversity management arises as investors venture in new business markets. Diversity management strategies ensure that organizations do not discriminate their employees and customers on the basis of their race, colour, culture, religion or even gender. On this note, Home Furniture Ltd needs to develop an effective diversity management policy to ensure that they cater for the diversity issues that exits within their business market. The success of Home Furniture Inc depends on its ability to develop cross-cultural management strategies that address the unique needs of each foreign market. Bibliography Adler, N. J., & Gundersen, A. 2008, International dimensions of organizational behavior. Mason, Ohio: Thomson/South-Western. Bhagat, R. S., Triandis, H. C., & McDevitt, A. 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