Identification and Critical Analysis of the Cultural Dimensions - Coursework Example

Other Topic Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Introduction 3 Identification and Critical Analysis of the Cultural Dimensions 4 Power Distance 4 Individualism 5 Masculinity 6 Uncertainty Avoidance Index 7 Long Term Orientation 7 Critical Analyses of the Issues With Regard To International Management and Expatriation 8 Recommendations Pertaining to the Recruitment of Expatriates and Their Success in the Host Nation 11 Reduction of Power Distance 11 Reduction of Uncertainty Avoidance 12 Increase in Long Term Orientation 13 Conclusion 15 References 16 Introduction Solartron Group is a cluster of organizations that focuses on three forms of business entities. These comprise Solartron ISA, Solartron Analytical and Solartron Metrology. The business entity Solartron ISA focuses on energy sector. Solartron Analytical concentrates on serving material analysis. Simultaneously, Solartron Metrology emphasizes inspection and quality control. The objectives of the group are to maintain higher quality of services and products. It also focuses on providing high precision measurements to several other organizations of manufacturing and energy process. Solartron group has its presence in several nations of the world. However, Solartron Kenya was noted to possess some of the cultural complexities. The organization is identified to be facing stiff challenges in adapting the cultural dimensions of the nation. These differences in the cultural dimension of the nation from the perspective of Solartron group have lead to the downfall of the efficiency and effectiveness in terms of conducting business operations. It also led to the formation of several internal issues within the organization. The management of the organization is also recognized to face challenges in the management of expatriation, as the managers or employees expatriated to Kenya have issues for various factors that include language and culture among others as practiced in the headquarter of the company i.e. located in Canada. This has simultaneously led to the failure of attaining the goal of the organization in the nation. Thus, it is very important from the perspective of the management of the organization to resolve the issues in order to ensure that business operations are performed on the basis of desired objectives. This would correspondingly lead to the increase in the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization that would assist it to attain its long-term goals in the nation (Solartron Group, 2009). Contextually, the objective of the essay is to identify the cultural dimensions of Kenya and thereby, critically analyze to identify the issues of Solartron in terms of expatriation. In addition, certain recommendations are formulated with the intention of mitigating the cultural issues faced by the company in Kenya. Identification and Critical Analysis of the Cultural Dimensions According to Hofstede (1984), five dimensions of culture are generally observed in an organization. These five dimensions include power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance index, and long-term orientation. These five dimensions are also equally applicable to the organization i.e. Solartron in Kenya. Power Distance Power distance is one of the major cultural dimensions of a nation. Power distance defines the degree of inequality among the people within a nation or an organization. In a power distance index, higher value of the index signifies the degree of inequality among the people. It also signifies the uneven or unequal distribution of power among the citizens of a nation. On the other hand, lower index of power distance signifies equal distribution of power among the people. The degree of power distance is very important factor from the perspective of a multinational organization like Solartron in order to reach its goal and objectives. Majority of the multinational organizations prefer to execute business in nation that has lower or satisfying power distance (Hofstede, 1984). Contextually, Solartron has the objective of executing successful business operations in Kenya. In this regard, it is important to consider the power distance of the nation. It is observed that the power distance of Kenya is very high. It is also identified that there is a significant uneven or unequal distribution of power among the people. This high power distance among the people of Kenya has led to the creation of inequality among the people. It is also viewed that Kenya has significant power distances among several castes or culture in the nation. Moreover, it is important to note that Kenya is one of such nations in the world that have presidential form of governance. The president of the nation has the supreme power of controlling the armed forces, civil service, judiciary system, and others (Hopkins, 2012; Solartron Group, 2009). Individualism Individualism is another major cultural dimension, which is also of significant consideration from the perspective of a multinational organization like Solartron. In this regard, a high individualism index signifies majority of the people to be self-oriented. On the other hand, a low individualism index implies higher connectivity to the community. From the perspective of an organization like Solartron, it is very important to execute business process in a low individualism culture. The prime reason behind this is that lower individualism in a culture signifies of higher team cohesion and effectiveness (Hofstede, 1984). Contextually, Kenya possesses different ethnic groups, which accounts for more than 70 in the present day context. However, it also observed that these ethnic groups have a strong inter caste and intra caste bonding. This suggests of higher collectivism among the people of Kenya. Although there have been rare evidences of some of the communal riots in the nation, still the nation and the people has significant bonding within their community. This lower individualism among the people of Kenya encourages Solartron to execute its business process with better effectiveness (Kitayama & Cohen, 2010; Solartron Group, 2009). Masculinity One of the major cultural dimensions from the perspective of an international organization is the masculinity index. High masculinity index signifies male dominating society. The women are restricted from the participation of several community programs and an organization. It is also observed that higher masculinity also denotes the separate work environment and job role for men and women (Hofstede, 1984). It is recognized that most of the organizations like Solartron prefers of lower masculinity index. In this regard, it is observed that Kenya is one of such nations in the world that do not have higher degree of masculinity. It is evident in Kenya that the women in the nation are not deprived of any of the social rights. The women of the nation have equal opportunity to work independently along with men. In several instances, it is observed that the female members of a family in Kenya undertake the responsibility of their family. The female members contribute equally in the earnings of their family. Thus, from the perspective of Solartron, the low masculinity index of the nation encourages to execute its business process in a better-coordinated manner (Solartron Group, 2009; Uchendu, 2008). Uncertainty Avoidance Index Uncertainty avoidance is the degree of anxiety that the people of a community exerts during uncertain circumstances. In this regard, a nation with high uncertainty avoidance index signifies people of the nation to avoid ambiguous situations. It is observed that majority of the international organizations of the world prefer to execute their businesses in a nation or a community that has lower uncertainty avoidance index. The reason behind this is that higher uncertainty avoidance index implies higher avoidance of the investors, distributors, suppliers, and others in terms of their association with an organization (Hofstede, 1984). Contextually, Kenya is one of such nations in the world that has comparatively higher uncertainty avoidance index. The people of the nation are more inclined in avoiding uncertain circumstances. However, the intensity of uncertainty avoidance is not as high as compared nations like Greece, Portugal, Uruguay and Belgium among others. It is identified in Kenya that majority of the people of the nation believes in living in the present. Considering the moderate uncertainty avoidance index of Kenya, Solartron would be satisfied in executing business process in the nation. However, the organization also needs to implement certain strategies to execute its business effectively in the moderate uncertainty avoidance culture (Jared, 2014; Solartron Group, 2009). Long Term Orientation Another cultural dimension of significant importance for an international organization like Solartron is the long-term orientation. In this regard, higher long-term orientation denotes of higher consciousness for future planning and stability. People provide more importance to long-term goals then short-term objectives. Higher long-term orientation index also denotes greater sustainable development of people or a community (Hofstede, 1984). Contextually, Kenya is one of such nations that have lower long orientation index. This is prominently because of the fact that the people are present day oriented and believe that there is nothing after death. Thus, they provide more importance to short term objectives then long term sustainable development. Hence, from the perspective of Solartron, the lower long-term orientation index greatly discourages in executing its business in the nation (Solartron Group, 2009; Jackson, 2004). Critical Analyses of the Issues With Regard To International Management and Expatriation The phenomenon of globalization has offered modern organizations with numerous opportunities to expand their businesses across the international domain. The expansion of the MNCs has further resulted in an increase movement of human capital across the globe. Alongside, MNCs in order to attain greater competitiveness at the global business domain are continuously involved in identifying and recruiting right people capable of managing and operating the businesses in the overseas locations. However, in several occasions, expatriate assignments are determined to fail causing widespread financial and other intangible losses to the organizations. Nevertheless, it can be argued that working in overseas locations in culturally different country is often challenging. In this regard, lack of cultural knowledge and language along with difficulties to adjust in the local culture creates huge problems for the expatriates, which at times eventually contributed to the failure of expatriate assignments (Kraimer & et. al., 2009). Given the case study of Solartron, it has been determined that the joint venture between Solartron Canada with Solartron Kenya has resulted in emergence of serious problems for Solartron Canada. In this regard, the first major issue faced by the company includes the identification and recruitment of the right expatriate manager who can manage its operations in the overseas location of Kenya effectively. Notably, Mr. Pierre Blondeau who has been employed as an expatriate manager in the Solartron Kenya is faced with problems of adjusting in the Kenyan culture. It is worth mentioning that Pierre when arrives to Kenya from Canada experience the clash of culture due to the differences in Canadian and Kenyan cultures. In addition, adjustment of family or spouse in the culturally different country is ascertained to be equally important, which have radical influence on the success of expatriates in the host country. The failure of the expatriates’ spouse to adjust is often related to the expatriates’ failure. The difficulties faced by family or spouse of expatriates to adjust in the host country leads to the generation of feeling. Wherein expatriates feel that their family or spouse are unable to avail the spare time opportunities or cannot make new acquaintance or friend, which act as a strong determinant for the success of expatriates in the host country (Ghafoor & Khan, 2011). Similarly, it has been identified from the given case that Pierre’s wife also faced with the challenges of language hassles and problems of adjusting with the people living in neighborhood. Increasing workload is further observed to result in influencing the mental health of expatriates. Accordingly, the expatriates are identified to experience an episode of mental stress due to the increasing work pressure, which adversely influenced their performance in the host country while reducing the level of motivation (Jedin & Abidin, 2013). Evidently, the increase workload on Pierre immediately after his arrival to Kenya has provided him no time to spend time to understand the differences in Canadian and Kenyan cultures, which has further contributed towards increasing cultural problem for him. In addition, Pierre surrounded by numerous problems was unable to make proper management of time while working in the culturally different country. Effective communication is extremely important for performing business activities efficiently. Engaging in interaction with customers and suppliers often requires expatriates to communicate in local language and their inability to communicate tends to create problems for the expatriates as well as the company. In this regard, knowledge regarding the cultural differences and language are essential factors for ensuring the success of expatriates’ assignment in the overseas locations (Selmer, 2006). Notably, Pierre and his wife were identified to face serious problems of culture and language, which have adverse impact on the ability of Pierre and his wife to adapt to the Kenyan culture. The lack of adequate support provided to expatriates and their family by the head office further tends to reduce the ability of the expatriates to adjust and adapt to the host country culture effectively. Notably, basic amenities such as transportation facility and housing are also determined to influence the expatriates’ commitment to render their services efficiently in the host country. Alongside, it has been observed that lack of appropriate transportation and housing facility causes expatriates to feel downhearted, which tends to negatively impact the expatriates willingness to perform the assigned job role in the efficient manner (Adler & Rigg, 2012). In the like manner, Pierre who has been migrated from Canada to Kenya as a solar engineer relatively had high expectation regarding the accommodation facility that would be arranged by the company, but when he arrives to Kenya, he experienced dwindling expectation, which eventually dampened his motivation level. Besides, the problems pertaining to transportation has further resulted to arousal of more problems for Pierre. Recommendations Pertaining to the Recruitment of Expatriates and Their Success in the Host Nation Reduction of Power Distance Reduction of power distance is a major factor that contributes to the attraction of the international organizations like Solartron. In this regard, it is essential that the nation should transform into a complete democratic nation. Moreover, from the perspective of Solartron, it is important that the organization must acknowledge the leader’s power. The organization must also oblige with the rules and regulations of the nation. It is vital that the organization provide appropriate training as well as development services (Uchendu, 2008). In addition, before the departure of the expatriates to the host country, Solartron Canada should have also designed training and development programs necessary for increasing the ability of the expatriates to withstand the cultural shock after their arrival to host country. In this regard, the training and development activities should include certain important elements such as awareness of cultural differences, acquisition of knowledge, along with specific skills training. The incorporation of these elements in the training and development program for expatriates facilitates in increasing the competency of expatriates to deal with the cultural shock efficiently (Selmer, 2005). Reduction of Uncertainty Avoidance Reduction of uncertainty avoidance is also an important factor that contributes Solartron to attain its goal. In this regard, it is important that the organization and its employees must be focus in the expectations and parameters needed to perform operations in different cultural scenario. The organizations and its stakeholders must consider their internal strength and weakness and equally concentrate on the external factors like opportunities and threats. This would lead to appropriate execution of plans and strategies, which would lead to reduction of uncertainty avoidance (Jared, 2014). Notably, there are numerous factors, which are extremely crucial for the international management of human capital. In this regard, knowledge about cultural differences and proficiency in the cross-cultural communication are vital components for expatriates to adjust and adapt in the overseas location. Nevertheless, these factors cannot be achieved overnight; it requires a company to design programs and strategies that would facilitate in imparting adequate understanding regarding the cultural differences as well as make expatriates competent in developing cross-cultural communication (Adler & Rigg, 2012). The companies in order to reduce the chances of failure of expatriates’ assignment are first required to recruit the candidates having substantial skills and ability. Often organizations consider the corporate needs, but fail to recognize the needs of the candidates, which in later stages result to the failure of expatriates’ assignment. It is thus imperative to determine the needs of both an organization and candidate while making recruitment decision for expatriates. In addition, it is also crucial for a company to select the candidates after reviewing and examining the candidate’s skills and capability to adjust in the culturally different country. In this regard, it is vital for the companies to consider certain paradigm before making selection of expatriates. Therefore, the selection criteria employed by Solartron Canada should have involved assessment of candidate’s ability to make independent decision, ability to control the local culture and the ability of social networking (Cheng & Lin, 2008). Increase in Long Term Orientation Increase in the long-term orientation and sustainability of the employees is an important aspect that contributes to the attainment of long-term goal of Solartron Kenya. In this regard, it is essential that the stakeholders of Solartron must realize the importance of living in same standard throughout the life. Moreover, it is also recommended that the organization must not hesitate in introducing desirable changes for the long-term benefit to its stakeholders. In addition, the expatriates should be provided with the opportunity to interact with internal as well as external stakeholders, so that a better bondage in development throughout the organization (Jackson, 2004). In addition, the company should have further ensured adequate support to the expatriate and should have made proper arrangement for expatriates (Adler & Rigg, 2012). Notably, such endeavor of the company increases the willingness and commitment level of expatriates to perform the assigned tasks dedicatedly. Correspondingly, precise recommendations for the company have been provided below. The company would have selected the expatriate who has control ability to deal effectively with the Kenyan culture The selected expatriate should have substantial skills and capabilities to adjust in the overseas locations having different culture and language The expatriate should have ample understanding regarding the Kenyan culture The company should have allotted time for adjusting in the Kenyan culture Source (Adler & Rigg, 2012; Cheng & Lin, 2008; Selmer, 2005). Conclusion To recapitulate, it has been observed that Solartron Canada after entering into the joint venture has been faced with numerous challenges and problems, particularly with respect to the management of human capital in the Kenyan culture. The major issues or the problems faced by the company are predominately related to the element of expatriates. Accordingly, Mr. Pierre Blondeau who has been employed as an expatriate manager in the Solartron Kenya is identified to encounter serious problems after his arrival to Kenya, which has raised challenges for the company as well. In this regard, it has been observed that Pierre has faced with the problems of adjusting in the local culture of Kenya. Cultural and language differences have been the prominent challenges faced by him. Besides, increased work pressure immediately after his arrival to Kenya has further created worsening situation for him coupled with increased stressed level and dampened motivation level. Lack of support from the head office and poor housing condition along with difficulties faced by his spouse has negatively influenced his willingness to perform his job role in the culturally different country. In this regard, few relevant recommendations were drawn for Solartron to overcome the challenges faced by the expatriates. Notably, it has been suggested to the company to select the expatriates who have substantial control ability to dominant the host culture. Besides, examining the skills prior to the selection of employees for transferring in the culturally different nation, it has been suggested to the company to involve expatriates’ training and development programs as well as assess their competency level to ensure the success of expatriates’ assignment. References Adler, H. & Rigg, J., 2012. Expatriate Hotel General Managers in Jamaica: Perceptions of Human Resource, Organizational, and Operational Challenges. J Hotel Bus Manage, Vol.1, No.1, pp. 2-9. Cheng, H. & Lin, C. Y. Y., 2008. Do as The Large Enterprises Do? Expatriate Selection and Overseas Performance in Emerging Markets: The case of Taiwan SMEs. International Business Review, Vol.18, pp. 60-75 Ghafoor, S. & Khan, U. F., 2011. 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