SurfAid International: Leadership, Culture, Management - Essay Example

? SurfAid International: Leadership, Culture, Management and Marketing Practices for Working Multinationally. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Introduction 3 Key Problems 3 Corporate Culture vs National Culture 5 National Culture 6 Leadership 7 Conclusions and Recommendations 8 References 10 Executive Summary The given report presents an analysis of SurfAid as of an organization that reflects a specific culture. The role and achievement of the company’s leadership are presented and analyzed in view of the culture’s role in the management and marketing of the enterprise. Key problems the company had to deal with were identified and solutions to them analyzed with the help of literature review and theories of leadership, corporate and national cultures. Hofstede's cultural framework was used for determining the most problematic areas of organizational operations in relation to cultural differences between employees and end users of the services the company provides. The results of the analysis have shown that the major challenge for the organization was in transforming the national culture of service end users with the purpose of improving their life conditions. In particular, old beliefs and values had to be replaced with new ones – those that support promotion of basic sanitation norms, balanced and healthy nutrition and hygiene habits. In the process of achieving these objectives the company had to, first of all, deal with resistance to change caused by high levels of power distance and uncertainty avoidance and, secondly, reduce the score of power distance teaching the natives to grow their food and, in such a way, become somewhat closer to the other levels of the country’s society. Good organizational structure and effective leadership have been defined and determinant to the success of SurfAid initiatives. In particular, SurfAid fulfills its objectives with the help of local innovators and early adopters of change. In such a way the change is being implemented from within, thus being more effective. It is concluded that positive experience of SurfAid can be used by other international and multinational companies. Leadership and managerial practices and tools used by SurfAid can become an effective aid for other companies that have to work with local societies of high power distance and uncertainty avoidance levels. Introduction SurfAid is an international company that works in Indonesia and has affiliate structures in New Zealand, Australia and the USA (SurfAid Inernational). The Indonesia-based team deals with everyday program management activities and operations management for the company’s health, disaster preparedness, and emergency responses. Administrative and fundraising activities of the organization are fulfilled by New Zealand, Australia and the USA divisions. In addition, the company uses help of local partners and technical advisors form all the parts of the world where business operations are carried out. Strategic planning is conducted by Volunteer Affiliate Boards and an International Board of the company that support the organization internationally. Furthermore, the company cooperates with a great number of local communities, government agencies and volunteers, as well individual and corporate investors that help to fulfill the company’s mission and objectives. SurfAid was founded by Dave Jenkins, a doctor who worked for a company in Singapore before SurfAid was incorporated in New Zeland in 2000. The company was founded in cooperation with his friend form New Zeland and another one from England. This multinational team started working with the purpose of improving the life of the people of the Mentawai Islands and Nias Island. Key Problems At that time the major goal of the organization was to fight preventable diseases of the locals by means of behavior change (Pawle). The whole history of the company started with Jenkins’ understanding of the fact that many of the problems the locals had could be solved with the help of the civilized world. The greatest problem, however, was in their minds – in their culture and beliefs. People of Mentavis did not believe malaria was caused by mosquitoes, so they didn’t take any preventive measures against the insects. In the process of childbirth mothers were cutting the umbilical cord with a dirty piece of sharpened bamboo – this cause the first infection in the child’s life. Further, mothers refused to breastfeed their babies. Instead, they were feeding them with rice pudding that was suppressing the immune system. That’s why half of the children of the Mentavis were dying before the age of five. These and other problems were to be solved by SurfAid, as the founders saw it. The company experienced resistance to the ideas they were promoting. However, the resistance was decreasing with time, when people in need saw the positive results. Locals that experience such positive results and, finally, realized the need for change, become the change agents within their communities. This helped the organization to receive better results because a change is always more effective if it comes from within. Nevertheless, aligning of extremely different cultures still is one of the major challenges of the organization and this task would be even more difficult if the organization itself did not have a strong culture and values. SurfAid’s goal is to make the locals used to such basic for western civilizations concepts as basic sanitation, balanced and healthy nutrition and hygiene habits (Cassrels). Corporate Culture vs National Culture Corporate culture is an important aspect of the company’s internal environment (Business Management Club, 2010). Alvesson (2002) even argues that the cultural dimension of an organization is central in all the aspects of organizational performance. Even in those companies that pay little attention to cultural issues, the thoughts, values and behaviors of the employees are heavily influenced by both national and organizational culture even if it is not obvious. Triandis (1994) supports this idea with an assumption that national culture is one of the major drivers of the perceptions and behaviors of people in organizations. Similarly, it can be assumed that national culture of the locals, which is about 5,000 years old, is the factors that makes it extremely difficult for SurfAid to introduce new concepts and traditions. So, as Engelen and Brettel (2011) outline, “the effectiveness of influence tactics might depend on people’s cultural predeterminations because people who have different cultural predeterminants react differently to specific influence tactics” (p. 73). Consequently, the effectiveness of influence tactics varies in different national contexts and, therefore, managerial and marketing practices of an organization should always take into account the peculiarities of domestic cultures the company operates within. In addition, literature suggests that success and effectiveness of organizational operations are heavily dependant on national cultural characteristics (Brettel et al. 2008). participative leadership style, for instance, has shown to be less effective in Asia than in Europe (Engelen and Brettel, 2011). Therefore, it can be concluded that since SurfAid is an international organization that works with multiple cultures, no standardized methods of managing the company can be used across all of the departments and divisions. National Culture Kluckhohn (1951) defines culture as “patterned ways of thinking, feeling, and reacting” (p. 86). Such ways thinking, feeling, and reacting, in their turn, are a result of acquired and transmitted values and traditions of a nation. While culture is, actually, based on values, the values each next generation has are transmitted to it by the older citizens. The study conducted by Engelen and Brettel in 2011 concludes that the effectiveness of certain strategies targeted at cooperating with local people depends on several cultural factors, among which are accountability, innovativeness, creativity, connection and integration of company’s departments internally. These findings go in line with the Hofstede's cultural framework (1990). The author identifies four major aspects similarities and differences between cultures. They are: masculinity vs femininity uncertainty avoidance levels individualism vs collectivism power distance levels On the basis of Hofstede's cultural framework it can be concluded that the countries SurfAid works with have a high score of power distance because of the extreme difference between levels of life of different social groups. Such unequal distribution of power within the systems is the cause of high death rates of the society the company is trying to help. Furthermore, SurfAid is trying to decrease this difference teaching people to grow fruit and vegetables and, thus, improve their material position. Another problem SurfAid faced is high uncertainty avoidance levels of the societies the company works with. This causes resistance to innovations and changes SurfAid is trying to implement at the Mentawai Islands and Nias Island. Nevertheless, the number of innovators and early adopters of change is sufficient enough for the company to be successful in its initiatives. Furthermore, about 90% of the organization’s employees come from local societies are those who accepted the innovations and started implementing them in their societies from within. Leadership Not the least role in the success of SurfAid initiatives was played by effective leadership. Northouse (2009) calls effective leadership of the greatest commodities an organization may have. Though there exists a great number of definitions of leadership they all have some common points: leadership is a process that involves influence and group work targeted at achieving common goals. In case of SurfAid was a key component for organizational effectiveness because if there was not leader like Dave Jenkins the company would not have even been founded. Jenkins managed to gather an international team of specialists and activists to work one goal – improvement of life conditions at the Mentawai Islands and Nias Island. Furthermore, Jenkins was able to understand the local culture well enough as to find local people who shared his values and beliefs. This means he established “organizational culture that supports the values that she expouses” (Schein, 1985). Organizational leadership helped the company to build trust toward the organization among local people. This, in its turn, has simplified the task of the company. People that trust the organization are more open and less resistant to changes. One more positive achievement resulted from effective leadership and, consequently, effective management is the internal structure of the organization. Most of the people working with SurfAid are volunteers and local partners. Since the majority of the people are local, it is easier for the company to reach its objectives. Conclusions and Recommendations SurfAid is an international company, multinational employees of which are working toward reaching organizational goals in alignment with company’s culture and values. The problems SurfAid is trying to solve include high children’s death rates and high rates of preventable diseases among the inhabitants of the Mentawai Islands and Nias Island. In particular, among the company’s objectives is improvement of basic sanitation conditions, as well as introduction of balanced and healthy nutrition and hygiene habits, among the locals. These objectives are being fulfilled with the assistance of government agencies, individual and corporate investors, as well as local and international volunteers. However, though the company has managed to develop an effective organizational structure, the major problem is to change the core set of values and beliefs that form the culture of the natives. For this purpose SurfAid designed and implemented strategies for reducing the levels of power distance and uncertainty avoidance within the local society. The results were even more positive because most of the people working on these problems were local innovators and early adopters of change. This helped to build trust of the natives towards the innovations presented by the company. Such positive experience of SurfAid is recommended for use by other organizations that face the chanllence of culture differences. Leadership example and managerial practices of SurfAid are very likely to help other multinational organizations in creating effective organizational structures, as well as developing values and corporate culture in alignment with local national cultures. Strategies and tactics of SurfAid will be of a great assistance to companies wishing to reduce the levels of resistance to change and strengthen their corporate culture. References Alvesson, M. (2002). Understanding organizational culture. SAGE. Brettel, M., Engelen, A., Heinemann, F. and Vadhanasindhu, P. (2008). “Antecedents of Market Orientation: A Cross-Cultural Comparison,” Journal of International Marketing, 16 (2), 84–119. Business Management Club (2010). “Check Point 4: Business Environment and Organizational Culture,” Business 2010 management program. Retrieved from http://www.bestbusinessinfo.com/1_1/tutorials/11104.html#a15 Cassrels, D. “Care surfs in to give islanders a fresh shot at health” Engelen, A. and Brettel, M. (2011). “A Cross-Cultural Perspective of Marketing Departments’ Influence Tactics,” Journal of International Marketing, 19(2), 73–94. Hofstede, G. (1990). Culture's Consequences: International differences in work-related values. Sage Books. Northouse, P. (2009). Leadership: Theory and Practice. SAGE. Pawle, F. “Turning the Tide.” Wish Magazine. Schein, E. H. (1985). Organizational culture and leadership: A dynamic view. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. SurfAid Inernational. “People.” Retrieved from http://www.surfaidinternational.org/people Triandis, H. (1994). Culture and Social Behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill. Read More