The Evolution of Multi-National Enterprises Responses to The Challenges of Globalization - Research Paper Example

Market capitalism guides every economy on the earth: goods and services flow across borders more freely than ever; vast information networks instantly link nations, companies and people. The result is twenty first century capitalism. (Wayne1998 p.642). The internationalisation of business has put forth diverse challenging situations in front of the Human Resource Managers in terms of unfamiliar laws, languages, practices, competitions, attitudes, management styles, work ethics and more (Ashwatappa 2002, p.564). Globalisation has demanded the Human Resource Managers to handle more diverse functions in taxation and also coordination of different departments with varied cultures and work practices. The heterogeneity of the work involved also has become more complex just as in the case of coordination of multiple salary currencies. More research and involvement on the differential operative needs of the company including their staffing policy is also much challenging. However the process of globalisation is in turn a matter of scope for companies as it would enable them with the choice of a wide selection of manpower and a diverse market scope spread across the globe. This process has also equipped the managements with better connectivity with its counterparts across the globe which is within itself a quality assurance process. Globalisation has provided the personnel mangers with sufficient choices of capacity building processes for their staff. Diversity with in the team enables the management a wider thought process with differential insights on varied market requirements. So as to formulate the strategic policies pertaining to globalization, it’s important to analyze the range of diversity caused due to globalization. Response of Multi National Enterprises and team leaders to the challenges posed by globalization This section of the essay critically analyses the various challenges that the Multi National Enterprises may face in the context of globalization. With reference to each of these concerns possible responsible by the leaders and the companies also has been explained. Cultural Diversity A modern definition of culture is “the shared ways in which groups of people understand and interpret the world (Fons & Charles 1997,p.3-4). A diversity in the interpretation and understanding as defined by Fons & Charles is very possible to be experienced within any team of modern days mainly due to the resultants of globalisation namely in- sourcing and out-sourcing. Moreover the policies on exchange of manpower among different nationalities promoted by the shortage of skilled manpower in many countries have led many working groups to hire people belonging to different countries with diverse cultures. International educational opportunities are also increasing the chances of multi-cultural team. The diverse understanding on work cultures and varied interpretation of management scenarios by this multi-cultural workforce adds complex cultural diversity to the team environment. Another issue pertaining to culture can be the creation of an unique corporate culture through the the company is identified globally. The behavioral approach of the leader and the policies of the organization are quite critical in such a culturally diverse team. The primary measure that the leaders of different teams will have to initiate is to understand different cultures to an optimum level. Having personal relationships with different individuals in the team will help the leader to have a better cultural understanding. The leadership should learn and motivate the team members to respect each and every culture persisting within the team. The company policies should promote this as well. Another major challenge that may be faced in a culturally diverse team would be the chances of discrimination. There should be initiatives from the leader to mitigate such possibilities and the policies of the team must strictly maintain unity in the team. Strict policies on equitable opportunities must be followed by Multi National Enterprise. Inter personal relationship The modern work groups especially of Multi National Enterpri hold much diversity in their inter-personal relationship attitudes. Although this may vary from person to person, the range of the diversity is much high with reference to the modern work groups which includes staff from different countries and cultures. Christopher & Diana (1996, p75) have mentioned seven factors concerning to the human relationships including time, space, odors, frankness, intimacy of relationships, values and expression of emotions. When a team member or a group from a particular part would insist on punctuality, others from different part of the globe would not pay much importance for time. Space is also viewed differently by different people. When some need to be close to their colleagues some others would prefer to keep a distance. Frankness is another factor which can bring in diversity in inter-personal relationships among the staff. High-context cultures are more frank than low-context cultures. (Lesikar R & Flatley M 2002,p.442). Intimacy among the staff also brings in diversity in the team as some may limit themselves to strict social and some times economic classes whereas others would like to interact without restrictions. The definitions on the role of the women in the work group, relationship in between superior and subordinate all can be expected to be diverse within the team. The attitude towards work, value for authority, work quality and honesty also can differ with in the workgroup. Members of the team may respond differently to the emotional expressions as well. These complexities make the behavioral approach of the leaders and the generic policy formulation of Multi National Enterprises also becomes much complicated. Developing a strict code of conduct which is culturally and geographically neutral would help the company to respond to these diversities. However the leaders must learn to amend his behaviors with reference to the culturally and regionally specific attributes of people when dealing with them individually. Language Diversity A leader dealing with an international workforce can expect a wide diversity in languages. Even though there may be a common language acceptable to the team and to the company as such, the capacity of each staff would differ with reference to the expertise in that language. Even the same language can have Grammar and Syntax differences in different regions. Adding to the language diversity, the same words or phrases may mean different in different cultures. The company cannot afford to have the leader trained in all languages in the world. A strategic approach would be to motivate the team members to use a common language. Trainings and capacity building sessions must be initiated by the company to encourage different teams to have a same spirit both in terms of ideology and language. A team with proper attitude and ethics would hear more to their moral responsibilities than to the official check systems established. It can also put on ease the communication systems, as the interpersonal communication would be improvised. Sharing of capacity, responsibility and leadership would automatically happen in such an environment.(Nair N & Oommen P 1994,p.M.1) Diversity in Capacity and Knowledge standards As workforce in the scenario of globalization would include people educated from different countries and universities of differing standards, their capacity and knowledge standards also will have wide diversity. Though the intake process would have involved standardized screening techniques, as the definition of these standards itself is different for different educational scenarios, diversities are still sure to be present. Moreover, the capacity in terms technological standards and infrastructure would differ hugely within countries. It is the key skill of an effective system to make the team members learn the required capacities and motivate them to have the same direction and vision. The leaders should be trained to identify the differential skills of individuals within the team and assign responsibility accordingly. Sharing of responsibility and a participatory approach initiated by the leader would help the team to develop the required capacities. The team should be convinced on the scope of the innovation and the fear of failure must be alleviated by ensuring the fullest of credit for success and assuring that they will not to be lonely blamed on failures. In the case of resources, the mode of operation in each country must match with the infrastructural and other capacities available in the country. For example countries which can offer cheap labor should be opted to deliver operations involving manual labor. Changes in Team member’s Demographics A change in the average age of the work force, more presence of women and an increase in their role can be expected in the globalised scenario. Multi National Enterprises would be further challenged to address the welfare of increasing number of working mothers. The increased level of awareness among the team would demand the capacity building of Human Resource Managers and the staff of personnel department to have capacity building accordingly. Bridging the generation gap is a critical issue in team management. Identifying common areas of interests and encouraging them to get engaged them would help to an extent. Moreover the company policies and the leader should act as a link in between age groups in case of such differences and should not make that feel of difference come out. However the vigour of the youth should be substantially made use to contribute to the team’s success. The increased awareness is also a choice which can positively contribute to the innovation process. On the other side the experience of the older generation also must be capitalised and acknowledged. Changes in Employee Expectations It should be taken to notice that as the diversity in the team increase so is the diverse chances awaiting the qualified staff outside the team. This realisation would enable the employees to expect more benefits and a better work environment. The expectation on equal treatments, basic rights and exposure would really challenge Multi National Enterprises. When Multi National Enterprises make decisions for getting along with the change in relation with globalisation, they must not only take into consideration the team’s performance but also how the team’s performance would affect the team members. Result based performance: Product diversification The performance of the different departments of Multi National Enterprises ultimately aiding the success of the ventures of the team has to be ensured in the scenario of globalization. The companies would be urged to diversify its products according to the changing global scenarios. Managing and coordination of this diversification process becomes challenging when the changing global demand and trends comes into play. The magnitude of the challenge become more extreme as the ethical and social aspect of the performance also has to be ensured. It is the business organisations which make goods and services available, provide jobs, generate wealth, and lend stability and security to the people. Failure of organisations will affect the society, particularly the lowly placed people in the social hierarchy. (Ashwatappa 2002,p.570).Thus the product diversification, geographic diversification all should ultimately fetch positive returns for the company. The geographic diversification and increased globally relevant result demand in work environments has put forth diverse challenging situations in front of the international organisations in terms of unfamiliar laws, languages, practices, competitions, attitudes, management styles, work ethics and more (Ashwatappa 2002, p.564).It should be ensured tat the management does not dump the global pressure supervisors on to the team. Rather there should be a responsibility sharing process. It would depend on the efficacy of the management not to make the team feel the work pressure, but utilise the efficacy of the team to the fullest. This challenge would persuade the companies to restructure the profile of the workers and to discover new methodologies of hiring, training, remunerating and motivating employees. An integration of polycentric and geocentric approach in the intake policy of organizations has to happen accordingly. These changes would improvise the work culture in totality and would positively affect the delivered results as well. Organisational restructuring The globalization of business often demands restructuring of the organisational procedures and policies. This is often interlinked with the restructuring like takeovers, mergers and joint ventures which happen while the multi national operations comes in. This challenge would be diverse as it includes changes in roles and assignments, transfers to new locations, changes in pay scale and other benefits, changes in the position hierarchies and changes in corporate culture. On the other hand, reorganising the institutional structure would increase the growth opportunity and the dimensions of the company. The management also gets to avail the opportunity of faster decisions and faster market response as a result of corporate restructuring. The scope of better communication with in the work environment and outside it would be resulted due to this process. A reduction in manpower cost is one of the salient scopes of such reorganisations. References Wayne F, 1998 Managing Human Resources, McGraw-Hill, NewDelhi p.642 Ashwatappa K 2002, Human Resource and Personnel Management, Tata McGraw-Hill, NewDelhi p.564 Fons T & Charles H 1997, Writing the waves of culture, 2nd ed, Nicholas Brealey, London, pp.3-4 Christopher E & Diana R 1996, International excellence: Seven Breakthrough Strategies for personal and professional success, Kodansha International, New York p.75 Lesikar R & Flatley M 2002, Basic Business Communication, Tata McGraw-Hill, NewDelhi p.442 Nair N & Oommen P 1994, Business Management, Lions publications, Madras,p.M Ashwatappa K 2002, Human Resource and Personnel Management, Tata McGraw-Hill, NewDelhi p.570 Read More