How Organizational Culture and Politics Influence International Strategic Decision Making - Research Proposal Example

How Organizational Culture and Power/Politics Influence International Strategic Decision Making By Name of the Student Submitted as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of ……………… Name of the Academic Institution 2009 Table of Contents I. Introduction 3 II. Literature Review 4 III. Statement of Research Questions 7 IV. Methodology 8 V. Analysis 8 VI. Research Significance 9 Works Cited 10 I: Introduction “Organizational culture is the shared values or common perceptions that are held by each member of an organization (Morris 28).” It is a fact that organizations have a tendency to develop value systems that are specific to the modes of working and political frameworks existing within them. Such values are eventually transferred by seniors in the organizations to new employees and thus have a conclusive say in organizations’ international strategic decision-making. An outsider’s perceptions pertaining to any particular organization are often based on one’s ideas as to what the organization under consideration tends to represent and stand for. Therefore, organizational culture and power structures have a definite say in defining the image of an organization in the international arena. The important thing is that it is this very image of an organization that constitutes a considerable part of the information required by the international collaborators and competitors. Thus, organizations operating in a globalized scenario, no more afford to be passive or ignorant about the culture and political structures coming within their scope and ambit. To facilitate effective decision-making mechanisms, it is necessary that organizations consciously decide as to what their in house culture and the resultant global perception needs to be. No doubt, such an approach leads to positive outcomes in both local and international avenues. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and understand how organizational culture and politics influence international strategic decision-making. II: Literature Review There is no denying the fact that an organization’s culture and political framework have a direct and conclusive say in the strategic decision-making processes. However, the extent to which organizational culture and power influence international strategic decision-making is a topic that solicits ample scholarly attention and investigation (Nwachukwu et al. 757). Till date, the popular perception has been that though corporate culture and power structures were important factors that aided the understanding of the respective working of individuals and groups employed in an organization, yet such unspoken and intangible parameters scarcely influenced international strategic decision-making (Hunt & Vitell 12). On the contrary, their existed a small but influential group of scholars who held that a formalization of the corporate values and power structures not only defined the roles of the specific employees, but had a direct bearing on the strategic decision making processes of any organization. Particularly in a scenario when an organization lacks a formal code of values, the organizational culture and political affiliations do color the decision-making abilities of the managers (Jansen & Von Glinow 826; Hunt, Wood & Chonko 92). It is understood that any seeping in of the cultural and political factors rampant in an organization, into its strategic decision-making process necessitates a clear articulation by and consent of the top echelons of power. Thus, the need of the hour is to evaluate and develop an insight into the influence that the entities like organizational culture and organizational power have in the international strategic-decision making. Considering the fact that most of the corporate entities today operate in a globalized and digitalized setup, it has become imperative to be consciously cognizant of the factors affecting the dynamics of international strategic decision-making. The political structures existing within organizations do often have a direct bearing on the strategic decision making process. The involved personnel often resort to a wide range of strategies to benefit from or bypass such political influences. Many a times the concerned personnel opt for direct or tacit cooptive relations to dilute impediments to efficiency (March & Simon 42). Besides the overall political image of an organization stands to be a key factor that influences the international strategic decision-making processes associated with it (Thompson 27; Zald 51). Like any social system, corporate organizations are mostly rife with conflict emanating from divergent political affiliations and conflicting vested interests. These vested interests within the organizations manipulate the strategic decision making process to ensure their influence over resource allocation and organizational goals. The respective players do tend to differ in their ability to influence the strategic decision-making within the organizations. Hence, it is vital to understand the causes, which lead to variations in influence wielded by varied groups within organizations and the ability of the core decision makers to navigate through the constraints imposed by organizational politics (Gargiulo 2). Employees often take advantage of inter-organizational politics to manipulate strategic decision-making. Either they may do so by convincing the top decision makers about the gravity or importance of any specific issue, while building on the validity of their respective solutions, or they may resort to a manipulation of the information required by the top decision makers, by fixing the channels of inter-organizational communication (Clercq et al. 40). Thus, it is important to understand the way new ideas and information are provided to the decision makers within organizations. It is also vital to have an insight into how specific ideas gain acceptance and be incorporated in the international strategic decision making mechanisms. In a way, organizational politics has its advantages in the sense that it makes way for an in depth scrutiny of issues influencing the managers involved in international strategic decision making, so as to alley potential controversies. However, on the other side, Day (1986) affirmatively holds that any manipulation of strategic decision-making process by vested interests within organizations possibly hampers an affective allocation of resources. Organizational culture does always have a profound impact on all the cardinal aspects of organizational performance on a global platform. Considering its pivotal importance, it has become essential for organizations to manage their culture. Though organizational culture had been one of the most sought after concepts in the international academic institutions, still this concept stands to be utterly ambiguous, being mostly used as a proxy for multiple phenomenon influencing organizational performance (Trefry 2). In today’s globalized scenario, where the economies are fast paced and IT dependent, a meaningful enquiry into the role of organizational culture and politics in the international strategic decision-making has become more crucial and essential. It is not a surprise that the influence of organizational culture and politics on international strategic decision making is an issue that has managed to come to the forefront of academic investigation and enquiry. Until now, the experts in an utterly localized scenario reviewed scope of organizational culture and politics. However, with the onset of globalization, this concept has accrued cosmopolitan ramifications and attributes, which deserve the concerted attention of all the concerned individuals, organizations and institutions. III: Statement of Research Questions What are the factors that determine the international reputation of an organization? Most of the times, the culture and politics existing in an organization have a direct bearing on the way it is perceived by potential partners and competitors. Can organizations manage their culture? If the organizational culture plays a role in strategic decision-making, it is vital for organizations to consciously manage their culture. How organizational culture and politics influence international strategic decision-making? To what extent does organizational culture and politics influence international strategic decision-making? How do managers deal with impediments to strategic decision-making? How do employees take advantage of organizational culture to influence strategic decision-making? IV: Methodology The qualitative research methods will be resorted to, to conduct a survey of the head offices of at least two selected MNCs. This will include gathering of data from the targeted organizations and the primary data-gathering agent will be the researcher. A comprehensive survey will be submitted to the employees and the managers working in the targeted organizations to identify their perception of organizational culture, the extent to which they feel they exploit or get exploited by organizational culture and to what extent do they feel that the organizational culture has a direct bearing on the international strategic decision making within their organization? Further information or inputs could be gathered by arranging face-to-face meetings or communicating via emails with senior executives, board members and employees. A possible analysis of the published sources like media reports and official annual reports is expected to yield much additional information and data. V: Analysis The response furnished by the employees and managers of the targeted organizations will be used to define and delineate the concept of organizational culture and politics and to determine the extent to which the international strategic decision-making is influenced by organizational culture. As the interpretation of this survey will be more or less subjective and dependent on the individuals perceptions of the participants, the results will tend to be tentative and indicative, rather them being mathematically accurate. However, a concerted effort will be made to identify the various facets of organizational culture and politics in the targeted organizations. Once identified, employees will be requested to give a grading to the specific aspects of organizational culture on a scale of 1 to 10. All efforts will be made to identify qualitatively and if possible quantitatively, the possible impact of each aspect of organizational culture in the international strategic decision-making. VI: Research Significance Until now, the concept of organizational culture has been dealt with in a much-localized scenario. However, this research will help identify the ramifications and scope of organizational politics and culture in the sphere of international strategic decision-making. Such a research approach is very contemporary and relevant in today’s globalized world. Strategy Timeline 1. Develop research proposal for submission and review 15/07/2009. 2. Contacting the selected organizations and soliciting their permission to submit the intended survey to their employees will be done by December 2009. 3. Distribution of survey January 2010. 4. Data collection March 2010. 5. Interpretation of data May 2010. 6. Completion of project July 2010 Works Cited Clercq et al. “The secrets of entrepreneurship”. European Business Forum 31 .6 (2007): 40-45. Day, GS. Analysis of Strategic Marketing Decisions. St. Paul: West Publishing Co, 1986. Gargiulo, Martin. “Two-step Leverage: Managing Constraints in Organizational Politics”. Administrative Science Quarterly 38.1 (1993): 1 -19. Hunt, Shelley D. & Vitell, Scoh. “A General Theory of Marketing Ethics”. Journal of Macro-Marketing. 8.2 (1984): 5-16. Hunt, Shelley D., Wood, Van R & Chonko, Lawrence B. “Corporate Ethical Values and Organizational Commitment in Marketing”. Journal of Marketing 53. 2 (2003): 79-90 Jansen, Erik & Von Glinow, Mary Ane. “Ethical Ambience and Organizational Reward Systems”. Academy of Marketing Review 10. 4 (1998): 814-822. March, James g. & Herbert Simon. Organizations. New York: Wiley, 1958. Morris, Richard M. “Effective organizational culture is key to a company’s Long term success”. Industrial Management 34.2 (1992): 28. Nwachukwu et al. “The Influence of Corporate Culture on Managerial Ethical Judgments”. Journal of Business Ethics 16.8 (1997): 757-776. Thompson, James D. Organizations in Action. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967 Trefry, Mary G. “A Double-Edged Sword: Organizational Culture in Multicultural Organizations”. International Journal of Management. 2006. HighBeam Research. 5 July 2009 Zald, Mayer. Power in Organizations. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 1970. Synopsis Until now, the concept of organizational culture and politics had accrued significant concern and interest from research scholars and academic institutions. However, so far, the research oriented around organizational culture and politics was primarily confined to unraveling the ramifications of this concept in very localized and inter-organization scenarios. Considering the contemporary alterations in the world economy defined by globalization and digitalization of organizations, the scope of organizational culture has percolated down to the eventual mechanisms of strategic decision-making. This has manifold multiplied the capacity of organizational culture to alter the global perception and fate of an organization by interfering in the process of international strategic decision-making. Hence, it has become imperative for organizations to manage their culture and power structures to safeguard their global interests. Thus, the need of the hour is to gain an insight into the concept of organizational culture and to understand how the employees and the managers use it to manipulate the allocation of resources in an international arena. Read More