Integrating Culture and Diversity in Decision Making of Hewlett-Packard Company - Research Paper Example

Cultural Integration & Diversity in Decision Making Affiliation Cultural Integration & Diversity in Decision Making Introduction: Hewlett-Packard Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) is a global information technology manufacturer that has its head office at Palo Alto, California, United States of America (Pacard, 2013). HP is engaged in production of finished goods, decoupling inventory, and computer accessories including laptops, desktop computers, enterprise solutions as well as computer information storage solution. The company’s product line is focused on computer devices, networking solutions, data storage equipment/ facilities, printers, enterprise and industry servers (Pacard, 2013). Its clientele span from the education stakeholders, healthcare industry, private investments and the government. The various products and services lie within computer hardware and software provision and maintenance. HP has been a global leader in the Personal Computer manufacturing since the year 2007. The company was established through the partnership of David ‘Dave’ Packard and William ‘Bill’ Redington Hewlett (Pacard, 2013). Hewlett-Packard Company’s Organizational Culture HP has set an excellent trend in Equal Employment and Opportunity observation according to preferred industrial regulations. Furthermore, HP endeavors to fully embrace and assimilate workplace diversity to explore the variety of skills, experience. This initiatives aim at exploring and making good use of the various backgrounds in the workforce to ensure the company enjoys synergy in its production. The various diversity considerations are in line with social stratification factors including gender, race, social class and economic variances (Kerzner, 2013). HP emphasizes employee team work and development of team approach in everyday working that is aimed at achieving the HP objectives, goals, mission and vision. The team approach makes it easy to identify and encourage creativity and innovation in the workforce. The final result is generation of trust, dignity and most of all employees express utmost respect to every customer. The open door policy that is encouraged has ensured all members of staff interact freely irrespective of their work designations (Kerzner, 2013). This results into direct and honest approach in developing open and fair dealings among the employees. The HP organizational culture has seen a steady decline in the employee rates of turnover. Hewlett-Packard Company’s Culture Indications HP has maintained a highly diversified workforce that is vibrant and creates a feel-good environment for customers. The company has engaged in employee empowerment initiatives that allow everyone to participate in decision making in one way or another. This leads to a team that is highly motivated and takes responsibility for the outcomes and existing environment within the company. This is the main reason HP has seen growing sales and high levels of innovative products that consistently appeal to the consumers. HP’s code of management has been a standard of measure in the Silicon Valley. The former Chief Executive Officer Mrs. Fiorina Carleton in her inaugural year of tenure 1999, tried to eliminate the employee focused culture (House & Price, 2009). The C.E.O was sales oriented thus engaged in extensive market-focused strategy that undermined employee considerations. This led to a disgruntled workplace and was reflected in loss of productivity and revenue. However, her Successor Mr. Hurd, Mark has reestablished the employee focus that has seen increased sales and customer appreciation. Organizational Culture Drivers The appreciation of a diverse employee model that gives equal opportunity to individuals was necessary for the development and maintenance of a global appeal. The mixture of culture, races and backgrounds was necessary for market penetration initiatives as employees are a resource in gaining personal contact with the consumer base (Cetinkaya, 2010). This was also a source of induced self marketing that encouraged non-sales staff to create a network that was easy to utilize in advertisement and marketing initiatives. The power f workplace diversity is unlimited, providing a rich source of social and cultural familiarity in determining the current consumer needs. HP realized the correlation between self motivated employees and increased productivity. Employees who are happy and satisfied with the working environment focus on the needs of the company. This is why HP introduced flexi-time working schedules that provided room for the personal development of employees in pursuing further education or professional training aimed at better performance as compared to previous performance periods (Koontz & Weihrich, 2010). The most important factor was a need to contain the high rates of employee turnover that had hit the Information Technology industry. Due to rapid technological advancements and innovation, the industry had witnessed un-proportional salary and employee remunerations that were tied to trends and consumer satisfaction (House & Price, 2009). Employees could move from one company to another in pursuit of benefits related with income from latest innovation and consumer preferences. This worked for the short-term objectives of firms but was detrimental for the long term realization of organizations visions. HP wanted to rise above the short term focus and develop a crop of long serving employees that understood the company mission and vision. HP recognized the presence of variety in a diverse culture that would bring a wealth of alternatives because of the different background, education and experience contained in the diverse workforce. This is a quality that is effective in product sampling and diversification of brands to ensure brand loyalty. The creativity levels and innovations embrace unique demands within the consumer market while deriving experience from the various cultural settings represented in the diverse workforce. Workplace synergy is maintained because the employees provide alternatives to how situations are evaluated and addressed. Previous acquisitions experiences led to appreciation of employee welfare contribution in the overall productivity of the firm. The Tabblo acquisition in 2007, a startup online printing company and a consequent merger with Yahoo in enhancing social media applications including photo sharing negatively impacted on HP employees (House & Price, 2009). This resulted from organizational culture clashes that led to a demoralized workforce. The autonomy in working was interrupted and joint workforces slowed down the usual work environment. As a result, there were massive decline in earnings because the labor force was stretched to carter for new developments yet the projected revenue did not materialize (Malone, 2007). Organizational Leadership There are various types of leaders in organizational management but the most suitable one is a Charismatic Leader. This is someone who commands attention and has a certain following in the private and public domain. This leader has a personality and influence that goes beyond the ordinary product and service qualities. The leader often keeps a constant touch with the followers through diverse initiatives beyond their official designation. An example would be a Chief Executive Officer who is a Television personality thus shares familiarity beyond the company confines. The CEO may also be a legal representative of a reputable firm as well as sits on a consumer advisory board. These positions give him a sense of authority and consumers or stakeholders would consider their opinion as verified and valid. The charismatic leader is full of energy that is needed to develop and sustain the vibrant HP work environment. Furthermore, a charismatic leader motivates employees to better performance through encouraging individual initiatives and setting precedents that embrace new innovation. The ultimate quality of a charismatic leader is the ability to initiate and inspire passion. This is necessary in developing high performing employees. This leader triggers action in the employees at all times because they seek to match in the leader’s futuristic perception of production. This encourages people to appreciate prevailing challenges and persevere through difficult moments by setting their sight on possible outcomes. The current competitive market that is characterized by versatile consumer preferences and demands requires someone who has influence beyond the basic products and services. Customers will associate with a relevant management or leader at levels that would allow for a compromise in preferences. This is handy in situations where there is a public uproar on a certain product or service that needs sufficient managing to maintain the company’s reputation. This enhances the organization’s position within the competitors and ensures a lasting market presence. Managing Declining Demand The company has to ensure more autonomy and flexibility to employees than the current levels. This can be achieved through embracing a Hybrid layout of factory or processing center that would allow production flexibility and workflow (Cetinkaya, 2010). This system is better than cellular manufacturing layout at various supplier locations as well as main facilities as well as functional layout that encourage job segregation. This will provide for highly motivated employees to instantly identify and address unique customer demands. HP should also eliminate weak brands and products in the market thus focus on strong performing brands through intensive production (Cetinkaya, 2010). This will allow automatic elimination of associated production and distribution initiatives of the weak brands. The money can be used in diversifying strong brands and introducing employee bonuses on sales and high performance. HP must embrace a combination of employee focus and consumer satisfaction that preserves quality levels at all costs to enhance brand loyalty. References Cetinkaya, B. (2010). Sustainable supply chain management: practical ideas for moving towards best practice. Berlin; London: Springer. House, C. & Price, R. (2009). The HP Phenomenon: Innovation and Business Transformation. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press. Kerzner, H. (2013). Project management - best practices: achieving global excellence. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Koontz, H. & Weihrich, H. (2010). Essentials of management. McGraw-Hill: New Delhi. Malone, M. (2007). Bill & Dave: how Hewlett and Packard built the worlds greatest company. New York, N.Y: Portfolio. Pacard, D. (2013). The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company. HarperCollins: UK. Read More