Free A Research On Multinational Companies And Managing Of Its Employees Essay Sample

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Introduction

Organizations are becoming diverse and global when it comes to hiring and engaging employee’s talents. These diversities offer a workplace competitive edge when it comes to skills and knowledge of the work force, thus, resulting to a more efficient and productive working environment. This research describes how an organization manages a diverse workplace where its employees come from different culture as well as my personal experience while working in such set-up. This study also briefly describes the benefit of having employees from different places and what an organization can do in order to reap out the advantages of employing and managing such kind of work force.

Working in a Multinational Company

I previously had the opportunity of working on a project in a multinational development bank headquartered in Manila, Philippines. The regional development bank has 67 developing member countries within and outside Asia Pacific. Its primary mission is to create an Asia Pacific that is free from poverty through providing assistance that include grants, loans, technical assistance, policy dialogue as well as equity investment. The bank commits itself to serve the Asia Pacific by offering investments that will assist in health care services, infrastructure, public administrations or managing climate changes and the natural resources of a country in need. Currently, the bank employs at least 3,000 employees where 48 percent are from the Philippines and the rest are from different parts of the world.
Different departments within the bank work with different teams of different nationality. The project that I worked on is part of the Information Technology Department where members are from cross-cultures and different locations. We worked on an agreed timelines, attended weekly meetings and updates and conducted frequent discussions based on the requirements of the project. The project went on for 6-months and there were several challenges and lessons learned identified during the process. One of the prominent challenge that we had, and everyone agreed to it, was the communication management. Working with people of different cultures is exciting and challenging at the same time because of probable conflicts in cultural values. An obvious difference when it come communication challenges is that we have different communication styles. These styles range from usage of language and vocabulary, intonation and even facial, hand and body gestures when communicating. There were cases where one member would speak of a word that would mean different notion to other member. Another communication conflict that we eventually overcome is the movement of the head from left to right repeatedly. The Indians, to be specific, would use this movement while conversing and agreeing on a subject, whereas to others, this movement means ‘not agreeing’ to the discussion. Another barrier to communication that we experienced during our project is the difference in approach towards conflict. Some member of the group who come from more conservative country would rather become quiet or reserve during disagreements. Some, however, will openly speak about their thoughts and assertively discuss their stand during discussions. Furthermore, we also came across difference in decision-making styles as well approach toward disclosure. A member of the group who European ensured that he made decision based on oneself, whereas, an American member of the group made decisions by himself but also delegated work to other subordinates. Other members resolved to perform decisions based on consensus. In terms of disclosure, being straightforward and assertive is one common characteristic when Americans and Europeans disclose or state his mind and decisions. Some member of the group found this quite uncomfortable because of having a more conservative culture.
Diversity in such kind of multicultural environment has benefits and challenges. An apparent benefit to the bank of having employees with diverse back ground is the possibility of having broader service and skills range . During the project, beyond the challenge of having miscommunications, it is still beneficial to have varied viewpoints as most of the members of the project are from different backgrounds. Furthermore, such kind of environment brings forth different type of solutions and distribution of resources, thus, increasing the flexibility and adaptability of the employees. Despite these differences, the bank proactively formulates ways and approaches in overcoming the challenges of having a multicultural team and translates it to its advantage. The bank engages its employees in developing and executing diversity initiatives within the workplace. Beyond the usual work and meetings, every two weeks, the bank invites every employee to join and participate in the so-called ‘Happy Hour’ so that employees can socialize and establish more networks within the bank. Apart from the usual work training that we have, every department conducts and uses diversity training and exposes employees to diversity policies of the bank . During these diversity trainings, trainers are encouraging every employee to become more open-minded when it comes to handling and managing projects while maintaining respect towards each member of the team. The bank encourages everyone to express their thoughts, raise ideas, ask and even object with respect during every discussion. The bank also promotes mentoring approach where a senior bank staff and a junior bank staff work together as part of orienting and assisting the newer employee with regard to the working culture of the bank. On a higher perspective, the bank is openly disclosing its standard compensation structure that applies to all its different offices in the world. This disclosure guarantees fair treatment among the employees of the bank .

Conclusion

The multicultural set-up that I experienced while working with a multinational developmental bank revealed different benefits and challenges. Exposure with different working styles and approaches from different members of the project is an apparent benefit. These differences, however, discloses challenges in communication, decision-making approaches and disclosure. The bank, however, is proactively engaging its employees to transcend these differences and utilize it to the advantage and success of every project they are handling. Diversity training programs, mentoring, recognizing of individual difference through respect and actively seeking inputs from employees are among the initiatives continuously performed by the bank to manage the multicultural set-up of the organization.

Works Cited

Business Credit. (2006). More Multinationals Embracing Centralized Compensation Structures, vol. 108, Issue 9. EBSCO Host.
DeLancey, R. (2013). Employees' Perceptions of Multiculturalism and Diversity in Multinational Corporations. African Journal of Business Management, 3559-3574.
Rozkwitalska, M. (2013). Effective Cross-Cultural Relationships in Multinational Corporations - Foreign Subsidiaries' Viewpoint. Annual International Conference on Enteprise Marketing & Global (p. 65). EBSCO Host Connection.