How to manage the cultural differences in this new organization
Dharam Singh, general manager at 'Prithviraj Chemicals' was worried about his future, even though he had been told that after 'Prithviraj Chemicals' is merged with Orchid Phamaceuticals he would be promoted anad also be required to shoulder the additional responsibility of identifying those who should be retained as employees even after the merger. Dharam was concerened because he had heard that the orgnisational culture at 'Orchid' was computer driven,whileat 'PrithvirajChemicals',thefocuswason"relationship".
A month later after the official merger of the two companies, the new management took the decision to shift the headquarters to Bangalore from Mysore. This decision when communicated to its employees, (many of 'Prithviraj Chemicals') had approached Dharam Singh to ask "Why was the new management shifting its Head Quarters to a new place (Bangalore), was it because the two managements did not trust each other?" This question was posed especially because most of Prithviraj's employees had become used to the 'quite, risk averse and friendly work environment' and were worried whether in Bangalore, with 'its cosmopolitan outlook would lead to cultural clashes.
As anticipated there were certain instances which had Dharam Singh wondering how to solve such cultural differences. The 'Prithviraj employees'consensus, relationship-result oriented approach always believed in an open communication system with all employees keeping each other informed about any decision and bring about a consensus with their 'individual' work i.e., they were more focused on ambitious cost-cutting goals an each employee was individually responsible for quantifiable results.
• Whenever any work related problem arises, the 'Prithviraj employees adopted an attitude "Tell usabout the problem from all anglesand we will discussand tell you how best to handle it". In contrast, the 'Orchid' employeesattitude was"just tell me how this problemwill/mayaffect mywork,Iamnot interestedinthewholeproblem".
• Many of 'Orchid' employees had worked in other cities of North India and few of them had also travelled abroad for official work and thus were more confident, more computer savvy, tough and didn't mince words. Because of this, the 'Prithviraj employees felt threatened and preferred to describe 'Orchid' employees as "loners", "tough" and "hard working".
• At 'Prithviraj', employees were required to make weekly financial and staffing updates to their "bosses". However, at Orchid this formality was considered to be a waste of time and they didn't adopt or accept thispractice.
Dharam Singh had been with 'Prithviraj' since the last 12 years and knew that 'Sudhir' (the M.D. at 'Prithviraj') had a lot of confidence in him when he had said "Dharam, I am very sure that we can count on you to see that there is no dissent among the employees after merger. The new company is looking upon you to solve the societal-level cultural difference which is prevailing among the employees, so that we can have our own unique culture which would be a blend of both'Prithviraj' and'Orchid'swayof doingbusiness".
Source: Nair, Suja R(2010). Organisational Behaviour. Mumbai, India: Global Media, p. 439.
Required;
• Identify the focal problem, develop research question and hypothesis, discuss and propose alternative quantitative and qualitative approaches to investigating the underlying causes of this problem.
• Extend your discussion by focusing on techniques for moving beyond interpersonal conflicts to identifying and testing underlying management practices or approaches that cause problems for the organization's functioning.
• Integrate and discuss Biblical implications found in Deuteronomy 25:13-15 regarding the importance of having accurate and honest weights and measures.
Reading materials/Sources of Information to Answer the requirement;
READ/REVIEW
• Read: Pfeffer and Sutton, Chapters 1-2:
Chapter 1: Why Every Company Needs Evidence-Based Management, pp.3-27.
Chapter 2: How to Practice Evidence-Based Management. pp 29-53.
• Read: Rovai, Baker, and Ponton on Hypothesis Testing
• Review this case: How to Manage the cultural differences in this new organization. Read and review this case as a basis for the period 2 dialogue.
• Read: The Stream Approach for organizational diagnostic.
• Review: Qualitative, Quantitative, & Mixed Methods Approaches.
Optional Reading Materials
You can read sample case studies on cross-cultural management and quantitative and qualitative study on measuring organizational culture across countries:
• Lincoln, James, Kerbo, Harold, & Wittenhagen, Elke (1995). Japanese Companies in Germany: A Case Study in Cross-Cultural Management. Industrial Relations, 34(3): 417-439. Click here for the article.
• Hofstede, Geert, Neuijen, Bram, Ohayv, Denise Daval, & Sanders, Geert (1990). Measuring Organizational Cultures: A Qualitative and Quantitative Study Across Twenty Cases. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35 (2): 286-316. Click here for the article.