We live in an organized society, and organizations are an accepted part of life. Today, many organizations are becoming multinational global alliances with advanced telecommunications and data processing and a diverse, multicultural, mobile workforce. These growing international business concerns and the cultural synergy they create present exciting yet daunting challenges to study and understand. However, as the world becomes more interdependent, it is difficult to find an industry or segment of a country’s economy that is insulated from the decisions of global managers and global organizations. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the impact of cultural variability on global organizations and the resulting cultural synergy. We survey the emerging global landscape, highlighting shifts in the marketplace as businesses become more global.
The Reconfigurable Organization and Globalism:
At the beginning of the 20th century, scientific management prevailed. The
organization was conceived as a well-functioning machine that was carefully
designed to achieve well-understood goals. Today, we realize the organization is composed of people and success is often tied to the articulation of the work
of many in organizations. Globalism and new, more porous conceptions of
the organization characterize this new postmodern millennium (Schmidt &
Gardner, 1995). The organization per se is less important, as workers create
and recreate new organizations, invent new products and services, and adapt to an evolving environment. The current organizational restructuring frequently seen in downsizing and the establishment of network organizations are only the starting point for the many newly reconfigured organizations preparing to launch global operation. s. Several major corporations have delayered, outsourced, and created business-to-business supply-chain partnerships and ad hoc project teams that have emerged to address the task at hand.
Although most would agree in theory on the need for independence at
the local level, it is often more difficult in practice. Frequently, tensions arise
from divided loyalties split between local managers and their objectives and the global organizational goals. Additionally, alternative objectives and subgoals with changing priorities for each manager can emerge, causing employees to be puzzled and confused.
Successful global organizations need to assess their own distinctive corporate postures and d strategically locate themselves along the power continuum of centralization/decentralization. Therefore, each multinational organization must locate itself on this influence scale on the basis of how best to meet its own unique global strategic vision.
Corporate Cultural Modelsand Critical Cultural Factors:
Businesses are reconfiguring in ways that create new corporate cultures shaped not only by technologies and markets but also by the cultural preferences of theirleaders and the interaction of their employees as they respond to change. Galbraith (1997) proposes that, instead of merely responding to change, global organizations should be designed for change.
The Family culture reflects the established power structure often seen in
the traditional home, with a strong parent figure who cares for the family unit
and has ultimate decision-making power that is accepted by the other family
members. The dominant force is the sense of loyalty and high context that
allows a great amount of information to be assumed and taken for granted.
Alignment throughout independent systems is required so that the
selected corporate model and its purposes are synchronized with the culture
and its values and worldview. Terpstra and Kenneth (1992) have identified
five critical factors that multicultural corporations should consider when
developing a corporate cultural model and/or choosing to expand into a new
global area: Cultural variability, Cultural complexity, Cultural hostility, . Cultural heterogeneity, Cultural interdependence. These critical cultural factors are helpful in gaining a global perspective and developing specific strategic objectives. The global organization has the potential for exponential growth and financial success if the integration of cultures can be harnessed and aligned with the strategic goals of the corporation.
Subject: The Virtual Organization, Cultural Synergy, and the Global 
Fri Apr 25, 2014 1:27 am
