To What Extent Did Cross-Cultural Differences Have An Impact On The Failure Of Daimler Benz And Chrysler

Our case study deals with Mass Merger. Since the 90s, together with the globalization of business, Mergers and Acquisitions have developed at an incredible pace. Thus, companies from all over the world can be lead to work together as one single corporation. Moreover, the world has become interdependent not only economically, but also culturally, that is to say one culture may influence another one or different cultures can be mixed. It is then obvious that intercultural issues have to be solved.

The modern business culture must, by necessity, be fluid if it is to succeed globally. There is interaction between employees, between stakeholders, and between global environments. In fact, this environment is formed through multiple interactions between the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities presented through the organization's unique culture. Since truly the one constant in business is change, it is how we adapt to such changes; as individuals and part of groups, that helps manifest behaviors as he culture evolves. Indeed, many believe that one of the templates that make up this fluidity is the concept, even more popular in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, of mergers and acquisitions (Horibe, 2001).

Significant diversity throughout its employee base of over 17,000 brings imminent challenges of cultural differences and linguistics (Alfa Laval 2017d). They have undertaken multiple acquisitions which materially heighten the amount of diversity to be handled by the HR department. Typically, the impact of a cross-border acquisition is negative with added communication difficulties, logistic problems and shared assumptions are found much harder to configure (Piekkari 2005). For instance, Alfa Laval acquired Norwegian company Frank Mohn AS in 2017, who withheld powerful market share in the manufacturing of pumping systems and shipping (Alfa Laval Group, 2017a). Piekkari (2005) discusses that combining companies often demotivates existing employees as they feel although relevant management are not transparent enough in the acquisition process and sense a surrender to a higher power rather than a positive marriage of equals. This then results in a decrease in important KPIs such as productivity and job satisfaction, which are often attached to increases in staff

The second major barrier to a successful merger between the two companies is a lack of corporate cohesion. The corporate cultures of both companies are very distinct. Royal biscuit is a new corporation that grew rapidly under the entrepreneurial expertise of one man, while Edeling is a mature family-owned business. The companies differ historically, politically and foundationally. Members of both corporations are expressing resistance towards the merger. Royal biscuit employees feel threatened by the merger and are engaging in anti-German antics; some workers don’t want to be loose their job to an Edeling worker or, in other words, to “some sausage-eater” (Reimus, B., 2004, p. 3). Edeling employees, instead, feel that Royal Biscuit employees don’t respect their corporate history. Therefore, it is imperative that Brighton and Wallach come to a cultural compromise in order to collaborate on a leadership plan and create competencies between employees within both of the

Levitt (2014) defines culture as the coherent, learned, shared views of a group of people and about life’s concerns that ranks what is important, furnishes attitudes about what things are appropriate, and dictates behavior. Macy’s corporate culture possesses a diverse leadership team to target their diverse customers and locations. Diversity, based on experiences and passion, gives the Macy’s leadership team new perspectives to promote successful business. Levitt (2014) suggests organizational diversity can be considered as a mixture of people with different group identities working in the same social system. A multi-cultural team of Americans, Italians, Germans and Swiss would adapt well in the rich bouquet of culture in Zurich, Switzerland. As a new team leader, the biggest concern would be establishing integrations between the different cultures working together at Macys.

When an organization does not use a holistic approach towards their culture, structure and systems, the organization could create a poor working environment for its employees and poor results for their customers. An example of culture, structure and systems not working well together can be seen in General Motors (GM). GM prior to its bankruptcy was seen to be a “highly bureaucratic company in which brands, departments and regions operated like self-governing and competing states with a federation” (Smerd, J. 2009).

Due to the diversity of the cultures in the merged organizations, the management team has to facilitate a working culture in the new organization. Each organization

Itideed, so much has been written that summary is all but impossible. The principles of organizational behaviour have long been acknowledged, and legions of authors have attempted to develop both a theory and practice of cross-cultural management. To quote in this paper the more salient works in the field would merely be redundant. The conclusion from studies on cross-culture management is that managers must analyze and become familiar with the hidden language of foreign cultures. Some key starting points include: perceptions of time, space, material possessions, and friendship; patterns of business agreements; religion, language, and tradition; educational levels; urbanization and minority patterns; features of social and business customs; crime rate and corruption levels; attitudes towards foreigners; and social structure. Although sociology and psychology, as fields of research and practice, have been entertained in connmunist countries, they have served mainly 'social-engineering ' purposes, in that they have been subordinate to pditical agendas. Relatively litUe attention has been paid to the impact of national culture detominants on organizational solutions. Even in the rare instances where local enqnrical studies of this sort have been performed, results have frequently been incommensurable with research in the West. A number of works (published before political/economic changes began in 1989) have dealt with issues of organizational culture in Poland

After reviewing our text, it suggests that changes in organizational culture will not occur until managers make adjustments in basic assumptions (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013). The Chrysler company was in need of a major revamp given their recent financial woes. An existing organization’s culture is more difficult to transform than that of a new organization, as people are inclined to adapting to a new culture, but more resistant to change (Sims, 2000). New leadership was imperative to change Chrysler’s organizational culture and the way in which the business operated. Enter Sergio Marchionne, a man up for the challenge. Sergio Marchionne changed the basic assumptions of the Chrysler company in a few different ways. Mr. Marchionne decided that

Some businesses in America transfer into bi-cultured after starting out as monoculture. This typically happens when one company buys out the other or they join each other and sub-merge. Every now and then this happens globally. Companies face changes when a merger takes place such as how the business will operate, wages, and or if there will be interference from the government. Once the merger has begun the rules are changed to better serve the company whether people are with it or against it. Company success stories are sent over to a list which is created called the Globe Project list. This list gives pointers and advice for globalized managers to practice based on several key items and characteristics required during a successful merger. Daft states, “Some of the characteristics are assertiveness, performance, and human orientation” (Daft, 2013 ).

Globalisation has dramatically changed the international business landscape. Corporations are now presented with unprecedented opportunities for growth, development and multinational expansion (Dobbs et al, 2013). With increased market and technological integration also comes the immense movement of people; connecting different cultures and nationalities from across the globe. It is now widely considered that diverse organisations are the most successful organisations, with cross-cultural collaboration often improving overall work efficiency by ‘integrating collective wisdom and strength’ (Li, 2011, 114). However, cross-cultural collaboration can also generate an organisational challenge, as disparate cultural backgrounds can often cause unintended misunderstandings (Li, 2011). The primary aim of this paper is to provide an analysis of an organisational merger between an American and a Chinese healthy food company, which will be situated in China. The authors of this paper will be acting as consultants, aiming to identify the cross-cultural barriers between the United States and China. Both organisations have identified the international merger as beneficial to their strategic objectives, however certain cross-cultural differences must be acknowledged as a potential challenge. Therefore, using relevant cross cultural theories, models and literature, this paper will advise how cultural challenges could be minimised. The paper will focus on issues surrounding communication and

Mismanaging cultural differences can render otherwise successful managers and organisations ineffective when working across cultures. As stated byOsland (1990, p. 4) ``The single greatest barrier to business success is the one erected by culture''. Hofstede (1983) defines culture as "the mental programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another" (Hofstede 1983 p. 25). Through the comparison of Chinese culture and Australian culture using Hofstedes five cross-cultural dimensions: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, individualism, and long-term orientation an insightful view into the differences and similarities of the cultures can be obtained (Chong & Park 2003). Human Resource Management

This paper explores the experiences of a United States based Engineering Manager who now works for Siemens, a German company, as they have merged with his former company, Dresser-Rand, a United States corporation. While he has not yet become fully emerged in the Siemens way of handling multicultural competence, he does have experience working on global projects and dealing with cross-cultural issues with Dresser-Rand. The interview with the subject, along with research into programs in place at Siemens, as well as Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, form the basis for this paper and the recommendations made by the authors.

This paper is a report on cross-cultural management, with the issues related to cross-cultural management being discussed in the paper. Additionally, the report has produced the future way of cross-cultural management, including how it can be improved in offices relying much on this strategic approach.

Effective cross-cultural management has to be grounded in a detailed knowledge of individual cultures. Discuss using examples from two multinational companies.