Why Global Organisations Need Global SkillsLet's begin by looking at the 'Global' business environment and explore its effect on UK business organisations. In the past it would have been people sent abroad on foreign assignments. However today it can affects anyone, anywhere in an organisation - people in accounts, sales, marketing as well as production and all the support staff as well. It can mean different things for different organisations. It could be the opening of some representative offices abroad or the buying up a foreign company in the same or a complementary business. Or again, it may be the setting up of a joint venture with a company based in the US or the Far East and jointly exploiting third markets. There are a vast number of ways that an organisation can find themselves working in a global business environment. It could be to do with sourcing of raw materials or even finished goods for retail in our own or third party markets. The possibilities are almost endless. Organisations sometimes fail to realise is that while these moves may well lead to the organisation operating on an international level it's not simply possible to just carry on as before in terms of the way you do your business. This is because fundamentally, the Global integration process creates organisations where your colleagues, boss or subordinates are very likely to come from a range of different cultures. The Global process places new stresses on both workers and management and currently there is little done in this area by HR to resolve the culturally based issues that inevitably arise. Cultural differences can affect our behaviour and our experience of others in many ways. People meet people from other countries in all aspects of business life, and many issues can arise. For example people may experience each other in mildly or extremely negative ways in their attitudes to making decisions or to the way time is used within meetings. If people are involved in multi-cultural project teams, they will find that different cultures often approach their tasks and manage the question of leadership in very different ways. The skills seen as essential for managing a team in one culture may seem inappropriate in another - or even fatally divisive. People have talked a great deal about 'cultural convergence'. The idea that Globalisation will create, or at least lead to a common culture world-wide. Could we consider McDonalds or Coca-Cola as examples of tastes, markets or even cultures becoming similar everywhere? Whilst it is true that there are many products and services becoming common to world markets the most important thing to observe however, is less that they are everywhere than what they might signify in each culture. In the US a Big Mac is a fast snack but in Moscow it signifies that you are part of a privileged elite. When the Big Mac was transferred out of the culture that created it the new culture attributed it with a different meaning - a meaning that can be very puzzling to the culture that invented it. To sum up, organisations can find themselves operating globally as a result of all sorts of business circumstances. As a result of this shift to working globally, there is then a requirement for people to manage their business and their business relationships differently - they cannot simply carry on doing what they have always done - and be fully effective. Author: Richard Cook |