Merger of Daimler Chrysler: A Brief Overview
This particular essay focuses on my experience as a team member in order to undertake the group activity on one of the six topics which were provided to us. In our class for our assessment we were required to create a podcast on one of the six topics, “National Culture”, “Organisational Culture”, “Leadership”, “Communication and negotiation”, “Motivation and HRM”, “Organisational structure”. My chosen topic is “Communication and negotiation”. On the basis of my chosen topic I have created a podcast which is based on the communication and negotiation of Daimler Chrysler. The timing of my podcast is approximately 2 minutes. The podcast focuses on the Hofstede and Trompenaars theories.
I think the choice of the article was appropriate as the merger of these two big companies was one of the major mergers in history. The merger was also important as it represented the merger of two different work cultures in addition to the merger of two big companies. Based on the issues the theories which I have used are the Hofstede and Trompenaars theories.
The original model of Hofstede was basically developed as a consequence of the factor analysis on the global survey of the employees’ value system at a particular company. The original theory regarding the fact that Hofstede proposed basically talked of four basic dimensions which include the “power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism versus collectivism and masculinity versus femininity” (Hofstede, 2010:8). Later on the other concepts of long-term and short-term orientation and also the idea of indulgence versus restraint were added (Shi & Wang, 2011:93).
The six Hofstede dimensions and understanding of countries, culture and people include the concepts discussed as a whole. The choice for choosing the six dimensional model of Hofstede was the fact that the concept of merger can be best explained by the Hofstede Theory which comprises of the six dimensions mentioned above (Hofstede, Jonker & Verwaart, 2012: 79-98). The use of this theory also helps to understand the explanation of each of the factors which have been explained clearly. In case of two organisations the power distribution might vary as well as the delegation of important duties to the leaders. This helps form an idea about the internal operations of the organisation. The power distance index refers to the existing differences in the work culture as per the authority which is delegated to the workers (Hofstede, 2011:8).
Thus the adoption of the Hofstede Model made it clear that organisations have distinct cultures of their own and in addition to this the people might have separate rules and regulations allowed for their individual preferences. In this particular case, the German culture involves the purpose of communication to receive as well as give instructions for the suitability (De Mooij & Hofstede, 2010: 85-110). The difference in the cultures of the organisation and the impact of the cultures on the mergers between two completely different cultures was a great learning experience for me while working on this particular concept of the project as a team. It honed my knowledge and skills related to the concept of organisational culture (Pyszka & Pi?at, 2011: 113-125).
Hofstede Theory: Understanding Organizational Cultures and Country Differences
The Trompenaars Theory was formulated to help in the acceptance of supervision of cultural differences. It was found that people from diverse cultures are not only randomly different but they differ in extremely detailed and occasionally in very conventional ways and means. This is due to the fact that each tradition has its own values and beliefs and also ways of thinking based on a variety of different factors. This particular theory helps in gaining a proper understanding of the people from different cultures. This is used for undertaking business with a diverse group of individuals. There are a few limitations of the model however as it cannot measure the individual preferences towards a particular dimension of choice. The seven concepts of Trompenaars’ Seven dimensions are as follows:
- “Universalism vs. Particularism”
- “Individualism vs. Communitarianism”
- “Specific vs. Diffuse”
- “Neutral vs. Emotional”
- “Achievement vs. Ascription”
- “Sequential time vs. Synchronous Time”
- “Internal direction vs. Outer direction”
These seven types are considered to be the seven dimensions of culture. The first dimension is the standard by which the connections and relationships are measured. Universal societies and their individuals “believe that general rules and obligations are the source of moral reference” (Trompenaars & Woolliams, 2014).
Therefore it has been seen that the first category of people try to change the attitudes of the others in order to suit their very own.
The second dimension is nothing but the conflict between the desire of an person and the security of the group of which they are a part. Such societies assume that the quality of life results from the personal freedom and also from a degree of individual development. In this connection it is believed that the quality of a person’s life improves in case care is taken of each other (Trompenaars & Coebergh, 2014: 311-13).
The third dimension focuses on the outlook of the individuals towards their lives and also the degree of their involvement in relationships. Sometimes elements of life are analysed specifically then combined as a whole. Diffusely oriented individuals engage others diffusely in numerous life areas and levels of their personality tend to be interwoven (Taras, Steel & Kirkman, 2012: 329-341).
The fourth dimension concentrates on the extent to which individuals express their emotions and the “subtle interplay between reason and emotion in human relationships”.
The fifth category of thought or dimension is the way in which personal status is assigned. It is seen that some people assign status to individuals based on their performance while others attribute it by means of categories and other attributes of their being (Trompenaars & Woolliams, 2014).
Trompenaars Theory: Understanding Cultural Differences in Multinational Companies
The sixth dimension focuses on the relative importance given to the past, present and future. And the final dimension focuses on the external control dimension and the value people put to environment and the internal view as well (Berardo, Deardorff & Trompennars, 2012).
Therefore it can be said that this particular theory helps in the understanding of the seven dimensional nature of culture. This theory is helpful in the sense of being all encompassing and accommodating (La Rosa et al., 2011: 614-629).
This team task was a great learning experience for me. I feel that working as a team player helps in honing the skills of a particular person and makes them better equipped to take up life’s challenges. Working together and going through all the theories helped me gain insight about the task at hand and the reasons for doing the task. The different topics which were provided to us to choose from namely national culture, organisational culture, leadership, communication and negotiation, motivation and HRM and finally that of organisational structure were all very informative and educative in their own ways. I felt that the procedure of going through all the topics for the assignment helps me become a better individual as it helped me understand the perspectives on life and the governing of life as a whole.
It helped me form a better bond with my team members. It helped me understand the importance of all round balance of a project. The strong and weak areas of all our team members could be easily discussed in the meeting. I also found that the idea of working as a team helped us all grow as better individuals capable of understanding each of our tasks and responsibilities better. Thus I would like to mention that working as a group is a very important part of a person’s life and it helps not only in the project but also in personality development.
References:
Berardo, K. Deardorff, D.K. & Trompenaars, F. (2012) Building cultural competence. Innovative activities.(accessed from https://sty.presswarehouse.com/sites/stylus/resrcs/chapters/1579228046_otherchap.pdf)
De Mooij, M. & Hofstede, G. (2010) The Hofstede model: Applications to global branding and advertising strategy and research. International Journal of Advertising, 29(1), pp.85-110. ( accessed from https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/sites.gsu.edu/dist/4/1635/files/2015/07/8-Hofstede-CulturalDimensions-1pur3x7.pdf)
Hofstede, G.J. Jonker, C.M. & Verwaart, T. (2012) Cultural differentiation of negotiating agents. Group Decision and Negotiation, 21(1), pp.79-98. (accessed from https://library.wur.nl/WebQuery/wurpubs/fulltext/140732)
La Rosa, M. Wohed, P. Mendling, J. Ter Hofstede, A.H. Reijers, H.A. & van der Aalst, W.M. (2011) Managing process model complexity via abstract syntax modifications. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 7(4), pp.614-629. (accessed from https://eprints.qut.edu.au/32544/1/cp_abstract_IEEE.pdf)
Pyszka, A. & Pi?at, M. (2011) Applying Trompenaars typology of organizational culture to implementation of CSR strategy. Journal of Intercultural Management, 3(2), pp.113-125.
Shi, X. & Wang, J. (2011) Interpreting hofstede model and globe model: which way to go for cross-cultural research?. International journal of business and management, 6(5), p.93.
Taras, V. Steel, P. & Kirkman, B.L. (2012) Improving national cultural indices using a longitudinal meta-analysis of Hofstede’s dimensions. Journal of World Business, 47(3), pp.329-341.
(accessed from https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/V_Taras_Improving_2012.pdf)
Trompenaars, F. & Coebergh, P.H. (2014) Model 51: The contextually-based human resource theory. F. Trompenaars & P.-H. Coebergh, 100, pp.311-13.
Trompenaars, F. & Woolliams, P. (2014) Dilemmas of multimultural leaders-a new unified model of transcultural competence.