Managing across Cultures MGMT 544: Managing across Cultures Professor Xiao-Ping Chen University of Washington Spring, 2004

International Human Resource Management Case analysis: AgroAraucania Randolph & Sashkin’s article

Question Will the same HR practice achieve the same effects in different cultures? e.g. Participative decision making Employee empowerment

Case analysis AgroAraucania Problem definition: How to make TQM work in AgroAraucania?

Background Retail business selling 2,500 different agricultural products and process 6-7,000 tons of seed annually Located in Temuco, Chile - with 3 out of 4 owners in Santiago Experiencing high turnover and low morale (36% less than 1 year w/co) Hired Psychologist to interview company and provide recommendations

AgroAraucania Questions: What happened when TQM was implemented in the local Chilean farm supply company AgroAraucania? How would you evaluate the effectiveness of group empowerment in AgroAraucania? What would be your suggestions in making TQM work in AgroAraucania?

Discussion of B&D and AA Why did Bill Lancaster succeed in Black & Decker? Why did TQM fail in AgroAraucania? Lessons learned?

Can organizational empowerment work in multinational settings? What is empowerment? Recognizing and releasing into the organization the power that people already have in their wealth of useful knowledge, experience, and internal motivation How to make it work? Share accurate information widely Create autonomy via boundaries Replace hierarchical thinking with self-managed teams

Can organizational empowerment work in multinational settings? How to implement it in multinational settings? Recognizing cultural differences Power distance Uncertainty avoidance Individualism Career success

Can organizational empowerment work in multinational settings? Key Power High Distance Low Share accurate information People do not expect to get all information People expect and welcome information Create autonomy Via boundaries Boundaries are easy to create but hard to widen Boundaries can be created in collaboration and easy to widen Replace hierarchy with teams Hard to replace hierarchy when leader is part of the team People welcome leader as part of the team

Can organizational empowerment work in multinational settings? Key Uncertainty High Avoidance Low Share accurate information People like information that clarifies things People can deal with unclear information Create autonomy Via boundaries People respond well with clear boundaries People can live with ambiguous boundaries Replace hierarchy with teams People want clear team roles Teams can create their own roles

Can organizational empowerment work in multinational settings? Key Individualism High Low Share accurate information People want information that relates to individuals People want team-related information Create autonomy Via boundaries People prefer individual-based boundaries People prefer team-based boundaries Replace hierarchy with teams People have difficulty working in teams People welcome a team-focus

Can organizational empowerment work in multinational settings? Key Career High Success Low Share accurate information People want feedback on results People want feedback on processes and interaction Create autonomy Via boundaries People prefer clear task goals People prefer process-related goals Replace hierarchy with teams People want teams to have real goals and responsibilities People like a focus on team development processes