Trompenaars. Leading Change and Organizational Culture - Essay Example

? (Assignment) Leading Change and Organizational Culture Trompenaars, in the interview with Craven, provides an insight into the need for identifying and incorporating diversity in organisations. According to Trompenaars, it is surprising to see how lethargic many organisations are to accept the need for intercultural interaction in the modern business world, and how reluctant they are to tackle the issues associated to it. Thereafter, Trompenaars points out the common mistakes that are made by managers while dealing with culturally diverse workforces. The first one, according to him, is that most organisations still consider cultural issues secondary, and give them less priority on the belief that culture has nothing to do with the main business transaction (Craven). According to Trompenaars, if cultural issues are to be tackled, it is necessary to identify the origin of cultural values. Then only the organisations can develop effective norms and values. In other words, simply learning the norms and values of a culture will not help solve the issue. The second mistake, according to Trompenaars, is that organisations do not identify culture as a compliance issue. However, he reminds the fact that if cultural issues are not identified and solved, it can even lead to legal disputes. In the opinion of Trompenaars, in the 21st century, it is necessary for organisations to develop transcultural competence, which means the competence to reconcile dilemmas or to integrate opposites (Craven). At this point is wise to see what Levine, Phipps, and Blythe prefer to say about cultural differences. According to Levine, Phipps, and Blythe (16), linguistic and cultural pluralism is more than the mere coexistence of different languages; and it is about transcultural circulation of values across borders, the negotiation of identities, the inversions, even inventions of meaning, often concealed by a common illusion of effective communication. Trompenaars points out the fact that the currently available leadership literature is regionally biased. He gives the example of English, French, and Chinese literatures. It is pointed out that there is the need for more works on multi-cultural teams. In other words, the new leadership should transcend culture. According to Trompenaars, to effectively handle cross-cultural diversity, it is necessary to adopt reconciliation. According to Trompenaars, the first step of reconciliation is to let others be themselves. In simple terms, reconciliation is the understanding of how the perspectives of other cultures can help ones own culture. In others words, reconciliation calls for the fusion of two extremes; considering and accommodating the other culture. Trompenaars point out the fact that there are different ways of dealing with other cultures; ignoring other cultures, abandoning ones own culture, and reconciliation. In his words, in the modern world of business, an important factor for success of organisations is their ability to ‘celebrate differences’. In the opinion of Trompenaars, cultural is not a secondary entity, but is the contextual environment around all transactions in an organisation; financial, market, political, and technological. According to him, the success or future performance of an organisation is no more identified based on its financial performance, but on its ability to handle local cultures. So, he proposes Process Principle Optimization based on five major principles instead of the usual ROI. The five principles, according to him, are corporate effectiveness, the client, the employee, the shareholder, and societal responsibility. So, according to him, the modern businesses should seek ways to improve their local learning so that they can increase their global access. In other words, in the modern business world, integration of values helps organisations ensure sustainable business performance for the long term. 2. According to Trompenaars, the modern leadership and management, to be effective, should have transcultural competence. Transcultural competence is the ability to incorporate various cultures successfully, or, in the words of Trompenaars, to ‘celebrate differences’. A similar opinion is expressed by Laroche, and Rutherford (163) who point out that for culturally different employees, to stay in an organisation that hired them, it is necessary for them to work effectively with their managers. The authors continue that if their managers consider them poor workers, they are unlikely to survive. According to him, instead of neglecting other cultures or abandoning ones own, it is necessary to adopt the path of reconciliation to ensure transcultural competence. Reconciliation, in the words of Trompenaars, is the fusion of cultures by understanding how the other culture can be utilised to enrich ones own. It is pointed out that if the management and leadership fail to address the cross-cultural issues in the organisation, it will face problems in business as in the modern business world, to increase ones global offerings, it is necessary to understand and incorporate local cultures. 3. The first point that Trompenaars puts forward is that many managements and leaderships do not consider culture as an issue that can directly affect business transactions. The second point is that businesses, to succeed, should show transcultural competence. The third point is that presently, business literature does not address the issue of multi-culture workplace. The next point he puts forward is that reconciliation of culture is the best way to achieve transcultural competence. The last point he suggests is that culture can directly affect the financial performance of a company, and hence is an indicator of a company’s future performance. However, it is worth looking into what Abdulla Al Zamil, the chief operating officer of Industrial Investment Company, wants to say. According to Zamil, it is necessary for people to prevent a loss of their cultural identity too. He also points out the fact that in many countries, people are losing their traditional ways of life, and it should be stopped. 4. The first recommendation that can be seen in the interview with Trompenaars is that organisations should identify culture as a factor that has a direct influence on the business transactions of an organisation. The second suggestion is that companies should become transcultural competent. To become transculturally competent, it is necessary to identify other cultures and accept them as they are. Thereafter, it is advised that organisations should adopt reconciliation instead of neglect as the way to ensure transcultural competence. Horn and Faulkner (257) pointed out that a shared culture encourages people to accept common goals and to identify with each other; in addition, according to them, it facilitates the act of coordination and control in an organisation. Thus, it promotes cross-border consistency, both internally and externally. Works Cited “Cultural Identity must be Protected in the Wake of Globalisation, Says Al Zamil”. AME Info.com, Sep 2005. Web 25 May 2011 Craven, Alistair. “An Interview with Fons Trompenaars”. Emerald Management First. Levine, Glenn S., Phipps, Alison and Blythe, Carl. Aausc 2010: Critical and Intercultural Theory and Language Pedagogy. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print. Laroche, Lionel., Rutherford, Don. Recruiting, Retaining, and Promoting Culturally Different Employees. US: Butterworth Heinemann, 2007. Print. Segal-Horn, Susan and Faulkner, David. Understanding Global Strategy. US: Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Read More