Organizational Behavior in Multinational Organizations?

Question

respect to "The Challenge of Balancing Local and Global Context".
views on it

Answer 1

Relates to the debate between convergence and divergence in global culture. If you buy into the idea that all of us will eventually shape into a similar amorphous group of souls that espouse common values, you will hold dear a belief that you can find a "global" mindset that is more adaptive to business contexts than anyone else. So, OB would be well served to anticipate this end result and try to instill this mindset in multinational organizations.
If you are of the camp that people tend to define themselves by what they are not, meaning for example, only hypothetical of course, that some members of countries pride themselves in not being like Americans, then you may sympathize with the idea that there can not be total convergence, instead there is perpetual cleavage between cultures. Given this, you would frame OB theory in terms of conflict and co-option of interests.
Seems for now that OB is chasing the former "global mindset" charade.

Answer 2

Understanding the cultural contexts is more complicated than, to use the old line term, "multinational," organizations expected. Geert Hofstede has done amazing work on researching the different values and behavioral in each society.

The next challenge becomes communication. Communicating the vision and strategies of the parent company to the transnational subsidiary may produce more problems than expected.

Answer 3

It is always a struggle in dealing with "standardization vs. adaptation" there are benefits to both and a universal statement 'saying one is better' is impossible. Corporate culture cross-referenced with national culture works differently with different companies. Ideally, pursuing a synergistic approach where there is a core corporate culture supplemented with unique local innovation is the way to go for companies. For further insight, cite Hofstede and his four dimensions of organizations.

1. high/low heirachy
2. masculinity/femininity
3. individuality/collectivism
4. uncertainty avoidance

Answer 4

Just another set of challenges. And they said IO psych would never be useful...

We had precursors to this when there were 'spirit possessions' in factories in Indonesia that were only cured when the factory managers brought in shamans to sacrifice chickens and appease the spirits.

Answer 5

I can give it to you in a sentence.

OB in MNCs: just a replay of the powerplays and politicking at the White House and Capitol Hill; the main difference is the pay.

Answer 6

Multinational organizations by definition operate in multiple geographic and cultural contexts, engaging in transactions that cross national boundaries. As a context for organizational research, multinational organizations have several distinguishing features:


Simultaneous differentiation based on product, function, geographic and cultural context, creating substantially more complex ways of organizing than in domestic firms.

Exceptional potential for proprietary learning across these bases of differentiation as lessons learned and innovations initiated in any one context create opportunities for others.

The need to simultaneously buffer between and bridge across these bases of differentiation.

High visibility to multiple governments which themselves have varied and sometimes conflicting interests.

Multiple stakeholders including governments, unions, employees, and citizens' groups whose interests and viewpoints vary by nation.

Simultaneous pressures for internal consistency and for local adaptation.

Cross-cultural interactions of all types, including peer-peer and supervisor-subordinate.

These and other distinguishing features of multinational organizations raise issues that can inform the development of context-sensitive organizational theory and research. Manuscripts that increase our understanding of issues specific to multinational organizations are most welcome. Examples of topics include, but are not restricted to, the following:


Organizational phenomena in multinational as compared to domestic organizations.

Multinational organizations as they operate in different industries and/or are headquartered in different locations.

Global and country of origin demands that the overseas managers communicate to a local workforce.

Organizational behavior issues faced by multinational corporations working in developed, developing, and transition economies.

Transfer of management practices across borders in the context of multinational organizations.

Transfer of practices between multinational organizations in different industries or headquartered in different locations.

Managing organizational change in multinational corporations.

Leadership processes in multinational organizations such as leadership by the designated organization head, by the senior management team, and leadership of initiatives in one part of the organization that have the potential to broadly spread throughout the organization.

Leadership that responds to cultural and functional complexities of multinational organizations.

Selecting and developing organization members having competencies for cultural understanding, intercultural negotiation, and intercultural collaboration within multinational organizations.

Power and politics in multinational organizations.

New forms of work organization, interdependencies and coordination mechanisms such as the operation of international virtual teams.

Use of technology for managing people in multinational organizations.

The psychological contract in multinational organizations.

Paradoxes that reflect the dual forces of localization and global coordination distinctive to multinational organizations.

Careers in multinational organizations.

In addition we are particularly interested in studies that take advantage of the distinctive intuition of scholars working out of different cultural backgrounds and traditions in collaboration to study multinational organizations, and in research that includes parts of the world seldom studied in organizational research. We anticipate that most articles will report new empirical research, although theory development and integrative literature reviews will be considered.


To be acceptable for this Special Issue, a manuscript must carefully incorporate the context of the multinational organization into its theory and, if empirical, also into its hypothesis testing, and interpretation of results. To accomplish this and to promote an integrated perspective across articles, submissions should address the following issues in their introduction, conceptual development, and discussion sections:


In terms of the phenomena the manuscript addresses, how are multinational organizations similar to or different from domestic organizations?

Which dimensions of the multinational organization influence and/or interact with the phenomena the manuscript addresses, and what are the mechanisms through which this influence occurs?

How do features of multinational organizations provide opportunities to extend our understanding of the phenomenon of interest? For instance, do multinational corporations provide situations where the phenomena studied reflect values outside the normal range or distribution of variables OB researchers study (e.g., higher levels of cultural or institutional differentiation between subunits)? Are there anomalies or paradoxes distinctive to multinational corporations that can take us beyond current OB research and theory?

Answer 7

http://www.job-journal.org/authors/calls/multi.htm