Term Paper on "Management of Cultural Diversity"

Term Paper 7 pages (1915 words) Sources: 5 Style: Harvard

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Toyota Case: Insight

The leadership rubble is considered to paramount issue that has been experienced once the non-Japanese staff has taken over the Toyota administration. The problem has less to do with the cultural differences, and is much related to the difference of approach and practices in the Japanese influenced and American influenced leadership. Previously the employees have the right to make the higher management aware of the dangers, and such practice has really contributed significantly towards the growth and employment of the industry, however Americans are of the opinion that the local employees should themselves put in efforts to combat the problem, and achieve immediate relief. The market giant has experienced yet another problem before with referenced to its operation in China. Toyota has felt victim of the sociolinguistic challenges within China market. The multinational companies including Toyota have been accused for their involvement in such practices which generate 'creativity-driven shock values, controversy and extreme individualism commonly accepted in the North American and Western European markets' (Fengru, 2003). Toyota has experienced severe tribulations due to its 'advertising language as culture-blind and bona fid' (Fengru, 2003), and Chinese market created great hurdle for the Toyota industry, and halted its local operations because of the defiance of Chinese cultural values, the company was accused of adopting offensive technique which infuriated the Chinese locals. Toyota has been heavily criticized for 'increasing use of controversial advertising campaigns in emerging markets such as China which uses aideogram-based language system' (Fengru, 2003). Toyota was warned not to involve itself into such practices, which are responsible for the distortion of the 'sociolinguistic systems indigenous to targeted cultures and consumers' (Fengru, 2003). The row erupted after the Toyota launched its advertisement campaign for the 2004 model of Land Cruiser SUV; the advertisement campaign was termed controversial and offensive, and received extreme reservations and concerns of the local population. The social consequences of the advertisement campaign were extremely negative, and compelled the local population to agitate, and protested heavily, and in some of the cases certain social elements initiated the move to boycott the sales of Toyota. Toyota was accused of the advertising misstep, and was criticized for its ignorance about the cultural and linguistic resources that are applied to decode the intentions of the markets, in the form of controversial advertisements. It was evident that the multinational companies including Toyota should thoroughly review the local cultures before contributing towards the global advertising efforts. It is always important for the company to exercise an ethnographic study to develop the understanding of the advertisement in compliance with the local culture, it is also important for the company to employ semantic and syntactic translations of the advertisements to come across perfect evaluation, which can help the brand to predict the public reaction. Toyota avoided such measures, and suffered major setback in China. The controversial advertisement distortion of the Chinese sociolinguistics system is based on three-component sociolinguistic framework which includes; 'recognize linguistic competence, advance symbolic values, and render implied social valence to public scrutiny'. Unfortunately, the Toyota Company avoided the discussion of its campaign in the light of such sociolinguistics system of China. It was therefore a failure on the behalf of Toyota to secure 'the knowledge of social linguistics within the practice of global advertising' (Fengru, 2003), particularly with reference to larger countries, having gigantic cultural setup. Toyota adopted a marketing technique which was based on the ability to differentiate the international product from local competitors, and this is to be performed through' advertising is a sociolinguistic behavior that manifests the relationships between language use and societal values' (Fengru, 2003), unfortunately Toyota failed because of it failed to incorporate these factors. The advertisement campaign for Toyota was developed by Publicis Groupe S.A.'s Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising of Beijing, the response of the Chinese public towards the advertisement was 'immediate and emotionally charged' (Fengru, 2003), the uprising ended when Toyota issued a public apology.

Organizational Values & Cultural Values: Discussion

It is important for the Toyota to ensure that cultural values are well executed within the company; it is believed that the cultural values have to be communicated in an appropriate manner, and should in compliance with the mission and vision of the organization. Researchers have indicated that, 'in organizations where cultural values are shared by employees there are improved performance outcomes in for-profit organizations' (Nancy, 2002), and such improved outcomes are responsible for the enhancement of the organization's ability to take an edge in the competitive market. With the advancement in the organization culture, the cultural values has been reinterpreted, 'the pattern of beliefs and expectations shared by the organization's members, which produce norms that shape the behavior of individuals and groups in the organization, symbols, language and ideology and the collection of central values hidden in the shared myths and symbols of that domain'. It is therefore important for the multinational companies including Toyota to introduce communicative creations into their cultural environment and practices, which is based on emergence through communication, and the 'communicative acts of their members'. Communication is developed once the person abides by constrain developed within the working environment, and this improves the perception of the person towards culture. It has been observe that culture of high degree of variance exist within an organization. It has been argued that, 'culture consists of the links stock of ideas that define a set of commonsense beliefs about what is right, what is natural, what works. These commonsense beliefs are not universal, but are instead typically bounded by time as well as by space' (Robbins, 2001). It has been further stated that, in many of the cases the organizations are involved in differentiating their employees by putting them into different degree of insulated roles and 'position-specific niches' (Robbins, 2001), and when people involved in the similar nature of problem are communalized, there is an opportunity for coordination, and 'organizational subcultures are born' (Robbins, 2001). Communication of such values is important for the company, and such values should be in lieu with the cultural adherence. It is important for the companies to align their departmental values with the corporate values, and such values should incorporate slight magnitude of cultural values, so as to inspire and capture the motivation of the workforce and the general public, and to provoke enthusiasm and affinity towards the company and its operations. It is important for the companies to implement congruence of the values, and avoid the existence of the cultural values in the organization in an implicit manner. It has been observed that the categorization of the organizational, departmental and employee values and behaviors on the basis of the cultural affinity has generated satisfaction among the employees, and has developed positive impact on their 'commitment, absenteeism, turnover, morale and perception of feeling involved in an organization's decision-making process' (Nancy, 2002). In many of the multinational companies the cultural values are considered to be a medium, which the employers 'expect their employees to embrace and model by stating them' (Adam, 1982). The cultural values have to been strongly practiced, and have much variance on the basis of geography. It has been observed that the difference within the national culture has been responsible for evolution of the difference within the control mechanisms and the response that is expected if they fail. In one of the case Japan's Mitsubishi Motors became embroiled in public disgrace for its failure to offer systematic cover-up of the manufacturing products, and defects were detected during the routine inspection that reached back over a period of 30 years, the company's president Katsuhiko bowed in apology to Japan's Transport Minister Hajime Morita, and later offered his resignation.

Multinational companies including Toyota should revise their philosophy earlier based on treating everyone alike, and therefore should incorporate the individual differences within the market and organization, and should be encouraging towards each. It is important for such companies to recognize the individual differences, and should avoid its persistence which might lead to any unexpected loss or trouble, through conciliation efforts, and by bridging understanding, and cultural familiarity. The company should incorporate values based on the assumption of extreme differences, unless the similarity is proven. During the course of public dealing through direct communication via press release and advertisement, the company should avoid the discussion of interpretation and evaluation, and should focus on the strengthening communication. It is also important for the multinational companies to up bring the cultural environment in lieu with cultural values through practice of empathy. Such companies should respond to the differences in manner that will encourage desired behaviors. It is important for the multinational companies not to issue or publicize such remarks, product and statement which could be interpreted as sexist, racist, or offensive towards the local population, or cultural unit. The organizational culture should be based on the relative stability and the existence of the permanent characteristics which are responsible for the evolution of the culture based on high temperament towards unexpected changes. It has been observed that culture take long… READ MORE

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