Nature of Organizations and the Contemporary Environment

Nature of Organizations and the Contemporary Environment

Cultural norms play an important part in interpersonal relationships and mechanisms at work. Culture is the collective mental programming of an individual's mind, which distinguishes one person from another. Individuals have defined sets of beliefs and about the society: nature works and the standards of behavior derived from these values. This shows that culture greatly affects social norms and economic behaviors like the propensity to innovate or save and other economic decisions, including investment in education, willingness to contribute to the society, fertility choices, and charitable contributions. This study shows how one's environment and culture affect organizations and management approaches as seen in the case of Myers. The adoption of Hofstede's dimensions of culture to compare American and Korean assumptions about interpersonal management and relationships will be critical in this study. The study also offers recommendations that Myers could have made in her organization (Green, 2011).

The problem

Linda Myers accepted a job at the SK Telecom in South Korea as the vice president. She was the first female executive from America and led an initiative of making the Company appear more global. She had many years consulting about expatriate transitions since it was her dream job. She was not aware that she would encounter many challenges. When Myers arrived in South Korea, challenges emerged immediately as though they were waiting for her. First, she had difficulty while dealing with Korean cultures. The directors did not provide detailed guidance or an official orientation to her. In most cases, she felt isolated as she struggled to comprehend the organization's structure and culture. Few non-Koreans worked in the firm: she realized that her American leadership style conflicted with the polite culture that was a characteristic of the Korean employees. She also realized that her ideas were very different from her employers. With all this, she felt marginalized and lost her job in the end.

Analyze the cause

The problems that Myers faced began when SK Company hired an agency to recruit its vice president. In most cases, the agency made mistakes by addressing her as a man: the often addressed her as "Mr. Myers." Although it was made innocently, it overshadowed all the misunderstandings that would come after accepting the job. She was a partner at WorldWise before SK employed her. The consulting firm based in Washington, DC assists multinationals like ExxonMobil and Hewlett-Packard in developing cross-cultural training program. She had also worked with the China Human Resource Group, which promoted joint ventures between Chinese Companies and U. S-based multinationals. Her main mission of working with SK was to be an expatriate in Asia's economy and that it would expand at a rate of 5% annually. The main challenge she experienced was a communication breakdown with the Koreans. In the job application at SK, she used a young man who was conversant with English and Korean languages and mediated between her and the employers (Green, 2011).

As soon as she arrived in Seoul, she realized the homogeneity of the office and the city. However, could not communicate effectively and the lack of understanding the Korean language vexed her. She even had to ask for an interpreter during her first meetings at SK Company. It was always difficult to get all the information she needed even with the help of the interpreter and her colleagues who were conversant with English. She explains that the only way to learn was through asking of questions. However, this was not always productive as diplomatic inquiries were construed as critical and confrontational. Myers found the company's hierarchy as rigid. The SK's spokesperson announced that the Company was the first to abolish the hierarchic management. He further said that other Korean companies with hierarchic management had open communication among the workers. Perhaps this was aimed at reducing the power distance between the management and the employees highlighted in Hofstede's principles of interaction (Green, 2011).

He said that the employees were open as they interacted. However, Myers could see the four levels of management. The first level contained the vice presidents, the second level comprised of directors, the third level comprised of managers while the fourth level on the hierarchy comprised of the subordinates. Employees were only expected to communicate with those at their levels. Another problem arose from the constant reminder she was given: she was female. Apart from the secretaries in the company, she was often the only woman in the offices most of the time. Myers often led a quiet life when outside the workplace setting. She tried to learn the local culture as she forged friendships with others in the expatriate community. Her case was common since many Korean conglomerates had always wanted to recruit western staff in many cases. The treatment she received is explained by femininity vs. masculinity dimension as postulated by Hofstede, which relates to the roles and behaviors distributed according to gender (Green, 2011).

However, a lot of disconnect in approaches and attitudes about practices at work existed. The challenges were overwhelming. After four months of appointment, she became the Chief Executive Officer of the Global Talent at SK. With the leadership shake-ups, she felt increasingly left out in important conversations and meetings because communication still posed a great challenge. At this time, she had a bilingual team that constituted three Koreans. She struggled to implement policies and new practices. At the middle and lower levels, the employees were very eager and very excited to change. However, individuals at the higher were nervous to accept the new changes. Her ideas were not implemented even if they were great: she realized that she would be fired anytime in early 2009 since the team leaders could not speak to her.

Hofstede's cultural theory describes the effects that a society's culture has on the behavior of its members. The first dimension is the small vs. large power distance (PD) and deals with the manner in which an organization can handle inequalities. Collectivism vs. Individualism (IDV) relates to the behavior towards the society and the extent at which individuals are integrated into various groups. Femininity vs. Masculinity as a dimension relates to the roles and behaviors distributed according to gender. Relating to Myers case, she was discriminated due to her gender, and her ideas were not implemented. She was mainly left out of major decisions. SK Company had a structure that included four levels. She also came from a different cultural background and could not relate well with other employees (Green, 2011).