Managing cultural diversity in a multinational corporation

by

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction1

Literature Review3

Workplace learning3

Cross-cultural learning activities3

Pre-departure CCL activities4

On-site CCL activities4

Multinational Corporations4

Methodology5

Instrument for data collection6

Data analysis6

Reliability/Dependability6

Validity7

Ethical Considerations8

REFERENCES10

Managing cultural diversity in a multinational corporation

Introduction

The aim of this study is to examine the cultural diversity management in a multinational corporation. This particular research study is designed to examine the opinions of individuals in relation to cultural diversity and its impact on organizations. As the competitive field of organizations has spread internationally, corporations have had to expand their horizons from domestic to global arenas (Amaratunga & Newton 2002 17). In order to meet such a demand, an organization should be able to adapt its human resource management and development systems more globally (Arai & Shockley 2001 445). Improving employees' global competence might be a key issue for an organization to sustain a competitive advantage in an uncertain business environment (Bacal 2004 21). In order to maintain its competitive advantage, the significance of workplace learning has been emphasized by most organizations, such as governments, military, schools, companies, and even non-profit organizations.

The competitiveness of organizations is mostly determined by the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of their employees (Benjamin & Kristjansdottir 2002 239). Pelled (2006) define workplace learning as "the process used by individuals when engaged in training programs, education and development courses, or some type of experiential learning activity for the purpose of acquiring the competence necessary to meet current and future work requirement” (Pelled 2006 26). There are several efforts to identify workplace learning. In the early stage, Engemann & Miller (2004) mention three key principles to identify the concept of lifelong learning for managing workplace diversity:

(a) what should be learned (objective),

(b) how it is to be learned (means), and

(c) who controls the learning process.

Based on this understanding, the researchers have proposed a model of lifelong learning: formal learning (learner has little control over the learning process), informal learning (means of learning is controlled by learner), non-formal learning (objects of learning are controlled by learner), and self-directed learning (learner has total control over the learning process). In addition, Chuang & Zikic (2004) argue that workplace learning can be classified as formal, informal, and incidental learning by the two ingredients, action and reflection. If people learn from experience, and if there is active application of concepts in the actual work setting, then we may call this informal and incidental learning.

The difference between the two concepts is the presence of reflection; that is, incidental learning occurs when people often act with little or no reflection. Field (2004) distinguishes workplace learning between learning at work and learning in work according to whether or not the formal provision of training and education courses. On the other hand, Pelled (2006) propose three pivotal variables that synthesize the workplace learning literature and are manifested in the real practice of an organization. The three variables interact among each other, the location of the learning, the extent of planning, and the role of the trainer/facilitator during the learning activities (Pelled 2006 ...