To complete the formal assessment on the International management various task that are to be undertaken includes the following:
- Develop understanding of role of culture in international business
- Identify various organisational and national cultural characteristics
- Analyse challenge and opportunity related to managing a diverse global workforce
- Determine various factors that contribute in creating awareness and in implementing international policies
- Consider practical application of cultural awareness along with team working skills
INTRODUCTION
International management is defined to be an approach which revolves around controlling operations of an organisation which carries its operations in more than one country. The leaders and managers working in this sector are required to carry a thorough understanding of the market relating to practices and legislation so that operations could be carried out. This assignment focuses on the global operations which are carried out by Vodafone. It is a multinational telecommunication provider carrying in Asian, African and South American region through its headquarters in London. This report attempts to identify opportunities and challenges which are present when looking to develop a globalised workforce.
MAIN BODY
Vodafone is an award wining telecommunication provider carrying out its operations in the distinct parts of the world. This organisation carries out its operations in over 26 countries itself and have successfully ventured into additional 55 countries through partnership. The customer base of this organisation stands approximately 444 million all over the globe since inception of their operations in the year 1985. The achievement of this institution will not be possible due to its workforce which accounts near 111, 556 people worldwide. This organisation have been renowned to create a organisational culture through hiring and training competent employee which can lead this organisation to further success (Brewster, 2017).
The culture of a business possess values and beliefs of people which determines manner in which operations are carried. The people who work for an organisation are referred to a crucial determinants of its organisational culture. A business which is operating in more than one nations is required to manage diverse cultures so that its corporate goals are fulfilled. Through development of an cross-cultural team an organisation can counter significant business problems with different insight and knowledge. The flexible and diverse culture which has been practised by an organisation in home country influences the manner in which operations are carried out on international level. There are defined key areas through which culture can influence international business of an organisation which are communication, hierarchy and etiquette which needs to specialised by human resource manager so that right goals are fulfilled.
Vodafone is an known to form an organisational culture which is flexible, innovative and diversified so that customers oriented services are delivered. The crucial feature which is emphasized when building a culture is that this institution is known to possess local roots which is further helpful in launching new technologies. This organisation is take assistance from local cultural clusters leading to better results for an enterprise (Collins and et. al, 2011). For instance: This organisation is taking up a project of venturing in the Sub-sahara region particularly South-Africa. The clusters which have been formed help in getting an overview of the culture and manner in which same could be employed in leading to better results. The cluster which will be focused for undertaken project in South-Africa is Anglo culture. This culture determines that practices which are being carried out to achieve improved performance from employees. The aspects related to employees which are rewarded in this segment are high performance and value competitiveness(Peck, 2011). The knowledge and understanding with this cluster are helpful in making sure that best performance is derived out of employees working for an institution. There is a lesser trend for collaborative behaviour and individuals are known to be practise their own development and upliftment rather than working as a team. The human resource manager on understanding this aspect should focus on the ensuring that individual tasks are allotted so that suitable culture could be formed. The desire for gender equality in this cluster is very high which arises the need to maintain sex ratio in this project undertaken by the organisation. When it comes to leadership approaches people are more influenced by the participative and charismatic leadership styles are desired and ultimately practised by an organisation. The culture is an complex structure therefore it is essentially to be catered with right measures undertaken by leader and human resource manager of an organisation. This organisation have embraced an open minded culture along with inclusive growth measures and are making numerous attempts in turning diversified workforce into strength of a business. This organisation is also making attempts into ensuring that women can also access senior leadership positions in an organisation. The company is intending to identify diversity of consumers through distinctiveness of people work for an organisation and open minded culture to enhance the capability into providing right services and facilities to customers (Lauring and Selmer, 2012).
The policies and practices which are undertaken should match to the expectation of management as well as of employees. A human resource manager have to derive policies and practices relating to recruitment, compensation and retention of employees so that activities and tasks of business are fulfilled in the right manner. A brief mention of the crucial policies and practices which are carried out in relation to their cultural clusters are as follows:
Recruitment and selection: Vodafone has identified its people to be significant contributor in the success which is being attained by them. This organisation is providing an opportunity to be a part of renowned telecommunication organisation through online and offline platforms. This organisation have been known to be impartial in all other areas and recruit individual who are capable and can lead this organisation towards attainment of corporate objectives. It is equally important to consider the preferences of customers so that right set of talent can be provided with an opportunity to be a part of this organisation. The performance and value competitiveness are amongst the two factors which are highly rewarded in this segment whereas in-group collectivism is not preferred by the Anglo clusters (Marschan-Piekkari and Welch, 2011).
Retention: Retention means approaches and measures which are undertaken by an organisation for purpose of retaining its employees. This can be carried out by developing policies and practices leading to lesser employee turnover in an organisation. The formation of culture is referred to as one of the major contributor in this domain. The Anglo cluster are known to be moderately future oriented and emphasize on avoiding uncertainty which helps human resource manager in shaping strategies and policies relating to employee retention. The common strategies includes recruiting best talents and providing with opportunities and options on numerous grounds so that they are able to maintain a balance between personal and professional life.
Training & development: Training and leading are defined to be crucial approaches when it comes to development of workforce of an organisation. The reason for which development of human capital of an organisation is emphasized is that it helps a business remain competitive in the market and lead to attain better financial results. The dimension of the future orientation stand medium with the Anglo clusters therefore management are persuaded to form strategies keeping in mind the preferences and requirement of people. Therefore employees who are able to operate in dynamic business environment should exclusively be retained with the organisation (Michailova, 2011). They are to be designed in such a manner that employees are able to handle tasks provided in the right manner and at the same time are satisfied as well.
Leading and management of workforce: It has been identified that leadership strategic is context specific which means that consideration of the environment will be helpful in deriving right leadership approach for an organisation. The concept of leading revolves around providing workforce with directions and at the same time supervising their operations so that better results are achieved. Vodafone is known to operate in numerous regions such as European, Asian, American and African which makes it essential to form leadership approaches are highly suitable to local environment and culture. In Anglo cluster, highest score has been obtained by charismatic leadership approaches which is stated to form realist vision for the future of employees as well as for the firm and is able to make right decisions (Schmeisser, 2013). The another preferences is that participative leadership style which is able to fulfil its requirement of humane-oriented leadership and simultaneous focuses on team oriented efforts. The portrayal of self-protective behaviour is less emphasized therefore it is recommend to assess the environment and provide suitable leadership to people. For the upcoming project in the African regions it is said that, participative leadership approaches are to be emphasized so that better results are achieved leading to better results.
It can be said that there are numerous challenges and opportunities which are encountered by a manager when leading to form a capable global team. The organisations operating in the present business environment have to be more accommodative to assorted working surroundings. The cultural diversity undoubtedly influence working environment. The diversity in the cultural aspects are to be managed well so that right growth and upliftment of environment could be carried out. The development of virtual teams have been identified as a crucial approaches when it comes to dealing with dynamism of surroundings of a business enterprise. The virtual teams are formed to counter with geographical and temporal separations by relying on technological advancement. They are teams which are known to work beyond boundaries of time and space and aiming to achieve improved financial results on the behalf of institutions (Scullion and Collings, 2011).
suggested sample:- Development of travel and tourism