Managing Multiculturalism In Organizations: Issues And Strategies." (70 Characters)

Remember when proposing this design that you should be able to do this research project in a subsequent course . If your research objectives are not specific enough, it may take longer than 3 months. Be realistic about your research project, and take note that a number of stages may be needed, and that you may only be able to do the first stage(s) of that design, during the a semester. Key issues to be addressed in this section include:

• State the reasons for your of research design choice(ie exploratory, descriptive, causal or some combination – why is this design appropriate and why are other designs not appropriate)
• Describe and justifythat the methods are appropriate
  • If your study is a desk studyconsider the data sources you need for each objective, where you will source the data from, how valid and reliable the data are, and what analytical techniques or theoretical models will you use to address your objectives
  • If your study requires primary dataconsider what method(s) you will use eg interviews, focus groups, surveys etc; what sampling approach will you use? What will your sample size be, how will you actually select respondents?
  • If your study combinesdesk research with primary data you will need to address all the points above.

The Importance of Research Objectives

Multiculturalism leads to enrichment of work culture in an organization. People from different backgrounds have different patterns of thinking and they help provide valuable inputs to the organization on how to develop a better working atmosphere which would help achieve the goals and objectives (Amit and Bar-Lev 2013). The main purpose of the report is to analyze the problem which arise out of the presence of people from different cultures working in an organization.

Nestle is considered for the presentation of the problem and also find out ways on how to tackle the different issues which arise out of multiculturalism. The global company which Nestle is, people from all across the world work in some position or the other in this organization (Banting and Kymlicka 2012). Differences of opinions are bound to occur because no two persons can have the same thought process. Employees form an integral part of any organization and their contributions play a major role in the development and evolution of the work culture (Bloemraad and Wright 2014).

The report concludes that problems will arise through the existence of people from different cultures working in an organization but the responsibility lies in the hands of the management to use them effectively and produce the required output for enabling the organization to reach new levels.

The problem which is being looked into, is the problem which existence of multiculturalism creates in an organization. Cultures are the customs, ideas and social behaviour of particular people or society. In a global organization like, Nestle where people of different backgrounds and cultures work, certain problems will exist which would hamper the smooth flow of activities and create problems for the organization (Castaneda and Bateh 2013). The problems which arise out of multiculturalism are, language problems, communication, cultural differences, mode of learning and the confusion regarding whether they are able to understand whatever the management tries to convey to them. The brief description of the problems is stated.

i) Language

Language is the way through which people communicate with one another. The instructions which get imparted to the employees are passed on through a definite language. English is known to be the universal language but there are people who hail from certain parts of the world, where they prefer speaking in their own native languages and firmly believe in not speaking in English, no matter how demanding the situation is (Fitzsimmons 2013).

The Problem of Multiculturalism in Organizations

ii) Communication

Communication plays a big role in effectively carrying out the responsibilities and duties to achieve the organization’s goals and objectives but communication can only be effective if the receivers receive the message imparted by the sender in the same form as they were intended to (George, McGahan and Prabhu 2012). Barriers to communication arise out of people’s inability to receive the right information in right form and in right time and provide the relevant feedback in appropriate form. An organization like Nestle thrives on the efficiency with which the employees work and produce the output for providing excellent service to the society.

iii) Cultural Differences

Cultural differences is another major factor which plays a crucial role in effectively implementing the strategies, formulated by the management of an organization (Henson 2015). People hail from different regions and they come together to work for an organization by collaborating with each other and provide the services to fulfil the needs of and requirements of the customers. Management needs to understand the ways through which the cultural differences can be used to good effect for bringing the desired output (Gunasekaran and Spalanzani 2012). People from different cultural background possess expertise in different fields. The organization should identify where the strength lies for each individual and thus allot work accordingly to let people give their best to achieve the goals and objectives of an organization (Kymlicka 2016).

iv) Mode of Learning:

The mode of learning is another important area which needs to be investigated. Employees learn things faster when they get recognized and appreciated for their work. This gives employees the feeling that they are a part of the organization and allow them to perform better. Employees tend to learn faster when they are instructed to do something in their own language.

The immediate problem of multiculturalism is worthy of investigation because that has led to the performance of the employees getting hampered and in turn the whole organization is getting effected due to their failure to achieve goals and objectives (Joseph 2017). Nestle being a global organization, strives to achieve quality through constant upgradation of skills of the employees (Liberman 2013). The management should strive to understand how can they manage to let the employees improve upon their performances and also see that the organization’s goals and objectives are met. Investigation from the management’s side requires a thorough analysis to understand what needs to be done for getting the maximum output from the employees. They should look to use the difference in cultures among employees along with their different levels of IQ, in a judicious manner to get the best results (Lauring and Klitmøller 2015). The management, from time to time should conduct training programs for upgrading the skills of certain employees. Personality development programs should also be organized to mould employees into individuals who are likely to enhance the reputation of the organization. Foreign language classes should be held on a regular basis.

Language Barriers

Investigation is required because the problems, if not addressed upfront can lead to even bigger problems. Multiculturalism is an issue which, if used properly can result in greater efficiency among employees and lead to increase in the level of commitment. People from different backgrounds have different levels of understanding and they deal in executing the plans set by the management in their own ways (Lauring and Selmer 2013). The worthiness of the investigation comes from the fact that a company like Nestle should understand the importance of employee cultures and behaviour, their pattern of thinking, the work ethics which different people follow and their impact on the work environment. Sooner, the management understands their employees’ culture and behavioural patterns, the easier they would feel to convey their messages to them. The investigation from the management’s side would indicate that people from multiple cultures would have different ways of looking into the different aspects of work. The benefits which can arise from the investigation are, that employees can add immense value to the organization, by bringing in their ideas thereby assisting the management to take decisions related to further expansion, opening up of new business ventures, thereby providing employment opportunities for people.  Muticulturalism leads to growth of the company in all respects as this aspect encourages people to share ideas, give inputs and manage resources in an effective and efficient manner, so that the best possible results can be attained.

The delimitations include, understanding the customers’ psychology on whether they have understood the objectives framed by the organization as psychology differs from person to person and the organization can understand only if they have one-to-one sessions with the employees. One to one sessions will enable the organization to understand the thinking patterns of the employees and accordingly they can be moulded to suit the requirements of the organization. Another limitation can be, employees may not be able to communicate their problems to the management. This is where the transparency has to be displayed. The higher management should encourage employees to feel free and come up with any sort of problems, which they might face while executing the plans. This will allow the free flow of thoughts to transfer from employees to management and vice versa. Nestle’s business has got different dimensions and they need expertise to deal with each dimension. Identifying the potential of employees is extremely important so that work can get assigned according to the domains they are comfortable in. Assigning the right job to the right person in appropriate time is the art of good management.

Communication Problem

The need to define the problem before conducting the research in the best possible manner is a necessity. Research can only be successful if the problem is clearly stated and accordingly proper planning is done to reach out to the root cause. Defining the problem can take place by constant interaction with the employees, as and when the activities do not go in line with the plans formulated. Whenever work schedules are planned, the activities get streamlined accordingly and the management has to keep a close watch on whether the deadlines are met as per the rules. Deviation from the plan leads to chaotic situation as the activities don’t place according to how they should be. Cultural aspects come into play big time as people exhibit different behavioural patterns and accordingly they carry out the duties in their own ways but that doesn’t fit with the way an organization like Nestle runs. Nestle is a global fmcg company which takes pride in delivering good stuffs on a consistent basis. The company excels in providing quality products to their customers, offering good after sales service, thus gaining the trust. The management needs to decide the best possible way to tackle with this problem of multiculturalism. With the company’s existence all round the globe, people of different cultures are bound to be present in the offices which the organization has set up and the company has to maintain the standards by keeping up with the people of different mentalities. Different areas of the world have certain rules and regulations, which people abide by. Their beliefs are different, ways of doing things are different and these features affect the work culture of an organization. Organization excels because of two reasons, a) the products with which they deal their business in and b) the employees who carry out the activities to fulfil the goals and objectives of the organization. They are basically the assets of an organization, without whom the organization cannot succeed in their goals. The question which crops up in the management’s mind is, how do they bring the employees together to form a group and let the members of the group involve themselves to fulfil the assigned goals and objectives (Lowman 2013). The management needs to understand the benefits and hence use people to make the maximum impact on the organization, thus produce the best results. Results do not come overnight but they come through persistence and consistency.

Cultural Differences

Multiculturalism refers to the existence of different cultures where the concept of culture is based on religious, racial or cultural groups and is shown through one’s conduct, his or her ways of assuming things, their thought process and styles of communication (Pedersen 2013). In this case, Nestle, the world’s largest food and beverage company has been considered for the research, with approximately 100 employees. The research was conducted in the month of August, 2017 and three weeks into the month of September. People of multiple cultures were present within those 100 employees considered for conducting the research (Kubota 2014). The research found out that existence of a mix of people from different cultural backgrounds tend to portray different working styles for those employees (Bloemraad and Wright 2014). This was due to the result of people, possessing different perspectives on particular issues in the organization as they tend to connect the situations with their thought patterns and based on their upbringings (Koenig 2017). The scope of research on multiculturalism in an organization, which is Nestle in this case, by taking into consideration a sample of 100 employees, was a fair one. The employees were put under different circumstances within the organization, to see how they dealt with those situations and the results which came out was on a satisfactory level to give an fair idea that no matter how much one tries to mould someone, he or she will always tend to fall back on the perceptions and ideas they have garnered over a period of time (Shih, Young and Bucher 2013).

The research was on Multiculturalism In An Organization. The organization selected for the research to be conducted was Nestle, the world’s largest food and beverage company. The mode of research was based on real activities within the office premises and then provide them with questionnaires from time to time, so as to understand the psyche and the reasons which they had thought of while performing those particular activities (Sue, Rasheed and Rasheed 2015). Thus the mode of research was qualitative in nature. This helped to gather information on how they perceive the social realities and as result the way they act with the world.

The findings through the research were, 100 employees selected had come from 5 different cultural backgrounds. Some believed in the notion that ideas which they possessed on certain issues, might not get recognized and hence they would not let the management know about them (Roysircar and Hodges 2013). The questionnaires gave the insight that the fear of rejected loomed large in their thoughts, thus they always liked to stay away and keep things within themselves. Similarly, around 20% of the employees used to remain totally engrossed in work and had the perception that discussions among the employees would hamper productivity and kill time (Holmes 2012). To some extent, their views can be honoured but on a wider perspective, interactions with the colleagues and team leads would actually help employees to feel free and share their thoughts without inhibitions (Lauring and Selmer 2012). The workload would get distributed through the exchange of ideas, thus making things easier for them to achieve their targets and meet up the organizational goals and objectives. On the other hand, 30% of the group would be actively involved in discussions, would not shy away from giving opinions on different issues during team meetings, share thoughts with their colleagues and prove to be source of inspiration for others to do the same. This is the result of their cultural backgrounds, which through the activities, gave a clear idea that the group was extrovert in nature, did not think too much about whether their thoughts and ideas would be considered on not but went ahead to share with their seniors.

Mode of Learning

In spite of all these findings, some limitations existed within the research. After a thorough analysis, the conclusion was drawn that, the effects of research on multiculturalism in an organization were only for 100 people. Whereas, there are numerous employees working in Nestle in and around the world, possessing different cultural backgrounds and behavioural patterns. So, just considering 100 employees would not be sufficient enough to provide the exact result. In general the research helped to form an understanding of how much culture and background impact the employees conduct within an organization.

Research design refers to the methods, procedures and rules followed to collect and analyze measures of the variables. Research design is the framework that has been created to find answers to research questions. This is the overall strategy chosen to integrate the different components of a study in a coherent and logical way to ensure that the problem gets resolved effectively. Research design gets divided mainly into two groups, exploratory and conclusive.

Exploratory research is the type of research conducted where there are limited or no earlier studies to refer to. The focus of the research is to gain insights and familiarity for later investigation. These are based on facts, which are collected from earlier similar events that have occurred. Research design for multiculturalism has been conducted in organizations across the world as the issue of employees of different regions and cultures coming together is not uncommon (Canen and Canen 2012). Unilever, another giant in the FMCG sector is a perfect example to showcase multiculturalism among employees. People from across the world from different regions work in Unilever and the company sees this as an opportunity to add variety and also learn from one another to understand clearly, ways to upgrade the skills of the employees and provide them with better opportunities. Similarly, Nestle can do the same by encouraging new talents from across different regions and enhancing the reputation of the employees and also upgrading the skills and understanding of the employees. They should try to understand the reasons behind the employees’ reactions against different instructions and accept the fact that different people react differently to the same problems. The instructions from the management need to be moulded according to the way how employees react and display their attitude towards the work environment.

The research method adopted was a qualitative one.

Qualitative Research is a form of exploratory research. This is used to gain an understanding of opinions, motivations and underlying reasons. Qualitative Research is used to uncover trends in thoughts and opinions and dig deep into the problem. The data collection methods used for conducting the search vary through the usage of semi-structured or unstructured techniques. The methods which are commonly used are, focus groups, individual interviews and participation/observations. A small sample size is considered and the respondents are selected to fulfil a given quota. The behavioural patterns and reactions were analyzed through putting the employees under work situations and then correlate those with their responses in questionnaires.

The Need for Investigation

Just like the research was important to find out the impact of multiculturalism in an organization, what needs to be considered is the factor of being ethical. Ethics refer to doing things in accordance with the rules and regulations. In this situation, no matter how much difference do cultures create in the work environment, the imperative thing would always be to get the findings in an ethical way, by respecting every individuals viewpoint and make sure that sentiments are not hurt.

The limitations existed in the research that was conducted by considering a sample of only 100 employees. Though within those 100 employees, people of different cultural backgrounds existed, still, the fact that there are numerous employees working for Nestle in and around the world, who might possess different cultural background and patterns of behaviour, thus this limited employee base would not give accurate understanding but only an overview.

The budget proposed for the whole exercise was around 10000 AUD and modifications of the budget were made as per the needs and requirements.

Conclusion:The multicultural employees working in the organization play a very important role in giving the organization, a diverse work atmosphere to create ways for learning new things. The best way to understand the effectiveness of a multicultural organization is by looking into aspects where employees get renewed energy and vigour to work as they enjoy the company of one another. Nestle is a globally recognized organization, which deals in consumer goods which are used on a daily basis. The company attracts multicultural atmosphere and provides employees with opportunities to learn and nurture from different situations. Learning is a continuous process and employees have ample opportunity to learn from the training sessions that are held in the organization from time to time. The research conducted to understand human behaviour for all the employees coming from different backgrounds, is a qualitative one, through analysis of behavioural patterns and tasks and then tallying those with their answers in questionnaires.References:Amit, K. and Bar-Lev, S., 2013. Motivation to lead in multicultural organizations: The role of work scripts and political perceptions. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 20(2), pp.169-184.Banting, K. and Kymlicka, W., 2012. Is There Really a Backlash Against Multiculturalism Policies?: New Evidence from the Multiculturalism Policy Index.Bloemraad, I. and Wright, M., 2014. “Utter failure” or unity out of diversity? Debating and evaluating policies of multiculturalism. International Migration Review, 48(s1).Canen, A.G. and Canen, A., 2012. Challenging envy in organizations: multicultural approaches and possibilities. Business Strategy Series, 13(5), pp.199-207.Castaneda, M.E. and Bateh, J., 2013. Strategies for multicultural management: communication and a common set of values. Journal of International Education Research, 9(1), p.41.Fitzsimmons, S.R., 2013. Multicultural employees: A framework for understanding how they contribute to organizations. Academy of Management Review, 38(4), pp.525-549.George, G., McGahan, A.M. and Prabhu, J., 2012. Innovation for inclusive growth: Towards a theoretical framework and a research agenda. Journal of management studies, 49(4), pp.661-683.Gunasekaran, A. and Spalanzani, A., 2012. Sustainability of manufacturing and services: Investigations for research and applications. International Journal of Production Economics, 140(1), pp.35-47.Henson, K.T., 2015. Curriculum planning: Integrating multiculturalism, constructivism, and education reform. Waveland Press.Joseph, R., 2017. Multiculturalism: a liberal perspective. Postfilosofie, (2), pp.29-49.Kymlicka, W., 2016. Defending diversity in an era of populism: multiculturalism and interculturalism compared. cit, pp.158-177.Lauring, J. and Klitmøller, A., 2015. Inclusive language use in multicultural business organizations: The effect on creativity and performance. International Journal of Business Communication, p.2329488415572779.Lauring, J. and Selmer, J., 2013. Diversity attitudes and group knowledge processing in multicultural organizations. European management journal, 31(2), pp.124-136.Liberman, B.E., 2013. Eliminating discrimination in organizations: The role of organizational strategy for diversity management. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 6(4), pp.466-471.Lowman, R.L., 2013. Internationalizing multiculturalism: Expanding professional competencies in a globalized world. American Psychological Association.Pedersen, P., 2013. Multiculturalism as a fourth force. Routledge.Kubota, R., 2014. The multi/plural turn, postcolonial theory, and neoliberal multiculturalism: Complicities and implications for applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 37(4), pp.474-494.Koenig, M. ed., 2017. Democracy and human rights in multicultural societies. Routledge.Bloemraad, I. and Wright, M., 2014. “Utter failure” or unity out of diversity? Debating and evaluating policies of multiculturalism. International Migration Review, 48(s1).Shih, M., Young, M.J. and Bucher, A., 2013. Working to reduce the effects of discrimination: Identity management strategies in organizations. American Psychologist, 68(3), p.145.Sue, D.W., Rasheed, M.N. and Rasheed, J.M., 2015. Multicultural social work practice: A competency-based approach to diversity and social justice. John Wiley & Sons.Roysircar, G. and Hodges, S., 2013. Multicultural competence, evidence-based, and measurable outcomes. Handbook of counseling and psychotherapy in an international context, p.151.Holmes, D.E., 2012. Multicultural competence: A practitioner-scholar’s reflections on its reality and its stubborn and longstanding elusiveness. Register Report.Lauring, J. and Selmer, J., 2012. Positive dissimilarity attitudes in multicultural organizations: The role of language diversity and communication frequency. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 17(2), pp.156-172.