Assignment On Managing Culture and Diversity

By: Sneha Agarwal PGDM-HR (043) Submitted to: Prof .Manisha Rajdakshya

What problems would you anticipate if Indians and Finns worked on the same team? Which of these problems has arisen in Tapio OYJ? Finland and India are two nations with vast cultural differences in terms of business etiquette, protocols, and customs, values and also working styles. Finns are known to be very humble and modest people, to the extent that they downplay their own accomplishments. They talk in courteous behavior in moderate tone and do not prefer things to call attention. They wait for the speaker to finish and then reply; interrupting is considered as rude. Finns are very professional in conduct of their business. They are excellent time managers and prefer to organize their workday in advance so as to accomplish as much as possible. They place a great importance on speaking plainly and openly and this is a culture where "a man's word is his bond" and will be treated as seriously as a written contract, so verbal commitments are considered agreements. Finland is an egalitarian society, which is reflected in their language, which employs gender-neutral words. There is a long tradition of sexual equality in the sense that women's participation in political activity and public life has been encouraged. To summarize the Finnish working culture is based on equality. In working life, diligence, individuality and initiative are highly valued, together with strict observance of agreements and agreed schedules When Tapio OYJ came to India, it had to deal with various cultural differences. One of the major concern being Punctuality. People came in late for the meetings and in spite of the gentle remarks made by Olavi, people continued with this habit. Informal groups started forming within the organization based on different states and language and this led conflicts. Olavi also felt that Indians were not straight forward and hypocritical compared to Finnish people. Compared to Finnish people Indians were superstition and believed in astrology which strongly affected their lives. Even after immense growth and development, increased participation of women in every sphere of life, Indian society is majorly a male dominated. This is seen everywhere and women are still not accepted at higher positions. Even at Tapio India, Olavi(Finnish) complained of not being taken seriously as a boss. There is gender inequality in India unlike Finland. These small cultural

issues and difference in values and beliefs created problem in work environment of the organization. Do you think that Kaarina Koskinen can solve the teams problems? What problems may she face? If you had an opportunity to speak to Olavi Makinen about Tapios problem what advice would you give? Kaarina Koskinen is Finlands known OD and HRM consultant; keeping that in mind I feel that she could solve teams problem. This is so as she would have better understanding of the cultural differences between the two nations, their style and ways of doing business and how can this be integrated to solve the problems and increase the efficiency of the employees. She would also not come with any prejudices towards the employees or their concerns. She would be able to understand things from different perspectives and come up with OD interventions suitable for the situation like team development intervention. I feel that Kaarina Koskinen may face resentment from the employees. They may not understand the reason behind the whole process and also not like the idea of being told as to how should they work, etc. They may also not be comfortable discussing their problems with a foreigner and may just unite against her which might hinder the entire process. If given a chance to speak to Olavi Makinen about Tapios problem, my advice would to discuss the issue with all the departments heads and find a solution to combat this problem .Also in order to break the ion-groups being formed , a step can be taken wherein most of the teams will have people from different culture. This would help in increasing communication between people from different backgrounds. Also for issues like time management, training programs can be conducted regarding importance of time. Methods should be adopted to motivate and encourage employees to participate and voice their opinion during meetings or otherwise. It can be done by increasing dialogue between management and employees, better incentive schemes, appreciation by heads publicly, etc. In my opinion it is also important that the Indian branch is considered Indian and worked in more of those ground but incorporating the values and beliefs of the parent company i.e. Tapio Finalnd.