Navigating across cultures: The experiences of South African manufacturing leaders at multinationals

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dc.contributor.advisor Kinnear, Lisa
dc.contributor.author Vasic, Ljiljana
dc.date.accessioned 2024-06-12T07:16:06Z
dc.date.available 2024-06-12T07:16:06Z
dc.date.created 2024-09-11
dc.date.issued 2024-09-11
dc.description Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2023 en_US
dc.description.abstract Studies have shown that the organisational cultures of multinational corporations are influenced by their home country national cultures. Furthermore, subsidiaries of multinationals experience their own organisational cultures, which are influenced by their national cultures. At South African subsidiary manufacturing sites, cross-cultural interplays develop between multinational and South African teams. The purpose of this study was to explore these interplays, through the experiences of South African manufacturing leaders who navigate interactions with their multinational headquartering teams as well as their local factory workforce. This study was based on constructs of organisational and national culture and was exploratory in nature, following a qualitative method of enquiry through semi-structured interviews. The study found that tensions exist between multinational and South African teams, but due to negative perceptions and biases of South Africa as a whole, and not due to differences in national culture. Furthermore, the study also found that South African manufacturing leaders experience a disconnect and divide from their factory shop floor teams, which results in a challenging environment for effective leadership. However, the tensions between multinational teams, South African leaders and their factory workforce can be overcome through the practices of communication and engagement, trust and autonomy, and local talent growth. An organisational culture framework was developed to guide multinationals and their South African teams in achieving this cross-cultural symbiosis. This study has contributed to literature by expanding what is known on the extent of influence of national culture on organisational culture at multinationals. The study has also provided business practitioners with a framework for improving cross-cultural interactions at South African factories. Limitations of this study include a lack of gender diversity of participants, and the fact that the study did not consider the voice of the workers at the manufacturing sites. en_US
dc.description.librarian pagibs2024 en_US
dc.identifier.citation * en_US
dc.identifier.other A2024
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2263/96410
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher University of Pretoria en_US
dc.rights © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. en_US
dc.subject Multinational corporation (MNCs) en_US
dc.subject National culture en_US
dc.subject Organisational culture en_US
dc.subject Manufacturing en_US
dc.subject Qualitative research en_US
dc.title Navigating across cultures: The experiences of South African manufacturing leaders at multinationals en_US
dc.type Mini Dissertation en_US


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