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.
