Imagine that you have recently been hired as a human resources consultant by a Canadian multinational enterprise (MNE) called Leopold Industries (Leopold). Leopold designs, manufactures, and sells commercial diesel truck engines worldwide. It currently has over 2,500 employees in its three locations, including 500 at its global headquarters in Canada, 1,000 at a manufacturing plant in the U.S., and now 1,000 at its newest manufacturing plant in Germany.

The firm is having problems communicating and sharing its corporate values and policies with its newest employees in Germany. The only experience Aero has had in opening a new subsidiary prior to Germany was in the U.S., where corporate values and policies were taken up by American employees with little difficulty. The problems in the German plant seem to centre around poor communications between the managers, who are mostly Canadian, and its new employees, who are mostly from Germany.

“We want our corporate culture to be the same everywhere,” explains Leopold’s CEO. “We want everything we do in Canada to be the accepted, standard practice across all of our locations, but that just doesn’t seem to be getting across to our employees in Germany.” The CEO continues by telling you that all new employees are trained in Leopold’s corporate culture via discussions with their managers and corporate brochures/reading materials. He says that his Canadian managers in Germany are frustrated with the German workers’ abilities to learn Leopold’s culture and that, as a result, productivity at the plant has been negatively impacted.

You investigate the issue by speaking with managers and employees at the new subsidiary in Germany. The managers complain that employees at the new plant do not speak their mind very often, and often seem to stress harmony with each other over learning Leopold’s culture. Managers are also frustrated that staff meetings frequently start late due to the lateness of employees. The employees, who are younger than their managers on the average, are frustrated that they are not told exactly how to do their tasks; instead, they are told to read their employee manuals for guidance. They are concerned that Leopold managers are too impatient with them about learning the policies. They feel they have been left to their own devices to figure out how things work, which often causes them to stay late at work. What is more, staying late on their shifts often causes them to be late for staff meetings, where they are often berated by managers for not acting like “good Canadian employees”.

After your examination you become convinced that the problem Leopold is experiencing relates to culture, and you prepare your report accordingly.

How is culture typically measured in the context of IHRM?

Select one of Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions to explain to the CEO the main differences between Leopold’s Canadian HQ and its German subsidiary in terms of culture.

In your opinion, what are three ways that Canadian managers could demonstrate higher intercultural competence at Leopold’s Germany subsidiary?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

a Culture is typically measured in the context of IHRM through surveys interviews focus groups and observations Surveys are often used to measure empl... View the full answer