Managing Organizations And Decision Making – Importance Of Cultural Intelligence

Significance of Organizational Learning and Development

Discuss about the Managing Organizations and Decision Making.

Organizations from global business environment are continuously experiencing a significant amount of burdens to adopting an old or new management tools or techniques supporting them to get the most out of limited resources. The scenario is widely caused by the anticipated challenges throughout the global economy due to the environmental and organizational catastrophes, prolonged implications of corporate scandals, and persistent apprehensions over war and terrorism (Farrell 2000). Due to such consequences, the managers and executives of various companies are predominantly thinking about the useful concepts by learning key organizations from the international environment for undergoing and adapting changes to meet diverse requirements of increasingly chaotic world. Based on the importance of organizational learning for evolving approaches and policies of an enterprise, Tesco PLC from the retailing environment UK is selected for creating this essay comprising of principle arguments referenced from the suggestions put forwarded by relevant scholars and professionals.

According to Farrell (2000), organizational learning and development help to improve the interpersonal skills of the managers while influencing on the entire productivity. The certain shift in focus drives the organizations to deliver more to the community while vibrantly building and sustaining the benchmarks associated with performance (Moloi 2005). The retail industry of UK is continuously facing volatile requirements from numerous factors involving the market due to the rise of technology, involvement of key competitors in the market, and need of coming up with a diverse range of products (Gould 2000). Due to such requirements, the internal organizational structure of Tesco is currently undergoing gigantic changes resulting from the announcement made by the CEO having a special interest in adopting a transformational leadership since his recruitment to the position. Rowley (2000) has explained that the performance of an enterprise will improve to an extended level if it positively forms interaction with the external environment. Lee, Benett, and Oakes (2000) agree with the identified viewpoint, as those are the reason causing change to be synonymous with the development of business. From the analysis of the overall change management system defined by Tesco, it can be observed that the associated factors are superior to trigger functional changes to the whole structure and making it a learning organization for the other managers (Lee, Bennett, and Oakes 2000). With reference to Moloi (2005), the change management factors of Tesco successfully identify some of the useful areas like economic uncertainties, globalisation and fierce competition, political interests, rapid improvement in information and technology, and the degree of government interventions.

Training and Development Process

On the other hand, training and development process introduced within the company is responsible for providing energetic input to encourage corporate growth and success by uplifting the performance and commitments of workforce (Tagg 2003). Gould (2000) has specified training as the acquisition of knowledge and skills for elevating the prudence and capabilities of an individual for supporting the accomplishment of an allotted task. Therefore, training and development activities performed within the firm create or enhance ownership among the employees to help them acquire new skills and abilities boosting the formation of a well-organised, productive, and flexible workforce (Rowley 2000). From the analysis of Farrell (2000), the corporate image of Tesco is largely inspired by the confidence of its customers in the knowledge and competence of staffs and workers of the company. As a result, the business growth and achievement of Tesco continues to spark impressively in the retail environment of UK. Further analysis suggests that a flexible and structured approach is followed in the training and development area of Tesco supporting it to adapt the individual needs of employees (Moloi 2005). From the analysis carried out by Tagg (2003), the application of both on and off-job training, specialised, developmental, and options programme is responsible for developing a highly skilled workforce covering the vital fields, such as communications, team building, and planning and organising.

Human resource management is another useful domain of the organization introducing a highly committed model for hiring the skilled and capable personnel while sustaining a culture with according to the needs of external environment (Gould 2000). From the example of Tesco, the company has implemented strategic human resource practices while not replacing the old personnel department from its internal setting. The business profit of Tesco soared 20% last year promoting the company to set a new milestone for various corporations in UK (Farrell 2000). The plundering success of the supermarket chain is considerably caused by its enormous employee base, which makes the firm becoming the largest private employer in the country. According to Lee, Bennett, and Oakes (2000), the human resource strategy of Tesco denotes simplification of work, rolling out core skills, and challenging the unwritten rules whilst the performance management is tied to achieving steering wheel targets. The particular fact signifies that the different measures adopted by the human resource department are meticulously connected with the performance management of the business.

From the overall investigation, it can be determined that leadership development, training and development, and human resource management are the three core departments of Tesco amongst the others to provide vital growth and cardinal direction to the business. The combination of productive measures embraced by these separate areas is domineeringly accountable to drive the company attaining key business aims from its identified market. Hence, it is justifiable that each area of the firm proves valuable learning opportunities to the other executives and managers to shape up their practical and managerial knowledge and understanding.

Human Resource Management

Complicated patterns of globalisation, political environment, labour market trends, and internationalisations have created a mutual norm for the majority of organizations to develop an inter-cultural work (Ang and Inkpen 2008). The leading organizations of modern era require its managers and business to operate in multicultural, multilingual, and multi-faceted environments. Ang et al. (2007) have suggested that dealing with the inter-cultural differences has long been a challenging task for the managers and executives of a multinational corporation. Such scenario has provoked Early and Peterson (2004) to propose a model of cultural adaptation called as ‘The Cultural Intelligence (CQ)’ by providing an increasing prominence to develop working relationship with multi-cultural business environment. This essay is formed with the intention of analysing the importance of cultural intelligence in the course of achieving organizational success in the contemporary world of business.

From the context of organization and management, the dynamic spread of global economic communication and increasing exchanges in the marketplaces require the application of sophisticated competencies to deal with the individuals with their different values, assumptions, traditions, and opinions (Triandis 2006). Ng, Van Dyne, and Ang (2009) have defined competencies as the certain area of personal capability facilitating the employees and managers of an organization to perform their jobs and bring out positive outcomes. Numerous studies were formed by the authors over the years to describe competencies. A considerable number of authors have portrayed competencies as the collection of knowledge, self-concepts, attributes, values, and behavioural skills, where others categorised the concept as individual characteristics, which can be measured to distinguish the disparities between average and superior performers expressively (Ang et al. 2007). Over the years, companies face perennial issues concerning competencies of a successful manager while the need for general competencies should be essentially included in the roles and behaviours of an entire workforce. This particular fact principally signifies the enclosure of unique cross-cultural competencies among the managers to shape up their skills and abilities for responding effectively to requirements of people from various culture, religion, or ethnic background (Ng, Van Dyne, and Ang 2009). Early and Peterson (2004) have notably indicated the necessity of cross-cultural integration and transformation knowledge to promote the achievement business success by the organizations, as the entire process would help to cultivate appropriate standards, policies, and attitudes fitting a specific cultural setting. The application of the propped factors certainly helps the business to enhance the quality of service to produce and deliver better outcomes for diverse cultural environment.

Importance of Cultural Intelligence

Globalisation has caused the expansion of business leading the world to be considered as an integrated entity. Hence, the firms are naturally exposed to an increasing number of threats from the external cultural factors. As a result, leaders of the contemporary business should not only be equipped with a high level of IQ and EQ (referred to as emotional intelligence), but they should also possess robust cultural intelligence (CQ). It will facilitate them to elevate their skills and continue to achieve success in the global business community (Earley and Peterson 2004). Trandis (2006) has stated that the organizational leaders are responsible for defining the corporate vision and communicating the same to their subordinates and influencing them to achieve the goals. However, the certain process transforms into a daunting task for the leaders and managers beyond their native culture. Therefore, the leaders must need to adopt cultural intelligence, as it is the only unlocking the door of knowledge and helping them to develop a new set of skills for attaining success (Ismail Al-Alawi et al. 2007). The particular statement symbolises the gathering of necessary understanding about the cultural attributes and expectations of followers or subordinates by the leaders or managers. Based on such understanding, the leaders or pioneers can build suitable relationships with the followers and develop fitting solutions for dealing with the anticipated problems to promote overall efficacy of the business operation. It can be proposed depending on the provided understanding that cultural intelligence form and enhance awareness among the managers and leaders throughout an entity to present successful outcomes to the business.

Without the implications of cultural intelligence, leaders might face grave difficulties in adopting a healthy behaviour according to the characteristics of different circumstances without the need of compromising their inherent styles and qualities of leadership (Triandis 2006). With the help of a resilient awareness, leaders or managers can understand the comparison of idiosyncratic nature with collectivist culture of their followers. More clearly, they can able to determine whether they can work better in autocratic or bureaucratic environment.

Lastly, culturally intelligent leaders can be able to understand the essence of communication manner associated with the achievement of success (Ismail Al-Alawi et al. 2007). Ang and Inkpen (2008) have imperatively outlined that managers or leaders find it precisely easy to tweak their current communication style once they develop awareness about the cultural attributes of their assistants or cohorts as part of the workforce.

To summarise the overall understanding, it can be quantified that the organizational leaders and managers should need to work on improving their cross-cultural competencies, awareness, adaptation, and communication skills for becoming culturally intelligent. Regardless of their relationship-oriented or task-oriented leadership styles, organizational leaders should continuously devote on increasing cultural intelligence by emphasising on the mentioned factors, as identified throughout the essay.

List of References

Farrell, M.A., 2000. Developing a marketâ€Âoriented learning organisation. Australian journal of management, 25(2), pp.201-222.

Gould, N., 2000. Becoming a learning organisation: a social work example.Social Work Education, 19(6), pp.585-596.

Lee, G., Bennett, D. and Oakes, I., 2000. Technological and organisational change in small-to medium-sized manufacturing companies: a learning organisation perspective. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 20(5), pp.549-572.

Moloi, K.C., 2005. The school as a learning organisation: Reconceptualising school practices in South Africa. Van Schaik.

Rowley, J., 2000. From learning organisation to knowledge entrepreneur.Journal of knowledge management, 4(1), pp.7-15.

Tagg, J., 2003. The learning paradigm college. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company.

Ang, S. and Inkpen, A.C., 2008. Cultural intelligence and offshore outsourcing success: A framework of firmâ€Âlevel intercultural capability.Decision Sciences, 39(3), pp.337-358.

Ang, S., Van Dyne, L., Koh, C., Ng, K.Y., Templer, K.J., Tay, C. and Chandrasekar, N.A., 2007. Cultural intelligence: Its measurement and effects on cultural judgment and decision making, cultural adaptation and task performance. Management and organization review, 3(3), pp.335-371.

Earley, P.C. and Peterson, R.S., 2004. The elusive cultural chameleon: Cultural intelligence as a new approach to intercultural training for the global manager. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 3(1), pp.100-115.

Ismail Al-Alawi, A., Yousif Al-Marzooqi, N. and Fraidoon Mohammed, Y., 2007. Organizational culture and knowledge sharing: critical success factors.Journal of knowledge management, 11(2), pp.22-42.

Ng, K.Y., Van Dyne, L. and Ang, S., 2009. From experience to experiential learning: Cultural intelligence as a learning capability for global leader development. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 8(4), pp.511-526.

Triandis, H.C., 2006. Cultural intelligence in organizations. Group & Organization Management, 31(1), pp.20-26.