Different Cultural Issues that Nokia Will Face - Case Study Example

Executive Summary Nokia which is a Finland based company needs to looks towards understanding the cultural differences that exist between the different countries and need to find ways to deal with it. This paper examined the different cultural issues that Nokia will face, the manner in which different culture has to fit, the process of hiring people, and the manner in which the overall changes will be done. This paper presents that hiring the local expert, having local talent, ensuring people hired have knowledge about different culture and providing the required training program will help Nokia to deal with the cultural differences. Also, making the employees understand the manner in which cultural integration will benefit them and looking towards dealing with the cultural differences will benefit them. Thus, the overall strategy of looking towards different cultural issues will help Nokia to ensure that the M&A process effectively and will help them to conduct business overseas. Table of Contents Introduction 3 Pre- M&A Phase 3 Due Diligence Phase 4 Integration Planning Phase 5 Implementation & Assessment Phase 7 Recommendations 7 Conclusion 8 References 9 Introduction Businesses in this globalized world continuously look towards understanding the culture of the country in which the organization looks to work and looks towards molding the behavior and culture to suit the local requirements. Nokia, which is a Finland based company is looking for the same operations overseas and need to understand the culture of the place where they look to work. This requires that the company understands the culture so that the merger and acquisition process can pass smoothly. This paper presents the different phases of M&A which involves pre development phase, understanding the culture, ensuring the cultural fit, dealing with the cultural issues, developing the strategy associated with staffing and the manner in which the changes will be dealt. This will thereby help Nokia to ensure that they are able to develop the work culture which matches the requirements of the business culture. Pre- M&A Phase In this phase Nokia needs to understand the manner in which the culture differs between their country and the country of operation. This will need that Nokia understands the manner in which the culture needs to be altered and matched with the local culture so that the business is able to integrate the process of change. In addition to it in this phase Nokia needs to understand the different cultural issues which will arise due to different culture and upbringing that the people of different nations have. This will require that Nokia looks towards understanding the working culture of their place of operation and then develop strategies to deal with it (Jay, 2010). This will require that Nokia is able to develop a culture which fits in the working culture of their place of work. This will require that Nokia looks towards integrating their culture with the local culture and look towards providing the people with a feel of the same culture. This will help the transition process to pass smoothly and will also ensure that Nokia is able to take decisions which helps in the overall development of the business. Nokia needs to look at different minute aspects and needs to understand the manner in which cultural differences will have an effect on their working. In addition to it the company needs to ensure that a strategy is developed which helps to reduce the cultural differences so that the business is able to gain efficiency and the overall results produces positive gains from the M&A. Due Diligence Phase In this aspect the human resource manager needs to understand the manner in which their present culture differs with the culture where they are looking to operate. This will thereby require that Nokia looks into there own culture and tries to match with the new culture. This will require a lot of cultural changes as Nokia will have to deal with the issues of different culture (Clunies, 2007). This will require that Nokia looks towards having people belonging to the local country so that they are able to access the culture better. In addition to it Nokia has to understand the fact that the organization has people with different personality traits and the incompatibility that exists between them has to be identified so that the gap can be reduced. While looking towards understanding the local culture the organization has to demonstrate positivity and look towards understanding the cultural differences so that the business is able to gain efficiency and ensure better mechanism through which the differences in culture can be removed (Jay, 2010). Integration Planning Phase This is one of the most important phases that the human resource manager has to look into as being able to integrate the culture properly will make it that easy for the M&A process to pass through. This will require that the managers firstly ensure clear and proper communication both within and outside the organization. This communication strategy for the employees will look towards making the employees understand the manner in which culture has a relevance in business and being able to develop culture will ensure better strategies. While doing so the manager needs to ensure that the culture f all section is paid correct relevance and it is ensured that the communication doesn’t goes against any culture. Further, the manager also has to look towards increased efforts from all section and departments. A strategy which would work in this direction is by ensuring that Nokia hires people from the local country in which they are working. This employment and recruitment strategy will ensure that having people belonging to the same culture will make the employees and customers feel that they are dealing with their own people. This will also help to understand the local culture better and by adopting a flexible attitude the management will be able to remove the differences that exist between the cultures. This will also ensure that having local talent helps to deal with the local problems in a better way and will help the entire organization to unite and work on different issues. Along with it Nokia on the first instance needs to ensure that the management is ready to undergo cultural changes. This will require that the management understands the manner in which the cultural integration will have an effect on their working style and influence their work. This will require that Nokia communicates with the employees the manner in which the changes will help to improve their work positions and provide additional opportunity for growth (McGraw, 2004). They should also lay emphasis on making the employees understand the importance of culture in knowledge management which will help the organization to come up with new and better ideas. In addition to it a strategy has to be developed to ensure that both the culture fits into it. This can be achieved to a large extent by ensuring that the local talent in hired in the country of operations and the managers at the top level ensures flexibility and understand the different culture properly so that the business in able to integrate their work environment in a better way which will help Nokia in ensuring that the changes are done in the most effective way (McGraw, 2004). While looking towards integrating the different culture it is important that Nokia looks towards taking the help of expatriates which will help them to understand the culture better. It should also be ensured that proper training programs are developed which focuses on understanding the different culture and providing them ways to deal with the cultural differences (Franco, 2009). Every employee should be made to go through the process so that they are able to understand the cultural differences better. This will act as a strategy which will provide the employees an understanding of the different culture and help them to deal with the difference in a better way. Thus, Nokia needs to look at different direction and changes to ensure that the employees and others are able to understand the manner in which culture needs to be integrated. Along, with it hiring the local talent, using the help of person having knowledge in this direction and training and development programs will help to deal with the issue in a better way and prepare the management to deal with the issues in a better way. Implementation & Assessment Phase In this aspect the human resource manager needs to ensure that the process of cultural integration is done in a manner which ensures changes. This will require that the entire process is continuously monitored and the business is able to work on the areas which will help them to grow. While looking towards adopting these strategies it is important to ensure that the management makes the employees understand the manner in which the cultural changes will benefit them in their advancement in carrier and will thereby help them to ensure better opportunities for growth (McGraw, 2004). The management needs to clearly communicate the manner in which the employees need to undergo changes and develop a framework through which the business is able to deal with the changes and ensure a mechanism which will help the M&A process of Nokia to pass freely. Recommendations Nokia needs to look towards ensuring that a process is developed which helps in the integration of culture. While doing so they need to make the employees understand the manner in which cultural integration will help them in advancement in carrier. Further, training programs and help of experts should be taken to integrate the process of change. Nokia should also look towards hiring people from the local area of operations as it will help in better integration of culture and will provide the complete framework which will help Nokia to undergo cultural changes and will thereby ensure that the M&A process for Nokia passes easily. Conclusion This paper presents the manner in which Nokia needs to look towards different issues of culture while looking to do business overseas. This presents the different skills, the training programs, hiring of local people and understanding the local culture needs to be laid emphasis on. This paper shows that working on the different aspect will help them to work overseas and will thereby help to develop the business where they are able to integrate cultural differences and ensure that the business is able to ensure better changes and develop their process which will help the M&A process to go through and increase their business over different destinations. References Clunies, J. (2007). Benchmarking succession planning and executive development. Academic & Leadership Journal, 2 (4), 23-27 Franco, G. (2009). Training and development in an era of downsizing. Journal of Management Research, 9 (1), 13-19 Jay, J. (2010). Lead & Motivate: not just your team but yourself too. Super Vision, 71 (6), 11 McGraw, P. (2004). Influences of HRM practices in MNC’s. International Journal of Manpower, 25 (6), 535-546 Read More