Three Issues with a Multicultural Workforce

1. How must expatriate managers and area representatives modify their operational style, personal approach and behavior to fit the Indonesian (or Chinese or Japanese) corporate environment?
2. What new understanding must they gain to be able to deal with workers and their representative?
3. How can this affect the company’s image and acceptance within the host society? Should Head Office back in Saitama or Shanghai or Chicago is concerned with cultural differences, and if so are they ready to spend the manpower and money to adjust to them?

Answer i.

The expatriate managers and area representatives must modify their operational style, personal approach and behavior to fit the Indonesian corporate environment because if they do not, the message can not be delivered well and it will affect to their employee’s work ethic. The work ethic becomes lower; it means there are not motivated anymore to do the best. It makes the objective of the company will not achieved.

Answer ii.

Expatriate managers and area representatives should do STEEPLE research before they start work in Indonesia. This research contains social, technology, economic, education, politic, legal, and environment about Indonesian culture and environment. The social condition in Indonesia is different with western culture. Indonesian people usually do not talk straight to the point (high context communication) when they delivering message. For this thing, they should modify the rules and regulations or how they command employee with non direct language so it’s more appropriate to Indonesia’s culture. Technology and education development in Indonesia are not as fast as the other modern countries. Indonesian people still in the progress of using digital media so expatriate managers and area representatives should do training to improve the employee. For the economic, because the level of the economic condition of Indonesian people still low, they should concern to the employee’s welfare. Political and legal are crucial problem too, because different country means different political and legal system. Indonesia use Five Principal of Indonesia (Pancasila) Democracy. They must concern with the role of government: state control of business operations and healthy and safety standards in Indonesia. Expatriate managers and area representatives must concern with the key relationship between the laws from their original culture with law from Indonesian culture.

Answer iii.

All these things can affect the company image and acceptance within the host society. Because if they concern about the cultural differences, they can work together, between local and expatriate, effectively and efficiently. The expatriate know about the appropriate way how to deliver message to the local, the local become comfort, work happily, and finally can achieve best result. The host society can feel respected and will give good image to the company and the expatriate because they concern with host culture and take care of the welfare of the local employees. The host country feels that the foreign company can give good impact because although they are from other country but they know about what they must do, because different country, different approach. The Head office should be concern with cultural differences. Like or not, they must be ready to spend the manpower and money to adjust to them. There must pay for the price or sacrifice to get the maximum result that they want achieve. The manpower, such as expert, and money needed to do some research about the STEEPLE of the host country and give training for representatives who would be sending to the branch office.