Impacts of cultural communication for the multinational company

Abstract

Communicative missteps often interfere with an organizations ability to smoothly take their business international and blend the work environments of different cultures. These missteps often lead to a lack of employee buy-in, an underdeveloped level of communication, and an us versus them environment. This project was developed to assist in reducing or eliminating future cultural and communicative missteps and make the integration into multinational market a smoother process. Utilizing the following research questions this study identified standards that should be met when an organization enters a new market, community, or industry. RQ 1: What steps should an organization take to obtain employee buy-in when entering a foreign market?) RQ2: How can the organization identify factors influencing existing (new to them) employees and local community’s perceptions of them? RQ3: What key components should be included in a social contract when operating in a new culture or country? Through the use of a survey tool and informal conversations with participants this project produced specific recommendations for the organization used in the study as well as recommendations for future acquisitions.