MGT 501 Case assign Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

MGT 501 Case assign - Essay Example The case involves Linda Myers, an American national who takes a job as a human resource manager with SK Telcom, a multinational firm in South Korea. Myers had been involved in human resource development in the global set up, before her contract with SK, and perceived the SK opportunity as a career development opportunity that she had always desired. The environment at SK was however challenging because she was the only American among her peer and therefore had a different cultural approach. She was never oriented into the job or the organization’s culture and realized existence of conflicting opinion with her superiors regarding her work’s scope. Her two years with the organization was strenuous before she eventually left the company. She also noted that the organization had, through its recruiting agent, assumed her to be a male and even though she had experience in the global environment and had since her childhood been motivated by the international set up, she found it hard to adjust to the organization’s culture and expectations (Green, 2011). Problem definition The case identifies a problem of cultural barrier between Myers and the organization. Inability to break this barrier and establish a common ground upon which Myers could relate with other member of the organization was another problem as both Ms. Myers and the organization failed accommodate each other. ... s lack of significant involvement of American women in executive positions in South Korea identifies one of the manifestations of cultural differences that hindered her ability to integrate into the organization. The American women’s absence in the environment is indicative of the South Korean male chauvinistic perspective or a negative perspective towards American women and their ability to perform at executive positions. Myers’ perception of a different culture that she hoped to change in the organization also identifies cultural differences. She identified the organization’s culturally fixed perspective and wished to break this culture and expose the organization to a global culture that would be open to diversified opinions, but faced a high level of resistance. Even the scope of her job identified a conflict between her opinions and those of her immediate seniors. The organization’s poor management approach is another identifiable cause of the problem because it failed to orient Myers into its culture, a factor that facilitated impact of the differences between the two cultures (Green, 2011). Hofstede’s dimensions of culture also offer a basis for explaining cultural difference between American based culture that Myers represented and the Korean culture that SK Telcom and its management represented. Power distance is one of the cultural dimensions that explain the cause of the problem in the case. The dimension refers to society’s ability to accept inequality among its members. Those who are lowly place along the power ladders accept the status and do not fight for better positions and some of the dimension’s aspects are acknowledgement and appreciation of inequality, recognition of dependence on few leaders, privileges for the powerful member of the