Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior - Soltanieh ...

MAKE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE FIT NATIONAL CULTURES AND THE GLOBAL CULTURE 627
are a very small group. We acquired Diamob because of your technology innovation
and your initiative to develop the new product. We plan to recruit a small number of key
experts from Diamob to Medica by offering them a high salary and then close Diamob,
letting all other members go. You are the first one we want to hire. Your salary will be
equal to the top executives in Medica, with a nice package of bonuses and stock options. You
and the few people we hire will have to move to the US. Israel has a very small market and
there is no reason for us to keep the site there.
David reflected upon what he just heard. From a personal point of view he had an
opportunity to grow, to open up his horizon and scope and to get promoted in a large
MNC. His salary and compensation package was going to be much higher than the
present one. He would be able to support his family easily without any fi nancial worries.
On the other hand, it would mean that he would be separated from his colleagues, they
would be losing their jobs and their dream to develop the small start - up company into a
large profi t organization would not materialize.
What is David ’s reply going to be? To answer this question, please take into consideration
the cultural values of Israel, as summarized in Table 33.1 .
What do you think David ’s reply would be if he were an American, working in the US
and getting an offer from a European MNC?
Take into consideration the tension between global integration and local responsiveness
and elaborate on how this tension is going to infl uence David ’ s decision.
Cultural differences between employees and their manager
Red Algae is a Japanese company located in Eilat, a tourist town on the Red Sea, the
south point of Israel. The location, the water and the temperature are most suitable for
growing Red Algae, which is considered to be a very healthy food supplement consisting
of high percentages of beta - carotene.
The company grows the Red Algae in Eilat, produces it as a food supplement pill in
Japan, and sells it in the global market. The patent for Red Algae was written by life science
researchers at the Weizmann Science Institute in Israel. The climate and type of
soil in Eilat are considered by scientists to be most suitable for this purpose. The founder
of the company and the top management team are all Japanese, but the chief scientist
and the employees are all Israelis. The profit gain on the raw material grown in Israel is
not that high. Most of the profit is being made on the food supplement pills. The Israeli
inventor who has the technological patent is interested in making a joint venture with the
Japanese company and to produce the pill in Israel. However, the Japanese headquarters
strongly objects to it. In their view, Israeli employees do not strictly follow the rules, they
like to improvise and they do not pay enough attention to detail. They are good in idea
generation and innovation, but not in the careful, error- free implementation.
Mr. Takashi was appointed the Israel site manager. He oversees the process of growing
the Red Algae in a special outdoor farm. The process is highly automatic and for this
reason, the number of employees is relatively small, about 35, including Dan, the chief
scientist. Mr. Takashi learned the production process with the help of Dan. He carefully read
all the existing literature on growing Red Algae, including the patent of the Weizmann
Institute. He, then, developed a set of procedures that should be carefully followed by the
employees, to assure the high quality of the Red Algae.