Globalization is a fact of modern day business life, and as manufacturers and suppliers spread across the world, driven by the need to find emerging markets, so those who service their support needs spread with them. For many, this is unchartered territory and brings a need for a level of sophistication for which their experience , tools and systems are often unsuited.
The quality practitioners preach consistency as a means of obtaining repeatable results, but do the rules means the same to everyone? Why are there perceived differences in performance in different countries? Is this linked to national culture? Are these real and important differences or are they just a question of bias or misinterpretation?
There is a substantial body of literature regarding national culture traits as they relate to multicultural business operations , such as outsourcing , but relatively little on the effect of multicultural environment on the effective implementation of a quality management system. While some parallels exist between these types of business, the specific nature of QMS implementation in a multicultural environment offers potential for performance improvement. With the questions above in mind, the basis for a research project was formulated :" Does correlation exist between levels of QMS implementation and national cultures, and can this be explained using existing knowledge of cultural traits?"
Context and culture
Successful organizations have specific methods and tools to support their business strategies and often have well-documented procedures to ensure these are implemented consistently. These methods and tools are adapted as the organization grows, to take account of changes in scale and strategy. In many Western based companies , the unifying effect of such rules is generally thought to outweigh the limitations they place on individuality and conformance is strongly encouraged.
As growth and geographical distribution combine to turn an organization multicultural, across cultural boundaries , there is a risk that the one-size-fits -all approach to quality may no longer offer the same level of performance. The reason is simple- people from different cultures are different and culture specific traits affect the ways in which people respond to the environment
The knowledge based engineering sector relies heavily on people; usually working in groups encompassing multiple technical disciplines performing complex and interrelated tasks. This amplifies the need for structure, clear, concise communication and well managed interfaces between group members. It makes extensive use of complex tools and processes, but is very difficult to mechanize or otherwise automate due to the high level of human cognitive input required.
The research project was based around Flour Corporation, a global provider of engineering , procurement, construction and maintenance services with more than 40,000 employees. It provided services ranging from small capital project and maintenance contracts up to mega projects with values of up to seven billion dollars. This range of scope types and sizes necessitates flexibility in approach while maintaining consistency in method- a difficult balance to strike even under ideal circumstances.
Working in project task forces ensures that all technical knowledge and experience required for successful execution of the work available at a single location , which helps to optimize communication and leads to consistent results. A task force can be organized in several ways and can be at one or more locations. The range of work performed within Flour means that some flexibility in project structure is essential, but in general the matrix organization system in most prevalent with a project manager on the operational axis, a department manager on the functional axis and lead engineers at the junction of these axes. All other project team personnel report to the lead engineers.
Within Flour , project managers are responsible for profit and loss while department managers are primarily responsible for the quality at work. Both delegate a portion of their work to the lead engineers for the project execution purposes., but both retain ultimate responsibility for their respective roles. There is an inherent potential conflict between the priorities imposed by the need to deliver good quality safely, on time and at the right price. The balancing act between all variants of the matrix organization requires a near-symbiotic relationship between all staff to achieve an appropriate balance between objectives.
An additional complicating factor is introduced when work processes are shared across national- and therefore cultural-boundaries. A single QMS is applied in all locations., but there may be differences in how ground rules are interpreted and applied. If these differences can be identified and explained based on known theories about national cultures, we could reasonably expect to be able to develop improved methods and approaches to reduce variation and optimize the results achieved. At Flour , the potential value in establishing whether a one -size-fits -all approach to the implementation of a QMS on a global scale is potentially very significant.
Research in Action
To carry out a project , the following primary research objectives were established:- To outline and analyze the established theories on cultural aspects in terms that are relevant to the implementation of a common QMS in a multinational corporate environment.
- To undertake primary research at a number of locations , such that the data fairly reflects the cultural diversity and supports the research objectives, while ensuring availability of objective evidence.
- To establish to what extent the espoused theories are valid at the locations studied.
- To derive learning from the research, in order to define how to improve quality performance through better implementation and application of the QMS and related tools, methods and systems in each distinct cultural environment.
- To make recommendations on how best to use the knowledge gained from the research in order to hold any gains made.
First, it was important to settle on a definition of culture. Humans are complex and difficult to analyze even on the individual basis and the research design had to separate the work culture -specific issues from other influences as much as possible.
Geert Hofstede, author of Culture and Organization, defined a number of cultural dimensions with which he attempted to explain differences between cultures. Two of these dimensions, power distance index and individualism , showed potential correlations with quality-related issues. For this project , these were selected as a means of measuring correlation between the research and existing data on national culture traits specific to the countries in which research was to be performed .
As Flour Corporation's QMS is intended to be applied at all locations and is freely available through Flour's expert system, Knowledge On Line, it should be equally well known to all employees , regardless of geographical -and thus cultural-origins.To carry out research , staff questionnaires had been decided upon,but further investigation on this method revealed that responses number were likely to be poor (less than 20% is not unusual), response time slow and the degree of differentiation in answers might be limited as respondents are often reluctant to take the time to fill in the questionnaire and may choose what they think are "appropriate" answers rather than expressing their true opinion.
This forced a rethink and after some consideration the method of applying questionnaires in the context of structures interviews was chosen. This approach was more time consuming, but was much predictable in terms of response. A total of 308 interviews were held in six offices on three continents ( North America, Europe, and Asia) with a final response rate of over 90% -which in itself justifies the additional efforts.
The interviews were based on a fixed protocol to minimize the effect of interviewer intervention. In addition to the questionnaires, interviews were recorded on a digital voice recorder as objective evidence. Respondents were selected randomly from the group concerned. The results were tabulated using spreadsheets, with data entry cross-checked for accuracy. Pivot tables were used to aid analysis of the data and comparison tables were constructed to compare the functional groups at each location and across different locations.
The results
The area researched is merely the tip of a very large iceberg floating in a vast sea of national and company culture. The research was limited to that small part of the iceberg visible above the surface., but some conclusions can be drawn. Culture is a lot like gravitational force -you can't see it, touch it or feel it but attempt to defy it and you may regret it. Flour's offices in the West have been operating for many years and achieved maturity through diligent application of systems and tools. The Asian offices are younger, but have reached maturity under the leadership of Westerners with experience of, and sensitivity for, the culture concerned and with the essential support of local management teams skilled in adapting company culture to fit local requirements.
These office environments have had time to mature and develop the project environment required for effective work sharing and dispersed execution is much more dynamic , with short start up times and schedules. People have to learn to work together quickly and are expected to work at full capacity from day one, so they are often less able to benefit from a good level of experience and understanding in cross-cultural communication. This is inherently dangerous, as awareness of cultural differences depends to some degree on contact with people from other cultures, the likelihood of which decreases as we go deeper into the organization while the effect of differences gets potentially larger. The results of this research have provided some insights into where to focus the necessary attention and resources in order to achieve the desired improvements.
Use of Hofstede's work on dimensions of national cultures helped provide an understanding of how the collective, conformist culture of the East differ from the individualist, non-conformist culture of the West. The results demonstrated measurable differences in the levels of QMS implementation , both between geographical locations (and national cultures) and functional groups, but also indicated that the overall level of QMS compliance in Flour Corporation is very high. In most cases, differences at an individual or functional group level are compensated for by the team approach that is so essential for effective and efficient project execution.
The way the different cultures responded to investigation may account for at least a portion of the observed differences. The strength of Flour's company culture has been the driving force behind the one-size-fits-all approach that has been remarkably successful across the globe. Differences are often more easily attributed to communication and the perceptions of those concerned rather than clear cut evidence of variation in implementation methods, and this in itself is a key conclusion.
All Flour employees have access to the required tools and procedures , so failures are mostly due to human error and not to system failures. This shifts the emphasis to communication and awareness as a means of preventing and detecting failures , which is coincidentally also an area where differences in national cultures are more marked. Westerners "tell it like it is", which can very offensive to Eastern cultures. Easterners avoid conflict because it is impolite in their culture and attempt to get the message across subtly, which the Westerners find frustrating and generally incomprehensible. These differences in perception and communication methods offer potential for improvement in executing projects across cultural boundaries.
An additional significant benefit derived from the research was the large quantity of data relating to the differences between functional , as opposed to the cultural groups. While not directly relevant to the research , this information is essential to understanding differences in the way work is performed by the groups at the different locations, as the current prevalence of work sharing and dispersed execution requires high levels of cooperation between geographically distributed locations for success.
There are also differences in the way projects are performed within a single culture, simply because the people who make up the team are individuals and a system that is so prescriptive as to prevent this would be unworkable in practice. Each project team must find a way to fulfill the requirements , but there is room for both individual and group interpretation in how this is achieved, provided the agreed requirements are met. The research provided no evidence that national cultures would be a barrier to achieving this; in fact the differences between cultures can be beneficial if well understood and effectively communicated.
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