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Oct 18 2007   12:17AM GMT

Managing in a different culture Part 4



Posted by: Yusuf Salwati
Project management

As I continue on with my last article on, Managing in a different culture, I need to mention that not every solution that has been introduced so far is working flawlessly, there are still many improvements that need to be made, but after all that what management is all about, “ the continues struggle for perfection.”

The last two items on my to-do list were:

• No company policy: there was no policy regarding (hiring, firing, compensation, vacation, sick leave, tardiness, etc.)
This is one of the most difficult areas to work with when you are managing in a different culture. I am having a hard time understanding the excuses I hear when someone is late or doesn’t show up for work. The norms here in Saudi Arabia with the company I am working for is that when someone is late or doesn’t show up for work is that the company has to call the employee and find out why he didn’t show up for work and than the employee may or may not answer the phone and the answering machines are not widely used. I had to come up with quick fix for this important issue, so I decided to have a quick meeting with the two managers that I work with who I can depend on and we decided to have each of the two managers to handle the work of any late or an absent employee until we find a permanent fix with for issue is we develop more concrete company policy. I realized that developing a policy is a long term process and it can not be done in a short period of time.

• No accounting system: the company had no accounting system, only an excel sheet with expenses and income.

When I started to work on this issue, I was told by the general manger of an accounting software that the company purchased but has not been used since no one had time to learn the software and implement it.
The software is excellent and the interface is both in Arabic and in English and it was developed for the local market.

The software features include:

1-inventory management
2-fixed asset management
3-sales management
4-budgeting
5-account receivable
6-account payable
7-employee’s salary management

The software is very comprehensive and it includes more features than mentioned above.

We already put the software in use.

As I conclude my series of articles of Managing in a different culture, I will continue targeting this issue since it present a unique challenge of management and learning a new culture.

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Abitfazed  |   Oct 18 2007   3:45AM GMT

Hello again Yusuf, One of the things I noticed in the small company I work for is that as it grows… the original employees in the IT Dept. are not adjusting to the change. It took me a while to understand what was ocurring because my team is completely new staff and they are highly technical and are able to implement new processes and strategize well. But the network and technical support staff are part of the original group of employees and as the network and systems change and become more complex these employees are not motivated to expand on their knowledge and therefore cannot support my team as we try to grow the application enviornment. Instead, I find that we are doing more and more of the analytical work for the network staff in addition to our deliverables so that we can meet the goals of the CIO. I have been trying to address this with peer management to help them to think of ways to have their staff “take ownership” of their work because that leads to taking responsibility, but I have not had much success. Instead, I find that because of the pace of the changes management is taking the path of least resistance and my staff are being over-tasked to make up for the issue. Are you seeing that your employees are adjusting well to the new systems and are they owning those systems and thinking of ways to improve them for themselves so that they can better serve their internal and external customers? If so, how are you accomplishing motivating them to do this and how do you address their development and knowledge quickly to make the best use of the systems?


 

Management Tips  |   Oct 18 2007   3:42PM GMT

Yes I am facing exactly the same issues you mentioned, you will always find a group in your company resisting change.

As you may know, I am currently working on an assignment in Saudi Arabia, letting the cultural issues aside; I am facing a lot of resistance for new management style that the company is trying to implement.

My meetings with employees always result in a firm commitment from their end to work with me on the new change management plan, but that commitment quickly evaporates is we move on.

When I first started to work for the company, I had many meeting with the staff, both technical and administrative staff, and clearly explained to them why we need to implement new management plan for the company, some of the points I kept repeating in almost every meeting were:

1- We need to change in order for us to remain competitive in the market
2- New management style and work flow system will results in better customer service and clients’ retention,
3- The new management system, if implemented properly, will results in an increase profit margin which at the end be reflected on staff pay
4- The new management system will reshape the company’s image and give the staff more comfortable and rewarding work environment
5- As we progress, the staff members will have a better opportunity to gain more knowledge in their field
6- The change will happen because it was the upper management decision and you will be left out if you are not ready to adapt

I kept the above points fresh in my staff mind for about two months and gave them an ample time to absorb the changes, but at the same time I set a deadline which after it, I made it clear that I will not accept any excuses for not implementing the new system.

In my case, I had about two technical staff member resisting the change and refusing to take the responsibility to implement the new management system. So here how I resolved the issue:

1- Gave the two staff member a final warning after that they will see punishment which will result in a termination
2- Consulted with the most senior staff from the technical team who is excited about the new system, and we both agreed to work with the new system implementation until we hire new staff member to replace the one who are not willing to adapt

I am not sure in your case if you can fire someone or not, but in order to a change to take a place, you will need to remove all obstacles out of your way, and in my case, I chose firing as my last option, but a valid option after I exhausted all other options.

Not every member of your team will be willing to change, and that doesn’t mean you failed to motivate them, but some people are just not ready and you will have to make a decision about them.

Hope you can relate my experience to yours

Thanks


 

Abitfazed  |   Oct 20 2007   2:40PM GMT

This was a great idea to share your experiences at building into your company the structure needed to start moving forward with improvements to processes and services. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.