Organizational culture and expansion into Columbia

Solution Preview

I am providing you with information that you can use to create the assignment, though I cannot actually create it for you.

I am attaching the work as well as presenting it here for easier access. I hope this helps. Thank you for asking Brainmass.

a) An organizational structure that will accommodate the expansion.
b) Explain the challenges that will be faced in creating a cross-cultural organization in Colombia.
c) Recommend strategies to overcome these challenges.
d) Identify if the new facility will primarily reflect the cultural systems of the US based company or those of the Colombia, or a blend of both.
e) Analyze the cultural variables that will affect team communication and interaction and assess the challenges in creating cooperation among organizational stakeholders in various cultures.
f) What the strategies should be implemented to minimize conflict and maintain productivity.
g) Evaluate the impact of cross-cultural issues on change
h) Analyze the impact of resistance to change on the organization.
i) What strategies should be implemented to manage the transition and any resistance that may be encountered.
www.cia.gov/factbook

Columbia: Economy and people

The country is made up of ethnic groups, mestizo (58%), white (20%), mulatto (14%) black (4%), mixed black-Amerindian (3%), Amerindian (1%) with the language of the country, Spanish. Approximately 93% of the population is literate. And about the same amount are Roman Catholic, and religion plays an important part in their lives.

Confidence in the economy is growing due to the stability of the government, the presence of the government in all municipalities, free trade agreement signed with the U.S., but there is still high unemployment and concerns about the drug trade and terrorist guerrillas. The deficit is still high as well, but foreign investment is up.

As a lesson from recent problems with Chiquita, the organizational structure should be centralized with a mixture of management from the headquarters and in country. Local leaders can be trained to the laws and corporate culture, but to do business with local entities, one may want to make sure that the mixture is acceptable to the local business community. Expatriates will want to be legitimate and understand the rules about dealing with both government officials and how to handle possible terrorism threats.

A structure that is well defined and vertically hierarchal is also necessary since the culture of the country is more formal than the U.S. Approaches to local businesses and government should be done by the appropriate person at the appropriate level of the business, also part of the more formal business approach. Workers in lower positions will expect decisions to be made at the top. Business leaders outside the organization will expect that was well. Opinions and ideas should be asked of ...