This report investigates and discusses the cultural diversity in Zain Groups, a telecommunication company in Kuwait. It examines the cultural traits, challenges, and recommendations for managing diversity.
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Running head: MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY Managing Cultural Diversity Name of the Student: Name of the University: Author Note:
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1MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The main objective of the given report is to investigate and discuss the telecommunication company headquartered in the region of Kuwait, named Zain Groups. The report focuses on examining the cultural traits of the organisation as well as the challenges related to the cultural aspects that the company suffers from. In this connection, the report came out with a finding that the organisation has effectively managed the cultural aspects of gender equality by initiating the support and empowerment to the female population. However, the company has drastically failed in the other aspects of discrimination that occurs because of the caste, religion, colour, creed and race of the individuals as well as fostering initiatives for the migrants who are discriminated highly in the regions Zain Group operates. The report ends with providing recommendations to the company that would help the same to carry up their smooth operations in the concern of managing the cultural diversity and gain a massive success for the organisation.
2MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY Table of Contents Introduction................................................................................................................................3 Overview of Organisation..........................................................................................................3 The multi-culture traits of the Organisation (International Operations)....................................4 The multi-culture traits of the Organisation (Domestic Operations).........................................4 Variances in the professional and organisational culture...........................................................5 Cultural Issues in the Organisation............................................................................................7 Leadership Management Issue in the Organisation...................................................................8 Cultural as well as Ethic Differences.........................................................................................9 Language and Communication Barriers.....................................................................................9 Corporate Culture.....................................................................................................................10 Recommendations....................................................................................................................10 Conclusion................................................................................................................................11 References................................................................................................................................12
3MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY Introduction Based on the viewpoint of Trax, Brunow and Suedekum (2015), cultural diversity is considered as the most significant and vital part of a productive workplace in the modern business environment. The business organisations getting diversified in nature has become accountable towards the synergy of managing as well as understanding diversity. The working individuals coming down from different background paves the path for the need for a diversified workplace environment. In this connection, it was stated by Tarba et al., (2019), that the synergy of culture diversified workforce is essential in an organisation as the same increases the overall performance level of the same with superior quality. This brings up a requirement for the organisation to include the management of advanced innovation strategy in the working transactions with regards to fostering a competitive working environment. This, in turn, will help in ensuring that the working organisation is paving its business transactions towards the steps of successful operations that will help the firm to generate profit and revenue. Concerning to this ideology, the given report sheds light on the aspect of the cultural diversity in the business entity named Zain Groups. Overview of the Organisation Zain Groups Company is profoundly recognised as a mobile telecommunication company which was founded and established in the year of 1983 (Asiri, 2015). It is known to be headquartered in the region of Kuwait and was named as MTC. In the fiscal year of 2007, it was reorganised and named as the Zain Group. In the current business market, the concerned company is recorded to dominate the market of Middle East with its operation wings in around eight countries of the same (Luenen, 2019). The company also operates itself in the region of North Africa. The company is known to have a profound hold in the market, with over fifty million active users connected to the same. Studies also show that the net
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4MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY worth income of the concerned mobile telecommunication company is calculated as $155 million and this had made Zain Groups be one of the most successful business entity concerning the financial hold in Kuwait (Slideshare.net, 2019). The multi-culture traits of the Organisation (International Operations) AsstatedbySidani(2018),thecurrentworkingenvironmentbasedonthe international operations of Zain Groups is recognised to highly diversified in its cultural aspects. Expanded in the regions of North Africa as well as the Middle East where the company is operating it's business wings have taken up sustainable initiatives that help in the encouragement of work diversity in the firm. The sustainable actions of the firm at the first place is determined as the aspect of women empowerment and in this connection have implementedtheintroductionofwomenempowermentnetwork(Amadi,2015).This happened because of the belief of the organisation that the factor of gender diversity will help the business entity to improve and develop their workplace. The strategic plans used by Zain Groups had been recorded to ensure the growth as well as advancements of careers in the company. The principal goal and objective of this initiative were to achieve the synergy of gender equality as well as to empower the female workers of the company to develop, act, succeed as well as the lead in the working environment. However, the only drawback found was that the company keeping its primary focus on the gender equality, have not focused on taking initiatives that ensure the diversity of different individuals working in the firm which belongs to different caste as well as religion and cultural background (Alhashel & Albader, 2018). The multi-culture traits of the Organisation (Domestic Operations) The concerned company named Zain Groups is recorded to work along with over 6200 working employees on its everyday basis (Bhaya et al., 2018). This helps in catering the
5MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY needs of the customers and the end market and therefore satisfying their unique demands as well as making their lives better by offering excellent products and services. It was also examined that cultural diversity is well promoted in the domestic workplace of the Zain organisation as compared to its international sector. However, the synergy of women empowerment exists both in the domestic and the international operations of the concerned telecommunication company (Mousa & Elamir, 2015). The belief of the organisation is that women are more capable and robust enough to lead the business organisations and give a betterperformancelevel.Theconcernedorganisationhasbeenrecognisedtoprovide different training programs and leveraging their women employees to pursue education which will help them enhance their skills and the same, in turn, would prove beneficial to the company (Aldaihani, 2019). The strategic plan of the company that the factor of women empowerment will help the firm to create a path for the gender equality as well as the fast- trackingoftheprincipalambitionsthecompanyhasintheconcernofitsgrowth opportunities. The company also believed that the synergy of gender equality would help the same to bring improvement in its bottom line transactions as well as the competitive differentiation as compared to its competitors. Variances in the professional and organisational culture As examined in the above part of the report that Zain Group is a successful as well as renowned company in the region of Middle East as well as North Africa, it was also undermined with the help of the studies that the company carries up its business transactions in an ethical and fair manner following the synergy of integrity as well as honesty (Times, 2017). The casual employees, as well as the head employees along with its board members connected to the Zain Groups, are accountable towards maintaining the confidentiality of the organisation’s sensitive information that has been disclosed to them and is asked to be kept enclosed within the employees itself (Ali, Divya and Saradhi, 2017). The disclosure of the
6MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY sensitive information to any outside resources is determined to let fall the responsible person into trouble. This obligation of keeping the information enclosed is known to continue even after the tenure end of the employees, the board members, as well as the head managers (Bhaya et al., 2018). This secrecy is believed to be kept in the organisation in the concern of protecting the organisation from the threat of the business markets as well as the competitive level of the competitors in the market. As stated by Beckford (2016), the employees are inevitable as well as an integral part of every business organisation. Concerning to this ideology, Zain Groups telecommunication Company is known to take their employees in a severe manner and therefore provide their employees with the leverage to the proper freedom of coming up and providing the organisation with different creative as well as innovative ideas that may turn out to be beneficial for the working transactions of the business and help the same to grow (Alafi, 2018). Moreover, the company is also open towards the feedback provided by the employees of the organisation in the concern of making any improvements and changes in the working environment of the firm to make them feel valued and an integral part of the organisation. As examinedabove,theconcernedcompanyprofoundlysupportstheaspectofwomen empowerment; the company is also recorded to promote the same in the professional culture. This is because of the firm thought process of the organisation that different gender employees are working together into a singular working firm with foster better innovative ideas for the better future of the company. Both the aspect of the organisational as well as the professional culture, are considered to be interchangeable in nature (McCune, Lewis & Arendt, 2016). Both the concerned form of cultures are known to approach the synergy of the outlook as well as the collective values that lie within the productive organisation of Zain Groups. Nonetheless, the manner in which these two cultures manifests the different settings in the organisation have some variations.
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7MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY The organisational culture of the business organisations are known to show the synergy of ethics as well as the values that the owner and the employees of the company trust in (Vargas & Negro, 2019). In this concern, the organisational culture of the Zain Groups is considered to be motivated to the non-profit aspect and follow the business operations in an ethical manner (Yusoff & Idris, 2017). However, in lieu of this, the professional culture of the Zain Groups is recognised to be clearly profit-motivated as well as the employees are given complete freedom to come up with the innovative ideas as well as feedbacks for the profound benefit of the firm (Shaha et al., 2016). This also motivates the employees to works in a more enthusiastic manner and with greater zeal, and thus the same pave a path for the building of significant success in the organisation. Cultural Issues in the Organisation The concerned telecommunications company of Zain Group is known to be famous for the useful products and services it offers to its end market and target customers (Dhir at al., 2019). In additionto this, the initiativeconcernedto the support of the women empowerment taken up by the Zain Groups has also made in famous in the current business market as well as the eyes of the society. Studies show that the women population in the region of North Africa, as well as the Middle East, have been deprived of the rights they are leveraged to and always been treated below the male population notwithstanding their talent, educational background as well as the skills level they indulge with. The female population in both the stated countries where the company of Zain Groups are under operation have known to be the victims of the patriarchal society. In this connection, the concerned company brought up an initiative to break the stereotype of the adverse conditions of the women in these two regions. The company, as examined above, have been profoundly recorded to
8MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY empower as well as support the female population to go to work as well as build their careers. Thus, Zain Groups have succeeded in managing the diversified workforce that promotes the synergy of gender equality. However, it was also recognised that Zain Group has been highly focusing only on the women population and have failed to notice the other inequalities that exist in the company (Singh, 2018). Therefore, this had turned out to be an issue for the organisation. Studies show that the initiatives taken up the firm in the concern of women empowerment is an effective one; however, the same cannot help in building the entire workforce of the concerned organisation. The company had been recorded to fail in the acknowledgement of the issues that are concerned to the migrant population and also the individuals who are known to be discriminated in the organisation with regards to their caste, colour, creed as well as religion and the other aspects that hurt their sentiments as well. This discrimination takes place because of the pre-conceived notion of the individuals which they have in their thought process about different religion of different people. As stated by Kessler (2016), the aspect of discrimination in a productive business organisation profoundly affects the mindset of the employees in a negative manner and the same results in the reduced performance level of the employees. This aspect of poor performance, in turn, paves a path for the loss as well as the downfall for the concerned business organisation under discussion here in the paper. Leadership Management Issue in the Organisation The concerned organisation understatement here in the report has been predominantly working towards achieving the synergy of diversified work culture and somehow have received success to a small extent with regards to its initiative taken to empower women and including them into the managerial position of the company. However, the company lacks in the management of the other issues that are connected to the global dimensions of the
9MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY leadership context (Jaimes-Valdez, Jacobo-Hernandez & Ochoa-Jimenez, 2017). This, the company is considered to be yet to focus on the synergy of obtaining other aspects of cultural diversity in its workplace. Take, for instance; there are several migrants who come up to the regions of the Middle East as well as North Africa in the connection of finding a better job. Studiesshowthatthesemigrantsarenottreatedwellinthesetworegionsandare discriminated on a profound basis. This discrimination is considered to be relevant to these two countries, and along with this, it is mainly based on ethnicity, the origin of the people concerning their social and religious life. Thus, this discrimination is also prevalent in the concerned company of the Zain Groups telecommunications. This, in turn, has proved that the relevant organisation is facing the problem of leadership management. Cultural as well as Ethnic Differences As opined by Rosenau (2018), the current world is known to be changing as well as evolving at a high pace to be an equal one for every existing individual to feel an equal citizenoftheworld.Nevertheless,studiespredominantlyshowthattheaspectof discrimination is still prevalent in several countries, and two of them are considered as the Middle East and North Africa. In this context, the discrimination in the workplace of Zain Groups takes place because of the differences in the religion, caste, creed as well as race of the individuals (Al Mutairi & Fayez, 2015). The only discrimination that is avoided in the organisation is gender discrimination as the company profoundly manages gender diversity management in its working synergy. Language and Communication Barriers The different individuals come into a working organisation from different countries and therefore, a different culture as well as language background (Gee, 2018). Concerning this aspect, it is undermined that communication barriers thrive in the organisation of Zain
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10MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY Groupsasitworksintoa diversifiedform. Thesecommunicationbarriersaffectthe performance level of the employees as the same demotivate the employees in the workforce (Wigert & Harter, 2017). This happens because the employees are unable to communicate with each other because of the different languages they are leveraged too and thus they are felt left out in the firm. Thus, the top-level managers at Zain Company should focus on ensuring to foster healthy communication between the different employees by the help of training them so that they can accept the differences of each other. Corporate Culture The aspect of cultural diversity in an organisation has both its positive as well as negative sides (Gay, 2018). Thus, it is important for the telecommunication company of Zain Groups to take effective implementations into working in the concern of ensuring cultural diversity in the workplace. The company believes in gender equality and thus working equally helps the company in bringing up significant ideas to be implemented in the firm and enhance the company to achieve huge success. The corporate culture of the Zain Groups is considered to be advanced due to the initial implementation of the women empowerment (Rai, 2018). Recommendations As analysed with the help of the study that Zain Group lacks in other aspects of cultural diversity, keeping its main focus on women empowerment, the given report tends to suggest the strategic recommendations that would help the company to manage its cultural diversity in an effective way. Taking effective measures that will help the migrants to get a standard level of job and work satisfaction in the organisation along with the female population (Hansen, 2019).
11MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY Providing effective training and development process to the employees. Implementing strict laws and legal suits against workplace discrimination. Encouragingeffectivecommunicationprocessinboththeinwardandoutward synergy of the firm (Hernandez & Nieto, 2016). Conclusion Given the findings based on the cultural diversity concerned with the organisation of Zain Groups, Kuwait, it can be seen that the synergy of cultural diversity is an inevitable part of a business organisation in this era of globalisation and privatisation. The aspect of cultural diversity helps the firms to come up with diversified innovative and creative ideas to make the business a successful one. Thus, it was examined with the help of the study that Zain Groups have implemented the initiative of women empowerment to combat the issue of gender discrimination in the firm. However, the company have been failing in its global dimension of leadership and managing the other points of discrimination occurring in the firm. Thus, the report suggests that the company should look after these drawbacks on an immediate basis.
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