Organizational Culture and International HRM: Adidas Group Analysis

This report examines the organizational culture of the Adidas Group, focusing on its international human resource management (HRM) strategies. It explores how Adidas has cultivated a culture of togetherness and innovation, analyzing initiatives like 'One United Team,' 'Be Innovative,' and 'Create Personal Accountability.' The report delves into the different levels of organizational culture, including artifacts, values, and underlying assumptions, and addresses the challenges of operating internationally, such as cultural and language differences. The study highlights the application of the Hofstede model to understand and navigate cultural differences across the company's global headquarters. By analyzing dimensions like power distance, individualism, and uncertainty avoidance, the report demonstrates how Adidas adapts its HRM policies to align with the cultures of host countries. The analysis concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding cross-cultural dynamics for effective international business operations.

Organizational culture

Topic- Organizational culture
Organizational culture refers as the policies and ideologies which are being followed by
the organization for the formation of a positive culture in an organization (Mayhew, 2016).
However, there are different types of organizational cultures of different MNC's. This concept is
not only applicable for the national level but also for the international level. However,
international HRM is required to be understood because in this globalised era companies does
not work in limited boundaries. In Adidas group, in 2014, the new head of the company has
developed a culture of togetherness rather than focus over competitiveness between sports and
branches. In this context, there are three kind of initiatives take by new head and these are One
United Team, Be innovative and Create Personal Accountability. The culture of the firm has
divided into different levels. These levels are Artifacts, Values and Underlying assumptions. But
they prefer to expand their operations outside the country and those companies are known as
multinational corporations. When the operations are done internationally, the organization needs
to focus on their operations and the host country as well. At this level the major issue raised is
with regard to cultural differences. This is mainly faced by consultancy firms like Deloitt, IBM
etc as they operate at international level. For an instance, the Adidas group want skilled and
talented employees which they can hire from developing countries. In order to provide training
expatriates are needed to go and guide the candidates of host country. As a result, they may face
certain issues like cultural differences, language differences and changed policies (Armstrong
and Taylor, 2014).
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Illustration 1: Hofstede model
(Source: Bratton and Gold, 2012)

In order to overcome this problem Hofstede model organizational cultural model is being
adopted. This model is mainly used for making the evaluation of the cultural differences.
According to this model, six dimensions are purely analysed in this model such as power
distance index, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, uncertainty
avoidance index, long term orientation versus short term and indulgence versus restraints
(Cavusgil, S.T. And et.al., 2014).
There are seven headquarters of Adidas group at international level. One in Germany,
three in USA, one in Holland, one in China and one in Panama. With the help of this model,
Adidas group understand the culture of another country or economy. Additionally, power
distance index helps in identifying the equal distribution of the powers among society. On
another side, individualism and collectivism assist in identifying the behaviour of people of host
country whether they prefer to be together or believe in individualism. In context to this,
uncertainty avoidance index aids an individual to evaluate the level of uncertainty in an economy
(Bratton and Gold, 2012). For an instance, recently Paris was facing certain violence issues
which depicts that the society is not safe there. Moreover, by considering this model, Adidas
group will be able to analyse the cultural difference. In addition to this, they will also be able to
analyse the social behaviour of the citizens of host country.
On the basis of Hofstede model, the culture of 3 headquarters of Adidas group is as
follows:
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As a result, the MNC's such as Adidas group will be able to formulate its policies in a way
which can match up with human resources and the culture of host country as well. At the time of
preparation of job description, company focus over the ability of candidates rather than their
culture aspects. On the basis of this, culture discrimination issues at international and national
level. Therefore, while operating at international level organizations are needed to adapt this
model so that cross culture can be effectively understood (Bratton and Gold, 2012).
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2012. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Cavusgil, S.T. And et.al., 2014. International business. Pearson Australia.
Stahl, G.K., Björkman, I. and Morris, S. eds., 2012. Handbook of research in international
human resource management. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Online
Mayhew. R., 2016. How does culture impact HR policies. Available
through:<http://smallbusiness.chron.com/culture-impact-hr-policies-61558.html>. [Accessed on:
3rd December 2016].
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