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Course INDU1033: Mng'g/Leadg People Acr Cultrl Course School/Level B/PG

Coursework Group report Assessment Weight 30.00%

Tutor U Veersma Submission Deadline 05/11/2014

Coursework is receipted on the understanding that it is the student's own work and that it has not, in
whole or part, been presented elsewhere for assessment. Where material has been used from other
sources it has been properly acknowledged in accordance with the University's Regulations regarding
Cheating and Plagiarism.

000811624

000845830

000854811

000849166

Tutor's comments

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Grade Awarded___________ For Office Use Only__________ Final Grade_________
Moderation required: yes/no Tutor______________________ Date _______________

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Table of Contents
Coursework Header Sheet ................................................................................................................... 1
1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 4
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................................................... 4
3. COMMUNICATION .......................................................................................................................... 5
. MC DOLAND “ INTE‘NAL O‘GANI)ATIONAL COMMUNICATION IN THE UK. .................................. 6
Figu e . .a MC DOLAND “ INTE‘NAL O‘GANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE.............................................. 6
. MC DOLAND “ INTE‘NAL O‘GANI)ATIONAL COMMUNICATION IN INDIA. ..................................... 6
Figu e . .a MC DOLAND “ INTE‘NAL O‘GANI)ATIONAL “T‘UCTU‘E IN INDIA ............................... 7
4. LEADERSHIP..................................................................................................................................... 7
5. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ............................................................................................... 8
6. DECISION MAKING: ......................................................................................................................... 9
7. WORKING PROCESS ...................................................................................................................... 10
8. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................. 12
9. APPENDIX ...................................................................................................................................... 13
9.1 HOFSTEDE 5-D MODEL COMPARISON BETWEEN UK AND INDIA ......................................... 13
9.2 INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION REPORT......................................................................................... 13
10. BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................... 15
_Toc402960219

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 1. INTRODUCTION

In this group case about McDonalds the authors will primarily analyse about the cultural
differences between India and United Kingdom based on theoretical factors of Geert
Hofstede s D odel a d Ed a d Hall s ke ultu al fa to s. After analysing the factors the
reason to choose the scenario between India and United Kingdom was the vast cultural
difference that take place between one another. According to Nitish Singh, India is classified
as a High-context culture where people have close connections between members of a group
and each person knows what very other person knows. Most information is intrinsically
known rather than explicit (2005 55). A country like United Kingdom is classified as a Low-
Context culture by Singh, where the culture is action-oriented, linear, logical and heap of
information is formalised and explicit. The exchange of information is expected to proceed in
a rational, verbal and explicit way (2005 55). This points out one of the main reasons to choose
India and United Kingdom in this study.

Talking about McDonalds Corporation which is the largest chain of hamburger fast
restaurants in the world, established in 1940 in USA. Around 68 million customers are being
served daily in 119 countries across 35,000 outlets including UK, Canada, Australia, Brazil,
France, Germany and the US. According to the analysis of current market environment,
McDonalds operates in different cultural markets where vigorous competition is in action. At
the same time McDonalds is facing difficulties to operate in low consumer demand cultures
as a esult of the stage of the o ld s e o o .

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

In the process of an analysis of a business it is vital to have a thorough idea about the culture
of the pa ti ula usi ess s o igi as it is one of the key characteristic which helps to
understand the national culture of a country that company is planning to operate at. Referring
to Gee t Hofstede he defi es a pa ti ula ou t s atio al ultu e as The olle ti e
programming of the mind which distinguishes the people of one category or members of a
g oup f o othe s . But ulti atio al o pa ies like M Do alds take the ad a tage of

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exploring their business opportunities in diverse cultural countries under the current business
environment and result in a cross cultural effect on the organisation.

During 1970s two scholars, Geert Hofstede (1980) and Edward Hall (1976) developed models
independently for organisations to apply to identify cultures. The central purpose of carrying
out this researches were to discover whether there are existent universal classifications of
culture that span nations and social communities. This research produced a five dimensions
(5D) model which can be applied to any culture across the world. They are Power-Distance,
uncertainty Avoidance, Collectivist-Individualistic and Masculinity and Long term orientation.
Power distance consider the degree to which the equality/inequality exists between people,
how the power of an organisation should be allocated and decisions of power holders should
be assessed. Uncertainty avoidance pertains the degree to which the level of acceptance with
in a society for ambiguity and uncertainty situations. Collectivist-Individualistic focuses on up
to which point a society reinforces interpersonal relationships and individual or collective
accomplishments. Masculinity concerns the level that societies reinforce or do not reinforce
the traditional masculine work role model of male accomplishment, power and control. And
finally, long term oriented people consider that truth depends upon situation, time and
context mostly while societies by means of short-term orientation strongly concerns with
setting up the absolute truth.

3. COMMUNICATION

Co u i atio is the a t of ei g u de stood W‘IGHT, 979 ".The e a e a ious le els of

communication out of which the interpersonal communication (face to face) fits the case
stud efe ed. Co u i atio a d ultu e goes ha d i ha d i a fi s su ess. A o di g
to McNamara, there are four factors involved in shaping culture namely the social structure
of the country and relationship such as family, caste, class. Secondly the techneconomics (the
economic development of the country).Thirdly dogma such as philosophies and Religious
beliefs. Fourthly the personality of every individual. Culture essentially outlines world-views
and means of thinking which is very crucial for communication.

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3. MC DOLAND’S INTERNAL ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION IN THE UK.

Considering the communication structure of M Do ald s i figu e 3.1.a there exists only a
single layer hierarchical structure. The store manager is solely responsible for the work
performed by the store and staff service managers. In other words both store service manager
and the staff service managers.
Ha e to epo t to thei s highe offi ial a el the sto e a age of M Do ald s ega di g
the issues i the sto es. M Do ald s follo s the di e sio s gi e i Hofstede theo to
effectively communicate within the employees based on their cultural background. One of
the di e sio s follo ed the M Do ald s is the POWE‘ DI“TANCE .It deals ith the fa t
that there exists inequality between people.Uk basically follows Low power distance .With
espe t to M Do ald s ,Lo po e dista e o ept is been used as there exists only a single
la e t ee i the i te al o ga izatio . A othe Hofstede theo i ple e ted M Do ald s
in the UK is the concept of individualism. As per the work culture in the UK people generally
prefer to work as individual rather than working in a group. Hence in working environment
employees tend to be independent (Hofstede, 1982).

Figure 3. .a MC DOLAND’S INTERNAL ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE Source:

Author

3. MC DOLAND’S INTERNAL ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION IN INDIA.

Looking at the internal organizational structure of India, there exists a multilayer hierarchical
st u tu e he e the sto e a age of M Do ald s I dia is assisted ith sto e a d staff se i e
manager, who are in turn assisted with their respective assistance (Refer Figure 7.2a).
According to

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Hofstede theory India is classified as High power distance country. With relation to the Mc
Do ald s I dia this theo is p o e positi e as the e e ists a ulti-layer organizational
structure. Similarly the con ept of olle ti is is ee follo ed i I dia M Do ald s sto e
as people tend to work in groups. According to Indian work culture system employees tend
to work in groups rather than individuals.

Store Service Manager Assistant Store service

Manager

Store Manager

Staff Service Manager

Assistant staff service
Manager

Figure 3. .a MC DOLAND’S INTERNAL ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE IN INDIA

4. LEADERSHIP

Leadership can be defined as a process of identifying the objectives of the business and
motivating employees to work according to laid down strategies to accomplish the
organizational goals. Leadership is the most important component for any business to achieve
its ultimate goal. So it is vital to have an effective leadership here. However, the style of
leadership differs from country to country due to distinct cultures. And the leadership style
also gets affected due to factors like the nature of the task, the culture of the organization
(Task culture on autocratic style, people culture will have a democratic style), the type of the
subordinates, group size and personality of the leader.

When it comes to India, leaders are more autocratic. They set objectives by themselves or
with a few relatives and allocate tasks without discussion with their subordinates. Higher level
managers appoint junior level managers who have a good relationship with the senior level
management. They insist on obedience and the supervision is also strict. Indian managers are
generally short-term oriented; they are not interested on long term visions. This demotivates
the employees of the business and also the efficiency of work is also low. Furthermore, UK
managers get junior staff involved in decision making and consider their opinions as well. As

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junio a age s a e the g oup of people ho e ha ge the ideas ith usto e s a age s
k o e a tl hat usto e s u e t taste a d p efe e es a e. UK a age s o sta tl
motivate employees to maintain the quality of their work and encourage to become leaders
if they have a potential to become a good leader. When it comes to Indian managers they do
not encourage potential subordinates to become leaders unless they know well. And they
generally do not listen to junior level managers. Indian managers often give group tasks to
complete in groups while UK managers delegate individual tasks where they believe in
individual efficiency.

I dia has a high po e dista e le el he o pa ed to Hofstede s -D model. As India still

follows the caste system, the upward mobility is very limited and the degree of inequality
between people are high. Despite the fact that UK is a major individualistic country among
the world, the society does not accentuate dissimilarities between people in terms of power,
wealth or status. Equality can be seen as the main collective object the culture and upward
mobility is very common in the society.

So, McDonalds in the UK follows a democratic leadership style while Indian style of leadership
is autocratic. Therefore, McDonalds operate in India follows the autocratic leadership style
which suits the culture and has been successfully operated over the years.

5. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

H‘M is o e of the ital o po e ts that M Do ald s has to o side as a MNC. ‘e uit e t,

training and utilisation of employees of a business is the central purpose of HRM. The main
a ti it of H‘M is Ma Po e Pla i g . This fo e asts the e ui ed u e of pe so s fo
achieving the objectives of the business. The forecast depends on;
 Expected demand for the products of the company.
 Recruitment and training of additional man power.
 Expansion plans, diversification and new product
development.
 The retention of suitable persons by providing
incentives.

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Whe ou appl the a ti ities of H‘M to I dia it does t work well as it does in the UK. Most
of Indian food industry businesses are family based businesses. They give priority to their
relationships than other factors. They employee family members in businesses with basic
training and as Food, Hygiene, health and safety factors are not highly considered, the training
methods are also informal. Provision of knowledge and skills to work and gaining promotions
are limited in India as most of the senior management roles are held by family members or
friends. The Directors do not appoint strangers as managers as they rely on relationships
rather than any other factors. So the decisions are made with in a group of known people to
obtain the best outcome as all of them are loyal to the business.

In the UK HR Management is highly considered at work. The company recruit workers to meet
the demand by considering qualifications, knowledge and soft skills. Almost all employees will
e p o ided O -the-jo t ai i g, jo otatio et . to gai e k o ledge a d skills a d to
achieve promotional aspects of the business. The employees receive equal opportunities,
incentive methods and health and safety criteria pursues by the company which highly
motivates workers to work in their full capacity. The UK workers are willing to work on
projects and targets individually than in teams. They are willing to achieve individual
promotions than in groups. So, the efficiency in working in groups is less effective.

He e, Hofstede s -D model has been clearly supported by the above argument. It indicates
that I dia is o e Colle ti isti as the tho oughl el o elatio ships hile UK is oe
I di idualisti as people p efe o i di idual apa ilities athe tha elatio ships.
Nevertheless, McDonalds are successfully maintaining their distinctive cultures in both the
countries efficiently according to their internal reports.

6. DECISION MAKING:

Decision making is a process of choosing between two or more courses of action depending
on the current situation (Skillsyouneed.com, 2014). According to Cochrane and Zeleny, there
are two types of decision making namely the Outcome oriented approach and the process
o ie ted app oa h. The de isio aki g p o ess of M Do ald s i UK is si ila to that of
I dia s. Company follows corporate culture from top to bottom and is centralised. Meaning

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all the important decisions regarding Mc Do ald s sales a d p odu tio s a e ade o l
directors and the CEO. The lower officials are limited in taking firm decisions. Decision making
process is slow in Indian organisation as it has multilayer hierarchical structure and in the UK
it is fast as it has only single layer hierarchical structure. Based on effective decision making
M Do ald s has g o i a out lo atio s i ou t ies Franchise Direct, 2014).
The main motto of M Do ald s is to ai tai ualit , se i e, alue a d lea li ess. People
in United Kingdom tend to work individual rather than working in groups. Usually, the
manager in UK believes in individual efficiency and they always give the task to do separately.
On the other hand, In India they believe on teamwork that can lead them to accomplish the
objective. Although, there are many advantage from both method. The group work can be
more effective than individual if participant cooperate and help together. Individualism is
effective if employees have necessary skill. Usually, UK manager treat their colleague equally
and share their opinion between each other. Moreover, they are likely to discuss about
essential issues and make a decision depend on their colleague. The relationship cannot
impacts on their decision. But in India managers are known as autocrat and they will not take
perception from lower level. Furthermore, they always use their own decision or knowledge
ithout pe ei i g othe ideas. Thus the a o e e tio ed ite ia s a e i ol ed i de isio
making.

7. WORKING PROCESS

M Do ald s o pa is the iggest of fast food estau a t a d is o e of glo al ulti atio al

success company, which has a headquarters in the United States of America. And, the
beginning of the increasing amount of saturation in the United States, therefore the company
akes a de isio to go i to i te atio al e pa sio . No the M Do ald s o pa ha e
p ese ted i 9 ou t ies a ou d the o ld Ho M Do ald s “u eeds i the La d of
Michelin Stars, 2012). Also, the company is developing and integrating strategically important
assets located in other countries this includes operations in the USA, Europe, Asia, the Middle
East, Canada, Africa, and Latin America. Because of, the company saw an opportunity to
achieve economies of scale, to hit in to the international market and ability to adapt their
p odu ts to the lo al ultu e. As Af i a o, N. said Whe ou alk i to a M Do ald's o atte

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where you are in the world the restaurant should connect to the local culture. We are a global
company, and at the same time, we are a neighborhood business. So when you look at our
menus in the 119 countries in which we do business, you'll find food that reflects local taste
p efe e es. While, i diffe e t ou t ies M Do ald's i te atio al estau a ts a e very
diffe e t. A o di g to the asi a keti g o ept that is P s to see ho M Do ald s
company does in different countries.

Fi st, P odu t: M Do ald s o pa ill adapt thei p odu ts a d usto e se i e to the

domestic country. They try to understand the type of cultures in many different countries in
order to preferred foods in specific and adapted the menu for people in different countries.
For instance, in India you will not see beef or pork in McDonald's menus but it has vegetarian menus
instead. McCurry Pan which only can be seen in Indian menus is a very popular dish in India (Zanoni,
D. 2012)

Second, Price: Price is the amount a customer pays for the product or services. Price is a very
important factor to determining system and image. The company has to do the pricing of
products in different countries and compare them with other competitors for making a
difference to the consumers in recognition (Ting, Z. and Cui, Y. 2009). For example, in some
ou t ies people a e uite se siti e to p i e of fast food. Thus, the M Do ald s o pa t ied
to introduce vegetarian dishes or healthy foods instead, to give more value and to meet the
need of their customers.

Third, Place: Nowadays, in many countries McDonald open 24 hours per day and every day
per year and it is also very important to have a right location. For example, in India the

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M Do ald s shops a e e e l sp ead th oughout the cities, especially on high accessibilities
locations for different landscapes (Chan S. Yeua, Kong C. Leonga, and other. 2012). Therefore,
it is eall o e ie t fo usto e s. Also i so e ou t ies M Do ald s has playpens for
children to play in while the family dines.

The last one is Promotion: mentions the efforts made by the companies in order to
communicate with the customers in the international markets and by using advertising and
other tools to make the customers acknowledge the companies news and respond to
promotion of company. In different countries the company has to do in different ways that
have to considering about culture. For instance, for advertising it is only the channels and the
details of a message to send to customers in different culture and different countries focus
on economic and political environment as well (Vignali, C. 2001).

To su up, the M Do ald s o pa usto ise thei p odu ts to i g togethe usto e s

and their cultures. In addition, making an experience unique for each country also gives more
benefits to the company in return.

8. CONCLUSION

To sum up the report factors like culture, communication, Human resource, leadership and
decision making have played an important role in discussing the cultural context of the two
countries that we had chosen (India and UK).Though there are massive differences between
I dia a d UK, M Do ald s has ee e su essi e i te s of its usi ess. I te s of ultu e
UK and India vary totally .considering communication, UK has a single layer hierarchical
structure while India follows multi-layer hierarchical structure. The process in which decisions
are taken are almost similar as both the countries follow centralized approach. Taking
leadership into account Indian leadership style is more of autocratic while UK follows more of
democratic culture. Hence even though there are a lot of cultural differences between UK and
I dia M Do ald s has ee e su essful i te s of its usi ess.

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9. APPENDIX
9.1 HOFSTEDE 5-D MODEL COMPARISON BETWEEN UK AND INDIA

9.2 INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION REPORT

ID: 000845830

Within our group there were four members from three different countries. Which I
gained lots of experience through working with different ethnics. I have gone through
some difficulties when communication as none of the members from English speaking
country.

But we managed it well in our group presentation and our group course work. Time
management was a critical factor when working as group. In our group we have
different characteristics such as team works, implementers, coordinators etc.

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Through those characteristics I have gained lots of positives to my future. To conclude,
working in the group more effective and interesting.

ID: 000849166

I found that managing across culture is an effective subject and interesting to me more
than any subject. It is also attractive and empowered me to recognize structure of
business in variety culture. Furthermore, The Lecture and Tutorial are also supported
me to obtain essential knowledge

Ou g oup s topi is a out diffe e e etween India and UK culture. It quite not difficult
because our members were from Asia and they also know their culture well. However, in
part of UK we ask some information from Britain and research on the internet.

Lastly, I really thank you and very grateful to meet a great tutors. He is very kind and
made a nice environment. I really grateful to all of tutors to gives me an essential
knowledge that I never get it from other.

ID: 000811624

Personally, I found managing across culture subject very interesting and helping to
understand and realize how different cultural people look at the problem in different
manners according to their personal experiences. Even though we are from an Asian
background the way we approached the structure and the way we looked at the
problems we came across in the assignment were different to each other. I played
different team roles like Implementer, Coordinator and Completer-finisher when
carrying out the tasks in the group study.

The main reason why myself like this subject is that it makes you aware of how different
cultures do businesses and interact with each other. This would be very useful to me as
i te tio to see self as a su essful e t ep e eu ith i e t te ea s ti e.

ID: 000854811

I personally feel Managing Across Culture subject is very interesting because this subject
is practically addressed. I always fancied about other countries and culture .Hence it gave

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me good opportunity to gain more knowledge on this subject. Considering my team in
cross culture, I had to work with three other people from 2 different counties. Though we
were from Asian countries we had many differences in the way we handled the
presentation and the group assignment. We were supposed to do a presentation on
ultu al diffe e e i a MNC he e e hoose M Do ald s. The g oup p ese tatio
which we performed was a learning process where I understood the different perspective
of my team members in solving issues that was involved in the presentation. All my group
members were very supportive and cooperative in completing our work. The roles played
by me was coordinator and implementer. The group report that we performed was also a
knowledge gaining experience as I had to do a clear study on cultural differences in two
countries namely India and UK.

Lastly I would like to thank my tutor and course leader Dr. Ulke Veersma for giving us an
opportunity to explore our talents and for guiding us throughout the work.

10. BIBLIOGRAPHY

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 Africano, N. (2010), McDonald's International: Top Ten Most Unusual Around the
World, Available at: http://news.travel.aol.com/2010/09/03/mcdonald-s-
international-top-ten-most-unusual-around-the-world/, (Accessed 14th October
2010)
 Chan S. Yeua, Kong C. Leonga, and other. (2012). A Comparative Study on
International Marketing Mix in China and India. The Case of M Do ald s. 6 (4), 3-5.
 Claudio Vignali. (2001). McDonald's: "thank global, act local". The marketing mix. 15
(8), 97-111.
 Cochrane, J. and Zeleny, M. (1973). Multiple criteria decision making. Columbia:
University of South Carolina Press.
 Filipp Sapienza, P. (2014). Culture and Context: A Summary of Geert Hofstede's and
Edward Hall's Theories of Cross-Cultural Communication for Web Usability. [Online]
Filippsapienza.com. Available at:
http://www.filippsapienza.com/CultureContextEnglish.html. [Accessed 5 th
November 2014].
 Franchise Direct, (2014). How Has McDonald's Been So Successful for So Long? |
FranchiseDirect.com. [Online] Available at:
http://www.franchisedirect.com/information/markettrendsfactsaboutfranchising/th
esuccessofmcdonalds/8/1111/. [Accessed 4th November 2014].
 Geert Hofstede, (1982),"Intercultural Cooperation in Organisations", Management
Decision, 20 (5), pp.53 – 67.
 Hall, E.T. (1976). Beyond Culture. Garden City, NJ: Doubleday.
 Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviours, Institutions,
and Organizations Across Nations. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.

 Ho M Do ald s “u eeds i the Land of Michelin Stars, (2012). Available at:

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/born-in-the-usa-made-in-france-how-
mcdonalds-succeeds-in-the-land-of-michelin-stars/. (Accessed 2nd September 2012)
 Jim R. McNamara, (2004),"The crucial role of research in multicultural and cross
cultural communication", Journal of Communication Management, 8 (3), pp. 322 –
334.
 Marcus, A. and Gould, E. (Jul-Aug 2000). Crosscurrents: Cultural Dimensions and Global Web
User-Interface Design. Interactions 7 (4), pp.32-46.

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 Singh, N. and Pereira, A. (2005). The Culturally Customized Web Site. Burlington MA:
Elsevier.
 Skillsyouneed.com, (2014). Effective Decision Making | SkillsYouNeed. [Online]
Available at: http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/decision-making.html [Accessed 4th
November 2014].

 Ting, Z. and Cui, Y. (2009), American Fast Food in Chinese Market, the University of Halmstad, pp.10.
 Tutor2u.net, (2014). Business Organisation - Introduction to Corporate Culture.
[Online] Available at: http://tutor2u.net/business/organisation/culture_more.html.
[Accessed 5th November 2014].
 W ight, D. 979 ," h o u i ate? , I dust ial a d Co e ial T ai i g, ,
pp. 143 – 145.
 Zanoni, D. (2012), McDonald's: Cultural Adaptability To Bring Continued Success,
Available at: http://seekingalpha.com/article/855441-mcdonalds-cultural-
adaptability-to-bring-continued-success. (Accessed 2nd September 2014)

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