GOALI: Organizational Competitiveness: Exploring the Roles of Organizational Culture and Human Resource Management in Multinational Corporations

San Jose State University Foundation, San Jose CA

Investigators

Abstract

The Organizational Competitiveness project aims to explore the roles played by organizational culture and human resource management practices in fostering competitiveness in multinational corporations pursuing global strategies. The researchers seek to further theory and practice around the following questions: 1) How does organizational culture influence company performance in multinational firms? How important is the strength of organizational culture relative to its content? 2) Do human resource management policies and practices influence company performance in multinational firms? If so, what policies and practices are the most critical levers of performance, and how do they influence success? 3) What is the relationship between organizational culture and effective human resource management systems, on the one hand; and global mindset and boundary spanning on the other? What are the effects of these relationships in successful global companies? The sample for this study consists of 11 companies (35 research sites) headquartered in 8 countries across the US, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews with line and HRM executives and a written survey questionnaire fille dout by a random stratified sample of employees are the primary research methods, along with archival research. Finally, a survey will be administered to industry analysts to assess outside experts' opinions on the current and expected long-term capability of each company in the sample. Contributions from the research will include a theoretical model of how organizational culture and HRM practices influence the performance of MNCs, and of the roles played by global mindset and boundary spanning structures and processes in implementing global strategy. In addition, the program will develop practical tools to measure factors in the model, as well as providing feedback to participating firms. The breadth and global scope of the sample will provide a comprehensive view of the impacts of organizational culture, the prevalence of global mindset and boundary spanning, as well as an unusually rich comparative assessment of global strategies.