Not to be taken for granted

Asda and Wal-Mart should be the perfect merger, given that the former has deliberately set out to copy the US retailing giant's style. But Asda is keenly aware of the pitfalls.

You could not hope to find a neater fit, said the commentators when Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, agreed a J6.7bn takeover deal with Asda, the UK's number three supermarket group.

It had long been known that the team which was brought in to rescue Asda from collapse in the mid-1980s had deliberately set out to copy virtually every aspect of the giant US discount group that could be replicated in the UK.

So Asda stores have 'colleagues', not employees. They have people in the parking lots to help drivers to park. They have old-age pensioners wearing col­ourful name badges, standing at the door to say hello and ask customers if they need help. In the Leeds headquarters no one has an individual office, not even the chairman. Finally, store staff get actively involved in promoting individual product lines, and are rewarded when their efforts lead to tangible sales im­provements.

Most of these ideas came straight from Bentonville, Arkansas, home to one of the world's most unusual retailers. For Wal-Mart's corporate culture has become a legend in retailing.

The company's employees chant the Wal-Mart cheer before store meet­ings. They benefit from a share ownership scheme which is one of the most widespread in the industry. Top executives share rooms when on business trips, and pay for their coffee and tea from vending machines like the lowliest sales assistant.

Given the similarities, there are few who really believe putting Asda into the Wal-Mart network will result in anything but success. But, says Asda's Chief Executive, Allan Leighton, this is no reason to be complacent. Failing to bring together corporate cultures, even those as similar as Asda's and Wal-Mart's, could lead to the downfall of the most logical mergers. 'When acquiring or merging with a business, getting the cultures to fit is fundamentally important,' he says. Half-way houses, where compromises are made, never work, he be­lieves, and nor does imposing one culture on another. 'A company calling their colleagues colleagues and treating them like staff is not the answer,' he says.

The key to getting the deal to work culturally rests on a few fundamental issues, he believes. The first and most important is terminology, he says. 'Busi nesses have their own language. You have to get everyone aligned so that when someone uses a word it means the same thing to everyone.'

Middle management comes next. 'Initially, everything is done at the top of the organisation,' he says. 'But most of the work is done in the middle.' If middle management is not incentivised, a deal can go horribly wrong. 'It all boils down to people in the end. And what motivates people? Unless you can demonstrate very quickly that their influence in the organisation is at least the same if not better than before, then people will get concerned about it,' he says.

Third comes getting to know each other. Asda and Wal-Mart have spent the last few weeks swapping store managers and IT systems staff. 'We will go out there, look and bring back,' Leighton says. 'That way we will have owner­ship of the changes as opposed to having them pushed on us.'

It will always be hard to determine whether a merger or takeover has failed because the cultures simply did not fit. But success is more likely to elude those who do not really believe in the cultures they are trying to create. 'This all comes from the heart,' says Leighton. 'You do not get it from textbook manage­ment or instruction. You have to create an environment where people feel com­fortable in expressing themselves in a different way.'

FINANCIAL TIMES

Vocabulary tasks

A Synonyms

1. The word 'employees' is used several times in the text. What other word is used that has a similar meaning? (para 3)

2. The phrase 'to push something on someone' is used in line 97. What similar phrase is used earlier in the text? (para 6)

В Word search

Find a word or phrase in the text that has a similar meaning.

1. agreement when a company buys another (para 1) t akeover deal

2. when a company fails (para 2)

с..........................

3. something that is copied exactly (para 2)

r.........................

4. something that can be seen and proved (para 3)

t..........................

5. company that is famous in its industry (para 4)

1..........................

6. being unreasonably confident (para 6)

с...........................

1. agreement where both sides give up some of what they want (para 6)

с...........................

8. in the same position or share the same ideas (para 7)

a..........................

9. exchanging people or things (para 9)

s..........................

С Definitions

Match these terms with their definitions

1. virtually; a) cause something to fail;

2. parking lots; b) people of retirement age who no

longer work;

3. old-age pensioners; c) almost all;

4. chant; d) sing;

5. widespread; e) escape;

6. lead to the downfall; f) a place where cars are put;

7. incentivised; g) motivated through money or other

means;

8. elude (line 102). h) available to lots of people.

D Collocations

Match these nouns as they occur together in the text.

E Complete the sentence

Use an appropriate phrase from Exercise D to complete each sentence.

1. Share ownership schemes for employees help to develop

loyalty and commitment.

2. Most large supermarkets sell hundreds of....

3. With the increased emphasis on the customer in retailing, the role of the is important.

4. The increased use of audio and video conferencing should reduce the number of executives need to make.

5. Large organisations need sophisticated to operate effi­ciently.

6. If people didn't wear at big conferences, you wouldn't

know who anyone was.

7. Most executives never progress beyond.........

8. The role of a........... is to motivate and control the sales staff in the

shop, comparing the two organisations' approaches to customers.

Speaking tasks

A Prepare a short summary of the article (7-10sentences) В Retell the article pointing out as many details as possible Learning by heart

Learn all unknown words and word combinations for you from the article

Unit 8 Global careers

Reading tasks

A Read the text, write out all the unknown words with transcription from the article.

В Understanding main points

1. Which of these statements gives the best summary of the text on the
opposite page?

a) A successful global manager needs many qualities. b)Thc qualities required to become a top manager differ from country to country.

c) Many young managers are not interested in a global career.

2. Mark these statements T (true) or F (false) according to the information
in the text. Find the part of the text that gives the correct information.

a) International experience is essential if you want a global career.

b) Subsidiaries of global companies use the same criteria when promoting managers.

c) The demand for global managers is increasing.

d) Young managers want to work internationally.

С Understanding details

1. Different qualities for career success are described for different cultures and nationalities. Match the qualities from the list below to the nationalities mentioned in the text.

a) good communication skills British;

b)technical creativity;

c)ability to network;

d)professional competence;

e)entrepreneurial skills;

f) knowing how to work within a hierarchical structure;

g)good interpersonal skills.

2. Which national group considers communication and interpersonal skills to be more important - the British or the Dutch?

3. According to Andre Laurent, German, British and French managers see organisations as different kinds of networks. What words does he use to define these networks in each case?

Global Careers

Ideally, it seems a global manager should have the stamina of an Olympic runner, the mental agility of an Einstein, the conversational skill of a professor of languages, the detachment of a judge, the tact of a diplomat, and the perse­verance of an Egyptian pyramid builder. And that's not all. If they are going to measure up to the demands of living and working in a foreign country, they should also 5 have a feeling for the culture; their moral judgment should not be too rigid; they should be able to merge with the local environment; and they should show no signs of prejudice.

Thomas Aitken

According to Colby Chandler, the former Chief Executive of Eastman Kodak Company, 'these days there is not a discussion or a decision that does not have an international dimension. We would have to be blind not to see how crit­ically important international experience is.' International companies compete with each other for global executives to manage their operations around the world. Yet what it takes to reach the top of a company differs from one country to the next. For example, whereas Swiss and German companies respect tech­nical creativity and competence, French and British companies often view man­agers with such qualities as 'mere technicians'. Likewise, American companies value entrepreneurs highly, while their British and French counterparts often view entrepreneurial behaviour as highly disruptive. Similarly, whereas only just half of Dutch managers see skills in interpersonal relations and communication as critical to career success, almost 90 per cent of their British colleagues do so.

Global management expert, Andre Laurent, describes German, British and French managers' attitudes to management careers as follows:

German managers, more than others, believe that creativity is essential for career success. In their mind, successful managers must have the right individual characteristics. German managers have a rational outlook; they view the organi­sation as a coordinated network of individuals who make appropriate decisions based on their professional competence and knowledge.

British managers hold a more interpersonal and subjective view of the organisational world. According to them, the ability to create the right image and to get noticed for what they do is essential for career success. British managers view organisations primarily as a network of relationships between individuals who get things done by influencing each other through communicating and negotiating.

French managers look at organisations as an authority network where the power to organise and control others comes from their position in the hierarchy. French managers focus on the organisation as a pyramid of differentiated levels of power. They perceive the ability to manage power relationships effectively and to 'work the system' as critical to their career success.

As companies integrate their operations globally, these different national approaches can send conflicting messages to success-oriented managers. Subsidiaries in different countries operate differently and reward different behaviours based on their unique cultural perspectives. The challenge for today's global companies is to recognise local differences, while at the same time creating globally integrated career paths for their future senior executives.

There is no doubt the new global environment demands more, not fewer, globally competent managers. Global experience, rather than side-tracking a manager's career, is rapidly becoming the only route to the top. But in spite of the increasing demand for global managers, there is a potentially diminishing interest in global assignments, especially among young managers. A big question for the future is whether global organisations will remain able to attract sufficient numbers of young managers willing to work internationally.

From International Dimentions of Organisational Behaviour, Thomson Learning 1997

D Understanding meanings

1. Choose the best explanation of the sentence 'there is not a discussion or

a decision that does not have an international dimension' (line 8).

a) international issues are not often discussed when companies take decisions;

b) international issues must always be considered when taking a business decision.

2. Choose the best explanation of the phrase 'mere technicians' (line 13) as

it is used in the text?

a) people who have some technical skills but no management skills;

b) people who are excellent engineers.

В Word search

Find a word or phrase in the text that has a similar meaning.

1. behaviour which prevents things from working normally (para 3) disruptive behaviour

2. managers who are ambitious (para 8)

s -0. m

3. clear directions that people can follow to move up in a company (para 8)

с P

4. push a manager's career into a dead end (para 9)

s -t

5. when interest is becoming less and less (para 9)

d i

С Prepositions

Match the verbs and prepositions as they occur together in the text

1. based; a) up to;

2. compete; b) on;

3. have a feeling; c) from;

4. differ; d) with;

5. measure. e) for.

D Complete the sentence

Use an appropriate phrase from Excercise С to complete each sentence.

1. German managers take decisions ..based on... their professional

knowledge.

2. The qualities most valued in managers country to country.

3. To operate successfully in different countries you need to

good to different cultures.

4. In a global company, managers from different countries ....

each other for the top jobs.

5. Expatriates who don't ............. to the demands of working and

living abroad sometimes return from their foreign assignment early.

Speaking tasks

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