David Smith: The National Manager$$s

International Problems

With globalisation, the workforce at multinational companies comes from various countries

thereby making teams, which are culturally diverse. While people are hired from various countries

considering their talent and their skills, the cultural diversity within the team poses some serious

problems that affect organisational progress. Many a times the very purpose for which the

multicultural team was constituted $$ benefiting from diversity, to benefit from the experience of

team members in various markets and to be able to provide culture specific customer care $$ is

defeated. David Smith $($Smith$)$ found himself in a similar situation when he took over as the

national manager of Smart Software Company $($SSC$).$ Considering the problems faced by Smith,

are multicultural teams inevitable in the globalised world? What does it take to handle a multicultural

team to produce effective business results?

Multicultural Teams at SSC

In the age of globalisation, companies and their businesses are not bound by their national boundaries.

Businesses are spread across countries as a company might be headquartered in one country and

the subsidiaries might be spread across various other countries. The business itself transcends

boundaries as companies have projects, Joint Ventures $($JVs$),$ Mergers and Acquisitions $($M&A$),$

strategic alliances, partnerships, outsourcing and off$-$shoring arrangements with clients in various

countries. As a result, the workforce of the company becomes heterogeneous and culturally diverse.

One such example of a heterogeneous workforce was seen at SSC$,$ an Indian company based in the

South Indian city of Bangalore.

This case study was written by Vandana Jayakumar and Vara Vasanthi, under the guidence of Dr$.$ Nagendra V$.$ Chowdary, IBSCDC. It

is intended to be used as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management

situation. The case was written from generalised expriences.

$2009,$ IBSCDC.

No part of this publication may be copied, stored, transmitted, reproduced or distributed in any form or medium whatsoever

without the permission of the copyright owner.

Background Reading: Chapter $1,$What is Organizational Behavior$,$

Organizational Behavior $($Stephen P$.$ Robins, et al$.,)12$th Edition

$409-082-1$

Educational material supplied by The Case Centre

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Order reference F$387452$

David Smith: The National Manager$$s International Problems

$2$

Established in June $1994,$ SSC was designing, developing, implementing and supporting softwaresystems for customers throughout India. Though, not among the leading software companies,

SSC$$s business was profitable. In $2001,$ SSC decided to expand its business by entering the market

of software outsourcing services. Within a short span of time, it was able to successfully complete

projects for its partners from European countries. SSC$$s initial success in the overseas market

encouraged it to explore business opportunities in the US and Australia. Due to its concerted

efforts, SSC was able to win a few big projects from the US and Australian clients.

By $2006,$ SSC became one of the leading companies in the field of software outsourcing services,

handling $30$ projects from clients across the globe. Having reached a significant milestone in the field

of software outsourcing services, SSC wanted to make rapid progress in the field of software designing

and development at the global level and become one of the top$-$ten Indian companies. Consequently,

SSC made investments in International Projects Team $($IPT$)$ and brought in personnel from across

the globe to give shape to SSC$$s dream.

In $2006,$ Smith, British by nationality, joined as the national manager of SSC$$s software designing

and development division. Smith had a rich experience of working with some of the well known

global software development companies. Just before he became the national manager of SSC$,$ he

served as the national manager of one of the divisions of Solutionz Plc$.($Solutionz$),$ a leading software

designing and development company of UK$.$ He was credited with the transformation of his division

at Solutionz from a loss$-$making division to a leader in the field of software designing and development.

During his tenure at Solutionz, the company received many awards as well. Smith himself received

two significant awards of $$the most admired manager$$ and the $$Catalyst$$ award for outstanding

contribution towards the success of his organisation.

With the backing of an illustrious career, Smith joined SSC and it seemed obvious that he would

have no trouble in giving shape to SSC$$s dreams. By the time Smith joined SSC$,$ the IPT was

working on an ad hoc basis with six members in the team. Smith picked up his own team wherein he

retained the two Indians $$ Ajit Jain $($Jain$)$ and V$.$ Krishnamurthy $($Krishnamurthy$)$ and also recruited

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