Title: Rethinking the transfer of the organisational culture model as a process of change

Authors: Salvador Barragan; Elizabeth Salamanca; Murat S. Erogul

Addresses: Department of Human Enterprise and Innovation, School of Business and Economics, Thompson Rivers University, 805 TRU Way, Kamloops, BC V2C 0C8, Canada ' Department of International Business, Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP), Ex Hacienda Santa Catarina Mártir, San Andrés Cholula, Puebla, 72810, Mexico ' Department of Management, Robert B. Willumstad School of Business, Adelphi University, 1 South Avenue, Garden City, NY 10030, USA

Abstract: This study adopts a comprehensive approach of organisational culture, through the use of Schein's (2004) cultural model, to understand the complexities and nuances of the process of transferring both the most and the least visible aspects of culture from a multinational corporation (MNC) to its foreign subsidiaries. A single case study of a Mexican MNC is analysed through interviews with human resources executives and company documents. The findings show that the least visible aspects of organisational culture do shed light on the cultural model transfer and that the flexibility to change and/or adapt this model from headquarters (HQ) to the foreign subsidiaries is desirable to accomplish some level of cultural integration. MNCs need to involve managers and employees from HQ and foreign subsidiaries in the change and sense-making processes during the organisational culture transfer. Rigid attempts at imposing cultural mechanisms of control can increase the cost in terms of dealing with resistance.

Keywords: organisational culture; change; transfer; global; local; glocal; globalisation; multinational.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2023.133709

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2023 Vol.34 No.4, pp.462 - 480

Received: 06 Dec 2019
Accepted: 14 Apr 2020
Published online: 02 Oct 2023 *

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