Cultural Management of Hawkley Consulting †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Cultural Management of Hawkley Consulting. Answer: Introduction Consulting is more than just strengthening the organization. It is bringing the organizations and their customers together closer and creating flexibility in communities through the strategic networks and partnership.MWH management consultant provides various services related to management consulting through Hawkley Consulting. The team of Hawkley Consulting includes more than 150 global partners for management partners with their clients on the toughest challenge and offers holistic approaches for tackling the business challenges through looking into the entire business and organization for evaluating the challenges and implementing the impactful and strategic solutions (Water Resources Engineering - MWH Global, 2017). In this report MWH will suggest some recommendation to GWG Partners regarding setting up their subsidiary in Thailand. Power distance Countries like Australia falls under the low power distance nations while the countries like Thailand are at high position with regard to power distance side in the spectrum. People from the high distance nations generally believe that authority and power are the crucial facts of life (Muenjohn Armstrong, 2015). This culture unconsciously or consciously teaches their people that all the people in this world are not equal and every person has rightful place. On the other hand, the countries under lower power distance there is exists a preference for the consultation and subordinates will contradict and approach their bosses. Both the parties will work for resolving any issues through stating their own views openly (Fung McKercher, 2016). Thailands score on PDI index is 64 that is, slightly below as compared to the Asian countries average of 71. In their society strict chain for protocol and command are observed and inequalities are normally accepted. Each rank of the job has its own privileges and the employees show deference, respect and loyalty towards their superiors in exchange of guidance and protection. This results intopaternalistic management. Therefore, the attitudes for the managers are more of formal type and the flow of information is controlled and hierarchical (Hofstede, 2013). Collectivist culture With score of 20, Thailand falls under highly collectivist nation. This states the obvious long-term relationship with the group member. Loyalty under the collectivist nature is of paramount nature and over-rides different societal regulations and rules. Further, the society builds strong relationship and every person takes active responsibility for the associated members of the group (Mazanec et al., 2015). For preserving the group, Thai people are not argumentative and a simple yes does not mean an agreement or acceptance. Moreover, the offence leads to face loss and Thai people are very sensitive regarding their group. Personal relationships are the keys for conducting the business and it is time consuming for building the relations. On the other hand, with score of 90, Australia falls under high individualist culture. It states that people are most concerned regarding themselves and their immediate families. Australian business mostly focuses on the opportunities in the Thai Market, specifically those influenced by following crucial trends Greater awareness and focus in the environment and sustainability Greater urbanization that will lead to demand of better and more transport and infrastructure projects Growth in consumer affluence that will lead to greater demand for the higher quality services and goods (Bakir et al., 2015). The ongoing position of Thailand as the regional manufacturing hub especially for food processing, electronics and automotive products. The economic and trade relationship of Australia with Thailand has been strongly increased since the Thailand Australia Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) since 2005. It provides advantage of tariff over North American and European competitors and enables many companies from Australia to find export opportunities. For setting up the subsidiary in Thailand, the company must take management consultation regarding accounting and legal advices before setting-up the business in Thailand. In various circumstances, the companies are not allowed to own more than 49% share of the company with majority shares being held by the Thai company. However, exceptions are there for some industries that have to get prior approval from Thai Board of Investment (Mladenovi? et al., 2017). The management consultant must suggest the company regarding the Thai business culture, which are as follows In Thailand Miss, Ms, Mrs and Mr are addressed as Khun and while addressing others, they use the word Khun followed by the 1st name of the person, for instance, Khun Johnson. The business people from Thailand generally follow the formal dress code. In any business meeting proper footwear, tie and business shirt is compulsory for the men and formal dress codes for the women also applies. In any way, casual wear is not allowed in any business meeting Gift exchange is widely used in Thailand business dealings and is largely reciprocated. Further, gift shall be opened in privacy and not in public. It is not necessary that the gift shall be expensive; the gift is the significance of friendship and the appreciation of hospitality. Conclusion From the above discussion, it is concluded that there is wide difference in the collectivist culture and power distance of both the countries. Australia falls under the category of the low power distance nations while the countries like Thailand are at high position with regard to power distance side in the spectrum. Further, there is a difference in culture of both the counties. Australia falls under individualist culture whereas, Thailand falls under collectivist culture. Therefore, it will not be a viable decision to set up the subsidiary in Thailand by GWG Partners owing to the vast differences in the culture and power distance. References Bakir, A., Blodgett, J. G., Vitell, S. J., Rose, G. M. (2015). A preliminary investigation of the reliability and validity of Hofstedes cross cultural dimensions. InProceedings of the 2000 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference(pp. 226-232). Springer, Cham. Fung, D. S. F., McKercher, B. (2016). Influence of cultural distance in comparison with travel distance on tourist behaviour.Tourist Behaviour: An International Perspective, 8. Hofstede, G. (2013). Hierarchical power distance in forty countries.Organizations Alike and Unlike, ed. CJ Lammers and DJ Hickson (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979), 97-119. Mazanec, J. A., Crotts, J. C., Gursoy, D., Lu, L. (2015). Homogeneity versus heterogeneity of cultural values: An item-response theoretical approach applying Hofstede's cultural dimensions in a single nation.Tourism Management,48, 299-304. Mladenovi?, S. S., Mladenovi?, I., Milovan?evi?, M., Deni?, N. (2017). Cross-cultural dimensions influence on business internationalization by soft computing technique.Computers in Human Behavior,75, 865-869. Muenjohn, N., Armstrong, A. (2015). Transformational leadership: The influence of culture on the leadership behaviours of expatriate managers.international Journal of Business and information,2(2). Water Resources Engineering - MWH Global. (2017). MWH Global. Retrieved 2 August 2017, from https://www.mwhglobal.com/