Business Brief
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For many companies, having employees spread across different regions across the globe can be quite challenging. When RBG acquired Sake Logistics, there are several areas of concern that need to be addressed for the employees of the two companies to establish a working relationship. Some of these include the fact that RBG has taken on employees working in a different time zone, different methods of communication, different ways of thinking and working, as well as different cultures and norms. Before getting down to work, it is crucial to address these issues to make sure that the new employees from Sake Logistics feel welcome and valued so that they can get to work and deliver quality in their work. The four strategic areas in this situation are teamwork, different time zones, negotiating diverse viewpoints and cross-cultural communication.
The first thing that RBG needs to realize is that the employees of Sake Logistics will feel threatened when they first begin working with them. After an acquisition, a company’s employees usually feel that they lack identity in the new company (Kwan 2019). Sake Logistics is a small company of three hundred employees, while RBG has four thousand employees. These numbers offer both an advantage as well as disadvantage. The advantage is that the significant RBG workforce means that there are people from diverse backgrounds, and within the company, there is already a culture of respect and tolerance for others from different backgrounds. For this reason, the RBG employees will adapt quickly to working with the people from Sake Logistics who come from a diverse background and geographical location. However, there is also a disadvantage because the Sake Logistics employees are likely to feel threatened in RBG. When this happens, the employees tend to dig in, and this will affect the delivery and quality of their work. RBG, therefore, needs to come up with a comprehensive plan to absorb Sake employees.
Teamwork is an important part of any organization. When employees can work together as a team, their results are usually better. However, for teams to be able to work together, there must be clear communication. Each team member needs to feel that their opinion is valued. In this case, the Sake employees need to seek a new identity being a part of the RBG team. The RBG employees need to work towards welcoming the new employees so that they feel like part of the team. Because RBG is a significantly larger company than Sake, it is normal for the Sake employees to feel lost because the RBG employees are used to working together. The first thing that RBG management should do is to find out any warning signals that indicate that the Sake team may be feeling threatened. RBG should also study some of the factors that may hinder effective teamwork between employees of the two companies including territorial behaviour, language barriers and different time zones, and come up with ways to deal with them.
Negotiating diverse viewpoints will also be a challenge for the employees of the two new companies. Based on different backgrounds, they may have different ways of doing things. Each company’s employees need to realize that they will face challenges in accepting other people’s way of thinking and their opinions. Once they are open and ready for such challenges, it will be easier for them to come up with ways of collaborating with each other rather than criticizing each other. The management at RBG should also come up with strategies on how to train their employees on how to respect each other’s points of view, as well as how to be assertive in presenting their own opinions.
Working across different time zones will be a major challenge, considering Sake Logistics had employees in Singapore, Saudi Arabia and China. These countries are found in Asia while RBG is located in the United States in North America. Different time zones make it difficult in cases where employees in the different continents have to collaborate on projects or take meetings. The management of RBG has to come up with a plan that ensures that the time zones work in favour of all employees. Because the majority of RBG workforce is in the US, the company should avoid making plans that favour them at the disadvantage of Sake employees. Cross-cultural communication is also another critical area that needs to be addressed. Given that the two companies are found in different regions, there are significant differences in the communication culture. For example, RBG employees may be more assertive and pushy in presenting their ideas, while those from Sake could be more soft-spoken and require encouragement to counter or oppose their RBG counterparts. It is vital for RBG management to make sure that it gives all its employees’ views equal attention regardless of how they are delivered. Management should strive to recognize the differences in their employees rather than coming up with gender and colour-blind policy (Thomas & Ely 1996).
The first recommendation is the setting of clear communication guidelines. Communication will be the most important area, given the language barriers as well as different nonverbal cues involved in the two companies. The company should ensure that there are frequent meetings for employees to catch up and communicate with each other. Tools such as Skype, Dropbox and Google Drive have made it much easier for people across different regions to communicate with each other. In addition to this, RBG should be aware of some of the factors that make teams more efficient than others. One of these factors is the awareness of other people’s emotions which affect their state of mind and consequently how they work. This ability determines which teams are smarter than others (Woolley et al. 2015). Communication is also affected by the different time zones, and this needs to be factored in. RBG should come up with a canvas in which employees can update their availability in case they are required. The company also has to develop a fair schedule for meetings considering the different time zones.
The second recommendation would be for RBG to rethink processes and roles to increase efficiency (Schaubroeck et al. 2016) before the acquisition of Sake Logistics, each employee in the two companies knew exactly what their roles was and how they contributed to the company. After the acquisition, it is only natural that employees struggle to find their new positions and understand the new processes that come with the change. To address this, RBG needs to have a training program to familiarize Sake employees with their new roles as part of the new company. The employees will also need the training to understand the processes and systems of the new company, especially if they vary from those used by Sake Logistics.
To conclude, RBG needs to address the topics of teamwork, diverse viewpoints, different time zones, and cross-cultural communication. One of the ways to do this is to come up with communication guidelines for the employees. This is important, mainly because of time differences as well as communication cultures. RBG should also give clear instructions on roles and processes to help the Sake Logistics employees adapt better to the new RBG environment. Managing employees across regions requires a lot of planning to ensure smooth operations.
References
Ely, R. J., & Thomas, D. A. (1996). Making differences matter: A new paradigm for managing diversity. Harvard Business Review, 74(5), 79-90.
Kwan, L. B. (2019). The Collaboration Blind Spot. HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, 97(2), 66-73.
Schaubroeck, R., Tarczewski, F. H., & Theunissen, R. (2016). Making collaboration across functions a reality. Mckinsey Journal.
Woolley, A., Malone, T. W., & Chabris, C. F. (2015). Why some teams are smarter than others. New York Times, 16.
