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OB&HRM Coursework
The Cakefather
IMPERIAL COLLEGE BUSINESS SCHOOL
MORAL
A pragmatic theoritical review
n our increasingly globalised world, cross-cultural understanding is becoming paramount for catering to new markets and diverse consumer demographics. Empathy with different cultures is therefore a key skill for managers and teams to possess. As the President of National Grid USA recommends; ‘responsible business must embrace and manage diversity for continued success’ (King, T., 2012). Style Audiences need to be engaged on multiple psychological levels if they are to create lasting memories of the lessons or morals told. Hence, framing valuable lessons in a variety of contexts, both comical as well as serious and informative, can make an individual understand the message informally or subconsciously. In this way, the common perception of bosses telling employees how to think can be avoided, the latter of which will often be met with the feeling that an employee has to act in a certain way rather than wanting to. The purpose of this film is therefore to interact with audiences on a subliminal level and allow individuals to understand the lessons learnt on their own terms, whether it be during the comical parts or during the serious more overt scenes. The lesson of empathy and understanding can be considered obvious, which has consequently led to a number of technical and forceful ways of teaching. Instead, framing such lessons in a humorous and eccentric fashion can create an informal
Empathy and understanding as a cornerstone of successful crosscultural teamwork and psychologically safer environment for accepting and processing the true substance of the crosscultural lesson. Synopsis This is a tale of the first cross cultural mafia group led by a ruthless and autocratic boss whose team finally decides to overthrow him after years of an exploitative working environment. However they soon realise that the team can’t function without their central figurehead. At the same time, the godfather realises his lack of empathy has led him to alienate his workers and jeopardise the performance of the entire organisation. Both parties reconcile that they must understand each other and cooperate in order to run a successful mafia team. Structure Although both the Tuckman model and Equilibrium model are different they can be combined in this instance to give an understanding of the mafia’s team development. These models can be used in conjunction with the lessons of the film to show the effects of cross-cultural differences on team building. As the illustration below shows, the model is divided into four stages (excluding the adjourning stage of the Tuckman model). The script is designed to relay each stage to a particular act in the orders shown:
IMPERIAL COLLEGE BUSINESS SCHOOL
OB&HRM Coursework
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Act 1 Misunderstandings and why cultural conflicts occur
he first act is based on the misunderstandings that can come about in a working environment. The film exemplifies this through the Godfather’s inability to listen to his employees as well as accept any accountability for the company’s problems. Further, the meeting scene examines some of the common and ill informed stereotypes of certain cultures and the resulting alienation that comes about. For example, The Godfather’s immediate response to the decline in cake sales is to blame his employees in an uncouth manner. This is representative of the lack of a balanced distribution of accountability in the team. Secondly, his assumption that Ms. China’s point is biased because of her culture is telling of the Godfather’s insensitivity to cultural differences. Such conflicts are highlighted by the interviews that take place throughout the film, giving the viewer a window into the characters’ individual thinkings and the different sides to the story. In a similar vein, by immediately discarding Mr. Spain’s new recipe, The Godfather has committed a fundamental malpractice which is ignoring the ideas of his subordinates which ultimately impedes innovation. This is an example of Dictatorial Management where involvement from employees is not accepted. In the film, the new recipe is gluten free which could potentially be very successful in the profitable gluten-free market, which is ultimately ignored by the Godfather and potentially costly to the business. What can be drawn from these examples of culturally ignorant dictatorial management is that the leader is not necessarily wholly bad but lacks the cultural tools to make his actions meaningful and substantial. In the film for example, the Godfather giving Ms. china flowers is negated by his lack of cultural
understanding that white flowers are only given at funerals in china. Again the godfathers interview suggests he is in denial and unable to accept that he has any weaknesses in cross-cultural communication. Later on in the film this inability unhinges the entire structure of the group, showing that fallibility is an important aspect for leaders if they want their employees to feel comfortable and fearless of trying and failing. As Green et say, ‘managers must recognise their own cultural biases and prejudices’. (Uni of Florida paper) As the Tuckman model shows on the left, this act is representative of Stage 1: Forming or early stages of group interaction. In this case, the Godfather does not understand his employees who are equally disillusioned by their boss. The energy barometer above summaries the effect the management has on the employees’ involvement and energy.
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OB&HRM Coursework
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IMPERIAL COLLEGE BUSINESS SCHOOL
Act 2
Act 3
Effects of Culturally Insensitive Leadership
Nurturing Cultural Competence
s we progress to the second act, the forming stage becomes increasingly closer to the storming stage, ultimately climaxing with a planned coup by the employees.
he teams realisation that they are unable to function without their leader is a telling example of the mutual need for empathy; the team realising the need for the Godfather is as important as the Godfather’s appreciation of the talents of his team. It is this empathy and understanding that drives team building. This is Stage 3: Norming of the Tuckman Model, where individual differences are appreciated as trust begins to emerge, and cooperation becomes the focus. The office party is the closing segment of the film, aimed to show the reconciliation that occurs once cultural differences are realised and attended to. The result is that Ms. China no longer feels under appreciated or culturally misunderstood, while both Mr. Spain and Mr. England feel more engaged and enthusiastic having been given responsibility. The team’s ability to work together in a culturally diverse environment now leads to innovation and disruptive thinking, which in this case is the potential to occupy new markets with the gluten free recipe.
The bridge scene illustrates the effects of autocratic management which is where the only satisfaction employees get is from ‘beating the system’ (Byham, W., 1994) which in this case is giving the Godfather an ultimatum. As Johnson, Lemartowicz and Apud argue, ‘Many international business failures have been ascribed to a lack of cross-cultural competence’, which in this case has cost the business it’s leader. (Johnson, Lemartowicz and Apud, 2006). Again, the interview with the Godfather saying ‘i just couldn’t do it’ reinforces the idea that he sees external ideas as a threat to his authority and responds impulsively and defensively; The result being detrimental to both the group and himself as he is dismissed from the mafia. (An example of managers threatened by employees).
Initial Godfather Cultural Competence Checklist Possess a strong personal identity Have knowledge of and facility with the beliefs and values of the culture Display sensitivity to the affective process of the culture Communicate clearly in the language of the given cultural group Perform specially sanctioned behaviour Maintain active social relations within the cultural group; Negotiate the institutional structures of that culture (Johnson, Lemartowicz and Apud, 2006, p. 529).
As the barometer above shows, The godfather’s increased cultural competence and distribution of responsibility has led to greater involvement among employees. The business benefit is shown by 11 real-life studies that found a significant relationship between cross cultural training and performance.
IMPERIAL COLLEGE BUSINESS SCHOOL
The final scene is a demonstration of Tuckman’s final Performing Stage: with greater cultural empathy, the team now focuses on harmony, productivity, and effective problem solving. We represented this with the team all agreeing to taste the potentially lucrative new cake recipe (Black and Mendenhall 2012, p. 119). By acknowledging Mr. Spain’s new reciepe, The Godfather has created a psychologically safe enviornment, eliminating the fear of embarrassment and thus promoting innovation. Further, an openness to other cultures leads to not just new ideas, but the solidification of the team through the experience of employees’ unique perspectives and customs
OB&HRM Coursework
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Black, J., Mendenhall, M. (2012) Cross-Cultural Training Effectiveness: A Review and a Theoretical Framework for Future Research, The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 15, No. 1. Byham, W. C. (1994) Implementing a High Involvement (Empowerment) Strategy, The Business Channel. Green, K., Lopez, M., Wysocki, A., Kepner, K. (2012) Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges, and the Required Mangerial Tools, University of Florida IFAS Extension. Johnson, J.P.; Lenartowicz, T; Apud, S. (2006) Cross-Cultural Competence in International Business: Toward a Definition and a Model, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 37, No. 4. King, T. (2012) What Does Success Look Like? Profiles in Diversity Journal