Cross-Cultural Perspectives: AECOM
Derrick Brown
ETH/316
February 2, 2015
William Halstead
Cross-Cultural Perspectives: AECOM AECOM is a professional technical services and management support services firm that operates in over 150 countries around the world. They employ almost 100,000 employees to provide services for global government agencies as well as privately own enterprises. According to “AECOM Fact Sheet” (2015), AECOM’s annual revenue for 2014 was $19.5 billion. These are some very impressive numbers, but because of what AECOM does it has the challenge of staying in compliance with environmental regulations from its home country as well as any country in which it may be operating. When having a vast array of specialties such as architecture, engineering, science, management and construction, the task of staying environmentally friendly takes on a job of its own.
Protect the Environment and Make a Profit The real challenge for AECOM is not their position on being environmentally friendly, but standing firm in their beliefs of protecting the environment and making a profit while providing their services. Ironically, AECOM functions under a new age business model that is held together by their purpose and core values, and by doing this they believe, and have proven, they can be profitable. “Our purpose—to positively impact lives, transform communities and make the world a better place—unites professionals working collaboratively across a broad range of disciplines. Our core values recognize that our business success is founded upon a commitment to certain principles.” ("AECOM Purpose And Core Values", 2015).

Employee Factor Managing a global work force could make it more difficult to meet AECOM’s high standard of global environmental commitments, but they have managed to reduce the risk. They have been able to do this by ensuring AECOM professionals around the world are united by a common purpose. In an interview with the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethic (SCCE), AECOM’s Marcos Diaz Gonzales stated,” Due to AECOM’s unwavering commitment to ethics, we are fortunate to attract and retain employees with a shared commitment to high ethical standards as we do. Working for a global organization that has been named one of the world’s most ethical companies for four consecutive years shows that our employees and clients place a high premium on trust and respect, which touches on every part of our operations. The challenge, however, is meeting ethical standards in an ever-changing business environment – and like many companies, we cannot anticipate what the future holds.” (Maharaj, 2014). Coming from AECOM’s metro executive for New York and a corporate vice president in the company’s global program management group, this statement speaks volumes about the issue of AECOM’s ability to keep their commitment of following international environmental policies. Solution In order to stay on track and continue to be successful AECOM must continually think about how to handle situations that may arise in the future. What do they do when a situation arises that they were not able to predict? They engage their stakeholders; which consist of AECOM senior leadership, clients, communities/general Public, employees, investors, governments, non-governmental organizations, partners (vendors, joint ventures and subcontractors) and recruits (AECOM, 2013). By engaging their stakeholders AECOM is able to stay on top of any issues that may arise and collectively work toward a solution.
Conclusion
Due to the services AECOM provides, this corporation is faced with an insurmountable challenge. By having strong core values and clearly defined ethics they are able to circumvent those challenges and continue to be profitable. The multitude of cultures they have within their workforce does not work in their favor either, but again their high standard of ethics allows them to hurdle over this obstacle as well. The key to their success is keeping the people who their work effects the most actively involved. Having won awards for their ethical standards shows that AECOM has not allowed their international presence to hinder their performance; they have allowed it to enhance their ability to do business.

References
AECOM Fact Sheet. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.AECOM.com/News/Fact+Sheet
AECOM Purpose and Core Values. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.AECOM.com/About/Purpose+and+Core+Values
Maharaj, A. (2014, September). Ethics beat: Q&A with AECOM’s Marcos Diaz Gonzalez. The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics Blog, (), . Retrieved from http://complianceandethics.org/ethics-beat-qa-with-AECOMs-marcos-diaz-gonzalez/