Read the case "How Roche Diagnostics Develops Global Managers" on pages 487-488 in Noe.

Please complete the case questions after the case. Note: These are not short answer questions. Feel free to cite outside sources to support your positions as necessary. 1. | | Based on the description in the case and the definitions in the text, would you characterize Roche Diagnostics as an international, multinational, or global organization? Explain.Roche has elements of both multinational and global organizations. Since Roche has diagnostic headquarters in the U.S., Switzerland, and Germany, it operates as a multinational organization and global organization. Multinational organizations go overseas on a broader scale. They build facilities in a number of different countries as a way to keep production and distribution costs to a minimum. In general, when organizations become multinationals, they move production facilities from relatively high-cost locations to lower-cost locations.Roche falls in line with the definition of a global organization as well. Global organizations locate each facility based on the ability to effectively, efficiently, and flexibly produce a product or service, using cultural differences as an advantage. Rather than treating differences in other countries as a challenge to overcome, a global organization treats different cultures as equals. It may have multiple headquarters spread across the globe, so decisions are more decentralized. | 2. | | Evaluate how Roche prepares employees for its global rotation program. What improvements or additions to the preparation would you recommend?Roche develops the necessary management talent through a program of global rotation called the Perspectives Program. Employees who have completed their PhD or MBA and want to pursue an international career are eligible to participate. Participants are selected on the basis of geographic and functional needs. They are sent on four international assignments lasting six months each. Each assignment takes place in a different country—perhaps one of the main facilities or another Roche laboratory in, say, China or New Zealand. Typically, employees who complete the program (95 percent finish it successfully) are assigned to positions as senior managers or directors. Many find that the experience has led their career in a new direction.Cross-Cultural PreparationWhen an organization selects an employee for a position in a foreign country, it must prepare the employee for the foreign assignment. This kind of training is called cross-cultural preparation Training to prepare employees and their family members for an assignment in a foreign country. preparing employees to work across national and cultural boundaries, and it often includes family members who will accompany the employee on the assignment. The training is necessary for all three phases of an international assignment: | 1. | | Preparation for departure—language instruction and an orientation to the foreign country's culture. | | 2. | | The assignment itself—some combination of a formal program and mentoring relationship to provide ongoing further information about the foreign country's culture. | | 3. | | Preparation for the return home—providing information about the employee's community and home-country workplace (from company newsletters, local newspapers, and so on). | Methods for providing this training may range from lectures for employees and their families to visits to culturally diverse communities. Employees and their families may also spend time visiting a local family from the country where they will be working. Training professionals offer the following ideas for preparing and delivering training programs to employees in other countries: • | | To get training sessions off to a positive start, learn the other culture's customs for greeting people and making eye contact. Know how to treat others with respect, and know how to interpret reactions to the presentation. In some cultures, speaking up is a sign of interest; in other cultures, listening quietly is preferred, because it signals that the participants are thinking about what they are learning. | • | | Learn about the other culture's values related to humor. A hilarious joke in the United States might be puzzling or completely inappropriate somewhere else. | • | | Be aware that employees from different countries may be used to different learning methods. Trainees in the United States might expect to get involved in a group to practice concepts, whereas trainees in Africa or Asia might assume that good teaching involves a lecture from a person with authority. A mixture of learning activities can engage many kinds of learners. | • | | If the trainees are a multicultural group and are expected to engage in teamwork, don't leave them alone to flounder with cultural differences. The trainer should assign trainees to groups, rather than leaving them to divide up on their own, and then the trainee should monitor group activities, watching for individuals who seem not to be participating and asking questions that bring them into the activity. | • | | Devise training exercises that are relevant to all the participants. The exercises should not favor one cultural group of participants over another—for example, by investigating an issue that will be familiar only to part of the group. |
Sources: Aliah D. Wright, “Respect Cultural Differences When Training, Experts Say,” HR Magazine, December 2009 (HR Trendbook supp.), pp. 19–20; and Wei-Wen Chang, “Is the Group Activity Food or Poison in a Multicultural Classroom?” T + D, April 2010, Business & Company Resource Center, http://galenet.galegroup.com | 3. | | How could Roche evaluate the success of the global rotation program? |
Organizations should establish clear cut performance management scorecards/guidelines that can effectively set goals and expectations of the global rotation assignment. This is much the same way that a performance evaluation would be performed under normal circumstances. The only difference would be the specific requirements of the job rotation in the host country. Performance management of expatriates requires clear goals for the overseas assignment and frequent evaluation of whether the expatriate employee is on track to meet those goals. Communication technology including e-mail and teleconferencing provides a variety of ways for expats' managers to keep in touch with these employees to discuss and diagnose issues before they can interfere with performance. In addition, before employees leave for an overseas assignment, HR should work with managers to develop criteria measuring the success of the assignment.53 Measures such as productivity should take into account any local factors that could make expected performance different in the host country than in the company's home country. For example, a country's labor laws or the reliability of the electrical supply could affect the facility's output and efficiency.
An example scorecard for evaluating the success of the global rotation program could be the following: