Executive Summary
Focusing on the enhancement of the staff’s quality performance is essential for any organization, particularly, the ones that operate in the context of the global market. Promoting an increase in the performance of the employees operating in a diverse environment is especially significant as the multicultural context creates premises for numerous cultural clashes and misunderstandings. The current study focuses on the identification of the existing cultural dimensions in which the communication process occurs and addressing them as the means of improving the employees’ performance quality and reducing the percentage of defective products created in the course of the corresponding processes.
The key hypothesis assumes that the number of cultural dimensions to be addressed in the course of the communication process enhancement does not depend on the ethnicity of the participants and that the percentage in defects reduction in each group is likely to be in equal proportion as long as four essential cultural dimensions are taken into account in each group. The alternative hypothesis states that the identified correlation does not exist and that the number of cultural dimensions included depends heavily on the cultural and ethnic background of the employees.
The study has shown that there is, in fact, a strong correlation between the improvement rates of the staff members after the introduction of the same number of cultural dimensions into the HR strategy. Therefore, it can be assumed that a uniform strategy that can be applied to enhance the performance of the employees with any cultural background can be adopted in the context of a construction company. It should be noted, though, that further studies regarding the choice of the dimensions are required.
Goals of the Project
The current project pursues several goals, the key one being the identification of the links between the application of the diversity-related strategies, the motivation of the employees, and the staff’s performance rates in order to design a DMAIC-based framework that will permit a consistent improvement in the quality of the employees’ performance and the reduction in the number of defects produced by each QA team. The project is restricted to the environment of the Chinese and Nigerian cultures. However, it is expected that the principles of diversity enhancement identified in the course of the study will serve as the foundation for creating a universal approach for managing the QA processes in any entrepreneurship.
Identifying the Connection Between Defects Percentage and Motivation/Upskilling
Apart from locating the correlation between the diversity issues management, the prevention of intercultural conflicts, and the promotion of ca compromise-based negotiation, the link between the percentage of defective items and the participation in the upskilling program designed by the company managers will be located. In other words, the correlation between the enthusiasm of the team members and the percentage of defects omitted by each team in the course of the quality assurance processes, as well as made during the production process, will be identified with the help of the corresponding statistical analysis tools (Croucher & Cronn-Mills, 2014).
Applying Strategies and Evaluating Their Effect on the Performance Rates
The further analysis of the effects that the corresponding strategies related to addressing the cultural dimensions of the participants involved (i.e., the Nigerian and the Chinese company members)should also be viewed as a necessity.
Determining Tools for the Further Improvement of Quality Control
Finally, the results of the analysis will help locate the tools that can be used to execute control over the production processes and, therefore, the quality of the end product, in a more accurate and diligent manner. Specifically, the issue of introducing a specific amount of cultural dimensions as the variables affecting the motivation of the participants, as well as the choice of the number of dimensions, needs to be brought up as a potential objective of the research.
Scope Statement: Construction Firms and Defects Reduction as the Primary Constraints of the Project
As stressed above, the study is largely restricted by the number of participants that take place in it. Seeing that the analysis will be based on the data retrieved from a single company, the applicability of the study outcomes to the firms where the representatives of other ethnicities work may be questionable.
In addition, the study will focus primarily on the issues related to the quality improvement in the environment of Nigerian and Chinese teams. Therefore, the cultural aspects of the study (i.e., the fact that it might deliver different results when setting in the environment of an Ethiopian team, for example) need to be brought up as another set of constraints.
Finally, the fact that the instruments of data collection and analysis cannot be modified after the start of the experiment can be viewed as the primary limitation of the study scope. Indeed, a quantitative analysis sets a range of rather rigid boundaries for researchers to reckon with. Therefore, it is crucial to bear in mind that the outcomes of the study should not be viewed as applicable to every single case and that the overall strategy designed to address the quality management issue needs to be flexible.
Nevertheless, it can be assumed that, with a proper interpretation of the research results, as well as the following discussion of their implications, one will be able to identify the characteristics that can be deemed as universal. As a result, the framework for quality improvement suggested for the company under analysis will be suitable for other organizational environments in which people are facing multicultural issues.
Assumptions: What the Possible Outcomes May Be
Essential Expectations
It is expected that the results of the analysis will shed some light on the issues related to the management of the staff’s motivation rates through the encouragement of diversity in the workplace and the use of the tools that will help reduce culture clashes, as well as promote cooperation. Particularly, the significance of the application of cultural dimensions, in general, and the location of the number thereof in relation to each culture observed, in particular (Chinese and Nigerian ones), need to be brought up as the essential results of the study.
Therefore, it is expected that the study will result in proving the correlation between the defects percentage in different groups and the rates of motivation in the identified teams, as well as the provision of the corresponding upskilling strategies and the enhancement of the cultural diversity. More importantly, the direct link between the use of cultural dimensions in the communication process and the consistent rise in the motivation rates, as well as the drop in defects percentage, in both teams (i.e., the Nigerian and the Chinese) is expected to be found.
Items out of Control
Unfortunately, some of the variables that affect the dependent one will be uncontrollable. For example, the personal issues that the staff members might be experiencing and that are likely to affect their performance rates and motivation levels are completely out of control in the identified scenario. Consequently, addressing the specified issues is hardly a possibility, and, hence, they will have to be incorporated into the list of items that are out of the researcher’s control.
Data Collection: Gathering Essential Bits of Information
Surveys: Considering the Staff’s Performance
In order to identify repetitive patterns in the employees’ performance, one will have to consider the results of the surveys provided by the authors of the article. The researchers indicate the changes in the performance of the staff members with the introduction of the model aimed at a better understanding of the effects of the concept of the dimension (Bell, 2015).
Company Reports: TQM Attributes and Cultural Aspects
Another essential tool for retrieving the information necessary for the analysis, the correlation between the number of dimensions incorporated into the HR framework and the number of defective items produced by the employees needs to be mentioned as a crucial element of data that will have to be considered in the course of the study. The identified information is provided in the article by Babatunde and Pheng (2015), where the authors address the issue of culture clashes in the context of a construction company, particularly, when addressing the needs of the Nigerian staff members and the Chinese ones (Pyzdek & Keller, 2014).
Data Analysis: Applying the T-test Framework
As stressed above, the identification of the patterns in the changes shown by the Nigerian employees and the Chinese ones will become a possibility with the introduction of a t-test statistical analysis (Keller, 2012). Indeed, by definition, a one-sample t-test is aimed at locating possible differences between the sample and the value of the population mean defined previously (Groebner, Shannon, & Fry, 2014).
In the case in question, the connection between the number of attributes applied to address the emergent cultural issues and the number of cultural dimensions does not have any tangible effect on the performance differences. In other words, it is assumed that the rates of performance delivered by each of the teams will be significantly different from each other. The null hypothesis, in its turn, states that there is no basic difference between the performances and, therefore, the choice of the appropriate strategy for managing the motivation levels in a multicultural group may hinge on whether each of the groups has been provided with the support based on a unique number of cultural dimensions (Groebner, Shannon, & Fry, 2014).
To analyze the data, the Excel software as used. Particularly, two groups of data were arranged in columns based on the team that the outcomes were delivered by (i.e., either the Chinese or the Nigerian employees). The subsequent selection of the t-test tool as the primary means of information analysis allowed retrieving the required data (Herkenhoff & Fogli, 2013).
Data Results Display: Test Outcomes
According to the outcomes of the test, the null hypothesis can be rejected. Indeed, a closer look at the t-test output will show that there is a considerable statistical significance between the groups.
In light of the fact that the p-value approaches 05, the chances for variability from the estimated value to occur are at least 50%, which means that the null hypothesis cannot be rejected at this point. The subsequent test concerning the usability of the TQM and the NCD frameworks has also pointed to the fact that most of the staff members are comfortable with the NCD framework rather than with the TQM one.
Although the data provided in the course of the survey can be defined as quite scanty, the fact that there has been a rather heavy lean toward the NDC concept, as opposed to the TQM framework, points to the necessity of selecting the specified approach as the most trusted and successful one.
Results Interpretation: What the Statistics Says
The outcomes of the statistical test carried out above point to the fact that the differences between the performance rates of the target groups may occur due to the inconsistency in the number of cultural dimensions addressed. On a larger scale, the implications of the test concern the complexities in the design of an appropriate HR management strategy that will help address the needs of the Nigerian and the Chinese staff members.
It could be argued that the outcomes of the test point not to the number but to the intensity of promoting specific cultural values to the target participants. However, the interpretation provided above makes the process of designing an appropriate HRM framework and the creation of a safe, secure, and inspiring work environment a rather challenging task. Specifically, the identified interpretation of the test results signifies that each of the dimensions will have to be addressed to a specific extent.
For example, the importance of avoiding uncertainty may be crucial in enhancing motivation rates among the Chinese company members so that they could feel secure, yet fail with the Nigerian employees. As a result, the intensity of the specified concept will have to be reduced nearly to zero in the team of the Nigerian workers yet viewed as the issue of high significance in the context of addressing the needs of the Chinese staff.
Moreover, the subsequent analysis of the success of adopting the TQM and the NCD frameworks points to the fact that the participants of the study feel much more comfortable with the latter. As the outcomes of the second test have shown, there is a significant lack of evidence that will allow for rejecting the null hypothesis. In other words, it will be necessary to view the fact that most of the staff members agree to accept the NDC framework as true (Burris, Detert, & Romney, 2013).
Implications for the Further Course of Actions
The analysis of the subject matter has shown quite clearly that there is a strong need to redesign the current workplace framework. For instance, the overall tendency in defects omission and the provision of low-quality products indicates that the culture clashes occurring in the process of acclimatizing to a new and hostile environment do have a very strong effect on the product quality and, thus, need to be addressed (Meyer, 2014).
The fact that most of the employees agree to use the NDC structure as the foundational tool for quality assurance and reduction of defects points to the necessity to reconsider the current approaches in managing the entrepreneurship, in general, and the quality assurance department, in particular. Although the TQM framework may remain the foundational principle of addressing the emergent issues on a corporate level, the NDC concept will need to be implemented in the context of the Quality Assurance Department as the tool for reducing the number of defects emerging in the course of the construction processes supervision.
In fact, the very provision of the NDC structure as the key framework in carrying out the construction-related processes may be viewed as a possibility. Specifically, the provision of the NDC concept may be carried out in accordance with the DMAIC framework. Although making the TQM and the NDC processes concurrent and creating the environment, in which they may occur at the same level, is hardly a possibility, the framework, in which the TQM process will be used as the basis for designing the NDC structure can be viewed as an opportunity. As a result, entrepreneurship will be able to reach a compromise with its staff members without destroying the basis of its processes (Tabassi, Ramli, & Baccar, 2012).
Conclusion: Summarizing the Essential Information
Creating the environment, in which every single staff members will feel comfortable and secure is barely possible in the contemporary competition-driven global economic environment. However, it is still crucial to take into account the significance of the cultural dimensions that help staff members feel comfortable in a particular workplace environment. The provision of the required atmosphere is likely to reduce the overall rate of defects production and, therefore, increase product quality in the firm. Therefore, the application of the corresponding strategies to the context of the entrepreneurship in which Nigerian and Chinese staff members were employed was analyzed (Schram, 2013).
The fact that the choice of the number of the corresponding dimensions and, most likely, the extent, to which they are emphasized in the organization has proven right creates premises for large improvements in the identified entrepreneurship. Furthermore, significant improvements in the design of workplace environments across the global economy can be expected.
It is also suggested strongly that a further study on the rates of influence that every cultural domain identified by Hofstede should have in the target environment (i.e., the context of the entrepreneurship with Nigerian and Chinese employees) should be located. To determine the percentage thereof, one will have to carry out a case study in the target environment, setting an experiment that will allow locating the necessary rates of each element in the workplace environment. Furthermore, the rates of the identified factors should be computed for each team (i.e., the Nigerian and the Chinese one) separately.
Designing the workplace environment in which every staff member will feel completely uninhibited and, therefore, able to explore their creativity, is very challenging. The task becomes even harder once the needs of people from different cultural backgrounds have to be addressed. However, with a careful choice of the corresponding tools and a flexible management style, one is likely to reduce the percentage of defects produced and omitted to zero.
Reference List
Babatunde, Y., Pheng, L. S. (2015). TQM implementation through ISO 9001: findings from Chinese construction firms in Nigeria. The TQM Journal, 27(6), 1754-2731. Web.
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Burris, E. R., Detert, A. R., & Romney, R. C. (2013). Speaking up vs. being heard: The disagreement around and outcomes of employee voice. Organization Science, 24(1), 22–38. Web.
Croucher, S. M., & Cronn-Mills, D. (2014). Understanding communication research methods: A theoretical and practical approach. New York, NY: Routledge.
Groebner, D. F., Shannon, P. W., & Fry, P. C. (2014). Chapter 12. Analysis of variance. In Business statistics (9th ed.) (pp. 543-546). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Herkenhoff, L., & Fogli, J. (2013). Applied statistics for business and management using Microsoft Excel. New York, NY: Springer.
Keller, G. (2012). Statistics for management and economics. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Meyer, E. R. (2014). The culture map: Breaking through the invisible boundaries of global business. New York, NY: PublicAffairs.
Pyzdek, T., & Keller, P. (2014). The Six Sigma handbook. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Schram, R. H. (2013). Company management: Policies, procedures, practices. New York, NY: Xlibris Corporation.
Tabassi, A. A., Ramli, M., & Baccar, A. H. A. (2012). Effects of training and motivation practices on teamwork improvement and task efficiency: The case of construction firms. International Journal of Project Management, 30(2), 213-224. Web.