66
T. G. Andrews and N. Chompusri
Extending this research
into practice adoption, Ansari et al. (
2010
), in examining
how and why organizational practices mutate over time, sought to better understand the
important issue of practice adaptation or ‘tailored adoption’ (Ansari et al.
2010
, p. 72;
Mammam
2002
). This issue of fidelity—or relative deviation from organizational inten
-
tions (Lewis and Seibold
1993
)—is of potential importance for organizational strategists,
especially those seeking cross-border consistency in the delivery of perceived competen
-
cies and assets. Ansari and colleagues opine that understanding practice adaptation more
fully requires a shift away from the classic diffusion model where passive ‘accepters’
either accept or reject invariant practices (Rogers
1995
) towards an understanding of the
dynamic fit between the practice itself (viewed as a socially meaningful, multifaceted
bundle of implied knowledge, norms and values) and the cultural norms and values of
potential adopters (Ansari et al.
2010
; Kedia and Bhagat
1988
).
The three organizational practices focused on in this study
as appropriate vehicles
for examining culturally-derived determinants of practice adoption and use are
e-com-
munication
(specifically corporate email),
employee empowerment
and
performance
appraisal
. Drawing from prior studies into the transfer of organizational practices across
borders we sought practices that were both of strategy-level import for our case organiza
-
tion and ‘value-infused’, i.e., reflecting, at least partially, the cultural norms and values of
the parent home environment (Kostova
1999
). Further, we looked for practices that were
intra-organizational in emphasis (i.e., largely free of the extraneous influence of external
stakeholders) and at the semi-institutionalized phase of adoption, i.e., where the practice
is fairly diffused and with some degree of employee acceptance, but with a relatively
short history and, as such, open to adaptation by subsidiary employees (Kostova and Roth
2002
; Tolbert
and Zucker
1996
, see also Ansari et al.
2010
).
A review of the relevant literature into Anglo-US designed organizational prac
-
tices transferred and/or used in the Thai business context highlighted a small cluster of
activities: TQM (e.g., Kumbanarak
1987
), organizational downsizing (Andrews
2002
),
reengineering (Mead and Jones
2000
), internationalization process (Nimanandh
2012
),
corporate restructuring (Andrews and Chompusri
2001
)
employer-employee relations
(e.g., upward influence strategy—Ralston et al.
2005
, leadership style—Yukongdi
2010
),
e-communication (e.g., Andrews and Krairith
2009
), and general HRM (Siengthai and
Bechter
2004
). From the candidates above we selected a total of three illustrative prac
-
tices for reasons of a balanced scope in terms of breadth and depth in order to address
our overarching research questions. Substantively, the three practices incorporated were
chosen based on a confluence of theory and practice considerations. Theoretically, as
discussed above, we sought examples where prior research had established a significant
connection to indigenous Thai cultural influences including
kreng jai
. Practically, and
subsequent to initial discussions with senior case corporation managers, we discarded
several of these practices, including downsizing (held as a one-off event of little interest
or relevance) as well as TQM and internationalization (rejected as ‘long-established’ and
hence fully-institutionalized) from the outset.
E-communication was selected because (i) of its inherent and increasing importance
to contemporary organizations, especially MNEs (e.g., Byron
2008
), (ii) the gathering
theoretical interest at the cross-national level with several exploratory studies examining
impact of cultural variation on email use in East Asia including Thailand (e.g., Andrews
67
Understanding Organizational Practice Adoption …
and Krairith
2009
; Kabasakal et al.
2006
) and (iii) because the Cesaritt corporate email
system was highlighted by senior representatives as a prime focal mechanism for the
influence of indigenous cultural norms.
From the host of HR practices expressing the crucial superior-subordinate relationship
in Thailand we selected performance appraisal and employee empowerment. Employee
empowerment is the subject of significant and growing consideration at the cross-cultural
level, where the etic construct of ‘power distance’, has been examined as a significant
determinant and modifier (e.g., Huang et al.
2006
). Moreover, our selected case MNE
representatives emphasized repeatedly the importance of their Thai employees adopting
greater levels of discretionary authority in order to render consistent the delivery of the
brand promise in disparate contexts. The cultural difficulties of ‘making this happen’
in Thailand were strongly alluded to as playing a subtle yet powerful role. Finally, per
-
formance appraisal was selected both as a prime expression of Cesaritt’s corporate val
-
ues—the formal mechanism through which organizational objectives were enjoined with
employee behavior—and as a key example of Thai local norms influencing the adoption
and use of a practice, despite UK corporate attempts to standardize globally its appraisal
procedures.
Examined through these three key practices the guiding questions for this study were:
How, to what extent and with what effect do Thai work values such as
kreng jai
affect the
implementation success of corporate practice transfer? how does
kreng jai
compare and
contrast with the behaviors and attitudes expressed in the traditional comparative dimen
-
sions as examined in the Thai organizational context?
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