The influence of culture on Kenyan Expatriates working in Kenya commercial Bank branches in the east Africa region
Abstract
International Business is trade that traverses a country's boundaries. It is important
because no single country is self-sufficient therefore countries import what they don't
have and export what they have. It therefore necessitates movement of people and
goods across borders. Labour movement occurs because of different reasons. There is
regional integration as countries within close proximity of each other, through
reciprocal agreements, allow free movement of goods and services across their
borders within the regional blocs, in response to opportunities that come with regional
integration some businesses choose to internationalise, setting up operations within
the region but outside their home countries. Multinational organisations are ever in
search of new opportunities to invest and new business opportunity frontiers
sometimes tend to arise with geopolitical changes. KCB is one such organisation.
This study aims at establishing the influence of culture on Kenyan expatriates
working in KCB branches in the EA region.It seeks to explore the influence that
foreign culture has on KCB expatriate staff and how that affects their productivity.
Culture is defined as the way of life of a people. Culture shock is the feeling of
disorientation experienced by someone who is suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar
culture, way of life, or set of attitudes. This study adapted a descriptive research
design which was conducted across KCB head office and subsidiary branches. The
study findings will inform HR managers who are in charge of placement. By
understanding the influence that cultural differences have on productivity. They will
be able to understand the need to adequately prepare staff before expatriate
placement. HR will also be able to develop pre-deployment training/induction
manuals for individuals going to work outside of their countries of origin. The study
found out that culture affects these expatriates, influences their decision making and
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employee to employee relations and negatively affects their productivity in the long
run, as a lot of time is wasted trying to adjust to the new working environment. This
study recommends that KCB trains its employees more intensively on cross cultural
interactions before it deploys them or even nominates them for those foreign
assignments.HR should inculcate in its induction manuals cross cultural business
interactions which will prepare its employees since joining the organization.
Citation
Master of Business AdministrationPublisher
University of Nairobi