Social representations in intercultural context: the daily life of three Brazilian subsidiaries of multinational companies

Abstract

The acceleration and development of global business have increased the degree of cultural diversity among professionals in organizations, as well as increased concern about teamwork and multicultural teams, as shown by researchers such as Zhou and Shi (2011) and Chevrier and Viegas-Pires (2013). This article identified and analyzed the social representations built by members of multicultural teams through their intercultural interactions and how these affect the organizational daily life in three subsidiaries of multinational companies in Brazil. Qualitative approach and case study methods were used to collect data using documental research and 33 semi-structured interviews with Brazilian and foreign members of work teams. Using the Theory of Social Representations (TSR) of Moscovici (2004), we identified the main social representations in the context of these Brazilian subsidiaries. The results show commonalities of the three subsidiaries such as: the transnationalization strategies of conciliating global guidelines with local demands, building organizational culture with global elements; the incentive to transform some of the professionals in key positions in global professionals; the understanding that cultural diversity is a capital that can bring many positive results for organizations; and the development of intercultural competencies to facilitate the processes of international mobility. In contrast, there are many communication problems and a lack of concern with the process of intercultural learning and assimilation of knowledge and experience acquired. The conclusions show that despite the problems and challenges, the multicultural teams contribute, through daily interaction, with organizational learning, development and consolidation of culture and global routines in organizations. This article demonstrates that using TSR to analyze the intercultural context can provide a dynamic vision of the interaction and construction of an intercultural routine in multinational companies. In addition, this research demonstrates how common traits can be found in organizational culture of multinational companies with multicultural teams.

Keywords:
Intercultural Daily Life; Social Representation; Brazilian Subsidiaries of Multinational Companies