The settlement of motivation mechanisms within a Swedish multinational corporation. A case study on Husqvarna and Truck Co

Abstract

It has been stated that the human capital is the main contributor to a company’s success. Therefore, it can be argued that it is of great importance for a company to have knowledge of the behavior, attitudes and preferences of its employees. Due to globalization and the creation of multinational corporations seeking opportunities to succeed outside their national borders, people of different cultural backgrounds interact to a greater extent than ever before. Companies operating in an international context might face a challenge when it comes to handling employees with different national backgrounds. Since people of different national cultures with different perceptions of value are driven by different factors, this study aims to investigate how national cultural differences are taken into consideration when motivation mechanisms are settled within a Swedish multinational company. This will be done by looking into the Human Resource practices of two Swedish corporations operating on a global scale. The results of this examination illustrate that the investigated companies acknowledge national cultural impacts and the effect that these have on people’s perception of value. However, the empirical findings indicate that national cultural impacts are not fully taken into consideration when motivation mechanisms are developed and implemented in practice due to the fact that other elements such as corporate values seem to be of greater importance. Hence, the authors have come to conclude that national culture is an important aspect but not the sole determinant when settling motivation mechanisms in a global level.