The Diorama

Abstract

Abstract: * This paper uses an incident in which a diorama was set up at the entrance to the Final Assembly section of the BMW MINI plant near Oxford to anlayse the impact of gender and ethnic identities on cross-cultural management, through the anthropological concept of the 'native category'. Its aims are to explore the ways in which the diorama symbolically exposed tensions in the workplace relating to ethnicity and gender; to consider the role of a German dominance effect on the workforce; and to examine the implications of these for cross-cultural management. * The data was gathered through participant-observation on the assembly line and managers' offices, and through both unstructured and semi-structured interviews with managers and workers, during two fieldwork periods, the first in 2003 and the second involving intermittent visits from 2003-2006. * The paper explores the ways in which the diorama reflected and contributed to unspoken tensions within the workplace relating to ethnicity and gender, and assesses the role of the German dominance effect on the workforce. It investigates the impact of tacit discourses on organisations, and considers ways in which cross-cultural management activities can be successfully carried out in MNCs. * The management of gender and ethnicity within BMW were affected by the 'native categories' of British and German managers and workers; furthermore, taking a native categories approach to cross-cultural management reveals areas of friction, and sheds light on normally-overlooked problems in merged organisations. Keywords: Ethnicity * Gender * Dominance effect. Native categories. Micropolitics * Manager-worker relations Introduction This paper uses an incident during my ethnographic fieldwork at BMW MINI, in which a diorama was set up at the entrance to the Final Assembly section of the plant, as a lens for analysing the impact of gender and ethnic identities on cross-cultural management in the organisation, through the anthropological concept of the 'native category'. I will consider the immediate implications and meanings of the diorama itself, and, using the single-incident case study technique and the literature on native categories in business, explore how the incident exposes hidden tensions within the organisation regarding ethnic and gender relations. The aims of the paper are, first, to explore the ways in which the diorama symbolically exposed tensions in the workplace relating to ethnicity and gender. Second, to consider the role of the German dominance effect on the workforce, via the expatriate managers, through analysis of British and German native categories of ethnicity and gender. Finally, it will examine the implications of these for researchers' and practitioners' understanding of how cross-cultural management activities can be successfully carried out in acquired organisations. The contribution of the paper is to increase our understanding of the impact of tacit discourses such as native categories and social identity on transnational organisations, and cross-cultural management activities. Through an analysis of dominance effect and native categories as they relate to gender and ethnicity, I will help researchers and managers perceive and understand the complex impact of native categories on multinational corporations. Initially, I will lay out the methodological, infrastructural and theoretical background to the case study. I will then consider the diorama as a site from which to explore the complex Anglo-German relations within the organisation which were the most crucial discourse for the managers. I will then explore another prominent discourse in the organisation, that of the incorporation of multiculturalism into British working-class identity, which was the most crucial discourse for the plant's workers. Finally, I shall analyse the findings in detail with regard to how they met the aims of this paper and contributed to both theoretical and practical debates in international business. …