Hofstede ’ s ‘ Software of the Mind ’ Revisited and Tested : The Case of Cadbury Worldwide and Cadbury ( Nigeria ) Plc-A Qualitative Study

Hofstede (1980, 2001) contributed in no small way to the impact of national culture on management practices as he demonstrated the importance of culture on relationships at work which could also be used to account for the productivity of workers in the workplaces. This cannot come at a better time than when it did, as globalisation, multinationalisation and internalisation are now the order of the day. The effect of this is more pronounced in the mobility of labour as people move from one geographical and cultural area to another in search of jobs and investments. These movements obviously imply ‘moving’ with their national cultures which Hofstede (1980, 2001:1) referred to as ‘the software of the mind’. He (2001:1) went further to warn that this ‘software of the mind’ is difficult to ‘unlearn’. This paper is a qualitative study based on exploratory semi-structured interviews conducted on100 participants to create a better understanding of their experiences in their organisations. The study concludes that the ‘unlearning’ processes are more difficult than the ‘learning’ processes which demonstrate that culture is enduring in line with the findings of Hofstede (1980, 2001).


Introduction
defines culture as the 'collective programming of the mind'.These patterns of thinking, feeling and acting of Hofstede (2005:3) 'mental programs (software of the mind)' are usually well established within a person's mind that these patterns must be unlearned 'before being able to learn something different, and unlearning is more difficult than learning for the first time' (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005:3).Hofstede's (2005:3) 'software of the mind' includes 'thinking, feeling and acting' which are learned since childhood and to start to learn new patterns 'of thinking, feeling, and acting'; are 'more difficult than learning for the first time'.In a nut shell the mental de-programming and the mental re-programming processes are very difficult.Hofstede (1980b) concluded after a rigorous empirical study that the validity of management and management practices theories are constrained by socio-cultural boundaries; this is to say that a management theory developed in one country might not be applicable in another country mainly because of differences in culture.Hofstede (1980b) discovered that the commonly accepted US theories including those by Maslow (1970), McGregor (1960) and McClelland (1961) might not be applicable outside the USA.

Purpose of Study
This study intends to investigate the impact of Hofstede's 'software of the mind' on management practices.This is important because of the contemporary issues of internalisation of businesses, multinationalisation and globalisation which necessitate the coming together of people from various cultural backgrounds with the intentions of investing and for employments.These people must work together to achieve the goals of the business concerns, despite the differences in their cultures.This study sets out to investigate these contradictions.

Structure of the Paper
The paper is divided into the following sub-sections: (1) Introduction (2) Literature Review (3) Research Methodology (4) Research Findings and (5) Discussion and Conclusion

Literature Review
2.1 Hofstede's 'Five Cultural Dimensions' Hofstede (2001: xv) recognises that 'the survival of mankind will depend to a large extent on the ability of people who think differently' and that 'International collaboration presupposes some understanding of where others people differ from us'.There is therefore a need to understand that there exists 'invisible cultural differences' which will go a long way in helping 'policy makers in governments, organizations, and institutions'.With this fact in mind, Hofstede (2001: xix) explored the 'differences in thinking and social action that exist among members of more than 50 modern nations' and he argues that people "carry 'mental programs that are developed in the family in early childhood and reinforced in schools and organizations, and that these mental programs contain a component of national culture"; these 'mental programs' are usually 'expressed in the different values that predominate among people from different countries' (Hofstede 2001: xix).Hofstede (2001) identified first, four main areas of differences of national cultures, as follows:  Power distance: this has to do with the degree to which the less powerful members of the organisation accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.The main issue is the degree of human equality that underlies the functioning of each society. Uncertainty avoidance: this is the degree to which a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable in unstructured situations.Unstructured situations are novel, unknown, surprising, and different from usual.
The main problem has to do with the extent to which a society tries to control the uncontrollable. Individualism versus Collectivism: this is the extent to which individuals are expected to look after themselves or remain integrated into groups; usually around families.This is usually problematic. Masculinity versus femininity: this has to do with how emotional roles are distributed between genders; it is usually problematic for most society to find a solution if it goes by the theme of 'tough' masculine and 'tender' 'feminine'.Hofstede (2001) later added the fifth cultural dimension which is  Long-term versus short-term orientation: this denotes the degree to which a culture programs its members to accept delayed gratification of their material, social, and emotional needs.It should be noted that Inkeles andLevinson (1954/1969) had predicted the first four cultural dimensions before it was empirically identified by Geert Hofstede and his team who worked with him on the IBM survey between 1973 to the end of 1978 (Hofstede, 2001:xv, 1).Values can be likened to Hofstede (1980Hofstede ( , 2010) ) 'software of the mind' and are programmed early in our lives; value or 'software of the mind' deals with such things as 'evil versus good', 'dirty versus clean', 'dangerous versus safe', 'moral versus immoral', 'irrational versus rational', 'ugly versus beautiful'.
Culture has been severally defined in this study, but there is a need to add that the phenomenon manifests through values, symbols, heroes, and rituals; values are invisible traits until they become apparent in behaviour (Hofstede, 2001:10).Symbols are unlike values, they are visible and noticeable traits for example, words, gestures, pictures, acts and objects that often carry complex meanings but recognised as such only by those who share the culture; symbols 'do not denote; but they rather connote, suggest and imply' (Cohen, 1974:3;Griswold, 1994:19).
Heroes are 'persons, alive, or dead, real or imaginary, who possesses characteristics that are highly priced in a culture and thus serve as models for behaviours' while rituals are 'collective activities that are technically unnecessary to the achievement of desired ends, but that within a culture are considered socially essential, keeping the individual and within the norms of the collectivity'; they are 'carried out for their own sake'; for example the ways of greeting and showing respect to others (Cohen, 1974:4).Culture should be differentiated from identity, the former manifests through the collectivity while the later tries to answer questions such as where do I belong?It is therefore from the individual perspective; identity is 'based on mutual images and stereotypes and on emotions' (Hofstede, 2001:10).This study intends to investigate impart of national culture on management pratices.

Brief History of Cadbury Worldwide
Cadbury Worldwide is an English confectionery and Beverage Company and the world's second largest confectionery manufacturer, after Mars/Wrigley (Cadbury, 1992;Dahya et al., 2002).The company was known as Cadbury Schweppes Plc from 1969 until its de-merger in May 2008, which separated the company's global confectionery business from its beverage unit; the beverage unit was renamed Dr. Pepper Snapple Group while the confectionery unit was simply referred to as Cadbury Plc or Cadbury Worldwide (Financial Times, 10/06/08).
The company employs about 45,000 people worldwide (Dahya et al., 2002).The company is represented in over two hundred countries directly or indirectly, -represented in more countries than member countries of UNO as at 2006-, but with manufacturing facilities in only 60 countries -with business interests in a number of packaged food and beverage sectors and with about 35,000 direct and indirect suppliers in its global network (Management Today, July, 2007).About 160 people are in the executive management team, as at 2008, 13% of which are women (Cadbury Magazine, 2008).The global staff turnover is about 2-5% per annum; the company is among the top 10 in the UK's Management Today's most admired companies in 2006/2007.The mission statement as regards employment is that: 'Our people practises are guided by our key values, which are to be open and honest, to act with complete integrity and to provide quality products and services'.(Cadbury Magazine, 2008:10; Company profile of Cadbury Plc retrieved on 1/10/2008).In 2008, the company had a free cash flow (after payment of dividends) of about £1.5 billion and a revenue growth of between 3 and 5% per annum excluding impacts of acquisitions and disposals (Management Today, January, 2009).Nestle is the closest rival of Cadbury Worldwide in the over US$5.6billion chocolate market in the United Kingdom (Tiffen, 2002).
This conglomerate had a humble beginning from Birmingham, United Kingdom with international manufacturing offices at Bournville, Birmingham and at Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom (Cadbury, 1992).The Company was declared the UK's most admired company after ousting Tesco in 2004; the company is on track to declare £2bn profit, in 2009 (Cadbury Magazine, 1992).Cadbury Worldwide consumes about 60,000 tonnes of cocoa beans yearly; the company is usually referred to as a small family business which developed into an international company combining the most sophisticated technology with the maximum standards of quality, technical skills and innovation (Rowlinson, 1993).
Cadbury Worldwide is recently (January, 2010) in the news over speculations that the American owned Kraft Foods Inc has made a bid of £10.2 billon to take over the company which has been rejected.Kraft also pledged to safeguard the closure of Cadbury's Somadale factory and safe about 400 jobs.Another US confectionery giant, Hershey is also speculated to be interested in the take over of Cadbury.Todd Stizer, who is presently the Chief Executive of Cadbury Worldwide, was quoted to have said that there are "clear similarities between the Cadbury culture and Hershey".In all of these, the Cadbury family has been against another American intervention in any form or shape (assessed on line and last cited on 01/01/10).Kraft Foods Inc. later in 2 February 2010 purchased Cadbury Worldwide for £11.7bn (BBC News 3/2/2010).

Brief History of Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc
Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc is a member company of Cadbury Worldwide; it is a group member of the Europe, Middle East and Africa Region where it's profile has been rising especially since Cadbury Schweppes Plc bought 50.2% of the company on 18 March 2006 and thus became a majority shareholder (Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc 'Handbook', 2007).The remaining 49.98% is owned by a highly diversified spread of Nigerian individuals and institutional shareholders.Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc had sales of around $150 million in 2003 and a top contributor to Cadbury Worldwide business in Africa (Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc.'Handbook', 2004).
The Company was established in the 1950s mainly to source for cocoa and prospect for a market for Cadbury (UK) Plc products while the manufacturing facility was established in January 1965 on a 42-hectare in Ikeja, North of Lagos, Nigeria (Chukwu, 2005).The main product then was Bournvita with staff strength of 50 and a modest turnover of £120,000; Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 1976 and among the top 10 out of the 258 quoted equities by market capitalisation towards the end of 2003 (Nigerian Stock Market, 2008).

Statement of the Research Problem
Today (2012), internationalisations of businesses, globalisation and multinationalisation have all led to more movement of people and their capital at a faster rate than when compared with the situation in the 1950's.Whenever and wherever these people move, they 'move' with their national cultures which are usually very different to those of their host countries.This study sets out to investigate these contradictions.

Research Methodology
One hundred participants (50 from each company/country) were interviewed over a period of eighteen months, eighteen (10 from Cadbury Worldwide (UK) and 8 from Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc.) could not be interviewed at the scheduled time due to illness, absenteeism while some retired from the company; most of them were all replaced accordingly.The interviews were carried out in English language except in Nigeria, because some of the workers were not fluent in English language; in such cases the interviews were conducted in 'Pidgin English' (a combination of English language and the native languages).Obtaining information that cuts across the different hierarchies of the organisation meant the data collected was rich in source and since the research is exploratory in nature, new insights were developed concerning the understanding of the organisational culture and how their national culture influence the management practices.The response rate for the interviews was 98% which can be regarded as sufficient for a qualitative study (Atkinson et al., 2003).Given the consistency in most of the answers given by the respondents, the information collected from the participants can therefore be considered as valid (Glaser & Strauas, 1969).

Methodology and Methods
This present study combined both primary and secondary data in its analysis of employees' relations in the two countries.In the case of the primary data, semi-structured interviews were conducted on the 100 participants.This method of data collection can be used for exploratory and explanatory research, which will help to understand how things happen and why they happen (Robson, 2002).The choice of this method according to Saunders et al., (2007) is chosen because it has helped to provide a detailed account of the social, political and organisational processes that might have affected employer-employee relationships in the organisation it was also chosen for its flexibility because it allows varying order and logic in the conversations (Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2005;Saunders et al., 2007).While the secondary data utilised the descriptive and historical methods following Hopf (1944) (cited by van Fleet and Bedeian 1977).The aforementioned researchers (Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2005;Saunders et al., 2007) observe that descriptive and historical methods are beneficial because the historical point of view which is the point of view of change will enhance the understanding and extend the horizon.It will be difficult to find a more confident and clearer statement in support of descriptive and historical methodology than this.This is because Hopf's (1944) statement is based on the belief that the changing events and developments of the past provided understanding of the dynamics of ordered human enterprise (Whiting, 1964).
This type of research methodology is regarded as one that does not fit into either quantitative or qualitative research method; this is because it utilises elements of both within the same study, and this was reflected often in the research questions (Knox, 1980).This type of research methodology can also employ multiple variables for analysis; on the other hand it is unlike other methodologies in that it requires only one variable, and in the present study the variable is the management practices (Whitfield & Strauss, 1998).This method also helps in describing natural and man-made phenomena that will be very useful to other researchers and policymakers while prediction is also made easier at least to some extent (Borg & Gall, 1989).

Power Distance
"The farther away the Hofstede's 'power distance', the more likely will the managers see themselves as 'lords' and see the workers as 'servants' or subordinates; the nearer the Hofstede's (1980Hofstede's ( , 2001) ) 'power distance', the more managers see the workers as colleagues and partners in progress"; following Hofstede's (1980Hofstede's ( , 2001) ) 'cultural dimensions'.Power distance states that inequalities exist in all aspects of like, in the families, in the schools, at the workplaces, in the various religious groups and in the political systems; inequality can occur in various areas in the society which include: wealth, power, social status and prestige, laws (rights, rules and privileges) (Hofstede, 2001:80).In work environments there exist inequality based on 'abilities and inequality of power', this inequality is very important to 'control and for temporary overcoming the law of entropy, which states that disorder will increase' (Cotta, 1976:176).Michels (1915Michels ( /1962:342) :342) reports that even in egalitarian organisations, there are recognised 'power elites' or the 'iron law of oligarchy'.Mulder (1977:90) defines power as 'the potential to determine or direct (to a certain extent) the behaviour of another person or other persons more so than the other way round'; power distance according to Mulder (1977: 90-91) is therefore 'the degree of inequality in power between a less powerful Individual (I) and a more powerful Other (O), in which I and O belong to the same (loosely or tightly knit) social system'.Hofstede (1976:11) suggests the following as guides for opertionalising 'power distance': 'fear of the boss'; 'perceived behaviour of the boss' and 'dependence needs'.The result when tested (using the narratives from the respondences) on the workers and managers of Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc and Cadbury Worldwide (UK) is shown graphically below in Table 1.

Responses from Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc
Responses from Cadbury Worldwide UK Question: (1) Do you fear your manager Or respect him/her?
(2) Do you disagree with your managers? Question: (1) Do you fear your manager or respect him/her?
(2) Do you disagree with your managers?20 of the 20 respondents 'fear' the manager; and also 'Respect' the managers because the Bible and the Koran both instructed them to.20 of the 20 respondents have no reason to disagree with the managers.
18 out of 20 respondents only 'respect' the mangers because 'we are all colleagues' 2 felt that they will 'only respect' managers that respect them; but 'fear' is totally out of the issue.
18 of the 18 respondents have at least one occasion when they have disagree with the managers.

Evidences from the Narratives
All the Nigerian workers interviewed 'fear' and 'respect' the managers; they (the managers) are referred to as 'oga' (boss) or addressed as 'sir'.This is mainly because according to all of them the Bible (the Christian's Book) and the Koran (the Moslem's Book) instructed that they must obey those in authority since they are installed in the position by God.This is also in conformity to their cultures which enjoin them to obey and respect those in positions of authority.The managers and the workers have 'separate canteen' (the food in the management canteen taste better than the food in the workers canteen); the manager's are entitled to car loan's so do not ride in the same company's buses as the workers.Majority (48 out of the 50) of the workers at the Cadbury Worldwide UK interviewed do not 'fear' the managers but do respect the managers.Managers are addressed by the first names while both managers and workers occasional belong to the same political party, support the same football team and go to the same 'pub'.They both respect each other.
Majority of the Nigerian workers interviewed at Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc said that they do not express any disagreement with management as they do not have any reason to disagree; moreover the 'oga's' (boss) must be respected since it is God that put them in the position and it is only God that can remove them.The British workers see the managers as colleagues and can be approached anytime.The implication of this on ERP is that bargaining can be freely done (and it is) at Cadbury Worldwide (UK) than in Nigeria where there is a wide 'power distance'.The recruitment process in Nigeria can also be made to account for this (apart from the Biblical and cultural perspectives of obeying those in powers because they are chosen by God and responsible only to Him); the managers will be more comfortable to recruit their kinsmen.Again there is the cultural issue of not 'fighting' the person that is providing one with food.Management is therefore likened to the 'Oba's', 'Obi's', and 'Emir's' (traditional rulers) who have been divinely chosen by God.

Uncertainty Avoidance
Life is full of uncertainties about the future as it 'goes only one way.We are caught in a present that is just an infinitesimal borderline between past and future' and this is 'a basic fact of human life with which we try to cope through the domains of technology, law, and religion'; in organisations coping with uncertainty about future is done mainly through technology, rules, and rituals.This is because extreme uncertainty brings about unbearable anxiety (Hofstede, 2001:145-146).Hofstede refers to technology as 'all human artefacts', while religion is 'all revealed knowledge of the unknown' and law is 'all formal and informal rules that guide social behaviour'.
Technology is used to help in defending human beings against uncertainties caused by the nature; laws are used to guide against uncertainties in the behaviours of other human beings while religion helps against uncertainties human beings cannot defend themselves (Ibid, 2001:146-147).Hofstede (2001:148) distinguishes between 'uncertainty avoidance' and 'risk avoidance'; uncertainty avoidance goes with anxiety while risk avoidance goes with fear.Risk focuses on an event while fear focuses on an object; risk is usually expressed in 'a percentage that of probability that a particular event will happen' while anxiety and uncertainty feelings that are diffused, anxiety goes without any object while uncertainty has no probability.Uncertainty is a situation whereby anything can happen.

Evidences from the Narratives
Most of the Nigerian workers at Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc cope with uncertainty by relying on their various religions.This was substantiated through their reactions to the sacked of the Bunmi Oni led board of directors, when they were asked how they coped with the sack of all the Nigerian directors, some of their responses are as follows: "Me I went to my Pastor and him tell me say make I go pray" (a Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc Worker)

Interpretation: I went to my Pastor and he told me to pray and fast.
"My life no day for any man hand, but dey for my creator, I dey pay my tittles" (a Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc worker).

Interpretation: My life is not in the hands of any man, moreover I pay 10% of my earnings as directed by the Scriptures (Holy Bible).
"We declared seven days of fasting and we pray after 6 p.m; after the seventh day a vision came that we are not going to be sacked and that the company will get out of the crisis stronger" (Union leader Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc.
"We go mosques and the Imam dey pray for us" (a Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc worker.

Interpretation: We went to our mosques and the Imam prayed for us.
"Wetin man go do than pray and fast and HE will protect our jobs".
Interpretation: What can we do than pray, and we are sure that He will answer our prayers.
When the workers at Cadbury Worldwide (UK) were faced with the uncertainty of loosing their jobs with the imminent take over of the company by Krafts, they resulted to political lobbying through their various MP's while the trade union (UNITE) made representations to the then Prime Minister (Gordon Brown) to intervene; the PM invited the management of Krafts and asked for an undertaken that no job will be lost.Krafts gave the undertaking but unfortunately failed to keep their words as Somerdale factory was closed down within the first 100 days of the takeover and productions shifted to Poland.Unite also made effective use of the mass media thereby turning public opinion against the buyers, Krafts.
The implication of this is that workers at Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc will take anything that happens to them as from God and will rather remain silent and pray rather than taking any practical step; their counterparts at Cadbury Worldwide UK will rather take practical steps to address the issues rather than leaving it in the hands of God.
They were convinced that their destinies are in their hands and not in the hands of God.The findings are graphically shown Table 2 below.

Table 2. Coping with Uncertainty
Responses from Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc Responses from Cadbury UK Question: How did you cope with the incident of the sacked directors especially with the fear that the company will be closed down?
Question: How are you handling the issue of the sales of the company and the fear that jobs will be lost?
15 went to pray in the mosques and the churches.1 was indifferent. 1 union leader gave some documents to the press boys (he begged not to be identified).
14 felt the union will be able to handle it; and that the government will have to be involved.2 felt that in as much as benefits and pensions will see them through.

Individualism and Collectivivism
This is the relationship between the individual and 'the collectivity that prevails in a given society.It is reflected in the way people live together for example, in the nuclear families, extended families, or tribes-and it has many implications for values and behaviours and it is intimately linked with societal norms'.(Hofstede, 2001:209-210).Hofstede suggests that this also affects people's mental programming as well as 'the structure and functioning of many institutions aside the family: education, religious, political, and utilitarian.The central element in our mental programming involved 'is the self-concept'.However, Riesman et al., (1953:33) argue that 'the tradition-directed person hardly thinks of himself as an individual'.Hofstede (2001:215) associates individualism with the West and collectivitism with the East.

Evidences from the Narratives
About 97.8% of the Nigerian workers interviewed at Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc still maintained a very close contact with their extended family members in the villages, some are even Chief's (head of clan) and probably looking forward to been installed the 'Oba' or 'Bale' of their various villages; while others want to retire to their villages; they can therefore be categorised as Hofstede's (2001) 'collectivitism', they love their traditional society.Comments like these are made: "Me I dey go home every week end and my second wife self dey village (a worker at Cadbury" (Nigeria) Plc.The implication of this is that workers at Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc see working at the company as a means to another end and not an end in itself.The end is to go back to the villages and be engaged in other things so it is this end that is important so their stay at the company is just for a short time and this reduces their participation in the affairs of the organisation.Their counterparts at Cadbury Worldwide UK see working at the organisation as an end in itself and will do everything possible to contribute to the affairs of the organisation.

Masculinity and Femininity
This fourth Hofstede's cultural dimension is expressed in the differences in sexes, genders, and gender roles (Hofstede, 2001:279).Most of the male workers interviewed at Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc prefer to have a male manager rather than a female manager; female managers are seen as 'unnecessarily tough, arrogant and always wanting to show that they are in control'.The male managers are perceived as been 'understanding, easily approachable and extremely a good person' On the other hand the workers interviewed at Cadbury Worldwide (UK) are very indifferent and happy to work under a female manager because 'they are motherly, more understanding, and more painstaking'.
The implication of this is that the women at Cadbury Worldwide UK will be able to advance in their careers and be able to express themselves more and this probably account for why there are more women managers at the organisation than at Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc.

Long versus Short-term Orientation
This is the fifth Hofstede's cultural dimension which is independent of the four cultural dimensions discussed above.Businesses in Long-term-oriented cultures 'are accustomed to working toward building up strong positions in their markets; they do not expect immediate results' while the 'managers (often family members) are allowed time and resources to make their own contributions ' Hofstede's (2001:351).The bottom line (the results of the past month, quarter, or year) in businesses in Short-term cultures 'is a major concern; control systems are focussed on it and managers are constantly judged by it'; invariably managers are 'rewarded or victimised by today's bottom line even where it is clearly the outcome of decisions made by their predecessors'.(Hofstede, 2001:361).Hofstede (2001:356-358) categorised the Western countries (UK and Nigeria inclusive) in the Short-term Orientation and the Eastern countries in the Long-term Orientation.This categorisation is confirmed in the narratives as both companies belong to the same multinational group (Cadbury Worldwide).The implication of this is that countries higher on the Long-term orientation (East Asian countries) are more likely to witness more economic growth than countries on the Short-term orientation (Nigeria, UK) ; this according to Hofstede (2001:351) explains the 'explosive growth of the East Asian countries in the latter part of the 20 th century'.

Discussions and Conclusion
The two companies (Cadbury Worldwide (UK) and Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc belong to the Cadbury Group with similar organisational rules and organisational culture but the behaviours of the workers were in line with their different national cultures even when faced with similar challenges.Movements of people from one cultural area to another cultural area in search of employments and investments cannot be halted yet the disparities of culture cannot be controlled.This is because the 'software of the minds' were 'installed' from childhood and cannot be 'deleted' easily while intending to 'paste' a new one.This is why their 'software of the minds' (learned since their childhood) determine their actions and reactions to organisational issues, rather than the management practices.This is simply because it is difficult to 'unlearn' the 'software of the minds' imparted since childhood.It will therefore be difficulty (if not impossible) for the multinational companies to effectively 'export' the management practices formulated and developed based on the socio-cultural realties of their home countries to the host countries with different socio-cultural realities.The best that can be achieved therefore will be to blend the management practices from the home countries of the multinational companies to the socio-cultural realities of the host countries.

Limitations and Areas of Future Research
This present study has comparatively explored and explained employees' relations experiences across two different cultural groups.Given the rigour and the richness of the data collected, this study is not without some flaws.First, the sample size is not a representative of the Cadbury workforce; therefore, the generalisability of the findings is low.Secondly, the respondents were randomly selected (although representative), thereby leaving some key informants out of the study.Thirdly, since this study is based on the data collected using face-face interviews, the presence of the researcher might affect the responses to each questions, especially when employees' feel that they are being investigated by the management of Cadbury.Lastly, this study is subjective and not value free because it is based on the diverse interpretations of the researcher and respondents.Thus, in order to further objectively verify some of the information divulged, a quantitative study is proposed.This will assist in reducing the limitations of a qualitative study as employed in this present study.

Interpretation: I go home every week end; moreover my second wife is in the village.
"I be Chief for my village, I fit become Bale self, I dey pray make a retire quick and go home go settle" (a Cadbury (Nigeria) Plc worker).