Culture shock from SME to MNC
I didn’t know MNC has such a laid back culture, probably depends on team and manager as well but the 2 MNCs I’ve worked for (intern and full-time) has such a chill culture.
I came from a SME and the roles are more dynamic so I helped out in different departments when they need extra help. I was a one-man show and I handle project single-handedly from start to finish. I handle multiple products and multiple projects.
In my MNC, these things was really a surprise to me:
-work starts at 830am, people start strolling in at 9am then make coffee
-a team of 7 people doing the exact same work I did alone in the SME. Why do they even need so many people? Seriously too many ppl to taichi things around
-no one keeps track when you tap in tap out. People work half a day then go home and ‘wfh’
-a lot of wayang show. Cross-functional meetings, management meetings with little purpose and outcome.
Not that I’m complaining though. What are your culture shocks?
Netizens’ comments
- MNC is like a big ship. It’s a team effort to slowly turn the ship (if it can even turn at all).
- Is not mnc underwork, is sme overwork but that’s why u typically learn more with opportunities to cross function.
- My culture shocks from having always worked in big organisations/MNCs vs hearing relatives or friends talk about their SME experiences, is how some SMEs seem to have questionable or less-than-professional ways of doing things.
Simple things like careless wording in hiring contracts; or worse, no written contracts at all. There’s petty cash kept in a small box in the sole finance/HR/admin/project-manager’s drawer that almost anyone can help themselves to without proper accountability or documentation. Boss or boss’ family can use company money to buy vehicle for their own use or claim their family reunion dinner under company expenses. The list goes on. But the lack of red tape and flatter org structures in SMEs can also make things progress much faster than at MNCs, so less angst, shorter waiting times for approvals and fewer proposal amendments for the employees.
My feel is that long-time SME workers may risk seeming like jacks of all trades (masters of none) and may come across as unfamiliar, even unsophisticated, in corporate language and the different levels of office politicking in big orgs. While long-time MNC/big org staff risk overspecialising in a silo and not knowing how to do almost everything else. Like may not know how to use the printer/photocopier, never booked their own flight tickets & accom nor submitted expenses on their own, don’t know how to independently source for answers to certain problems in fields outside of their scope, etc.