The Blog that I would like to recommend belongs to Carlos Torres Muskus (http://oyc2010.blogspot.com/). It seem to me that he made a great effort doing this assigment.
Besides, he made an excellent explanation of all the class topics, he had an appropiate use of the references, he also made recommendations for further readings on the topic, and is well organized.
I really think everyone should chek it out!
miércoles, 17 de marzo de 2010
martes, 9 de marzo de 2010
CHINA
China, also known as Peoples Republic of China, is a country located in East Asia. With a population of 1.3 billion people, is the most occupied country in the world, and now days is the second world power with a GDP growing at great speed (8.7%, 2009). Its high growth rates, low labor costs, low manufacturer prices, high quality labor force, and huge emerging market, have attracted the world's highest levels of foreign direct investment. Since China joined the World Trade Organization in December 2001, it has also become one of the most open economies in the developing world.
Under the globalization conditions, one must say that everyone around the world has it eyes on China, but there is an important factor to take into account: their national and organizational culture. “The Chinese social system is classified as a relation based system, which focuses on the special relations between individuals and is based on reciprocity in order to achieve harmony” [1]. The accomplishment of this goal is done mostly through a Guanxi relation and it can be defined as ““a friendship with unlimited exchange of favours”, [2] and in order to make it work the businessman or woman must complete his or her obligations, try to be loyal to friends, do favours and maintain a reputation for fairness.
There is also a social rule that governs the social and business interaction in China. This is known as renquing, and means that the person emotionally responds to all the situations that occurs in his daily life, also means a resource that a person can give to another in the course of social exchange, it can mean as well, a set of norms that a person must follow in order to get along well with other people of the Chinese society. As all of these allow the preservation of social harmony, an all together they provide a mechanism to prevent interpersonal conflicts.
In the internationalization aspect the Guanxi is also take into account. When doing business usually, there will be co-operation withintimate guanxi. If they want to make a linkage, it is
necessary to find the right person first. The cooperative inter-business relationship is primarily based upon the personal trust between the two major bosses. Furthermore, it is essential to be aware of the Chinese guanxi network connections to understand the ins and outs of a deal. Guanxi also implies reciprocity; its impact on business negotiation is that it requires assistance or favors to be yielded whenever and wherever it is requested by a connection.
So if anyone decides to enter to this country, might consider studying all their cultural aspects first, including the Guanxi, because as we saw it is of big importance for them. Besides handling organizational relationship in China context is a necessary skill for foreign investors to acquire in order to handle interpersonal problems in the Chinese way.
Sources:
necessary to find the right person first. The cooperative inter-business relationship is primarily based upon the personal trust between the two major bosses. Furthermore, it is essential to be aware of the Chinese guanxi network connections to understand the ins and outs of a deal. Guanxi also implies reciprocity; its impact on business negotiation is that it requires assistance or favors to be yielded whenever and wherever it is requested by a connection.
So if anyone decides to enter to this country, might consider studying all their cultural aspects first, including the Guanxi, because as we saw it is of big importance for them. Besides handling organizational relationship in China context is a necessary skill for foreign investors to acquire in order to handle interpersonal problems in the Chinese way.
Sources:
[1] - Chen, I Chun Lisa and Easterby-Smith Mark. 2008. “Is Guanxi still working, while Chinese MNCs go global? The case of Taiwanese MNCs in the UK”. Human Systems Management 27: 131-142.Pg 132.
[2] ibidem
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EAST ASIA
-China
-Hong Kong
-Japan
-Macau
-Mongolia
-North Korea
-South Korea
-Taiwan (China)
East Asia is a sub region of Asia that covers about 12, 28% of the Asian continent. The region is one of the world's most populated places with 22% of all the people in the world living there. Major religion in the region includes Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and more recently Christianity.
The countries belonging to this region are: China (Taiwan), Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Mongolia, North Korea, and South Korea, and due to their proximity, they have some cultural similarities. In this case we are going to make an emphasis in South Korea especially in the Chaebols and their relationship with the government base on the presentation of our classmates, Johan Mejia and Carlos Torres.
South Korea is a semi presidentila republic, a developed country with a high standar of living. It has the fourth largest economy in Asia and the 15th largest in the world, helping place S.K as one of the Asian Tigers. Its economy was small and predominantly agricultural well into the mid-20th century. However, the policies of President Park Chung Hee spurred rapid industrialization by promoting large businesses. Government industrial policy set the direction of new investment, and the chaebol were to be guaranteed loans from the banking sector. In this way, the chaebol played a key role in developing new industries, markets, and export production [1].
The Government-chaebol cooperation was essential to the subsequent economic growth and astounding successes that began in the early 1960s. Driven by the urgent need to turn the economy away from consumer goods and light industries toward heavy, chemical, and import-substitution industries, political leaders and government planners relied on the ideas and cooperation of the chaebol leaders. The government provided the blueprints for industrial expansion; the chaebol realized the plans. However, the chaebol-led industrialization accelerated the monopolistic and oligopolistic concentration of capital and economically profitable activities in the hands of a limited number of conglomerates.
The chaebol continued their explosive growth in export markets in the 1980s. But it was not until the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 that the weaknesses of the system were widely understood, 11 out of 30 chaebols collapsed.
During the recostruction period, bankrupted conglomerates were left under government supervision and the "too-big-to-fail" myth disappeared. Rules for transparent and responsible management have been established and reinforced through the appointment of outside directors, the introduction of audit committees and the obligatory publication of combined financial statements. The purpose of corporate reform is to enhance the productivity and growth potential of the Korean economy by establishing an efficient and fair market.
What is isomorphism? Do you think organizations change management styles to adapt to the environment? Which environment is stronger: national environment or international environment?
Because organizations are conforming to a common institutional environment, the result is something referred to as organizational isomorphism. Organizational isomorphism is a term for the similarity among organizations in a population and although it leads to stability and legitimacy, organizations may learn ways to behave that might become outdated and no longer lead to organizational effectiveness. Having this clear, I must say that I don’t think that organizations must change their styles to adapt to the environment, on the contrary I think they should adjust their styles to the culture they are entering. For example, even though Taiwanese organizations regard harmony as an important factor in their UK subsidiary, the British would not respond appropriately due to the traditional individualism in British working practices. According to this, I consider that although both national and international environment are important, the international is stronger than the national and that’s why they have to adjust style in order to be accepted.
Resources:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_korea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:East_Asia_(orthographic_projection).svg
.svg){kind=link}
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaebol
http://www.korea.net/korea/kor_loca.asp?code=R05
road.uww.edu/.../Building%20Effective%20Organizations/Chapter%2011new.ppt
EXPATRIATE ASSIGNMENTS AND OVERSEAS EXPERIENCES
Expatriates Assignment is when a suitable individual is assigned on a temporary basis, and subsequently returns to another position in the same company in the original country (Inkson et al, 2003). There are several types of Expatriates Assignments. The Long-term expatriate assignments that is when the international manager and his/her family move to the host country for over a year, the Short-term expatriate that is an assignment with a specified duration, usually less than one year. In this case, the family may accompany the expatriate, the International commuter is when an employee commutes from the home country to a workplace in another country, usually on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, while the family remains at home and the Frequent flyer that is when an employee undertakes frequent international business trips but does not relocate.
There are different reasons for the failure of assignments which include various family issues, managers’ inability to adjust, the level of managers’ personal and emotional maturity, and the inability to cope with greater overseas responsibility (Tung, 1981). All this will carry some implications to the firm like costs, time, risk, transfer of the know how among others.
Some of the reasons of incurring in EA because Professional Development, Knowledge Transfer, Fulfillment of Scarce Skills, Control and Co-ordination.
On the other hand, overseas experience is a personal initiative in order to get a geographical exploration, to live a cultural experience, and to have a work-career development. The OE gives to individuals the opportunity to find their own learning from their experience.
http://www.allbusiness.com/government/employment-regulations-foreign-employees/277795-1.html
http://i.ehow.com/images/a04/gt/i4/ask-boss-expat-assignment-200X200.jpg
MIGRANT WORKERS
The term migrant worker refers, according to the United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, to a person who is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national.
People choose to become migrants for a number of reasons. The obvious incentive is money and work, but also, they might leave their country because of political or economic instability at home.
Many experts have come to recognize the importance of migrant workers as contributors to host countries rather than as redundancy of domestic labor force. Migrant workers contribute to appeasing the labor shortage in some sectors in which employers failed to find human resources in the domestic labor market, largely attributed to relatively poor working conditions and lower wage.
But although, labor migrants work under underpaid conditions, these people often have to deal with different issues like discrimination, xenophobia, racism and intolerance; because nationals think they are taking their jobs. But there are different National Human Rights Institutions that are working to defend their interests, ensuring efficient domestic legal protection of all migrant.
Lastly, National Human Rights Institutions should include refugees and asylum seekers among the groups requiring special attention as well.
People choose to become migrants for a number of reasons. The obvious incentive is money and work, but also, they might leave their country because of political or economic instability at home.
Many experts have come to recognize the importance of migrant workers as contributors to host countries rather than as redundancy of domestic labor force. Migrant workers contribute to appeasing the labor shortage in some sectors in which employers failed to find human resources in the domestic labor market, largely attributed to relatively poor working conditions and lower wage.
But although, labor migrants work under underpaid conditions, these people often have to deal with different issues like discrimination, xenophobia, racism and intolerance; because nationals think they are taking their jobs. But there are different National Human Rights Institutions that are working to defend their interests, ensuring efficient domestic legal protection of all migrant.
Lastly, National Human Rights Institutions should include refugees and asylum seekers among the groups requiring special attention as well.
¿Do you think the Points System in Canada is meant to protect the country’s sovereignity?, or ¿is it just a deliberated form of discrimination? ¿why?
I consider that the Points Systems is not intended to discriminate anyone; on the contrary, it tries to look for what is the best for their country and this way protect their sovereignty. I also believe, that Canada is one of the fewer countries that gives benefits to people that want to go an live there, but there has to be some kind of regulation, a way to protect their citizens, their culture, and the best way is to have some kind of standard, in this case the point system. Besides, these regulations included the elimination of discrimination based on nationality or race from all classes of immigrants, giving everyone the change to postulate and become a permanent resident in Canada.
I consider that the Points Systems is not intended to discriminate anyone; on the contrary, it tries to look for what is the best for their country and this way protect their sovereignty. I also believe, that Canada is one of the fewer countries that gives benefits to people that want to go an live there, but there has to be some kind of regulation, a way to protect their citizens, their culture, and the best way is to have some kind of standard, in this case the point system. Besides, these regulations included the elimination of discrimination based on nationality or race from all classes of immigrants, giving everyone the change to postulate and become a permanent resident in Canada.
MANAGING DIVERSITY
Managing diversity is about ensuring that all employees have the opportunity to maximize their potential and enhance their self-development and their contribution to the organization. It recognizes that people from different backgrounds can bring new ideas and perceptions, which can make the work be done more efficient and make products and services better.
It is also believed that companies employing a diverse workforce would be in a better position to understand the demographics of the customers they serve much better making them better able to thrive in the marketplace than companies that hire only a limited group of employee demographics. Also, a company that supports diversity of workforce is better able to address employee satisfaction and retention issues.
Managing diversity successfully will help organizations to look after creativity and innovation and thereby to use hidden capacity for growth and improved competitiveness in resource acquisition, cost, marketing, problem solving, among others.
As a result the company would find potential benefits like higher creativity in decision-making, better understanding and serving of customers, more satisfied workforce, higher stock prices, lower litigation expenses, higher company performance. As well the organizations would have to face with three challenges that are the similarity attraction phenomenon, fault lines and stereotypes.
QUESTIONS:
1. ¿Is diversity management at IBM a source of competitive advantage? ¿why?
Yes, diversity management brings competitive advantage to IBM, mostly because new voices and perspectives can get into their strategy, helping managers understand and concentrate on the needs of different kinds of customers. It also motivates their managers to come up with creative decision alternatives.
2. ¿Do you think the IBM case reflects a strong organizational commitment to diversity? Why?
In the IMB case I do think that it reflects a strong organizational commitment to diversity. This company has implemented a diversity strategy (eight diversity task forces in which included different kinds of groups conformed by Asians, Blacks, People with Disabilities, White Men, Women, Gays/Lesbians/Bisexuals/Transgender Individuals, Hispanics, and Native Americans. IBM's strategy had the purpose of gathering data on personnel trends as well as labor and customer markets for their respective groups. Interpreting that information led each group to a list of issues called "vital few". The task force members then used the vital few to shape their thinking about possible business and development opportunities.
Sources:
www.leaderbrighton-hove.org/index.php%3Fpage%3Dstreamed-video+definition+diversity&cd=6&hl=es&ct=clnk&gl=co
EXPLORING DIVERSITY
People are not alike. Everyone is different. Therefore, diversity consists of visible and invisible factors, which include personal characteristics such as background, physical attributes, culture, political view, education, work/life experience, skills, personality and work-style in addition to the characteristics that are protected under discrimination legislation in terms of race, disability, gender, religion and belief, sexual orientation and age.
In order to understand diversity people must be aware of three different competencies:
In order to understand diversity people must be aware of three different competencies:
1. Knowledge: the awareness and understanding needed to live and work in a diverse world.
a. Cultural self: the ability to understand one’s ethnic identity and how it influences identity development
b. Diverse ethnic groups: knowledge of diverse ethnic groups and their cultures
c. Social/political/economical/historical frameworks: awareness how
social, political, economic, historical issues impact race and ethnic relations
and the global world
2. Personal Attributes: it’s the behavior needed by those who live and work in a diverse world.
b. Diverse ethnic groups: knowledge of diverse ethnic groups and their cultures
c. Social/political/economical/historical frameworks: awareness how
social, political, economic, historical issues impact race and ethnic relations
and the global world
2. Personal Attributes: it’s the behavior needed by those who live and work in a diverse world.
a. Flexibility: the ability to respond and adapt to new and changing situations
b. Respect: an appreciation for those who are different from one’s self
c. Empathy: the ability to understand another person’s culture by listening to and understanding their perspective
3. Skills: are the behaviors and performance tasks needed to live and work in a diverse world.
b. Respect: an appreciation for those who are different from one’s self
c. Empathy: the ability to understand another person’s culture by listening to and understanding their perspective
3. Skills: are the behaviors and performance tasks needed to live and work in a diverse world.
a. Cross cultural communication: verbal and nonverbal communication skills in
interaction with those who are culturally different from one’s self
b. Team work: the ability to work in culturally diverse groups toward a common goal
c. Listening: the ability to attend to what others are saying
d. Conflict resolution: the ability to resolve cultural conflicts that occur between individuals and groups
e. Leadership development: the ability to provide multicultural leadership
interaction with those who are culturally different from one’s self
b. Team work: the ability to work in culturally diverse groups toward a common goal
c. Listening: the ability to attend to what others are saying
d. Conflict resolution: the ability to resolve cultural conflicts that occur between individuals and groups
e. Leadership development: the ability to provide multicultural leadership
This is important to understand because managing these differences will create a productive environment in which everybody feels valued, their talents are fully utilized and organizational goals are met.
http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20081012dm_Diversity_200.jpg
http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:Nj3t7_sfilMJ:www.leaderbrighton-hove.org/index.php%3Fpage%3Dstreamed-video+definition+diversity&cd=6&hl=es&ct=clnk&gl=
http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20081012dm_Diversity_200.jpg
http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:Nj3t7_sfilMJ:www.leaderbrighton-hove.org/index.php%3Fpage%3Dstreamed-video+definition+diversity&cd=6&hl=es&ct=clnk&gl=
I do think that the entry and integration process of new members promote diversity. This diversity brings richness to their cultures, economies and societies, due to their great variety of languages, beliefs, values, among others. An although this in some cases could promote discrimination on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief in the workplace, the European Union have implemented laws that provide protection for all members of society. There is also a new camping promoted by the members of the EU called “For Diversity. Against discrimination” which is trying to promote the benefits of DIVERSITY!
NATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
According to Geert Hofstede culture is the
collective programming of the mind which
distinguishes the member of one human group from another.. Culture in this sense, includes systems of values: and values are among the building blocks of culture. He also says that the culture you have to learn it, you have to mold your behavior to the particular constraints of your culture group and to recognize the meanings of messages communicated to other member of the group. The cultural values that are define as assumptions that members of a culture group make about how they should behave, are passed on first by parents and family, then by other
members and institutions of the culture group.
Culture is always likely to be an influence on how the organization makes decisions, communicates, and structures its roles and relationships, but a culture is unlikely to be the only significant factor. Other possible influences might include internal factors such as the organizational strategy and external factors including the market, competition, economic conditions and so on.
On the decision making process of an organization is not practical that the manager base the decisions entirely on the needs of the individual, instead he needs to base it according to a group with a share identity. This is how a organizational culture is created, and its definition is the whole collection of assumptions , practices and norms that people in the organization adopt over time. This way is easier for both, manager and employees work together in order to accomplish what is best for the company.
Culture is always likely to be an influence on how the organization makes decisions, communicates, and structures its roles and relationships, but a culture is unlikely to be the only significant factor. Other possible influences might include internal factors such as the organizational strategy and external factors including the market, competition, economic conditions and so on.
On the decision making process of an organization is not practical that the manager base the decisions entirely on the needs of the individual, instead he needs to base it according to a group with a share identity. This is how a organizational culture is created, and its definition is the whole collection of assumptions , practices and norms that people in the organization adopt over time. This way is easier for both, manager and employees work together in order to accomplish what is best for the company.
Essay
I do think that every single organization, profitable and non-profitable, has its own corporate culture, even though many of them don’t even know clearly which one is.
It is really important to implement it because is the path that every single person must follow, is how they must work and relate with each other, in order to accomplish their tasks and objectives inside the company. Besides the most important asset of any organization is its people, and nothing affects the day to day lives of your people more than the culture in which they work. And although many researchers about organizations might said that it can’t be modified I do think is possible. Everything is susceptible to change; the one thing that we have to know is that every change needs time for people to assimilate it.
To finish I must say that there have been many cases about mergers, acquisitions, among others, that have been successful and even though the organizational change has not been easy they have manage to resolve it. But there is also the opposite side, like for example the case of Chrysler where two kinds of national cultures (U.S & Germany) where bring together and each of them has it own definition about what is organization. As a result they found out that they don’t harmonize and they had to sell it.
Mead, Richard. 2004. International Management: Cross-Cultural Dimensions London: Blackwell Publishing. Chapter 1.
Millman, Gregory J. . 2007. "Corporate Culture: more myth than reality? ." The Free Library 23:44-47. Millman, Gregory J. (2007, July 1).
ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
Ethnography is a social science research method that has its roots in the anthropology and sociology field. It involves participating, observing and describing how people from particular cultural group respond to the situations they find themselves in. the focal point in ethnography may include intensive language, culture learning, intensive study of a single field, and a blend of historical, observational, and interview methods. There are three kinds of data collection that are usually used in ethnographic research which are: Interviews, observations and documents and this in turn produces quotations, descriptions and excerpts of documents that will result in a narrative description.
In this research the steps to follow are: choose a population to be object of study, ask them to accept you as member of their group, observe for an specific period of time, become again an outsider, analyze the facts, theories, concepts, recompiled during that period in order to make a conclusion, and at the end formulate recommendations.
There is an important thing to take into account when doing ethnographic research, and is the Ethics. Since this research takes place among real human being, there are a series of ethical concerns to be aware of before beginning. First of all, be clear to the members of the community, of the goals of the research study and gain the informed consent of their consultant before getting started. Also learn whether the group would prefer to be named in the report or given a pseudonym and offer the result of the research to the informants if they want to read it. And the most important of all, make sure that the research does not harm or exploit those among the research it’s done.
GENZUKA,MICHAEL. A SYNTHESIS OF ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH. University of Southern California. Center for Multilingual, Multicultural Research
HOW ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEAR CAN BE USED FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS?
One example of this is Intel. Ethnography at Intel initially focused on new markets. The company had provided products only for the workplace, but in 1995 managers wondered whether users at home would become a distinct market. Ethnographic research showed so much potential that Intel set up a business unit to concentrate on processors and platforms for home use.
Intel can analyze the latest buying patterns and customer surveys for useful data. But people often can’t articulate what they’re looking for in products or services. By understanding how people live, researchers discover otherwise elusive trends that inform the company’s future strategies.
Another example is the smartphones business, whith etnographic research, companies can contrast the technology perspectives of teenagers, who have used cell phones since they were in elementary school, with those of older generations, who came to them only after becoming proficient with PCs. The anthropologists job, is to understand the perspective of one tribe, consumers, and communicate it to another, the people at Intel. Our experiences in both worlds make this translation possible. Ethnography has proved so valuable at Intel that the company now employs two dozen anthropologists and other trained ethnographers, probably the biggest such corporate staff in the world.
http://hbr.org/2009/03/ethnographic-research-a-key-to-strategy/ar/1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX6yobTXB2A
In this research the steps to follow are: choose a population to be object of study, ask them to accept you as member of their group, observe for an specific period of time, become again an outsider, analyze the facts, theories, concepts, recompiled during that period in order to make a conclusion, and at the end formulate recommendations.
There is an important thing to take into account when doing ethnographic research, and is the Ethics. Since this research takes place among real human being, there are a series of ethical concerns to be aware of before beginning. First of all, be clear to the members of the community, of the goals of the research study and gain the informed consent of their consultant before getting started. Also learn whether the group would prefer to be named in the report or given a pseudonym and offer the result of the research to the informants if they want to read it. And the most important of all, make sure that the research does not harm or exploit those among the research it’s done.
GENZUKA,MICHAEL. A SYNTHESIS OF ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH. University of Southern California. Center for Multilingual, Multicultural Research
HOW ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEAR CAN BE USED FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS?
One example of this is Intel. Ethnography at Intel initially focused on new markets. The company had provided products only for the workplace, but in 1995 managers wondered whether users at home would become a distinct market. Ethnographic research showed so much potential that Intel set up a business unit to concentrate on processors and platforms for home use.
Intel can analyze the latest buying patterns and customer surveys for useful data. But people often can’t articulate what they’re looking for in products or services. By understanding how people live, researchers discover otherwise elusive trends that inform the company’s future strategies.
Another example is the smartphones business, whith etnographic research, companies can contrast the technology perspectives of teenagers, who have used cell phones since they were in elementary school, with those of older generations, who came to them only after becoming proficient with PCs. The anthropologists job, is to understand the perspective of one tribe, consumers, and communicate it to another, the people at Intel. Our experiences in both worlds make this translation possible. Ethnography has proved so valuable at Intel that the company now employs two dozen anthropologists and other trained ethnographers, probably the biggest such corporate staff in the world.
http://hbr.org/2009/03/ethnographic-research-a-key-to-strategy/ar/1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX6yobTXB2A
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