Sub-topic 1: Organisational learning
1. What is a learning organisation and its key characteristics? Compare it to the traditional organisation.
2. Using the poster by Jay Cross about informal learning, please discuss the relevance and benefits of fostering this type of learning within organisations. available at: http://elearningargentina.wordpress.com/page/2
It’s a Learning Organization which encourages their employees to learn, the result of the encouragement is that their work force learns a lot of knowledge and experience and which in return, turns the company into a more flexible company, a learning organization has five characteristics:
1. System Thinking: In this methods they asses their company and they measure their performance as a whole and its various components, they study business as bounded objects, the company has to have all the characteristics of a system thinking state for the company to be considered as a learning organization, these characteristics have to be acquired rather than developed at the same time..
2. Mental models: It means that the employee knows what the values that the company considers important are and unimportant in the way the act, they have to keep in mind the good values and forget the unwanted values.
3. Personal Mastery: The Company pushes the employees to learn more and have a personal mastery over certain topics that can help the company of that the employee considers important, to become an expert in a topic, learning cannot be forced but learning can be turned into a company’s culture, that it’s normal to learn something new every day, its also know as the triple loop learning.
4. Team Learning: when there is more access to knowledge and the knowledge is shared between members of the same team, then there is a high possibility that the staff will grow more quickly, they all know the information and know how to act with the information, this will lead to a lot of interactions between team members.
5. Shared Vision: it’s a great way to motivate the workers to learn, it provides a common identity and the energy and focus for learning, the shared vision it’s the objective of all the staff in the company, it can be tu surpass another company in sales or turn the company into a more productive company, an objective in which the company it’s the important part.
A traditional organizational is a company or organization where there is a boundary between workers and managers, unlike the learning organization, the traditional organization does not change and can affect the company in the future, tradition is good, but you have to learn to adapt to changes that are going to happen in the future, they will lose their position to other companies, they will become inefficient in the markets, and they will reject to embrace new ideas and this will stop the company from increasing their productivity.
In order for a company to be successful in the world, the learning organization it’s the best choice for a company to increase and keep improving and preparing for the future.
You can see in the video how a learning company is appearing in new markets and finding new customers to their products, this is the future for a learning company.
As you can see in the image (find the image in http://elearningargentina.wordpress.com/page/2/ ) you can see that in a learning company, when a company embraces the changes in order to adapt, improve and change, the old customs that aren’t needed and slow down the company are left behind, new customs are embraced in order to improve the company, in order to reach the best point for a company to turn into a learning company is to accept the changes and turn into a company that can work in the new markets.
http://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-organization.htm
http://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/MENG/MEAB/lo_index.html
http://www.sunrisepage.com/manage/orgstruc.htm
martes, 12 de octubre de 2010
Topic 7 - Organisational learning + managing change and conflict
Sub-topic 1: Organisational learning
1. What is a learning organisation and its key characteristics? Compare it to the traditional organisation.
2. Using the poster by Jay Cross about informal learning, please discuss the relevance and benefits of fostering this type of learning within organisations. available at: http://elearningargentina.wordpress.com/page/2
It’s a Learning Organization which encourages their employees to learn, the result of the encouragement is that their work force learns a lot of knowledge and experience and which in return, turns the company into a more flexible company, a learning organization has five characteristics:
1. System Thinking: In this methods they asses their company and they measure their performance as a whole and its various components, they study business as bounded objects, the company has to have all the characteristics of a system thinking state for the company to be considered as a learning organization, these characteristics have to be acquired rather than developed at the same time..
2. Mental models: It means that the employee knows what the values that the company considers important are and unimportant in the way the act, they have to keep in mind the good values and forget the unwanted values.
3. Personal Mastery: The Company pushes the employees to learn more and have a personal mastery over certain topics that can help the company of that the employee considers important, to become an expert in a topic, learning cannot be forced but learning can be turned into a company’s culture, that it’s normal to learn something new every day, its also know as the triple loop learning.
4. Team Learning: when there is more access to knowledge and the knowledge is shared between members of the same team, then there is a high possibility that the staff will grow more quickly, they all know the information and know how to act with the information, this will lead to a lot of interactions between team members.
5. Shared Vision: it’s a great way to motivate the workers to learn, it provides a common identity and the energy and focus for learning, the shared vision it’s the objective of all the staff in the company, it can be tu surpass another company in sales or turn the company into a more productive company, an objective in which the company it’s the important part.
A traditional organizational is a company or organization where there is a boundary between workers and managers, unlike the learning organization, the traditional organization does not change and can affect the company in the future, tradition is good, but you have to learn to adapt to changes that are going to happen in the future, they will lose their position to other companies, they will become inefficient in the markets, and they will reject to embrace new ideas and this will stop the company from increasing their productivity.
In order for a company to be successful in the world, the learning organization it’s the best choice for a company to increase and keep improving and preparing for the future.
You can see in the video how a learning company is appearing in new markets and finding new customers to their products, this is the future for a learning company.
As you can see in the image (find the image in http://elearningargentina.wordpress.com/page/2/ ) you can see that in a learning company, when a company embraces the changes in order to adapt, improve and change, the old customs that aren’t needed and slow down the company are left behind, new customs are embraced in order to improve the company, in order to reach the best point for a company to turn into a learning company is to accept the changes and turn into a company that can work in the new markets.
http://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-organization.htm
http://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/MENG/MEAB/lo_index.html
http://www.sunrisepage.com/manage/orgstruc.htm
1. What is a learning organisation and its key characteristics? Compare it to the traditional organisation.
2. Using the poster by Jay Cross about informal learning, please discuss the relevance and benefits of fostering this type of learning within organisations. available at: http://elearningargentina.wordpress.com/page/2
It’s a Learning Organization which encourages their employees to learn, the result of the encouragement is that their work force learns a lot of knowledge and experience and which in return, turns the company into a more flexible company, a learning organization has five characteristics:
1. System Thinking: In this methods they asses their company and they measure their performance as a whole and its various components, they study business as bounded objects, the company has to have all the characteristics of a system thinking state for the company to be considered as a learning organization, these characteristics have to be acquired rather than developed at the same time..
2. Mental models: It means that the employee knows what the values that the company considers important are and unimportant in the way the act, they have to keep in mind the good values and forget the unwanted values.
3. Personal Mastery: The Company pushes the employees to learn more and have a personal mastery over certain topics that can help the company of that the employee considers important, to become an expert in a topic, learning cannot be forced but learning can be turned into a company’s culture, that it’s normal to learn something new every day, its also know as the triple loop learning.
4. Team Learning: when there is more access to knowledge and the knowledge is shared between members of the same team, then there is a high possibility that the staff will grow more quickly, they all know the information and know how to act with the information, this will lead to a lot of interactions between team members.
5. Shared Vision: it’s a great way to motivate the workers to learn, it provides a common identity and the energy and focus for learning, the shared vision it’s the objective of all the staff in the company, it can be tu surpass another company in sales or turn the company into a more productive company, an objective in which the company it’s the important part.
A traditional organizational is a company or organization where there is a boundary between workers and managers, unlike the learning organization, the traditional organization does not change and can affect the company in the future, tradition is good, but you have to learn to adapt to changes that are going to happen in the future, they will lose their position to other companies, they will become inefficient in the markets, and they will reject to embrace new ideas and this will stop the company from increasing their productivity.
In order for a company to be successful in the world, the learning organization it’s the best choice for a company to increase and keep improving and preparing for the future.
You can see in the video how a learning company is appearing in new markets and finding new customers to their products, this is the future for a learning company.
As you can see in the image (find the image in http://elearningargentina.wordpress.com/page/2/ ) you can see that in a learning company, when a company embraces the changes in order to adapt, improve and change, the old customs that aren’t needed and slow down the company are left behind, new customs are embraced in order to improve the company, in order to reach the best point for a company to turn into a learning company is to accept the changes and turn into a company that can work in the new markets.
http://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-organization.htm
http://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/MENG/MEAB/lo_index.html
http://www.sunrisepage.com/manage/orgstruc.htm
domingo, 10 de octubre de 2010
Managing diversity
Different like gender, age, religion, cultural background, religion, race and ethnicity, terms of lifestyle choice, perspectives, attitudes, value system, beliefs, behaviors, expectations, skills and experiences can be found in any workspace in a company. So its hard to manage a group of employees that work in the same company but have all these differences in perception regarding a order or treatment to a fellow worker
if a company manages to work with all these different aspect in their company, this produces a lot of benefits for the company:
1. There will de a lot of solution to different kind of problems because of the diversity.
2. There is a lot of skill in a diverse office such as language and knowledge
3. Different point of view and will create a bigger set of ideas
4. If the company encourages diversity, the employees will work at their best capacity and ability.
But this kind of environment also has a lot of challenges because of the diversity that you can find in the office:
1. Communications: perceptual, language, culture and gestures
2. Resistance to change: difficulty in the changes in the work environment
3. Diversity in the workplace policies: use the strong point of each one of the employees in order to create a strategy works to reach the desired goal of the company
4. Successful Management of Diversity: to create a working environment where the diversity is accepted in all the organization, in which the different aspects of a worker are accepted and considered as an opportunity.
In order for a company who was branches in different country’s around the world, the best way to know how to enter a foreign market is to know the local culture, so its best if they have local employees to work in their companies mixed with foreign create future solution that are going to be accepted, and it’s a good idea to keep a very diversified office staff so that the workers can open their horizon and start to learn about other cultures, that the curiosity becomes a constant companion in the workers mind about other cultures and their way of life.
http://www.multiculturaladvantage.com/recruit/diversity/Diversity-in-the-Workplace-Benefits-Challenges-Solutions.asp
http://www.iegd.org/englishok/managing.htm
if a company manages to work with all these different aspect in their company, this produces a lot of benefits for the company:
1. There will de a lot of solution to different kind of problems because of the diversity.
2. There is a lot of skill in a diverse office such as language and knowledge
3. Different point of view and will create a bigger set of ideas
4. If the company encourages diversity, the employees will work at their best capacity and ability.
But this kind of environment also has a lot of challenges because of the diversity that you can find in the office:
1. Communications: perceptual, language, culture and gestures
2. Resistance to change: difficulty in the changes in the work environment
3. Diversity in the workplace policies: use the strong point of each one of the employees in order to create a strategy works to reach the desired goal of the company
4. Successful Management of Diversity: to create a working environment where the diversity is accepted in all the organization, in which the different aspects of a worker are accepted and considered as an opportunity.
In order for a company who was branches in different country’s around the world, the best way to know how to enter a foreign market is to know the local culture, so its best if they have local employees to work in their companies mixed with foreign create future solution that are going to be accepted, and it’s a good idea to keep a very diversified office staff so that the workers can open their horizon and start to learn about other cultures, that the curiosity becomes a constant companion in the workers mind about other cultures and their way of life.
http://www.multiculturaladvantage.com/recruit/diversity/Diversity-in-the-Workplace-Benefits-Challenges-Solutions.asp
http://www.iegd.org/englishok/managing.htm
The rise of MNCs
MNCs stands for multinational corporation, the definition for a MNCs is a corporation or a business entity that has operations in more than one country, the usual model for this type of corporations is that they have an headquarter in one country and several branch offices in other countries, it can also be called as a Multinational Enterprise (MBE) or transnational corporation (TNC). The main reason for this model, its having the main office in the mother country and having the production company in other country where there are lower cost production to increase the companies profits and reduce the production costs.
One of the benefits of being a multinational corporation is that it has more access to other marker around the world, but there are also some problems for a multinational corporation, if the company want to enter another market, they have to take into account the cultural aspects of the country and how they are organizing the offices in that country, if they want to have a local or a foreigner managing that branch of the corporation, they also have to take into account the laws and regulation in the host country.
The company has no loyalty to the host country, they are more centered around profits and marketing of the company.
Franklin Root says that an MNC is a parent company that
1. Engages in foreign production through its affiliates located in several countries,
2. Exercises direct control over the policies of its affiliates,
3. Implements business strategies in production, marketing, finance and staffing that transcend national boundaries.
In some poor developed country there is a lot of opportunities for a multinational to open a branch company for the productions of their products, some governments are happy because they can create a lot of jobs in their factories for they can invest in the country, but there is no way to know what amount of labor they are going to produce and how much is the investment going to be and how much it can create changes in the host country, and it can also course corruption depending on the size and the power of the multinational corporation
http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ355/choi/mul.htm
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-multinational-corporation.htm
http://www.bized.co.uk/learn/economics/notes/multi.htm
One of the benefits of being a multinational corporation is that it has more access to other marker around the world, but there are also some problems for a multinational corporation, if the company want to enter another market, they have to take into account the cultural aspects of the country and how they are organizing the offices in that country, if they want to have a local or a foreigner managing that branch of the corporation, they also have to take into account the laws and regulation in the host country.
The company has no loyalty to the host country, they are more centered around profits and marketing of the company.
Franklin Root says that an MNC is a parent company that
1. Engages in foreign production through its affiliates located in several countries,
2. Exercises direct control over the policies of its affiliates,
3. Implements business strategies in production, marketing, finance and staffing that transcend national boundaries.
In some poor developed country there is a lot of opportunities for a multinational to open a branch company for the productions of their products, some governments are happy because they can create a lot of jobs in their factories for they can invest in the country, but there is no way to know what amount of labor they are going to produce and how much is the investment going to be and how much it can create changes in the host country, and it can also course corruption depending on the size and the power of the multinational corporation
http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ355/choi/mul.htm
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-multinational-corporation.htm
http://www.bized.co.uk/learn/economics/notes/multi.htm
sábado, 25 de septiembre de 2010
Merging org. cultures
When there is a merger between two companies, it can have its good and bad point. The reasons for a company to join in a merger may be to increase their capacity and financial resources and to reduce administrative costs, but in order for the merger to be successful there has to be a lot of commitment for both parties, the organizational leaders have to accept the people and the goals of a merger, there has to be a very open communication between both parties and open dialogue and feed-back between both parties, and the goals are settle based of free choice, it these points are ignored, the merger process will be difficult and long to complete and may eliminate all opportunities for the merger to be completed.
According to Deal and Kennedy, there are three impacts in a company from a merger
1. The over-your-shoulder effect
In this situation when there is a future merger, the employees don’t know what the changes that are going to happen in the future, there is a high uncertainty about the future regarding subjects such as budget, job and cost reductions, changes in organizational culture and department changes. One of the outcomes of a merger is that the company becomes more productive but it may reduce their currently working force, so it’s a very tiring situation for the employees and can reduce their task efficiency.
2. Winners-and-losers effect
In this situation the manager or leader tries to make the merge in a “winner” and “loser” situation, he put the company as the “winner” in this situation, there will be changes, but in favor of the company, in order to reduce the uncertainty in the employees he explain the merger as if they were the winners in the merger.
3. Cultural isolation effect
When there is going to be a merger, there is always going to be cultural changes that can affect a merger, even it the cultures are very similar in most aspect, there can still be small thing that are different between both parties, if there is going to be a merger, they have to take into account the national culture to make the merger be more easily affected and that the leaders understand and know how to in order to avoid collisions in the work place.
http://www.orgdct.com/mergers_and_organizational_cultu.htm
According to Deal and Kennedy, there are three impacts in a company from a merger
1. The over-your-shoulder effect
In this situation when there is a future merger, the employees don’t know what the changes that are going to happen in the future, there is a high uncertainty about the future regarding subjects such as budget, job and cost reductions, changes in organizational culture and department changes. One of the outcomes of a merger is that the company becomes more productive but it may reduce their currently working force, so it’s a very tiring situation for the employees and can reduce their task efficiency.
2. Winners-and-losers effect
In this situation the manager or leader tries to make the merge in a “winner” and “loser” situation, he put the company as the “winner” in this situation, there will be changes, but in favor of the company, in order to reduce the uncertainty in the employees he explain the merger as if they were the winners in the merger.
3. Cultural isolation effect
When there is going to be a merger, there is always going to be cultural changes that can affect a merger, even it the cultures are very similar in most aspect, there can still be small thing that are different between both parties, if there is going to be a merger, they have to take into account the national culture to make the merger be more easily affected and that the leaders understand and know how to in order to avoid collisions in the work place.
http://www.orgdct.com/mergers_and_organizational_cultu.htm
viernes, 17 de septiembre de 2010
Org. learning + managing change and conflict
Organizational learning in very simple words can be explained as the way that a company learns to process, adapt and react when there are changes in the environment, and with the information gathered from the inside and the outside the company they react to improve and provide a better service. The information derives from tact sources (like intuition or a felling) or from an explicit source (like financial information, political information, etc), if the organizational learning is done right this will reduce future conflicts created because of an adaptation problem.
There are four orientations to theorizing learning:
1. The behaviorist orientation refers to the use of an experiment procedure to study what is the relation between a behavior and how is affected by the environment.
2. The cognitive orientation they are concerned that in every environment an individual knows how to adapt and change.
3. The human orientation is centered around human growth (read Maslow and Rogers)
4. the social/situational orientation refers to how a community or organization act, a person adapt according to how a group acts
There are two process of managing change that is associated with organizational learning
1. Adaptive learning refers when organizational changes happen because of the environments
2. proactive learning is an organizational change that happen because of willful thinking
there are two theories that are very used when explaining org. learning, The single loop and double loop learning, in the single loop learning you reach a decision with the same reasoning all the time, but in the double loop learning, you change your reasoning in order to reach a solution to the problem, the reasoning can be considered as standard process that a company or person does to reaches a decision regarding a topic.
"Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous".
- Confucius.
"Never seem more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocket watch and keep it hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you are asked".
- Lord Chesterfield
http://www.sfb504.uni-mannheim.de/glossary/orglearn.htm
http://www.infed.org/biblio/organizational-learning.htm#_Learning_in_organizations
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/argyris.htm#_Single-loop_and_double-loop
There are four orientations to theorizing learning:
1. The behaviorist orientation refers to the use of an experiment procedure to study what is the relation between a behavior and how is affected by the environment.
2. The cognitive orientation they are concerned that in every environment an individual knows how to adapt and change.
3. The human orientation is centered around human growth (read Maslow and Rogers)
4. the social/situational orientation refers to how a community or organization act, a person adapt according to how a group acts
There are two process of managing change that is associated with organizational learning
1. Adaptive learning refers when organizational changes happen because of the environments
2. proactive learning is an organizational change that happen because of willful thinking
there are two theories that are very used when explaining org. learning, The single loop and double loop learning, in the single loop learning you reach a decision with the same reasoning all the time, but in the double loop learning, you change your reasoning in order to reach a solution to the problem, the reasoning can be considered as standard process that a company or person does to reaches a decision regarding a topic.
"Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous".
- Confucius.
"Never seem more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocket watch and keep it hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you are asked".
- Lord Chesterfield
http://www.sfb504.uni-mannheim.de/glossary/orglearn.htm
http://www.infed.org/biblio/organizational-learning.htm#_Learning_in_organizations
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/argyris.htm#_Single-loop_and_double-loop
viernes, 3 de septiembre de 2010
Management styles + Leadership styles
Abraham Lincoln said “No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent”.
A leader is a person that pushes or inspires a person to do something that can relate to the people that work under him, its not easy to be a good leader, the people that work under you leadership will work better if they trust your judgment and respect your decisions, its important in a company to have a good leader and a good manager also, if you are not the right person to lead a group of people, you will affect the environment, the work quality and the respect of the employees to the manager, it also motivates the employees to do a better work.
There are three leadership styles
• Autocratic style is when the manager makes all the decision, the employees has little say in the decision making and has to do everything that the leader tells them. This type of leader can affect the performance of the employees in a negative way, but when there is a new employee in the company, this style is the best for the employee in order to learn how to do and what they have to do in the office.
• Permissive style is when the manager is the one to make the decision, but takes into account the opinions and ideas of the employees, this is the type of leader that the companies prefer to have because it pushes the workers to be more efficient and keep challenging them in order to participate and improve.
• Delegative style is when the manager gives the employees free reign in the decision making, they decide what and how it has to be made, but the manager is still the one responsible for the result of the decision.
A good leader knows how to tell a message, how to delegate to people, know to participate in the work place with the employees and knows how to sell a project and push the employee into a project.
These styles should be adapted to every situation, not one of the style is the best for all cases.
http://www.inspirational-quotes.info/leadership.html
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/advising/free_enterprise/business_structures/management_styles.htm
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadstl.html
A leader is a person that pushes or inspires a person to do something that can relate to the people that work under him, its not easy to be a good leader, the people that work under you leadership will work better if they trust your judgment and respect your decisions, its important in a company to have a good leader and a good manager also, if you are not the right person to lead a group of people, you will affect the environment, the work quality and the respect of the employees to the manager, it also motivates the employees to do a better work.
There are three leadership styles
• Autocratic style is when the manager makes all the decision, the employees has little say in the decision making and has to do everything that the leader tells them. This type of leader can affect the performance of the employees in a negative way, but when there is a new employee in the company, this style is the best for the employee in order to learn how to do and what they have to do in the office.
• Permissive style is when the manager is the one to make the decision, but takes into account the opinions and ideas of the employees, this is the type of leader that the companies prefer to have because it pushes the workers to be more efficient and keep challenging them in order to participate and improve.
• Delegative style is when the manager gives the employees free reign in the decision making, they decide what and how it has to be made, but the manager is still the one responsible for the result of the decision.
A good leader knows how to tell a message, how to delegate to people, know to participate in the work place with the employees and knows how to sell a project and push the employee into a project.
These styles should be adapted to every situation, not one of the style is the best for all cases.
http://www.inspirational-quotes.info/leadership.html
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/advising/free_enterprise/business_structures/management_styles.htm
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadstl.html
Question 6
Select 2 of the following questions to be included in your blog:
1.List the main similarities and differences of Japanese and Korean management styles.
2.Explain the phenomenon of convergence in terms of management styles. What are the forces or factors pushing for convergence?
3.Explain the phenomenon of differentiation in terms of management styles. What are the forces of factors pushing for differentiation?
4.In the case of Korean and Japanese management styles, do you think they tend to converge or diverge? Are they likely to converge to each other or to other management styles (Western, Asian, etc).
5.What is isomorphism? Do you think organisations change management styles to adapt to the environment? Which environment is stronger: national environment or international environment?
Questions:
1.List the main similarities and differences of Japanese and Korean management styles.
The cultures and management styles between the Japanese and the Koreans are very similar but at the same time very different, one of the most obvious similarities of the Korean and the Japanese, is group of companies that are own by the same group an all the companies in these groups makes the supply chain for each other, in Japan is called Zaibatsu and in Korea is called Chaenol, in both countries these companies have a very close relationship with the government because of their large working force and their long time history, another similarity between these two is that they are manage by one family or clan and most of the people that manage the companies of the group are blood related, the only noticeable different between these two groups, is that in the Chaenol, the only company that they don’t have is a bank, its not uncommon in Japan that one of the Zaibatsu to own a bank.
Both countries pay attention to market share and profit maximization, the Japanese pay a lot of attention to their competitors but the Korean pay less attention to their competitor, but when they expand, then they pay more attention, both emphasize of technology, especially the Koreans and the Japanese pay more attention to manufacturing, Japan pays more attention to customer closeness and pay a lot of attention the company trademark.
This is a convergence culture
2. Explain the phenomenon of convergence in terms of management styles. What are the forces or factors pushing for convergence?
The phenomenon of convergence in management style can be see with the similarity of how companies act, not all countries act the same, in the example of Korea and Japan is easy to see the similarities between both countries because their cultures are very similar, but there are still some differences in the way the act, think the Japanese culture and the Korean culture as to different lines, the lines go alongside each other but they never merge or touch each other, its very easy to reach an agreement in a negotiation between Japan and Korea.
1.List the main similarities and differences of Japanese and Korean management styles.
2.Explain the phenomenon of convergence in terms of management styles. What are the forces or factors pushing for convergence?
3.Explain the phenomenon of differentiation in terms of management styles. What are the forces of factors pushing for differentiation?
4.In the case of Korean and Japanese management styles, do you think they tend to converge or diverge? Are they likely to converge to each other or to other management styles (Western, Asian, etc).
5.What is isomorphism? Do you think organisations change management styles to adapt to the environment? Which environment is stronger: national environment or international environment?
Questions:
1.List the main similarities and differences of Japanese and Korean management styles.
The cultures and management styles between the Japanese and the Koreans are very similar but at the same time very different, one of the most obvious similarities of the Korean and the Japanese, is group of companies that are own by the same group an all the companies in these groups makes the supply chain for each other, in Japan is called Zaibatsu and in Korea is called Chaenol, in both countries these companies have a very close relationship with the government because of their large working force and their long time history, another similarity between these two is that they are manage by one family or clan and most of the people that manage the companies of the group are blood related, the only noticeable different between these two groups, is that in the Chaenol, the only company that they don’t have is a bank, its not uncommon in Japan that one of the Zaibatsu to own a bank.
Both countries pay attention to market share and profit maximization, the Japanese pay a lot of attention to their competitors but the Korean pay less attention to their competitor, but when they expand, then they pay more attention, both emphasize of technology, especially the Koreans and the Japanese pay more attention to manufacturing, Japan pays more attention to customer closeness and pay a lot of attention the company trademark.
This is a convergence culture
2. Explain the phenomenon of convergence in terms of management styles. What are the forces or factors pushing for convergence?
The phenomenon of convergence in management style can be see with the similarity of how companies act, not all countries act the same, in the example of Korea and Japan is easy to see the similarities between both countries because their cultures are very similar, but there are still some differences in the way the act, think the Japanese culture and the Korean culture as to different lines, the lines go alongside each other but they never merge or touch each other, its very easy to reach an agreement in a negotiation between Japan and Korea.
Question 5
Through Internet research, find and explain a real situation relating to international business in which ethical behavior becomes the key issue in the decision making process.
The selected situation must be a clear example of cultural differences relating to ethical behavior and decision making.
An ethical behaviors refers to doing the right thing in Business, but sometimes its not so easy to do the right thing if you want to succeed or to expand your company, in the case of Pegasus International Inc, is one of the leading manufacturer of integrated circuits and related software for specialty markets of communications and mass storage, as well as PC-based audio, video, and multimedia. They wanted to expand their business to china, but in order to get the license they needed in order to expand to china, they have to do a “payoff” or bribe in every prefecture and they suspected that other companies that entered they Chinese market did pay the bribe, its not uncommon that Chinese takes bribes in from foreign companies that want to expand to this country, here is the part where ethical behavior is considered, its is worth it to lose part f the companies integrity in order to expand to this country, if they pay the bribes in order to get the licenses, they may get 100 million dollars in utilities from that country, but its against the values of Pegasus International Inc, these values are guided by these 4 rules:
• Be Honest With Yourself and Others
• Tell It All and Tell It Like It Is
• Protect Our Intellectual Property
• Face the Facts
In the Chinese culture its normal to pay some bribes in order to get what you want if you are a foreign company that wants to enter that market, but, in the united states its considered as an illegal activity and if an American company makes something that is considered as illegal or unethical, there will be series repercussion in the company image and stocks, it will take a lot of work to recover from such a scandal.
Another case where there is an important cultural difference is Google and China, Google wanted to open a server in china, but in china there are laws that regulates what should be seen and what should not be seen, at the beginning Google and china reached an agreement but later there were tension between both parties because of the censorship that was implemented in the Chinese server, this restriction was different that they were used to, this restriction was not very well accepter because in the other Google servers there was not a tight censorship and the countries in where they were servers where democratic countries, in the Chinese offices they examined the e-mails and web pages to search for cyber terrorist and oppositions against the Chinese government, in you opinion, is this an ethical decision by the Chinese government?
this video is from Dilbert and its about ethics, enjoy.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2010/tc20100324_284005.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/13/AR2010011302908.html
http://www.redherring.com/home/26359
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/dialogue/candc/cases/million.html
The selected situation must be a clear example of cultural differences relating to ethical behavior and decision making.
An ethical behaviors refers to doing the right thing in Business, but sometimes its not so easy to do the right thing if you want to succeed or to expand your company, in the case of Pegasus International Inc, is one of the leading manufacturer of integrated circuits and related software for specialty markets of communications and mass storage, as well as PC-based audio, video, and multimedia. They wanted to expand their business to china, but in order to get the license they needed in order to expand to china, they have to do a “payoff” or bribe in every prefecture and they suspected that other companies that entered they Chinese market did pay the bribe, its not uncommon that Chinese takes bribes in from foreign companies that want to expand to this country, here is the part where ethical behavior is considered, its is worth it to lose part f the companies integrity in order to expand to this country, if they pay the bribes in order to get the licenses, they may get 100 million dollars in utilities from that country, but its against the values of Pegasus International Inc, these values are guided by these 4 rules:
• Be Honest With Yourself and Others
• Tell It All and Tell It Like It Is
• Protect Our Intellectual Property
• Face the Facts
In the Chinese culture its normal to pay some bribes in order to get what you want if you are a foreign company that wants to enter that market, but, in the united states its considered as an illegal activity and if an American company makes something that is considered as illegal or unethical, there will be series repercussion in the company image and stocks, it will take a lot of work to recover from such a scandal.
Another case where there is an important cultural difference is Google and China, Google wanted to open a server in china, but in china there are laws that regulates what should be seen and what should not be seen, at the beginning Google and china reached an agreement but later there were tension between both parties because of the censorship that was implemented in the Chinese server, this restriction was different that they were used to, this restriction was not very well accepter because in the other Google servers there was not a tight censorship and the countries in where they were servers where democratic countries, in the Chinese offices they examined the e-mails and web pages to search for cyber terrorist and oppositions against the Chinese government, in you opinion, is this an ethical decision by the Chinese government?
this video is from Dilbert and its about ethics, enjoy.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2010/tc20100324_284005.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/13/AR2010011302908.html
http://www.redherring.com/home/26359
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/dialogue/candc/cases/million.html
Question 4
Communication is a process that allows organisations to send/receive messages within their own boundaries but also to interact with outside entities (customers, suppliers, the media, etc.). Messages are send/received not only through oral and written statements, there are many channels and ways that need to be considered when discussing effective organisational communication. In that sense, the use of sounds has become increasingly important.
Based on the article “If Intercontinental were a sound…what would it be?”*, Please discuss the implications (potential advantages, disadvantages, challenges, etc.) of using sounds to send strategic messages. You need to integrate the use of key concepts relating to the topic of communication to support your answer.
In an organization, the way one person can communicate with another can be very varied, you can speak with the other person, thru a phone, thru text message or e-mail, thru office memo, but, there is also the new idea of using sound as a way to send a message, but think about it. Can you send a message thru sound? Can you send thru musical notes an idea or an action?
Yes you can, a sound can transmit a felling to the listener, and according to the article “If Intercontinental were a sound… what would it be?” sound can affect an environment, a sound can change the feeling of a person, if in a negotiation you have the right kind of sound the other party will be more open to listen you ideas and strategies with a more open mind, and if you put another kind of sound the other party can be less inclined to be more open minded to your ideas, if you are in a bar, the type of music that you hear can turn the evening romantic or more friendly, but it also can turn the environment a little tense, that why when you watch a movie, depending on the scene there is a music that gives the right feeling to the environment.
In the Article “If Intercontinental were a sound…what would it be?”, different hotels had the challenge to create a sound that represented their hotel, the star wars opening is a good example, every one knows what that sound represents. It’s not easy to create a sound, you have to take into account the tempo and time, depending on the sound, you can send the message of a vending machine or a chocolatier making chocolate, after a lot of tries, they reached the sound that they wanted and represented their hotels chains.
An inconvenience of this type of communication is that there is a very fine line when you are making a sound, you want a sound that represents elegance, but the sound you get is relaxed, and another difficulty of this type of communications is that is not composed of letters and document that you can load to an e-mail, depending of the number of instruments that are needed to make the sound, you have to take into account how are you going to make them blend perfectly and how much of each instrument you have to incorporate.
The video is a commercial for the Marriot Hotel Chain, listen to the music in the back ground and you will hear how different types of cultures and blending and you will imagine different countries, this is one of the examples that show how a sound can represents a hotel, there is another commercial for Frontera concha y toro, the music they have show an image of their wine.
Michael Spencer, "If InterContinental were a sound … what would it be?", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 31 Iss: 4, pp.39 - 46
Based on the article “If Intercontinental were a sound…what would it be?”*, Please discuss the implications (potential advantages, disadvantages, challenges, etc.) of using sounds to send strategic messages. You need to integrate the use of key concepts relating to the topic of communication to support your answer.
In an organization, the way one person can communicate with another can be very varied, you can speak with the other person, thru a phone, thru text message or e-mail, thru office memo, but, there is also the new idea of using sound as a way to send a message, but think about it. Can you send a message thru sound? Can you send thru musical notes an idea or an action?
Yes you can, a sound can transmit a felling to the listener, and according to the article “If Intercontinental were a sound… what would it be?” sound can affect an environment, a sound can change the feeling of a person, if in a negotiation you have the right kind of sound the other party will be more open to listen you ideas and strategies with a more open mind, and if you put another kind of sound the other party can be less inclined to be more open minded to your ideas, if you are in a bar, the type of music that you hear can turn the evening romantic or more friendly, but it also can turn the environment a little tense, that why when you watch a movie, depending on the scene there is a music that gives the right feeling to the environment.
In the Article “If Intercontinental were a sound…what would it be?”, different hotels had the challenge to create a sound that represented their hotel, the star wars opening is a good example, every one knows what that sound represents. It’s not easy to create a sound, you have to take into account the tempo and time, depending on the sound, you can send the message of a vending machine or a chocolatier making chocolate, after a lot of tries, they reached the sound that they wanted and represented their hotels chains.
An inconvenience of this type of communication is that there is a very fine line when you are making a sound, you want a sound that represents elegance, but the sound you get is relaxed, and another difficulty of this type of communications is that is not composed of letters and document that you can load to an e-mail, depending of the number of instruments that are needed to make the sound, you have to take into account how are you going to make them blend perfectly and how much of each instrument you have to incorporate.
The video is a commercial for the Marriot Hotel Chain, listen to the music in the back ground and you will hear how different types of cultures and blending and you will imagine different countries, this is one of the examples that show how a sound can represents a hotel, there is another commercial for Frontera concha y toro, the music they have show an image of their wine.
Michael Spencer, "If InterContinental were a sound … what would it be?", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 31 Iss: 4, pp.39 - 46
Question 3
1. What are the Hawthorne Studies? explain its importance for studying motivation at the workplace and its influence over diverse motivation theories. (include key findings and limitations) (max. 500 words)
The Hawthorne studies where a series of studies done in Hawthorne Plant of the Western Electric Company in Cicero, Illinois between the yeas 1927 to 1932, the study was led by Elton mayo, who was a professor in the Harvard Business School, and two associates, F.J. Roethlisberger and William J. Dickson, first they investigated how the performance of the employee changed if there where changes in the work place thru physical and environmental aspects in the work place such as humidity and brightness in the office, they had two groups, one knew that they were in an experiment, but the other group did not know that they were being watched by the investigator, they noticed that these factor did not affected the productivity in both groups, if group A improved, the group B improved, they were not affected by the changes in the work place, but they realized that each of their groups was very closed to changes, all the members of the group have to stay in the same speed as the others, if you are to slow or to fast it will turn the rest of the group against you.
The researcher noted that it did not matter what type of changes they did, the employees keep improving, but they also noticed that the employees where happy with the attention they were getting, during the investigation they draw four conclusions:
1. Even if a person has great potential, social factor can affect the level of production of the person.
2. The relationship between manager and employee can affect how the worker does his work.
3. The work-groups have their own norms of what is considered as a day’s work.
4. The work-place is a social system with independent parts.
the second part of this video you can see how the relationship between manager ans employee affect how a worker does in is work
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/history/hawthorne.html
http://www.analytictech.com/mb021/handouts/bank_wiring.htm
2. Based on the class activity about "Flight 001: Motivating Employees", please answer the following question:
¿Which motivation theory do you think has the most relevance for understanding the behavior of Griffin and fostering her motivation at work?
In this case, its attention, in her previous job, she did not feel appreciated and they considered as a part that could be replaced at any time, but in her new job, she feels appreciated, they ask her opinion and she can tell her point of view of the changes that could be made, she feel as she was an indispensable piece of a well made machine, she had a good working environment, in her opinion, what motivates her to work is not the salary, but because she feels important and especial while doing her work.
The Hawthorne studies where a series of studies done in Hawthorne Plant of the Western Electric Company in Cicero, Illinois between the yeas 1927 to 1932, the study was led by Elton mayo, who was a professor in the Harvard Business School, and two associates, F.J. Roethlisberger and William J. Dickson, first they investigated how the performance of the employee changed if there where changes in the work place thru physical and environmental aspects in the work place such as humidity and brightness in the office, they had two groups, one knew that they were in an experiment, but the other group did not know that they were being watched by the investigator, they noticed that these factor did not affected the productivity in both groups, if group A improved, the group B improved, they were not affected by the changes in the work place, but they realized that each of their groups was very closed to changes, all the members of the group have to stay in the same speed as the others, if you are to slow or to fast it will turn the rest of the group against you.
The researcher noted that it did not matter what type of changes they did, the employees keep improving, but they also noticed that the employees where happy with the attention they were getting, during the investigation they draw four conclusions:
1. Even if a person has great potential, social factor can affect the level of production of the person.
2. The relationship between manager and employee can affect how the worker does his work.
3. The work-groups have their own norms of what is considered as a day’s work.
4. The work-place is a social system with independent parts.
the second part of this video you can see how the relationship between manager ans employee affect how a worker does in is work
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/history/hawthorne.html
http://www.analytictech.com/mb021/handouts/bank_wiring.htm
2. Based on the class activity about "Flight 001: Motivating Employees", please answer the following question:
¿Which motivation theory do you think has the most relevance for understanding the behavior of Griffin and fostering her motivation at work?
In this case, its attention, in her previous job, she did not feel appreciated and they considered as a part that could be replaced at any time, but in her new job, she feels appreciated, they ask her opinion and she can tell her point of view of the changes that could be made, she feel as she was an indispensable piece of a well made machine, she had a good working environment, in her opinion, what motivates her to work is not the salary, but because she feels important and especial while doing her work.
Question 2
Please explain, using your own words, the concept of Pygmalion Effect.
What are the potential implications, uses, or challenges that this effect may pose for organisations engaging into international operations that require the understanding of diverse cultural contexts? Can you use this concept to explain the relationship between national and organisational cultures?
The main idea of the Pygmalion effect is that when you have expectations in a person, that person will prove those expectations, this idea is also known as the power of expectation.
The Pygmalion it’s also know as the Galatea effect because on a Greek mythology, an greek artist carved a statue of a beautiful woman and fell in love with the statue, and the goddess Aphrodite brought to life as Galatea, you can also see how an expecttion can affect a person, in the play "Pygmalion" written by George Barnard Shaw, a gentleman bets that he can turn a cockney flower girl into the perfect image of a lady.
This effect happens every where, it can be in the office, a classroom, a mall or even a party, the effect can influence a person in a negative or positive way, for example, if you are a teacher in a class room and you are watching the students as they make a test, you center you attention in two students, to the first student you think, “I think that he will get a very good grade in this test” and you turn your gaze to the second student and think “I don’t think that he will get a good grade”, when you are grading the tests, you will see that the first student got a A+ and the second student will get a C-, this effect can influence a person according to the expectation that you have of that person.
It’s also the same situation in an office, if a manager gives an employee a task and he does not believe that he is the right person for the task, the person will fail. It’s very important if you ever are going to give a task to a person to keep in mind that the person is the one for the job, that he will complete the task that has been given to him. Also, the way to treat a person can affect their performance, if a manager doesn’t pay attention to a particular employee or he does not praise the employee as much as the other, the employee will think that he is a failure and his attitude toward work will become negative and he will make mistakes and will not try hard enough to make an excellent work and can affect negative way his co-workers, but, if the employee is being treated the same as the others, he is being praised for doing a good work, slowly, the employee will get better and more secure with his work and will become an important part of the company and he will have a positive attitude toward work and will affect in a positive way to his co-workers.
The effect of the Pygmalion effects is not something that you see at first sight, you know the theory but in order to see results you have to investigate for some times and you will see that the final result on an employee and on the company, this is the desirable result that every teacher, company or organization want to achieve. This is the positive effect of the Pygmalion effects.
J. Sterling Livingston said "If he is unskilled, he leaves scars on the careers of the young men (and women), cuts deeply into their self-esteem and distorts their image of themselves as human beings. But if he is skillful and has high expectations of his subordinates, their self-confidence will grow, their capabilities will develop and their productivity will be high. More often than he realizes, the manager is Pygmalion."
http://www.accomplishlife.com/blogs/8/The-Pygmalion-Effect.html
http://www.envisionsoftware.com/articles/Pygmalion_Effect.html
http://humanresources.about.com/od/managementtips/a/mgmtsecret.htm
http://fcis.oise.utoronto.ca/~daniel_sc/assignment1/1968rosenjacob.html
What are the potential implications, uses, or challenges that this effect may pose for organisations engaging into international operations that require the understanding of diverse cultural contexts? Can you use this concept to explain the relationship between national and organisational cultures?
The main idea of the Pygmalion effect is that when you have expectations in a person, that person will prove those expectations, this idea is also known as the power of expectation.
The Pygmalion it’s also know as the Galatea effect because on a Greek mythology, an greek artist carved a statue of a beautiful woman and fell in love with the statue, and the goddess Aphrodite brought to life as Galatea, you can also see how an expecttion can affect a person, in the play "Pygmalion" written by George Barnard Shaw, a gentleman bets that he can turn a cockney flower girl into the perfect image of a lady.
This effect happens every where, it can be in the office, a classroom, a mall or even a party, the effect can influence a person in a negative or positive way, for example, if you are a teacher in a class room and you are watching the students as they make a test, you center you attention in two students, to the first student you think, “I think that he will get a very good grade in this test” and you turn your gaze to the second student and think “I don’t think that he will get a good grade”, when you are grading the tests, you will see that the first student got a A+ and the second student will get a C-, this effect can influence a person according to the expectation that you have of that person.
It’s also the same situation in an office, if a manager gives an employee a task and he does not believe that he is the right person for the task, the person will fail. It’s very important if you ever are going to give a task to a person to keep in mind that the person is the one for the job, that he will complete the task that has been given to him. Also, the way to treat a person can affect their performance, if a manager doesn’t pay attention to a particular employee or he does not praise the employee as much as the other, the employee will think that he is a failure and his attitude toward work will become negative and he will make mistakes and will not try hard enough to make an excellent work and can affect negative way his co-workers, but, if the employee is being treated the same as the others, he is being praised for doing a good work, slowly, the employee will get better and more secure with his work and will become an important part of the company and he will have a positive attitude toward work and will affect in a positive way to his co-workers.
The effect of the Pygmalion effects is not something that you see at first sight, you know the theory but in order to see results you have to investigate for some times and you will see that the final result on an employee and on the company, this is the desirable result that every teacher, company or organization want to achieve. This is the positive effect of the Pygmalion effects.
J. Sterling Livingston said "If he is unskilled, he leaves scars on the careers of the young men (and women), cuts deeply into their self-esteem and distorts their image of themselves as human beings. But if he is skillful and has high expectations of his subordinates, their self-confidence will grow, their capabilities will develop and their productivity will be high. More often than he realizes, the manager is Pygmalion."
http://www.accomplishlife.com/blogs/8/The-Pygmalion-Effect.html
http://www.envisionsoftware.com/articles/Pygmalion_Effect.html
http://humanresources.about.com/od/managementtips/a/mgmtsecret.htm
http://fcis.oise.utoronto.ca/~daniel_sc/assignment1/1968rosenjacob.html
sábado, 28 de agosto de 2010
Question 1
1. Considering the conference "Dealing with Cultural Differences" by Nick B. Meyer, choose 1 cultural dimension and use 2 hypothetical but realistic situations - or real ones - to illustrate the business implications of cultural differences. you may not use situations or examples already discussed in class or in the conference.
According to hofstedes there are five dimensions:
1. Power distance index
2. Masculinity
3. Uncertainty avoidance
4. Individualism
5. Long-term orientation
I’m only going to center around two of these dimensions:
Power distance index (PDI)
In short words, it’s the distance between the higher ups to the employees, for example, let compared two different cultures, the Australian (also know as an ozzie) and the Japanese, these two have a good commercial relation, but one very noticeable difference between these two cultures is the distance between manager and employee, in the Australian culture is not rare to see a boss with his employee drinking a glass of beer and speaking as they were close fiend, but, in the Japanese culture, there is a respectful attitude with the boss, and speaking to him as he was a very close friend will be considered as a rude and un-respectful gesture toward the boss.
Individualism
It refers to closeness between people and families, in Australia, it’s a more individualism country, they tend to care more about their direct family and they each take care of their one, while in china, there is a lot of collectivism between families, its not weird to see a gathering with second and third cousins. Also, in China people take care of the connections with other people, people can get a job more easily depending of the connections they have, while in Australia, its not accepted to get a job thru connections with people, it can be considered against the law
Bibliography:
http://www.convictcreations.com/culture/japan.html
http://www.convictcreations.com/culture/australiaasia.html
http://japanwatching.com/culture/92-how-different-are-the-japanese
2. Write a short essay considering the following questions:
- Do you think there is a corporate culture in every organisation?
- If we assume there is: Can it be modified?
Geert Hofstede said "Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another".
There is a corporate culture in every organization; each company has a set of values, regulation and methods to act.
Organizational culture is different from the objectives and goals that the company has, the organizational culture is how to act and work along side with your coworkers and how to interact with the managers and bosses, each company has their own culture, the culture can be modified but not immediately, fast results in this case are not appropriate in order to improve, you have to start with little changes and this will lead to the big changes, but is very difficult to achieve in the first try, if not done right, workers can have a difficult work relations between them, it will be a very stressful environment and there will be confusions.
One of the reasons for an organizational culture is to create a long term relation and a collective mentality in the company, to increase the loyalty of the workers to the company, the little things that some times you don’t see at the first glance, and how they do certain things, are the things you want to look for to see the organizational culture that the company has, and, when you are the new guy in the company, noticing these details will help you to get used to the work and with your co-workers.
Robert Kohls sais "Culture is an integrated system of learned behavior patterns that are characteristic of the members of any given society. Culture refers to the total way of life for a particular group of people. It includes [what] a group of people thinks, says, does and makes—its customs, language, material artifacts and shared systems of attitudes and feelings".
Bibliography:
http://www.convictcreations.com/culture/japan.html
http://www.coach-englisch.net/html/culture_quotes.html
According to hofstedes there are five dimensions:
1. Power distance index
2. Masculinity
3. Uncertainty avoidance
4. Individualism
5. Long-term orientation
I’m only going to center around two of these dimensions:
Power distance index (PDI)
In short words, it’s the distance between the higher ups to the employees, for example, let compared two different cultures, the Australian (also know as an ozzie) and the Japanese, these two have a good commercial relation, but one very noticeable difference between these two cultures is the distance between manager and employee, in the Australian culture is not rare to see a boss with his employee drinking a glass of beer and speaking as they were close fiend, but, in the Japanese culture, there is a respectful attitude with the boss, and speaking to him as he was a very close friend will be considered as a rude and un-respectful gesture toward the boss.
Individualism
It refers to closeness between people and families, in Australia, it’s a more individualism country, they tend to care more about their direct family and they each take care of their one, while in china, there is a lot of collectivism between families, its not weird to see a gathering with second and third cousins. Also, in China people take care of the connections with other people, people can get a job more easily depending of the connections they have, while in Australia, its not accepted to get a job thru connections with people, it can be considered against the law
Bibliography:
http://www.convictcreations.com/culture/japan.html
http://www.convictcreations.com/culture/australiaasia.html
http://japanwatching.com/culture/92-how-different-are-the-japanese
2. Write a short essay considering the following questions:
- Do you think there is a corporate culture in every organisation?
- If we assume there is: Can it be modified?
Geert Hofstede said "Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another".
There is a corporate culture in every organization; each company has a set of values, regulation and methods to act.
Organizational culture is different from the objectives and goals that the company has, the organizational culture is how to act and work along side with your coworkers and how to interact with the managers and bosses, each company has their own culture, the culture can be modified but not immediately, fast results in this case are not appropriate in order to improve, you have to start with little changes and this will lead to the big changes, but is very difficult to achieve in the first try, if not done right, workers can have a difficult work relations between them, it will be a very stressful environment and there will be confusions.
One of the reasons for an organizational culture is to create a long term relation and a collective mentality in the company, to increase the loyalty of the workers to the company, the little things that some times you don’t see at the first glance, and how they do certain things, are the things you want to look for to see the organizational culture that the company has, and, when you are the new guy in the company, noticing these details will help you to get used to the work and with your co-workers.
Robert Kohls sais "Culture is an integrated system of learned behavior patterns that are characteristic of the members of any given society. Culture refers to the total way of life for a particular group of people. It includes [what] a group of people thinks, says, does and makes—its customs, language, material artifacts and shared systems of attitudes and feelings".
Bibliography:
http://www.convictcreations.com/culture/japan.html
http://www.coach-englisch.net/html/culture_quotes.html
domingo, 22 de agosto de 2010
Org. Communication + Virtual Teams
Effective communication is the foundation for effectiveness in any type of organization, thru a good communication in a company is more effecting when task are being delegated, especially in virtual teams there has to be a good communication between team mates in order to be efficient, so lets talk a little of communication.
There are two dimensions in communication:
• Interpersonal communication
When you are speaking to another person
• Technological communication
When you “talk” to a person without him in front of you, like thru an e-mail or text message, these are the most dominant in a virtual team.
What is a virtual team? A virtual team is a group of people that are working for a project of the same company, but they don’t work in the same office, in some cases the members of the team are in different countries and they may work for the same or different companies, one of the benefits of virtual teams is that these teams reduce cost and time for the companies, but, a virtual team is not the same as a virtual community, and a virtual team unlike a normal meeting, the team members don’t have to meet face to face in a meeting room every day, they can each work their part and check the progress of the other members, the can schedule meetings thru the web when they need to check something, but one of the most obvious disadvantage is the different time schedules, cause the members may be in different countries, there may be also a little language barrier.
In order to have an effective communication, keep these points in mind:
• Clarity
• Objective
• Understanding
• Consistency
• Completeness
• Feedback
• Time
Bibliography:
http://managementhelp.org/grp_skll/virtual/virtual.htm
http://managementhelp.org/grp_skll/virtual/defntion.pdf
http://www.seanet.com/~daveg/vrteams.htm
http://www.groupjazz.com/pdf/vteams-toronto.pdf
http://managementhelp.org/mrktng/org_cmm.htm
http://orgcomm.web.mtsu.edu/
http://www.uky.edu/~drlane/capstone/orgcomm/
There are two dimensions in communication:
• Interpersonal communication
When you are speaking to another person
• Technological communication
When you “talk” to a person without him in front of you, like thru an e-mail or text message, these are the most dominant in a virtual team.
What is a virtual team? A virtual team is a group of people that are working for a project of the same company, but they don’t work in the same office, in some cases the members of the team are in different countries and they may work for the same or different companies, one of the benefits of virtual teams is that these teams reduce cost and time for the companies, but, a virtual team is not the same as a virtual community, and a virtual team unlike a normal meeting, the team members don’t have to meet face to face in a meeting room every day, they can each work their part and check the progress of the other members, the can schedule meetings thru the web when they need to check something, but one of the most obvious disadvantage is the different time schedules, cause the members may be in different countries, there may be also a little language barrier.
In order to have an effective communication, keep these points in mind:
• Clarity
• Objective
• Understanding
• Consistency
• Completeness
• Feedback
• Time
Bibliography:
http://managementhelp.org/grp_skll/virtual/virtual.htm
http://managementhelp.org/grp_skll/virtual/defntion.pdf
http://www.seanet.com/~daveg/vrteams.htm
http://www.groupjazz.com/pdf/vteams-toronto.pdf
http://managementhelp.org/mrktng/org_cmm.htm
http://orgcomm.web.mtsu.edu/
http://www.uky.edu/~drlane/capstone/orgcomm/
Motivation
Motivation comes from the Latin word movere, which mean to move.
Motivation is the activation or energization of goal-orientated behavior, motivation may be rooted in the basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, it’s a way to push the employees to reach a goal or an objective.
There are 4 motivational theories:
• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Proposed in 1943 by Abraham Maslow. This theory is very simple to understand, as you see in the image, there are different need that a human needs, but he has to start at the lowest levels that is basic needs, when those needs are fulfilled they move to the next one, and the next, and the next until you reach the level on top.
• McClelland’s need theory
Also referred as the three need theory, David McClelland proposed that a persons needs are shaped by life experiences, and these three needs are:
o Achievement
They prefer to work along or with persons that are high achievers, they seek to excel and tend to avoid low-risk because if the success is easily attained then it’s not an achievement which they are not very proud of, and in high-risk situations the success is look at as a matter of chance than achievement by ones own efforts, they like to get feedback of their result. Money is not an important motivation.
o Affiliation
They perform their best in a cooperative environment; they prefer to work in environment where there is a lot of interaction between workers and acceptance between workers, they are very good in situations where they are negotiating with a client or in customer service
o Power
They are very motivates to manage other people, there are two types:
Personal: They prefer to direct everyone and is often perceive as undesirable
Institutional: They want to organize the efforts in order to make it more productive for the organization; a person with high institutional power is more effective than a person with high personal power.
• Herzberg’s two-factor theory
There are two factors that can motivate or affect a company employee into working better or worse, the two factors are:
1. Motivators are the things that motivate an employee to give a higher performance at work such as recognition, achievement or personal growth.
2. Hygiene Factors are things that ensure that the employee will not get dissatisfied at work such as status, job security, salary and fringe benefits (non-wage compensations provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries like health insurance, etc).
• Expectancy theory
This theory explains how individuals make their decisions regarding various behavioral alternatives. There are 2 propositions:
1. When deciding among behavioral options, individuals select the option with the greatest motivation forces (MF).
2. The motivational force for a behavior, action, or task is a function of three distinct perceptions: Expectancy, Instrumentality, and Valance. The motivational force is the product of the three perceptions:
• EXPECTANCY
That depending on the effort you will get the desired performance and is based on past experiences, self- confidence and how a person perceives the difficulty of the job.
• INSTRUMENTALITY
Is a perceived performance-reward relationship, that if an employee meets the expectations that the company had for them, they will get a reward for their work.
• VALENCE
How a person sees the reward, this point of view depends on the person’s needs, goals and values.
http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/expectancy.htm
http://tutor2u.net/business/people/motivation_theory_herzberg.asp
http://www.quickmba.com/mgmt/expectancy-theory/
http://www.accel-team.com/motivation/
http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/hierarchyneeds.htm
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/maslow.htm
http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_herzberg_two_factor_theory.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?Motivation-Theory&id=410700
Motivation is the activation or energization of goal-orientated behavior, motivation may be rooted in the basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, it’s a way to push the employees to reach a goal or an objective.
There are 4 motivational theories:
• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Proposed in 1943 by Abraham Maslow. This theory is very simple to understand, as you see in the image, there are different need that a human needs, but he has to start at the lowest levels that is basic needs, when those needs are fulfilled they move to the next one, and the next, and the next until you reach the level on top.
• McClelland’s need theory
Also referred as the three need theory, David McClelland proposed that a persons needs are shaped by life experiences, and these three needs are:
o Achievement
They prefer to work along or with persons that are high achievers, they seek to excel and tend to avoid low-risk because if the success is easily attained then it’s not an achievement which they are not very proud of, and in high-risk situations the success is look at as a matter of chance than achievement by ones own efforts, they like to get feedback of their result. Money is not an important motivation.
o Affiliation
They perform their best in a cooperative environment; they prefer to work in environment where there is a lot of interaction between workers and acceptance between workers, they are very good in situations where they are negotiating with a client or in customer service
o Power
They are very motivates to manage other people, there are two types:
Personal: They prefer to direct everyone and is often perceive as undesirable
Institutional: They want to organize the efforts in order to make it more productive for the organization; a person with high institutional power is more effective than a person with high personal power.
• Herzberg’s two-factor theory
There are two factors that can motivate or affect a company employee into working better or worse, the two factors are:
1. Motivators are the things that motivate an employee to give a higher performance at work such as recognition, achievement or personal growth.
2. Hygiene Factors are things that ensure that the employee will not get dissatisfied at work such as status, job security, salary and fringe benefits (non-wage compensations provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries like health insurance, etc).
• Expectancy theory
This theory explains how individuals make their decisions regarding various behavioral alternatives. There are 2 propositions:
1. When deciding among behavioral options, individuals select the option with the greatest motivation forces (MF).
2. The motivational force for a behavior, action, or task is a function of three distinct perceptions: Expectancy, Instrumentality, and Valance. The motivational force is the product of the three perceptions:
• EXPECTANCY
That depending on the effort you will get the desired performance and is based on past experiences, self- confidence and how a person perceives the difficulty of the job.
• INSTRUMENTALITY
Is a perceived performance-reward relationship, that if an employee meets the expectations that the company had for them, they will get a reward for their work.
• VALENCE
How a person sees the reward, this point of view depends on the person’s needs, goals and values.
http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/expectancy.htm
http://tutor2u.net/business/people/motivation_theory_herzberg.asp
http://www.quickmba.com/mgmt/expectancy-theory/
http://www.accel-team.com/motivation/
http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/hierarchyneeds.htm
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/maslow.htm
http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_herzberg_two_factor_theory.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?Motivation-Theory&id=410700
sábado, 21 de agosto de 2010
Organizational Culture and National Culture
National and organizational culture are different from each other, if you are negotiating with another country or company, investigate a little beforehand of who you are going to meet and their culture, when negotiating take into account cultural aspect such as religion, body language, education, personal communication, manners and customs, values, social structure and their attitudes (toward time, work and cultural change)
Organizational Culture:
It can be considered as informal, they are guidelines used in organizations practices and you learn them while on your job, you begin to act and imitate you co-workers actions on certain actions and situations, it’s very difficult to change an existing organizational culture to a new one, the changes have to been slowly and thru trial an error, if the changes are too drastic it can change the performance of the employees and it will cause confusion and conflict, but a good organizational culture can change the efficiency of the employees and also the company.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WkazAAuKnk&feature=related
This video can help you understand the Organizational Culture, its in portuguese but is easy to understand
National Culture:
Is Considered as formal, but it can also be misleading, national culture refers to people from any given country, this will characterized some values, attitudes and behavior from people from a national culture, consider the national culture as an iceberg, there is a part that is easy to see like the top, but there is a lot under water that cannot be seen as easily, you can only see the top aspects of the national culture, its easier for a company to expand to a country with a similar national culture.
bibliography:
• http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ndu/strat-ldr-dm/pt4ch16.html
• http://www.soi.org/reading/change/culture.shtml
• http://humanresources.about.com/od/organizationalculture/Organizational_Culture_Corporate_Culture_in_Organizations.htm
• http://managementhelp.org/org_thry/culture/culture.htm
Organizational Culture:
It can be considered as informal, they are guidelines used in organizations practices and you learn them while on your job, you begin to act and imitate you co-workers actions on certain actions and situations, it’s very difficult to change an existing organizational culture to a new one, the changes have to been slowly and thru trial an error, if the changes are too drastic it can change the performance of the employees and it will cause confusion and conflict, but a good organizational culture can change the efficiency of the employees and also the company.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WkazAAuKnk&feature=related
This video can help you understand the Organizational Culture, its in portuguese but is easy to understand
National Culture:
Is Considered as formal, but it can also be misleading, national culture refers to people from any given country, this will characterized some values, attitudes and behavior from people from a national culture, consider the national culture as an iceberg, there is a part that is easy to see like the top, but there is a lot under water that cannot be seen as easily, you can only see the top aspects of the national culture, its easier for a company to expand to a country with a similar national culture.
bibliography:
• http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ndu/strat-ldr-dm/pt4ch16.html
• http://www.soi.org/reading/change/culture.shtml
• http://humanresources.about.com/od/organizationalculture/Organizational_Culture_Corporate_Culture_in_Organizations.htm
• http://managementhelp.org/org_thry/culture/culture.htm
viernes, 20 de agosto de 2010
Organizational Behavior
Organizational behavior is the study of how people, individuals and groups act in an organization. Its main purpose is to build better relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational objectives, and social objectives.
This makes an organization or a company more efficient and the possibility to make the employees and workers to work harder and better.
OB involves different sciences:
- Psychology - Human behavior
- Sociology – Society and group dynamics
- Anthropology - Performance
- Engineering - Human learned behavior and org. culture
- Management - Administrative science
- Medicine - Physical and psychological health
There are 4 models of
Autocratic
- The basis of this model is power with a managerial orientation of authority. The employees in turn are oriented towards obedience and dependence on the boss.
- The employee need that is met is subsistence.
- The performance result is minimal.
Custodial
- The basis of this model is economic resources with a managerial orientation of money. The employees in turn are oriented towards security and benefits and dependence on the organization.
- The employee need that is met is security.
- The performance result is passive cooperation.
Supportive
- The basis of this model is leadership with a managerial orientation of support. The employees in turn are oriented towards job performance and participation.
- The employee need that is met is status and recognition.
- The performance result is awakened drives.
Collegial
- The basis of this model is partnership with a managerial orientation of teamwork. The employees in turn are oriented towards responsible behavior and self-discipline.
- The employee need that is met is self-actualization.
- The performance result is moderate enthusiasm.
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadob.html
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