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Transcript of OB Accross Cultures
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7/31/2019 OB Accross Cultures
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Managing
Organizations ina Global Economy
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The people of the world are organized into nations with its own
way, according to its recourses and heritages. There are some
similarities and differences among the nations. Understanding
these differences and how they influence organizational
behavior is aided by examination of following keys:
Social conditions
Legal and ethical conditions
Political conditions
Economic conditions
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In many countries the social condition is poorly developed , there are major
shortages of managerial personnel, scientists and technicians and these
deficiencies limit the ability to employ local labor . Needed skills must be
imported from other countries while the local workers will be prepared.
exp American nation welcomed an electronic assembly plant to its capital city .the
plant was labor- intensive, so the many jobs it provided reduce the nations high
unemployment rate. wages were above standards, working conditions were good
and the plant was environmentally clean. Additionally companys agreement with
the host nation stated that the company would supply a cadre of managers and
technicians to train local employees. local would gradually become supervisors,
technician and purchasing specialist and so on.
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As this example shows, the lending of skilled people to a nation fortraining their local may provide a more lasting benefit to its development
rather than lending of capital.
Training multiplier effect: is in action by which the loaned skilled people
developed others, and those trained locals become the nucleus for
developing more people.
Loanedskilledpeople
Localtrainers
Localtrainees
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In judicial systems, some countries practice rapid disposition of cases, in
other countries cases may drag on for years. Some countries condone the
practice of bribery as way of obtaining and retaining businesses others
strictly prohibit it.
Managers need to be aware of the possible differences in both laws and
ethical values that define acceptable and unacceptable behaviors in foreign
countries .
The managers in foreign countries need to become familiar with local
customers and practice .Applying their own personal and organizational
value system, their must then decide which behaviors are compatible with
both parties expectations and which are not. Finally ,they need to
recognize that the resolution of ethical issues is not always clear-cut.
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Political condition that have a significant effect on organizational behavior
include instability of government ,nationalistic drives, and subordination of
employers .
On the other hand ,a strong nationalistic drive may enforce local to desire to
run their country by themselves without interference by foreign nationals.
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Inflation makes the economic life of workers insecure. It encourages them tospend quickly before their money loses its value and this spending pattern
o the countrys inflationary problem.
Social unrest is compounded by enormous disagreement in the distribution of
wealth in these nations. The consequences are often varied; some workers
passively accept their situation, while others aggressively protest.
In conclusion ,by looking at the social, legal and ethical, political and
economic conditions we will find out that these conditions can restrain the
advanced technology and sophisticated organizational systems. They
constrain stability, security and trained human resources that developing
countries require to be more productive.
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There are five dimensions that accounted for the sharpest differences amongemployees including:
Individualism/collectivism
Power distance
Uncertainty avoidance
Masculinity/femininity
Time orientation
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Individualism/Collectivism: cultures that emphasize individualism tend toaccent individual rights and freedoms and place considerable attention on
self-respect whereas collectivism heavily accent the group and values
harmony among members. For example in US there is individualistic
culture(every person for him/her self) but Japan is collectivistic, with the
culture that can be characterized by the proverb:The nail sticks up getspounded down.
Power distance: refers to the belief which are strong and legitimate
decision-making rights separating managers and employees.
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Uncertainty avoidance: These employees prefer to avoid ambiguity at workand those who with high degree often prefer stability, security and clarity.
Masculinity/ Femininity: define gender roles in more traditional ways. In
addition, masculine societies evaluate assertive behavior and acquisition
wealth ;whereas feminine cultures contribute to the relationships among
people, caring for others and greater balance between family and work life.
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Time orientation: some cultures emphasize values such as the necessity ofpreparing for the future, the value of thrift and savings and the qualification
of persistence which have long-term orientation such as Hong Kong,
China and Japan.
Other cultures value the past and accent the present with the respect for
tradition and need to fulfill historical social obligations, they have short-
term orientation such as France, Russia, and West Africa.
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Multiculturism: occurs when the employees in two or more culturesinteract with each one on regular basis.
In some instances the new employees are parent-country nationals from the
nations in which the home office is located or they may be third-country
nationals from some other nations. In either case they are called expatriate
because they come from another nation. Their role is to provide a
combination of cultures in which both parties adjust to the new situation of
seeking greater productivity for the benefit of both the organization and the
citizens of the country.
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An expatriate manager may find several barriers to adjust to the newculture. For overcoming such problems is to acquire cultural awareness of
the multiple ways in which cultures differ(language , religion , food ,social
behavior and etc).
Highcontext cultures: these cultures tend to emphasize personal relations,
place high value on trust, focus on nonverbal cues(guidelines) and accept
the need to attend to social needs before business matters like China, Korea
and Japan.
Low-context cultures: tend to rely on written rules and legal documents,
conduct business first and value expertise and performance like Germany,US and Scandinavian countries.
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Parochialism: it means that the people see the situation around them fromtheir own perspective. They may fail to recognize key differences between
their own and others cultures.
Ethnocentrism: occurs when people are predisposed (talented) to believe
that their homeland conditions are the best. This predisposition is known as
the self-reference criterion or ethnocentrism.
Cultural empathy: is the awareness of the differences across the cultures
and understanding of the ways in which those differences can affect
business relationships. When culture empathy continues, it will result in
geocentric organization which ignore person's nationality while
emphasizing employee ability in selection, assignment, and decisions.
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Cultural distance: is the amount of difference between any two socialsystems and may range from minimal to substantial and it can affect the
responses of all people to business issues. For instance ,expatriates
managers tend to be a little ethnocentric and to judge conditions according
to their country standards and consequently ,these problems will be
magnified .
Culture shock: the employees who move to new job often experience
various degrees of cultural shock which is a feeling of confuion, insecurity
and anxiety. These are related to not knowing how to act and about losing
their self-confidence when wrong things are made.
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Cultural contingency: means that the most productive practices for aparticular nation will depend heavily on its culture. This lesson for both
expatriate and local managers to accept is neither home nations nor host
nations practices are used exclusively.
Cultural contingencies are illustrated by theory Z ,an integrative model of
organizational behavior proposed by William Ouch. It provides a usefulway in which behavioral instructions must be adapted to fit the
organizations cultural environment: Long-term employment
Non-specialized careers
Individual responsibility
Concern for the total person
Less formal control systems
Consensus decision making
Slower rates of promotion
The featuresoftheory Z
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In addition to the desirability to speak and understand thelanguage of the host country the expatriates also need togain an appreciation for important differences in non-verbalcommunication (i.e. Body language). If they do not, they riskmaking serious errors that might damage their relationshipswith their employees, partners and suppliers.
Areas in which orientations to Cross-culture communicationmay differ and are important contingency factors that mustme considered carefully by managers include:
Value placed on time efficiency,
Value placed on seeing the future
Thought patterns
Need for personal space, Eye contacts, Physical Appearance,Posture, Gesture
Meaning of Silence
Legitimacy of touch
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Transcultural Managers are those who have learned to manage employeesin several cultures effectively.
Transcultural Employees are those who have learned to operate effectivelyin several cultures. These employees are low in ethnocentrism and adapt readilyto different cultures without major cultural shock. They usually communicate inmore than one language.
Tran cultural employees are especially needed in large, multinational firms that operatein a variety of national cultures.
Multinational Firm: For a firm to be fully Multinational in character, it shouldhave the following items truly diversified without primary dominance of any onenation :
- Ownership,- Operations,
- Markets,- Managers.
Multinational Companies management look to the world as an economic andsocial unit; but reorganize each local culture, respect its integrity,acknowledge its benefits, and use its differences effectively in theirorganization.