Managing diversity, Religions and the organizations

Summary:

Diversity

Into a world full of diversity and multiculturalism, we have to work with people from everywhere and try to understand the different thoughts and reactions to some situations.

There are some rules that try to control people’s behavior in order to avoid problems among them. Those aspects are:

·         Norms of Behavior.

·         Group Cohesion.

·         Social Loafing.

·         Loss of Individuality.

Diversity is the variety of human societies or cultures in a specific region, or in the world as a whole. Some individuals, particularly those with strong religious beliefs, maintain that it is in the best interests of individuals and of humanity as a whole that all people adhere to a specific model for society or specific aspects of such a model.

Questions

Since diversity is a source of competitive advantage, what could be the recruitment strategies to effectively target to diverse groups? What would be the consequences of ignoring diversity?

Diversity is a pretty important aspect when talking about groups because if it is composed by different kind of people it’s better to find a common background in order to avoid any problem or confusion. Finding a common activity of integration can be the best alternative because if you ignore diversity, it can be read as discrimination and can cause many internal problems.

Religion

Religion is a fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a group of people. These set of beliefs concern the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, and involve devotional and ritual observances. They also often contain a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

Question

What is the dominant religion in Colombia? What are the religious implications for doing business here? Give examples.

The dominant religion in Colombia is Catholicism, although most of the people practice this and believe a lot in its prophesy, it doesn’t have any kind of implication in business because a lot of years before social aspects were separated from religion.

Bibliography:

·         Turner, B. S. (2007). Managing religions: State responses to religious diversity. Contemporary Islam, 1(2), 123-137. doi:10.1007/s11562-007-0011-1

·         Tan, S. (2005). Of diversities and comparisons . . Philosophy East and West, 55(1), 111-124.

·         Definitions and Evaluation of Religion and Spirituality Items by Religious Professionals: A Pilot Study. Corine Hyman, Paul J. Handal. Journal of Religion and Health. Vol. 45, No. 2 (Summer, 2006), pp. 264-282.

·         The Concepts of 'Religion', 'Political Religion' and the Study of Nazism. Stanley Stowers. Journal of Contemporary History. Vol. 42, No. 1 (Jan., 2007), pp. 9-24.

·         Building an Inclusive Diversity Culture: Principles, Processes and Practice. Nicola M. Pless, Thomas Maak. Journal of Business Ethics . Vol. 54, No. 2 (Oct., 2004), pp. 129-147.

Communication and Virtual teams

Summary:

Communication is how the ideas are transmitted between people through different means. The most common and known communication way is the interpersonal communication, which is the base for building and maintaining relationships. There are four main elements for this type of communication: the communicator, the receiver, the perceptual screens and the message. In order to have a good communication, the listener must be reflective, and the characteristics of this type of listener are: pay attention to the sender of the information, giving an appropriate feedback and try to correct any mistake that occurs during this process.

The effective managers must communicate in a proper way to make them clear, that’s why they must be: expressive speakers and express openly in order to show what they want to achieve, empathetic listeners and being willing to listen, persuasive leaders and motivate other people to achieve goals and not just giving orders, sensitive to feelings and improve the self-esteem of the employees, and finally informative and provide the necessary information to the employees.

The main principles of an effective communication are:

• Clarity: to give an idea clearly.

• Objective: don’t take any side when giving the information.

• Understanding: to give the information completely and avoid missing any important detail.

• Consistency: to have the same position during the communication.

• Completeness: to include all the relevant information.

• Feedback: to return the message given in order to be sure that the information was well received.

• Time: giving the information in the time required.

There is a new practice called Virtual Teams in which members work in more than one physical location and is based on the use of technology as a communication mediator. There are some characteristics of the virtual teams that are relevant: they are geographically dispersed, are driven by a common purpose, are enabled by communication technologies, normally they are not big and requires workers with different and complementary knowledge. The use of virtual teams might be a solution to enhance the performance and competitiveness and can represent also opportunities for intellectual growth and the transfer of information.

Some advantages of using the virtual teams, such as:

• Relocation of time and costs.

• Time to market to be present where the market changes occur and improve coordination.

• Linking experts that could be difficult to communicate in a face to face situation and to increase the chances to communicate them.

• Productivity due to the short time to develop new products.

• Flexibility because changes are implemented easier.

Bibliography:

·         Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams. Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa, Dorothy E. Leidner. Organization Science. Vol. 10, No. 6, Special Issue: Communication Processes for Virtual Organizations (Nov. - Dec., 1999), pp. 791-815

·         Bridging Space over Time: Global Virtual Team Dynamics and Effectiveness. Martha L. Maznevski, Katherine M. Chudoba. Organization Science. Vol. 11, No. 5 (Sep. - Oct., 2000), pp. 473-492

·         Introduction to the Special Issue: Communication Processes for Virtual Organizations. Gerardine DeSanctis, Peter Monge. Organization Science. Vol. 10, No. 6, Special Issue: Communication Processes for Virtual Organizations (Nov. - Dec., 1999), pp. 693-703

·         Network Structure in Virtual Organizations. Manju K. Ahuja, Kathleen M. Carley. Organization Science Vol. 10, No. 6, Special Issue: Communication Processes for Virtual Organizations (Nov. - Dec., 1999), pp. 741-757

The role of workers, migrant workers and expatriates

Summary:

Something you should know!!!!

-       One third of migrant workers worldwide are living in Europe, being juts a little lower than the number of those living in Asia and North America.

-       Most migrant women perform work temporary and the main destinations for doing this are Middle East, Asia and Southeast Asia.

-       In some countries, such as the Gulf region, more than 40 percent of the workforce is composed of migrants.

-       It is predicted that by 2030 India and China will have 40 percent of the global workforce.

What is de difference between Expatriate and Migrant?

Our world is full of diversities, which can be shared by the different ways of communication like television, and this diversity can create the image of best opportunities to people abroad different countries, which show how its own country is better than those how are still trying to develop better standards of living. Migration has been an important factor when improving the income, education and children’s future prospects in many places. Nurses, social worker, writers, political refugees, carpenters, construction workers, academics and computer professionals are all part of around 1 billion people on their heels both within their native countries and abroad. Recently, especially on countries such as Germany, the workers have had an increasing participation on the decision making process on the companies.

But…What is the real goal when going out from the country? Most of people migrate because they don’t have good opportunities on their own country so they go abroad in order to look for better prospects and quality of life. We can see how the multicultural background of these individuals and the policies that regulate their movement make human mobility one of the most perplexed issues that the world is facing today.

Question:

Explain how easy is it for Colombian companies to employ expatriates locally?

Colombian companies have some regulations when employing expatriates locally, because government tries to protect local labor hand.

In order to create a protection to the Colombian production, the government has created some rules and legislation that can guarantee the benefit and welfare of its own labor hand.

Some of the laws are:

“Article1. Employers, whatever their activity or nationality, shall give preference to recruitment of domestic workers.

Article2. The employment of foreign workers is subject to the labor of the activity privacy and the limits established by this Act and its services are covered under the scheme.”[1]

Bibliography:

·         http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/labour-migration-and-demographics/lang/es

·         http://www.mintra.gob.pe/contenidos/archivos/prodlab/Ley%20de%20Contratacion%20de%20extranjeros.pdf

·         What You Do Depends on Where You Are: Understanding How Domestic and Expatriate Work Requirements Depend upon the Cultural Context Shung J. Shin, Frederick P. Morgeson, Michael A. Campion Journal of International Business Studies Vol. 38, No. 1 (Jan., 2007), pp. 64-83.

·         Expatriate Selection: Insuring Success and Avoiding Failure Richard D. Hays Journal of International Business Studies Vol. 5, No. 1 (Spring, 1974), pp. 25-37

·         Migration, Knowledge and Social Interaction: Expatriate Labour within Investment Banks Jonathan V. Beaverstock Area Vol. 28, No. 4 (Dec., 1996), pp. 459-470

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[1] http://www.mintra.gob.pe/contenidos/archivos/prodlab/Ley%20de%20Contratacion%20de%20extranjeros.pdf

Organizational learning, change and conflict

Summary:

There are 5 important concepts to take into account in order to understand this topic:

à Knowledge: is the acquisition of information that someone gain through experience, education or rational thoughts.

à Learning: is the action of acquiring new or modifying knowledge, behaviors, skills, values or preferences. Learning is the facility to infer different kind of information in order to progress over time tends.

à Information: is a number of processed data that create a message giving knowledge to a subject.

à Change: is a concept that refers to transition when something is moved from one condition to another.

à Conflict: is a struggle between two or more parties that creates a tension among them.

With the purpose of explain the behavior on the organizational learning we have some different theories:

1.    Classical Conditioning: it is that “when two things usually occur together, the appearance of one brings to mind the other”. This theory was founded by Ivan Pavlov, he made this after studying animals’ behavior and one of the bases was:

            EI ------- > RI = Dogs salivate naturally when they detect food.

            (EI: unconditioned or natural stimulus. RI: unconditioned response.)

2.    Operant Conditioning: It was developed by Burrhus Frederic Skinner. This theory is a type of associative learning that has to do with the development of new behaviors in terms of its consequences.

3.    Social learning Theory: It says that people learn new conducts by effort, punishment or just by seeing social factor in their environment, then if they see a positive consequence it is possible that they follow this conduct otherwise it is less possible that they take this as a model.

With the time people have created different kind of places or organizations to learn and expand the capacities to develop the society and population, these places are called learning organizations and have as goal to guide people and give them information that can improve their skills and criterions.

Learning organizations play an important role in business because they have developed different ways of conduction in order to enter and survive in external markets so quality of life is improving every day.

This kind of organization gives persons information and knowledge in different levels so they have to climb them until they can be considered as competent professionals to help the market.

Question:

What would be the relationship between cross cultural environments and organizational learning strategies?

Organizational learning needs to take into account the importance of cross cultural environment because they have to develop different ways of giving information depending on the society or group they are trying to enter.

Learning and information vary depending on customs and education so organizations should study the population and guide them to the main goal or what they really want.

Organizational learning strategies are created and developed to a specific group of people so the results can be different depending on the place, that’s why cultural environment is so important because the specialist has to study the communities’ procedures and signals in order to change or adapt the theory to that specific population.

What could have been an excellent way of acting or teaching in United States might not be as good in other countries and can create a conflict there.

Bibliography:

·         Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures George P. Huber Organization Science Vol. 2, No. 1, Special Issue: Organizational Learning: Papers in Honor of (and by) James G. March (1991), pp. 88-115

·         Organizational Learning and Strategic Renewal Mary M. Crossan, Iris Berdrow Strategic Management Journal Vol. 24, No. 11 (Nov., 2003), pp. 1087-1105

·         A Market-Based Computational Approach to Collaborative Organizational Learning P. -S. Deng, E. G. Tsacle The Journal of the Operational Research Society Vol. 54, No. 9, Part Special Issue: Modelling Organizational Knowledge (Sep., 2003), pp. 924-935

·         The Local and Variegated Nature of Learning in Organizations: A Group-Level Perspective Amy C. Edmondson Organization Science Vol. 13, No. 2 (Mar. - Apr., 2002), pp. 128-146

·         An Organizational Learning Model of Convergence and Reorientation Theresa K. Lant, Stephen J. Mezias Organization Science Vol. 3, No. 1 (Feb., 1992), pp. 47-71

Image: http://www.wikihow.com/Debrief-to-Promote-Organizational-Learning

Merging organizational culture

Summary:

In this business world we have as main goal the creation of value when talking about successful and recognition, but sometimes a company can’t reach this on its own so they need to merge with another or more.

But what is merging? Merge is the combination of two or more organizations into one. They usually merge policies, budget, administrations and all the areas into the companies.

However, companies try to look for others with similar organizational cultures and management styles so they won’t have as many problems as they can have by merging with different or parallel enterprises’ costumes.

We need to take into account that the principal component for a company is the employees and merging with parties that are so different is not good for them because this can create a feeling of unconformity and can discourage them, so here is when we can talk about the “ideal culture fit”. This is to find the best and similar culture in: mission, leadership and management styles, the way the organization is arranged in terms of hierarchy, language and communication, physical work environment, staff diversity, interpersonal dynamics and traditions and celebrations.

There are two organizational integration variables which are considered as relevant in the acquisition process: the motive for the acquisition and the process of implementation. The motive for acquisition refers to the reason that the parties have to make the merge and it is the most important because it will influence the level of required interaction between the members. The success of a particular integration strategy depends mainly on the manager’s ability to reconcile the need for strategic interdependence between the two firms and the need for organizational autonomy.  The acculturative process describes the cultural changes resulting from the interaction of one organizational culture with another.

Question:

According to the case studies (in class and in textbook), what are the practical steps to minimize the feelings of uncertainty normally expected by employees, and also to facilitate the learning process to occur between the two groups of people in their process of cultural and behavioral integration?

I think there are seven main steps that are required in order to minimize the feelings of uncertainty and can facilitate the learning process too. These steps are:

1. Have a good internal communication among members; the parties should create a common a communication style.

2. Members should have a high commitment to the merge’s mission and objectives.

3. The way how directors lead the organization.

4. Have a good and fast problem solving.

5. The place to work needs to be comfortable and relaxed.

6. Members should have a frequent interaction, so communication can fluctuate easily when solving problems.

7. To have an established hierarchy

Bibliography:

·         http://www.cgcareers.org/articles/detail/organizational-culture-finding-the-right-fit/

·         http://www.dinero.com/wf_ImprimirArticulo.aspx?IdRef=3485&IdTab=1

·         http://www.thedeal.com/magazine/ID/032134/community/a-new-era-of-m&a-in-china.php

Leadership styles + Management styles: Convergence and differentiation

Summary:

In order to understand de differences between a manager and a leader we should know the meaning or the perception that is established in the population.

The manager is a person how conduct a group of people in order to reach the company’s goal because of recognition and the leader is a person that guide a group of people in order to help them to reach a common goal. We can say that a manager leads just because it is his job but a leader does it because it is a natural feeling.

Sometimes it is better to be a manager that a leader or a leader than a manager, it depends on the situation and the wants of each person. Anyway, although they are different the common thing they have is: Self-Satisfaction.

Some of the differences are:

Inpire of  the differences there are some theories that try to describe the leaders’ and manager’s behavior:

1.    Authoritarian: This is a way of leadership in which there isn’t taken into account the opinion of others and the decisions are irrational and without any kind of fundamental reasons. This leadership lacks of freedom to its members.

2.    Consultative: The leader is capable of share opinions and information with the people involved on the problem or the decision. He always consults every important fact and listen advices.

3.    Democratic: In this one, the leader is just a kind of representative of a group of people. He can’t make any important decision without asking the population about it and he needs to be supported by everyone in the group.

In a multicultural world we can find 4 different kinds of leaders which are classified in:

Question:

Do you (or would you want to) work in an autocratic, democratic, or consultative work environment? What might be the advantages and disadvantages of each?

I would like to work into a democratic work environment because this can make you feel part of a team in which every single member is an important part in the goals and you can say what you thought without being rejected or ignored.

Autocratic: I really can’t find an advantage in this one, because the only fact that can make this leadership good is that the leader thinks the same way that the group do, and this is almost impossible. Some of the disadvantages are that the decisions are imposed and the members can’t be against them and that the leader creates a kind of tyranny.

Democratic: This way of leadership has many advantages like: The members can demonstrate its interests, opinions and thoughts; the decisions are made by taking into account the opinion and needs of everyone. The only disadvantage that I can find is that sometimes democracy can reflect the thoughts or needs of the majority and powerful population and not those of the minority.

Consultative: This leadership is good because there isn’t an only one leader making decisions; the principal leader always has someone to discuss the options and trying to find the best one. Although this fact, the disadvantages are still bigger because they can create a single power that follows their own goals and not the community ones.

Bibliography:

·         The Good Manager: A Moral Manager? Per Sundman Journal of Business Ethics Vol. 27, No. 3 (Oct., 2000), pp. 247-254 Published by: Springer. Article Stable tURL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25074380.

·         Leader Responsiveness, Equity Sensitivity, and Employee Attitudes and Behavior Ted Shore, Thomas Sy, Judy Strauss. Journal of Business and Psychology . Vol. 21, No. 2 (Winter, 2006), pp. 227-241. Published by: Springer. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25092966.

·         Development of Leader-Member Exchange: A Longitudinal Test. Tayla N. Bauer, Stephen G. Green, Talya N. Bauer. The Academy of Management Journal . Vol. 39, No. 6 (Dec., 1996), pp. 1538-1567. Published by: Academy of Management. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/257068

On mission and leadership; a leader to leader guide (2002). Book News, Inc. Retrieved fromhttp://search.proquest.com/docview/199627326?accountid=45662.