o GNI adjustment via PPI (purchasing power parity);
o HDi (Humand Development Index);
Key drivers of growth:
o Innovation;
o Entrepreneurship;
o Is there a universal business culture??
o The current dominant form of management "know-how" seems to be sourced in the American-centric culture. Harvard Business School. Yale. Princeton. MIT. Stanford. All contain the resident "gurus" of managerial (and other) science.
o Other schools of management, like those in Central&Eastern Europe, seem to be incorporating MINDLESSLY, the dominant systemic ideology. American textbooks. American examples. Harvard, Harvard, Harvard....
o "One best way" of running a company. The HOLY grail of de-personified, mathematicised management theories.
o But, what about: - McDonald's in France?? - McDonald's in India?? - How do you motivate someone for whom position (title) is more important than money?? - What about "window workers" in pre-1990's Japanese firms??
o Thankfully, the cultural/national background of "gurus" is beginning to change. Look at the TOP50Thinkers CONSIDER:Are all the greatest economic superpowers represented??
o The reality of International Management
o Managers are faced with dealing with: - Personal culture; - Location culture; - Organisational culture;
o Key challenge: understanding what every (even the smallest) thing MEANS TO PEOPLE IN EACH CULTURE.
o Otherwise there will be NO understanding/appreciation of corporate: - Aims; - Goals; - Products; - Policies; - Services;
o Western thinking and ...reality
o Focus on: - Analytical thinking (breakdown of a phenomenon); - Rationality (prediction of consequences); But the approach is BEST suited to ...TECHNOLOGY.
o Westerners have created an understanding that management is: - A profession; - An emotionally detached rationality;
o Yet, business is all about RELATIONSHIPS. B2B, B2C, CRM, etc... And relationships are best supported by UNDERSTANDING.
o CONSIDER: the Cluetrain Manifesto (accessible online), talks about the emerging culture of converstions (sharing knolwedge at instant speeds, about everyhtign and anything, where nothign can be hidden). How can companies deal wiht such a challenge where nothing about their problems, weknesses, lies, etc will remain hidden for long??
o Culture
o Definition: A way in which a group of people solves problems and reconciles dilemmas. [Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 2005, p.6]
o A problem which is solved regularly DISAPPEARS from consciousness and becomes a basic assumption, an underlying premise. Basic assumptions define the meaning that a group shares. They are implicit.
o There is no understanding individual and organisational behaviour without understanding the MEANINGS they attribute to their environment.[Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 2005, p.19]
o Levels of culture. - Professional; - Organisational (f.e. corporate, family business); - National (or regional); - Global (is there ONE??);
o CONSIDER:Marshal McLuhan wrote about the "global village": is this happening?? What are its characteristics??
o Layers of culture. - Outer layer: explicit products. Observable reality of language, food, buildings, fashion, art, etc. - Middle layer: norms and values. Norms: mutual sense a group has of what is "right" or "wrong". [Formal: written laws; informal: social control]. Values: determine the definition of "good" and "bad". Are related to ideals shared by the group. - Core: Assumptions about existence. Fundamental ways of dealing with the (local) environment. Groups organise to assure better problem-resolution. Different geography = different problem-solving skills = different sets of logical assumptions.
o CONSIDER: What is the role in midle-eastern society of the penalty for theft (cutting-off a man's hand)??
o CONSIDER: What part of culture is the act on driving on a particular SIDE of the road (Europe vs UK)??
o Culture is: - Man-made; - Confirmed by others; - Conventionalised; - Passed on to younger people; - Taught to newcomers (they must learn it);
o
o Modeling cultural orientations
o Kluckhohn & Strodtbeck (1961) designed a comparative model, focusing on: Assumption 1: cultures are stable; Assumption 2: cultures exhibit constant "orientations" towards the world and mankind.
o Six basic cultural orientations. 1. What is the nature of people?? Scale: good-->mixed-->evil. 2. What is the person's relationship to nature?? Scale: dominant-->in harmony-->subjugation. 3. What is the person's relationship to other people?? Scale: lineal (hierarchical)-->collateral (collectivist)-->individualist. 4. What is the modality of human activity?? Scale: doing-->being in becoming-->being. 5. What is the temporal focus of human activity?? Scale:future-->present-->past. 6. What is the conception of space?? Scale: private-->mixed-->public.
o In real life the model is too simplistic, as not all members of a group must practice the same behaviour. BUT: when we consider the PREDOMINANT and SUBORDINATE variations, the same model can be used to explain the overall behaviour (predominant) from behaviour of smaller (subordinate) groups. Subordinate variations are significant when: - researching the behaviour cultural sub-groups; - analysing mainstream groups in abnormal (unusual) situations.
o Cultural contexts
o Hall (1976) focused on how people interpret and create communications in reference to the CONTEXT. Cultural experiences determine the understanding of context and define the way people structure their life. Cultures vary in terms of programming their members to depend on the context when communicating.
o High- and low-context cultures. 1. High-context. External environment, situation, non-verbal behaviour are CRUCIAL in understanding (and creating) messages. Examples: Japanese, Arabic, Chinese. Characteristics: - Subtlety is often valued. - Relationships are long lasting, there is deep personal involvement. - A lot of shared code, assures economic, fast and efficient communication (yet, often communication is an ART form, like in Japan). - People in authority are personally responsible for the actions of subordinates. - Agreements are more often SPOKEN than written. - Insiders and outsiders are tightly distinguished (outsiders may include NON-members of family, clan, organisation). - Cultural patterns are ingrained and slow to change. 2. Low-context. Characteristics: - Relationships between individuals are relatively shorter, less involvement. - Messages must be explicit (cannot depend on receiver using the context to acquire more information). - Authority is diffused throughout the bureaucratic system. - Personal authority is difficult to pin down. - Agreements are written (rather than spoken). Contracts are FINAL and legally binding. In 1987: Japan had 11 lawyers per 100 000 people, while the USA had 279. - Insiders and outsiders are not so distinguished/separated. (Good for immigration, and immigrants finding their place in the country). - Cultural patterns change faster.
o Culture, status and function
o Laurent & others (1983) analysed the ATTITUDES of managers towards organisational power. Looked at management as an IMPLEMENTATION process by which managers expressed their cultural values in explicit management decisions. [Mead, 1994, p. 61]
o 1. Hierarchy. - Cultures that value hierarchical structuring as a means of social cohesion impose severe restrictions on communication FLOW. - In the case of non-hierarchical system, communication is tolerated and encouraged, information can be sent/channeled effectively. 2. Manager as an expert vs manager as facilitator. - In Asia the manager must be a specialist/authority (if NOT-->loosing status). - Technical efficiency of the organisation is dependent upon the efficiency and professionalism of the superior. - In Europe the manager must be able to TAP INTO pools of knowledge/competence to get a problem SOLVED.
o Culture and workplace
o Hosftede (1984 and later) looked at the underlying values of the culture group and their impact on the workplace. 1. Power distance. Focuses on how a society deals with fact that people are unequal in physical and intellectual capabilities: - High power distance: societies that let inequalities grow/increase; - Low power distance: societies that play down inequalities. 2. Individualism versus collectivism. Focuses on the relationship between the individual and his fellows: - Individualistic: societies where ties between people are loose, and individual freedom and achievement are most prized; - Collectivism: ties between individuals are tight. 3. Uncertainty avoidance. Focuses on the extent people are able to accept ambiguous situations and tolerate uncertainty: - High uncertainty avoidance: societies where important is job security, career patterns, retirement promises. Strong need for rules and regulations; - Low uncertainty avoidance: greater readiness to take risks and less emotional resistance to change. 4. Masculinity versus femininity. Focuses on the relationship between gender and work roles: - Masculine: sex roles are sharply differentiated and traditional "masculine" values are strong (achievement, exercise of power); - Feminine: sex roles are less distinguished.
Ethics
Definition: accepted principles of right and wrong that govern the conduct of a person, members of a profession or the actions of an organisation. (Hill, 2011, p.124)
Ethical Strategy: strategy or course of action that does not violate the accepted principles. (Hill, 2011, p.124)
Employment practices.
Key challenges:
o How to employ equally across borders;
o Should employees get the same rights;
o What are the correct working conditions;
o Should workers have representation;
o Definition of a “worker” or “employee” (children, etc);
Currently there are various campaigns aimed at:
o Impacting overall working conditions in nations;
o Changing employment practices of specific companies seen o be abusing workers;
Issue: if a product is cheap, do we care if it was made in a country with none or little worker rights, and minimal work conditions?
