The Role of Workers

Source: http://www.universalfutbol.es/ 

Understanding the different management styles all around the world is not easy.

One of the most unknown management system is the german one. It is not easy for other managers to understand why in Germany trade unionists get such power, allowing them to share decision-making power with the managers or even voting for bonuses in favour of the managers. "In certain sectors, a works director, who has a trade union background, can be a member of the board of directors, the body in charge of daily management. He is elected and can only be dismissed by the unions".

Piette, Jean-Jacques. 2004. “Understanding Management German style”. Les Amis de L’ecole de Paris. Pp 3.

At the end, some researches have found that every decision in german companies must be taken by consensus. Employees play an important role within companies where each of the persons working there share as well a common sense of responsibility.

"Gaining a consensus is facilitated by trade union representatives not allowing the problems that company management may have with employees or company labour agreements to confuse the issue"

Piette, Jean-Jacques. 2004. “Understanding Management German style”. Les Amis de L’ecole de Paris. Pp 3.

The role of women in Germany has taken more importance over time. At the beginning of the career women and men in Germany had different tasks that are suppossed to continue in the work life. However, nowadays managers seek for equal opportunities for everyone keeping employees motivated with the benefits of working by a german company.

The followng video shows how the role of one woman in a senior management job is effective as if it were attended by a man. It has been demonstrated that women must be leaders at home, they have a lot of tasks to fulfilled and thus they are well capable to manage a company and to produce profits and harmonic environment within the company.

Source: http://www.jehanara.wordpress.com/

Made in Germany | Microsoft -- Women for senior management

One of the main characteristics of the german management style is competition. The sense of responsibility that each employee has within a company can be translated as a goal to develop perfectly all the necessary tasks that they are required to do, looking sometimes for "congratulations" and finally making the people more competitive. Nevertheless, competitions is not seen as a disadvantage for german companies; they are well prepared to do exactly what they need, in the required time, with very high quality without feeling any kind of pressure because of the collegues. Despite this way of behave is very critized all around the world, things seem to work normally, allowing one to conclude that it is possible in Germany as a unique case of perfect respect for each other, harmonization of the environment and  finally because German businesses are collections of highly specialized teams.

Analyze the potential implications of the Co-determination principles over the organisation’s decision making process from the perspectives of the managers and the employees.

"The principle of  "codetermination" implies that one appoints people who are competent and capable of having discussions with the employers in a skilled supervisory board. Yet, the trade unions have their own academics and economists and even their own traders who invest trade unionists` money".  

Piette, Jean-Jacques. 2004. “Understanding Management German style”. Les Amis de L’ecole de Paris. Pp 5.

It has been demonstrated that one of the main problems faced by companies nowadays is the lack of motivation that employees have at work. Sometimes, decrease in profits and a tension environment are produced beacuse of employess working because they want to gain some money but making it without any kind of pleasure. The power distance in the companies, mostly in Latinamerican countries is a good example to show that even when a chain of command must be follow from bottom to top, and respect for managers is a fact that must be grant, too much disinterests for the others`needs and the harmonization of the work place is a big disadvantge.

It is necessary for managers to take into account all the ideas of employees, moreover when they have some degree of expertise in one of the enterprises fields. This attitude can motivate employees making them to work much better, to feel proud of their company and finally to make them seek what is better for the organisation in terms of strategy and profits.

In the other hand, taking into account opinions from employees can never lead to a sense of "friendship" between managers and employees. A friendly manager can loose the respect from his/her employees producing nevative effects as well, in the sense employees feel any kind of responsibility or pressure for working well.

Thus, the effective application of the codetermiantion principle is a key issue that function properly for example in the german management style. It is not easy as it sees and it needs highly specialized teams which must know how to balance the inclusion of employees and trade union members into the decision making process of the company in order to make it effective and productive for the organisation, keeping relationships and work place environment in harmony while maintaining the chain of command in order.

"Labour codetermination is a higly important institutional factor for keeping political and social unrest down and maintaining a climate in which capital and labor cooperate despite all verbal attacks, controversis in collective bargaining and in the plants, and fights in the courts and the parliament. It is an antagonism that is channeled institutionally in a way that seems to work".  

More interesting information of this topic in: deGruyter, 1994. "European economic and business law: legal and economic analyses on Integration and Harmonization. P 274. Available in: deGruyter, Vol. 14 No. 2, 1994

Merging OC

The new companies`s tendency to increase their profits and market share by acquisitions has allow managers, politicias and academics to create a debate. The main important fact to take into account when deciding if such acquisitions and mergers really help companies to growth is based on ethical and beneficial issues. However, it has been demonstrated that the learning process for companies in this new "adventure" and the cooperation between the firms lead undoubtly to success. 

"Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have a unique potential to transform firms, and to contribute to corporate renewal (Angwin, 2001). They can help a firm renew its market position at a speed not achievable through internal development (Haspeslagh and Jemison, 1991; Harrison 2002)."

Alzira Salama, Wayne Holland, Gerald Vinten, (2003) "Challenges and Opportunities in Mergers and Acquisitions: Three International Case Studies – Deutsche Bank-Bankers Trust; British Petroleum-Amoco; Ford-Volvo", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 27 Iss: 6, pp.313.

The most important objective when entering into an acquisition process is the value creation. Nevertheless, it cannot be obtain without the perfect integration and participation of both companies, employees and managers, which must cooperate in the process and commit themselves to the strategic goal. 

The best way to achieve such objective has been analyzed by some scholars arguing that companies with similar cultures work better and understand easily the given tasks. In the other hand, it has been proved that nowadays cultural diversity is one of the most succesful tool when leading companies to pursue a common goal, because it is hard to work with the differences between employees but still managers that implement such differences within their companies must use all the necessary tools to keep people motivated and commit to their work; thus success can be grant as well by making acquisitions with companies implementing different culture strategies but working within the same industry.

"Merging implies the reconstruction of a new social identity".

Alzira Salama, Wayne Holland, Gerald Vinten, (2003) "Challenges and Opportunities in Mergers and Acquisitions: Three International Case Studies – Deutsche Bank-Bankers Trust; British Petroleum-Amoco; Ford-Volvo", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 27 Iss: 6, pp.314.

The new social identity of an acquisition can be managed by creating a perfect process of integration. However, such an integration has its advantages and disadvantages. Some scholars study "two organizational integration variables that are particularly relevant in the acquisition process (Datta and Grant, 1990; Datta, 1991):

1. the motive for the acquisition (strategic fit and decision making process); and

2. the process of implementation (including the "acculturation" process)."

Ibídem. Pag 314.

The first one refers to the "why" of making an acquisition, because it influence the level of interaction that companies must have in the process. Strategies that are not well managed in the process could lead to a failure in the acquisition and its effectiveness producing high levels of tension and conflict. The sencond one refers mainly in the process of cultural adaptation. When making an acquisition, both companies must understand differences between organizations and employees`s culture, beliefs, behavior, etc. Nevertheless, it is not easy as it might see because generally acquisition selection decisions are driven by financial and strategic considerations which make companies fail to meet expectations due to the difficulties in the acculturations process.

"According to Elsaa and Veiga (1994), the success of a particular integration strategy depends primarly on:

• the manager`s ability to reconcile the need for strategic interdependence between the two firms; and
• the need for organizational autonomy".

Ibídem. Pag 314.

The equilibrium between these two variables allow companies to properly approach the strategic interdependence when making acquisitions while keeping their own identity and autonomy.

The autors wanted to understand what happen during the integration process in firms by making a research with three different case studies. Thus, they explore how "transferring capabilities from acquisitions can lead to value creation" through interviews conducted primarly with top managers from Deutsche Bank (DB) and Bankers Trust (BT), British Petroleum and Amoco, Volvo and Ford.

Ibídem. Pag 315.

The main findings were that acquisitions have common practices associated with success. "The common issues are linked to the steps the three acquirers used to integrate their different entities, i.e. in their knowledge transfer, learning and acculturation processes".

Ibídem. Pag 319.



"The case studies have demonstrated, as in the literature, that while nationality and cultural differences may decrease the perception of a common identity, the awareness of a common set of goals and objectives may reinforce integration. In the three case studies, intergroup cooperation has been fostered by top management. The creation of the integration teams induces the members of both groups to conceive themselves primarly as one large group rather than separate entities: from "us" and "them" into the more inclusive "we" (Gaertner et al., 1989)".

Ibídem. Pag 319.

Here I want to share two videos related with two important cases of successful acquisition in the last decade:

Source: http://www.bolivarzuiga.com/

Dell Inc. Signs Acquisition Agreement for Scalent Systems (DELL)

 

Source: http://www.clinf.net/

Coca-Cola Co.(NYSE:KO) Confirms Acquisition of Coca-Cola Enterprises' (NYSE:CCE) 

Include at least 3 challenges and 3 opportunities.

Challenges:

1. Nationality .
2. Perceived cultural differences.
3. Implementing strategies, if not handled well, may prove to be detrimental to organisational effectiveness, particularly if it leads to high levels of acculturate tension and conflict (Buono and Bowditch, 1989).

Opportunities:

1. Appropiate integration strategies can overcome cultural diversity.
2. Awareness of a common set of goals and objectives may reinforce integration.
3. A process of knowledge transfer and creation can be triggered in merging firms which allows for intercultural and inter-organisational learning to occur.

The information above is based on data collected in: Alzira Salama, Wayne Holland, Gerald Vinten, (2003) "Challenges and Opportunities in Mergers and Acquisitions: Three International Case Studies – Deutsche Bank-Bankers Trust; British Petroleum-Amoco; Ford-Volvo", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 27 Iss: 6, pp.313 - 321.

Management Styles & Leadership

Source: http://www.cartoonstock.com/ 

In order to understand the dynamics of management styles and leadership, it is requeried to know the concepts involved.

1. 
   
   Management: "Organization and coordination of the activities of an enterprise in accordance with certain policies and in achievement of clearly defined objectives. Management is often included as a factor of production along with machines, materials, and money. According to the management guru Peter Drucker (1909-2005), the basic task of a management is twofold: marketing and innovation. Practice of modern management owes its origin to the 16th century enquiry into low-efficiency and failures of certain enterprises, conducted by the English statesman Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)." http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/management.html#ixzz0z5PZirkI
2. 
   
   Leadership: "Has been described as the "process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task." Definitions more inclusive of followers have also emerged. Alan Keith stated that, "Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen." Tom DeMarco says that leadership needs to be distinguished from posturing." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership
3. 
   
   Management Style: "Management styles are characteristic ways of making decisions and relating to subordinates. Different management styles can be employed dependent on the culture of the business, the nature of the task, the nature of the workforce and the personality and skills of the leaders. This idea was further developed by Robert Tannenbaum and Warren H. Schmidt (1958, 1973)[1] who argued that the style of leadership is dependent upon the prevailing circumstance; therefore leaders should exercise a range of management styles and should deploy them as appropriate.."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_styles

"Issues of cross-national differences in management have long been discused in the management literature. (Adler, Doktor and Redding 1986; Hofstede 1980). Yet the debate has been couched in a contrast of two polar opposites. One, often labeled convergence, assumes that as countries develop, management systems will converge to a model found in developed countries. The other, the comparative cultural approach, is based on the assumption that a wider set of cultural norms in each society is a powerful force for differentiation across borders. These wider societal norms force business organizations to develop a set of management styles and institutions that match the internal environment."( Lee, Jangho, Thomas W. Roehl, & Soonkyoo Choe. 2000. What Makes Management Style Similar and Distinct Across Borders? Growth, Experience and Culture in Korean and Japanese Firms. Journal of International Business Studies, 31 (4): 631).

I want to share this video in order to show how management styles differs from one organization to another or simply from one boss to another. Nevertheless, management styles are not only different because of the purpose of an organization or the way CEOS manage their companies, but different cultures use to have different management styles that are discussed later on.

Source: http://www.polyvore.com/business/collection?id=85532

Management Styles - Authoritarian and Delegative       

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymFmBLHn0Ao

List the main similarities and differences of Japanese and Korean management styles.

Similarities: (Lee, Jangho, Thomas W. Roehl, & Soonkyoo Choe. 2000. What Makes Management Style Similar and Distinct Across Borders? Growth, Experience and Culture in Korean and Japanese Firms. Journal of International Business Studies, 31 (4): 633-634).

1. "Japan and Korea share a common cultural heritage of Confucianism and Budism."
2. 
   
   "They share a common Asia geography."
3. 
   
   "Japan has direct and indirect influence on Korea because Korea was annexed by Japan as a colony in 1910, when Korea had just started the modernization of its socitey, and Japan ruled Korea until 1945. This influenced on the development of the modern Korean management system."
4. 
   
   "Some writers suggest that organizational structures in Korea are duplications of those in Japan" (Chang and Chang 1994; Lie 1988)
5. 
   
   "Korea took Japan as the dominant model of economic development." (Amsdem 1988).
6. 
   
   "The Korean government was heavily involved in the economic activities of the private sector (...)Thus it was natural that Korean firms also screened Japanese firm management structures for possible use as well."

Differences: (Lee, Jangho, Thomas W. Roehl, & Soonkyoo Choe. 2000. What Makes Management Style Similar and Distinct Across Borders? Growth, Experience and Culture in Korean and Japanese Firms. Journal of International Business Studies, 31 (4): 633-634).

1. 
   
   "The lifetime employment practice in Korean firms is flexible, in that layoffs are more common than in Japanese firms. (Chang and Chang 1994; Lie 1990; Chang 1989; Shin 1985), and Korean workers tend to change jobs more freely."
2. 
   
   "Top management in Korean firms tends to be authoritarian, and important decisions are made mostly by the top management". (Lee 1989; Chung and Lee 1989; Yoo and Lee 1987).
3. 
   
   "Most large Korean firms belonging to Chaebol are managed by the family members of the founders". (Steers, Shin and Ungson 1989; Hattori 1989; Moskowitz 1989).

Explain the phenomenon of convergence in terms of management styles. What are the forces or factors pushing for convergence?

The phenomenon of convergence applied to the case of Japan and Korea, which have some relevant similarities in their national culture and organizations, stablishes that both models of economic growth and internationalization tend to get Korea closer to Japan. There are two primary hypothesis explaining this condition.

1. Hypothesis I (Growth): "As Korean firms grow larger, the Korean management system will converge to the Japanese management style. Consequently the management styles of large korean firms will be very similar to those of large japanese firms".
2. Hypothesis II (Internationalization): " As korean firms become internationalized, the korean management system will converge to the japanese management system. Consequently the management styles of korean firms with a high ratio of exports to total sales will be very similar to those of japanese firms with a high ratio of exports to total sales".

(Lee, Jangho, Thomas W. Roehl, & Soonkyoo Choe. 2000. What Makes Management Style Similar and Distinct Across Borders? Growth, Experience and Culture in Korean and Japanese Firms. Journal of International Business Studies, 31 (4): 637).

"Theoretically the findings in this study appear to indicate that a convergence of management across countries could be induced by two kinds of forces: the forces of domestic competition and of international competition. The findings suggest that the latter is a much more potent force for convergen". (Adler, Doktor and Redding 1986. Lee, Jangho, Thomas W. Roehl, & Soonkyoo Choe. 2000. What Makes Management Style Similar and Distinct Across Borders? Growth, Experience and Culture in Korean and Japanese Firms. Journal of International Business Studies, 31 (4): 646)Other less important  factors pushing for converge are the similarities found in both countries. National culture "is an importan determinant of a national management system. The effect of culture tends to be subtle and difficult to separate from the effects of other social factors. Culture influences organizations through several intertwined paths such as legal, economic, and political systems as well as values, attitudes, behaviors, goals and preferences of the participants". (Adler, Doktor and Redding 1986. Lee, Jangho, Thomas W. Roehl, & Soonkyoo Choe. 2000. What Makes Management Style Similar and Distinct Across Borders? Growth, Experience and Culture in Korean and Japanese Firms. Journal of International Business Studies, 31 (4): 635). 

Both growth and internationalization forces used in the hypothesis above, are strong factors that "lead the management style to have many similarities across nations. Firms would also attempt to solve managerial problems by actively imitating practices of other successful organizations that have similar need for efficient management". (Hannan and Freeman 1989; Dimaggio and Powell 1983. Adler, Doktor and Redding 1986. Lee, Jangho, Thomas W. Roehl, & Soonkyoo Choe. 2000. What Makes Management Style Similar and Distinct Across Borders? Growth, Experience and Culture in Korean and Japanese Firms. Journal of International Business Studies, 31 (4): 637)

Explain the phenomenon of differentiation in terms of management styles. What are the forces of factors pushing for differentiation?

"Some differences could be explained by the difference in the economic environments between Korean and Japan and the level of development of Korea management. For example, Korea managers`strong emphasis on market share may be due to the fact until recently the Korean economy has grown at a rate much higher that the japanese economy. Korean managers`relatively weak emphasis on flexible manufacturing and on the importance of information exchange with customers may reflect the fact that korean firms lag behind their japanese competitors  in sophistication in these dimensions of management". (Adler, Doktor and Redding 1986. Lee, Jangho, Thomas W. Roehl, & Soonkyoo Choe. 2000. What Makes Management Style Similar and Distinct Across Borders? Growth, Experience and Culture in Korean and Japanese Firms. Journal of International Business Studies, 31 (4): 646).

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).

Source: http://www.jungiehan.com/ 

I think in the case of Korea and Japan, their management styles tend to converge. This study has demonstrated how similiar are these two asian cultures despite of some found differences. In the other hand I do not think that they are likely to converge to another management style like the western. Nevertheless, future studies may proof a convergence theory not only between two countries but in relation with the Asia culture or similars. "Some might even argue that we need a U.S. sample to make the test valid. Yet by testing for convergence within Asia, we have in effect broadened the definition of convergence and at the same time made it more defensible". (Adler, Doktor and Redding 1986. Lee, Jangho, Thomas W. Roehl, & Soonkyoo Choe. 2000. What Makes Management Style Similar and Distinct Across Borders? Growth, Experience and Culture in Korean and Japanese Firms. Journal of International Business Studies, 31 (4): 647).

What is isomorphism? Do you think organisations change management styles to adapt to the environment? Which environment is stronger: national environment or international environment?

"Informally, an isomorphism is a kind of mapping between objects, which shows a relationship between two properties or operations. If there exists an isomorphism between two structures, we call the two structures isomorphic. In a certain sense, isomorphic structures are structurally identical, if you choose to ignore finer-grained differences that may arise from how they are defined." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isomorphism 

According to the lecture organisations do change management styles to adapt to the environment. "Organizations are symbolically or institutionally isomorphic to the environment in that organizations adapt to each inconsistent environmental demandsymbolically, by creating a substructure that deals or pretends to deal with the problem". (Hannan and Freeman 1989, p.94. Adler, Doktor and Redding 1986. Lee, Jangho, Thomas W. Roehl, & Soonkyoo Choe. 2000. What Makes Management Style Similar and Distinct Across Borders? Growth, Experience and Culture in Korean and Japanese Firms. Journal of International Business Studies, 31 (4): 645).

I think international environment is stronger because local companies not only have to adapt to the domestic environment, but must adapt their business and strategies to what is imposed in the international market. As it is explained in the lecture: "Larger domestic korean firms had to adapt their management to the domestic environment whereas internationalized korean firms had to adapt their management to meet the requirements imposed by international competition". (Adler, Doktor and Redding 1986. Lee, Jangho, Thomas W. Roehl, & Soonkyoo Choe. 2000. What Makes Management Style Similar and Distinct Across Borders? Growth, Experience and Culture in Korean and Japanese Firms. Journal of International Business Studies, 31 (4): 646).

Motivation

Motivation "is the activation or energization of goal-orientated behavior. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but, theoretically, it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well".http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation

Some motivation theories are used to explain behavior, to predct behavior or to influence behavior.

Douglas McGregor set the theory about different kind of workers satisfying higher or lower needs of the Maslow`s hierarchy. He explained how some employees are motivated because of the money and that most of the time these workers do not care about the organization, they dislike working and are more self-centered. It is more often that these are production workers or mass manufacturing employees. In the other hand, there are some employees that are more capable of developing and creative. Usually these employees are high qualify and organizations tend lo locate them in professional occupations because they can easy align organizational goals to individual`s needs.

Source: http://www.infolizer.com/

There is one more simple theory created by Clayton Alderferer: ERG theory. In this theory he argues that employees usually pursue multiple needs simultaneously, without following any kind of order.

Source: http://mkhanpmp.blogspot.com/2009_10_04_archive.html  

The most known theory is the Maslow`s hierarchy of needs. He argues how some basical needs must be fulfilled at the first place in order to satisfy step by step ore specific needs such as steem needs or self actualization. In order to cover the latest one, the other four steps must be satisfied.

Source: http://www.idealoutcomesystem.com/

Finally, the need theory of Mc Clelland`s relate the acquired needs such as achievement, power and affiliation with the specific motivators that lead employees focus on those needs to feel comfortable.

(Discussion above is based on the information of the slides provided by Cristina Robledo. Organizational Behavior & National and Organizational Culture. July 2010).

What are the Hawthorne Studies? explain its importance for studying motivation at the workplace and its influence over diverse motivation theories.

The Hawthorme studies are based on the idea of paying incentives in productivity and the interpersonal motives, within an organization.

"The Hawthorne studies were carried out by the Western Electric company at their Hawthorne plant in the 1920's. Initially, the study focused on lighting.

Two things emerged from the initial studies: (1) the experimenter effect, and (2) a social effect. The experimenter effect was that making changes was interpreted by workers as a sign that management cared, and more generally, it was just provided some mental stimulation that was good for morale and productivity. The social effect was that it seemed that by being separated from the rest and being given special treatment, the experimentees developed a certain bond and camaraderie that also increased productivity". http://www.analytictech.com/mb021/handouts/bank_wiring.htm

Studying motivation is one of the most important tools for CEOs that must be taken into account. When emplyees realize that their managers really care about them and give special attention to each one of them, it was demonstrated that productivity inmediately increases. An harmonious environment when working elevates the positive attitude from employees and make them be more committed to the goals of their organizations.

This study influences the diverse motivation theories because each person working in one company has different expectations that should be fulfilled in order to perform the progress of the company. This study demostrated how important is to take into account these different motivations of employees that led afterwards to elaborate theories explaining how much an employee differs from one another and how is it possible for organizations to cooperate according to his/her personality, values, beliefs, attitudes, to achieve his/her goals and give him/her appropiate tasks that make him/her feels comfortable with the job, obviously translated to economic and cultural profits for the company.

 

 

¿Which motivation theory do you think has the most relevance for understanding the behavior of Griffin and fostering her motivation at work?

 

Despite of feeling underpaid, I think Griffin stayed at Flight 001 because his key motivator was not the money. In the Mc Clelland`s need theory it is well explained. When the acquired needs are related with achievement, employees are looking for excellence, competition and challenging goals; their main motivators are challenging projects with reachable goals and feedback, and in any case money plays an important role.

  

Personality, Perception, Attribution & Attitudes and Values

Understanding individuals is not that easy as it can be seen. Each person has a different personality and the way he/she behaves is the result of different interactions the person has, as well as his/her personal differences.

Some scholars have stablished some theories about personality.

1. 
   
   Gordon Allport and his Trait Theory explains personality in terms the comparision between variables.

He argues that a characteristic of Extraversion explains personality in the way a person is more sociable or reserved. A second important fact is the Agreeableness of the people. People can be war or antagonistic depending on a certain circumstance they are involved in. In order to know if a person is hardworking or unreliable, he consideres the term Conscientousness to explain this conduct. The Emotional Stability gives an idea of how the people used to behave and face day to day problems; people can be calm or insecure in this case. Finally, he analyses how much Openness to experience is a person in terms of creativity or narrow interests bring a person when giving response to a certain responsibility or situation more related in an organization environment.

    2.   Freud analyzed the personality of individuals in his Psychodynamic Theory.

He said that there are a lot of unconscious factors explaing personality and emphasized in the important of them as principal determinants of behavior.

    3.  Carl Rogers stablisched the Humanitarian Theory.

In this theory people are supossed to be able to actualize themselves in order to growth and improve their behaviorand their ways of conduct.

In order to know what are the main factors that make a person differs from  one another, there are some influential personality characterisctis for the process of self evaluation. The first one talks about locus of control, referred to ability of the people to control what happens to them. It differenciates the internal and external factors that help people to understand their environment and feelings. The second characteristic is self-steem, which analizes how a high or low steem influences the workplace and the attitudes facing different situations. In the third place, self-efficacy explains how individuals think they perform a specific task. They know themselves and have set a clear vision of what they can better do and what not. The fourth characteristic is self-monitoring. Individuals must know how is the best way to react in certains circumstances and what is changing all around their environment. However individuals can react from internal feelings and this condition of monitoring is not well performed any more, even when deciding if a low or high sel-monitoring is better which is difficult to say.

When talking about perceptions it is important to say that as well as in personality, each person perceives a situation in a different way. Perceptions are influences by individual`s view of the world, as their expectations, feelings, values, beliefs, language, experience, self-image, among others, which make the perception of the reality disimilar.

Source: http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/images/2008/10/16/perception.jpg  

 

The foundation of perceptions are based on what we think. However, what we say and do influence the way people perceive us.

In organizations, the perception of someone is influenced by factors such stereotypes, judgements, mood, among others, that do not allow people clearly define how is somebody and which are his/her intentions. These factors are usually considered as the principal barriers between the perceiver and the target. 

Attributions are generallt referred as "a concept in social psychology referring to how individuals explain causes of events, other's behaviour, and their own behaviour."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribution_(psychology. What we perceived externally and internally from others influence the way a person behaves. The internal attributions are related with the personality of the people and the external attributions with the situation he/she is involved in.

Attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for an item. Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event-- this is often referred to as the attitude object. People can also be conflicted or ambivalent toward an object, meaning that they simultaneously possess both positive and negative attitudes toward the item in question.

Attitudes are judgments. They develop on the ABC model (affect, behavior, and cognition). The affective response is an emotional response that expresses an individual's degree of preference for an entity. The behavioral intention is a verbal indication or typical behavioral tendency of an individual. The cognitive response is a cognitive evaluation of the entity that constitutes an individual's beliefs about the object. Most attitudes are the result of either direct experience or observational learning from the environment.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attitude_(psychology)

Attitudes are linked to behavior, can be favorable or unfavorable and are explained like a psychological tendency. As it was explained before, there are some models explaining attributions. Here the ABC Model:

Source: http://www.mikethementor.co.uk/

The introduction of the concept cognitive dissonance let us to understand the relation between attitudes and behavior. In organizations is quite often to see someone who is loved by everybody, optimistic, but does not want more responsibilities than he/she has and that is not willing to cooperate with the company when there are integrations or when somebody needs one specific information. These kind of people try to have always a positive attitude but his/her behavior is inconsistent with it.

According to values, consisting of certain beliefs about preferable conducts, we can divide them in instrumental or terminal values. The first ones accept behaviors related with ambition, honest, etc; while the terminal values are related with the goals to be achieved like love or hapiness. 

(Discussion above is based on the information of the slides provided by Cristina Robledo. Organizational Behavior & National and Organizational Culture. July 2010).

Please explain, using your own words, the concept of Pygmalion Effect.

Pygmalion effect refers to the idea of the higher the expectations of employees, the better they perform. There are some people that believe in their negative capacity and have low expectations but in the other hand, employees who believe in themselves and have higher expectations are more willing to succeed.

Organizational Behavior & National and Organizational Culture

Understanding organizational culture must be focus on the different attitudes, values, beliefs and psychology of all the people involved in an organization.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_culture

Some scholars have defined organizations as social entities which share some coordinated activity systems, are goal directed, with a deliberately structured, with an identifiable boundary and linked to the external environment.

Organizations can be seen as an open system where some environmental factors like people, information, resources, among others, are taken by the organizations like their inputs in order to be transform in the process of production, maitance, ect...which lead to modify them and make properly products needed by the final clients.

Organizations have some formal and informal issues that make them different from one another. Organizations differs in their formal aspects such as their policies, objectives, mission and vision, products and services, as well as in their informal aspects such as their values, attitudes, beliefs and feelings. Those aspects make each organization unique and it is quite simple if there are different people working in each organization that has specif goals, chains of command, objectives, expectations, behavior, etc...modeling one specific organizational culture.

Culture is not imposed in organizations. These differences on values, understandings, goals and expectations, are learned by people since the very beginning of their lives in one specific society that pass those aspects to future generations as well. It can be seen as a subconsciusly guide that controls the way people behave in every situation of their lives. However, despite of these unconscious aspects of behavior, rites, ceremonies, stories, symbols and language, are some observable aspects helping to understand these ways of conduct.

Organizations must take into acount these aspects of their employees not only to understand how they react in some circumstances but to win their confidence and minds (whcih provide a better working environment and productive results), obtain information leading the companies to get competitive advantages and influence decision making processes.

The organizational culture in its general sense, has two different functions that help companies to move further succesfully. Firs of all organizational culture provides an internal integration that assist members to know how to relate to one another. In the other hand, organizational culture seeks to provide an external adaptation in order to help organizations to adapt to external environment.

One more important issue of understanding organizational culture and behavior is when managing businesses abroad. Organizations must be more aware of the critical concepts such as time, change and material factors, which riquered special skills in order to succeed. Cultures and tendencies differ in societies as the most important issue to be taken into account. These kind of situations are related with the concept of cross-cultural management referred to the "development and application of knowledge about cultures in the practice of international management, when the people involved have different cultural identities." (Nelson, D.L. & Quick, J.C. 2010. Organizational Behavior: Science, The Real World and You. South-Western College Publication, 7th. Ed. Chapter 1. Pag 16)

Skill is defined as "the ability to demonstrate a sequence of behavior that is functionally related to attaining a performance goal". (Torrington, 1194, p.98. Nelson, D.L. & Quick, J.C. 2010. Organizational Behavior: Science, The Real World and You. South-Western College Publication, 7th Ed. Chapter 1. Pag 16 ). Managers must have an excellent communication skill in order to have better positions within an organizations, as it is considered the most important skill when carrying responsibilities related with employees and diversity. "In addition managers need to be adaptable to the culture and capable of leading its members." (Nelson, D.L. & Quick, J.C. 2010. Organizational Behavior: Science, The Real World and You. South Western College Publication, 7th Ed. Chapter 1. Pag 17).

Managing and understanding the importance of these skills can bring advantages for the organization. Diversity gives more ideas in different perspectives from a certain project. People from different cultures working together in cooperation provide a succesfull output because it fulfilled all possible gaps existing in a project when done by a similar cultural group of employees.

In the other hand, working with diversity provides more creativity to an organization.  Howerever, creativity within an organization is only possible when there is understanding and tolerance of cultural differences and when managers have the properly skills to well organize tasks and to give employees administrative and moral support. All of these "allows time for the group to overcome the inevitable process difficulties. Diversity training is provided. The commitment of group members is rewarded. Under appropiate conditions it contributes to firm competitive advantage and to corporate financial performance." (Nelson, D.L. & Quick, J.C. 2010. Organizational Behavior: Science, The Real World and You. South-Western College Publication, 7th Ed. Chapter 1. Pag 19).

Finally it can be conclude that understanding of culture within an organization provides positive advantages that tend to give success to a company. Nevertheless, culture is not the only important factor affecting all decisions, and issues such as the organizational strategies, the personality and skilss of the boss and employees, as well as external factors, competition, market, among others, influence the way an organization progresses and how they make it differs from any other.

(Discussion above is based on the information of the slides provided by Cristina Robledo. Organizational Behavior & National and Organizational Culture. July 2010).

I want to share a video related with one of the most succesfull organizations all around the World: GOOGLE. It provides an example of an organization applying the properly skills to make an harmonious environment for employees whose main characteristic is the cultural diversity. These diverse group of people are very creative, feel comfortable with what they do, their ideas are the most important factor for the company and the best of all: everybody work like an orchestra!!

Source: http://www.fayerwayer.com/

GOOGLE: BEST PLACE TO WORK FOR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bJBeCI0e3U&feature=related

Another succesful example is the organizational culture within People Ink. They help organizations to create unique cultures based on values and performance, and are proud of it. People Ink. managers say "Our values-based leadership model has evolved over twenty-five years based on our experience developing people-centric cultures for high performing companies such as Southwest Airlines, Doubletree Hotels, JetBlue Airways, and Loma Linda University Medical Center. Our Off-the-Wall Leadership model is the first to provide leaders with five essential principles for creating both a legendary and high performing culture. It starts with developing a Values Blueprint that leaders can use to implement a values-based culture." http://www.peopleink.com/ 

Here an interview with Ann Rhoades, CEO of the company explaining the source of their success:

Source: www.peopleink.com

  SUCCESFUL ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSZ3IPDmqCg  

 

There is a corporate culture in every organization? Can it be modified? 

Each organization differs from one another in different points of view. Even when the legal personality is the same, the people, strategies, CEOs, location, varies.

A culture is a set of values, beliefs, attitudes and behavior share by a society and pass generation to generation. In this sense, we can consider that an organization is a culture and due to the different employees an organization has, it is possible to say that it always exists and its main characteristic is to be unique.

Internal and external aspects affect the corporate culture. It is false to argue that because each person has his/her own attitudes, values, beliefs and behavior, and because external factors even when they change due to the dynamics of comerce of management remain quites stable, a corporate culture can not be modified.

It is easy to change the perspectives of employees about their companies, but for CEOs it is a challenge to manage their skills in order to perform the culture of the organization. Some tools have been studied trough years traying to give some ideas to reinforce the positive side of the culture within the organizations. Motivation of employees, division of tasks, harmonization of the environment and some sense os sensibility can improve the situation.

Therefore, it is not impossible to lead organizations in the "good practices" of their cultures. Companies such as GOOGLE or People Ink. are only two examples of succesfull organizational cultures that differ from one another in their main market objectives and goals but share the most importan characteristic to should be implemented everywhere else: respect for diversity, harmonization of the environment and cooperation among members which their only two similarities are to work for the same company and to be proud of it.

Communication & Virtual Teams

Source: http://www.masternewmedia.org/ 

Communication "is a process whereby information is enclosed in a package and is channeled and imparted by a sender to a receiver via some medium. The receiver then decodes the message and gives the sender a feedback. All forms of communication require a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, however the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication in order for the act of communication to occur." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication

In order to have a good process of understanding, it is important to listen. Listen carefully reduces perceptual distorsions, helps to clarify the message, and ensure the meaning of the message.

Communication within organizations can explain the behavior of managers. There are five different kind of managers.

1. 
   
   Expressive Speakers: are related with those managers that openly express thoughs, ideas, opinions and feelings.
2. 
   
   Emphatetic Listeners: are those patien, willing to listen and concerned about others without taking responsability for their actions or problems.
3. 
   
   Persuasive Leaders: help others to achieve results instead of giving orders.
4. 
   
   Sensitivity to Feelings: those managers who are capable of making constructive critics and are willing to reinforce employee`s steem.
5. 
   
   Informative Managers: those managers who know how to give information properly.

Communication contains certain principles that lead to a perfect communication process. Those principles are: clarity, objective, understanding, consistency, completeness, feedback, time.

However, communication has always barriers. Language, physical and socio-psychological barriers affect communication all around the world. Different laguages, dialects, time, distance, age,  perceptions of the world, emotions, among others, block the perfect process of communication.

In the other hand, non verbal communication plays an important role on every day life. "Nonverbal communication is the process of communicating through sending and receiving wordless messages. Such messages can be communicated through gesture, body language or posture; facial expression and eye contact, object communication such as clothing, hairstyles or even architecture, or symbols and infographics, as well as through an aggregate of the above, such as behavioral communication. Nonverbal communication plays a key role in every person's day to day life, from employment to romantic engagements."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication 

Virtual Teams consider the concept of team affected by technology and diversity all around the world. "The emergence of effective and relatively cheap information and communications technology (ICT), particularly web-based techniques, has led to the increased use of so called virtual teams". (Kuruppuarachchi, Palitha R. 2009. Virtual team concepts in projects: A case study. Project Management Journal 40, no. 2: 19).

Virtual teams can be seen as a result of communication, global operations and integration of Human Resource practices. Virtual Teams "may exist across time, space and cultural boundaries; these teams, while sharing a common purpose, use technologies to communicate and collaborate effectively". (Johnson, Heiman, & O`Neill, 2001; Lipnack & Stamps, 2000. Kuruppuarachchi, Palitha R. 2009. Virtual team concepts in projects: A case study. Project Management Journal 40, no. 2: 20).

There are some different virtual teams that differs from each other in many factors.

1. 
   
   Teleworkers: refer to a type of telecommunication, outside the workplace that allows workers to access information from remote locations. It provides some advantages in cost and time savings, and more flexibility.
2. 
   
   Virtual Groups: are a combination of teleworkers, that have no common objectives or goals, consider different tasks that are finally report to the same boss.
3. 
   
   Virtual Teams: have common goals and the possibility of interaction with each other. They are part of an organizational structure from a specific company.
4. 
   
   Virtual Communities: Larger entities with common purposes, roles and norms, where their members participate via the internet.

Using virtual teams provides some advantages as well as disadvantages that the companies must take into account. The relocation, productivity, linking of different experts possibly from different cultures and the improvement of coordination  and communication are some of the advantages. However, the lack of face to face relationships, the language or the impossibility of training, are potential drawbacks that make businesses more vulnerable.

In order to magage an effective virtual team, is important to have clarity, feedback and frecuency in the communication process. There must be understanding among members and empathy coming from the leaders. Responsibilities must be as clear as possible and a sense of control should be introduced. Leaders should be consistent with the given obligations and assertiveness must be taje into account in order to produce an harmonious environment when working and every day realtionships. 

(Discussion above is based on the information of the slides provided by Cristina Robledo. Organizational Behavior & National and Organizational Culture. July 2010).
Discuss the implications (potential advantages, disadvantages, challenges, etc.) of using sounds to send strategic messages.

Source: http://www.soundcommunication.org.uk/
Sound communication is nowadays seen as an art tool to be considered when sharing a message. Traditional messages were always sent in paper, telegraphs, face to face, television, internet, but with the same structure and purpose. However, the concept of sound message are taking more importance since the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts create their own musical version of their brand`s profile in 2007.
Results were seen inmediately, producing more advantages that disadvantages. InterContinental realized that using sounds to send strategic messages, not only "positioned its brand. It is more of an account of the interplay between arts-nased disciplines and business processes in support of a company`s strategic objectives. In reality artistic procedures are higly disciplined and can be effective catalysts in building and reinforcing better business practices. They can also provoke valuable insights well beyond the territories of the initial brief." (Michael Spencer, "If InterContinental were a sound … what would it be?", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 31 Iss: 4, pp.39).
The main advantages of this sound strategy is that it provides a competitive advantage for the company since it is a new concept that attract people and it is not often used in the market. In their own words they found that "sound is a part of life and should not be seen as an add-on. Expirience tell us that once participants become involved in the musical process no more convincing is necessary". (Michael Spencer, "If InterContinental were a sound … what would it be?", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 31 Iss: 4, pp.40-41).
However some challenges and disadvantages can be found as teams involved in this concept should "learn that music-based learning methods could extend far beyond mere skills training. The arts have to fit within a clear business case, and business needs is where any trainng  discussion must begin. In a two-pronged attack, first convince them of the business case, and then insinuate the Trojan horse to deliver more than is expected." (Michael Spencer, "If InterContinental were a sound … what would it be?", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 31 Iss: 4, pp.40).
Therefore, key concepts should be well implemented and managed: "Training structures, commissioning and design of staff engagement tools, advocacy procedures, identification and briefing of audio content suppliers, optimisation of guest environments for sound". (Michael Spencer, "If InterContinental were a sound … what would it be?", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 31 Iss: 4, pp.43).
In the other hands, some disadvantges are better to be prevented such as the lack of "effective internal communications and compelling advocacy, the misunderstanding of different cultures and busibess practices involved, that finally are urgent necessities for the Sound Strategy`s success". (Michael Spencer, "If InterContinental were a sound … what would it be?", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 31 Iss: 4, pp.43).
 
This experience give an exciting and new concept of the way marketing can be used and the way it can be pass to customers. "There are at least three primary learning points we took from this experience and which are at the core of our practice. First - it is fundamental to the success of any arts-based initiative that it responds to the business imperative of the client. Second - research into the organization`s context and cultures is vital in order to respond effectively to any surprises. Third - any outcomes have to be converted into a practical and easily digested format appropiate for your client. For the many clients of arts-based practitioners I feel that the overrideing message is to remain open-minded during training sessions. You never know when a Trojan horse will appear with unexpected gifts." (Michael Spencer, "If InterContinental were a sound … what would it be?", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 31 Iss: 4, pp.46).