OUTLINE OF ORGANIZATION CULTURE CHANGE IN A CROSS-CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2450 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Management Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? Most of the scholars agree that the field of management must be viewed in a broad perspective because of the environmental influence on management practices. The cross-cultural study of management involves the study of management cultural variables, which tend to have an impact on management practices in different cultures. Managing and organizing are culturally dependent because they do not consist of making or moving tangible objectives, but of manipulating symbols which have meaning to the people who are managed (Clark, 1998). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "OUTLINE OF ORGANIZATION CULTURE CHANGE IN A CROSS-CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT" essay for you Create order Studies in the area of corporate culture seem to indicate that the success of many organizations is related to having a strong culture within the organization. Such a culture provides a foundation for the policies and practices of that particular organization. William Ouchi identifies the following as the features of Z type (a hybrid between American and Japanese type of organizations) of organizations: A place for criticism and honesty Trust, friendship and working together Teamwork Management by walking around Valuing people as resources (Ouchi, 1982). McKinsey presented a framework based on the idea that any management strategy, in order to be successfully implemented, must fit the culture of the organization. The seven variables listed in the framework are: Strategy Structure Systems Style Staff Shared values Skills (Waterman, 1982). The 7-s framework views corporate culture as a function of Seven Variables. If a Strategy of an orga nization fails or run into a problem, it is because the strategy doesnt fit one or more of the seven variables. All the above-mentioned variables are interrelated to each other. While the staff variable refers to people in the organization, skills refer to their capabilities. The style variable is the way management acts and behaves. Shared values are the beliefs commonly shared by many people in the organization. While the structure provides authority-responsibility relationship, systems indicate the processes, procedures, and flows involved in getting things done. The strategy relates to the way to shape the corporate culture. A better understanding of the mechanics and dynamics of an organization can be achieved through the culture that prevails in an organization. The term culture has been borrowed from anthropology where there is no consensus on its meaning. Just as societies have their own culture, corporations as entities also have their own culture. Culture is the collect ion of common views, expectations and beliefs of the members of the organizations. The values, beliefs and norms usually involve the following aspects: The basic goals of organization The preferred means by which those goals should be attained The role responsibilities assigned to each member in the organization The behavior patterns required to perform roles A set of rules or principles which relates to the preserving of organizational identity as well as integrity These values and norms which constitute corporate culture are not in writing but are understood by all the members of the organization. Even the newcomers to the organization get to know them either through formal training programs and orientations or from their peers. When members of an organization share the same values, they will become more cohesive and committed to their goals. Such commitment is essential for better performance and productivity improvement. Although it is not visible, corporate cu lture still exists and influences people and activities in organizations. Deal and Kennedy, in addition to values and norms, include heroes, rites and rituals as part of corporate culture (Deal and Kennedy, 1982). The rites, rituals and heroes are some ways of reinforcing desired behaviors and expectations among the members of an organization. Donnelly goes one step further by including ethics, life styles and to a great extent the personality of the chief executive as the elements which foster corporate culture (Donnelly, 1984). The Corporate culture can be summed up as a way of doing things in an organization, which is developed and fostered over a period of time through various socialization processes, some of which are formal processes while others are informal. Changing Corporate Culture Even in the most stable environments, change is a constant, no matter how slight. Change is any alteration of the organizations current situation. Creativity, the process by which n ovel ideas are generated or innovation, the transformation of creative ideas are all different forms of change. In this report, we will discuss change from the perspective of corporate culture One of the major questions raised in the area of corporate culture is: Is it possible to change corporate culture in an organization? People have conflicting views about it. Some contend that the culture in an organization is strongly imbedded and therefore it may be impossible to change. At the most, only a few modifications can be made as long as they dont affect the core of the existing culture. They may illustrate their point by citing some cases where the new Chief Executive failed to change the culture when he and his teammates took over the corporation and wanted to revamp it. On the other hand, there are those who believe that culture within a corporation can be changed. The organizations, which made a turnaround in their business, are cited as examples. For instance, an American electronics company was loosing money. The Japanese took over, introduced new values and new ways of doing things and the company made a turnaround in three years. According to Schwartz and Davis (1981) the successful implementation of major strategic shifts in any company depends to a great extent on how the organization combines its culture with changes in organizational structure, its systems and people to produce desired behavior. Changing corporate culture is a serious issue. A great deal of care and a well thought out plan must be utilized in this process. Ill founded assumptions, carelessness, and taking things for granted in changing corporate culture may have disastrous consequences on the organization, ranging from subtle protests to open revolt. Through such cultural changes, organizations lose their best people to competitors, productivity declines, and a poor image will be created for the organization. Thus, the whole survival of the organization maybe threatened by rushing to change corporate culture. Short and Ferratt (1984) suggest that in changing corporate culture, the focus should be on work units. Instead of trying to change values and beliefs first with the assumptions that work unit behaviors would follow, work unit, culture must be changed first. The behaviors, which establish and maintain the culture of work units, are: job enrichment, employee involvement, targeting behavior, reinforcing behavior, attending to production and attending to interpersonal relations. Managing Corporate Culture is not simple. It requires constant assessments and monitoring by examining the external and internal environment. Such examination would reveal the nature of changes that are anticipated or are taking place in these environments. These changes may force the organization to adapt or modify their corporate culture according to the demands of the environment. A relaxed attitude on the part of the managers who believe they have a strong culture built over the years to enable them to cope with any kind of situation is risky. Uttal asserts that a static culture means a continuation of old, inefficient ways (Uttal, 1982). Multicultural Organizations Every company has its own individuality in the market; this individuality or the isolated quality can be taken as its competitive advantage. Competitive advantage of the company is something on what company is far ahead from it competitors. The company, having a diverse workforce, is bound to have its impact on the effectiveness of the organization as well as on the career growth of an individual. One of the most important advantages of having a multicultural or diverse workforce is to attract the best available talent towards the organization. Such organization, which does not show any prejudice in recruiting, retaining and promoting the employees from diverse cultural and racial backgrounds easily gain competitive advantage and become able to sustain highest caliber of human resources (Adler, 1991). Different studies have proved that organizations having diverse workforce and multicultural environment usually display better problem solving ability (Adler, 1991). Due to their multicultural workforce such organizations are more capable to understand the problem with different perspectives, meanings and interpretations and hence have more capability to solve problems. Organizations need continuity, which can be achieved only through some change of adaptability and self-renewal. Multicultural organizations are designed specifically to find, accept, and use new ideas and so they are more able to adapt change and show more organizational flexibility. Different studies depicted that women possess higher tolerance for ambiguity than men (Rotter OConnell, 1982), similarly bilingual people possess more cognitive flexibility than monolingual (Lambert, 1977). Thus diverse workforce is an asset for the organizations while adapting change. It can eas ily be summed up that having a diverse workforce and its proper management provides a number of advantages to the organizations. Manage diversity well are more likely to gain competitive advantages, attain increased productivity from available human resources, and reduce the inter-group conflict cost (Triandis, Kurowski, and Gelfand, 1994, p. 775). But at the same time, too much diversity in the workforce may also cause ambiguity and confusion. Multicultural organizations sometimes find it difficult to reach to a single, unanimous decision because of the diversity in its workforce (Gannon, 2004). Due to the presence of people from different cultural backgrounds, there is a chance of cultural clashes between the people of different cultures. There is also a chance that majority group members may create obstacles for minority group member to take full participation. If such clashes cannot be handled and managed by the leaders then the organization may suffer ineffectiveness, les s productivity and absenteeism of the employees (Adler, 1991). If there is communication gap between a culturally diverse team then there is a chance that a homogenous group may outperform this culturally diverse group. Multicultural organizations require extensive trainings to overcome the communication barrier otherwise it will not perform up to their potential (House and Javidan, 2004). Managing Corporate Culture in Multicultural Organizations Globalization is the process of expanding global preferences in cultural, environmental, political, social and economical issues. The key economic characteristic of globalization is the free movement of goods throughout the world (Schaeffer, 2003). Diversity and Globalization in the new economy and the present business situation has produced a work force made up of people all around the world. They have different life experiences, perspectives, preferences, values and style. This diversity of work force is reshaping and rewriting the way of doing business (Dorfman, Hanges and Brodbeck, 2004). According to the Statistics the people filling jobs in the 2000s had a different racial and gender makeup than past employees. Native white males made up 47% of employees in 1989 but will constitute only 15% of new entrants. In the year 2000 Hispanic accounted for almost 28 percent of labor force growth and blacks about 17 percent. White women provided about 42 percent of labor force growth . Statistics have further depicted that by the year 2012 almost one-fifth of the total US workforce will be of 55 years or older (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1998). Hamilton has said that, The great challenge facing the nation is to prepare a changing population to do new kinds of work. Failure imperils economic health, social progress, and democracy itself. (Hamilton, 1990; p.1). This trend of workforce diversity compelled leaders of multi-cultural organizations to adapt the changes with special recruiting programs targeted towards these groups and organizational changes to accommodate their needs. Day-care centers, special benefit packages and language training have all become the part of the inducements to employees (Grisham and Walker, 2005). In the present decade, the environment for organizations has changed radically (Olsen JinLin, 1997). In the past, leaders usually emphasized on the internal affairs of the management but the changing environment requires them to e mphasize more on externally oriented affairs. Many scholars are of the opinion that diversity in organizations is a source of strength if used properly otherwise it creates ethnic and cultural differences, conflicts etc. (Christensen Hughes, 1992). A study was conducted on transformational leadership in organizations, which depicted that leaders in organizations, who have a clear objective, strong sense of values and cultural differences and shown deep inclination towards high standards of ethics, are considered as models for others to follow (Tracy Hinkin, 1994). The following are some of the important points; an organizational leader has to consider while working in present global environment: Changing Occupational Profile: at present organizations try to provide more services to customers for the guaranteed customers satisfaction. This requires more knowledgeable and social employees. Major organizations also introduce some new posts like quality manager, yield manager , computer and technical service manager, management accounting expert and budget analyst to provide the wide range of services to the customers (Turner and Mueller, 2005) Developing Language Skills: in order to provide best services to culturally diverse clientele, major organizations provide different languages and culture training to their staff Increased staff responsibility and job satisfaction: it is hard to get and retain a good and trained employee in present business scenario. Many organizations impose more responsibilities to their good employees in order to enhance their job satisfaction Proper Motivation: In order to retain good employees it is necessary to motivate them. Motivation is either Financial or non-financial Financial: wages, salaries, fringe benefits etc. are financial incentives. Many believe that these incentives help to attract the more desirable and qualified type of employee, decrease turnover, and maintain morale and performance. Non-fina ncial: these are known as personal incentives because they offer an opportunity to develop personal initiative and achievement. A number of research studies have proved the impact of these incentives on performance. Opportunity for advancement, challenge, the type of work, responsibility, good supervision, good working conditions, and recreational programs are some examples of non-financial incentives. Conclusion Changing and managing corporate culture is one of the major problems of managers and executives at all levels at the present era of cultural diversity. Leadership is the capacity to guide, direct, and influence the behavior of others, imaginative, toward given ends. The trait theory holds that leadership is inherent in the psychological makeup of individuals. The situational pattern views leadership as contingent on the needs and resources of a given situation. In a synthesis of these two patterns, we concluded that both have contributed ideas of value, that neither a pproach alone is satisfactory. The supervisor is traditionally viewed as the man in the middle; but although this is often a fair portrayal of his role, in reality his beliefs are closer to those of other managers than to those of non-managerial employees. Managing and changing corporate culture in a multicultural environment is far more challenging than managing people in a uni-cultural environment. The leaders of cross cultural organizations have to use all the above-mentioned qualities as well as some extra qualities like emotional intelligence and understanding of different languages, values and cultures to manage and satisfy their followers more effectively.

Essay on Divorce The Separation of the Inseparable

Love is the number one reason for marriage, even having Valentine’s Day to celebrate love. Yet Americans for Divorce Reform (ADR) estimate that, â€Å"Probably, 40 or possibly even 50 percent of marriages will end in divorce if current trends continue (Colleen). The ADR also shows the divorce rates between Christians and non-Christians are indistinguishable. Even worse, Christians divorcing their spouses are distorting the Bible in order to justify their actions. Christians must be called to a higher standard in regards to divorce, and they must stop twisting the Bible to appease their conscience. In order to fully understand divorce, we need to look into marriage, understanding the connection between two people. Biblically, marriage is†¦show more content†¦The Bible stresses this connection numerous times, clearly showing a spiritual connection between partners. Since the Bible emphasizes marriage, it is logical that divorce would also be clearly laid out. Dur ing the second giving of the law, Moses permits divorce if the man finds her indecent and writes her a certificate of divorce (Deu. 24:1-4). Although the Old Testament was more lenient on divorce, God specifically sets down stronger rules on the legality of divorce. Jesus, overriding Moses’ earlier laws on divorce, says the only reason a man should divorce his wife is for marital unfaithfulness, again reemphasizing the importance of marriage; divorce remains wrong for all other circumstance. Since God stresses marriage and strongly forbids divorce, there should be a clear difference between the divorce rates of Christians and non-Christians. Although clear biblical evidence for divorce exists in specific cases, Christians have perverted those verses to allow more divorce, buying into our secular world, which promotes emotional love and the importance of the individual within a marriage. The American Divorce Reform found that Christians experience equal divorce rates as t he general public. How can Christians—who are supposed to be called to a higher standard—commit such atrocities against the sacred union of marriage? Love based on emotion is different than true love the Bible teaches. Emotional love is the attraction between people, the fuzzyShow MoreRelatedEffects Of Divorce On Children1068 Words   |  5 PagesDivorce is a great phenomenon in todays society, it is a painful and an unforgettable experience in a persons life, especially for a child. When parents get divorced its hardest on the children because they go from having two inseparable people who had marriage commitments to fulfil, to witnessing the love lost between these two people. The concern here is, is there a psychological impact of parental divorce on children? Many parents dont realize that divorce affects their child much more thanRead MoreThe Anti Christian Movement : Is The Kingdom Of God?1473 Words   |  6 Pagesmarry young, more Americans are cohabitating before marriage, unmarried with children, not all marriages are created equal, and it’s true that the divorce rate is at fifty percent, but it does not mean what you might think†¦ The five facts above are from the campaign that celebrates National Marriage Week to strengthen individual marriages, reduce the divorce rate, and build a stronger marriage culture. What can we, as a Christian, say about them? Is it just culture that surrounds us and it does notRead MoreSingle Parent Households Is A Sensitive Topic Essay2506 Words   |  11 Pageshas affected the way my family is seen by others, how we speak to one another, and has had a large impact on my education. 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Life Threatening Interaction Between Protease Inhibitors And The Illic Essay Example For Students

Life Threatening Interaction Between Protease Inhibitors And The Illic Essay Word Count: 920Life-Threatening Interactions between Hiv-1Protease Inhibitors and MDMA and -Hydroxybutrate (GHB)IntroductionPurposeThe goal of this assignment, is to read the health journal and with an unbiased appraisal, decide whether the information is conclusive enough based on solely the information given to possibly change ones health practices. Why Topic SelectedIn todays college society, with the ever-growing number of sexually active students, HIV is quickly spreading. College students are known for being curious, and it can be extremely common for a person to have several partners in one year. It can also be common for college students to experiment with many illicit designer drugs, such as MDMA (ecstacy). Upon reading the title of this article, I became intrigued. Because both drugs and HIV affect the college student population, it could be very valuable information to the health of those persons who are infected with Hiv-1, who could possibly ingest such drugs as MDMA or GHB as a recreational activity. SummaryA man with AIDS, age 29, ingested 2 pills of MDMA. Approximately 29 hours later, while still feeling the effects of the amphetamine, the man ingested about ? teaspoon of GHB, known as a sedative, to help counter the persisting effects of MDMA.About six hours later, the man ingested another ? teaspoon of GHB. Within twenty minutes after taking the second dose, EMS reported the man became unresponsive and exhibited a brief episode of clonic contractions of both legs and then the left side of his body. EMS found the subject responsive only to painful stimuli, with shallow breathing, and a heart rate of 40/bpm. With the patients history of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, cutaneous Kaposis sarcoma, thrush, and neutropenia, he was beeing treated at the time with protease inhibitors, ritonavir and saquinavir. These protease inhibitors have reports of helping the prognosis of HIV. The journal continues to try and prove, these inhibitors may cause an acceleration or deceleration of the bodys metabolism due to their effect on the cytochrome P450 system.Before being treated by these protease inhibitors, the subject had ingested similar quantities of MDMA and GHB without having the same adverse effects. Also during the time prior to administration (PTA), other persons had consumed similar quantities of the same solution GHB without these life-threatening effects. CritiqueThe work was a peer reviewed health journal in which a few medical doctors and pharmacist wrote about a single case and their findings. The study was done at the Dept. of Medicine, School of Medicine, Dept. of Pharmacy, and School of Pharmacy at the University of Washington, Seattle. Because the study was done on-campus, the funding probably came from grants and off-campus sources. This could lead to a potential bias if limited in funds or time by the source of the promoter. On the other hand, with proper funding the most exact results and conclusions could be drawn. Because the study was only started after the man accidentally had these effects occur, I assume the researchers used what information and equipment already available rather than seeking further funding. All authors names are accompanied by an MD, or PharmD, therefore, the journal article was created by a fairly knowledgeable source. The study was experimental, as it wasnt planned and all information was gathered after the fact. Only one case was reported and studied, therefore the sample size to be investigated is extremely limited. I believe that the authors of this article are most likely correct. There could possibly be an interaction between HIV protease inhibitors affecting metabolic rate, and the prolonged or shortened effects of many illicit drugs. Although the authors could possibly be correct about the relationship between the drugs, with such a limited sample size, it is hard to defend the evidence. Many of the conclusions are simply inconclusive. Many of the same results could have been mimicked by other conditions. For instance, in the journal, the exact milligram count of MDMA ingested is never discussed. It states that prior to taking protease inhibitors the man had in gested similar amounts of the same drugs without feeling the same effects, but the amount of milligrams could be altered from pill to pill. It also does not discuss how much food the subject had eaten, which would also effect the metabolic rate severely. Many combined conditions could have caused this reaction. The conclusions of the study are extremely logical, almost too logical in fact. This leads one to believe that this most simple conclusion was drawn from the inconclusive evidence. The conclusions from the study are limited. The information provided is only useful to those taking protease inhibitors, and illicit drugs (MDMA, GHB). Personally, this information is useless to me, as I am neither taking protease inhibitors, infected with HIV, nor taking MDMA or GHB. When I first started this study, it was always a premonition to never take two drugs at once, especially if one of them is considered an illegal, illicit one. After reading the study and finding that the subjects epis ode may have been caused by the reaction between the two drugs, I would certainly never take two drugs together. I would like to continue living a healthy lifestyle, and I do not feel that I will have to change any health behaviors as I am neither infected with HIV or taking illicit drugs.

The Engineer Discourse Community A Journal Article Essay Example For Students

The Engineer Discourse Community : A Journal Article Essay To open this essay I have to start with saying that I will not be analyzing a manuscript, but a journal article instead, which the reason for will be explained later. Now, to define a journal article in a simple and modern definition, we can say it is a professionally published article that deals with a specialized subject. More specifically, in this case our genre is an engineering journal article. Contents within will range from current research results, charts and graphs of data, even current standings and analysis on subjects. A journal article is ultimately intended for engineers who have a research interest in a field, with at least some prior knowledge. The level of which its usefulness arises to is based on background knowledge on the topic. We will write a custom essay on The Engineer Discourse Community : A Journal Article specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now The engineer discourse community who will pick up this genre will most likely be familiar, to a degree, with the content, or at least have prior knowledge of engineering concepts. Those engineers who want to help or further their own research will turn to these articles; they can then base where to begin once having been briefed by its content. These engineering journal articles allow for the progression of engineering, making them the most important genre encountered in the field. Engineers will want to carefully read the information presented, perhaps even a couple times through to fully grasp what they read. In the end spending ample time to fully explore the article. This shows that the genre itself is meant for†¦