RELIGION AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

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

When we think about religion we have to go beyond. We have to realize how important is religion not only in a personal level but also in a business level.

Now days, we are facing societies which are centered in productive business organizations. In order to survive to this and be successful it is important to have into account that we are going to deal with different lifestyles that have to adapt to globalization.

It is important of being aware of restrictions and regulations also of imposes and requirements of the different cultures around the world, and the most important being respectful.

As Andrew Wicks says: it is critical to understand the role of religion in the workplace and mostly if you are a leader, because there are a lot of different people operating in different corporations around the world, so it is really important if you know how to behave and how you are going to manage your employees or your colleges, in order to inspire them and try to get from them as much as possible for the successful of the company.

                                             http://www.cracked.com/funny-125-religions/

VIRTUAL TEAMS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1NyIBiYuFQ

Virtual teams: also known as a Geographically Dispersed Team (GDT) is a group of individuals who work across time, Space and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by communication technology. They are committed to a common purpose and also have interdependent performance goals. Geographically dispersed teams allow organizations to hire and retain the best people regardless location.

Yes to virtual teams: some advantages.

ü  Better workers may be located anywhere around the world

ü  Workers demand personal flexibility and increasing technological sophistication

ü  A flexible organization is more competitive and responsive to the marketplace

ü  Globalization

ü  The global workday is 24 vs. 8 hours

ü  The emergence of environments which require inter-organizational cooperation as well as competition

ü  Increasing horizontal organization structures characterized by structurally and geographically distributed human resources.

        http://www.nuwave-tech.com/it-project-blog/bid/43361/3-Tips-for-Managing-Virtual-Teams

INTERCULTURAL COMUNICATION

Which ones are the main Cultural Differences in Non-verbal Communication?

As we already know Non-verbal communication is really important when interacting with others. A good communication will depend of some factors such as culture for example and its background.

ü  Gestures: Gesturing varies from culture to culture.  Some cultures are animated; other restrained. Pointing with a finger is considered rude in some cultures especially in Asia where they use their entire hand to point something.

ü  Facial Expressions: Majority opinion is that these do have similar meanings worldwide with respect to smiling, crying, or showing anger, sorrow, or disgust.  However, the intensity varies from culture to culture.  Note the following: Many Asian cultures suppress facial expression as much as possible. Many Mediterranean (Latino / Arabic) cultures exaggerate grief or sadness while most American men hide grief or sorrow.

ü  Body Movement: body movement and position is a key ingredient in sending messages.

ü  Posture: Bowing in the US is criticized and by the other hand it shows rank in Japan, hands in pocket is disrespectful in Turkey, sitting with legs crossed is offensive in Ghana, Showing soles of feet is offensive in Thailand.

ü  Smell: in France for example they don’t take frequent showers, the contrary to us that we can take even two showers per day.

ü  Touch: In the Middle East the left hand is reserved for body hygiene and should not be use to touch others or transfer things.In Muslim culture it is bad seen to touch someone of the opposite gender

ü  Eye contact: In Western culture, eye contact is interpreted as attentiveness and honesty; However in many cultures, including Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Native American, eye contact is thought to be disrespectful or rude

ü  General Appearance and Dress: For example Americans appear to be obsessed with dress and personal attractiveness. 

http://www.stanford.edu/group/ccr/blog/2009/04/intercultural_communication_in.html

 

MIGRATION ISSUES

Characterize one country and its main immigrants; describe the types of labor they perform and the living conditions of them.

I am reading a really interesting book that is call “El sindrome de ulises” and it is related with this topic.

The book it’s about Colombians who go to live to France as illegals. Their labor conditions are really bad, since they have to work for example as prostitutes or cleaning dishes in a restaurant, etc. They have terrible jobs in order to survive.

They do this because they are searching for better opportunities and they want to be able to send money to their families in their home countries. But they are always facing the fear of being catch by the police.

                                       http://giseleteixeira.wordpress.com/2011/02/page/3/

MANAGING CHANGE AND CONFLICT

MANAGING CHANGE AND CONFLICT

In the text by Von Glinow, Shapiro and Brett (2004) ¿Can we talk, and should we? The authors argue that words might lead to misunderstanding in cross-cultural settings. Give examples of other alternatives that might be effective when dealing with conflict situation.

Emotional conflict is inevitable in MCTs; therefore, encouraging MCT members to avoid emotional conflict is not a useful prescription. When emotional conflict occurs, talk may be not possible or if it’s possible, may be undesirable and therefore ineffective. It may be more helpful to train MCT members and the leaders of such teams to use aesthetic means to deal with emotional conflict rather than encourage talk.

For example a way to release our anger is through painting, it will help us articulate what we are felling.

Also visual images facilitate cross-cultural understanding. Metaphors graphic as well as conceptual nature helped people understand culturally different meanings of teamwork.

Another example is an aesthetics activity, which is for example singing songs in order to feel positive emotions including unity and pride. In the business context aesthetic activities has been linked to an increase in positive feelings such as empathy, unity and solidarity among employees.

                             http://thehrcoach.org/2011/03/31/leadership-quote-of-the-day-10/

ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING

¿How can new knowledge be transferred into action or valuable assets inside organizations?

First of all we should take into account setting the organization goals in order to increase motivation, performance, guidance, etc; also having a good organizational structure with management strategies and resource allocation.

Try to collect as much information is possible in order to share it and reflect knowledge to all members in the organization based on past knowledge and experiences.

I think one of the most important things is the attitude you have towards the organization regarding it is yours or you just work there as an employee. If you have love for your work and there is a positive organizational environment it is going to be easier to transfer knowledge into actions and assets.

http://inroadsconsulting.com/action_learning_leadership_development_program.php

Leadership

How does followers should react when they do not agree with their manager’s directions?

In The companies we can find some cases where followers don’t agree with their managers or bosses directions. There are some people that don’t like being control or manipulate, those are the most complex personalities to handle. In order to control this, a manager should study, research and ask for advises in order to handle all kind of situations and try to satisfy the staff members to have a nice work environment.

I think both followers and managers or bosses should have a direct, transparent and continuous communication with each other, base on respect, honesty and responsibility.

When followers don’t like or disagree with something they should immediately express their inconformity and try to resolve it in a respectful way.  Also as a follower, try to do the best effort to understand the manager points of view and think open mind, be patient.

http://pmstudent.com/project-management-leadership/ pinguins