Merging Organizational Cultures

According to Kumar, B. Rajesh and Panneerselvam, S. “In a merger, corporations come together to combine and share their resources to achieve common objectives” while “An acquisition involves the purchase of the assets or shares of one firm by another where the acquired firm’s shareholders cease to be owners of that firm. In a merger a new entity may be formed subsuming the merging firms, whereas in an acquisition the acquired firm becomes the subsidiary of the acquirer” (1).

In the document "Challenges and Opportunities in Mergers and Acquisitions: Three International Case Studies - Deutsche Bank-Bankers Trust, British Petroleum-Amoco, Ford-Volvo." The authors analyze the experiences and different situations of mergers and acquisitions in each case.

This document explains that the final purpose or objective of mergers and acquisitions is the creation of value for a company or organization. They are seen as strategic keys used for improving the way an organization is being managed and therefore its market position and recognition.

Sometimes, these mergers and acquisitions cause conflict inside the organization if they are not well managed and could work as a double-edge sword, in the cases where companies merge or are acquired for the purpose of growing and improving the organizations together and instead of achieving this objective, they lose all control and begin decreasing their performance until they both disappear from the market.

When these integrations are made it is really important to understand the concept of acculturation, because companies need to appreciate the possible changes presented by the interaction of two or more organizational cultures that are merging. Employees must understand that some changes could be implemented in the organizations and that they should be prepared and disposed to receive them in the best way. This would help each organization to be adapted easier to another one.

With the three cases of effective integration mentioned in the document "Challenges and Opportunities in Mergers and Acquisitions: Three International Case Studies - Deutsche Bank-Bankers Trust, British Petroleum-Amoco, Ford-Volvo.", the authors explain some actions that facilitate the achievement of a better merger and acquisition. The first one is creating integration teams that can work during the process, another one is setting common goals; the third one is that the executives should be committed in the entire process and should act as guides for the rest of the employees, another action is by differentiating and assimilating aspects between the companies, and finally strengthening the common identity.

“A merger is principally a legal process and a follow up to an acquisition of controlling interest” (2).

Questions

Based on the required reading for this module, list and explain - using evidence from the cases presented in the reading - the main challenges and opportunities arising in processes of mergers and acquisitions from an organizational culture perspective.
Include at least 3 challenges and 3 opportunities.

Based on the reading "Challenges and Opportunities in Mergers and Acquisitions: Three International Case Studies – Deutsche Bank-Bankers Trust; British Petroleum-Amoco; Ford-Volvo" I can conclude that there are different challenges and opportunities depending on each specific case, which will be presented above.

“Effective integration can be defined as the combination of firms into a single unity or group, generating joint efforts to fulfill the goals of the new organization. This combination is always obstructed by the challenges of nationality and perceived cultural differences.” (3) (Olie,1994)

In the three cases it is possible to observe that each company looked for a strategic interdependence, but at the same time they were willing to keep their own identity and autonomy.

The first case exposed in the reading is Integrating Deutsche Bank (DB) and Bankers Trust (BT). This particular case presented challenges and opportunities such as:
• DB’s process of growth, in which they wanted to transform a common German bank into a global organization.
• DB’s corporate finance was lagging behind, especially in the USA.
• DB’s top management decided to implement a cultural assessment exercise, looking for a reduction of cultural misunderstanding between the German and the US banks.
• The cultural assessment exercise showed that DB’s employees were not convinced at all about the legitimacy of the deal, feeling that BT was not the solution for their problems, which could present previous problems when the integration took place.
• With those results, the top management understood that they were failing in the communication and that the information given to their employees was not complete.
• Another challenge was the internal conflict that BT and Alex Brown were facing. The exercise showed that the integration between these two banks had not been done properly. This is why DB had to gain Alex Brown employees confidence before they started the new integration. Therefore, they decided to name the merged company The Deutsche Bank - Alex Brown Investment Bank.
• The last challenge was to overcome national culture differences, as “BT felt that DB was a very German company, bureaucratic, hierarchical, with low decision making process.” (4). The Top management decided that it would be a challenge for the employees to keep these thoughts about DB and ion this way they would improve their work.
• DB found an important opportunity merging with BT because in some areas BT’s executives had a stronger position in the market than DB’s managers had.
• Another opportunity for DB was to expand and let people know this bank all over the world merging with the oldest U.S investment bank (Alex Brown). This helped DB to open its doors not only to the German market but also to the U.S market and therefore to the rest of the world, gaining trust and confidence not only because of Alex Brown but also for BT’s reputation.


The second case is Integrating British Petroleum (BP) and Amoco into a single organization.

• The main challenge of this integration was the difficulties that these 2 companies had to face in order to merge 2 different organizational cultures. For this reason, managers guided the employees, giving them accurate information so they could socialize among them and know each other better until they got to understand each other’s organizational culture.
• Another challenge was to understand exactly which practices were to be uncovered by each company, as they considered it was better to uncover the best practices inside each organization.
• This integration generated important opportunities for employees in both companies.
• The main opportunity of this case was to achieve more synergies than had at first been forecast, as they went faster and further than they had promise the market.


The third case is Volvo and Ford: merging two distinct cultures.


• The main challenge of this case was merging two completely different cultures, one Swedish company (Volvo) and one Anglo-Saxon (Ford).
• Volvo was a decentralized and teamwork oriented organization, with a participatory style, were its decision making process happened at the lower levels of the organizational structure. On the contrary, Ford was perceived as a structures and hierarchical U.S corporation. For these reasons, it was a challenge for them to unify and merge the organizational cultures, as they were completely different.
• Then they found an important opportunity in learning about each other’s way of working and managing the company.
• In order to overcome these cultural differences, both companies created integration teams that could find synergies in specific areas such as power trend, purchasing, marketing and the most important one in the automotive industry, which is technology transfer. These teams were organized with the same number of participants from both companies.
• Ford found a very important opportunity with this integration, because they needed money to develop new models of cars. Without this integration they couldn’t stay as competitive as they were in the world market.

References:
• (1) & (2) Kumar, B. Rajesh; Panneerselvam, S. Mergers, Acquisitions and Wealth Creation: A Comparative Study in the Indian Context. IIMB Management Review (Indian Institute of Management Bangalore), Sep2009, Vol. 21 Issue 3, p222-244, 23p, 8 Charts, 4 Graphs

• (3) & (4) 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.

• Wang, Cong; Xie, Fei. Corporate Governance Transfer an Synergistic Gains from Mergers and Acquisitions. Review of Financial Studies, Feb2009, Vol. 22 Issue 2, p829-858, 30p

• “Acquisition of Bankers Trust Successfully Closed; Deutsche Bank Expands in U.S.A.”, PR Newswire (1999)

Images Taken from:

• http://www.cadvantage.co.uk/resources/case-studies/merging-business-need-new-identity.aspx
• http://www.ridelust.com/category/car-auctions/page/5/
• http://yevgyeni.com/
  
  

Leadership and management styles: East Asia

Japanese and Korean Management Styles

Everyday Japanese and Korean companies interact more and more with each other, which has help them to grow simultaneously and converge in some aspects, but it is important to clarify that they will never be homogeneous because of their different cultures and systems inside the countries.

On one side, Japanese management style has been concentrated for years in market share as a growth strategy, based on aggressive pricing and economies of scale that lead them to value maximization, thinking always in their future and in Japan’s development as an entire country.

Japanese organizations have an excellent relationship with its suppliers, recognizing them as partners and maintaining an association, which is based on business cooperation and coordination, where they are able to obtain adequate and accurate information and especially to receive the products quickly and continuously.

In these organizations, employees have an active participation, which demonstrates trust, loyalty and motivation towards the corporation. They are committed with it and know how to deal effectively with customers, connecting the product, design and production to have a perfect manufacturing process. This can be explained by the importance of corporate values within Japanese organizations, because workers feel part of the company, willing to carry with it through changes and difficult times.

In the Japanese culture, there are big group of companies called “ZAIBATSU”, which were originated by groups of families during the Meiji Era. These enterprises have their own banks, so they receive financial privileges and special treatments. Besides, the Japanese government give them subsidies and a favorable tax payment. They were the most important part of the economy and industrial activity during the nineteenth century.

On the other side, Korean management style is really similar to the Japanese style, because Korea was a Japanese colony from 1910 to 1945 and in this way their culture was influenced.

In order to succeed in a globalized world, Korean management style followed the Japanese economic development model during the 70’s and 80´s. They implemented government’s intervention with credits, foreign relationships and exports, looking for an augmentation of growth and benefits.

Korean culture also has large conglomerates, controlled by families that are called “CHAEBOL”. They play a very important role in Korean´s industry as well as “Zaibatsu” do in Japan. The difference between those 2 groups is that “Chaebol” are not allowed to have banks, so they can only use government help and financing.

According to Jangho Lee, Thomas W. Roehl and Soonkyoo Choe "The convergence assumes that as countries develop, management systems will converge to a model found in developed countries. The other, the comparative cultural approach (divergence), is based on the assumption that a wider set of cultural norms in each society is a powerful force for differentiation" (1).

Different management styles can seek for convergence when they develop similar styles to meet and satisfy the global demand; or for differentiation when they have a wider set of norms in each society that make them different in the international market.

References:
• (1) Jangho Lee, Thomas W. Roehl and Soonkyoo Choe. "What makes management style similar and distinct across borders? growth, experience and culture in korean and japanese firms"

Questions:

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


First of all, it is important to note that both, Korean and Japanese management styles are directed towards globalization, internationalization, expansion and growth. As they are both Asian countries, with closely related cultures they have to face similar markets (national and international) and consequently they have developed similar managerial structures.

Another important similarity is that both managerial styles have large conglomerates controlled by families, which are the “Zaibatsu” in Japan and the “Chaebol” in Korea, groups that have influenced in a big way both economies, industrial activities, development and growth.

In Japanese and Korean organizations, employees are really committed to their work and take participation in important decisions, they both have great relationships with suppliers and they work hard to achieve not only their organization’s goals, but also to have their customers satisfied and fulfill their needs with the products or services.

Another main similarity is that both economies are strong in technology and the automobile sector and have worked hard to develop these industries and to be recognized in the entire world for their aggressive pricing.

According to Won Seok Choi, the main difference between Korean and Japanese managerial styles is the intervention that the government of each country has in organizations. In Korea, the government has a close relationship with business corporations, including direct credits given to the organizations, import restrictions, subsidies and sponsorship for some specific industries, etc. In Japan, the government protects mainly the agricultural industry and they heavily depend on imported raw materials and fuels. Another difference is their hierarchy orientation. Koreans have more respect for their family and children usually want to work in the same as their father.

Korean and Japanese styles are developing and growing within two different economic environments. This explains their divergence and why they will never be homogeneous despite having many similarities that lead them to converge.


References:
• Jangho Lee, Thomas W. Roehl and Soonkyoo Choe. What makes management style similar and distinct across borders? growth, experience and culture in korean and japanese firms"
• John Lie. Is Korean management just like Japanese management?
• http://econc10.bu.edu/economic_systems/Country_comparisons/korea_japan.htm


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

“Isomorphism refers to the constraining process that forces one unit in a population to resemble other units that face the same set of environmental conditions” (DiMaggio and Powell 1983: 149).
According to this definition, isomorphism is the similarity that has one organization´s structure with another, facing the same conditions and limitations.

“Isomorphism occurs because increased environmental differentiation has to be matched by similar patterns of differentiation within the organization”. (Lawrence and Lorsch 1967).

I think that organizations change their management styles to adapt to the environment and its conditions, to different cultures and to the national and international market. Sometimes it is required for organizations that want to enter a new market to assimilate or copy some specific characteristics from organizations that have already entered that market (culture, country, etc), and change some things of their management style, so they can be adapted to the new market, new culture, new people, etc. For example, KFC had to change some of their management style characteristics, like their context, people, strategy and execution when they decided to enter the Chinese market. It wasn’t easy to do it, but they succeed because they learned how to apply their business in a different country, with a different culture and therefore a different market.

I would say that when an organization stays inside its country of origin, the national environment would be stronger, because it has to deal only with that country’s market. But when an organization is willing to internationalize and enter other markets, they should at first consider the international environment (in this case the new country) and then the national environment; without losing the principal aspects that have characterized the company and make it grow, but adapting them to the new environment if necessary, always respecting the new culture, new market, beliefs, etc. Otherwise the organization would not succeed in the international market.

References:
• P. J. DiMaggio & W. Powell, "The iron cage revisited" institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields", American Sociological Review, 48 (1983), 147-60.
• Lawrence, P., and Lorsch, J., "Differentiation and Integration in Complex Organizations" Administrative Science Quarterly 12, (1967), 1-30.
• http://knowledge.insead.edu/KFCinChina090323.cfm?vid=195

Images taken from:
• http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article31119
• http://imprinttalk.com/?m=200903

Communication + Virtual Teams

Communication

“Communication: the transmission of information, idea, emotion, skills, etc., by the use of symbols-words, pictures, figures, graphs, etc. It is the act or process of transmission that is usually called communication” (Berelson and Steiner, 1964).

According to the class presentation about this topic, Communication has 2 dimenssions, which are Interpersonal communication and Technological Communication.

Interpersonal communication refers to the “Communication between two or more people in an organization”. (1), which cannot be replased by technology and is characterized by 4 elements: (1) the communicator: person that generates the mesage, (2) the receiver: person that receives the message, (3) perceptual screens: the window through which we interact with other people, that manipulates the clarity and quality of the communication and (4) the message: opinions, thougths, ideas, feelings, etc. that the communicator wants to be understood by the receiver.

Inside organizations we can find different types of effective managers, which may know how to express their ideas and thoughts, maintain their workers updated with relevant information or even know how to listen to each others and be concerned about their problems. Indeed there are 5 types of effective managers:

1. Expressive Speakers: This type of managers express their ideas, feelings, opinions and thoughts, letting the employees know where are they standing and how is their development being conceived by their bosses.
2. Empathetic Listeners: This type of managers are good listeners, are patient and concerned by other people.
3. Persuasive Leaders: This type of managers like its name indicates, prefer to persuade employees instead of giving or imposing orders.
4. Sentivity to feelings: This type of managers are really concerned for other’s feelings, self-image and self-esteem, being very confidential and constructive inside their organization.
5. Informative Managers: This type of managers like to do the apropriate and selective difussion of the information, wanting to keep employees well informed.

For having an effective communication, people must have: clarity and consistency in their messages, a complete, understandable and clear objective that they want to transmit, they should do the adequate feedback and take into account the time that they should spend in that communication.

References:

• (1) Nelson, Debra L. and Quick, James Campbell. “Understanding Organizational Behavior” chapter 7 Communication.
• Berelson B & Steiner G A. Human behavior: an inventory of scientific findings. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1964. 712 p.
• Michael Spencer, "If InterContinental were a sound … what would it be?” Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 31 Iss: 4, pp.39 – 46

Virtual Teams


Virtual teams “consist of team members who are geographically dispersed and who come together by way of telecommunications technology (e.g. video conferencing). Each team member may be located in a traditional office setting, but the offices are not proximate to one another” (Kurland & Bailey, 1999, p. 56).

Virtual teams are composed by communications, global operations and integration of Human Resources Management (HRM) practices. They have several characteristics; some of them are:
• People belonging to virtual teams are located in different time zones.
• They have a common purpose.
• Virtual teams use technology to communicate among them.
• Members of virtual teams may belong to different companies, etc.

There are 4 types of virtual teams depending on the number of members and their degree of interaction. These types are:

1. Telework: People use telecommunication to interact with each other. They work outside their workplace almost all the time, saving costs and time and being more flexible.
2. Virtual Groups: Are composed by various teleworkers, which report their work to the same boss. They don’t have a common goal or objective and develop independent tasks and activities.
3. Virtual Teams: Members of the virtual group interact with each other, working inside the organization towards achieving a common goal.
4. Virtual Communities: Are larger entities with common purposes and norms, in which members communicate through internet.

Virtual Teams have some advantages compared to traditional teams, like savings in time and costs, getting in contact with experts that are geographically dispersed, having more flexibility, etc. However, they also have disadvantages, such as: technological costs, people having to deal with cultural differences, having possible misunderstandings because they are not communicating face to face, among others.

“Unlike conventional teams, a virtual team works across time, space and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technologies”. (Lipnack and Stamps, 1997).


References:
• Kurland, N.B. and Bailey, D.E. (1999.) Telework: The Advantages and Challenges of Working Here, There, Anywhere, and Anytime. Organizational Dynamics, 28(2): 53-68.
• Kuruppuarachchi, Palitha R. 2009. "Virtual team concepts in projects: A case study." Project Management Journal 40, no. 2: 19-33.
• Lipnack, J., Stamps, J. (1997), Virtual Teams: Reaching Across Space, Time, and Organizations with Technology

Question

Communication is a process that allows organizations to send/receive messages within their own boundaries but also to interact with outside entities (customers, suppliers, the media, etc.). Messages are send/received not only through oral and written statements, there are many channels and ways that need to be considered when discussing effective organizational communication. In that sense, the use of sounds has become increasingly important.

Based on the article “If Intercontinental were a sound…what would it be?”*, Please discuss the implications (potential advantages, disadvantages, challenges, etc.) of using sounds to send strategic messages. You need to integrate the use of key concepts relating to the topic of communication to support your answer.

Organizations should formulate strategies to decide how they want to communicate their brands, products, services or even the entire company. When doing this, managers work hard to create a clear message that can be received by external entities and their target market exactly as they want to, trying to avoid any kind of misunderstandings with it.

When organizations intend to send an effective message for external entities, they need to be aware of the people’s senses (touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing) that they want to perceive this message. For example, messages send by T.V. commercials are perceived by the receiver with sight and hearing, allowing people to remember the message transmitted for a longer period of time.

In the article “If Intercontinental were a sound…what would it be?” Intercontinental organization wants to communicate what their company is and means through a specific melody that can be recognized by everyone, inside and outside the organization. Implementing this strategy could bring potential advantages to the organization in the way that this melody could reinforce the organization’s identity and become a memorable message in people’s mind.

Sound is one of the most powerful senses in humans’ retentive, therefore creating a short distinctive melody or a jingle could be a good way to reach consumers and place the brand and the company’s name in their mind. In this way when people listen to that specific melody they will immediately associate it with the organization, generating recognition and remembrance.

Creating a melody to be recognized by people also has some disadvantages. In this precise case of Intercontinental organization, when managers started working with the producers that were going to help them create the melody, they found out that they actually needed to modify their mission, vision and strategies if they were willing to reach consumer’s mind with that sound and communicate the message they wanted.

When an organization focuses on creating a new way of communication, like a sound or a melody, managers could forget about other senses and could be concentrated only in hearing, which might be really important, but is not the only one. The other 4 senses should be taken into account when sending messages that we want people to remember for a long time.

For all these reasons exposed above, we can conclude that it is a real challenge getting people to recognize and remember an organization with a simple melody, but if we do it, can be a very effective strategy for the company that no one will forget through time.

According to Simon Osborne in his article “ Organization Communication”: “If properly planned and delivered, communication will ensure that everyone understands what your goals are, what their part in achieving them is and what they can do to make sure that the goals are achieved. The time lost through lack of direction and misunderstandings will be dramatically reduced”.

References:
• Michael Spencer, "If InterContinental were a sound … what would it be?", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 31 Iss: 4, pp.39 – 46
• http://www.businessperform.com/articles/workplace-communication/organization_communication.html
• May, Steve and Mumby, Dennis K. 2005. "Engaging Organizational Communication Theory and Research." Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Images taken from:
• http://es.dreamstime.com/thread_8914
• http://www.leadingvirtually.com/?p=93

Motivation

Motivation refers to the internal and external factors that stimulate people to be consistent when achieving a goal. This is why, motivation is always goal oriented.

“Motivation is a process governing choices among alternative forms of voluntary activities, a process controlled by the individual. The individual makes choices based on estimates of how well the expected results of a given behavior are going to match up with or eventually lead to the desired results. Motivation is a product of the individual’s expectancy that a certain effort will lead to the intended performance, the instrumentality of this performance to achieving a certain result, and the desirability of this result for the individual, known as valence.”(1)

This concept has been clarified by experts, through theories exposed with the purpose of explaining, predicting and influencing people´s behavior, and also with experiments done. One famous example of such experiments are the Hawthorne Studies, in which managers could analyze employees’ performance when they thought that were being observed, concluding that they work harder when they are stimulated by something, like interpersonal motives and when they receive incentives for their hard work.

There are 5 important theories exposed to explain how motivation influences people´s behavior when they are trying to satisfy their needs and achieve their goals. These theories are:

1. Maslow's needs hierarchy: This theory proposes 5 levels of needs, which individuals must satisfy in a progressive sequence starting from the lowest level. According to this theory, individuals feel motivated when they meet their needs.

2. McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y: Theory X refers to people who only feel motivated for satisfying their lower order needs; for this reason they dislike work and responsibility, lack ambition, are self-centered, are not concerned about the organization’s needs and need security at work. These individuals need money to feel motivated. On the other hand McGregor explained Theory Y, in which individuals seek to satisfy the higher order of needs; for this reason they are committed to their work, are creative, they look for responsibility and contribute to the organization goals. In this case, individuals feel motivated by connecting the organizational goals with their individual needs.

3. Herzberg’s two-factor theory: Herzberg theory talks about work satisfaction and dissatisfaction according to 2 different factors: 1. Motivation factors: the presence of these factors motivate people (psychological growth). and 2. Hygiene factors: These are factors that when present, people do not perceive them, but when are taken away people become dissatisfied and feel motivated to get them back.

4. Alderfer's ERG theory: Is the evolution of Maslow´s theory, because according to him, needs can be satisfied simultaneously and doesn’t have a strict order.

5. McClelland's need theory: McClelland assumes that people manifest 3 needs, which are achievement, power and affiliation. Each need has different motivators that stimulate the person to fulfill that need.

References:
• (1) Vroom, V.H. Work and Motivation. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons, 1964. Reprinted Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing Company, 1982. S.E. Condrey, 200, p.482
•Viorel, Lefter, Manolescu Aurel, Marinas Cristian Virgil, and Puia Ramona Stefania. 2009. "EMPLOYEES MOTIVATION THEORIES DEVELOPED AT AN INTERNATIONAL LEVEL." Annals of the University of Oradea, Economic Science Series 18, no. 4: 324-328.
• Kanfer, R. (1990). Motivation and Individual Differences in Learning: An Integration of Developmental, Differential, and Cognitive Perspectives. Learning and Individual Differences, 2, 221-239.

Question

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

“The term "Hawthorne effect" refers back to a series of experiments on managing factory workers carried out around 1924-33 in the Hawthorne works of the Western Electric Company in Chicago.” (1)
The Hawthorne studies were experiments exposed by Elton Mayo, in which Hawthorne Works wanted to observe if its workers would work harder and be more productive when they had more light around them, founding some limitations in the experiment, like the difficulty to identify the attributes involved in the working environment and the fact that every organization is dynamic so these studies need to be constantly updated.

With these studies, they noticed that the key factor wasn’t strictly the light but instead they came to the conclusion that actually workers feel more motivated when they are being observed and when something changes around them. Employees need incentives and motivational factors that stimulate them to increase their productivity.

Hawthorne Studies are really important when studying motivation at the workplace, because if an organization understands this experiment and all the concepts involved, managers will be able to generate changes through time and be constantly studying their workers that will feel motivated to the point in which they consider themselves part of the company and notice that they are fulfilling and satisfying all their needs. Interpersonal motives and incentives given to the workers of an organization are some key factors that will help the company to uphold their motivation and therefore to obtain a better performance and productivity.

These studies influenced some of the motivational theories, because it is important for an organization to understand that not every single worker is willing to satisfy the same needs and for this reason each one of them is motivated by different things. For example McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y have a lot to do with Hawthorne Studies, because organizations need to differentiate their type of workers. If the employees belong to theory X, they will feel motivated by money and this will be the perfect incentive for them, but if they belong to Theory Y they will need to feel identified with the organization’s goals and to assume more responsibilities.

Hawthorne studies also influenced Herzberg’s two-factor theory, because it talks about work satisfaction and dissatisfaction, so when workers have a lot of light they don’t perceive it, but when it is taken away they become dissatisfied and feel motivated to get it back, such as happened in Hawthorne Studies.

References:
• (1) Olson,R., Verley,J., Santos,L. & salas,C. (1994) "What we teach students about the Hawthorne studies: A review of content within a sample of introductory I-O and OB textbooks" The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist vol.41 no.3 pp.23-39
• Viorel, Lefter, Manolescu Aurel, Marinas Cristian Virgil, and Puia Ramona Stefania. 2009. "EMPLOYEES MOTIVATION THEORIES DEVELOPED AT AN INTERNATIONAL LEVEL." Annals of the University of Oradea, Economic Science Series 18, no. 4: 324-328.
• http://www.accel-team.com/motivation/hawthorne_02.html

2. Based on the class activity about "Flight 001: Motivating Employees", please answer the following question:
¿Which motivation theory do you think has the most relevance for understanding the behavior of Griffin and fostering her motivation at work?

Based on the article “Flight 001: Motivating Employees", I think that McGregor’s Theory Y is the one that has the most relevance for understanding and describing Emily Griffin’s behavior in her workplace, because she feels as an important part of the organization, where she already fulfilled the lower level of needs and she feels motivated to work harder in order to fulfill the higher levels, like the esteem needs, with more responsibilities and status and her self-actualization, including personal growth.

Emily Griffin said in the article “Flight 001: Motivating Employees": “I think that one of the big reasons we’re successful in keeping people at a very high level of dedication and motivation in our stores is that they really feel a personal connection with people at the corporate level”. According to this statement, we can notice how Ms. Griffin and each employee inside this organization are committed with the company because they feel that managers trust in them and consider that they are a very important part of the organization.

Ms. Griffin said in the article that she thought retail sales would be temporary for her and that it is unbelievable she is actually building a career there. This shows how motivated she feels for her job and McGregor’s Theory Y perfectly describes her motivation, because she is capable of developing and assuming responsibilities and in this way she contributes to the organization’s goals, which could be her bigger motivator as she feels that those goals are connected to her individual needs.

References:
• Article "Flight 001: Motivating Employees", class activity.
• Viorel, Lefter, Manolescu Aurel, Marinas Cristian Virgil, and Puia Ramona Stefania. 2009. "EMPLOYEES MOTIVATION THEORIES DEVELOPED AT AN INTERNATIONAL LEVEL." Annals of the University of Oradea, Economic Science Series 18, no. 4: 324-328.
• Class Presentation: Motivation

Image taken from:
• http://quangkhoi.net/learningcenter/2009/05/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs/

Personality, Perception and Attribution + Attitudes and Values

Personality, Perception and Attribution

Personality can be defined as "An individual's pattern of psychological processes arising from motives, feelings, thoughts, and other major areas of psychological function. Personality is expressed through its influences on the body, in conscious mental life, and through the individual's social behavior." (Mayer, 2005).

According to this definition we can conclude that the personality makes each person unique and influences behavior creating a big difference between one human being and another.

An individual’s personality has a lot to do with the way he/she develops in an organization. The way a person acts, his self-control, his self-esteem, his self-efficacy, his self-monitoring and the way that a person reflects his affection (positive or negative). According to this, a person will reflect his personality inside the organization, meaning that he will be a better employee if his personality has more positive than negative aspects.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, perception is “the process of becoming aware or conscious of a thing or things in general; the state of being aware; consciousness; understanding.”
Perceptions refer to the way an individual sees the world, his/her understanding and interpretation. They are closely related with the senses (touch, smell, hearing, vision and taste).

"If, therefore, we attend to that act of our mind which we call the perception of an external object of sense, we shall find it in these three things: First, Some conception or notion of the object perceived; Secondly, A strong and irresistible conviction and belief of its present existence; and, Thirdly, That this conviction and belief are immediate, and not the effect of reasoning" (1).

Another important aspect inside the organizations is the perception that people have from each other. How they perceive others messages, acts, actions, attitudes, etc. will influence their decision making inside the corporation. Everyone has a different point of view that sometimes doesn’t match with the other’s points of view, but it is really important to learn how to perceive a message or action in a positive way, so you can avoid any kind of conflict inside the organization.

Finally, it is really relevant to understand the meaning of attributions. Fritz Heider described attribution theory as a “method that can be used for evaluating how people perceive the behavior of themselves and of other people. How people make casual explanations” (2).

There are external and internal attributions. The external attributions are caused by outside factors, which people can’t control, for example: the weather. Internal attributions are caused by inside factors that people can control, for example: intelligence.

People within organizations have to take into account all three aspects when analyzing and judging another person, even if he/she is going to be hired or if the person has belonged to that organization for years.


References:
• (1) Reid, Thomas, 1753-1762/1937, Philosophical Orations of Thomas Reid, [in Latin], W.R. Humphries (ed.), Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press.
• (2) Heider, Fritz. The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations.New York: Wiley, 1958.
• Mayer, J. D. (2005). A classification of DSM-IV-TR mental disorders according to their relation to the personality system. In J. C. Thomas & D. L. Segal (Eds.), Comprehensive handbook of personality and psychopathology (CHOPP) Vol. 1: Personality and everyday functioning. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
• "Perception." In Oxford English Dictionary (2007), http://www.oed.com.
• London, Manuel (Ed.), How People Evaluate Others in Orgnizations, Mahwah NJ:
Erlbaum, 2001.
• Levine, Michael W., and Jeremy M. Shefner, Fundamentals of Sensation and Perception, (2nd Ed), Brooks/Cole, Pacific Grove CA, 1991
• http://biogeocv.wikispaces.com/file/view/5_senses.jpg/52734822/5_senses.jpg (August, 2010)
• http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/perceptionperceivability.htm
• Takao Inamori, Farhad Analoui, "Beyond Pygmalion effect: the role of managerial perception", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 29 Iss: 4, pp.306 – 321


Attitudes and Values



“An attitude, roughly, is a residuum of experience, by which further activity is conditioned and controlled ... We may think of attitudes as acquired tendencies to act in specific ways toward objects.” (krueger & Reckless, 1931).

“An attitude is a predisposition to experience, to be motivated by, and to act toward, a class of objects in a predictable manner.” (Smith, Bruner, & White, 1956).

According to these definitions, we can conclude that attitudes are formed with time and experience; they can be changed or transformed with the pass of the years.

Past experiences and social learning help people to form their attitudes and based on these each individual behave inside an organization; this means that organizational behavior depends on people’s attitude, because they always reflect their attitudes, values and personality in their daily job. This can be in a positive or negative way, but always affects ones work and satisfaction inside the company.

“Values are traits or qualities that are considered worthwhile; they represent your highest priorities and deeply held driving forces. When you are part of any organization, you bring your deeply held values and beliefs to the organization. There they co-mingle with those of the other members to create an organization or family culture.” (Susan M. Heathfield)

Values refer to every belief that helps a person grow in his personal dignity. They are primarily influenced by the family, are present in everyone’s life and are much related in everyday’s decisions.

People take their personal values to the group that they belong, and some others are learned or acquired inside the organization, because the vision and mission of each company reflect its own values. Even though people may have different values depending on their cultures and families, they must be respected and understood by others.


References:
• Gregorio Martín-de-Castro, José Emilio Navas-López, Pedro López-Sáez, Elsa Alama-Salazar, (2006) "Organizational capital as competitive advantage of the firm", Journal of Intellectual Capital, Vol. 7 Iss: 3, pp.324
• http://www.psych.umn.edu/courses/spring06/borgidae/psy5202/images/attitude%20definitions.pdf
• Krueger, E. T., and Reckless, W. C., Social Psychology. Pp. vii, 578. New York: Longmans, Green & Company, 1931.
• Susan M. Heathfield, Human Resources expert in the article Success in Life and Work: Identify and Live Your Personal Values.
• Jerome S. Bruner, M. Brewster Smith, Robert W. White, David F. Aberle, Stanley G. Estes, Eugenia Hanfmann, Sheldon J. Korchin “Opinions and Personality”.

Question

1. Please explain, using your own words, the concept of Pygmalion Effect.
What are the potential implications, uses, or challenges that this effect may pose for organizations engaging into international operations that require the understanding of diverse cultural contexts? Can you use this concept to explain the relationship between national and organizational cultures?

Pygmalion Effect refers to the expectation that someone has of other’s performance and how this interferes in the relationship that exists between the perceiver and the target. Meaning this that when someone believes in another person’s capabilities for achieving a goal, that other person will be more capable of doing things right and will achieve that goal in a proper way.

When a person has positive expectations towards another one, the performance of the second person will be successful. But also when he/she has negative expectations, the performance of the other person will have negative consequences, because this person will feel discouraged in many ways.

After understanding its meaning and applications, we can conclude that the Pygmalion Effect is an important motivational tool inside organizations. When the boss trusts in his employee’s potential and capabilities, and has positive expectations about his performance, the employee will feel encouraged and will see this level of trust and confidence as a stimulus for doing an excellent job.

Pygmalion Effect phenomenon also describes the way in which people sometimes feel that they should adapt their behavior to other person’s expectation. In this way, when someone has high expectations about other´s performance, the other one will try harder and will do his best to please him and when someone has low expectations from other person, he/she may lower his/her performance.

“The Pygmalion Effect affirms that one's expectations about a person can eventually lead that person to behave and achieve in ways that confirm those expectations" Tauber (1998).

Organizations engaged into international operations have to face different cultures, which may manage their organizations in a different way, having different values and attitudes inside the company. It could be easier to encourage your team members’ work when they share your culture and beliefs, but it may be difficult to express yourself and try to demonstrate what your expectations are from their performance when these members belong to a different culture.

Nowadays, organizations have to deal with different cultures when they are willing to be known all around the world or even if they just do businesses with an organization in another country. In these cases leaders and employees should have really clear the concept of Pygmalion Effect. On one side, leaders should know how to encourage not only people within their same culture, but people who belong to other cultures. The way everybody will perform concerning to the business and organization will depend on the expectations leader’s have from them. On the other side, employees have to be committed with the entire organization, even if it is or is not in their native county, or belongs to the same culture, and try to response to those positive expectations in the way they can accomplish their bosses’, themselves’ and the entire organization’s goals and objectives.

Even if an organization has to deal with diverse cultural contexts, people inside that company should not feel threatened by the cultural differences they might face. Instead they should learn about that other culture and understand it to the point that they can have the same expectation from the results they will get as if they were engaged only with national operations. Each team member has to study the diverse cultural context that they will have to face, so they can have the greatest expectations and therefore performance anywhere in the globalized world.

Pygmalion Effect can also explain the relationship between national and organizational cultures, because as seen in the past chapters and classes, national culture influences people’s behavior, attitudes and values and all these aspects are then reflected, having a great impact inside the organization’s environment and therefore influencing organizational culture. When a person is new in an organization, he may modify his behavior in order to be accepted by the rest of the organization’s members and to fulfill his bosses’ expectations.

People that work inside an organization with a different culture than their national one, are often forced to adapt their behavior, attitudes, believes, etc. to those inside that specific organization in which they are working or they want to work. Pygmalion Effect plays an important role in these cases, because it reflects how people are willing to modify their beliefs imposed by a culture and family, for the simple fact of belonging to an organization and meeting the expectations that others have on him.

References:
• Rosenthal, Robert & Jacobson, Lenore Pygmalion in the classroom (1992). Expanded edition. New York: Irvington
• Tauber, R. (1998). Good or Bad, What Teachers Expect from Students They Generally Get!" ERIC Digest. 1-4.
• Takao Inamori, Farhad Analoui, "Beyond Pygmalion effect: the role of managerial perception", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 29 Iss: 4, pp.306 – 321
• Livingston, S, "Pygmalion in Management", Harvard Business Review, Vol 47, 1967, pp 8-9

Images taken from:

• http://hubpages.com/hub/Some-Tips-for-Personality-Development

• http://www.investorforce.com/aboutus/corporatevalues.html

Organizational behavior + national and organizational culture

Organizational Behavior and National Culture

We started the course of Organizations and Cultures learning about Organizational Behavior, national and organizational culture.
First of all, it is important to understand what culture means. Based on the definition of Helen Deresky in her book “International Management: Managing Across Borders & Cultures”, we can conclude that a culture is the system where people within a specific group or society share their beliefs, values, attitudes, understandings and goals which are transmitted from one generation to another.
Every nation or organization have their own culture and people who want to get into a new organization must adapt their beliefs, values, etc. so they can fit in the new group that they are willing to belong.

“OB is the study of individual behavior and group dynamics in organizations.” (1). This definition refers to the environment in which we live day by day; the people, organizations and cultures that we have to face every day. This is why it is really important to know how an individual person or a group of people act and develop in organizations.

To understand completely the meaning of Organizational Behavior we should comprehend what human behavior and organization mean. When we analyze human behavior we must take into account two perspectives: The first one is the internal perspective, which refers to the factors inside the person, his/her thoughts, feelings, experiences and needs. And the second one is the external perspective, which considers factors outside the person, external events and the environment.

On the other side, Nelson and Quick in their book “Understanding Organizational Behavior” define an organization as a “structured social system consisting of groups and individuals working together to meet some agreed-upon objectives”. We can find formal and Informal organizations. The formal organization refers to the policies, objectives, mission, vision, products and services and the Informal Organization refers to the values, beliefs, feelings and attitudes shared in an organization.

Another important concept related to organizational behavior- suggested by Eric Brown, ProLine International’s VP of Global Business Development- is how to manage behavior in times of change. He explains that an organization should be adapted to changes in a good way, seeing challenges as a positive opportunity given to the company. He suggests that organizations must follow 4 steps:

1. To have a positive attitude
2. Ask questions
3. Listen to the answers
4. Be committed to success.

In the globalized world we live today, it is really important to understand all these concepts and to apply them to our way of life. When we have the opportunity to meet people from other countries it shows respect when we demonstrate that we care about their culture even though is different from ours. This could probably be an advantage in a business environment.


References:
• (1) Nelson, Debra L. and Quick, James Campbell. “Understanding Organizational Behavior” chapter #1 Organizational Behavior and opportunity.
• Deresky, Helen. International Management: Managing Across Borders & Cultures.
• Mead, Richard. 2004. International Management: Cross-Cultural Dimensions London: Blackwell Publishing. Chapter 1.


1. Question
Considering the conference "Dealing with Cultural Differences" by Nick B. Meyer, choose 1 cultural dimension and use 2 hypothetical but realistic situations - or real ones - to illustrate the business implications of cultural differences, you may not use situations or examples already discussed in class or in the conference.

" Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster." Prof. Geert Hofstede, Emeritus Professor, Maastricht University.

Nowadays it is really important to know how people in other cultures behave so we can be more effective when interacting with them in other countries. This is why it is so useful to understand Prof. Geert Hofstede´s research about the 5 Dimensions.

Based on Prof. Geert Hofstede´s website http://www.geerthofstede.nl/culture/dimensions-of-national-cultures.aspx Hofstede´s 5 Dimensions are:
1. Power Distance Index (PDI)
2. Individualism (IDV)
3. Masculinity (MAS)
4. Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI)
5. Long-Term Orientation (LTO)
I decided to choose the Long Term Orientation Dimension to illustrate the business implications of cultural differences.

SITUATIONS:
1. In 1995, Carrefour tried to get into China (Country with the highest-ranking in Long term Orientation according to Geert Hofstede), willing to sign 5 contracts so they could open 5 stores there. While French people from Carrefour were waiting for Chinese people to sign the contracts so they could close the deals, the Chinese where focused basically in the long term relationships that they would be able to build with the Carrefour’s managers. For this reason, Chinese people were trying hardly to know their business partners and the people with which they were about to close the deal before doing it. They were patient, persistent, loyal, committed and ordered relationships by status so they could give everyone the treatment deserved by his/her position in the company. Meanwhile, Carrefour’s entrepreneurs were anxious for signing the contracts and were less interested of knowing their partners and establishing a long term relationship with them.
Finally, they got to sign the contracts, but while French people followed them strictly, Chinese people were not so attached to them and more to the things that they had spoken and to the relationship they had built, so they could breach the contract anytime. For this reason, they found a lot of inconvenience in doing businesses together, because sometimes they were not looking for the same objective or they were just going in different directions.



2. Canada is one of the less Long Term Orientated countries (High-ranking in Short Term Orientation according to Geert Hofstede). When they do businesses all over the world they are more concerned about respecting the other culture traditions, they value more every action and people’s attitude that is affected by the past or the present and they prefer to solve the problems immediately than getting to know each other and establishing a long term relationship.
Canadians are really attached to the contracts and documents that they sign; this is why they have to be careful when doing businesses with long term oriented cultures like Japan, because they will probably differ in some aspects from the negotiation terms to the contract closure. While Japanese people could be interested in building a long term relationship, Canadians could interpret this in a different way, thinking that they are not committed enough and are just wasting time, which for Canadian people means money. In some cases the contracts could not be signed due to this cultural differences and misunderstandings.

References:
• Hofstede, Geert (1997). Culture and Organizations: Software of the Mind. New York: McGraw-Hill (ch7).
• Lessons from a global retailer an interview with the president of Carrefour China, the mackenzie quarterly http://zonecours.hec.ca/documents/H2008-P5-1549360.CarrefourChina.pdf
• International Management, Culture, Strategy and Behavior (6th edition, Hodgetts-Luthans-DOH).
• Conference "Dealing with Cultural Differences", Nick B. Meyer
• http://www.geerthofstede.nl/culture/dimensions-of-national-cultures.aspx


2. Essay

According to John Kotter and James Heskett in their book “Corporate Culture and Performance”: “Corporate Culture refers to the values, customs, traditions, and meanings shared by a group of people that make an organization unique”.

After analyzing this definition, it can be concluded that there is a corporate culture in every organization, because each group of people inside a corporation share their own values, beliefs, traditions, etc. all these aspects make the difference between one organization and another.

Corporate culture can be seen as the character or personality of an organization, which in some cases is positive for its members and for the entire group, but in other cases it can be a negative aspect that may cause conflicts and inconvenience inside the organization. For this reason, sometimes it is important to keep studying and analyzing the corporate culture to see if it requires changes or modifications in search of improvement and a better environment or atmosphere inside the corporation.

Generally when people work together they are looking for the same organizational objective and goals. But each person has its own way to work in achieving those goals. This is why it is important to have a clear corporate culture that can serves as a way of organization, comprehending an entire group that will be guided by some values and attitudes so they can be clearer in the direction they have to take for achieving the organization’s objective.

"If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else!" (1). When the whole group gets to know and learn the aspects of the corporate culture, will be able to understand better not only the goals and objectives, but the vision and mission, which obviously help to increase the productivity of the organization.

It is also really important to have a clear corporate culture inside the organization, because when a new employee is hired, he/she should be able to understand and learn the common values, attitudes, customs and traditions shared by the corporation. In this way he/she would be able to be adapted immediately and would probably be more useful for the organization.

According to Susan M. Heathfield in her article “How to Change Your Culture: Organizational Culture Change”: “Changing your organizational culture is the toughest task you will ever take on. Your organizational culture was formed over years of interaction between the participants in the organization”.

Even though it is a difficult task, I think corporate culture can be modified, because every corporation is dynamic, so employees and managers change with time and also does the environment in which the company moves. When the corporate culture and the organization’s politics are not working and are a significant cause of the negative results that a corporation is presenting, the head of that organization has to consider some changes in the attitudes, customs, traditions, etc. and everything that conforms that culture.

After studying and deciding that the current corporate culture must be changed, the organization has to define strategies and decide how they should change their culture in order to achieve success for the entire corporation. Each individual inside the organization must understand the upcoming benefits and be capable of changing his/her behavior so they can finally have the desired corporate culture.
According to Ellen Wallach, "Organizational culture is like pornography; it is hard to define, but you know it when you see it."

References:
• (1) David G. Javitch, Ph.D.," Employee Management " columnist, an organizational psychologist and president of Javitch Associates.
• Deborah L. Knox and Sandra S. Butzel Life Work Transitions.com: Putting Your Spirit Online http://www.lifeworktransitions.com
• Wallach, Ellen. Organizational development consultant
• Heathfield, M. How to Change Your Culture.

Images taken from:

• http://www.mysteryshoppinglive.com/take-care-of-your-organizational-culture-engage-the-frontline-personnel/
• http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_china.shtml
• http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_canada.shtml
• http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_japan.shtml