Managing Cultural Differences, Essay Example

Ethics comes from the Greek word ethos which means character. We talked about business ethics during the course. Given the growing diversity of the global workforce, why should all global managers practice good ethical behavior? According to the textbook, what makes a “good” or a bad ethical leader? Please provide a specific example of each type?

Change is a primary part of handling a globally operating industry or business. When this happens, it is often essential that the leader becomes rather intact especially in facing radical conditions of transformation in an organization. Such instances would require one to have a responsive character specifically directed towards the capacity of providing ethical leadership to a globally diversified group of workers. As LD Schaeffer describes it, a good leader is one who takes the consideration over leadership as a journey, a matter that requires from him a sense of flexibility allowing him to bend along the twists and turns of the situation while remaining his stance as the leader of the group (204). On the other hand, a bad leader often remains entangled to his own ways, not having the capacity to respond to change immediately because of being grounded only on one style of leadership that he intends to apply at every turn of event as much as he could.

What diversity issues do you see developing as a result of the Association of countries known as the European Union (EU)? How can the EU work to resolve these issues?

 Because of the ideal process of nearshoring, EU intended to employ diversified individuals from near areas into their system hence making it a little bit harder for the management to contend with change. This factor is consistent with the idea of redefining the course of manifestation that indicates a strong distinction on what the organization wants to attain in relation to global operations. Creating a neighboring camaraderie among nations surrounding the organization is seen to have a great impact on how it operates. While it may raise issues of unrefined camaraderie among members and possible disagreements in the long run, creating specific policies that would resolve the differential personnel issues could be support the growth of organizations properly. According to CEN (European Committee for Standardization) reports, the focus of EU in developing technologies that could better define their position in the global arena and the capacity they have towards establishing global camaraderie among their members is what the organization is working on at present hence imposing of their desire to improve conflicting situations between their people (189).

Discuss, rank [if you feel the order needs rearranging], and provide examples for Kouzes and Posner’s five strategies for empowering others. You will find them on Pages 176-177.

In the aspect of dealing with a specifically diversified body of workforce, it is often easy to lose track of seeing the actual record of performance of each particular employee or the group of individuals working together as well. The intention of leaders to provide guidance and recognition to all has created a sense of commotion that made it harder for such leader to pinpoint specifics occurring within a group of large population of workers. This is considered to be a downside especially in relation to the options of global leadership. According to Kouzes and Posner’s five strategies for empowering others, the need to impose on a sense of worth among the employees is a strong source of motivation (196). Considerably, doing so would require one to become more involved among his employees. Even in a highly populated workforce, this option could be done when the aspect of ranking is given attention to. Not to set a competition, but to impose an inspiration of better performance, such approach could empower the employees to work their way into the ranks to better improve their position and the benefits that they receive from the organization. As for example, a leader could provide a policy that would best help the workers understand what rank they belong to in the company based on the performance that they are putting forward in line with their respective positions.

Discuss bribery as it applies to various cultures. What is the difference between a bribe and a tip?

 Bribery or often considered as the process of providing monetary support or payment for an act that is not necessary for a business is often considered a sense of corruption in particular countries around the globe. It is often frowned upon and is considered as an unethical act in business ventures. However, in the African society, bribery is often considered acceptable as it does alleviate one’s status of living. Even though the payment is for a forced favor, it does so much in developing the living condition of a particular individual. Instead of seeing it as an unethical condition of operation, it is often defined as a course of helping those who are in need in the society and thus is expected to go on continuously as a legal practice in the said country (616). A tip on the other hand is a monetary value given for good work or as a sense of appreciation. In most countries, this is considered legal and ethically acceptable.

What is corporate social responsibility and how is it relevant to our discussion of intercultural communications practices? When it is said that global leaders recognize that some employee actions are legal, but unethical, what does that mean? Please provide specific examples as to your understanding of corporate social responsibility and convince me that not all unethical actions are illegal.

 Corporate Social Responsibility is often noted as the external responsibilities of any business organization as it faces the need of becoming a part of the society it serves. Defining its capacity to provide what the society needs which is often outside the jurisdiction of its desire to earn profit from the market, every business organization is hoped to embrace a sense of definition that is related to the development of the business alongside the society’s realization of fulfillment from its operation. Most often than not, the legal clauses of corporate social responsibility often define the capacity of corporations to respond to social challenges in an ethical manner. However, when certain irregular situations arise, such a process becomes hard to contend with. For example, the situations in Iraq and other war-torn areas in the Middle East subject business owners and operators to creating alliances with other parties become a source of conflict. Hence, although at times these alliances with different parties cause emergent conditions of conflicts among workers, it is not considered illegal yet is observed to be unethical among the members of the organization especially that they are stricken with war-defined culture of social differences (97). Chaotic as the situation maybe, business leaders are expected to provide worker assistance during these particular situations to make their moves more ethical than dismal.

Should cultures and individuals strive to maintain a unique identity or become part of a larger common culture? What are the benefits and drawbacks of each choice?

 Being an individual or a unique identity in the middle of a team is often a cause of group-commotion. Basically, the idea of working with a team involves the capacity of a worker to blend in with the group and exist alongside the overall goal of the team. Nevertheless, remaining a unique individual even when working with a team of other workers provide one the chance to present himself as an asset to the group. Uniqueness is often the source of better performance; however, with too much attention placed upon the idea of remaining unique, there are instances when the development of competition among team members occurs. Ford Taurus, for example, was able to benefit from both aspects of uniqueness and team playing among their workers through imposing the cross functional team which increased motivation while removing departmental diversity among their people (116).

What are Alder’s views on cultural synergy (Page 236) as related to working with cross-cultural teams? What type of managerial strategy would you employ as a manager?

 Cultural synergy is basically the process by which people from different cultures are guarded by policies that are sure to retain cultural uniqueness while utilizing such aspects of differences to work towards the development of the organization as whole. In relation to this, Nancy Adler suggests that to attain cultural synergy and receive practical benefits from it, leaders ought to understand the worth of imposing motivational excellence through promoting work efficiency. According to her, when this happens, cross cultural teams often provide the most beneficial results for the organization that the team serves. If given the chance to work with considerable diversified members of workforce, I would choose to consider implicating the cultural accommodation approach of leadership (237). I believe that this approach would allow me to become more relatively connected to my workers as they establish camaraderie among themselves while working towards the goals of the organization as a united unit.

 What are the relationships between team building, success, and synergy?

Team building basically involves the process of creating a successful point of development that would impose considerable foundation for an organization to work with. When a team is built in relation to the aspects of cultural synergy, differences among culturally diversified workers become more of an asset than a hindrance to success. Relatively, these aspects of organizational establishment work together to make a definitive course of development for organizations aiming to create definitive condition of progress in the face of global management. When worked on effectively, team building and synergy could be the primary keys towards organizational success.

What are some of the challenges of transition and relocation? Why is it so difficult to cope with transitional challenges?

In relation to the aspect of synergy among global organization, transition and relocation are among the most common cultures embraced by businesses involved in such situations. Global organizations basically undergo such procedures to merge with other branches operating abroad. In terms of relocating their employees, transition of cultural definition occurs which means a huge deal of adjustment for those involved. Transitional challenges then pose a sense of problem that often involves degrading performance among those who are in need of adjusting to the matter. For instance, in the course of development several organizations are subjected to the need of defining its path alongside the desire of creating IT infrastructures that would impose development on its operations (240). In relation to this, while the personnel involved need not physically relocate, the transition towards the said change often poses challenges that would take time for the individual to get used to.

Compare and contrast the terms “role shock” with “reentry shock.” Provide specific examples for each term.

Role shock often refers to the manner by which a person from another culture becomes subjected to differential conditions of seeing his or her role differently based on the social definition of gender and existence in another country he or she is trying to fit in. In cases like this, the problem does not simply involve work-defined roles, but also the definition of a person’s worth based on the type of development that one must embrace. For instance, a woman who used to be specifically respected in her own country might have a hard time realizing the same worth she had before as she tries to fit in a community that gives lesser regard for women. Reentry shock on the other end refers to reverse culture shock when expatriates, who have adjusted to the life of a foreign land, need to reassess themselves and become accustomed to their old ways of living in their land of origin.