NORTH AMERICA

North America is the third largest continent in the world. It compounds the Caribbean, Central America countries, Canada, Mexico, the United States and Greenland.
According to the class presentation we can focus on the most developed North American countries like Canada and the United States.



similarities:

both have an individualistic western culture and low context form of communication.
Although Canadians feel that it their own culture and sometimes feel that to be called American is an insult.

Canada

Proclaims Not be Americans adding to this they try to avoid flashy displays of status or wealth, instructively avoiding material possession that would seem an attempt to be better than others.
Nevertheless Canada is a multicultural country, where converge many cultures from everywhere, it is mainly because Canadians are more open minded than others. The main characteristic there is they have a good appreciation to foreign cultures.

The United States

It is characterized by individualism that is reflected on the American Football in this way they have a metaphor which is the manner to practice business by Americans as equal as playing football, like the constant movement, the high degree of specialization, the consistent aggressiveness, and the intense competition in football: typify the American culture.

Huddle: means “How offensive teams gather together before each play to call a certain plan into action”. It is typically used in most American groups and organizations in order to handle their problems and achieve their objective.

DREAM: is The American cultural code for America and also of the explorers, the entrepreneurs, the immigrants, the new explorers. An example is the Constitution that is a dream: to achieve a better society. American primarily mission, to keep the dream alive. In order to this there are some philosophies for Americans:

Work and Money

They believed that:

1. They are what they do in their jobs.


2. Unemployed = nobody.


3. Work hard to get something.

Quality and Perfection
The American culture Code of Quality is IT WORKS: A simple and clear quality demand for products:

1. They need to work.
2. They don’t expect anyone to make the perfect product; they expect them to break down.
3. They expect problems to be resolved quickly and with a minimum of disruption.
4. For Americans great service is more important than great quality.
   

CASE STUDY: "The HP Way"*
The proposed case study for this module illustrates the importance of organizational culture in the context of the USA. It also enables the reader to understand the strong relationship between national and organizational culture.
Based on the class presentations and the assigned case study, please answer the following questions:

1. List and explain 3 strategies used by HP in order to develop and sustain a strong organizational culture - "The HP Way".

Hewlett Packard has developed over the years the 'HP way' that is a very specific and carefully defined management philosophy. It is a rather unique and effective way of working with people. HP Way effectively represents a formal statement of Hewlett Packard's corporate culture which the company's corporate objectives were described at the time as being ‘somewhat similar to the US Constitution’. The HP Way involved a participative management style that supported individual freedom and the initiative while emphasizing unity of purpose and teamwork.
HP’s culture has also operated as a control device, although by providing a framework of values that encourage self-directed employees to develop personal autonomy, goal setting, self-learning and self-discipline.

STRATEGIES:
1. The selection of new recruits: who either share or can easily adapt to the company's values. HP has always been very selective in considering job applicants and has used a variety of techniques as part of its selection process (the thick screening processes). There is clearly an emphasis on adaptability and cultural ‘fit’ with HP and, once employed by the company, all employees were offered some degree of job security.
2. The telling of company stories: These help to clarify as well as communicate the values and attitudes that are important within the company. Stories can also have an important symbolic function when describing important historical moments in the company history or exemplifying company role models and ‘heroes’ - remarkable individuals who personify the values of the culture (Forster et al,1999).
3. To employees' actions being guided by the company's values: the day to- day activities of HP employees have been primarily directed by a system of management by objectives (MBO). This was introduced in the early 1950s to ‘provide a well-defined objective, give the person as much freedom as possible in working towards that objective....’ The MBO system has also been the main control system over the product divisions particularly as managers are set divisional targets as their personal objectives.

2. By 2001, Carly Fiorina was facing a huge dilemma in terms of organizational culture. "Should Fiorina try to revitalize the HP way or attempt to replace it with a “better” culture than the one established by Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett in the 1940’s?” Explain your answer.

I strongly believe that Carly Fiorina should attempt to replace the traditional HP way that was created by Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett in the 1940’s, because everything needs a change within she looked forwards innovation in technology and improvement rather than employees benefits which could be the cause that the ‘better’ change for the company failed. Because of the fear of change, and the belief that everything works better following tradition rather innovation, nevertheless all innovation does not mean improvement but it worth when people try to make a difference.

REFERENCES

• Rapaille, Clotaire. 2006. “Working for a living: the codes of work and money”. In: The Culture Code New York: Broadway.


• *Forster, Nick. 2002. “Managing excellence through corporate culture: the HP way” The Management Case Study Journal 2(1): 13-25.


• http://www.blogdetecnologia.com/wp-content/uploads/hp-logo.jpg


• http://www.consciousasset.com/uploaded_images/Flags-of-usa-and-canada.jpg
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

MIDDLE EAST

MIDDLE EAST: ISLAMIC BANKING

Today, Islamic banking appears as a growing and successful industry, not only in the Middle East but also in some western countries.


1. Explain what Islamic Banking is and its background.

The Islamic banking is a system and activity that follows the Islamic principles, which prohibit the acceptance and payment of riba (interest charges), and forbid other activities that are against Islamic main beliefs. (Institute of Islamic Banking and insurance, 2010) The word "Riba" means excess, increase or addition, which correctly interpreted according to Shariah terminology, implies any excess compensation without due consideration (consideration does not include time value of money)[1].

The philosophy of the contemporary Islamic banking system started since the beginning of the Islam, when the Islamic partnerships were used in the business world and the concept of interest was little applied. During a period of time from the mid 1940s until de end of 1960s many authors explained the need of a commercial banking system reorganization of banking on the basis of profit sharing rather than interest that gives importance to profits and loss sharing and not to interests. These ideas resulted in the creation of the first Islamic banking in the early 1970s. (Ökte, 2010). The earliest references to the are found in Anwar Qureshi (1946), Naiem Siddiqi (1948) and Mahmud Ahmad (1952), followed by a more elaborate exposition by Mawdudi in 1950 (1961).2 Muhammad Hamidullah’s 1944, 1955, 1957 and 1962 writings should be included in this category. They have all recognized the need for commercial banks and the evil of interest in that enterprise, and have proposed a banking system based on the concept of Mudarabha - profit and loss sharing.


2. What are the key principles of Islamic banking?

Islamic banks loan with no interest or additional amount of money over the lent; also, Islamic banks invest and lend money and become a partner by sharing profits, risks and losses; in addition, financial transactions have to avoid uncertainty, risk and speculation, because business parties need to have a perfect knowledge of the monetary values; and finally, The Islamic banking system can invest only in activities that are not forbidden by the Islam. (Ökte, 2010)

3. Islamic law forbids institutions from charging interests on loans. How do they make profits when lending money?

For the Islam, profits are obtained after an entrepreneurial effort and not with an interest rate:

Islamic banks create a partnership with its investors and lenders and both business parties agree the proportion of profits that will share after a period of time. For example, when an investor provides capital to an Islamic bank who at the same time manages the funds, both share profits. (Institute of Islamic Banking and insurance, 2010) another example Islamic Development Bank (also known as IsDB), the main functions of the Bank are to participate in equity capital and grant loans for productive projects and enterprises besides providing financial assistance to member countries in other forms for economic and social development. The Bank tries to foster the economic development and social progress of member countries and Muslim communities in non-member countries individually as well as jointly in accordance with the principles of Shari'ah or Islamic jurisprudence[2].

4. Explain the concept of ethical investments under Islamic law. Who is to determine whether an activity is allowed or not?

The concept of ethical investment under the Islamic law seeks for financial sustainability investing and making activities that benefits the society and the environment, because of the importance of equity and fairness in the money distribution. The Islamic banks benefit the society because allow to people who are in need the opportunity to access to loans and share its profits and losses. Islamic banks also compensate companies that show social responsibility. (Saidi, 2009).
There are additional prohibitions that are monitored by a Shari´ah Supervisory Board (SSB) who are religious advisors who are in almost every Islamic bank and determine whether an activity is allowed or not. (Ökte, 2010).

5. How does Islamic banking influence the economy in the Middle East?

The Islamic banking motivate the development of Islamic economy due to the philosophy of create a partnership, which makes savings and loans more attractive because give the opportunity to share profits and losses. This system in the Middle East is helping to solve key problems of underdevelopment, by giving the opportunity to people with needs, to access into the financial market. (Ökte, 2010).

6. Based on the research and knowledge about this topic, what is the future of Islamic Banking in terms of global expansion and growth?

According to the success and fast growing of Islamic banks in the world during the past three decades, not only in the Muslim world, but also in countries as Britain, France, United States and Japan (Siddiqi, 2008). I think Islamic Banking will achieve more expansion and growing into non-Islamic countries, because it is important for the economic development of every country to give financial participation to all the people, with fairness and equity.

REFERENCES

• http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/


• Institute of Islamic Banking and insurance, “Islamic banking” [Online] Permanent URL: http://www.islamic-banking.com/islamic_banking.aspx. Last accessed: April 12, 2010


• http://robertbonnett.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/islamic-bank.jpg


• Ökte, M. K. S. (2010). Fundamentals of Islamic economy and finance: theory and practice. Retrieved April 10, 2010, from EbscoHost Database: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.eafit.edu.co/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=48722879&loginpage=Login.asp&lang=es&site=ehost-live.


• Siddiqi, M. (2008, March). Islamic Banking. Retrieved April 10, 2010, from EbscoHost Database: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.eafit.edu.co/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=35405415&loginpage=Login.asp&lang=es&site=ehost-live


• Saidi, T. A. (2009, March). Relationship between ethical and Islamic banking systems and its business management implications. Retrieved April 10, 2010, from EbscoHost Database: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.eafit.edu.co/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=36674737&loginpage=Login.asp&lang=es&site=ehost-live
  
  
  [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_banking
  [2] Taylor & Francis Group and Dean, 2003, p. 1328.

EUROPE

EUROPE: MULTICULTURAL EUROPEAN COMMUNITY

It has currently 27 member countries adding three more countries for the EU membership: Turkey, Croatia and the Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia.
The European Union started as a consequence of the Second World War.

Facts:

1950 the European Coal and steel community made a union between European countries economically and politically. The main founders are Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
1970 EU adopted its first plan for a single currency to maintain monetary stability. Euro is the official currency but not for all of them. The following map shows the member States using the Euro in red color and those that do not in blue color.

Map taken from the official website of European Union

1973 The six become nine when Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom formally enter the EU. Orange color: Member States: Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Yellow color: New Member States: Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Map taken from the official website of the European Union

1981 Greece joined to the EU.
1986 Spain and Portugal enter the EU, bringing membership to 12.
1992 The Treaty on European Union is signed in Maastricht, setting clear rules for the future single currency as well as for foreign and security policy and closer cooperation in justice and home affairs. Under the treaty, the name ‘European Union’ officially replaces ‘European Community’.
1993 it was established the free movement of goods, services, people and money.
1995 new member states: Austria, Finland and Sweden.
2004 new member states: Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia.

In accordance of ideas the European Union has diversity in their cultures due to the membership into it. And each of them has different strategies to apply in business and different cultures that make them unique not matter if they belong to the same economic alliance. The clear example is the failed presence of Wal-mart in Germany, because one of Wal-mart strategy is the use of customer service in order to offer and aid to customers, they did not consider important to know that Germans do not like being helped just do the things by themselves, though.

CO-DETERMINISM PRINCIPLE IN GERMANY

Nowadays there is a current discussion around the existence of the co-determinism principle in Germany. It consists according to the Euro found in Germany on to two distinct levels and forms of employee participation:

• Co-determination at establishment level by the works council


• Co-determination above establishment level

It means that workers are well represented in the board, influencing company decisions. At this level, co-determination is regulated by three statutes for different sectors of the economy and sizes of company and gives a lot of importance to workers in organizations. Co-determinism was born in Germany in the steel, coal and iron industry in the 1950´s.

Following the co-determinism principle in Germany, there are some arguments in favor and some against it.

Three arguments in favor:

1. The quality of decisions, it is explained as decisions in the company can be made by owners and workers in the same time in accordance to this both will be benefited.


2. Co-determinism makes workers and owners are motivated to work in order to welfare of the company, such as result promoting integration in the company.


3. Giving participation to workers in important decision makes High possibility to achieve innovation and creativity.

Three arguments against:

1. It is considered as a bureaucratic monster, because nowadays it is considered as an old fashion and not competitive principle for modern companies, due to it was created many years ago, which makes it is seen as a routine.



2. Co-determinism damages the interests of shareholders, because their main interest is profit, but the main interests of workers are like benefits to the society, to their family, among others that are not considering profit.


3. The belief that the German industry is sufficiently strong and stable and does not need to apply this concept in order to be more competitive.
   
   

REFERENCES

• Piette, Jean-Jacques. 2004. “Understanding management German style”. Les Amis de L’ecole de Paris.


• The official website of the European Union: http://europa.eu/about-eu/27-member-countries/index_en.htm


• EuropeanFound:http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/emire/GERMANY/CODETERMINATION-DE.htm

AUSTRALIA

Based on the film “Rabbit Proof Fence” (2002)

1. When removed from their families, the children were prepared for “a better life”, how is that true or false when considering different perspectives?

That statement is false, due to when the children were catch aggressively by the white man they did not want to go away from their mom and grandma. For them the better life was to live close to their aboriginal family, they did not know anything what was happening though.

The protector of Western Australian Aborigines Mr. Neville sent to one of his men to removed them from their families because they were half- castes, and those aboriginal people represented a treat for the community, so they had to leave their families to go to the camp, where was managed by some nuns, and children were educated but many of them were almost the same age. Those three girls did not feel protected there; they felt that the better place to live was going back to their town Jigalong. Additionally when the three girls were staying at the camp, the oldest figured out that the main reason that they were there was because until certain age they would be taught to be servants and slaves for the white people from Australia. After that she decided to go back to her mom carrying the other two with her. They walked a lot of miles away evading an aboriginal man that was sent to catch them, but at the end one of the girls was recaptured and the other two could finally find their family following the fence as a reference to go back home.

This film was made on 2002 based on a true story during 1930s but only in 2008 the government of Australia decided to offer lots of apologies to the community. "We apologize for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians," the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said. Source BBC news 2008.

Although many of the aboriginals said that those apologies must accompany with compensation plans for all of the victims and also they ask for recognition and inclusion to the community, solving some differences between whites and blacks.

I strongly believe that this issue concerns nothing more than racist policies created by the Australian government that with those facts has discriminated these Aboriginal people from the community that only after more that five decades the government is being aware of the damaged occasioned to them.

US Professor of human rights law James Anaya says that ‘Medical staff and social workers were also deployed as part of the intervention, in an attempt to combat violence and the rampant abuse of children in some Aboriginal communities’. Source BBC News August, 27th 2009.

RAP Reconciliation Action Plans in Australia

RAP is a program implemented for many organizations in Australia to make inclusion of Indigenous people that were affected by the issue of Aborigines Discrimination.

It helps to give a format to organizations that implement it for exploring how reconciliation can advance and improve their business. Also, this program makes awareness on those people that adapt it committing them to contribute in the aim of the indigenous people. The program also includes a creative blend of relationships, respect to others no matter being indigenous or not and opportunities as well.

RAP provides an organization a framework for the future. As we saw in the class, presented by some classmates exposed a case ANZ Banking Group. This Banking group adopted RAP that was introduced in 2007.

The main objectives are:

• Employment



• Cultural recognition (make part of the society)



• Construction of capabilities (in order to help aborigines)



• Inclusion and financial education

Results:

• The inclusion and active participation of Indigenous communities to work.



• Economic interest and intellectual management.

References:

• Baird, Kevin. 2007. The culture of Australian organizations and its relation with strategy. “International Journal Of Business Studies, 15(1).



• BBC NEWS http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7241965.stm



• Reconciliation Australia: http://www.reconciliation.org.au/home/reconciliation-action-plans/what-is-a-rap

Images:
http://www.shareourpride.org.au/media/RA_RAP_logo2.jpg
http://www.faithinterface.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/aborigine1.jpg

AFRICA

THE MANAGEMENT IMPLICATION OF ETHNICITY AND RACE IN SOUTH AFRICA

Nowadays South Africa is characterized by the existence of cultural diversity among its population due to this we can ask ourselves about ¿is it possible that employee diversity affect management at the workplace?. This question was developed in the text by Adèle Thomas and Mike Bendixen.

At first they explained that South Africa changed to be an economy really controlled by white English people to be controlled since 1998 by black consortia. This change modify the way of management in the South Asian companies due to they became to make inclusions of people from the multiplicity of ethnic groups in the country.

They concluded that management in South Africa has exactly the same way as British and American systems. According to the text, Ethnicity is defined as the distinction between groups of people based on their race, religion and language (Usunier, 1996), thus they figured out that each organization no matter if there is cultural diversity among employees, it has to set some rules in order to take control over the situation, adopting this as kind of organizational culture that involves everybody.

Finally they concluded that this study suggest ‘employee diversity at the workplace should not adversely affect management performance’.

1. What is Ubuntu? How was it applied to support the merging process of the two companies? (3 examples)

UBUNTU

Ubuntu is important in order to understand the culture, values, norms, and beliefs held by the largest segment of the population, the Africans. ‘Ubuntu can give competitive advantage to companies that incorporate its principles and practices’ Mangaliso, Mzamo. 2003. Building competitive advantage from Ubuntu.

According to the African Bank Miners Credit – Case Study it say the Ubuntu’s definition ‘Ubuntu is premised on the philosophy that one finds one’s own humanity in helping others to find theirs’.

¿How can you use Ubuntu at the workplace?

• Preeminence of the collective: That means there is a huge importance to the extended family added to the clan and the village.


• Kinship ties: they promote their relatives to trust them, in order to create a committed and harmonized environment.


• Legitimacy of authority: it means treating others as members of your family.


• Language: they worth silence, listening to the context are really important in order to establish relationships.


• Ubuntu ceremonies: those are quite important; they like to sponsor events to promote the group for example.


• Interaction: it is value by workers of the company.


• Faith: Christianity it is the dominant faith; and Isangoma it is the mediator to the creator.


• Honesty: this shows a positive impact on the entire company.


• Decision making: it is a circular process where people are entire to participate. Consensus process is very valued.


• Time: each member of ethnic group has different conception about time.


• Productivity and efficiency: there are two concepts:
  1. Optimize: it is better than maximize. It is to think about what it would happen in the future.
  2. Maximize: the way to use something as fast as you can.


• Change: it occurs when employees feel part of the company as a family.


• Age and seniority: promotional policies and some benefits according to the age.

For African employees, the in person communication is an important feature in order to solve problems. Attending to someone in person is an indication that you respect and care for them.

‘Ubuntu can be defined as humaneness, a pervasive spirit of caring and community, harmony and hospitality, respect and responsiveness, that individuals and groups display for one another’ Mangaliso, Mzamo. Building competitive advantage from Ubuntu.

Ubuntu philosophy was used as part of the organizational culture for both companies according to the case irrespective of which ethnic group they belonged to.

• Tom Miles who leaded the idea to achieve Investors in People (IIP) recognition said that they adopted the Ubuntu philosophy to serve as the foundation for their ongoing commitment creating a working environment that is beneficial to the company and the employee.

• Drums: African Miners Credit has used drums as part of Ubuntu philosophy every employee has been given a drum; they were unified by moving to the same rhythm, it is like a symbol of communication and loyalty.

• Ubuntu booklets: in order to change management processes and the achievement of the IIP standard at African Miners Credit. Every employee was given one of the company’s booklets which explain the ubuntu culture and the contribution of employees towards the succeed campaign.
  
  


• The tale of the bird and the badger was used to explain the concept of growth as a representation of the commitment of working together.
  
  


• The elephant: that symbolized the employees’ commitment in the workplace as huge as an elephant can be. ‘Employees were told that just like the elephant, everyone has potential, and through training and hard work…’

NOTE:

See the next video that shows the promotional work and commitment to adopt Ubuntu philosophy on future business to achieve success:
Ubuntu: South Africa 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNZ4KsihQPQ


References

- Mangaliso, Mzamo. 2003. Building competitive advantage from Ubuntu. In Thomas, David Clinton, editor, Readings and cases in International Management: A cross-cultural perspective.
- African Bank Miners Credit – Case Study
-Thomas, Adèle & Mike. Bendixen. 2000. The Management Implications of Ethnicity in South Africa. Journal of International Business Studies, 31(3): 507-31.
http://www.ubuntuafrica.net/Images_home%20page/africa_map.gif

SOUTH ASIA

• Afghanistan
• Pakistan
• India
• Maldives
• Sri Lanka
• Nepal
• Bangladesh
• Bhutan
  
  MAIN FEATURES

• With a population of some 1.4 billion, South Asia is home to half the world´s poverty.


• The region has often faced conflicts and political instability, such as the conflict between Pakistan and India.


• This region has been distinguished by its achievements in the fields of education; industry; health care; information technology and services; international trade; business enterprises; and outsourcing services.


• Even though, South Asia faces some issues that difficult the total harmony and development of the area; religious extremism, high levels of corruption, disagreements on political boundaries, and inequitable distribution of wealth.


• The most spoken language is Hindi. Nowadays with the globalization, English has been dominated certain areas from South Asia such as India, especially as a medium of advanced education.


• The most dominant religions in South Asia are Hinduism, Buddhism and followers of Islam.
  

source:worldbank.org website

According to the previous table we can notice that India has the largest amount of population between members of South Asia adding to this India had the highest rate of GDP by 2009 of $1.243 billion, it means India has been growing really fast in the last two decades that represents an important development for the region. India’s current economic growth is approximately 7% annually. Also it is considered one of the most attractive markets for outsourcing in products and services from other countries.

SOME IMPORTANT FACTS IN INDIA

• India promises itself to be the world-wide power in 2025


• Indian economy is closely joined to western economies (acquisitions and a variety of franchises).


• There is a friendly relationship between the government and the overseas companies that improve the political stability.


• A large population can speak English and the labor force is really cheap.


• It is considered the global powerhouse of generic drugs because India has achieved a great progress in science, technology and a range of manufactured medicines.


• Urban and rural areas in India have been growing faster than before due to the skilled workers becoming one of the richest states with high levels of income.


• India with the aim of The World Bank for providing credits to SMEs (Small and Medium enterprises) has promised an economic growth and job creation.


• India has been facing the growth of cities and towns creating adequate infrastructure in order to improve transport, communications, and water and to use more efficiently the land.

CASTE SYSTEM IN INDIA

Caste: is a closed group whose members are restricted in their choice of occupation and degree of social participation. Marriage outside the caste is prohibited. Social status is determined by the caste of one's birth and may only rarely be transcended.
Nowadays the caste system continues to be influential in organizations due to the choice in the charge that you can get or even the social status in the society is determined by caste system.

DIVISION OF HINDU SOCIETY

• BRAHMANS: the priestly and learned class
• KSHATRIYAS: the warriors and rulers
• VAISYAS: farmers and merchants
• SUDRAS: peasants and laborers

These divisions refer to the undifferentiated social classes. It is hierarchically organized; those are rigidly differentiated by rituals and beliefs.

DEVELOPMENT OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES IN INDIA

• IT (Information Technology) outsourcing
• R&D
• Biotechnology
• Design
• Development centers of software
• Knowledge-based products and services
• Manufacturing

NOTE OF INTEREST:

International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management (IJICBM), it is a journal that covers details about new developments in Indian culture and their implications on business.

It is a forum tool mainly for foreign people that want to update every day about Indian market in terms of opportunity and threats in order to get an exchange of new developments in Indian business environment, and the implications of culture and political landscape on business enterprise.
For more information visit the website where you can find more details about it: http://www.acclaimsubscriptions.com/international/catalog/viewItem/?prdid=565116&redir=1

Case study analysis: “HR Challenges at Computer Age Management Services (P) Ltd.”
Vijaya, T.G., D`Netto, Brian and España, Juan. 2007. “HR Challenges at Computer Age Management Services (P) Ltd.” The Management Case Study Journal 7 (2): 41-51.

Question:

1. What do you think are the reasons behind the fast-growth outsourcing industry in India?
Reasons behind the fast-growth outsourcing industry in India:
According to the case “HR Challenges at Computer Age Management Services (P) Ltd.” The Management Case Study Journal 7 (2): 41-51.

The author says in the abstract that: ‘India is one of the significant players in the global outsourcing industry, especially in the area of software development’.

• India has been recognized by the last years, and has one of the most qualified labor force additionally it is really cheap.
  
• Indian workers become from simple tasks to those that imply increased complexity processes.


• One of the most important aspects and make India be an attractive destiny to contract by outsourcing is the fact that large population can speak English.


• Since 1991 India has transformed it into one of the fastest growing economies around the world ‘Over the past decade the outsourcing industry in India has grown rapidly’.


• 'Most Indian employees in the Business Process Outsourcing industry are college educated, ambitious 20-somethings who are lured to the job by attractive starting salaries (Fittipaldi, 2004)’.
  

References:

• World bank website: http://www.worldbank.org.in/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/INDIAEXTN/0,,contentMDK:20195738~menuPK:295591~pagePK:141137~piPK:141127~theSitePK:295584,00.html


• Agarwal, Sanjeev, Thomas E DeCarlo, Shyam B. Vyas, & Source: 1999. Leadership Behavior and Organizational Commitment: A Comparative Study of American and Indian Salespersons. Journal of International Business Studies, 30(4): 727-43.


• http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalCODE=ijicbm


• Vijaya, T.G., D`Netto, Brian and España, Juan. 2007. “HR Challenges at Computer Age Management Services (P) Ltd.” The Management Case Study Journal 7 (2): 41-51.


• http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0857200.html


• http://www.acclaimsubscriptions.com/international/catalog/viewItem/?prdid=565116&redir=1


• http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://farm1.static.flickr.com/202/480750256_8ecb9b190a.jpg%3Fv%3D0&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gunnargeir/480750256/&usg=__L8pcv9_cnobRzOGPmY3DIdZ9y-Q=&h=424&w=500&sz=165&hl=es&start=4&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=XyxxoWJay9GGFM:&tbnh=110&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsouth%2Basian%2Bmonuments%26um%3D1%26hl%3Des%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1R2ADBF_es%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1
  
  
  
  

CHINA

China is defined as a socialist country with a market economy

CULTURAL BACKGROUND

· Wariness of foreigners (Chinese people only trust in their families)
· Confucian culture (education, moral, and relationships)
· Pictographic Language
· Agricultural activities (farming)

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHINESE CULTURE:

· Collectivist
· Hierarchical
· Relationship oriented
· Holistic

CHINESE COMPANIES

The Chinese organizations are working following eight important elements:

1. Guanxi (Personal Connections): Chinese place a premium on individuals' social capital within their group of friends, relatives, and close associates.

2. Zhongjian Ren (The Intermediary): In the United States, people tend to trust others. In China, suspicion and distrust characterize all meetings with strangers.

3. Renji Hexie (Interpersonal Harmony): Importance of harmonious relations between business partners.

4. Shehui Dengji (Social Status): Casualness does not play well in a country where the Confucian values of obedience and deference to one's superiors remain strong.

5. Zhengti Guannian (Holistic Thinking) : The Chinese think in term of the whole while Americans think sequentially and individualistically.

6. Jiejian (Thrift): Save their money, a practice known as jiejian. Chinese negotiators will pad their offers with more room to maneuver than most Americans are used to, and they expect both sides to make concessions on price.

7. Mianzi ("Face" or Social Capital): In Chinese business culture, a person's reputation and social standing rest on saving face.

8. Chiku Nailao (Endurance, Relentlessness): The Chinese are famous for their work ethic. They prize relentless hard work.

CONFUCIAN GENTLEMAN
They were to:

— Cultivate themselves morally
— Show filial piety and loyalty where these are due
— Cultivate humanity, or benevolence
— Behaves on the basis of mutual trust and benefit and seeks cooperation and win-win solutions. He/she associates business with guanxi, friendship and trust

BEHIND CHINESE ORGANIZATIONS:

· Corruption: It is a deeply-rooted custom
· Energy shortcuts: there is a lack of capacity in energy resource
· Internal Robbery: Stealing ideas, designs and products from other organizations
· Labor instability: It is difficult to find qualified personnel

Question:

¿What is the relevance of Guanxi and the existence of Chinese business networks as supporting factors to the internationalization process of Chinese companies?

Nowadays Chinese organizations have become more globalized, due to contemporary strategies used to internationalize such as strategic alliances, Joint ventures all franchises all of them with Western countries, that is the reason Guanxi’s relevance is not much high to help internationalization process of these companies.

Nevertheless, the Guanxi system has been used as a business strategy in the implementation of internationalization by MNCs and HRM in Taiwan.

Guanxi meaning according to the text “Is Guanxi still working, while Chinese MNCs go global? it means “a friendship with unlimited exchange of favors”, it says that the Chinese culture is described as a culture based on the harmony on personal relations. They matter close relationships; it means they worries about the other’s stability.

References:

Chen, I Chun Lisa and Easterby-Smith Mark. 2008. “Is Guanxi still working, while Chinese MNCs go global? The case of Taiwanese MNCs in the UK”. Human Systems Management 27: 131-142.

East Asia

• China
• Hong Kong
• Japan
• Macau
• Mongolia
• North Korea
• South Korea
• Taiwan

IMPORTANT FACTS:

RELIGION: the most important religions practiced by East Asian people are Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shinto.

KOREA BEFORE THE 60’S:

} Liberation from Japanese rule – 1945
} Creation of government – 1948
} Korean War - 1950
} Agricultural economy
} Low GDP per capita, even less than Mozambique or Senegal

KOREAN VISION:

} Accelerated growth in economy
} Improvement of products quality
} Change from a poor country to an industrialized one
} Changes in the labor market: qualified jobs
} Increasing international market share

JAPANESE VS KOREANS

• There are shared characteristics between the Japanese and Koreans
• Cultural factors differentiating Chaebol from Keiretsu:
– Layoffs
– Authoritarian
– Family owned


THE CHAEBOLS

It is a state-lead economic model. The big Winners are: Samsung, Hyundai, LG, Kia, and Daewoo. These big companies are recognized worldly by their high revenues from exports.

The Chaebols are large conglomerate family of controlled firms in South Korea. These companies have strong ties with government agencies, and also they have privileges access to credits with the government banks.

CHAEBOLS BENEFITS

} Scale Industrial conglomerates
} High impact in economic growth
} Access to new technologies
} Improvement on processes quality
} Great power holders

Question:

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

JAPANESE VS KOREAN MANAGEMENT STYLE

· A wider set of cultural norms in each society is a powerful force for differentiation across borders.

JAPANESE AND KOREAN MANAGEMENT STYLE SIMILARITIES

· Both develop management styles based on finding a model in developed countries.
· Both belong to common cultural heritage: Confucianism and Buddhism.
· Sometimes Koreans look like Japanese more than Korean. Marketing – Korean- corporate brand.

References:

Lee, Jangho, Thomas W. Roehl, & Soonkyoo Choe. 2000. What Makes Management Style Similar and Distinct Across Borders? Growth, Experience and Culture in Korean and Japanese Firms. Journal of International Business Studies, 31(4): 631-52.

EXPATRIATE ASSIGNMENTS AND OVERSEAS EXPERIENCES

EXPATRIATE DEFINITION

It means someone who goes abroad temporarily and is hired by a multinational company, in order to work successfully achieving the overseas needs like looking for expanding its customers and consequently its recognition in foreign countries.

BEING EXPATRIATE REQUIRES:

· Ability to work and live successfully in a foreign environment
· Open minded person
·Knowledge of company’s marketing strategy, mission and vision
· Capability to make international affairs

EXPECTED OUTCOMES BEING EXPATRIATE:

· Organizational learning
· Improvement on organizational strategy
· Transfer of new skills and knowledge
· Completion of the job assignment

MAIN ISSUES

Even though, being expatriate may have some many issues, which do not allow the achievement of the assignments because of, most of them have familiar ties that do not let them leave thinking about their assignments only.

Expatriate has expectation to go back because he misses his family or even because he is not ready to be opened to change. Another issue is that it represents a high cost for the company or maybe there is a high cost of failure.

THREE ACTORS IN THE OVERSEAS EXPERIENCE:

1. INDIVIDUALS: the individuals have their own interests being expatriated rather than the company has. They look for powerlessness, good corporate citizen, and career development.

2. COMPANY: The company`s interests are dedicated to develop short-term objectives and new competencies to bring home.


3. INDUSTRY: Its interests are focused on building industry and national expertise. It is looking for transference of cross-cultural skills.

THE EXPATRIATE TRANSITION PROCESS

The person who will send to other country committed with the company`s assignments is going to overtake a process which would change his or her life. He or she has to adjust the foreign country’s culture to his culture avoiding a failure occasioned to the cultural crash.

THE EXPATRIATE SELECTION

Before choosing an expatriate of the multinational company is important to consider:
· Make sure to do an appropriate selection criteria
· The person’s preparation on it
· Career planning- succession plan

Then the selection would be easy:

• Criteria:
  — Technical skills and knowledge
  — Cross cultural awareness + interpersonal skills

• Success factors:
  — Job factors
  — Relational dimensions (cultural empathy, flexibility=
  — Motivational state
  — Family situation

• Preparation:
  — Language skills
  — Technical knowledge and skills
  — Cross-cultural training
  
  
  
  Question:
  
  Explain one of the causes for expatriate assignment failure and provide 3 recommendations to address it.
  


• REASONS FOR EXPATRIATE FAILURE:
• Inability of spouse to adjust
• Difficulties with new environment
• Personal or emotional problems
• Other familiar problems
• Lack of technical skills

• According to these reasons for failure the recommendations are involve to:
• Hire people with international traveling experience
• To make an excellent selection process
• To offer good compensation plans (living, transportation, and education for children)
  
  
• References:
  Inkson, Kerr et al. 1999. Expatriate assignments and overseas experiences – contrasting models of international human resource development. Journal of World Business. 34: 351-368.
  

MIGRANT WORKERS

‘Voluntary and involuntary movement of people from one place to another’, those people work as migrants in the country that is not their country home. Sometimes they work illegally without formal documents when as desperate way they move trying to find better opportunities to live, such as good income that can afford their needs.

Canada, The United States, England and Spain are examples to this situation. Most of the people that migrate to those destinies are looking better conditions, the most common reasons are:

· Expatriates business people
· Better levels of income
· Better conditions to live for their family
· Looking for peace

They decide to choose those destinies for many reasons additionally because those countries have a high economic level and are known as developed countries, which is the main reason. Migrant workers are the result of economic crisis in the third worlds, it means, undeveloped countries, so many people have decided to look for a better future in big cities.

As a consequence each country has a set of laws or treatments for those people that work as migrants, avoiding to use discrimination on it, even though, native people are not aware of this situation, in some cases they are xenophobic not allowing them since using public transportation to enter into a company. In the case that they were allowed there are other people that do not let they were treated as normal persons.

Nowadays we see on TV many aggressions that native people make to migrants in the subway in Spain for example, that is the same case for companies in those countries, because as soon as they know that the person is from an undeveloped country an the worker is migrant, they hire them as hard workers, like cleaners for example. This kind of jobs is which a native person is not available to make, because of the big effort that he has to do for less payment. As a consequence we see that there is a limited opportunities to work for a migrant worker with less benefits rather than native people.

THE MOST LUCRATIVE JOBS AMONG MIGRANTS ARE:

· Electricians
· Cleaners
· Drivers
· Cashiers
· Constructors
· Waitress

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

The controls and laws that governments of those developed countries are based on not allowing people enter to their countries so; they select who can access and who do not like Visa system.

Otherwise, when visa is not given to a person, he or she tries the illegal way. They cross the borders illegally in the worst situation leaving their health at risk of death. Many illegal immigrants suffer hypothermia in the mountains and dehydration in the deserts. Most of these borders are guarded by police officers who control the illegal pass.

¿WHY DO PEOPLE MIGRATE?

· Social and economic exclusion
· The attraction generated by the developed countries
· The need of these countries of counting with migration
· The internal armed conflicts
· Natural disasters

Question:

1. ¿Do you think the Points System in Canada is meant to protect the country’s sovereignty? Or ¿is it just a deliberated form of discrimination? ¿Why?

“Points system” was implemented in 1967, in Canada, which highlights the immigrant’s skills. With this system Canada make a selection on the immigrants that have special skills and economic level in order to keep up the volume of its immigration.

In this context, Canada uses this mechanism to protect the country’s sovereignty. The reason that they give is because of the need of skilled people that contribute to Canada’s economy. ‘Canada may once again become a destination of choice for the skilled and educated workers of these societies as they seek to relocate’



References:

1. Verbeeten, David. 2007. The Past and Future of Immigration to Canada. Journal of International Migration & Integration, 8(1): 1-10.

MANAGING DIVERSITY

Diversity can be explained in a variety of scenarios for this case in the workplace. Managerial staff must contemplate such diversity as an opportunity. There are many aspects to take into account that may have differences or similarities in the people that belong to the diversity in a workplace. These are:

• Age


• Parental status


• Personality


• National origin


• Field of work


• Race


• Gender


• Sexual Orientation


• Religion


• Education


• Thinking style


• Socioeconomic status


• Job classification

Diversity is everywhere, there is diversity in:

• Workforce Diversity (Development, Recruitment)


• Workplace diversity (Organizational insights, Work integration)


• Marketplace diversity (Suppliers, franchises, customers)


• Managing Cultural Diversity
  
  In order to manage cultural diversity is really important to consider at first:


• Organizational Culture


• Human Resource


• Women’s career involment


• Heterogeneity


• Mind-sets


• Cultural Differences


• Educational programs

BENEFITS MANAGING DIVERSITY

Also, managing diversity has some benefits that help to understand why it is important for the organization.

· Higher creativity in decision-making: as a result of diversity, there are diverse ideas and opinions that may help to take a good decision making.
· Better understanding and serving of customers: Creation of products that is appealing to a broader customer base. Those products are innovative in order to satisfy customer needs.
· More satisfied workforce: the workforce is no longer discriminated. Employees that feel that they are discriminated are less committed and motivated.

· Higher stock prices: Investor’s perception about management practices like affordable prices.
Lawsuits: companies that announce settlements for discrimination lawsuits.

· Higher company performance: there is a positive relation between the members mostly for racial diversity and firm performance.

· HRM efficiency


· Decision making, problem-solving, creativity and innovation

· Cross cultural capabilities

· New products/services and marketing strategies



CHALLENGES MANAGING DIVERSITY:


ž Tendency to be attracted by those who are similar
ž Faultlines: It is an attribute that divides the group (organization) into subgroups:
— By age, gender, experience
ž Reduce the cohesion of the team
ž Norms need to be established.
ž The presence of stereotypes: those stereotypes can lead to unfair decision making, which is used to make about particular individuals.
ž Example:
— Women are relationship oriented
— Men are more assertive
— Result: the male candidate is hired for a managing position because he is supposed to be more assertive.




Question:
1.¿Is diversity management at IBM a source of competitive advantage? ¿why?

IBM is one of the fifty companies that are committed to diversity. In this case, the loyal function of those businesses plays an important role to diversity which is a tool for organizational culture which represents a source of competitive advantage. Increasing a diverse workforce and affairs with a diverse set of stakeholders provides firms a competitive advantage, which means low cost with a strong commitment.

2. ¿Do you think the IBM case reflects a strong organisational commitment to diversity? ¿why?

According to the document “The business case for commitment to diversity”, IBM case represented a large contribution giving a commitment to the issue of diversity. The commitment was in 1995 when the ‘CEO Louis Gerstner formed eight executive-level task forces which focused on attracting members of different minority groups, keeping them engaged, and retaining them’.

Bonus question:

¿Do you consider managing diversity a key success factor in the performance of virtual teams?

Conference: Virtual Teams and International Business
Dr. Eoin Higgins PhD

It was explained the definition of Virtual Teams at first: ‘groups of people working together’. Those teams do not have a communication face to face at all; they make use of technology as a way to get a good contact between them. These teams are from different locations each location has different resources, which means each member of a team has to cross boundaries as a challenge.
As an interesting aspect that is related to the subject, he mentioned about multiculturalism in virtual teams which means that each member of the team has to know the other´s culture at first before to get a commitment. It is better than do not know anything about the partner who you are going to have a connection with in business for a long time. Managing diversity is totally connected to virtual teams for all the reasons given before. As a conclusion managing diversity is an important tool factor to the performance, even to the commitment that manager’s staff must take into account for virtual team’s mission.



References:
1. Slater, Stanley F., Weigand, Robert A., Zweilein, Thomas J., 2008. “The business case for commitment to diversity”. Business Horizons 51: 201-209.
2. Conference: Virtual Teams and International Business by Dr. Eoin Higgins PhD

NATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Culture is defined as all values, beliefs, traditions shared by a group of people either a nation or an organization with the main objective to clear boundaries from other groups, to get an identity that enforce their roots belonging to the group. People develop their own way achieving their interests in order to get unitary objective; through working together as a team helping each other. They like to work together having same expectations, goals, reasons, beliefs, results, values and norms.

In the organizational culture there are two types of members; one who has a high position in the organization making in him a consistent culture built by the company. And another who has a low position in the company that makes in him an adaptability, which means, when the organizational culture goes following a business strategy that all the company’s members have a participation and work for it.
There are some factors that have an influence in the decision making for organizations, these factors are clearly explain as internal factors and external factors.

Internal Factors: is the set of all the internal resources that the company has. These factors are like the internal organizational structure, all the physical resources like machinery, equipment, etc, and the Organizational culture.

Organizational Culture: it is defined as according to the text International Management: Cross Cultural Dimensions, is the organizational structure and rules, values, feelings, norms, it says the entire ‘organizational climate’.

External Factors: is the set of all the facts that affect the organization since abroad. These factors are the economic behavior, the market, the customer behavior and his decisions, laws and regulations, religion system, financial system and the National culture.

National Culture: it is defined as the culture that belongs to a national group and all the influences on the behavior that may have as individual members. The culture mentioned before is based on a particular culture that only belongs to the group not to other. It is characterized for being learned and thought since generation to generation inside a group. It is represented by the core of values built by the group. And it is the main characteristic that differentiates a group from the other.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
It is a great example to describe one of the most important goals for organizations in order to have an image prestige and recognition by the customers as an organization that works for the environmental responsibility, human rights, education, and so on.

A clear example of Corporate Social Responsibility is LEONISA with their campaign abouth Prest Cancer

Ordinary questions

¿Is there a corporate culture in every organization? Can it be modified?
How does is affect processes that require a deep organizational change? (Ex. mergers, acquisitions, etc.)

Culture is built by a group of people and it is passed and teach from generation to generation shared by people that work together for a goal, so they have a working behavior as a core of norms created by the organization. It can be modified in the way that the creators who are in high positions in the company can adjust the organizational culture from all the external factors that are related to the organization, such as the market behavior, the religion, etc. Even though, they modify it in the way they are improving to give a good product to the customer that reach their needs as customer in order to obtain as much customer as the organizations can. They are willing to cross frontiers and change some positive aspects that help the organization to gain success.

Each organization may have a different corporate culture from other, which is based on the ways to dress, the space that they have to leave either for a customer or an executive, the punctuality; in general all the stuff included on the code of conduct followed by a core of values that the company can modify if is necessary having account that it is not going to affect the company’s vision and mission.
Nowadays, multinationals want to go abroad looking for being recognized around the world.

As an example, in 1990 was the Indian Liberalization, which gave a chance to enter for all the foreign companies there. Even though, Mc Donald’s entered to India in 1996 by Joint venture. It took six years to study the emergent market of India, due this, Mc Donald’s had to adjust to the Indian culture, since changing their menu for vegetarian food.

I suggest to see the following video to understand what it happened for this organization: http://www.foxbusiness.com/search-results/m/25183541/mcdonald-s-in-india.htm

References:

1. 
   
   Mead, Richard. 2004. International Management: Cross-Cultural Dimensions London: Blackwell Publishing. Chapter 1 and 4


2. 
   
   http://www.mcdonaldsindia.com/mc.html


3. 
   
   http://www.foxbusiness.com/search-results/m/25183541/mcdonald-s-in-india.htm
   

EXPLORING DIVERSITY

Diversity definition

is the set of similarities or differences that make diverse a group of people from the other. This distinctiveness can be by a group of visible dimensions:

· Gender
· Race
· Ethnicity
· Age
· Disabilities
· Dress
· Religion
· Physical attributes

Invisible Dimensions:

· Skills
· Education
· Political views
· Marital or partnership status
· Work life experience
· Socio economic status
· Parental status
· Beliefs

Core Dimension:

· Personality
· Work style
· Personal truth
· Sexual orientation

Diversity Main Issues

1. Gender diversity: in order to avoid discrimination that is the main issue to gender diversity, because in some countries there is an unequal payment between women and men; depending on the work hours mostly women have a lack of job hours, due to maternity leaves, low positions for women.

2. Race diversity: there is a high level of discrimination of black people in Europe for example; it would be prohibited by legislation. This kind of discrimination is made by jokes on television, by internet, or even on the street. Also it can be felt on the income differences.

3. Age diversity: the issue is explained by the existence of mixture of four human generation (Maturity, Bloom, Gen X and Millennial) working for the same team, it means, for the same company in the same area, it means there would be a gap between them at the workplace due to they do not have the same knowledge level.

4. Religious diversity: the company members could be from different religious system, so they would have different beliefs (holiday, eastern, praying time, dress codes, so on), ways to dress and eat than others. If the partners do not know anything about it, it will have conflicts between them.

5. Employees with disabilities: in companies where there are employees with a kind of disability, the company has to have a variety of accommodations that are special equipment that make easy their commitment otherwise not feeling any discrimination.

6. Sexual orientation diversity: there can have sexual preferences, fear of managers and co workers, not feeling welcome or comfortable at the workplace.

It is quite important to get a cultural identity, because it makes you different from the other, even though, it is fairly important to understand the diversity for other, it means that people have to take into account to respect the other’s vision, being aware of the other’s ambiguity. Developing open minded skill make people more conscious about the diversity issues. Through these actions, people can develop a cultural intelligence that is followed by the ability and consciousness about diversity.

Question

• 
  
  
  ¿Do you think the entry and integration of new members to the European Union are processes that promote diversity or on the contrary, strive to homogenize the European Society?

The entrance of new states to the European Union is a procedure that encourages cultural diversity between them. They belong to a macro nation that is the European Union, even though; they join it adopting new cultural codes. They implement different laws that become them as European Union ‘citizens’ still being from other culture. This integration promotes diversity to the European Union, because, they acquire a commitment in the treatment of third-country nationals, reasons like migrations and minority issues are the attention for these ‘citizens’.
‘Migrants and the members of a new minority see a danger in being stigmatized as being ‘different’, whereas persons belonging to an (old) minority group see a danger in not being recognized as being ‘different’ from the majority’(1) Who is Managing Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in the European Condominium? The Moments of Entry, Integration and Preservation.Page 719.

References:

1. Toggenburg, Gabriel N. 2005. “Who is managing ethnic and cultural diversity in the European Condominium? The moments of entry, integration and preservation”. Journal of Common Market Studies 43 (4) 717-38.

http://interactiva.eafit.edu.co/ei/adjuntos/descargar.do?id=1590209

http://blogs.freshminds.co.uk/talent/wpcontent/uploads/2009/03/diversity02_transparent.gif

Module one: Ethnographic Research

Ethnographic Research






Monday, february 22nd 2010 by Alejandra Cano


Summary

As we know most of the people in the world has different manners and ways to see the world, the reason is because they are from different locations around the world, they have different appearances and physical features as well according to the nation that they belong to.

The Ethnographic Method analizes all the aspects that are related to the life style of the people; such as behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, the way of dressing and so on. 'Typically, the ethnographer focuses on a community (not necessarily geographic, considering also work, leisure, and other communities), selecting informants who are known to have an overview of the activities of the community.' http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/PA765/ethno.htm - Ethnographic research.


It is useful also to find out behaviors and perceptions, depending on what people use, what they do and what they say in a determined context.


This fieldwork that 'descirbes a particular culture' - Marvin Harris and Orna Johnson, 2000 is really important to consider when you are going to start an alliance between your company and another that belongs to another nation. It means to another culture. The point is that if you want to have international relations with people you have to know at first how their culture works or even your business would go down easily.



Perspectives:

This study has different perspectives:

1. Holistic Perspective: it is explained according to how members of the group understand a picture and make it comprehensive interrelated with a context.

2. Multiple perspectives and realities: it is the non-judgmental perspectives like:

a. Insider´s perspective: is the way to understand situations and behaviors, to feel part of a group and understand what happen and why. It is the Participation observation ethnographic_research.pdf pag. 2. it is when you do not belong to a group but you are inside to see how everything works.

b. Native perspectives: it is useful to understand why people do what they do, use and say. It is when you belong to the group and you feel part of the group.

3. Emic vs Ethic perspectives: two perspectives to understand the cultural system. The Emic perspective studies all the intrinsic cultural distinctions that are meaninful to the members of a society like supernatural beliefs. That means how the members percieve the world.

The ethic perspective studies all the extrinsic concepts and categories that have meaning for scientific observers like the growth of the population per year. http://interactiva.eafit.edu.co/ei/adjuntos/descargar.do?id=1760619 slide 14. That means how the non-members perceive the behaviors related to the culture that belongs the group.


Also this study of all of these behaviors can be more comprehensive considering other aspects that belong to them as a group and those give to the research reasons to understand since another point of view, like:


a. symbols and rituals


b. Sciences of application


c. Techniques-Interviews

d. Resources-data




Current Questions:


¿How Ethnographic research can be used for international business?

Nowadays ethnographic research has become as an important tool in the study of international business. Because with the topic of Globalization most companies want to internationalize making new customers abroad and growing as much faster as they can, it is when the ethnographic method have an important role, is when people worry about the other´s culture. They try to make a deep study of their behaviors, traditions, attitudes in order to know how they could focuse their products to be sold to them.

Examples:

a. Virtual Teams : it is a group of people that joint in order to work together between many countries this job could be a distance but they have to know about each other culture and through internet they can have a good communication.


b. Global Enterprise Experience : it is a nice tool to meet people around the world, work with them giving solutions to many issues at the same time knowing about each other like different kinds of management depending on the culture as an example.



Some useful links:




http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://blogs.freshminds.co.uk/research/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/faces-cartoon.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blogs.freshminds.co.uk/research/%3Fp%3D156&usg=__Gz6QB_cQHO05uoQ3BeQBJRtxwGk=&h=370&w=462&sz=75&hl=es&start=4&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=daE39ddlNnuiSM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=128&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dethnographic%2Bresearch%26um%3D1%26hl%3Des%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1R2ADBF_es%26tbs%3Disch:1


http://www.geebiz.org/