North America

North American Organizational culture

We had the presentation for this week regarding North America. This region has an area about 24’700.000 square kilometers which represents the 4,8% of the earth’s surface and the 16,5% of its land.
North America is located at the northern and western hemisphere and is bordered by the Arctic Ocean, the North Atlantic and North Pacific Ocean and by the Caribbean Sea. The region is considered the third biggest continent in the world (regarding its area), and it is the fourth in terms of population (around 530 million people). The North American Free Trade Agreement unifies Canada, the United States and Mexico in terms of commerce, making it one of the strongest economic blocs in the world.
English, Spanish, and French are the most common languages. Specifically Canada is officially bilingual and in some of its cities, French is the official language.
There are different conceptions of what North America is, For the United Nations, Mexico belongs to Central America. But in England, people consider that Canada, the United States, and Mexico are North America.
In North America is possible to identify the three main racial groups, which are: Whites, Mestizos and Blacks.

North American managerial style and its differences

In order to have some idea of how organizations are managed in North America, I decided to make an approach to each country that belongs to the region, taking in count the have some differences which I consider important to mention.

United states management style
Is possible to describe the American management style as individualistic in approach, this means managers are responsible for the decisions made within the areas they are in charge of.
Even though important decisions might be discussed in open forum, the responsibilities for the consequences of the decision are up to the boss, the support will vanish when things go wrong. The American dream idea is the creator of this responsibility, since people believe that outstanding success will inevitably bring outstanding rewards.American managers are more expected to not taking in count the opinions of subordinates. Big difference when comparing to managers in other more consensus or compromise oriented cultures.

Regarding costumes and culture I found out that, United States people are are very individualist and competitive, for them freedom also means freedom to compete. This competence is open and very hard.
When talking about managers the use to think “time is money”, since they like to have results as soon as they can. Most of the managerial positions are occupied by men, , nevertheless the number of women in these positions is increasing. Women in high positions expect to be treated seriously and with the respect they deserve according to their position.
North American people like open conversations, they are polite and kind, Handshaking is short, and greetings can be followed by questions about the trip, health or weather. Eye contact shows honesty and open treatment.

Canadian Management style: Canadian managers are expected to be decisive, this means they’re not expected to manage in an authoritarian or paternalistic way.
The Canadian Management style is known as informal and friendly with managers preferring to be seen as one of the guys, rather than a distant figure who stands apart from everybody else in the company.
The manager will be judged more on his or her ability to manage the team, since he is not expected to be the most technically competent person in the team.

Mexican Organization Culture
The organizational culture in Mexico is basically based on centralized decision-making approach, this means all decisions of any importance is made by a few key individuals at the top of the company.
A Mexican organization has a high level of collectivism. The manager expects loyalty, and as a return for this the boss will look after the interest of subordinates. Mexican normally works in team.
Mexican culture is characterized by high power distance, this means the management style tends to be paternalistic.

Trade and culture in North America

In United States the cultural topic is a little bit complex since a lot of foreign people came to the country bringing also their own culture, this means their culture is really diverse blending many cultures from around the world.
United States is seen in the world as the favored destination of people leaving their homelands in search of a new country, in search of the American dream, looking fo better opportunities and better life conditions, then American culture became a rich and complex mixture of cultures from around the world.
Canadian culture is a diverse blend of indigenous, French and British traditions that have been significantly broadened by a wave of immigration from Europe and Asia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s. Each province in Canada has its own culture, religious background and sense of identity
The regional differences are inevitable because Canada has a varied population which includes many Asian, Chinese, Italian, Ukrainian and indigenous communities spread throughout the country.

In the last few years, the world have witnessed a teenage behaviour that shocked the world around, i would like to go deeper on this issue, violence in America has been increasing and its considered nowadays a sensible topic that must be treated.

I found out an article from the university of Georgia about this theme, it doesnt even have a title or author but i found it really interesting, it cites many other authors. i’ll highlight in blue the most important phrases, then this made me wonder...... Is violence part of North American culture?

North American culture is becoming increasingly violent and uncontrollable. With schools representing a pooling of the community, standards of behavior within the community and those learned at home are being brought to school. Acts of violence disrupt the normal functioning of a school, and the fear of violence prevents both students and teachers from concentrating on meaningful learning and teaching. The American education system needs to realize that there is a problem with violence and start implementing programs that will help prevent further violent acts within the system. Many scholars have reflected on things that might trigger violence, who should be held responsible, and ways to prevent violence in schools.
The future of America will be partially determined by the students of today’s schools. The affects of violence on society in the future depend upon the action society takes today towards ridding the schools of violence. Communities, local and federal governments, as well as teachers and parents need to join forces in the fight against school violence. The ideal climate for learning cannot be established by a single leader within a school. Community-wide care and dedication are required to make a difference in the safety of America’s schools and to prevent future problems with violence in society.
A school’s environment not only affects learning capabilities; it also affects how students conform to society. The social environment of a school can influence how students behave more powerfully than the home or community. The fear of physical harm is often debilitating to students, restraining their ability to learn. Fear also creates other problems within the school, such as truancy and dropout rates. According to the National Education Association, 160,000 children skip school each day because of intimidation by their peers (Jerome, 2001, p. 56).
SueEllen and Paula Fried state that, “bullies seem to share the same traits, like many bullies have been abused at home. So when a child (bully) sees someone at school who is vulnerable looking they feel threatened because it reminds them of the shame and humiliation of their own victimization” (1996, p. 87). The U.S. Secret Service conducted a study last fall that found of the 37 school shootings since 1974, that two-thirds of the attackers felt “persecuted, bullied, threatened, attacked, or injured”(Jerome, 2001, p.57).
In U.S. culture, media plays a huge part of everyday life. Violence is portrayed in cartoons, movies, soap operas, and especially in the news. As a child watches Saturday morning cartoons, he or she is supplied with 26.4 incidents of violence per hour (Hill & Hill, 1994, p. 7).
It has been estimated that by the time a child is twelve years old, he or she will have been exposed to 18,000 television murders (Sadovnik, Cookson, &Semel, 2001, p.131). The message that materialism, easy sex, drug use, and violence is glamorous saturates children’s senses during the years when value structures are being formed (Hill et al, 1994, p. 7). Attaining the material goods that the media portrays as “cool” is a source of high status for adolescents. Members of lower socioeconomic classes become stressed due to the lack of means to acquire such goods, therefore resulting to the “take what I want” mentality. Media translates being “bad” as being tough and smart consequently distorting the idea to adolescents who often look to the media for guidance.
The media also misguides adolescents with inquiring minds about the use of alcohol. Before a child is eighteen, he or she will have seen over 100,000 beer commercials (Hill et al, 1994, p. 7). Drinking is portrayed as glamorous and fun often leaving the consequences and responsibilities of drinking out. Students have been sneaking alcohol into school functions for years. Movies and television shows have constantly used the typical instance of a student pouring alcohol into the punch at a school dance. The arousal and cognitive effects of alcohol include, but are not limited to, the loss of inhibitions, inability to judge the degree of situations, and intensification of emotions (Fagan & Wilkinson, 1998, p. 75). Irresponsible use of drugs and alcohol can lead to senseless acts of violence. It is the parent’s responsibility to supervise what their children watch on television. New cable and television systems are making it even easier for parents to block programs and channels that are inappropriate for their children. Children annually experience 100,000 hours of unsupervised television that contains five to eight violent acts per hour and there are at least two million school-aged children with no adult supervision after school (Duhon-Sells, 1995, p. 9). The overexposure of media violence to students plays a role in school violence. Basically kids are copycats. When a young boy sees the Power Rangers kicking and fighting to get rid of the bad guys, he will imitate their behavior. The evidence for this is a personal experience of one of the group members. However, the role of the media and the bully are only two factors that can trigger violence.
The origin of school violence is often not found in the child’s experience at school, but in the child’s home life. Children from single-parent homes are twice as likely to drop out of school and more likely to be late, in trouble, and truant while enrolled in school (Hill et al, 1994, p. 3). Teen pregnancy, homelessness, and chemically dependent parents are also contributors. In one reported incident, “just before lunch an angry kindergartner hit his teacher with a chair, when we arrived at his home to talk with his mother, she opened the door naked and stoned,” stated Hill and Hill (1994, p.2).
While most of the arguments and research agree on the various types of school violence that cause problems and the areas from which they originate, there is opposition about whom
should take responsibility. Many say it is the parent’s responsibility to teach their children the difference between right and wrong and what is socially acceptable behavior. Others state that the teachers and administrators of the school system should take their responsibility in the punishment of disorderly and violent behavior among students.
In order to solve the problem of school violence it is necessary to admit that there is a problem. Identifying an actual or possible problem says that the foresight, knowledge, and planning skills are a part of the school board’s agenda (Landen, 1994, p. 78). Metal detectors, drug sniffing dogs, security personnel, and restrictive rules are not solutions they are only techniques for handling violence on an incident basis. These measures will help regain control, but will not disintegrate the problem. The development of an overall plan for school discipline and safety is the responsibility of the policy makers (Landen, 1994, p. 79). Educational policy makers can take such measures as updating policies so that they are appropriate for current and anticipated situations, give clear guidance to administration for providing a disciplined and secure learning environments, as well as getting advice from legal counsel concerning the schools and the board’s liabilities (Landen, 1994, p.79).

References

Arango, Maria Isabel. 2009. Class notes, organisations and cultures, Eafit.

University of Georgia, 2009. North American culture is becoming increasingly violent and uncontrollable. Available at: http://www.coe.uga.edu/ctl/portfolios/socfound/schoolviolence.pdf Accessed on: October 15th 2009

Image source: www.shutterstock.com

Latin America

Latin America

this week exposition was about Latin America, this a region conformed by 21 countries, it has an area of 21’069.501 km2 approximately and includes Mexico, Central America and islands such as Cuba and Dominican Republic, and South America.The most important cities in the region are Mexico City, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Bogotá, Lima, Belo Horizonte, Santiago, Guadalajara, Porto Alegre

Historical components of current affairs Latin America

When talking about latin America, it’s important to mention its political background and actual situation, since the region has been really affected because of it.

Revising the notes of my classmates of the last semester I found out that In Latin-America there exist 3 political regimes around the countries

1.Center- Left: Are political formations of moderate left, moved away of the revolutionary left or the Communism.

•It includes the social democracy, the social christianism and the socio liberalism.

•Professes reformist and non-conservative ideologies.

•Defends the mixed economy and regulation of the market to guarantee equality.

•They are opposite to privatization.

COUNTRIES FROM CENTER LEFT: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Guatemala and Dominican Republic.

2.Radical- Left: Are political formations of radical left.

•Their policies turn around the equality, based in Stalinists, Marxist, Leninists theories and Trotskism.

•At the moment they include the democratic socialism.

•Total opposition to Capitalism, tendencies to Populism.

•Distribution of the richness only freed to the free game of the forces of the market, only will produce inequity that will take to low income sectors of the population to be excluded.

COUNTRIES FROM RADICAL LEFT: Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba and Nicaragua.

3.Center- Right: They have more preservative ideas, although without going to the ends, they are not radically conservative.

•They are in favor of the free market:–Reduced levels of taxes.–Reduction of the public cost.–Promote FDI

Foreign direct investment in Latin America

Around 56,400 million usd was invested in 2004 in Latin America:

· Brazil was the largest recipient of resources, with 18,000 million dollars, followed by Mexico with 17,000 million.
· In the third place was Chile with U.S. $ 7.603 million.
· Colombia was the fourth Latin American country to receive FDI of $ 2.352 million, an increase of 34 percent over 2003 when the amount reached 1.746 million dollars

The growth rate of FDI to Latin America and the Caribbean was above the world average and above the average for developing countries in general.

If both regions are separated, FDI to South America climbed 24% to US$ 89.862 billion, while FDI to Mexico and the Caribbean fell 5% to US$ 38.438 billion.This difference is explained by the differentiated effect that the international crisis has had on both regions.


Corporate social responsibility of foreign firms operating in Latin America

In general we can say that there is a huge gap between the most developed countries of
the Americas (Canada and the US) and the rest of the region. As deep as this gap is, a similar gap exists between the most advanced developing countries of the region and the rest. (Haslam, P, 2004) Overall, it is possible to say that there are four different levels of CSR activity in the Americas, in declining order of activity:

• Running (Canada and US);
• Catching-up (most developed Latin American
countries, such as Argentina, Chile and Mexico);
• Walking (rest of South America), and;
• Stalled (Central America and the Caribbean).

In the most industrialized of the Latin American economies, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, (Brazil and Uruguay could probably be included in this list, but were not examined in the study) we see some important CSR activity. It is worth emphasizing the huge drop that occurs when this level is compared to that of Canada. For example while Canada generated 917 search “hits”, it was 140 in Argentina, 105 in Chile, and 63 in Mexico. This constitutes a seven to fourteenfold drop over the Canadian level. (Haslam, P, 2004)

How has been latin America growing, regardin integration processes?

Latin America has a growing economic highly dependent from United States. In April 1994, Brazil launched its proposal for a South American Free Trade Area, or SAFTA. In the absence of progress during the FTAA negotiations, SAFTA would provide MERCOSUR with an "insurance policy" against the risk of northern protectionism.South American Free Trade Area (SAFTA), will be the result of the integration of the big blocks of the region; the Andean Community and de MERCOSUR. MERCOSUR, is the largest regional trade bloc in Latin America. MERCOSUR remains a state-led, primarily commercial initiative, and its evolution and sustainability have been fundamentally linked to strategic factors and power configurations at the regional and hemispheric levels. The alignment of forces are determined by an evolution of the Latin American has been part of an expansive process of national and regional economic transformation, which has influenced the character of the process of integration.



References

Arango, Maria Isabel. Organisations and Culture. Class notes. 2009

Burlyai, Jan. 2002. Integration Processes in the Western Hemisphere. International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy & International Relations, 2002, Vol. 48 Issue 5, p36-43

Haslam, P. 2004. The corporate social responsibility system in Latin America and the Caribbean. Available at: http://dev6.itao.de/uploads/tx_jpdownloads/csr_Latin_America_Caribbean_04.pdf Accessed on October 20th 2009

Australia and Oceania

Australia and Oceania

This module of the subject was about Australia and Oceania , together they compose the fifth largest economy in Asia Pacific and one of the strongest in the world. Foreing Direct Investment is strongly encouraged in Australia. For this, the Australian government keeps offices all around the world looking for potential investors.
Australia capital is Canberra, nowadays it has a total population of 22´000.000. It’s main products exported are diamonds, machinery and equipment. Russia and USA constitute their main economic partners and their main imports products are: natural gas, oil, tobacco.

Society and culture within Australia and Oceania

These are the main facts I found to describe the Australian cultural patterns, taking I count their beliefs, religion, language and other,
· Life Span: Average: 80 years ( men: 77 - women: 83)
· Religion: Anglicans: 26.1%, Catholic Romano: 26%, Christian: 24.3%, Others: 22.6%
· Alphabetization: 100% above 15 years of age
· Government System: Democratic Parliamentary, Federation.
· Important Cities: Sydney , Brisbane , Canterbury, Darebin , Gold coast , Southern Coast , Central Coast , Melbourne, Perth.
· Language: English 78.5%, Chinese 2.5%, Italian 1.6%, Greek 1.3%, Arabic 1.2%, Vietnamese 1%, other 8.2%, unspecified 5.7%
· Ethnic Make-up: Caucasian 92%, Asian 7%, aboriginal and other 1%

Australian people are very direct in the way they communicate, often they use colourful language,when it comes to business, they don’t need long- standing personal relationships before they do business with people. When negotiating they proceed quickly. Bargaining is not normally used. Australian people expect the initial proposal to have only a small margin for negotiation. quite direct and expect the same in return. They appreciate briefness and are not impressed by too much detail, this is because they get down to business quickly with a minimum amount of small talk. For Australian negotiators the Decision-making process must be done at the top of the company, it’s important to mention that decisions are made after consultation with subordinates, which can make decision making slow and extended.

Organizations within south pacific

The most important thing in the mind of an Australian manager (including vice-presidents and CEO’s) is the outcome, they are always focused on it and the performance of the overall process. This is named “performance driven” and it’s the way organizations are managed in the region. This organizational culture is based on results, here members choose to go beyond individual goals with the final outcome in order to align both and create a winner synergy.

According to Baird et Al (2007) they find that the most prominent characteristic of Australian organizational culture was Outcome Orientation, followed by Respect for People, with Stability and Innovation being the least prominent characteristics in both studies. The high ranking of Outcome Orientation, a cultural factor characterized by values of having high expectations for performance and being results and action oriented, bodes well for the success of Australian business if, as theorized, organizational culture is an important determinant of managers' and employees' work attitudes, decisions and behavior and, ultimately, an organization's financial performance.

Less auspicious is the low ranking of Innovation, a cultural factor characterized by a willingness to experiment, being innovative, being quick to take advantage of opportunities, and risk taking.
They also find out the "mateship" characteristic of Australian national culture, it "represents a leadership style that focuses on the group", with leaders expected to be "one of the boys" (or girls?). Egalitarianism (the belief that people should be treated the same and as equals) has consistently been identified as an Australian cultural trait
They found an association in the factors of Respect for People (including values of fairness and respect for the rights of the individual) and Team Orientation (including values of being people and team oriented) to be the second and fourth highest ranked aspects of Australian organizational culture. Additionally, the values of fairness and respect for the individual ranked equal 5th among the 26 value statements.


Since I don’t know too much about the topic, my question this time will be about the relationship between Colombia and Australia:

According to economical relations, Australia and Colombia work together to pursue free and fair agricultural trade through their joint membership. Regarding the political relations, Colombia has an important role in the Asia-Pacific countries, since it’s now a full member of the Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC).

Australia maintains a 'virtual office' in Bogotá, to promote trade and investment opportunities and service for Australian business interests.Taking in mind educational opportunities, Colombia has been developing strategic alliances with universities and educational institutions in Australia, to favor student exchange between both countries. Also, there have been mutual assistance and exchange of information in areas of interest in schools, vocational and higher education.

Furtherless the economic relations between them must be improved, there's too much to do in the economical field, since both countries are trying to expands its own economy, Colombia needs to look for more integration processes abroad and institutions that helps with this kind of issues, belonging to them might help the country to expand its economy which is traduced in help to grow the international commerce of both countries, Colombia and Australia.

References

Arango, Maria Isabel. Organisations and Culture. Class notes. 2009

Baird, Kevin; Harriso, Graeme & Robert Reeve. 2007. The culture of Australian organizations and its relation with strategy. International Journal of Business Studies, 15 (1). 15-41), and Green (2009)

Image source: http://www.shuttersotck.com/

Europe

Europe: so diverse, so united

For this module of the subject it was my task to prepare the exposition with two other classmates, Alejandro Herrera and Laura Palacio. We composed the text below in order to fulfill with the wiki table of contents (by wiki I mean an online book we are doing during the entire semester for the subject). The themes are basically based on European culture and its organizations.

The changing contours of European 'space' and human movement, European management style

Europe is a very diverse continent and that diversity is reflected in the culture and also in the management styles of the different regions.
Japanese management, for example, is recognized for the reduction of costs, especially in the production area, and showed that high quality and lower costs can go together. The American management is characterized by managers' self-perceptions which are more internalized, and less shaped by the reactions of colleagues.

But when talking about a European management, it is important to have into account the main different regions and each culture that gives as a result a different management style
Being success on Europe depends on the knowledge of these differences. Because what works in one region may not work in another.
European managers have to face different business environments, different cultures and also different legal systems, corporate governance issues, market orientations and perception of competition.

One of the most important difference is in the legal systems; civil or common law which vary depending on the country.
France, Germany and Nordic countries use civil law and the Anglo-Saxon region, the common law. There are also significant differences in corporate governance codes.
”Some European countries emphasize on cooperative relationships and consensus, while other countries focus on competition and market processes in their corporate governance frameworks”
Anglo-Saxon countries have a market and shareholders orientation with a high value of competition while countries like Germany and Austria are stakeholder oriented and have more concern for co-operation and consensus.

When talking about the cultural differences is important to take into account Hofstede's and Trompenaar’s research on cultural differences. They propose to analyze cultures with different parameters which vary depending on the region or country. (European cultures and management styles. International Journal of Asian Management. 01-DEC-04)

The constructions of communities and identities in Europe

We based our culture research on Hofstede, he analyzes four criteria which are: Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity and Avoidance of Uncertainty.
“Power distance Index measures the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally”
“Individualism is the one side versus its opposite, collectivism, that is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. On the individualist side we find societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after him/herself and his/her immediate family.”
“Masculinity versus its opposite, femininity refers to the distribution of roles between the genders which is another fundamental issue for any society to which a range of solutions are found”
“Uncertainty avoidance deals with a society’s tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity; it ultimately refers to man’s search for Truth. It indicates to what extent a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations.”

There is also another research made by Trompenaar. It shows other 6 criteria important to differentiate cultures, they are: Universalism vs. Particularism, Individualism vs. Communitarianism, Specificity vs. Diffuseness, Achieved vs. Ascribed Status, inner vs. Outer Direction and Sequential vs. Synchronous Time.
Universalism is the application of certain rules everywhere while particularism means the avoidance of formalisms or rigid norms. Individualistic cultures are concerned for themselves while collectivism shows concern for group and all its members.
Specificity and diffuseness refers to how individuals are comfortable in relationships with other individuals and the degree of involvement. Achievement refers to how status is achieved through work and abstraction means status depending on age, gender... Inner dimension means that virtues are inside each individual and outer dimension consider virtues in the external environment.
Sequential and synchronous refers to the perception of time and activities to do in that time, one by one or simultaneously.

European organizations
“The new configuration of the EU brings great expectations and considerable anxiety for organizations and their members. On the one hand, it can be seen as an opportunity to develop a powerful economic entity with a strong cultural heritage, similar values, and enough diversity to foster creativity and innovation. On the other hand, it brings the fear of diluting national identities, clashing cultural norms, religious strife, and incompatibility of leadership styles and work practices.” (The future of European business leadership pg. 38.)

“Cultural industries are high on the European Union’s policy agenda. To unleash the ‘Lisbon potential’ of the cultural industries, the establishment of a customized European cultural industries policy is required.”
“A future European cultural industries policy can be summarized as a policy towards small, media and digitalized service industries. The evident lack of coherence in description approaches and applied regulations of the EU institutions will pose serious problems for such a policy-in-the-making.” (DIVERSITY UNITED Towards a European cultural industries policy)

According to similar characteristics patterns, how can we group cultures in Europe?

Taking into account these main variables or criteria to identify cultures, one can identify five main regions or cultures grouped for its similar characteristics:
- Anglo-Saxon culture (Ireland, UK)
- Nordic culture (Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, and Finland)
- Germanic culture (Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland)
- Frankophile culture (France, Greece, Portugal, and Spain)
- Italian culture

But although this groups have similar characteristics and similar ways to deal management, one can find significant differences inside one country depending on the regions inside it, for example inside Spain there are a lot of “sub regions” that are important to consider because they have not a common identity or idiosyncrasy which represents their common characteristics, interest or styles.

Europe is a very diverse continent and thanks to that diversity is very hard, or maybe impossible, to establish or determine a unique European management style, assuming that there is not a cultural unit that identifies the whole continent.

“Despite growing unification and standardization in Europe, vast cultural, political and educational differences still exist. It is impossible to apply a universal set of principles to European leadership.” (The future of European business leadership pg. 39.)

References

Perlitz, M & Seger. F 2004. European cultures and management styles. International Journal of Asian Management. 3: 1-26.

Kets, M,INSEAD, and Konstantin Korotov. The future of european business leadership. European School of Management and Technology. 37-42

PABLO VALLEJO MEJIA docente tiempo completo Universidad EAFIT Medellín
Departamento negocios internacionales. Entrevista. Septiembre 2009

Ellen Huijgh. Diversity united?. Towards a European cultural industries policy
209-220

Image source: Hofstede. http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geert-hofstede.com%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFrqEzdyuoZmc4-01-j4BPFLw1cV5Up24w

Middle East

Middle East: The Arab world and Israel

This week we studied the Middle East region, the presentation my classmates did, really gave a better sight of it and gave a better perspective regarding the economic, social and cultural aspects.

First, the group started giving us the general information of the region, including the Countries & Territories of the Middle East, Population, Economy, Statehood and International Disputes. Then they talked about the history of the region and then focused on the organizations In Israel and the Arab World.

Something that really caught my attention and made me question myself about, is the fact that even though, all cultures have stereotypes, since 9/11 Arabs have been extremely stereotyped and blamed as terrorists, in places like, the United States and Spain, many Arabs are living rejections and experiencing discrimination. The idea made me think and wonder about, since when I’m traveling and I recognize this people, I get to think the same of them, just stereotyping them as terrorists and bad people.
Furthermore, The IMF did a study a couple of years ago about the effect of some of the post-September 11 changes on the U.S. economy.The assumption is that it cost us around 1 percent of GDP growth. (Graham, E et Al . 2006)

During the last decade its been posible to note an increase in the Arab región finances, there’s an increasing number of financial products and services available that are compliant with Islamic finance. Rising petroleum prices, increased attention on the Middle East as a result of politics, and competition between Bahrain and Dubai for the title of Middle Eastern financial center are other factors contributing to the economic surge. (Di Meglio, F. 2007)

Culture and business organizations within the Arab World

Looking for the most relevant characteristics of the Arab culture I found out that Arabs feel loyalty to the places they come from and to the people they belong to, they are really attached to Generosity, Hospitality, Preoccupation about personal honour and dignity, they feel Respect for authority and Women are regulated and controlled.Taking more into the organizations context, I found out some business culture patterns, including Long term relationships, believing in people instead institutions and another important fact is Arabs don’t show their intimacy.

Business in islam

The fundamental teachings of Islam derived from four sources; the Quran and the Sunnah (practices of the Holy Prophet), intellect (wisdom), and consensus of religious scientist. The Quran viewed the life of man as a continuous process.(Zainul, N et Al 2004)

Man had to work for success and comforts not only for this world but also for the hereafter. Therefore, the Quran not only permitted and encouraged man to involve in all sorts of productive work (such as business), but also enjoined it as a duty upon Muslims. In Islamic business concept, Muslims should be very faithful and God-fearing in any kind of business or trade. Truthfulness, sincerity and honesty are basic ethical value of Islam. A businessman has to be honest, truthful and straightforward in all his business dealings. There is no scope of cheating, speaking lies, swearing too much and false advertising in Islamic framework of business. (Zainul, N et Al 2004)

Middle East Workshop

By: Maria Isabel Arango, Andrea Radi and Carolina Zapata.

1) Why do gulf economies rely on impatriation?

This question has many answers, but one of the most important one is because these gulf countries had a rapid growth in their economies, due to their main income, and the increasing on the price of the oil, mostly in 1970. This fact made the employment rate grow in especially in this period, and this is how an increase on the impatriates and their hiring is explained.

2) Describe the main features of the policy saudisation.

The main features of the saudisation policy are:
· The private firms were asked to reduce their foreign labor force by 5% per year.· The opportunity to increase women’s participation in some jobs.· The jobs that were given to the impatriates in the public sector.· The Saudis were restricted from some jobs.

2.1) Why this policy is considerate as key policy for national development?

This policy is considered key because it will help to decrease the unemployment rate. It will also help to stop the dependency of the impatriates for specific jobs.On the other hand, it will make a reinvestment and a recapture on the income, and this will generate human capitals, and know-how.

3) What roles should organizations and the state have to ensure the adaptation of foreign nationals to the Middle East environment?
The organizations should create a special training in language, culture, customs, legal advice and history. They need to adapt to the environment and not wait for the environment to adapt to their way of doing business. They also need to work on the interpersonal skills so they would not have problems on sharing the same knowledge as the Middle East people.They also need to think about having not only the impatriates happy, but also their family.

4) What is the main difference between impatriates and expatriates?

Impatriates The local company asks them to work for a specific amount of time.
Are hired for jobs with no skills needed, most of the times.
ExpatriatesThey are sent by a foreign company to a specific country.They have high positions on their companies and they have professional studies.

References

Arango, Maria Isabel. Organisations and Culture. Class notes. 2009

Di Meglio, F. 2007. A Fresh Take on Islamic Finance. Business Week Online; 3/27/2007, p7-7, 1p. Available online at: http://web.ebscohost.com.libgate.library.nuigalway.ie/ehost/delivery?vid=15&hid=6&sid... Accessed on: octobre 23rd 2009

Graham, E & Lewis, J & De Marino, D & Reinsch, W. 2006. How can the US reopen for business to the Arab world. SYMPOSIUM: U.S.-ARAB BUSINESS. Middle East Policy Council.

Zainul, N & Osman, F & Mazlan, S 2004. E-Commerce from an Islamic perspective. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/. Accessed on: October 14th 2009

Image source: www.shutterstock.com

AFRICA

Africa

A little bit of Africa in numbers before starting the cultural approach and some facts about organizations in the continent, I must mention that Africa is the world's 2nd-largest and 2nd most-populous continent, after Asia. It has an area of 30,221,532 km² and a population 1,001,320,281(est. 2009). Is the 2nd largest continent but a quarter of its territory is not suitable for habitation, because it's composed by the Sahara Desert.

This video really called my attention, a review of the actual problems in the continet, poverty, aids, hunger and violence experienced by afreican people. check it out Title: Africa Million voices http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj2Ilm7zYmQ&feature=related

Colonialism and post-colonialism in Africa

During my classmates exposition, some of colonialism and Post-colonialism in the region was mentioned, due to its importance and influence in the culture, political and social environment of the continent.
I found a book which really called my attention since it principally makes a critic to underdevelopment in Africa. The author describes colonialism as a "one-armed bandit," claiming that colonialism, more than anything else, underdeveloped Africa. Colonialism laid the roots of neocolonialism in Africa by creating Africa's economic dependency on the international capitalist system. The introduction of capitalist relations of production and distribution, -- for instance, the International Trade Commodity (ITC) exchange systems and values -- created such dependency. (Rodney, W. 1981)
"previous African development was blunted, halved and turned back" by colonialism without offering anything of compensatory value. (Rodney, W. 1981)

In order to preserve the lives of the members of a society and to maintain the social structure, the education is decisive, the main purpose of colonial school system was to train Africans to participate in the domination and exploitation of the continent as a whole , its important to mention that colonial education was an education for subordination, exploitation and the creation of mental confusion and the development of underdevelopment.
Colonialism, however, denied Africa the right to cultural development and self expression and set up a state of siege that it justified with theories about cultural assimilation.


Africa’s socio-economic development based on local needs and regional circumstances

When I looked something about eh actual African socioeconomic development I found out that the African continent is divided in 5 regions: Northern Africa, Western Africa, Middle Africa, Eastern Africa and Southern Africa, in which are localized 54 sovereign states.
Even though it is the second largest continent and that it has abundant natural resources, Africa remains the world's poorest and most underdeveloped continent, here I mention the most relevant issues of the region:

· Lack of access to foreign capital.
· Frequent tribal and military conflict (ranging from guerrilla warfare to genocide).
· Malnutrition and inadequate water supply and sanitation, as well as poor health.
· Spread of deadly diseases and viruses (HIV, malaria).
· Corrupt governments that have often committed serious human rights violations.
· Failed central planning.
· High levels of illiteracy.

The African Continent has been exposed across its history to Corporate exploitation, Tropical diseases, corrupt governments, human rights violations, Effects of colonialism, Civil wars and guerrillas.
These reasons and issues, difficult much more the region to emerge in the social and economical sphere bout also in having opportunities in the global market and economy. In the latest years a tendency has been noted in order to achieve some opportunities in the global market, and this is the growth of African-owned multinational companies, as a consequence, incomes are rising and new elites are becoming more demanding in their needs and economic reform is allowing companies to become more competitive.

Corporate social responsibility of foreign firms operating in Africa

Africans have interpreted the role of multinationals in two different ways, then I found:

1. Nationals blame multinationals of crushing local companies and expropriating people of their lands, People state they are invading the continent and appropriating of natural resources, all of this mentioned before with the complicity of many of the country’s leaders.
2. Multinationals give to the continent many economic benefits, they argue this enterprises from abroad are committed to the continent to fight poverty, unemployment and to gave best life quality to its
habitants.


Africa's Workshop.

Members: Maria Isabel Arango, Carolina Zapata and Andrea Radi.

1. How does the industry of development influence Africa?

Many years ago, Africa was a continent that was property of all of its conquerors and all people but the African one. After all the independence processes they started to have a more important role around the world. In this moment, Africa is having an improvement in the private sector and is starting to have a more developed economy.But though this continent has a real problem in terms of poverty, and even if the government is trying really hard to belong to trade organizations around the world, it’s really difficult to reduce the high poverty indexes.But what is really doing well, is supporting small and medium enterprises that are the engine of all economies. But first it has to work really hard to improve the Bank system for easy possibilities of loans, credits, etc in order to benefit small and medium enterprises.Despite all these and many other problems, there are many NGO’s that are interested in this African country and its development solutions. Many countries are interested on having commerce with this poor but rich continent.

2. Why some critics have questioned Africa adaptability to modern businesses?

This is because, some people think that Africa is the less globalized and industrialized continent. All of the other countries have been facing internationalization processes with the world changing day by day. And Africa is behind most of these countries. Except South Africa, which is pretty developed.Before being able to be as globalized as the other countries, Africa has to work really hard on these areas: good governments and its political stability, source funding, local ownership, among others.So this is the reason why Africa is so far to adapt to the modern business, because it has to change a lot of things first inside of the continent and each of its countries, which is not easy at all, because after all some of the problems are due to the different ethnic groups, which they cannot support each others, and that is one of the main problems, along with one of the lowest GDP, all the mortal diseases, lack of education, etc.

3. How African women have responded to the allegations that Caster Semenya is not a woman?

This was and still is a very sensitive topic, around the world, but more over inside Africa. African women are really proud of her, and for what she’s done, she has became an idol, and they think this false statements about her being a man, is just an envy response.She worked a lot to become who she is, a winner of a gold medal. And because she is a winner, this woke up a real controversy among people and others who were behind her. But she has the back up of the whole continent and they are really trying to protect her and her rights to be a clean winner, not like the media who’s spreading a false affirmation.Even though she had to confront everyone and prove she was not a man, she is proud and this way, everybody is too. More over when they found that she is a real woman and has become a national leader, supported by all woman in Africa and important politic figures.

4. How could Africa balance their political independence and at the same time to call for foreign investors throughout avoiding "no-imperialism"?

Africa needs to make equilibrium between political independence and foreign direct investment. This may bring a really positive effect among the continent, but at the same time neo-imperialism can be avoided.Supporting FDI all the way is not always the best solution, but other economical activities may be implemented inside Africa so they can find different solutions their economic development. This one can be built in so many different ways, including with the same human resources that they have in order to innovate and improve all of the process.Africa is a really attractive country because of its richness in natural resources, this way they will find the way to attract foreign investment and be able to eliminate the neo-imperialism because is the only way to go through the crisis.

References

Arango, Maria Isabel. Organisations and Culture. Class notes. 2009
Cabral, A. 1980. Unity And Struggle. London: Heinemann.
Rodney, W. 1981. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Harare: ZPH. P. 244

Image source: http://www.shutterstock.com/

South Asia and it's amazing economic development

South Asia and it's amazing economic development

South Asia is a sub region of the continent located at the south of China, east of India, and the north of Australia. This sub region is very important because it includes Four of the Five "Tigers" or also known as NICs (Newly Industrialized Countries).

The region is divided in two: The Mainland South East Asia and the Maritime South East Asia.
Maritime Countries: Brunei- East Timor- Indonesia - Malaysia- Philippines - Singapore- Hong Kong- Taiwan
Mainland Countries: Cambodia- Laos - Myanmar- Thailand- Vietnam
Like East Asia, this Region is influenced by millenary philosophic trends: Confucianism, Buddhism ,Taoism , China or a strong Chinese expatriate community, Status, Karma.

Indian social organization and its cultural relations

During the South Asia exposition, the group described the Indian social organization, mentioning the Indian caste system, which is divided in four, each caste has its own set of rules and expected behaviour defining a clear difference between them.

1. Brahmins: They are the priests and intellectual leaders of the society.
2. Ksatriyas (Kshatriyas): Traditionally this is the caste for warriors and perceived as a caste for brave people whose objective is to protect the society from internal and external threats.
3. Vaishyas (Vaisyas): They are the merchant’s caste, characterized by the conventional businessman and traditional economic activities.
4. Shudras (Sudras): The worker class. Traditionally for them are assigned the less desirable works.

The traditional Indian culture is defined by relatively strict social hierarchy, from an early age, children are reminded of their roles and places in society. This is reinforced by the fact that many believe gods and spirits have integral and functional role in determining their life. Several differences such as religion divide culture. Strict social taboos have governed social groups for thousands of years.
India has had a prevailing tradition of the joint family system. It is a normative ideal that three or four generations live together and the organization is influenced too by hierarchical principles with key decisions being made by the head of the family.

In India, the marriage is thought to be for life, as a consequence of this, the divorce rate is extremely low (1.1% compared with about 50% in the United States). The arranged marriages generally have a much lower divorce rate.

Regarding the language, is important to mention that different states in India have different official languages, but central government only recognizes Hindi as the official language; However when doing business in India, English is the language of international commerce.

Organizations in India and managerial behaviour

My classmates made an approach to managerial behavior in India, we found that their attitude towards work showed that work was not valued very highly in the Indian socio cultural milieu. With the Indian familiar and spiritual dynamics, the role of work is not largely seemed as essential, however, with the process of modernization and globalization, competitiveness enters to play an important role in Indian society.
Following the principle of hierarchy, the leadership system is based in a vertical organization in which the head or leader takes the decisions. A subordinate does not criticize his superior in any circumstance, and the leader’s decisions are respected.
During the exposition my classmates talked about the approach for problems solving, which called a lot my attention, since it is defined as Idealistic, grounded in several analytical skills, extensive investigation and critical thinking. However, this makes easier the analysis of conflicts but makes harder to implement the conclusions.
In the Intra and Inter organizational cooperation, we found out that Indians are characterized for being a very individualistic culture, really different from us, due to the vertical organizational structure, in which their interaction with work partners is very low.


South Asian economy, which is the impact of ASEAN in the region?

In the South Asia region we can find the Newly Industrialized countries such as: Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, and the Well- established developed countries like: Singapore and Brunei. The Heavily independent on agriculture that are: The rest of the Southeast Asia, but each day sectors as manufacturing and services are becoming more important to these countries.
Vietnam is not an exception to its region growing trend and has a "promising" future as well.
In five to 10 years' time, the traditional emerging markets will be too developed and the focus will shift over to the next block of countries, such as Nigeria, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam." Andrea Nannini, manager of the HSBC New Frontiers fund says. (Greenhalgh 2009)

In order to have a complete economic approach to this region we need to mention the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), which constitutes a geo-political and economic organization of 10 countries that belong to the region, this union aims the acceleration of economic growth, social progress, cultural development among its members, as well as, the protection of the peace and stability of the region, providing opportunities for member countries to discuss differences peacefully.
Today and tomorrow, the challenge for ASEAN is to maintain its relevance. ASEAN must be able to respond effectively to globalization and its dramatic impact on the economy, political life and even values of ASEAN members. ( Wanadini, J. 2005)

Second, is the new threat posed by international terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, plus the new strategic developments and balance in East Asia that have and will come with the dramatic rise of China, and possibly soon also of India. Only if they work together can ASEAN members answer these new challenges adequately. To do so, they must strengthen and deepen ASEAN cooperation in many fields. (Wanadini, J. 2005)


References

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.

Wanadini, J. 2005 ASEAN future challenges and the importance of an ASEAN charter. Available at: http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache%3Ar_0-sLjGXLAJ%3Awww.asienkunde.de%2Fcontent%2Fzeitschrift_asien%2Farchiv%2Fpdf%2FA100_085_087.pdf+asean+importance&hl=es&gl=co&sig=AFQjCNGdjm3XFeYcZ4V6N3FUhQ_K_T4y2w&pli=1. Accesed on: October 16 th 2009.

Arango, Maria Isabel. Organisations and Culture. Class notes. 2009

Indian Divorce rates, available at: http://www.divorcerate.org/divorce-rate-in-india.html. Accessed: october 16th 2009

Image source: http://www.teachersparadise.com/ency/en/media/b/b9/south_asia.jpg