I think this is one of the more interesting subjects listed, yet it doesn't seem we will be discussing this in class.
I think as most of the companies we work for are thoroughly entrenched in the 'global economy', we will be required to often work with counterparts in foreign countries. Companies should require some sort of political correctness classes in order to avoid some cross-cultural backlash caused by multi-ethnic interactions.
Issues to be addressed can be something as simple as Latin America's vs. North America's perception of time, where Americans are generally very punctual, where Latin Americans' view of time can be flexible within an hour or two. For both cultures, learning to adjust to one another's view of time can be quite difficult.
Another issue can be management and executive hierarchy and employees' views of management. In the United States, we try to have an open door policy with management, where as in Asian cultures, management is viewed as a different level from employees.
A further issue between American and Asian business interaction is the rate at which Americans try to do business. Asians always develop a relationship before doing business and often, words are very implicit. Americans tend to rush through and dispense with pleasantries rapidly, preferring to get straight to business. Obviously this takes adjusting from both parties to come to some sort of common ground, learning to be a bit more accomodating.
I completely agree with you Paul. You have touched upon common practices in cross-cultures other than America and I totally agree with you on the issue of Asians trying to develop a relationship first and then doing business. Its amazing to see how different the ways of doing business are.
In Japan, the employees are generally skeptical of going overseas for an exchange program or if they are promoted and they have to move to a different countries. Generally, they are used to taking orders and doing what they are told to, so when they are promoted to managerial positions in different countries they tend not to prefer it. It is very interesting that promotions in job are also viewed differently.
In India, employees tend to find a job where they grew up, because they do not want to leave their families and its completely normal in Indian culture to live with your parents even after you are married and you have kids. The culture believes in joint-families. These all factors might not be of so much importance in USA, but if we see it different cultures, they would mean completely different.
I agree that international organizational behavior tend to differ between countries. Having family members that work in Asia, I am fortunate to gain insight on their experiences and observations of OB in Asia.
Employee loyalty is a big deal in Asian countries particularly in Taiwan, China, and Japan. It is perfectly normal for a person to work at a company for 20+ years or even stay in one company throughout their lifetime. Promotion in Asia is based on a person’s seniority, the amount of time the person has been with the company whereas in America it is more towards job performance. As a matter of fact, it has been said that companies in Asia would rather hire a college graduate than a person who has professional work experience. Company recruiters sees the college graduate as an opportunity to influence the person’s mindset that he or she can begin and end their career with many opportunities and roles in between within the same company. Recruiters look at the other person with work experience as untrustworthy, selfish, and greedy where they only do what is best for them and not for the company as a whole. In America, it is normal for a person to have worked in multiple companies within their career as companies hire them to bring in fresh new ideas and processes.
Unity and family is stressed heavily within Asian companies. Rewards are seldom given out at the individual level but instead to large groups. Also, rewards are usually geared towards events and outings like amusement parks and restaurants where the company can promote unity, family, and interaction between their employees rather than individual monetary amounts. Compared to American companies where individual rewards are handed out on a regular basis like in my job, I have received multiple Visa gift cards within the last six months.
I recently learned about some interesting examples about international O.B. and just want to share them with you.
More and more companies want their employees to learn about other cultures and become cross-culturally proficient. In California’s Silicon Valley, where many IT firms are concentrated, Intel offers a staff seminar called “Working with India” to help employees work more effectively with the estimated 400,000 Indian nationals in the valley. Several other Silicon Valley firms offer similar training.
Another computer firm, AMD, flies IT workers from India to its facilities in Texas for a month of cultural training with U.S. managers. Workers role-play and study subjects like Indian movies, political history, and the differences between Hinduism and other Indian religions. Training includes lessons on assigning work (Indian workers often agree to aggressive timelines but may not inform a manager when falling behind, so managers should make sure timelines are reasonable), preparing food (to help those who practice Jainism, company cafeterias should clearly distinguish vegan from vegetarian food), and socializing (since it’s polite to initially decline an invitation to a colleague’s home, managers should offer more than once).
As a Chinese,it is very different culture experience in the US. Following the norms in US sometimes becomes a paradox. I was told that when American people swim, they don't wear tide swimwears like speedo, they use trunk. But in China, no matter in a standard pool or at the beach, it is common to dressed in a jammer. So if I want to swim in the pool of AC, it is kind of weird to dress like that as a man.
But as an international student, it is still room for me to do like that.Because I am not native, I can do something different well-reasoned， even I am trying to be integrated into this enviroment.
Hence I notice that, the so called international , it is not only to make the aliens 'local', but also to accept the aliens' different.
I feel their are three factors that dominate our primary behavior when we are exposed to a Multicultural Environment. 1) Perceptions: When we are curious about things we talk to people we know, and develop a perception based on that. This tendency makes up a picture in our mind which is not necessarily true always.we always have a tendency of developing a perception about everything we come across, and perceptions most of the time come out wrong.
2) Cultural Shocks: When the new environment we enter is not like something we had expected we can expect a cultural shock. International students in our university, UTD organize, two different orientations, one of local students and another one for International Students. I really liked how as international students we were made to understand, what we can expect in moths to come. One of the factors was 'Cultural Shock'. Simple Gestures can make a lot of difference.
3) Adaptability: Adapting to new environment is the key. If you accept the things as they are chances are that individuals around you would respond in similar manner.
In the world of Globalization, More than the Technical Knowledge which i would want to refer as 'Hard Skills, the Behavioral Knowledge which are the soft skills, have become more important.
Culture represents the common values, norms of behavior, symbols, language and common life patterns that people learn and share with one another. The overall population is classified under two cultures. They are Monochronic cultures and Polychronic cultures. Monochronic cultures are traditionally Americans, German, British, Canadians based on the characteristics - Linear - Organized - Sequential - Agenda - Sense of “we are on track” Polychronic cultures are traditional African, Middle Eastern, Latin America, Southern Europeans on the characteristics of - Global in processing - Broad in discussions - Not fond of an agenda - Flexible - Time is relational(fluid) Stereotyping is dangerous Based on the above classification of cultures it is natural and unavoidable process of grouping and classifying, which allows us to better understand and communicate to the world around us. At the same time this process can become very destructive for e.g. when hostile and aggressive is the category, some of the people who are labeled “hostile and aggressive” are judged not on the basis of relevant information, but on prejudice, It is a case of over generalization. On the one hand, we must classify, categorize, judge, label, etc. in order to understand and cope with the world around us and world within it is natural and necessary. On the other hand, judging and classifying people can be dangerous and destructive when based on prejudice or done dishonestly. The judging, classifying, and generalizing are intended to be free of prejudice and bigotry.
I think this is one of the more interesting subjects listed, yet it doesn't seem we will be discussing this in class.
ReplyDeleteI think as most of the companies we work for are thoroughly entrenched in the 'global economy', we will be required to often work with counterparts in foreign countries. Companies should require some sort of political correctness classes in order to avoid some cross-cultural backlash caused by multi-ethnic interactions.
Issues to be addressed can be something as simple as Latin America's vs. North America's perception of time, where Americans are generally very punctual, where Latin Americans' view of time can be flexible within an hour or two. For both cultures, learning to adjust to one another's view of time can be quite difficult.
Another issue can be management and executive hierarchy and employees' views of management. In the United States, we try to have an open door policy with management, where as in Asian cultures, management is viewed as a different level from employees.
A further issue between American and Asian business interaction is the rate at which Americans try to do business. Asians always develop a relationship before doing business and often, words are very implicit. Americans tend to rush through and dispense with pleasantries rapidly, preferring to get straight to business. Obviously this takes adjusting from both parties to come to some sort of common ground, learning to be a bit more accomodating.
I completely agree with you Paul. You have touched upon common practices in cross-cultures other than America and I totally agree with you on the issue of Asians trying to develop a relationship first and then doing business. Its amazing to see how different the ways of doing business are.
ReplyDeleteIn Japan, the employees are generally skeptical of going overseas for an exchange program or if they are promoted and they have to move to a different countries. Generally, they are used to taking orders and doing what they are told to, so when they are promoted to managerial positions in different countries they tend not to prefer it. It is very interesting that promotions in job are also viewed differently.
In India, employees tend to find a job where they grew up, because they do not want to leave their families and its completely normal in Indian culture to live with your parents even after you are married and you have kids. The culture believes in joint-families. These all factors might not be of so much importance in USA, but if we see it different cultures, they would mean completely different.
I agree that international organizational behavior tend to differ between countries. Having family members that work in Asia, I am fortunate to gain insight on their experiences and observations of OB in Asia.
ReplyDeleteEmployee loyalty is a big deal in Asian countries particularly in Taiwan, China, and Japan. It is perfectly normal for a person to work at a company for 20+ years or even stay in one company throughout their lifetime. Promotion in Asia is based on a person’s seniority, the amount of time the person has been with the company whereas in America it is more towards job performance. As a matter of fact, it has been said that companies in Asia would rather hire a college graduate than a person who has professional work experience. Company recruiters sees the college graduate as an opportunity to influence the person’s mindset that he or she can begin and end their career with many opportunities and roles in between within the same company. Recruiters look at the other person with work experience as untrustworthy, selfish, and greedy where they only do what is best for them and not for the company as a whole. In America, it is normal for a person to have worked in multiple companies within their career as companies hire them to bring in fresh new ideas and processes.
Unity and family is stressed heavily within Asian companies. Rewards are seldom given out at the individual level but instead to large groups. Also, rewards are usually geared towards events and outings like amusement parks and restaurants where the company can promote unity, family, and interaction between their employees rather than individual monetary amounts. Compared to American companies where individual rewards are handed out on a regular basis like in my job, I have received multiple Visa gift cards within the last six months.
I recently learned about some interesting examples about international O.B. and just want to share them with you.
ReplyDeleteMore and more companies want their employees to learn about other cultures and become cross-culturally proficient. In California’s Silicon Valley, where many IT firms are concentrated, Intel offers a staff seminar called “Working with India” to help employees work more effectively with the estimated 400,000 Indian nationals in the valley. Several other Silicon Valley firms offer similar training.
Another computer firm, AMD, flies IT workers from India to its facilities in Texas for a month of cultural training with U.S. managers. Workers role-play and study subjects like Indian movies, political history, and the differences between Hinduism and other Indian religions. Training includes lessons on assigning work (Indian workers often agree to aggressive timelines but may not inform a manager when falling behind, so managers should make sure timelines are reasonable), preparing food (to help those who practice Jainism, company cafeterias should clearly distinguish vegan from vegetarian food), and socializing (since it’s polite to initially decline an invitation to a colleague’s home, managers should offer more than once).
As a Chinese,it is very different culture experience in the US. Following the norms in US sometimes becomes a paradox. I was told that when American people swim, they don't wear tide swimwears like speedo, they use trunk. But in China, no matter in a standard pool or at the beach, it is common to dressed in a jammer. So if I want to swim in the pool of AC, it is kind of weird to dress like that as a man.
ReplyDeleteBut as an international student, it is still room for me to do like that.Because I am not native, I can do something different well-reasoned， even I am trying to be integrated into this enviroment.
Hence I notice that, the so called international , it is not only to make the aliens 'local', but also to accept the aliens' different.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI feel their are three factors that dominate our primary behavior when we are exposed to a Multicultural Environment.
ReplyDelete1) Perceptions:
When we are curious about things we talk to people we know, and develop a perception based on that. This tendency makes up a picture in our mind which is not necessarily true always.we always have a tendency of developing a perception about everything we come across, and perceptions most of the time come out wrong.
2) Cultural Shocks: When the new environment we enter is not like something we had expected we can expect a cultural shock.
International students in our university, UTD organize, two different orientations, one of local students and another one for International Students. I really liked how as international students we were made to understand, what we can expect in moths to come. One of the factors was 'Cultural Shock'. Simple Gestures can make a lot of difference.
3) Adaptability: Adapting to new environment is the key. If you accept the things as they are chances are that individuals around you would respond in similar manner.
In the world of Globalization, More than the Technical Knowledge which i would want to refer as 'Hard Skills, the Behavioral Knowledge which are the soft skills, have become more important.
- Asmita Chavan
Culture represents the common values, norms of behavior, symbols, language and common life patterns that people learn and share with one another. The overall population is classified under two cultures. They are Monochronic cultures and Polychronic cultures.
ReplyDeleteMonochronic cultures are traditionally Americans, German, British, Canadians based on the characteristics
- Linear
- Organized
- Sequential
- Agenda
- Sense of “we are on track”
Polychronic cultures are traditional African, Middle Eastern, Latin America, Southern Europeans on the characteristics of
- Global in processing
- Broad in discussions
- Not fond of an agenda
- Flexible
- Time is relational(fluid)
Stereotyping is dangerous
Based on the above classification of cultures it is natural and unavoidable process of grouping and classifying, which allows us to better understand and communicate to the world around us. At the same time this process can become very destructive for e.g. when hostile and aggressive is the category, some of the people who are labeled “hostile and aggressive” are judged not on the basis of relevant information, but on prejudice, It is a case of over generalization.
On the one hand, we must classify, categorize, judge, label, etc. in order to understand and cope with the world around us and world within it is natural and necessary. On the other hand, judging and classifying people can be dangerous and destructive when based on prejudice or done dishonestly. The judging, classifying, and generalizing are intended to be free of prejudice and bigotry.