Religion and international business

Religion influences what people eat and the medicine they use this is why religion is so important when doing business. Religion is also blamed of not letting countries have an economic change where they can grow and stop being poor nations. lastly religion influences how two parties perceived each other when negotiating this is why is very important to know the other person culture and religion before negotiating to obtain good outcomes.

1.       How can we create an ethical relationship between religion and business so that they may cooperate towards a more sustainable and respectful development of life?

The way to create an ethical relationship is by developing a code of ethics where it shows how each should cooperate to help the growth of countries and improve the living standards of humans. The leaders of both religions and businesses should recognize what they have to lend one another to strive for a better world. It is also necessary to change the way people learn and teach business so it doesn’t interfere as much with religion and we would see that business and religion have many things in common.

2.      Can you imagine a world without religion where everyone would be trying to get immediate satisfaction to their individual needs?

I could not imagine a world without religion because what makes us different and interesting are all the types of religions there are in the world and what is important to me might not be as important to a protestant person. But it would be nice that religion itself does not become a business of money making and sometimes forcing people to do things they don’t want to it would be nice to have an equilibrium where religion instead of hurting makes people happy.

3.      Religion can create networks of trust and familiarity that facilitates economic transactions. Can you name other positive aspects of this relationship?

Other advantages are that it can create better understanding of people and knowing how to talk and dress in a negotiation in order to get more chances of obtaining the negotiation. Another advantage apart from trust is finding others needs and wants to see if your business can be successful in a specific country.

4.      Do you think that stereotyping based on religion has been influenced by economical or political interests, why, whose? What is the role of The Media in this issue?

I do think that stereotyping based on religion has been influenced by economic or political interest an example is what we see with Muslims we assume they are all terrorist or bad people because that was bin laden religion, the role of media in this issue is huge since most of people’s perception is given by the media since they publish whatever they want people to read or people to think about other religions.

                               Religion as business, youtube 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eJe7FR35dA

Virtual Teams

Re-working work for virual teams,2010 retreived on may 6 from: http://www.workingpoint.com/blog/re-working-work-for-virtual-teams/4088

Virtual teams or also known as geographically dispersed teams according to Gould are teams of people that interact through internet and that almost never have face to face meetings. Companies use virtual teams so that they are more flexible and the workers are more efficient since there’s less commuting and travel time. Virtual teams can be divided into 7 types of virtual teams two of them being networked teams and parallel teams. The first is when individuals collaborate to achieve a common goal on the other hand parallel team’s work on a short period of time to develop an improvement in a process or system.  For virtual teams to be successful it’s important that the objectives and goals and written so everybody is on the same page. It is necessary to mention some myths that are very popular and not true:

·   Myth: virtual teams are not effective because everybody its not located in the same place.

·   Reality: virtual teams can exceed the performance of other teams where everybody it’s located in the same place.

·   Myth: co-located teams are preferable

·  Reality:  face to face it’s not the best approach when there are cultural differences electronic communication works better.

·   Myth: things go wrong because of technology.

·  Reality: things are more probable to go wrong because people lack skills and not technology.

Communication

When people communicate they are expressing an idea, there are two ways we can express an idea in a verbal way or a non-verbal way. Verbal communication refers to sounds and noises and non-verbal refers to symbols and signals. But communication is not that easy it faces a lot of barriers like the physical barrier which is related to the distance two people might be facing or the language barrier which refers to the ambiguity that can be created when people speak this is why is so important to be aware, flexible and patient when communicating to receive and give the right message.

                                                                                                          

Communication to change lives,2009 retreived on april 11/2011 from: http://www.wdavidphillips.com/tag/communication

Which ones are the main cultural differences in non-verbal communication?

The main cultural differences faced in non- verbal communication are the body movement, the posture you have an example of this is sitting with your legs cross can be offensive in turkey. The facial expressions even though the majority have the same meaning like crying, laughing, angry and many others too much smiling can be perceived as a sign of shallowness this why it’s important to research the culture your about to have a business with. Other cultural differences in non-verbal communication are the touch and the eye contact for example eye contact in the US means that you are interested but on the other hand in Japan when you avoid eye contact you show respect.

Non-verbal emotional communication and cultural differences, youtube, 2011:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMQsfMppz2o

Migrant workers

A migrant can be defined as someone that moves from one region to another due to violence in their home country, economic instability or simply to get a better education and find new opportunities. Migrant workers are abused and under paid this is a fact we live every day this is why the international organization for migration works hard to provide humanitarian assistant to migrant needs

Characterize one country and its main immigrants; describe the types of labor they perform and the living conditions of them?

The United States main immigrants are Hispanic and Chinese people most of them work in construction, cutting the grass, and cleaning. What is sad is that sometimes the person could be a doctor in their home country but they are discriminated and they are not given the chance of another type of work so they have to do this type of job so that their family can eat. Their living conditions are worst than their jobs in most cases they live in small trailers with around another 10 people on the floor even though is hard to believe is true. What people ask is that if they live in such bad conditions why not stay in their home country but the thing is that in the United States they are living much better compared to their home country.

                           Migrant workers in the US. Wherexmo, 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV1QifYVu14

Organizational Learning

The world nowadays is experiencing rapid changes everyday this is why organizations  have to remain flexible and continually improve to gain competitive advantage  otherwise there will be a great chance that the organization will disappear. To face the challenges an organization must gain new knowledge by encouraging innovation and news ways to compete this is also called organizational learning when an organization is constantly transforming itself. The environment is characterized by changes in the work force competency, high customer expectancy, globalization and many others, this is why is necessary for people to expand their capacities to be able to compete.

Tilburg university, center for innovation research. Retrieved on april 14/2011 from: http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/research/institutes-and-research-groups/cir/research/

How can small and medium enterprise (SMEs) benefit from organizational learning?

The SMEs can benefit from organizational learning in the way that by constantly gaining new knowledge they can be able to survive when there’s turbulence in the environment, they can also become more competitive an example of this is India which thanks to how their SMEs have adopted organizational learning they are now living a global expansion in other words they are offering more diverse services, they have increased competition within china and have gained a new market for tourism this is why so important to have a global vision and to constantly innovate.

 

Leadership

Leadership consist ultimately of aligning people with a direction as well as the organization. According to Ken CKC leadership is the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”. There are many types of leaders for example there’s the charismatic which uses its personal abilities to have an effect on people and there’s the authentic which uses transformational approaches.

Leadership.2009.retreived on February 28. From: http://www.yopsicologo.com/

How does an organizational leader  should behave in cross cultural environments?

An organizational leader when working in a cross cultural environment should motivate the people he or she is working with, and understand each person’s culture so no mistakes are made. The organizational leader should also identify if the culture is a collectivist or an individualist culture this will give him tips on how to do a good job.

 It is also important that each organizational leader has enough knowledge of the foreign culture and respects it and in this way the leader will know when to act as a charismatic or authentic leader

 

WORKSHOP: Ethical Behavior

Ethical Behavior and International Business Exercise:

1.        What does the statement “all capitalism is crony capitalism” is referring to? Do you agree with this statement or not? Give an example.

The statement is saying that instead of a company being successful due to the free market, the success of a company depends on the state, in other words the favoritism shown by the government by granting their favorite companies grants and permits. I do agree with the statement because I believe the government wants to manage, control  and influence everything, to do so governments rely on companies since they are huge influential components on people’s lives. An example is what happens with the multinationals in Colombia the government grants them all of this permits in exchange for money.

2.       What is a banana republic? Why the author is comparing India with a banana republic?

Banana republic refers to an unstable country that depends on bananas or of the agricultural sector and where corruption is abundant, where the poor people get poorer and the rich people get richer. The author compares the banana republic with India because like the author said “banana republics are based on cronyism” and if India continues this cronyism it will end up being an unstable country where those of lesser power will suffer the most.

3.       Why is it problematic that in the business world “The Media” becomes a corporation?

It is problematic that in the business world media becomes a corporation because it would be the dominant corporation. Because it would have the biggest profits compare to other corporations being the envy of everybody. Also the media would acquire stakes of other corporations having influence almost everywhere also there would be very few companies representing the interest of the citizens. They would also publish whatever they want with stories that are sometime better if they are not heard.

4.       In this situation, what behaviors are considered unethical for corporations, journalist and the state?

Behaviors considered unethical include the corporation deciding what is going to be written and by who. Other types of unethical behaviors done by journalist  is exaggerating over an issue  and in this way damaging the credibility of what is  being written, also the journalist indiscretion when publishing something. Lastly the most important type of unethical behavior shown by the state is corruption like in India by showing favoritism for some corporations.

5.       What can The Media, Corporations and the States do in order to behave ethically and in the benefit of the people and not their own interest. Give at least 5 good ideas.

n  The media can start publishing only things that are true and things they are not forced to do by the state or corporations in other words always transmitting the right information.

n  The state can start showing neutrality towards all organizations and leading companies be successful based on a free market rather than favoritism.

n  The state and corporations should always show responsibility and honesty in their work.

n  Corporations can also behave consistently, not changing what they do without a reason.

n  The state, the media and the corporations can start working for the best interest of others instead of only worrying for their profits.

The Corporation

1.        How can we ensure corporations are held accountable for their actions “ethically” and “legally”?

To ensure that corporations are held accountable for their actions corporations must educate, train and enable employees to act ethically, legally and with integrity in the performance of their duties. And also governments rules should be stronger so non unethical actions are made.

2.       Should individuals (directors, employees, shareholders) bear any responsibility for the actions of a corporation?

The corporation also called the bad apple is today dominant institution that creates great wealth and causes enormous harms. Corporation’s bottom line is to make as much profit as possible without caring of the harms made to the environment or the community. In my opinion the stockholders and the directors are to blame for the actions of the corporation because they are the ones with the power to make decisions in the corporation and develop the structure and planning.  The biggest mistake we make is comparing a corporation with a person but this can’t be because a corporation doesn’t think is the people in it that do think this why them are to blame for going to less develop countries and pay people $20 cents an hour. If a corporation was a person it would be consider a psychopath because of its incapacity to feel guilt and to conform to social norms. Finally The shareholders have noting with the actions of the made by the corporation because they are just the community receiving the bad effects the corporation is leaving.

3.       What are the benefits of the corporate form? Could an alternative model offer these as well?

Some of The benefits of corporate form  is that  diversifies the financial responsibility in other words everything is decided by collective decision, it also permits accumulations of capital, it has corporate tax treatment what I mean by this is that it pays taxes apart from its owners, it has unlimited life it will continue existing even if the shareholder die.  And a very important benefit is that it allows limited liability; the personal properties of the owners are not at risk for satisfying corporate debts. An alternative model that could offer the same benefits of a corporation are the “limited liability companies” that offers benefits for the owner but not as much as the corporate form.

4.       Search for a foreign multinational corporation that has operations in Colombia. Research if they are run under Colombian rules or regulations or if they have special regulations?

An example of a multinational corporation in Colombia is “Carrefour” from France.  Carrefour has certain rules like it should contribute to Colombia’s social development it should not violate the human rights and it has contribute to the environment instead of harming it. Also the government has some set of special prices in some products.

5.       Should economic efficiency (Main argument for privatization) be the primary concern for commons and public services? Are there other criteria to determine who should own or operate them?

Economic efficiency should not be a primary concern for commons and public services since they are being destructed and example of this was the cow example shown in the video. Economic efficiency should be a concern but not the primary since global warming and health should be more important but I understand that we live in a globalize world where customers are looking for the lowest price and best quality products, corporations just have find other methods to implement economic affiance. There’s is not a criteria to determine who should own the commons but there is a lot of controversy surrounding who should own them one them being for example it is said That the government has few incentives to ensure that the enterprises they own are well run. A private owner, on the other side often specializes and gains great knowledge about a certain industrial sector and can evaluate and then manage enterprises much more efficiently. Only time will tell what will happen.

  Archbar Mark, Abott Jennifer. 2003. The corporation. Rogers documentary fund (Canada) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa3wyaEe9vE

MOTIVATION...

Motivation is the force that makes us want to do something. Most people believe that economic retribution is what motivates everybody but that depends on each individual wants and needs and their culture. We can divide culture in two groups individualist and collectivist, individualist are more likely to be motivated by the economic retribution like most Americans are. But on the other hand collectivist are more likely to be motivated by working in groups and by contributing to society instead of just making profits an example of this are Japanese people. There are many theories on what motivates people the most influent one is Maslow’s hierarchy of need shown below:

Maslow Abraham. 2006. Maslows hierarchy of needs. Retrieved on February 2011. From: http://www.google.com.co/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com

Maslow’s theory says that people are motivated by their needs and classifies them in the five categories shown above. Maslow mentions when an inferior rank of need is satisfied for example food the next level of need becomes essential and the attention of the person is dedicated to the accomplishment of this need. The theory has been criticized for its rigidity because people are different and have different priorities and the order of the pyramid is not always followed since some people are willing to die for their beliefs.

Organizational Behavior

It is important to know the difference between organizations and institutions: Organizations are open systems composed of group of people that share a common goal very different from institutions which are set of rules of behavior.  

Organizational behavior is the study of individual’s behavior and group dynamics in organizations(NELSON, DL, 2010.organizational behavior, Western college publication). The theories of human behavior fall into two basic categories the internal and external perspective, the internal perspective studies a person’s thoughts, feelings, experiences and needs to understand a person’s behavior while the external perspective focuses on factors outside the person like events and the environmental forces  of the individual. Psychology, sociology, engineering and other interdisciplinary influences have also contributed to the understanding of human behavior in organizations. Individuals behavior in times of change are often reactive and rigid rather than open and reactive this why managers should induce in their workers a positive attitude towards change. Nowadays Global competition is the leading force driving change at organizations, competition can lead to downsizing but it can also provide an opportunity for growing. It is important that when facing competition that companies focus on quality since it gives them a competitive edge in meeting international competition.

Management colleges. Organizational behavior, campus explores. Retrieved on feb 2011 from: http://www.campusexplorer.com/colleges/major/237A2414/

 organizational culture

Culture can be defined as a system of values that is passed down from one generation to the next, which helps distinguish the members of one group from another. Culture influences how organizations make decisions, communicates and structures its roles and relationships, but culture is not the only significant factor; other possible influences include the organizational strategy, the personality of the CEO (chief executive officer), decisions made by competitors and many more. Corporate culture describes the values that belong to each organization providing a sense of identity. Some ways to identify the corporate culture is through symbols, slogans and the language.

Do you think that is possible to change corporate culture? How would you do it?

I do think is possible to change corporate culture by training the employees and motivating them. Another way would be by changing the values of the company and symbols, slogans, language and so on so that the employees would know that is   changing and would identify it. I’m sure it would be hard to change the corporate culture but with time people would adjust to it.

BLOGS!!!!

http://lily.co.ke/  this blog is interesting because it offers a variety of information for women.  Is called “Lily review” and has some fascinating facts Like how word puzzles can exercise the brain, or how there’s no need to starve to be in shape. It also has all the recent diseases like the H1N1 virus and how to prevent it, most importantly it motivates women to live a healthy life and encourages them to exercise and to eat everything in a moderate way. The blog comments about relationships and how self confidence in women is very attracting for men. One of the main advice given was how women sometimes talk too much and is better to be quiet and listen  in conclusion it simply gives women tips on what guys want from girls.

The blog lily review also talks about fashion and tells women what to wear according to their figure showing that curves are sexy. It shows some of the recent trends like the jeggins (jeans made out of leggings). Lastly how fashion or being in style is dressing in what you feel comfortable and pretty you don’t have to wear jeggings if you don’t like them as long as you are yourself you’re in style.

http://www.lgbt-news.com/ this blog is amazing because it keeps its followers up to date on what is going on in the world. The blog contains news from all around the world starting from gay rights, information, stories, entertainment and controversial issues. The blog called “LGBT” news also provides links where you can find more information about a story that caught your eye. The blog has also pages in facebook and twitter where you can also log in a read if you don’t feel like going on to the blog. One controversial story you can read about is how some companies are advertising for gay parenting and how churches and many parents find it disrespectful. Finally the blog allows leaving comments to generate debates about the news around the world.

http://www.drinkeattravel.com/ drink eat travel is a very simple blog but is also one of my favorites is shows places around the world and all their gastronomy. The blog shows parts of countries and in a way shows their culture by teaching what they eat or drink and motivates students not to always go to Miami for vacations, why not go to Germany or Africa.  The blog offers a space for recommending places around the world where you can find unique and delicious beers which they called super craft beers lastly it teaches how you can make a beer.