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.