How might leadership and management practices differ from culture to culture? List at least 8 things managers should do to facilitate better interactions with cross-cultural teams.
Leadership is possibly one of the most exhaustively researched and discussed management concepts in the business world today. Effective leadership is something that choses the most appropriate style of leadership based on the situation or challenge at hand as only then, success can be accomplished. However, most effective leaders that are globally renowned, are known to use a primary style of leadership in their management. An important point that needs to be noted here is that cultural values and traditions heavily influence the style of leadership that leaders follow in their management. “According to the "International Journal of Cross Cultural Management," leadership traits result partly from cultural norms and partly from the needs of the leadership job.” Cultural differences in leadership are more about a usage of power.
Few things that help managers in effective cross-cultural communication are:
Language is one of the biggest cultural barrier with respect to leadership and management. Thus, it is recommended that mangers speak slowly when interacting with their international colleagues.
If there are more than one clarification or question that needs to be asked, it is always good to ask them independently instead of asking all at once. This will ease the communication.
Cross cultural misunderstandings are typically a result of negative questions and answers. So, it is always better to avoid negative questions.
Taking turns while communication between cross cultural teams is always a good thing.
Assumptions are a strict no in cross cultural communication. So, in order to be sure about what is being spoken, checking the meanings well in advance is necessary.
Native slangs are not recommended during cross cultural communication.
Feel comfortable while also making others comfortable leads to effective cross cultural communication.
Many global cultural perceive business rather seriously and hence professionalism and protocol are constantly watched. Humor during business conversations might not be appreciated.
Explore some of the steps that companies take to develop branding. How might branding technologies differ from branding other products and services?
Brand building is one of the most important elements of business development, as brand building offers the product or service an identity apart from creating awareness about the brand in the minds of the customers. The evolution of interactive and collaborative platforms in the modern world has bestowed global businesses with an opportunity to enhance the extent of awareness of their brand as well as their brand equity. A few steps that are believed to help global organizations in building an effective brand are:
Defining the brand – Defining the brand is one of the first steps in effective brand building. This is the most important steps because it is ultimately this definition of the brand that determines the actual value of the brand.
Differentiation and positioning of the brand – Differentiating the brand is key to attracting more and more customers. Differentiating the brand can possibly done by creating a distinct advantage about the brand in the minds of customers. After creating a differentiation strategy, the next step would be to position the brand in such a way that it creates higher value for the customers.
Exposing the brand in various marketplaces - Building a strong and unique brand means investing a lot of time apart from just money, while it also needs consistency in the brand building efforts.
Brand personalization – Personalizing a brand is very important if the brand building efforts need to succeed.
Brand review – Lastly, reviewing your brand building strategies and promotional efforts from time to time is very important as the brand will undergo a lot of transformations as it continues to grow and hence a strategy that was successful during its earlier days might not work when it reaches its growth stage.
What does the employee coaching process involve and what kinds of employees will benefit from the process? Describe the role of performance coaching in career patching.
Coaching is a very important element that is involved in every management as well as a leadership position. Coaching is an approach taken by organizations in order to enhance the potential of their employees, especially those holding leadership and senior management positions. Coaching bestows the employees with an opportunities to grow as well as achieving optimum performance. Optimal performance is achieved by the employees through constant mentoring, feedback, as well as counselling.
Coaching, if done in an appropriate manner, is regarded as a roadmap for achieving career success. However, if the same coaching happens in a negative manner, will surely result in the employee being criticized, unduly punished, or unappreciated for his tasks and performance.
Effective coaching involves seven different steps , as listed below:
Building a relationship based on mutual trust
Clarifying the agenda
Get into a mode of agreement
Consider Alternatives
Get a commitment from the employee
Handling excuses effectively
Offering Feedback.
Each of the above steps are important in their own way and help in effective coaching.
Team dynamics are based on a number of interpersonal and environmental factors that influence a team’s behavior. What are the team leader’s responsibilities in assisting the team in maximizing team performance?
One of the most complex elements involved in effective leadership is the leader’s ability to influence the leadership skills of all the members of the team for eventually accomplishing the organization goals and meeting with its demands. Leaders are given the responsibility of guiding their teams in an effective manner so that the organizational goals are successfully achieved, while taking into account the skills possessed by the team members in order to produce the anticipated output.
The primary focus of leaders should be on effectively balancing the talent development as well as the organizational goal accomplishment as such a balance would surely position the organization on a course of achieving success, in terms of performance. Motivating the members of a work team toward goal achievement is not an easy task. Although the factors of motivation are different across various organizations, there are several leadership qualities that are common to effective and successful leaders. A few such motivational qualities that many successful global leaders possess are as follows:
“the ability to create a clear vision,
the ability to understand organizational culture,
the ability to focus on performance development, and
The ability to encourage innovation.”
Fundamentally, it is important that leaders reflect such kind of behaviors which are sure to encourage and inspire team members to change their approach to work.
Quick Meal is an international fast-food chain that operates in many countries. Company management wants to apply a uniform standard of business ethics, modeled after U.S. practices, to all of its stores worldwide. When Quick Meal opened a new store in Country X, initially the local government cooperated fully. Then the government changed hands, and a corrupt group took over. Shortly thereafter, Quick Meal noticed that the general manager of the new store in Country X was providing free food and other concessions to governmental officials “under the table.” The general manager was an American married to a local national. He was trying to get an “in” with the new government. Store profits were still high, but Quick Meal decided to fire the general manager. The officials of the new government intervened and told Quick Meal to keep him or they would confiscate the local store. Quick Meal stuck to its decision and let the general manager go. The new government followed through with its threats and took away the local store. A few years later, the government the Country X changed hands again. Although Quick Meal was promised some indemnity, there was still a considerable financial loss to the company. In spite of the fact that these losses were written off, some of the Quick Meal stockholders were unhappy with the company’s decision regarding the general manager. What should Quick Meal have done?
Quick Meal took the moral high ground and stuck to its established model of behavior. Corruption in any form is not acceptable according to the parent company and its native country. The established model of behavior when asked for gratification of any form is to simply deny it and report it to the appropriate authorities in the government. If the government itself is corrupt the best thing to do is to stick to the moral high ground and follow rigorously strict business practices that are fully compliant with the legal systems and processes. All the laws and directives must be followed to the "T."
In this case when the General Manager was found to be entertaining corruption and corrupt practices, though it did not hurt the interests of the company, Quick Meal was right in letting the General Manager go even in face of pressure and strong arm tack by the authorities. Financial gain by compromising on ethical systems and values is against the accepted mode of doing business for Quick Meal and they were absolutely right in doing what they did. On the contrary they must have gone ahead and even punished the General Manager in question rather than simply letting the person go.
6. What are the benefits of using a carefully crafted code of ethics in the workplace?
A code of ethics forms a critical component of the organization’s culture; however, it is important that organizations promote their ethical policies actively, in order to make use of the various advantages that such a code bestows the organization with. A code of ethics, while is viewed by a few organizations as being a mere administrative formality that has no practical usage, is also perceived by many successful global entities as being an energetic and exhaustive guideline that helps in effective decision making organization-wide. In order for each and every employee to understand and appreciate the numerous benefits of a code of ethics, it is important the organizations create awareness about the same in the minds of all of its personnel while also getting a commitment to the organization’s code of ethics.
A carefully crafted code of ethics fosters ethical behavior of employees while guiding them in appropriately dealing with difficult and tricky business situations wherein the immediate action is not obvious. It also reinforces the organizational culture and values to all the new employees who join the organization. Code of ethics also increases the organizations compliance levels.
References
Duggan, T. (2014). Cultural Differences in Leadership Styles. Retrieved February 04, 2016, from Forbes: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/cultural-differences-leadership-styles-11872.html
Graham-Leviss, K. (2011, November 01). Seven Steps to Coaching Your Employees to Success. Retrieved February 04, 2016, from Entrepreneur: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220133
Ingram, D. (2015). The Advantages of a Code of Ethics in Organizations. Retrieved February 04, 2016, from Hearst Newspapers, LLC: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-code-ethics-organizations-10802.html
Powell, A. (2015). 5 Effective Brand Building Strategies to Attract Customers. Retrieved February 04, 2016, from Cox Businesses: http://www.coxblue.com/5-effective-brand-building-strategies-to-attract-customers-2/
Starks, F. (2015, September 15). Leaders Influence Team Performance and Goal Achievement. Retrieved February 04, 2016, from About Leaders - Leaders Making a Difference: http://aboutleaders.com/leaders-influence-team-performance-and-goal-achievement/
