CH-3 Managing Globally – Organizations: Behavior, Structure, Processes : Chapter Notes

CHAPTER 3 Managing Globally Chapter Overview This chapter addresses the issue of globalization by focusing on five topics: • Global strategy • The concept of culture • Major cultural dimensions • Cross-cultural research • Issues related to managing expatriate managers The chapter begins by discussing requirements of a global strategy and the types of skills needed by managers in a global environment (team-building skills, organization skills, communication skills, and transfer of knowledge skills). National culture is defined and seven important cultural dimensions are described: • People's relationship to nature • Individualism versus collectivism • Time orientation • Activity orientation • Informality • Language • Religion Much attention is focused on Hofstede's cross-cultural research with emphasis on the four cultural dimensions that he identified (uncertainty avoidance, masculinity-femininity, individualism-collectivism, and power distance). These are core dimensions and the more they are present in a job, the more motivating is the job. Some criticisms of Hofstede's research are also presented, and Laurent's cross-cultural research is briefly discussed. The topic of cross-cultural transitions is addressed by focusing on the role of expatriate managers. Selection issues, key characteristics of a successful expatriate manager, culture shock, and methods for training expatriates are covered. The chapter concludes with an overall theme for managing behavior, structure, and process in a global organization. Learning Objectives By the end of the chapter, students should be able to: 1. Define what is meant by globalization. 2. Understand why the study of cross-cultural management is important. 3. Discuss the global skills managers must learn, practice, and refine to deal with a changing world. 4. Compare how the characteristics of culture can influence the behavior and attitudes of employees. 5. Identify Hofstede’s original cultural dimensions. Lecture Outline PowerPoint Slide Material from Text to Support Slide / Additional Comments Learning objectives are listed. They are revisited on the last slide for the chapter. International businesses have existed for years. Today, however, economic and business activity includes global strategic alliances, worldwide production and distribution, and regional integration agreements such as the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement. Globalization is defined as this interdependency of transportation, distribution, communication, and economic networks across international borders. As the OB in the Real World feature illustrates, one controversial example of globalization is outsourcing (offshoring) of jobs to international locations. Marketing scholar and researcher Theodore Levitt maintains that the existence of truly global markets demands a new type of corporation. He believes the global corporation has replaced the multinational corporation as the most effective international competitor. The multinational corporation conducts its business in various countries, adapting its products and practices to local conditions by customizing products for specific markets. In contrast, the global corporation avoids the high relative costs of the multinational corporation by offering universal standardized products for a homogeneous world market. Global strategies and approaches to managing diverse workers have become a new requirement for managers. The evolution of business from being primarily domestic oriented to more globally oriented will require new thinking and new managerial skills. Table 3.1 traces changes since 1945 (when a domestic orientation dominated the American manager’s attitude) to the present in such areas as competitiveness, structure, and cultural sensitivity. Cross-cultural management involves the study of the behavior of individuals in organizations around the world. The study describes organizational behavior within countries and cultures; compares organizational behavior across countries and cultures; and attempts to understand and improve the interaction and behavior of co-workers, clients, suppliers, and alliance partners from different countries and cultures. Cross-cultural management attempts to extend the study of domestic management to encompass global and multicultural considerations. Managers operating in a globally shifting work environment will need a working knowledge of international relationships and foreign affairs, including global financial markets, international law, and exchange rate movements. Understanding global economies of scale, work ethics of employees, and host government policies and procedures will be required to formulate feasible, fair, legal, and effective strategies.13 Levitt’s view of standardized world markets was presented earlier. Although the global market view is widely publicized, there is a need to be sensitive to local customs, preferences, and idiosyncrasies. The increased complexity of global operations will require more use of work teams, including culturally diverse groups. The management philosophy of North America for the vast majority of the 20th century reflected Douglas McGregor’s Theory X. Theory X held that workers are irresponsible and unwilling to work and must be persuaded to perform their obligations to their employers. Thus, the Theory X–based management approach to organization is to structure the job, closely supervise, and reward good performance and punish poor performance. This approach encourages a carrot-and-stick, hierarchically controlled approach to management. The emphasis is on short-term compliance and profitability. Is this really the way U.S. workers are? Certainly some American workers and workers in other countries fit the Theory X mold perfectly. However, others respond better to a Theory Y approach, the opposite of Theory X. Theory Y managers create an environment that encourages self-control and the willingness to take responsibility. They assume that most employees want to work and do not have to be coerced to do a good job. The employees who react positively to this style want autonomy, recognition, and an opportunity to display their skills, creativity, and commitment. In the global environment, managers will need to be able to communicate with diverse groups of people. The communication task would be easier if managers possessed multi-lingual skills and high levels of cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity. Within the global business environment, strategy formulation, decision making, motivating, team building, organization and job design, leading, and negotiating are all based on managers’ ability to communicate with each other and with subordinates. Achieving effective communication in a culturally homogenous setting is extremely difficult. However, it is much more challenging and difficult when a variety of nationalities, languages, and cultures are represented within the same organization. The increased competitiveness throughout the world has placed a special emphasis on technological advances for product and process innovations. This emphasis has increased the need to transfer knowledge. Learning about a practice, technique, or approach in one country that can be transferred elsewhere is a skill that managers can apply on a regular basis. For years, Americans appeared to be oblivious and arrogant about using knowledge, information, or techniques initiated and practiced in other countries. The quality movement initiated in Japan by an American, W. Edwards Deming, after World War II, however, has changed the historic practice of ignoring what other countries and companies are doing. Benchmarking (analyzing how a firm is doing against competitors) is now a widespread practice around the world. Benchmarking attempts to answer the question: How are we doing in terms of strategy, quality of product, compensation program, job design, or teamwork A national culture is a set of values, attitudes, beliefs, and norms shared by a majority of the inhabitants of a country. These become embodied in the laws and regulations of the society, as well as in the generally accepted norms of the country’s social system. People in a society learn what to notice and what not to notice, how to behave with each other, and how to handle responsibility, success, and failure. Most people are unaware of just how their culture has influenced their values, attitudes, beliefs, and norms. In most countries, a dominant national culture exists. However, even the most homogenous nations such as Japan contain subcultures with distinct characteristics. National culture, subcultures, organizational culture, and history all influence behavior patterns of employees and the structures and processes found in organizations. The complexity of these patterns, structures, and processes requires careful analysis of many different variables. Despite such complexity, it is more important than ever for managers to attempt to unravel the dimensions that differentiate cultures. To motivate, lead, reward, structure, evaluate, and change behavior patterns, cultural variation must be studied and understood, particularly as it relates to performance, attendance, satisfaction, and ethical behavior. There are many cultural dimensions that differentiate cultures. These cultural dimensions can influence behavior that can cause misunderstandings, disagreements, or conflicts. Geert Hofstede, a Dutch researcher, studied how cultures in countries are similar and different. He developed a survey instrument and administered it in IBM offices in 40 countries. A total of 116,000 survey instruments were returned and analyzed. The initial Hofstede survey data resulted in four dimensions being identified as explaining differences and similarities in cultures: uncertainty avoidance, masculinity–femininity, individualism– collectivism, and power distance. Comparisons of national cultures using Hofstede’s dimensions. Comparisons of national cultures using Hofstede’s dimensions. Comparisons of national cultures using Hofstede’s dimensions. Comparisons of national cultures using Hofstede’s dimensions. Since the original research on IBM employees, Hofstede and other researchers have continued to examine cultural differences and similarities. Bond studied students in 22 countries using a value survey. He discovered a fifth cultural dimension labeled Confucian dynamism. It designated the extent to which people perceive the importance of the values of persistence, status, thrift, and feeling shame plus the unimportance of the values of personal stability, face saving, respect for tradition, and reciprocation of favors and gifts. Confucian dynamism indicates how strongly a person believes in ethical principles. The GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) project, conceived by Robert House of the University of Pennsylvania, is a large international research project involving 150 researchers who have collected data from more than 17,000 managers from 62 different cultures. One of the goals of this large-scale study is to identify and understand managers’ perceptions of cultural practices and values in their respective countries. In other words, the research aims at understanding which cultural variables influence leaders and organizational cultures in different countries. Most of the researchers involved in the project are from the host countries in which data are collected, so they are experts in the culture, language, etc. Also, the GLOBE project is ongoing in that researchers continue to collect data and publish interesting research findings. As can be seen in Table 3.3, the GLOBE project classified cultures based on their scores on the following nine cultural dimensions: 1. Uncertainty avoidance: The degree to which members of a society or organization use rules, regulations and social norms to avoid uncertainty or unpredictable future events. 2. Power distance: The extent to which a society accepts unequal distribution of power. 3. Societal collectivism: The extent to which an organization encourages and rewards group outcomes as opposed to employees pursuing individual goals. 4. In-group collectivism: This captures the degree to which individuals express loyalty, pride, and cohesiveness in their organizations and families. 5. Gender egalitarianism: The extent to which an organization avoids gender discrimination and role inequalities. 6. Assertiveness: The degree to which members of organizations are aggressive and confrontational in social relationships. 7. Future orientation: The extent to which members of a society plan, invest in the future, and delay immediate gratification. 8. Performance orientation: The degree to which individuals in a society are rewarded for performance improvement and excellence. 9. Humane orientation: The degree to which individuals in an organization are rewarded for being friendly, altruistic, fair, caring, and kind to others. Table 3.3 compares the scores of three clusters of countries—Anglo, Confucian, and Latin European—on the nine cultural values in the GLOBE project. This gives future expatriates who are not familiar with the cultures from these clusters a research-based snapshot of how the people from that culture will behave. The GLOBE project, although still a work-in-progress, is a comprehensive and valid resource for improving our understanding of the similarities and differences between cultures around the world. Although the terms are often treated as the same, Table 3.1 pointed out important distinctions between a multinational corporation and a global corporation. A multinational corporation (MNC) might have operations in different nations but each operation is viewed as a relatively separate enterprise. Key human resources are usually sent out from the company’s home offices, and most decision making remains at corporate headquarters. Thus, although the MNC is largely staffed by people from the nation in which a particular facility is found, managers from the corporation’s home country retain most authority. The multinational corporation does not yet see its potential market as the world. Rather, it views each of its foreign operations as a specialized market for a particular product. In other words, each foreign subsidiary concentrates its efforts on the nation in which it is located. An example of an organization in the multinational stage of internationalization would be a large legal services firm headquartered in New York City. Such a firm would likely have international offices in London, Moscow, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Cairo, and Sao Paulo. Due to the fact that the practice of law varies considerably from one country to the next, each country’s law office will function as a relatively autonomous enterprise. In contrast to an MNC, the global corporation (GC) is structured so that national boundaries disappear and it hires the best persons for jobs irrespective of their national origin. The global corporation sees the world as its labor source as well as its marketplace. Thus, the global corporation will locate an operation wherever it can accomplish its goals in the most cost-effective way. The true global corporation also believes in a world market for essentially similar products. Moreover, the national affiliation of an employee becomes rather unimportant. For example, Mars Inc.-Spain has had an English general manager, a French finance manager, and a Swiss human resource manager. Generally speaking, three sources provide employees for an international assignment. For key managerial and technical positions, all three sources of workers are frequently used in global organizations. Which source is used the most depends, however, on the perspective of the company. The organization might choose to hire • Host-country nationals, who are workers from the local population. A worker from Ireland employed by a U.S. firm operating in Dublin would be considered a host-country national. Sometimes they are referred to as local nationals. • Parent-country nationals, who are sent from the country in which the organization is headquartered. These persons are usually referred to as expatriates. A U.S. manager on assignment in Ireland is an expatriate or parent-country national. • Third-country nationals, who are from a country other than where the parent organization’s headquarters or operations are located. If the U.S. firm employed a manager from Canada at facilities in Ireland, she would be considered a third-country national. The tendency to be ethnocentric (a belief that your nation’s cultural values and customs are superior to all others) is strong for new and even for many well-established foreign organizations conducting business in the United States. Perhaps one of the most important tasks for the multinational or global corporation is managing the expatriate adjustment process. An expatriate manager is a manager from the corporation’s home nation who is on a foreign assignment. The focus for the company will therefore be on the selection, training, appraisal, and compensation of the expatriate. Significant efforts will also be placed on career management as it relates to the expatriate’s return to headquarters. Figure 3.55lists the factors that seem to be most commonly associated with expatriate success and failure. Clearly, selection for expatriate assignments is a complex, sensitive task. Many factors related to a successful expatriate assignment are difficult to measure, and managers’ success in domestic operations may have very little to do with their success overseas. One major reason that expatriate failure rates are so high for many companies is that these companies believe that a manager’s domestic performance will always be related to her overseas performance. As a result, they frequently overemphasize technical competency and disregard more important factors when selecting the expatriate. As Figure 3.5 shows, the real keys to a successful expatriate choice are finding managers who are culturally flexible and adaptable, who have supportive family situations, and who are motivated to accept the overseas assignment. Other factors such as cultural familiarity and language fluency are also apparently more important than technical competency. A trip to a foreign culture can cause expatriate managers and their families to go through a predictable series of reactions to their unfamiliar surroundings. Figure 3.6 illustrates the culture shock cycle. First, there is a period of fascination during which all of the different aspects of the culture are viewed with interest and curiosity. This first reaction to a new culture is generally a positive experience. Next, however, comes a period known as culture shock. Culture shock refers to the frustration and confusion that result from being constantly subjected to strange and unfamiliar cues about what to do and how to get it done. Notice from the exhibit that culture shock doesn’t typically occur during the earliest days of a trip overseas. Thus, while many expatriate managers’ assignments begin very positively, their experiences often turn negative soon after. The successful expatriate must cope effectively with culture shock. It’s a period in which the manager may miss the familiar surroundings of the home office. Simple, daily events can become sources of stress and dissatisfaction. For example, being denied access to a favorite snack food or leisure activity because it’s unavailable in the host country may not seem important, but to the expatriate on a lengthy overseas assignment, it can become extremely frustrating. What may be even more difficult to deal with is active resentment of the expatriate by host country nationals, such as that which may be faced by African-American managers taking positions in South Africa. Negative feelings such as this resulting from the perception that the expatriate is taking away a job that could be held by a native of the country may be overt or subtle but can influence many aspects of an expatriate’s tour of duty. The final stage of coping with a new culture is an adaptation stage. During this stage, the expatriate has made reasonable adjustments to the new culture and is able to deal effectively with it. Although this stage seldom returns the expatriate to the heights of excitement that he first experienced, a successful transition to a new culture does return the expatriate to manageable levels of a “normal” lifestyle. Once the groundwork for a successful overseas assignment has been laid by choosing expatriates with good chances of succeeding, the next step toward ensuring success is for the organization to properly train and prepare these managers for their upcoming assignments. As with selection, expatriate manager training programs need to focus on issues that are not typically dealt with in domestic training programs. Intercultural training has a positive effect on expatriate adjustment and performance while on an overseas assignment. There are several different kinds of training to choose from, including “documentary” and “interpersonal” training. Documentary training involves relatively passive learning about another culture and its business practices; interpersonal approaches focus on intercultural role playing and self-awareness exercises. Both can be valuable forms of preparation for the expatriate manager. According to Tung, two primary factors determine how much and what kind of training expatriate managers should receive. These are the level of contact with the host culture that the expatriate will encounter and the degree of dissimilarity between the home and host cultures. As either of these increases, the expatriate will require more in-depth training for the overseas assignment. Figure 3.7 shows the content and structure of an integrated expatriate manager training program. Its three phases have specific objectives for helping the expatriate to be successful. Predeparture training includes the critical activities of preparing the expatriate for the overseas assignment. Its purpose is to reduce the amount of culture shock that the manager and his family encounter by familiarizing them with the host country. Among the most important predeparture activities are language training and cultural orientation training. The second phase of an expatriate manager training program occurs at the host country site. In other words, expatriate training does not stop just because the manager has her boarding pass in hand. As seen in Figure 3.6, language instruction continues to be a priority during this phase of training. In addition, mentoring relationships have proven to be effective expatriate training tools. Many organizations with several expatriates at the same overseas location have developed local support groups to help the entire family of a newly arriving expatriate. Some organizations even make participation and leadership in such support groups a part of senior expatriates’ jobs. The final phase of an integrated expatriate training program occurs when the manager is preparing to return to the parent country. The process of being reintegrated into domestic operations is referred to as repatriation. And although it may seem straightforward, repatriation can cause culture shock similar to the shock that occurred when the expatriate originally went overseas. Some of the more critical issues that repatriation training must deal with are contained in Figure 3.7. These include the financial adjustments that must be made since the expatriate will frequently lose overseas living subsidies and salary premiums. Helping the manager to get back on career track is also important for repatriation. Self-awareness is an important aspect of preparing for an international assignment Assessment techniques such as the ones in Table 3.4 can be very helpful to the expatriate. Responding to these kinds of questions can help the manager to know just where she’s most likely to encounter the ill effects of culture shock. This kind of advanced preparation can go a long way toward reducing the negative effects of being transplanted to a new culture. The world’s dramatic shifts require more than culture-bound approaches to managing behavior, structure, and processes. The more a country’s history and culture deviate from America’s, the more caution we need in evaluating the material in the rest of the chapters in this book. The cultural foundations and influences of this chapter are intended to assist readers in recognizing differences and similarities across cultures. Review objectives and solicit questions. Teaching Tips Lecture Ideas 1. In terms of familiarity with foreign cultures, students are probably most aware of Japan, Canada, and/or Mexico. Interestingly, these countries are now experiencing some cultural and work-related changes. Discussion of these changes is a good way to illustrate the dynamic nature of culture and the influence of environmental factors on attitudes and behaviors. 2. Another way to illustrate the idea of a borderless world is to provide more in-depth coverage of regional cooperative agreements, such as the European Community, and the North American Free Trade Agreement. 3. When covering the concept of culture shock, have students who have spent some time overseas (i.e., in a semester abroad program) discuss their experiences with the class. Ask them to focus on their preparation for going overseas, their specific episode of culture shock (timing, coping mechanisms), and their re-entry into the U.S. Project and Class Speaker Ideas 1. As an individual research assignment, have students prepare a written report that contrasts one foreign country's culture with their own. The intent of this assignment is for the students to examine some cross-cultural research in-depth. 2. Invite a manager who has participated in an overseas assignment to discuss his experiences with the class. Aside from discussing his/her transition into the foreign culture and culture shock, ask him/her to discuss the impact the assignment had on their career and any recommendations they might have for students considering a career in the international arena. 3. If a member of your faculty (or a member of the psychology department) has conducted research in the international strategy or cross-cultural areas, invite the professor to speak to your class. Possible topics include: (1) differences between global and multinational corporations, (2) how companies in various countries respond to environmental pressures, and (3) the status of cross-cultural research in the Organizational Behavior area and directions for future research. Discussion and Review Questions 1. What are three long-term effects of globalization on business, workers, and consumers? Who benefits most/least from globalization? Answer: 1) Products, capital, and human resources are becoming interdependent. 2) Organizations must be analyzed and managed in a new way. 3) Fewer and fewer entrepreneurs and businesses can prosper and grow solely within a domestic market. Global corporations benefit the most, because they are the most effective international competitor. Workers benefit the least if they or their companies lack international perspective. New thinking and skills are required, and many job functions are now being outsourced overseas. Consumers may benefit from lower costs if companies prosper and pass along savings obtained from outsourcing and other global strategies, and consumers benefit from a wider variety of goods and services. 2. Assume that you want to develop your global skills so that you can pursue international assignments with your company. Identify five skills that you would want to develop and describe how you would go about improving these skills. Answer: 1) Global strategic skills. Ways to improve these skills include studying other countries, or working in other countries. 2) Team-building skills. Ways to improve these skills include studying systems, processes, and procedures to determine their use across subsidiaries. Studying cultural differences and becoming aware of your own stereotypes is also important. Team members should avoid cultural dominance. 3) Organization skills. Work on self-control and your willingness to take responsibility. Show your skills, creativity, and commitment. 4) Communication skills. Learn other languages and develop a high level of cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity. 5) Transfer of Knowledge skills. Learn about a practice, technique, or approach in one country that can be transferred elsewhere. Learn to identify best practices from domestic and overseas-based operations. 3. Based on Hofstede’s findings, which countries do you believe are most different from the United States? Defend your answer. Answer: Students may key of the United States strongest measure, individualism, and point out that collective cultures such as Japan would be most different. Japan may also be mentioned due to the difference in power distance measure. Based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, countries with significant differences from the United States are: 1. Japan: Japan scores high on uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation, contrasting with the U.S.'s lower uncertainty avoidance and short-term orientation. Japan also has a collectivist culture, whereas the U.S. is highly individualistic. 2. Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia scores high on power distance and masculinity, reflecting a more hierarchical and traditional society. The U.S. has lower power distance and scores high on individualism and femininity, emphasizing equality and personal achievement. These differences highlight contrasting approaches to hierarchy, societal norms, and individual versus collective goals. 4. What is meant by the term a culture-bound theory of motivation? Answer: A culture bound theory of motivation refers to the fact that a particular theory of motivation could have been developed and tested in one culture and then applied to other cultures, even though the generalizability of the theory is unknown. Many people have been critical of U.S. researchers for doing just that - applying a popular motivation theory that was developed and empirically tested in the United States to other cultures. 5. What can a newly assigned expatriate manager do to decrease the intensity and negative effects of culture shock? Explain. Answer: Attend predeparture training, to familiarize themselves and their families with the host country. Activities such as language training and cultural orientation training can help to reduce the frustration and confusion about what to do and how to get it done in unfamiliar surroundings. 6. If you found yourself in Robert Adams’s situation (see opening story), would you take the three-year expatriate assignment? The virtual expatriate assignment? Or, would you decline both opportunities and remain a domestic employee at the home office? Answer: Student responses will vary and the decision is based on the degree of risk. Robert is a risk taker and should consider an international assignment. He may want to consider a virtual assignment because of his spouse and children within the family structure. If I were in Robert Adams’s situation, I would likely choose the three-year expatriate assignment. This choice offers immersive experience, career growth, and the opportunity to develop a global perspective, which can be valuable for long-term career advancement. The virtual expatriate assignment, while convenient, might lack the depth of cultural and professional engagement that comes with living abroad. Remaining a domestic employee might limit exposure to international operations and opportunities for career progression. 7. Describe the attitudes a manager would need to be successful and effective in managing in India, China, and Saudi Arabia. Answer: In general, the attitudes that are most critical for managing overseas are a desire for foreign assignments, openness to cultural differences, and a willingness to be flexible and adaptable. These attitudes should be held not only by the expatriate manager, but also by his/her spouse and family. 8. Can domestic cultural diversity in the United States help American firms better understand and deal with global cultural diversity? Explain. Answer: Some students will respond in the affirmative and may state that American culture is becoming more diverse and our experience with different culture groups in our own nation and organizations is likely to help us deal with cultural differences in other countries. However, other students will disagree with this statement and may suggest that domestic cultural diversity is unlikely to prepare us to deal effectively with cultural differences from other countries. A primary reason for this view may stem from a belief that we as a nation or culture haven't done an adequate job dealing with domestic differences so it would be erroneous to conclude that such differences help us to understand foreign cultures. Yes, domestic cultural diversity in the U.S. can help American firms better understand and manage global cultural diversity. Exposure to various cultural perspectives domestically fosters adaptability, empathy, and cross-cultural communication skills, which are essential for navigating international markets. It enables firms to develop more nuanced strategies and build stronger, more inclusive relationships with global partners and customers. 9. How does a national culture differ from what is referred to as an organization's culture? Answer: A national culture is a set of values, attitudes, beliefs, and norms shared by a majority of a country's people. Organizational culture refers to shared values, beliefs, norms, and patterns of behavior that are specific to a single organization. National and organizational culture are related because aspects of a national culture influence an organization's culture, which in turn impact on many indices of organizational effectiveness. 10. Why is religion often incorrectly ignored in discussions and analyses of business, negotiations, and culture? Answer: There are several reasons why religion has been ignored in analyses of business and culture. For example, in the United States, there has been a long history of separating "church" and "state" which has contributed to our tendency to believe that religion should be kept out of the workplace. Also, in this country, there is a tendency to smooth over differences. This is quite evident in organizations, where until recently, organizations focused on treating all employees the same and trying to minimize any differences between people. The emphasis now being placed on cultural diversity has made religious differences a valid topic for discussion. Case for Analysis: Building a Global Outsourcing Powerhouse Case Summary: Bangalore-based Infosys Technologies was started with a US $250 dollar loan and has grown into a global powerhouse with nearly 114,000 employees in 50 offices and development centers throughout the world. Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy (also known as “NR”) and his co-founders created Infosys on what are considered the principles of globalization. He found capital where it was the cheapest, produced in a location that was cost effective, and sold services and products where they were most profitable. NR stresses quality in every phase of producing software and this quality perspective has become part of the Infosys company culture. NR benchmarks his quality against the world’s most recognized multinational firms. Answers to Case Questions 1. Which principles of globalization did NR and his colleagues follow when they were growing Infosys into a global powerhouse? Answer: The case presents NR as a “global manager,” a person who views markets, production, service, and opportunities globally and who seeks higher profits for the firm on a global basis. The company’s emphasis on quality, facilitated by benchmarking, has allowed Infosys to develop and market products that are acceptable throughout the world. 2. According to Hofstede’s research, India has a high score on the power distance dimension. To what degree could this high score help to explain Infosys Technology’s success in the global marketplace? Answer: The high power distance score indicates that status differences are accepted. This perspective may allow the organization to better interact with “higher status” companies looking for outsourcing partners. 3. Refer to Table 3.1 in the chapter. Which phase of corporate and cross-cultural evolution do you think Infosys is currently finding itself? Phase I Domestic, Phase II International, Phase III Multinational, or Phase IV Global? Answer: As presented in the case, the organization is in Phase IV, the global phase of evolution. Experiential Exercise: How Important is Your Family? Objectives 1. To illustrate that within different cultures and subcultures the family unit exerts various degrees of influence. 2. To compare your family experience with your classmates. The Exercise in Class Students should find this exercise very interesting as they compare their experiences with students of similar backgrounds, and those with diverse backgrounds. Participants should be encouraged to discuss both positive and negative aspects of the influence their family has had on their life. Possible questions to ask can include what single person has had the most influence on their decisions, and who they think they may be influencing right now (younger siblings, etc.) The end result of this exercise should be the realization by the students that understanding and appreciating other people’s points of reference is very important for future global managers. Experiential Exercise: Expatriate Sources on the Web Objectives 1. To become familiar with a website that has information for current and future expatriates and their families. The Exercise in Class After students have done the online research necessary to respond to scenario 1, 2, and 3, have them present their findings to the rest of the class in order to highlight how individuals have different wants and needs when considering a move to a foreign location. It may also be enlightening to see how many countries currently have travel advisories, and what those advisories entailed. 1. Students may be able to learn from group members the rationale behind their answers and research choices. 2. Seeing the diverse types of answers provided may give insight into how difficult it is for human resource departments to pinpoint the type of training and assistance each family will need before, during, and after embarking on an overseas assignment. 3. It may be interesting, after reviewing the travel advisories, to see if any students had thought about how they would protect themselves and their families from harm. And if necessary, how they would exit the country in an emergency. What items might they leave behind, and which would they take with them? Ten Term Paper Topics 1. Globalization: Good or Bad 2. Challenges of Training Global Workers 3. Is Globalization Responsible for U.S. Job Loss? 4. (Select example): Profile of a Global Company 5. The Effects of Globalization on Unionism 6. Translation versus Localization: Making Company Documents Politically Correct 7. Religion’s Effect on Global Teamwork 8. The Role of the Manager in International Assignments 9. The Impact of Cultural Dimensions on Globalization 10. Platform of the Anti-Globalization Movement Instructor Manual for Organizations: Behavior, Structure, Processes James L. Gibson, John M. Ivancevich, James H. Donnally, Robert Konopaske 9780078112669, 9781259097232, 9780071086417, 9780071315272