Cultural awareness is one of the essential aspects of management in the globalized society. It is stated that
‘in the global world, successful managers should recognize and appreciate cultural differences and understand how to work effectively and efficiently with employees no matter their nationality’. (Tosvold, 2004)
The best attitudes which a manager can promote in himself for the successful career and development among the international staff, is first of all, understanding the cultural differences without trying to criticize them, but rather with accepting them and even using them for the benefit of the company.
Legal and political as well as economic differences also contribute into the cultural awareness and training, and it is impossible to judge cultural differences separately, as they implement inclusion of other abovementioned aspects. However, cultural issues in management appear to be more difficult to be resolved, as legal and economic differences can be easily understood and explained; they are not ambiguous as cultural differences often are.
Speaking about China, it is interesting to note that its two principal managerial pillars have for years been the principle of stable society based on the Confucian religion – very slow, contemplating and calm; and the culture of China itself. This is why for the manager who would like to work in this country, one should be prepared to dealing with decisions which are never taken in rush. The same principles should be used while leading and organizing. (Tosvold, 2004)
The tests which I have taken at kwintessential.com gave me understanding of my surface knowledge of cultural differences between the employees and managers. It is the basis for the further development in this area for me; it is not that one should know all cultural peculiarities of all nations across the world; one should know the most important aspects and things and be aware of details in cross-cultural differences between the staff members one works with.
For a manager who does not have much experience of working globally, it is advised to pay more attention to the cross cultural differences between the staff and senior management. Cultural issues are often ignored, but they play dramatic role in creating successful business. This is why before meeting a foreign manager who may become potential long-term partner, it is essential to learn his culture and interests.
For me personally social responsibility is the aspect which is integral to management of any company; business means being responsible not only to oneself, but to the staff and to the society in general. Only if the company is socially responsible it will be a success, because society is ultimately what makes business work.
Whistle-blowing is totally ethical dilemma, and should be looked at from the side of both employee and an employer. First of all, the employee who informs the employer about someone within the company performing illegal actions may become the victim of the staff ignorance; this means that employee’s honesty leads him to the conflict with his colleagues. In case the employee informs outside entity about illegal actions of the employer, he is at risk to be fired though he is protected by law from this and may sue if such cases take place. Employer on the contrary, has to be very careful with the cases when someone informs him about an employee performing illegal actions – this care should be displayed when dealing with the issue so that it is resolves with minimum financial and ethical losses for both the company and the employee. Whistle blowing may affect general performance of the whole company. (Tosvold, 2004)
In the case of hiring someone for a job while my friend is seeking job having no specific qualifications, the choice will definitely be based on the professional characteristics of candidates; the friend will be honestly explained that he is not suitable for the specified kind of job and he may be offered some other more suitable position in the company.
Good decision making has become the key to the success of the NASCAR company and its performance.
Decision making process is a set of complex stages through which the decision is taken; in case with NASCAR, the decision taken was absolutely correct and has worked for the benefit of the company. However, the decision making process here could have contributed into better and faster implementation of the decision taken.
The analysis of the current market should serve as the basic criteria for Brian as he takes his decisions – especially in relation to the customer preferences. As far as the audience on which NASCAR is oriented, the company is often surrounded by the conditions of uncertainty; this is why the current market situation should be re-considered on a frequent basis. Uncertainty has been chosen as one of the principal criteria for evaluating the conditions surrounding the company not only due to the changing preferences of the audience, but due to understanding that attracting new fans through changing the company’s structure may negatively impact the fans which the company already has. This is why the choice of the strategy should be very thorough based on the objective market analysis.
Highly reliable markets could have become the area in which the company could reach even better success, if Brian analyzed their notion. Highly reliable markets speak for themselves and with proper application of the decision making process they are the beneficial solution for the companies which want to expand and develop. Highly reliable markets are those which are surrounded by the lower levels of uncertainty and thus allow the companies achieve success with less costs. Brian should have paid attention to this notion.
The four functions of management are:
planning. Successful manager should be able to plan his actions beforehand and for a definite period of time (a week or a month, for example); organizing. Successful manager should be able to make the use of all resources he has at his disposal for their maximal performance and returns; leading. This function relates to the team with which the manager works. He should exercise all his skills to make the people work for the achievement of the set goals; controlling. Having formed the process of performance, a manager should check the process at each stage of its performance, in order to change it according to the changing requirements of the market conditions. (Tosvold, 2004)
Customer service is extremely important for a manager’s job, as customers are those who make any business successful through choosing the products of any specific company; this is why customer service may appear to be one of the key options for the success of business. The way the customer is addressed and served in the company will define whether he will come back to use its services again and whether he will recommend to use its services to the others.
Global differences acquire new meaning in the conditions of globalization. For the manager to be aware of the global differences means not only fast reaction and understanding, but also the proper way of dealing with these differences which ultimately leads to the better company’s performance.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is the mandatory law to which all enterprises should comply, and is the response to the loud financial scandals, one of which has been connected with Enron. According to this law the independent authority dealing with the company’s performance and audit is formed to provide transparency of their activity and customer trust. (Tosvold, 2004)
The company which will be described here is the company dealing with the sales of software to the ultimate consumers. The company was established not long ago, in 2003, and is a small entity being possessed by a private owner. Due to the short period of its business performance, the customer audience is still rather limited but the company’s development is stable and rather fast. The name of the company is Sofyare PC. It is situated in New Jersey and is a private company. The history of the company can be traced back to the year 1998, when its future owner decided to get involved into working with software on an occasional basis. However, with the development of the software market and with more customers involved into buying software, the need in opening a private enterprise has become urgent. Sine the year 2003 the small business entity operates within the local software market, not only selling modern technological solutions, but also using modern approaches to business and management on its small scale. This has proved to work for the benefit of the company, as it is expected it will expand in the nearest future, with opening a new affiliate in the neighboring state as well as creating its new highly technological website, without which the firm has existed since the beginning of its performance. The strength of the company is first of all, in using the approaches in management which are widely accepted in the modern practice all over the world. Highly developed customer service and individual reference to each customer has become one of the major strengths of the company in its business conduct.
One of the weaknesses of the company is that the market of software is not only saturated, but it is often oversaturated with the market players, this is why it is difficult to achieve success without using any extraordinary approaches to the market development; moreover, the small size of the company and the absence of its website contribute into the set of its weaknesses.
Saturation of the market may also become the opportunity for the company through its offering new unique products to the customer, as well as its own technological solutions developed on the local basis with the account of individual requirements of each customer.
There is still a threat that a company may not survive the competitiveness with larger firms which have been on the market for a longer period of time and have a well developed customer network. The number of employees in the company today is 10.
The company does not have a website and it is one of the major weaknesses in the modern global world of informatization. Website is the pathway for any company to provide its potential consumers with maximal information they may get through using Internet. This is why it is highly recommended to pay attention to this disadvantage and to start working with creating its website, which will momentarily expand the audience to which the information about the company is available, as well as to attract additional number of clients.
Moreover, the company’s number is difficult to be located, and this is connected not only with the absence of a company’s website; while the company uses modern management approaches it does not use the same approaches in advertising, mostly working through the network of the existing customers who serve the basic source of spreading information about its products and services. The company’s number should be easily accessed through various traditional sources used by potential customers when they look for a specific product or service.
The kind of retirement the company offers is complex, and the company here invests large effort and finances into providing its employees with the available retirement plans, because professional staff is one of the defining factors in making the company work, and thus the staff should be retained and attracted. Not only the company provides its customers with Medicare insurance, but it also deals with direct deposit for retirement – an option which is very convenient in use by the employees.
The retirement plan includes Medicare, social security and supplemental income. For this specific kind of job the retirement plan is well designed, satisfying the basic needs of the employees. The retirement plan has been developed in accordance with legal requirements and according to the qualifications and kinds of job available within the company; however, one of the serious issues is that the plan has not been changed since the beginning of company’s performance, this is why it is recommended that the present plan is re-considered to include other kinds of insurance (for example, giving opportunity to the retired workers to give education to their children or grandchildren).
Recruiting of the new employees is done through the set of specially designed tests, through the completion of which a potential employee is evaluated. However, from the manager’s point of view it is insufficient for hiring a well qualified worker. There have been cases of firing new employees for not corresponding to the job requirements. It is essential to perform personal interview with each candidate, as well as the tests should be reconsidered, as there is no guarantee that they provide employers with relevant results about their future employees.
The mission of the company is ‘to make technology available to everyone’. As for giving back to the community, for a company of such small size it is difficult to say, whether it operates in accordance with the social responsibility standards. Giving back to the community may be seen through high social standards and attitudes towards employees in the company, but as for the rest of the society – the company tries to satisfy the needs of each customer, making local society use its services and buy its products regularly.
Works cited
Tosvold, D. Cross Cultural Management: Foundations and Future. Ashgate Publishing,2004