Management in A Global Environment †Free Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Management in A Global Environment. Answer: Introduction The global business environment refers to the prevailing environment in various sovereign countries having factors that the home environment of organization does not have that influences the decision making process along with the use of resources. The global business environment can further be classified into that of internal and external environment. The external environment will be inclusive of the social, political, legal and cultural environment. Companies that are operating at the international arena should be able to understand social environment in relation to the host country where they are operating. There are a large number of MNC that are operating in different parts of the globe. Companies should acquaint themselves with the culture of the country where they are operating for providing the perfect output. This report will throw light on the issues that an expatriate manager may have to face and highlight the skills that that are cherished to perform an international role successfully. A multivariate approach will be followed to recruit an international manager who will be able to successfully carry out his role perfectly for the successful running of an organization. Issues that an expatriate manager may face An expatriate refers to an employee who is working provisionally and is living outside of his home country. Hofstedes work was published in the year 1980 and it argued that many theories related to management like that of Herzberr, Mausner, and Mc Gregor are invalid because the authors fall prey to cultural bias that would be manifested intrinsically in their cultural make up. According to Hofstede, national cultures differ mainly owing to four factors. They are avoidance of uncertainity, power distance, individualism and masculinity. (Block 2016).Understanding the differences of cultures is extremely important for organizations as it will be able to expand beyond the sphere of their own national boundary and will thus be able to win loyalty of customers who are residing across globe. Time is conceived differently in different cultures which relies on the history of the place. There are two time systems that prevail one is monochromic and the other one is polychromic. The cultures th at follow the monochromic framework think of time in a linear fashion and they give more focus on people as compared to that of information. The cultures that follow polychromic structure of time do not rely much on information and their schedules are flexible (Bcker et al. 2016). There are some cultures that put more importance on past traditions. Their plans will be in accordance with the past traditions of the company. There are companies that focus on the long term benefits. Companies that are future oriented give more importance to plans along with that of results. There are some cultures that accept inequality and as a result of this no effort is made to alter the current situation. There are cultures that give importance to equality that facilitates in maintaining effective relationship within an organisation (Comfort and Franklin 2014). In a free market, management gives more importance to competition. Some organisations give importance to competition in between the employee s which helps in making the employees more creative. More focus is laid on wealth and performance when competition within an organization is valued. Some companies have cultures where focus is laid on developing a measurable time framed action. In being cultures more importance is laid on vision of the company. The perception in relation to space varies in different cultures. There are things that are considered as private in one culture can be considered as public by another culture. There are some cultures where family issues are discussed in an open manner whereas in another culture privacy will be considered to be of supreme importance. The concept of context that is the surrounding circumstances within which communication occurs differs in different cultures. In a high context communication, information is provided in the coded form whereas in the context of low context information the greater part of the information is provided in explicit code (Dabic, Gonzlez-Loureiro and Har vey 2015). The organizational structure of business also differs in different cultures. The culture that gives importance to individualism lays stress on individual above that of the group. The individual is held to be more self-reliant and difference does not exist between that of in-group and that of out-group. Collectivism on the other hand lays more emphasis on shares values within the framework of a group. The interest of the group is given more importance as compared to that of the individual. Research conducted by Hofstede revealed that in the United States parents rear their children by teaching them about self-reliance and they were free to voice out their individual opinion. The Japanese, Chinese and Malaysians emphasize the group approach as compared to that of the individual (Delaney et al. 2017). Skills and abilities in successful international manager A different set of skill set is required today to thrive in the arena of international business. The business environment nowadays is volatile and complex. Knowledge about the technical know-how is essential but it is the garnering of soft skills that will mark the difference between that of survival and that of being successful in the domain of international business. It has been found that international managers possess cross-cultural communication skill, resilience, excellent abilities for networking, emotional intelligence, collaboration, adaptive thinking and the skills related to interpersonal influence (Deresky 2017). Respect, diplomacy, an open mind and research will be required to work in an international platform because an international business will have people coming from different cultural background. Having an in-depth knowledge about how workplace confrontation is interpreted in other cultures is crucial for maintaining effective relationship with the co-workers. List ening skill is an important aspect of maintaining effective communication in an organization. Successful networking skills will be able to open opportunity for the expansion of business (Fombrun, Ponzi and Newburry 2015). Taking part in networking events related to industry will help in meeting professionals who are like-minded. Ability of collaboration and working together is of high importance in the world of business. Humility is an essential trait in an ideal manager and one should allow other people to take lead. Confidence is required which would help in dealing with crisis. One should have the ability to influence other people and should be able to build respect. One should be assertive without engaging in aggressive acts (Guo, Rammal and Dowling 2016). An international manager has the ability to adapt quickly to a situation and adaptive thinkers will be able to prosper in an environment that is ever-changing. Having curiosity can help to a large extent in breeding adaptive t hinking. In situations when a swift response will be required adaptive thinking will help in taking an action that will be thoughtful rather than giving in to the dictates of others. Tactical skill is a highly enviable quality of professionals working in the international domain. Strong emotional intelligence is a critical skill that should be present in international managers. They would be able to react in a calm manner in case of a critical situation. Mental toughness is an essential trait in an ideal international manager (Jovcheska and Popovski 2015).Failure and setback is inevitable in the world of business hence resilience is an important quality in the international manager. It is necessary for achieving success and allows one to meet the challenges in relation to global business. It helps one in maintaining motivation and in overcoming risk. An international manager is a good negotiator and he should have strong negotiating skills that will help him in doing business across national boundaries (Kang and Shen 2017). An international manager should have an aura and charisma that will prove to be of great help in dealing with people. His attire, confidence level and interest in other people are crucial for his profession and it will help in influencing other people. A global business leader should respect affiliations related to other people. The identities of others should be respected to create the ideal environment at work. Multivariate analysis in recruiting international manager Multivariate analysis revolves round the observation and analysis of more than one variable at a time. It helps in performing studies across different dimensions. The goals of international assignment should be specified and the strategic value should be determined which should be on the basis of strategic objectives of the organization (Knocke et al. 2017). The international manager should be motivated and qualified so that can carry out his duty successfully. The candidate should have the competency so that he is able to successfully achieve his goal. He should be able to minimize the risk related to assignment failure and the costs related. The multivariate analysis should be done in such a manner that would maximise the benefit of the organization along with that of the candidate. The characteristics of a multinational company will be crucial in selecting the right employee. Due care should be taken to prepare the employees for the challenges that will arise when one takes up the new position. The expatriates should be provided with all kinds of help that will facilitate their adjustment in the new atmosphere and allow them to work in an efficient manner during the entire period of their contract. The difficulties in relation to performance appraisal will come from the conflict in between that of global and subsidiary objectives and volatility in relation to that of the international market (ODonohue, Hutchings and Hansen 2017). The variable levels in relation to the maturity of market will be another arena of contention. International managers have to face a lot of difficulty in adjusting to the new environment of another place and he should have the mental ability to cope with the challenges of a new place. The nature of technology will be different in a foreign country and the foreign manager should be adequately equipped to deal with this that may lead to frustration. Due care should be taken to understand his capability in the area of technology. He sh ould be equipped with technical, human and conceptual skills that will help him to handle the international portfolio successfully. A combination of training, on job exposure along with that of formal education will help him to carry out his duties in the right manner. Interpersonal skills are also a necessity in todays world and managers have to work with people so they should have the ability to communicate effectively. Cohesion, fairness and good will are contributory factors for the growth of an organization (Peltokorpi and Vaara 2014). Human skills will help the manager in communicating and motivating an employee so that productivity is increased within the organization. Analytical ability so that he is able to envision both parts and sum will add to the conceptual skill set of the manager. The conceptual skills of the manager will help him in solving problems in a calculated manner. The chaotic environment of business in todays world necessitates conceptual skills in the manag ers. An international manager should have the vision and he should have the ability to articulate that vision. Visionaries know how to handle changes and can draw new boundaries. They should have the ability to make other people feel that they are an integral part of the project (Rees and Smith 2017). Acculturation in expatriation and repatriation of international managers The last two decades have revealed that personnel administrators who are working in multinational companies have been troubled by a recurring problem that revolved round the premature returning of expatriate managers (Vijayakumar et al. 2016). The expatriate managers cannot adjust to the business environment of host culture and it proves to be costly for the management. The cost involved in recruiting an expatriate manager is immense and in case they cannot adjust themselves in the new position it proves to be extremely detrimental for the future of the company. The expatriate manager may choose to live in a place that is largely populated by people of his source country. They do not have to learn the language of their new place and they try to refrain from communicating with people of their new place that can pose to be a big problem. Thus expatriation may force other people to face the problem of linguistic assimilation and they feel out of place in the new environment. Emotional a ssimilation is another area in which the international manager may face problem (Silbiger et al. 2017). Their loyalties will be divided between the two cultures. Empirical evidence has suggested that cultural adjustment is extremely necessary for being successful in job as maladjustment will create psychological stress and it will have negative repercussion on his career. The personality trait of the immigrant will be able to determine whether he would be able to match to norms and practices of host country (Stahl et al. 2016). The research that is conducted should be inclusive of dynamics over a period of time because many individual who have lived and worked outside the confines of their home country often imbibe a global mindset and the acculturation framework becomes insufficient in such a case. Culture shock can result in anxiety that occurs when the individual loses all the familiar signs in relation to social intercourse. Culture shock results in stress, sense of loss, sense of becoming an outcast, confusion and evokes a sense of powerlessness. Cross cultural training can be of acute help to the expatriates (Story et al. 2014). The expatriates should create positive attitude that would help in dealing with emotions and learning language will prove to be a great boon in understanding host country. They should try to accept and adapt to foreign environment. The expatriates should be able to conceive of the people and customs as their own that will make their experience enjoyable (Vaiman, Haslberger and Vance 2015). Conclusion: An international manager has to face many hurdles as he tries to assimilate himself into the new culture. Different cultures have different conception of time that complicates the situation for the expatriates (Townsend, Regan and Li 2015). Technical knowledge is essential for an international manager however it is the perfect learning of soft skills that will create difference between survival and being successful. Resilience is an important quality in the international manager since failure is bound to be encountered in the world of management. The expatriates should be provided intensive help that will help them to adjust to the new environment. The conceptual skills in the international manager will prove to be of great boon in solving problems. Expatriation will force people to face the problem of linguistic assimilation along with that of emotional assimilation. The expatriates should have a positive attitude that would be immensely helpful while dealing with emotions. References: Block, P., 2016.The empowered manager: Positive political skills at work. John Wiley Sons. Bcker, J., Bcker, J., Poutsma, E., Poutsma, E., Monster, H. and Monster, H., 2016. 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