COLLAPSE SUBDISCUSSIONWilliam Dixon Sr.1:08pmMay 7 at 1:08pm
Manage Discussion EntryMarcus,
One of the other challenges leaders who outsource face might be the reduction of the domestic workforce. Your comments describe the benefits leaders can experience, "Small business owners like Sofia Chan can benefit significantly from outsourcing by increasing profits and efficiency. “Companies that outsource certain jobs are frequently able to significantly increase performance by using the specialized expertise of specialists in specific sectors” (Seemann & Stofkova, 2021). She will save money and time on recruiting, but her profit margin will also be increased due to lower overheads."Zitkiene and Dude (2018) described the third party benefits of outsourcing and the benefits could lead to labor reduction as less work is necessary in the US. What steps do you think Sofia will take to address this issue?
References
Zitkiene, R., & Dude, U. (2018). The Impact of Outsourcing Implementation on Service Companies. Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 6(1), 342-355
ThursdayMay 5 at 4:20pm
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I choose China
- Describe the primary cultural differences between that country and the United States.
Cultural Differences:
Power distance: Individualism:Masculinity:
China: 80China: 20China: 66
United States:40United States: 91United States: 62
Uncertainty Avoidance:Long term Orientation:Indulgence:
China:30China: 87China: 24
United States: 46United States: 26United States: 68
Differences: China has a better percentage in Power distance, Masculinity, and Long term Orientation compared to united states has more individualism, uncertainty Avoidance and Indulgence.
POWER DISTANCE
This dimension deals with the fact that all individuals in societies are not equal – it expresses the attitude of the culture towards these inequalities amongst us. Power Distance is defined asthe extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.
At 80 China sits in the higher rankings of PDI – i.e. a society that believes that inequalities amongst people are acceptable. The subordinate-superior relationship tends to be polarized and there is no defense against power abuse by superiors. Individuals are influenced by formal authority and sanctions and are in general optimistic about people’s capacity for leadership and initiative. People should not have aspirations beyond their rank.
INDIVIDUALISM
The fundamental issue addressed by this dimension isthe degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members.It has to do with whether people´s self-image is defined in terms of “I” or “We”. In Individualist societies people are supposed to look after themselves and their direct family only. In Collectivist societies people belong to ‘in groups’ that take care of them in exchange for loyalty.
At a score of 20 China is a highly collectivist culture where people act in the interests of the group and not necessarily of themselves. In-group considerations affect hiring and promotions with closer in-groups (such as family) are getting preferential treatment. Employee commitment to the organization (but not necessarily to the people in the organization) is low. Whereas relationships with colleagues are cooperative for in-groups they are cold or even hostile to out-groups. Personal relationships prevail over task and company.
MASCULINITY
A high score (Masculine) on this dimension indicates that the society will be driven by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by the winner / best in field – a value system that starts in school and continues throughout organisational life.
A low score (Feminine) on the dimension means that the dominant values in society are caring for others and quality of life. A Feminine society is one where quality of life is the sign of success and standing out from the crowd is not admirable.The fundamental issue here is what motivates people, wanting to be the best (Masculine) or liking what you do (Feminine).
At 66 China is a Masculine society –success oriented and driven. The need to ensure success can be exemplified by the fact that many Chinese will sacrifice family and leisure priorities to work. Service people (such as hairdressers) will provide services until very late at night. Leisure time is not so important. The migrated farmer workers will leave their families behind in faraway places in order to obtain better work and pay in the cities. Another example is that Chinese students care very much about their exam scores and ranking as this is the main criteria to achieve success or not.
LONG TERM ORIENTATION
This dimension describeshow every society has to maintain some links with its own past while dealing with the challenges of the present and future, and societies prioritise these two existential goals differently. Normative societies. which score low on this dimension, for example, prefer to maintain time-honoured traditions and norms while viewing societal change with suspicion. Those with a culture which scores high, on the other hand, take a more pragmatic approach: they encourage thrift and efforts in modern education as a way to prepare for the future.
China scores 87 in this dimension, which means that it is a very pragmatic culture. In societies with a pragmatic orientation, people believe that truth depends very much on situation, context and time. They show an ability to adapt traditions easily to changed conditions, a strong propensity to save and invest, thriftiness, and perseverance in achieving results.
INDULGENCE
One challenge that confronts humanity, now and in the past, is the degree to which small children are socialized. Without socialization we do not become “human”. This dimension is defined asthe extent to which people try to control their desires and impulses, based on the way they were raised. Relatively weak control is called “Indulgence” and relatively strong control is called “Restraint”. Cultures can, therefore, be described as Indulgent or Restrained.
China is a Restrained society as can be seen in its low score of 24 in this dimension. Societies with a low score in this dimension have a tendency to cynicism and pessimism. Also, in contrast to Indulgent societies, Restrained societies do not put much emphasis on leisure time and control the gratification of their desires. People with this orientation have the perception that their actions are Restrained by social norms and feel that indulging themselves is somewhat wrong.
- Discuss the cultural challenges that Sofia might face in outsourcing and expanding to the chosen country.
I feel like because of
UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE
The dimension Uncertainty Avoidance has to do with the way that a society deals with the fact that the future can never be known: should we try to control the future or just let it happen? This ambiguity brings with it anxiety and different cultures have learnt to deal with this anxiety in different ways.The extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid theseis reflected in the score on Uncertainty Avoidance.
Sofia would have the cultural challenges might face in outsourcing and expanding to the chosen country due to the factAt 30 China has a low score on Uncertainty Avoidance. Truth may be relative though in the immediate social circles there is concern for Truth with a capital T and rules (but not necessarily laws) abound. None the less, adherence to laws and rules may be flexible to suit the actual situation and pragmatism is a fact of life. The Chinese are comfortable with ambiguity; the Chinese language is full of ambiguous meanings that can be difficult for Western people to follow. Chinese are adaptable and entrepreneurial. At the time of writing the majority (70% -80%) of Chinese businesses tend to be small to medium sized and family owned.
- Make a case for or against Flora pursuing her outsourcing and expansion plans in the country you have chosen, supporting your arguments with the literature.
I am for Sofia outsourcing to china because its a half and half on what the good and the bad is in the area of cultural. I feel like it has an equal opportunity to expand, and like it states inKatz, J. S. (n.d.).
Leadership in the age of globalization: The global mindset(Links to an external site.)
(Links to an external site.)(Links to an external site.)
. Thought Leadership. https://ceriusexecutives.com/leadership-in-the-age-of-globalization-the-global-mindset
The global leader faces many new challenges from how to scale innovations from the local to the global level, to determining how their organizations can build a globally engaged and invested talent pool to enabling long-term career growth, to capitalizing on opportunities in high-growth markets while balancing these new requirements with their current organizational structure and culture. The global leader will need to know how to do determine when local market differentiation outweighs the benefits of scale.
If today’s business leader can change their perspective to address the needs of a globalized world, then they are on the right track to success. The bottom line is that the leader with the most knowledge and innovation will win in global competition.
References:
Hofstede Insights. (n.d.).
Compare countries(Links to an external site.)
(Links to an external site.)(Links to an external site.)
. https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/
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Katz, J. S. (n.d.).
Leadership in the age of globalization: The global mindset(Links to an external site.)
(Links to an external site.)(Links to an external site.)
. Thought Leadership. https://ceriusexecutives.com/leadership-in-the-age-of-globalization-the-global-mindset
ThursdayMay 5 at 4:31pm
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Cultural Challenges of Globalization - Sofia's Eyewear
The situation with Sofia is that she runs an eyewear production organization that is possibly looking to become a multinational organization by expanding abroad. When Sofia is seeking an international location to grow with, several things must be considered such as costs for manufacturing goods, international constraints, as well as cultural challenges (Noe et al., 2022). The cultural challenges are the primary focus for Sofia at this time. When looking at the options for expansion she was considering the Philippines, China, or India. When comparing these countries the organization must try and identify cultural signals that would accentuate their business model and corporate culture or identify where future challenges may present. When seeking a compatible country to join with the United States-based parent-company, the Philippines has several desirable traits.Culture changes and adaptation are one of the challenges leaders face when placing employees and organizations abroad. Culture-based differences can dynamically change the way that the teammates and managers will interact with those at the host-country location by altering several social perceptions. The perception of culture can be broken down by individualism, power distancing, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity differential, orientation timing, and indulgence levels (Noe et al., 2022).
Uncertainty avoidance can be a challenge to foreign teammates and managers in a foreign operation. These managers may not be conversant with the doctrine and lifestyle associated with local feeling toward reliance on religion and customs to determine their energy or ability to function in society (Noe et al., 2022). Within the Philippines, uncertainty avoidance is almost spot on with the expected culture of the United States (Hofstede Insights, 2022). The amount of unpredictability an employee or organization can tolerate changes the stress dynamic of doing business in another country. China for example has a very low score and expects things to remain the same in life and business with very little change (Hofstede Insights, 2022).
Masculinity differential is the amount of energy a society places in masculine culture that refers to income driven and achievement-based success whereas a feminine mantra would value the interpersonal relationship and social goals (Oudenhoven et al., 1998). The Philippines mimics the United States again in this regard (Hofstede Insights, 2022). This is also a positive for Sofia going in to another country being a female business person and expecting fair treatment on levels of equality (Noe et al., 2022).
Indulgence levels are identified within a culture as how much they like to seek entertainment and joy (Noe et al., 2022). The United States and North America are prime examples of indulgence and join most of Europe in this regard (Ejrnaes & Greve, 2017). The concept of indulgence is one that ties trust and uncertainty to the resultant effect of having high uncertainty, correlating to low indulgence, whereas low uncertainty relates with higher levels of indulgence (Oudenhoven et al., 1998). The Philippines is lower than the United States but is definitely higher that the other options of China and India in this trait (Hofstede Insights, 2022).
The two items that might be a challenge for Sofia are that of Individualism (Collectivism) and Power Distance. Individualism and collectivism culturally involves the tie to relationships in a given country or region and determines if the populous has an independent decision-making model or if they operate more collectively (Noe et al., 2022). The Philippines has a very low level of individualism and seeks to stay mainstream without change to policy or innovation (Hofstede Insights, 2022). When seeking to start a new enterprise in this country, unless there is already a structure in place for the same type and kind of production (eyewear in this case) then it may prove challenging for new business to originate. Power distance, when speaking about cultural implications, is how a society interacts with its equality (Noe et al., 2022). In the Philippines the power distance gap is almost fifty percent lower than the United States. This just means that implications of power amongst upper-level and lower-level managers needs to be monitored more closely than normal to maintain the organization's expectation of communication and corporate culture (Noe et al., 2022).
Regards,
James
References
Ejrnaes, A., & Greve, B. (2017). Your position in society matters for how happy you are.
International Journal of Social Welfare,26(3), 206–217.https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.12233(Links to an external site.)
Hofstede Insights. (2022).Compare countries.
https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/(Links to an external site.)
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2022).Fundamentals of human resource management(9th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Oudenhoven, J. P., Mechelse, L., & Dreu, C. K. W. (1998). Managerial conflict management in
five European countries: the importance of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity.Applied Psychology: An International Review,47(3), 439–455.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464
0597.1998.tb00037.x
YesterdayMay 6 at 6:02pm
Manage Discussion EntryHello class,
There are significant cultural differences in China and the United States. If Sophia is considering outsourcing in China, she has to strategically think about what this means for her, her leadership, and her business. China allows broad access for her to leverage global expansion. China's import/export is efficient and proven. The culture is team-focused. These represent differences in Chiba's culture as opposed to the U.S. culture. The U.S. is much more individualistic so Sophia would need to adjust her communications and allow herself to be flexible to these differences.
The 5 cultural dimensions include:
- Power distance
- Uncertainty avoidance
- Individualism and collectivism
- Masculinity and femininity
- Long-term orientation
These dimensions can help Sophia determine her cultural approach and perceptions in her business, easing friction between cultures and aiding efficiency and productivity and teamwork for the greater organizational mission. Sophia will need to focus on the way she leads and lead with culture at the center. She will need to be cognizant of team and individual performance and how the teams are working together and how the diversities show up in her business. There is a lot of benefit for her to have here if she can align with the knowledge she needs to be a culture-centric leader. If this is not something she has time to invest in or the desire to flex her emotional intelligence in leadership, this is not something she should pursue. Her job will change and she will be moved out of the known day-to-day U.S. challenges and into new challenges - sometimes frustrating and challenging. She may also not agree with certain cultural views and this can be distracting to the mission of the organization. If Sophia chooses to do this, she needs to understand the investment and what lies ahead for her.
Resources
Gutterman, A. S. (2019).
Cross-cultural leadership studies(Links to an external site.)(Links to an external site.). Business Expert Press.
Langley, Q. (2020).
Business and the culture of ethics(Links to an external site.)(Links to an external site.). Business Expert Press.
Rendtorff, J. D. (2019).
Philosophy of management and sustainability: Rethinking business ethics and social responsibility in sustainable development(Links to an external site.)(Links to an external site.). Emerald Publishing.