Movie Review: The White Balloon Essay

Jafar Panahi’s movie entitled â€Å"The White Balloon† is a depiction of social reality in these present times within the eyes of a young girl protagonist. The conflict of the story is simple as well as the resolution and its setting. The main problem of the protagonist is her likeness to buy a fish but she does not have any amount of money in her pocket. What she did was she took her mother’s last money and went to the store but while walking to the store, the girl lose her mother’s money that brought fear and anger within her. At the end of the story, there is no concrete solution to the conflict but the protagonist made her own way of obtaining the money to buy the fish.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Like what other critics and analysts said towards this film, there is no need to impose complex conflicts to make each story a good one. As long as there are complete scenarios and interpretations of things, everything would be better than the others. This is what Panahi did in this movie. He only took the courage to discuss and illustrate the life of Iranians in a typical country of Iran. Though it is more on the simple aspects of Iranian tradition, there is a combination of twist and turns that will bring its audience to the mood of waiting for the next situation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In my own perception and point of view regarding the issues and topics that were tackled in the movie is that the director has no direct attack towards the resolution of the conflict. He is already satisfied with the illustrations and discussions of Iranian life but there is no form of resolution to the conflict. The protagonist’s problem was not a personal problem but a social problem that should not be taken for granted. It means that the director itself should not take this for granted if he wanted to analyze the situation of Iranian people especially in the cases like this where the main character is a child who always seeks for answers in every question. Reference Panahi, J. The White Balloon.

Education and Lifelong Learning Essay

1. Understand own role and responsibilities in the lifelong learning. (1.1) Having been requested to produce a brief on my roles in teaching and professional values whist teaching in this role. I have to deal with variety of personnel from different ability groups and cultures. I often have to deal with ever changing legislation such as the Joint Service Publications (JSP’s) regarding subjects taught at the training wing, as well as the JSP’s we have to work in line with the Royal logistic Corps Training and Development Team (TDT) which gives up to date changes regarding our codes of practice. some of my roles in teaching the CLM courses are teaching Military Discipline which gets updated regularly from the Army Act 2006, my other key area is Health & Safety which is governed by not only the Health and Safety at work Act 1974 (HASWA) but has its own JSP for the Ministry of Defence (MOD). (1.2) As with any organisation the MOD must comply with the Equality Act 2006, as for my role in promoting Equality and valuing Diversity as mentioned earlier the Royal Logistic Corps has a very versatile group with personnel from all over the commonwealth and also having many different religions. We adapt our lessons and exercises in line with the needs of personnel who may require a different learning style than that being used with extra time given to anyone that may have dyslexia or any other learning difficulty, if a soldier requires time off for religious beliefs they will be given extra tuition for the teaching periods missed, concessions will also be made if a soldier wears headdress as part of their religion with time given before and after an event such as firing on a range where they must wear a helmet for safety reasons. Before all students arrive at the training wing they must be at a set standard as directed by the RLC which will include being at the right basic skills level for the course and at the right fitness level they are also required to carry out an initial assessment on the first day of the course to see what standard the students are at, if the student gets low marks on some of the subjects covered they might be placed as an at risk student which means they may require additional tuition during the course but this information is kept between the instructors and the student involved with constant updates being given throughout the course. Whilst the training sessions are laid down the instructors will adapt the lesson so the students understand the subject by involving them in group discussions and are encouraged to ask any questions throughout the lessons. (1.3) In my role as an instructor I am responsible for the day to day running of the training wing and am solely responsible for certain lessons such as Military Discipline, Health & Safety and Tactics which involves keeping up to date with all the relevant legislation and the upkeep of the classrooms. I also coach and mentor the Junior Non Commissioned Officers in all the CLM lessons which involves evaluating them during lessons to ensure the subjects are being taught correctly and in line with the RLC’s policy. (1.4) In my role regarding identifying and meeting the needs of the learners I take great care in seeing what sort of standard they are at when they first arrive on the courses by interviewing each student after they have carried out their initial assessments and asking them if they require any additional support during the course and what expectations that they may have regarding me as there instructor. If I feel that the student is going to struggle as their assessments were not up to the standards required during the course they are informed that they are an at risk student but does not affect them in any way if there standard improves and will be given regular evaluations and updates on their performance. 2. Understanding the relationship between teachers and other professionals in lifelong learning. (2.1) Some of the boundaries I face as an instructor in the Military are maintaining a professional relationship due to other instructors having a different outlook on a subject or not doing enough research, at times the Military seem to want a subject taught even if the instructor is not qualified which puts more demands on them. (2.2)Some of the areas of referral we use for the learners are met by having all the correct equipment available during any period of teaching with no time restrictions placed, all learners are given clear guidelines and targets that will need to be met. (2.3)In my role I have certain responsibilities regarding the relationship with other members of the training team and also do all correspondence with other outside agencies that are with our evaluating area such as keeping all internal evaluations are kept up to date with the current policies and keep are lessons up to date and accurate. I am also responsible for maintaining and evaluating all learner feedback and amending lessons that the students feel need changing this is a long process as I need lessons checked by the Training and development team before I can use them. 3.Understand own responsibilities for maintaining a safe and supportive learning environment. (3.1)When maintaining a safe and supportive learning environment this will ultimately depend on the type of lesson being taught but classroom layouts will change depending on the needs of the learners, all lessons are kept short or are broken down so the learners have regular breaks so not to lose concentration. We also do a lot of interacting within the groups to make the learner feel that are giving input to the lessons. In regards to the Health & safety of the learners all classrooms are laid out as per the HSE’s guidelines with all lighting, seating and blackout blinds fitted all classrooms have fixed projectors and whiteboards for interaction with mobile whiteboards for learners when they are broken down into smaller groups. A brief is given at the start of each course to ensure the learner understands that the instructors are to help and should be approached if they feel something is wrong. (3.2)To promote appropriate behaviour and respect for others I impose certain ground rules at the start of each course so the learners understand what is expected of them during the course. They are brief on all Health & Safety regulations what to do and were to go in case of a fire, that no anti-social behaviour or offensive language will be tolerated and they must be punctual so not to waste the teacher’s time or the other learner’s time and to ensure they don’t interrupt during the lesson if someone else is speaking. They are briefed on classroom etiquette by ensuring the classrooms are left clean and tidy at all times and all mobile phone are turned off our on silent unless a learned has an important call to make then they are asked to leave the room. All learners are briefed to have the upper most respect for all other learners and teachers throughout the course.

Udoka corporation case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Udoka corporation case study - Essay Example Operational process is the core area that has to be very efficient to retain the sustainability of a company. Therefore, in order to maintain a higher level of operational process, proper evaluation and controlling activities are inevitable. The evaluation of operational analysis can be done using the financial evaluation techniques specifically the ratio analysis. Besides, the management decisions and future strategies should also be analysed for determining the future growth of company in terms of operational performance. Hence, in this regard necessary information is essential like the financial data and management planning for operational process. However, merely computing the operational ratios will not offer very clear picture of a company’s performance. The results of evaluation must be compared with the peer rivals and with industrial average performance. There are also other financial techniques apart from the ratio analysis like horizontal analysis which is helpful i n comparing company performance in comparison to performances in previous years. As this report aims to evaluate operational performances of Udoka Corporation, outcome from the horizontal analysis can be used to assess improvements or degradation in Udoka’s performance. The primary aim for this analysis to is identify the underlying issues in Udoka’s operational performances and accordingly a set of plausible and specific recommendation will be offered. Brief Description of Udoka Corporation Udoka Corporation is engaged in mobile manufacturing business and technology and innovation is the base of this company. It is operating in a highly competitive business environment where every aspect of performance is crucial for sustaining in such severe competitive market. It is expected that in coming years the industry competitive will be fiercer and hence, it is necessary for Udoka to take necessary action to acquire an upper hand position in the market. The management of Udo ka is considering for investing for ensuring Udoka’s future, and in this process, it is very necessary to make proper decisions based on prevailing condition of finance and based on industry forecast. Analysis of Operational Performance Operational process includes the management cash receivable, cash payable, inventory turnover etc. Using these parameters, cash conversion cycle and operational cycle can be determined. To make better decisions for future growth, the proper evaluation of current status is indispensible which also offer indication of prevailing operational performance (Walton and Aerts, 2006, p.261). Using the financial data of Udoka Corporation, operational performance of the company has been determined. Table 1 represents horizontal analysis of Udoka’s financial statement and the table 2 depict the analysis of its operational performance. Table 1: Horizontal Analysis of Udoka’s Financial Statements Financial Analysis 2011 2,010 2,009    Actual Actual Variance % Actual Variance %    ?m ?m ?m    ?m ?m    Total sales 50,710 45,639 5,071 11% 41,075 9,635 23% Cost of sales 33,337 26,471 6,866 26% 24,645 8,692 35%                         Ratio of CS/Sales 66% 58% 8% 13% 60% 6% 10%                         Gross profit 17,373 19,168 -1,795 -9% 16,430 943 6% Gross margin 34% 42% -8% -19% 40% -6% -15%                         Operating expenses            

Paper according to readings [around 10 readings] Essay

Paper according to readings [around 10 readings] - Essay Example Third world Marxism paved the way for a multiracial movement from what developed as a deeply segregated U.S. left. In all aspects, it was Third World Marxism proved to be the best framework for converting ideologies of greats like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King into an ideological revolution. The fear is that the less developed countries are looking for vengeance against Europe. The Europe in response, won’t divide reformist forces leading the mankind to delight by flaunting the threat of a Third World. The threat that rises like a tide to engulf the whole of Europe. This notion is false! They want cooperation from them, so they can help rehabilitate the regions they kept in slavery for centuries. So even if they consider it a   repudiation to amend what they had done previously   keeping colonies of the area which are the third world the third world countries,  it will help them in many ways.   Opposition to oppression is a constant aspect of the modern world. In earlier years (before the nineteenth century) these oppressions were short-lived and hence did not affect the system very much. But later, they turned into everlasting agony for the oppressed. The movements against oppression can be categorized into two classes; replacing capitalism with socialism and replacing ethno-nationalist agenda with self-determination. However, both these movements saw state power as a crucial part of the overall agenda. It has been many years since the last world war. Despite so many conflicts occurring the world, there has not been a Third World War, the reason is more than just coincidence. The formation of the UN (even though controversial) is one of the biggest factors. But it was the resilience of the Vietnamese fueled by patriotism that defeated the US forces but the French and the Japanese before them. It is the duty of ever human to be prepared to fight for the soil. This social ideology emphasizes plurality and embraces the world

Why I chose the engineering major Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Why I chose the engineering major - Essay Example antastic gifts such as cars and airplanes from my parents.I always had a deep affection of cars and airplanes as I thought that they were funy and they can move so much faster than human beings. On top of that, airplanes could also fly because they have wings. As I grew older, I realized that many things could be demystified by science hence my keen interest especially in engineering. Since middle school, I became more interested in computers. Whenever my father was fixing computers, I always carefully watched him. We own three sets of DIY computers and I helped him assemble one of the computers another day. I later assembled the third computer on my own and the feeling of this accomplishment was overwhelming and has since been inspirational. Through assembling computer parts, I learned a great deal of placements of the components and their uses. Since high school, I did voluntary service at MSKCC and Weill Cornell Medical College where I was introduced to different types of fascinating equipment like the confocal microscope, flow cytometry, PO2 measurement robots and so on. This experience aroused my keen interest in pursuing a career in the field of engineering. It is against this background that I would wish to apply for a place to study the College of Engineering at Cornell, which has a very fine reputation in the engineering community. Its engineering programs were recently ranked among the top seven in the nation, while its engineering physics program was ranked number one. My comprehensive curriculum at high school would help me prepare for the challenging courses that will be offered at Cornell. In junior year at Stuyvesant High School, I took AP BC Calculus, AP Physics B and right now I am taking AP physics C and AP chemistry. My average is a 4.0 and I also took SAT II physics and Math Level 2, which I got 760 and 800 respectively. All these academic achievements bear testimony in my self determination in pursuing an engineering career. Basically, I

Social life Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Social life - Research Paper Example Around 30 or 40 years before, most of the women satisfied with their homely assignments of looking after the children and the family matters. But the development of science and technology and the changing life styles encouraged the women to think in terms of finding an employment for gaining more financial freedom. Earlier, women relied heavily on men for their personal expenses and in many cases they were forced to suppress their needs because of the difficulties in getting money from the men. The over dominance of men in family, social and professional matters forced the women to change their attitudes towards employment and many of them started to come out from the kitchen to join the companies as employees to get more professional and financial freedom. This paper analyses the Economic incentives which have motivated women to continue to participate in the Labour Market. In many countries, the rapid economic growth was due largely to important growth in the manufacturing and services sectors, where substantial and proportionally larger increase of female workers has been registered† (WOMENS PARTICIPATION IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, p.1). Traditionally, women were forced to confine their activities within the boundaries of the kitchen or family as the men dominate the women community. Women enjoyed less freedom in financial matters since the men were the ones who earned money for meeting the family expenses. Even though, the women community worked hard in the kitchen or in the home, their jobs were marked as the nonproductive ones and they earned no financial rewards for their hard work. On the other hand, men earned money for their hard work and hence they normally spent the money in their own ways neglecting the needs of the women. For example, men spent lot of money for smoking, drinking etc like enjoyment purposes whereas the women were depriv ed of such enjoyments because of the lack of financial rewards they were getting for their hard work. In

Impact of Unions on Human Resources Management Research Paper

Impact of Unions on Human Resources Management - Research Paper Example The approach taken by this paper focuses on the context of both the employees and the employer, in order to understand how basing on these two, unions influence the human resources management of an organization. Overall, this paper will show that unions have both negative and positive impact on human resources management of an organization. Literature Review Labor Laws, Unions, and Human Resources Management Labor laws are essential in guiding the relationship between the employers, the employees, and the unions. Therefore, through them, there arise various expectations, which influence the management of a unionized organization in various ways. Neuser and Barker (2010) wrote an article, which explores the state of labor laws in the United States. In their article titled â€Å"What Every Employer Should Know about the Law of Union Organizing,† Neuser and Barker explore the various labor laws in the United States, and interpret them to show how these influence employers, and wh at is wrong or right for employers to do when faced with unionization. Nonetheless, a major aspect of employers’ actions, which the labor laws guide, is the counter-campaign. Neuser and Barker (6) argue that, â€Å"An employer is permitted, and is almost always well advised, to conduct an employee informational campaign when confronted with a union organizing campaign.† However, the manner through which this is done determines whether the labor laws are violated or adhered to by the employer. The counter-campaign by the employer results in changes in the human resources and management practices in a company. However, an employer conducts a counter-campaign, in accordance with the Section 8(a) of the Act, as well as various opinions by the judicial and the board. Therefore, in a bid to prevent employees from unionizing, employers might adopt additional human resources practices, or improve on the existing human resources practices, in order to promote employee job satis faction. For instance, they might increase employee salaries, promote some employees to higher position, and generally improve on the working conditions of employees. Nonetheless, all these changes and new adoptions in HR practices will have been brought about by unionization. However, Neuser and Barker emphasize that this counter-campaign should not infringe on any labor law (26). Unionizing, Job Satisfaction, and Human Resources Management Various researches have been conducted to explore the effect of unionizing on employee job satisfaction. In their study, Bryson, Cappellari, and Lucifora (2010) explored the effect of unionizing on employee job satisfaction in Britain. Results show that there are no significant differences in the level of job satisfaction between union and nonunion employees. However, for those union employees that lacked collective bargaining, the level of job satisfaction was found to be lower. Nonetheless, collective bargaining is an important determinant of job satisfaction for union workers. In another study, Artz (2010) investigated how union experience influences employee job satisfaction. Results showed that job satisfaction was only higher among the employers, who were in unions for the first time, thus low experience in unions. However, the more an employee gained increased experience in uni

Ideological Relations between Mao Zedong and Nikita Khrushchev Essay

Ideological Relations between Mao Zedong and Nikita Khrushchev - Essay Example The second fight was against the nationalist Kuomintang (Marks 10). The Nationalist Kuomintang was led by Chiang Kai Shek. The overlapping wars persuaded Mao to ignore the advice and directions by Stalin. During the Second World War (1939-1945) Mao followed the lead of Stalin and agreed on the Joint Anti-Japanese Coalition with a leader of Nationalist Kuomintang, Chiang Kai Shek (Hershberg 149). The treaty of friendship was signed with Nationalist Kuomintang in 1945. After 3 months of Japan’s surrender, Stalin broke the treaty (Li 4). In 1950, Mao Signed Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship & Alliance (Li 409). The alliance resulted in $300Mio loan at a very minimal interest rate along with the military alliance for the period of 30 years. In 1954, after the death of Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev met Mao and formally handed over Port Arther base to China (Khoo 4). The Post Stalin policies by Khrushchev were in conflict with the mindset of Mao. The reason was that Khrushchev den ounced Stalin through his speeches. In 1956, Khrushchev developed the relationship with Yugoslavia. The leader of Yugoslavia Joseph Broz Tito was denounced by Stalin. Mao was the supporter of Stalin’s ideology. Khrushchev tried to dismantle Mao’s support of USSR. ... Â  The major reason for the Sino-Soviet split was the national difference. The political line of Mao was totally opposed to that of Khrushchev. Therefore, the conflict in political perspectives between the two parties leads to the creation of two rival formations internationally. The issue was not explicitly considered as the national difference. The issue was believed to be the different historical developments between Russia & China. Different level of productive forces was considered as the major difference between two rivals. In addition to this, the Russian revolution began from the cities and moved towards the countryside, whereas the Chinese revolutions began from the countryside and moved towards the cities (Westad 9). Moreover, the relations to imperialism between the countries were also having a different perspective. The Sini Soviet split was basically the ideological conflicts. Therefore, in 1960, the worsening of ideological relationships between Mao Zedong and Nikita K hrushchev lead to the Sini Soviet Split. 2. Critical Evaluation of the Sources Most of the data regarding the Sino Soviet Split was retrieved from a number of different sources. A brief critical evaluation of two of the sources is as follows Source 1: Sino Soviet Conflict: Cold War In the Communist World 1921-1959 The Sino Soviet Conflict was the book written by Lorenz Luthi, which was published in 2010. The book elaborated the Sino-Soviet Conflict with great details. Therefore, the book describes in detail history of Cold war and the reasons for Sino Soviet Conflict.

Policy Brief ( 2 pages (1.5 line spacing) and the third page for Essay

Policy Brief ( 2 pages (1.5 line spacing) and the third page for sources only ) please please please i want and need to get full mark. thank u very much - Essay Example benefits for Vermont State, and the state should continue educating and encouraging its residents to take advantage of the Medicaid program (Sara, 2013). The state of Vermont has always prioritized the health of its members. It extended Medicaid to parents who had a higher income than the standard eligible income limit, given that the standard limit was in many cases below half the poverty level. In addition, Vermont covered parents who did not have children, unlike other states. Additionally, the state enacted a single-payer health care legislation in 2011. It consequently established an insurance exchange to meet the requirements of the ACA act until it applies for a waiver on the implementation of the single payer system. Vermont records approximately 47,000 uninsured people. This comprises of a large number of the population, which needs to be covered, to improve their ability to access medical attention. Fortunately, for the state, following the adoption of the 2010 ACA act, this number shall reduce significantly, as the regulation encourages more people to enroll for Medicaid (Holahan, Buettgens, Caroll, & Dorn, 2012). Following the generous Medicaid program that the state of Vermont has always held, implementation of the ACA will benefit the state, as it shall spend less on Medicaid, compared to other states. The state shall adjust its current federal medical assistance percentage to match the enhanced FMAP (Manatt Health Solutions, Center for Health Care strategies, & State Health Data Assistance Center, 2012). Such adjustments shall also offset the probable increase in administrative costs, thus making the Medicaid beneficial for Vermont. Consequently, the state shall benefit greatly from the ACA act, thus boosting the economic position of the state. More to this, adopting the expansion serves the state better, given that even states that do not expand their Medicaid still contribute Medicaid funds to the federal government. Following the expansion of

The price of gold has increased in the Indian markets Essay Example for Free

The price of gold has increased in the Indian markets Essay The gold prices have been constantly increasing in India due to the spot demand before the marriage season, currency movements and the traditional investment patterns. The constant depreciation in the Indian currency and a change in government policies are supporting a steady rise in the price of gold. Earlier, there was a flat rate of Rs. 300 for 10g on gold. But now, due to the change in the government policy on import duties, 2% is charged on 10g of gold. This change in the government policy will increase the import duties on the metal to nearly a double, increasing its prices. Gold is denominated in US Dollar; change in the value of US Dollar will hence reflect the price of gold. The steady depreciation in the value of US Dollar due to the ongoing recession has led to a weak trend in gold in the global markets. If the price of gold is valued higher in any other currency, it shows us that the demand for gold is high and hence increasing its value. The below graph shows the depreciating value of gold due to the depreciation of US Dollar. http://www.kitco.com/LFgif/au0365nyb.gif Even though there is a weak trend in global markets, the price of gold has increased in the Indian markets due to the high pick up on spot demand ahead of the marriage season. The price of gold has gained Rs. 25 from Rs. 28, 245 per 10 grams. ETF in India saw the highest net outflows in last 52 months. Investors observe recovery in stock markets which helped gold prices increasing. This high trend of gold in the Indian market can be explained as an exception to the law of demand i.e. the increase in the price of gold is increasing the demand for the metal. Indians are the biggest buyers of gold in the world. Gold imports reached 958 tons in 2010, and in 2011 gold imports were still high despite the increase in prices. Gold can hence be considered a Veblen good. A Veblen good is one whose demand continues to rise in spite of an increase in its price level. Therefore the normal law of demand is not applicable here. Such goods are known as goods of conspicuous1 consumption because people regard them as status symbols and there is an inherent passion towards this precious metal. A normal demand curve slopes left to right downwards. But as shown in the diagram above, the demand curve slopes upward, and when the price of increases from P to P1, the quantity demanded increases from QD to QD1. Hence, gold can be considered as a Veblen good. Although, the prices of silver is facing a weakening trend in both the Indian and the global markets due to the same ongoing recession. Silver has fallen by Rs. 800 from Rs. 57,700 per Kg in the Indian market and by USD 6.70 from USD 1704.60 in the global market. The below graph shows a fall in the prices of silver in the global market. In the Indian market, silver doesn’t have high value status as much as gold. This is because people do not have a high inherent passion towards silver. Almost all electronics are configured with silver. The precious metal is used in everything from automobiles to alternative energy needs. But due do the reduced off take by industrial units, silver is facing a fall in both demand and its prices. http://www.kitco.com/LFgif/ag0365nyb.gif Even though the weak trend in silver, the demand for silver coins has been the same as the people in India buy these coins for good luck and prosperity. In conclusion, gold and silver are both facing a weakening trend in the global market due to the world economic uncertainties. But, in the Indian Market, gold is having a high trend whereas silver has a weak trend. As gold is continued to be purchased high in India due to its snob value status. A Tighter Regulation 1. Gold and silver are the two most popular commodities traded on Indian commodity bourses. 2. FMC may ask exchange to tighten monitoring and receive weekly data on trade volume. 3. National commodity exchanges say such measures will help strengthen investor trust in the market. 4. The only downside of stricter regulation is that it may reduce bullion trading volumes.

Cross Cultural Awareness in Management

Cross Cultural Awareness in Management Task 1 The FIVE most important competencies for managing internationally in my country, Hong Kong, for these three American managers of TDS are: Interpersonal Skills – If this is not the most important skill of all, it is the crucial one. This skill helps the expatriate managers to establish relationships, coordinate with others, satisfying the needs for friendship and intimacy when they are abroad. It also helps in building trust and form relationships with the people around them. The expatriate managers are often experiencing uncertainties and getting stressed when dealing things with work and personal life in a new environment. So with good interpersonal skills will be able to reduce the stress coming from every angle. Referring to a recent book (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 190-1), the primary selection of many companies for the expatriate managers in practice is their track records on reaching their targets or getting their jobs done. Companies also would like to send those that are eager to climb further on their career ladders or those with technical or conceptual abilities instead of those with interpersonal skills abroad. These expatriates are often too focused on their personal agenda to make things happen and ignore the pressure that are given to the local staffs which would create tension at work. Moreover, feelings of mistrust and resentment of the local staffs towards the head office will also be exacerbated. Therefore, interpersonal skills should be taken into account when the American managers are being chosen to manage in a foreign country like Hong Kong. Motivation to live abroad – It is a key factor for the expatriate managers and their families to adapt into the local culture successfully (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 192). Basically they should have real interests in the country they will live in, in order to have the curiosity to get to know it better and experience it well. It is the desire that makes them easier to understand the culture with ease. Patience and respect – Different countries have different cultures so it is necessary that the international managers have the patience and respect when dealing with the new culture. It takes time to cope and learn the differences between the culture at home and the culture of the new place so the international managers should be patient (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 193). They also need to have respect for the local of how the things happen in some ways when dealing with different circumstances in any aspects. Cultural empathy – This is a not skill that can be easily acquired because it is deeply rooted in someone’s character to have the mentality of empathy for others with cultural differences (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 193). It is required in order to respect the local staffs by the international managers to be a good listener to focus on what they have to say. Being non-judgmental is also important for those managers to be able to understand others’ points of views. The psychological development of a human being allows narcissism to be evolved to a point that interfere the capacity for empathy (Kets de Vries, M. and Mead, C. 1992). Managers that are narcissistic usually are self- centred and think that others are paltry or just the extensions of their own. They make the values of others hard to be recognized, let alone appreciate, because they see others as objects or tools for them to get what they want in order to achieve their goals and they also think of others as the mirrors to reflect their own glory. This type of managers would use all their efforts to prove their worth instead of considering the needs and the existing values of the other staffs. Flexibility, tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity – These managers also need to have the flexibility, tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. Changing circumstances that are unexpected makes the managers face with thread of uncertainty and ambiguity because the reactions and the behaviors of the local staffs may be unpredictable. Managers are intended to reinforce greater controls and restrict on the information flow when they face this kind of tread especially during an international assignment (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 192-3). It often results in a stereotypical response and not well adapted to the situation on hands. Although it is difficult for the managers that are usually awarded by being in charged and staying on top of things, expatriates need to ‘go with the flow’ and let go of control. Everyone doesn’t always need to go by the book because actions are often taken base on insufficient, unreliable or/ and conflicting information. Task 2 Controlling model and Adapting model are the names and characteristics of two specific models of strategy related to cultural assumptions and approaches in adapting to external environment as discussed in the literature. The differences between controlling and adapting approaches are described below: Controlling model is based on active search that is focused and systematic. The planning system of the controlling approach is formalized and centralized using expert consultants to assist in devising strategy. The information being used by the controlling method is objective, quantitative and impersonal also interpreting information relies on formal models and methods like strategic forecasting with scenario planning. The people involve in this model are those from the top management or the experts of the particular area. The decisions for the controlling approach would be made by the top management and pass down to be implemented. The strategic goals and action plans are clearly defined, articulated and it would be explicitly measured and rewarded in this controlling method. As it assumes that the environment is known to reduce environmental uncertainty. This approach is usually sequential and short term (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 124). Adapting model is broad, sporadic, decentralized and mostly based on monitoring. It is the opposite from the controlling model, informal and decentralized. The adapting approach is personal, subjective and qualitative; the information would be interpreted by some informal methods with discussions and debate. It would have the employees involved from all across the ranks. The decisions for the adapting approach would be made by the front lines staffs, neither the people from top management nor the experts. The strategic goals tend to emerge and action plans are broad, implicit and vaguely monitored. Also it assumes that the environment cannot be readily known or controlled. This approach is long term and simultaneous (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 124). The model of adapting approach is more appropriate in this situation with TDS because TDS is new to town and not quite familiar with the culture and environment in Hong Kong. Also the environment cannot be controlled or readily known, it would be wise to have the responsibilities to be diffused throughout the organization to make all the staffs from different ranks to get involved. Strategic direction tends to emerge when different people come with different perspective on the business point of view. The implementation should be locally determined to keep it within this strategic frame. Strategy can be refined on an ongoing basis and the adjustments can be made to any unexpected circumstances. TDS should be flexible in order to deal with any sort of unforeseen events or sudden change in any situation. A broad scan is needed in case of any subtle change in the environment and also accountability should be assigned to the collective too because everyone is involved to contribute to make things happen. Task 3 The Five methods of discovery that I would recommend to the three American managers transferring into my country, Hong Kong, are: Architecture and design – According to a recent book (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 24-6) the most obvious artifact is the architecture and design of the building when you enter the organization. In the United States, most of the office design would be opened space with partitioned off by half walls with each individual cubicles personalized by personal interested items such as photos, plants or aphorisms. By not being able to see each other directly allows a sense of privacy to be established. Also opened doors are usually signaled as accessible and available while closed doors are indicated as a sign of privacy desire in the United States. To the contrary, Japanese prefer to have some of the walls knocked off so informal communication would not be inhibited. On the other hand, Germans experience difficulty to work in an open-plan office due they feel it is lack of privacy. Although Hong Kong has a majority of 95 percent Chinese people according to a website (The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, 2008), and was also a British colony for over 150 years, the main business partner of its own is still the United States as shown by the figures provided from the Business Expectation Statistics Section, Census and Statistics Department, (2007a) (2007b). Therefore, most of the office design in Hong Kong is followed to the same style as those in the United States. Greeting rituals – In the United States, the greeting rituals are tended to be paid less attention according to a recent book (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 26-7). But for the other countries, the protocol is taken quite seriously. There are different forms of way in greetings such as showing respect by exchanging and inspecting business cards in Japan, greeting individual by name, shaking hands and making eye contact by French. The degree of body contact expected in greeting creates a fair amount of confusion in another part of the rituals too. In the United States, people might greet others with a hug even when the acquaintanceship is ordinary. In some countries like France, kissing hello and goodbye are common while people from countries like Hong Kong might feel uncomfortable and uneasy about it. According to a website (The Economist Newspaper Limited, 2008), handshaking followed by an immediate swapping of business cards is the most common form of greeting in Hong Kong. Dress Codes – It is another cultural artifact varies from the degree of formality. Schneider Barsoux (2003, 29) pointed out that Anglo and Asian managers do not want to get too much attention or stand out by the way they dress while the Latin managers really care about their personal style. Moreover, corporate dress seems to be color coded in some countries. For example in the United Kingdom, some women are advised not to wear suits and dresses in bright color to work such as red and some bankers of a Dutch bank even avoid to wear suits in brown. It also signals task orientation. In the United States, rolled up shirt sleeves is considered as a signal of hard working while in France means ‘relaxing on the job’. Not to mention that some US companies have designated days to encourage people to appear in casual clothes at work such as Fridays. According to a website (World Business Culture, 2008), dress codes differ base on the size of company and industry sector in Hong Kong. Men mostly wear dark suits, shirts and ties while women wear conservative suits and dresses. Trousers and causal wear are tended to be worn only on informal occasions or designated days. Written versus verbal contracts – In different parts of the world people have different definitions toward the sealed business agreements as mentioned in a recent book (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 30). In some places, one’s word means more than a legal document while others need to put down all the details on a paper in black and white. Problems would appear when the contracts are expected by the head office to be signed, sealed and delivered from a place where one’s reputation and honor are way more valuable than some legal documents. Figures from Schneider Barsoux (2003, 30) for the estimated numbers of lawyers per capita of some countries like United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan reflect the differences on expectations. American managers will bring it to the legal department to retrieve whenever a business deal has been fell through while some other countries would sort things out through the relationship. Since Hong Kong is a Common Law Jurisdiction like most of the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2008a), people most likely to expect to have a written contract over a business deal. Criteria for success – It depends on the importance of stakeholders whether it is the benefit of the shareholders, the customers or the employees. Beliefs and values differ when there are different stakeholders; there are different criteria for success. Schneider Barsoux (2003, 31) claimed that American companies only exist for the benefit of the shareholders. This might be disagreed in Japan or even shock the Japanese as they believe customers have the divine rights. Some countries in Europe such as Germany or Sweden believe that the employees have the divine rights instead. Although all these factors are crucial to the business success, you still need to have a closer look to the cultural preferences in different countries like Hong Kong. Task 4 In my opinion, the key functions for managing people and human resource management are recruitment and selection, compensation and rewards, employee relations, and career development. Recruitment and selection – This can be the most challenging and important function for managing people and human resource management. It is because finding ‘the right people for the right job’ is essential. It is often a challenge as well especially when the nature of the local labor market or the available human resources is not familiar. The company needs to understand how to access the local labor pool in order to get the equivalent people to work for the company. So finding those candidates who have the abilities and requirements to finish the task and get the job done is also hard and essential, not to mention to get those who seem to likely match with the existing corporate culture. Moreover, the standard profile of one country might be very different from another in terms of representation and the differences in education systems also play a part to make the selection difficult in selecting which person fits the profile for the job (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 151). Compensation and rewards – The cultural differences play a role when it comes to determine the terms of reward and who gets it. Different cultures have different type of value in relations to the reward and vary to the extent in the belief that reward should be collective or individual. Pay for performance is assumed to be based on contribution or ‘equity’ instead of the belonging to the group or ‘equality’ (Eretz and Early, 1993). In the contractual view of employment, the notions of equity, ‘you get what you deserve’, are embedded while the notions of equality, ‘you deserve what you get’, correspond to the social view (Pennings, 1993). According to Susan Barsoux (2003, 165), the current trend of linking salary payment to working performances is especially suspect to be cultural related. It has been discovered that in some countries like France, it would be shocked for the French executives to have clearly stated quantifiable objective relating increased performances to increased bonus. It is because the French executives found that discussion about money and finance is such a turned off. It also provoked outcries when the merit pay was attempted to be introduced in Japan. It created uproar as the Japanese executives were scared that it would ruin the harmony of the group and might also encourage short term thinking especially when the employees only focus on the performance in order to get the bonus. On the other hand, the dominant influence in American managerial thinking is the principle of equity that each one should be rewarded based on the solely contribution by that particular person. Nowadays in the view towards team management that demands group cooperation instead of competition among individuals finds the merit-based pay in the United States demotivating (Susan Barsoux, 2003, 167). The preference between financial or non financial incentives is also related to the culture. The motivating potential of money, status, vacation time is also affected and changed across countries. Swedish would prefer to have some time off rather than a bonus because they are more concerned with the quality of life and monetary rewards are less motivating while giving time off might seem to have not much point in Japan when most of the employees only take half of their holiday entitlement (Susan Barsoux, 2003, 167). So the internationally operated companies should learn to appreciate the different values and evaluate the potential impact as well because the remuneration package is a very strong indicator of the culture and the behavior expected and also can be used in order to encourage cooperation or competition, risk taking or conservatism, and information sharing or information hoarding. The remuneration package is also a very important signal when it comes to aspiring recruits. When the company wants to attract local elite, it can choose to align itself with the local norms or the alien one when the preference of the company changes to attract the less mainstream or adventurous or those that are frustrated with the local practices and looking to be rewarded for their efforts and success (Susan Barsoux, 2003, 168). Employee relations – It is important to have a good relations and mutual understanding between the management and the staffs of the company. Any staff grievances of the company should be dealt with and well listened to in order to promote a harmony environment. An open dialogue is needed to be promoted between the management and the unions of the company to eliminate any conflicts or fictions that may occur between the staffs and the management specially when there is a new implementation of company policies. Also the employees’ political standing should be respected and well listened to especially when it is toward the company policy and issues. Good employee relations help increasing the engagement of the employees to the company so as their commitment and involvement as well. It also helps with the staff retention which is necessary for a company setting up in a new country like TDS (CIPD, 2008). Career development – National culture has an impact on career development and the natures of the managerial tasks on what management should do or be are depended on assumptions of being versus doing. The determinants for success varies across cultures when some places have it based on achieving results like the United States while in the United Kingdom having good interpersonal skills and personal connections are the keys for success at the career front. Favored career paths also differ culturally and it is bound up with cultural assumptions regarding the importance of the individual versus loyalty to the company, doing versus being, and tolerance for uncertainty. So a multinational company should make sure that the perceptions of what it takes to get to the top and the patterns of career development would include people with different skills, abilities, knowledge and perspectives (Susan Barsoux, 2003, 168 -70). With the references to managing people and HRM, I feel the four department managers, two from the United States and two from Hong Kong, should focus on during their first three months is selection because it is vital to get the right people for the right job in any organization (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 151). Local talent may have different types of abilities, skills, knowledge and strength owing to the national values differences placed on the education so it is also a challenge to get the right people who fit the requirement for the particular job and also fit with the company culture. The managers should consider the differences in attitude towards the hiring practices in Hong Kong and also the cultural differences will influence on how to recruit as well. So getting access to the local labor pool to get the people that match with the job criteria is important too. Therefore, selection should be focused by four department managers for the first three months to get the right people in place and help them to adjust and fit into a new culture and way of life in order to make the launch of TDS in Hong Kong a success. The trade unions in the United Kingdom has a culture as a collective bargaining tool with management while the one in the United States has more of a hire and fire culture. In Hong Kong, there are four trade unions and the largest one among them is the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions and their main slogans are patriotism, solidarity, right, welfare and participation (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2008b). Although the unions in Hong Kong are focused on the rights and welfares of the workers as much as those in the United Kingdom and the United States but they are still at the stage of establishing as the largest unions in Hong Kong was founded in 1948 while those in United Kingdom have been existed for over 100 years like the General Federation of Trade Unions (UK) (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2008c) and so as those in the United States like the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations was founded in 1886 (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2008d). Since the United States is the biggest trade business partners of Hong Kong, most of the companies would contain the culture of the United States to remain individual. Task 5 The benefits of creating and working within the context of a multicultural team are given the larger complexity and speed of change in the international business environment. It seems obvious that bringing people together from different cultures enhance the quality of decisions taken. These multinational cultures contribute a greater range of perspectives and options with even more successful marketing strategies and ideas to attract different types of customers. It can also provide a different or new way of looking at the old or existing problems and help to promote the chances for greater innovation and creativity with the cultural differences as well (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 218). Combining people from different cultural backgrounds also benefits the organization integration and learning so as the managerial development. It improves lateral networks for the communication and information flow. Also when bringing the people with the different cultural backgrounds together, it can be a solution to help minimize the risk of uniformity and pressures for conformity which can appear in the company when there are too many like minded people working at the same company together at the same time (Janis, 1971). Also teams that are composed by members with different profiles are far more effective than teams that are made by the best and the brightest performers or with the members who are having the similar profiles. Teams that have included a mixture of members with profiles of different areas performed better as they have the balance of roles. Different cultures have different assumptions toward the business issues and also have different ideas about the reasons of teams. So that to share information and discuss about any problem at work with people from different cultural background would often generate greater results in a dynamic way. Furthermore to the benefit of the combination with people from different cultures background would enhance the productivity for the organization. The challenges of creating and working within the context of a multicultural team are that bringing people together from different cultures is given more ambiguity and uncertainty in decision making. Also it would be much more complex in the organization from the procession to implementation due to the cultural differences in assumptions. People with different cultural backgrounds work together might create interpersonal conflict and communication problems at work. Also it would create greater potential for frustration and dissatisfactions that might lead to higher turnover of team members within the group (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 231). The choice of language using within the multicultural team might also creates friction and misunderstanding especially when the native language for the three American managers is English while the native language for the local managers is Chinese, there is a huge scope for misunderstandings that could hamper the cohesion and effectiveness of the team no matter how fluent the local managers could speak in English (I-change, 2008). According to the personal upbringing and values, technical background and training, and also the national backgrounds can distort and filter the messages in many layers of meaning within a multicultural team that can lead to further misunderstanding and frustrations. Barriers would also be created for the multicultural team due to the direct versus indirect communication; trouble with accents and fluency; differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority and so as the conflicting norms for decision making (Brett, Behfar Kern, 2006). Direct versus indirect communication is that in western cultures, the communication is typically direct and explicit. The listener does not need to know much about the speaker in order to interpret the context because the context of the meaning of the conversation is on the surface while the meaning of the conversation is embedded in the way the message is presented in many other cultures. Although the language of international business is English, the trouble with accents and fluency may lead to deep frustration and misunderstanding because of nonnative speakers’ accents, problems with translation or usage and lack of fluency would also influence the perceptions of status and competence. A challenge inherent in multicultural team with differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority is that by design, teams have a rather flat structure. But team members from some cultures that people are treated differently according to their status in an organization probably are uncomfortable on flat teams. If they defer to higher status team members then their behavior will be seen as appropriate when most of the team members are came from a hierarchical culture; but they may damage their stature and credibility and even face humiliation if most of the team members are came from an egalitarian culture. Cultures differ enormously when it comes to decision making due to the conflicting norms for decision making particularly on how much analysis is required beforehand and how quickly the decisions should be made. American managers like to make decisions very quickly and with little analysis relatively when compared to the managers from other countries that may also be the challenge too. Task 6 Management Approach The four profiles are Village Market Well oiled machine Family or tribe Pyramid of people Ethical considerations: Managers and companies need to access how different spheres of cultural influence contribute to ethnical behavior. Ethical considerations could include such things as ‘harsh capitalism’ which could include laying off workers, breakdown of psychological contract, corruption, codes of conduct, and the Sullivan Principles. Common rationalizations in explaining unethical behavior can be: It is not really illegal or immoral It serves the best interest of the individual or company It is safe because it will never be found out or publicized The activity helps the company and therefore it will be condoned and protected References: Brett J., Behfar K. Kern M.C. (2006) Harvard Business Review[online]. Available from:http://web.gsm.uci.edu/~kbehfar/Behfar-HBR%202006.pdf [Accessed 27 July 2008] Business Expectation Statistics Section, Census and Statistics Department. (2007a). Hong Kong Statistics – Statistical Tables [online]. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Available from: http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistical_tables/index.jsp?htmlTableID=133excelID=134chartID=tableID=133ID=subjectID=5 [Accessed 29 June 2008] Business Expectation Statistics Section, Census and Statistics Department. (2007b). Hong Kong Statistics – Statistical Tables [online]. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Available from: http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistical_tables/index.jsp?htmlTableID=134excelID=chartID=tableID=134ID=subjectID=5 CIPD. (2008) Employee Relations: an overview [online]. Available from: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/general/emprelsovr.htm [Accessed 13 July 2008] Eretz, M. and Early, P.C. (1993) Culture, Self-identity, and Work, New York: Oxford University Press. I-Change. (2008) Multicultural teamwork Communication[online]. Available from: (http://www.i-change.biz/multiculturalteamworkcommunication.php [Accessed 27 July 2008] Janis, I.L. (1971) Victims of Groupthink, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Kets de Vries, M. and Mead, C. (1992) Development of the global leader, in V. Pucik, N. Ticy and C.Barnett (eds) Globalizing Management, New York: John Wiley, pp.194-205 Pennings, J.M. (1993) Executive reward systems: A cross – national comparison,, Journal of Management Studies, 30(2), pp.261-80, p.264. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, pp.24-6, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, pp.26-7, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.29, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.30, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.31, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.124, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.151, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.165, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.167, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.168, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, pp.168-70, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, pp.190-1, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.192, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd Cross Cultural Awareness in Management Cross Cultural Awareness in Management Task 1 The FIVE most important competencies for managing internationally in my country, Hong Kong, for these three American managers of TDS are: Interpersonal Skills – If this is not the most important skill of all, it is the crucial one. This skill helps the expatriate managers to establish relationships, coordinate with others, satisfying the needs for friendship and intimacy when they are abroad. It also helps in building trust and form relationships with the people around them. The expatriate managers are often experiencing uncertainties and getting stressed when dealing things with work and personal life in a new environment. So with good interpersonal skills will be able to reduce the stress coming from every angle. Referring to a recent book (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 190-1), the primary selection of many companies for the expatriate managers in practice is their track records on reaching their targets or getting their jobs done. Companies also would like to send those that are eager to climb further on their career ladders or those with technical or conceptual abilities instead of those with interpersonal skills abroad. These expatriates are often too focused on their personal agenda to make things happen and ignore the pressure that are given to the local staffs which would create tension at work. Moreover, feelings of mistrust and resentment of the local staffs towards the head office will also be exacerbated. Therefore, interpersonal skills should be taken into account when the American managers are being chosen to manage in a foreign country like Hong Kong. Motivation to live abroad – It is a key factor for the expatriate managers and their families to adapt into the local culture successfully (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 192). Basically they should have real interests in the country they will live in, in order to have the curiosity to get to know it better and experience it well. It is the desire that makes them easier to understand the culture with ease. Patience and respect – Different countries have different cultures so it is necessary that the international managers have the patience and respect when dealing with the new culture. It takes time to cope and learn the differences between the culture at home and the culture of the new place so the international managers should be patient (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 193). They also need to have respect for the local of how the things happen in some ways when dealing with different circumstances in any aspects. Cultural empathy – This is a not skill that can be easily acquired because it is deeply rooted in someone’s character to have the mentality of empathy for others with cultural differences (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 193). It is required in order to respect the local staffs by the international managers to be a good listener to focus on what they have to say. Being non-judgmental is also important for those managers to be able to understand others’ points of views. The psychological development of a human being allows narcissism to be evolved to a point that interfere the capacity for empathy (Kets de Vries, M. and Mead, C. 1992). Managers that are narcissistic usually are self- centred and think that others are paltry or just the extensions of their own. They make the values of others hard to be recognized, let alone appreciate, because they see others as objects or tools for them to get what they want in order to achieve their goals and they also think of others as the mirrors to reflect their own glory. This type of managers would use all their efforts to prove their worth instead of considering the needs and the existing values of the other staffs. Flexibility, tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity – These managers also need to have the flexibility, tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. Changing circumstances that are unexpected makes the managers face with thread of uncertainty and ambiguity because the reactions and the behaviors of the local staffs may be unpredictable. Managers are intended to reinforce greater controls and restrict on the information flow when they face this kind of tread especially during an international assignment (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 192-3). It often results in a stereotypical response and not well adapted to the situation on hands. Although it is difficult for the managers that are usually awarded by being in charged and staying on top of things, expatriates need to ‘go with the flow’ and let go of control. Everyone doesn’t always need to go by the book because actions are often taken base on insufficient, unreliable or/ and conflicting information. Task 2 Controlling model and Adapting model are the names and characteristics of two specific models of strategy related to cultural assumptions and approaches in adapting to external environment as discussed in the literature. The differences between controlling and adapting approaches are described below: Controlling model is based on active search that is focused and systematic. The planning system of the controlling approach is formalized and centralized using expert consultants to assist in devising strategy. The information being used by the controlling method is objective, quantitative and impersonal also interpreting information relies on formal models and methods like strategic forecasting with scenario planning. The people involve in this model are those from the top management or the experts of the particular area. The decisions for the controlling approach would be made by the top management and pass down to be implemented. The strategic goals and action plans are clearly defined, articulated and it would be explicitly measured and rewarded in this controlling method. As it assumes that the environment is known to reduce environmental uncertainty. This approach is usually sequential and short term (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 124). Adapting model is broad, sporadic, decentralized and mostly based on monitoring. It is the opposite from the controlling model, informal and decentralized. The adapting approach is personal, subjective and qualitative; the information would be interpreted by some informal methods with discussions and debate. It would have the employees involved from all across the ranks. The decisions for the adapting approach would be made by the front lines staffs, neither the people from top management nor the experts. The strategic goals tend to emerge and action plans are broad, implicit and vaguely monitored. Also it assumes that the environment cannot be readily known or controlled. This approach is long term and simultaneous (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 124). The model of adapting approach is more appropriate in this situation with TDS because TDS is new to town and not quite familiar with the culture and environment in Hong Kong. Also the environment cannot be controlled or readily known, it would be wise to have the responsibilities to be diffused throughout the organization to make all the staffs from different ranks to get involved. Strategic direction tends to emerge when different people come with different perspective on the business point of view. The implementation should be locally determined to keep it within this strategic frame. Strategy can be refined on an ongoing basis and the adjustments can be made to any unexpected circumstances. TDS should be flexible in order to deal with any sort of unforeseen events or sudden change in any situation. A broad scan is needed in case of any subtle change in the environment and also accountability should be assigned to the collective too because everyone is involved to contribute to make things happen. Task 3 The Five methods of discovery that I would recommend to the three American managers transferring into my country, Hong Kong, are: Architecture and design – According to a recent book (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 24-6) the most obvious artifact is the architecture and design of the building when you enter the organization. In the United States, most of the office design would be opened space with partitioned off by half walls with each individual cubicles personalized by personal interested items such as photos, plants or aphorisms. By not being able to see each other directly allows a sense of privacy to be established. Also opened doors are usually signaled as accessible and available while closed doors are indicated as a sign of privacy desire in the United States. To the contrary, Japanese prefer to have some of the walls knocked off so informal communication would not be inhibited. On the other hand, Germans experience difficulty to work in an open-plan office due they feel it is lack of privacy. Although Hong Kong has a majority of 95 percent Chinese people according to a website (The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, 2008), and was also a British colony for over 150 years, the main business partner of its own is still the United States as shown by the figures provided from the Business Expectation Statistics Section, Census and Statistics Department, (2007a) (2007b). Therefore, most of the office design in Hong Kong is followed to the same style as those in the United States. Greeting rituals – In the United States, the greeting rituals are tended to be paid less attention according to a recent book (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 26-7). But for the other countries, the protocol is taken quite seriously. There are different forms of way in greetings such as showing respect by exchanging and inspecting business cards in Japan, greeting individual by name, shaking hands and making eye contact by French. The degree of body contact expected in greeting creates a fair amount of confusion in another part of the rituals too. In the United States, people might greet others with a hug even when the acquaintanceship is ordinary. In some countries like France, kissing hello and goodbye are common while people from countries like Hong Kong might feel uncomfortable and uneasy about it. According to a website (The Economist Newspaper Limited, 2008), handshaking followed by an immediate swapping of business cards is the most common form of greeting in Hong Kong. Dress Codes – It is another cultural artifact varies from the degree of formality. Schneider Barsoux (2003, 29) pointed out that Anglo and Asian managers do not want to get too much attention or stand out by the way they dress while the Latin managers really care about their personal style. Moreover, corporate dress seems to be color coded in some countries. For example in the United Kingdom, some women are advised not to wear suits and dresses in bright color to work such as red and some bankers of a Dutch bank even avoid to wear suits in brown. It also signals task orientation. In the United States, rolled up shirt sleeves is considered as a signal of hard working while in France means ‘relaxing on the job’. Not to mention that some US companies have designated days to encourage people to appear in casual clothes at work such as Fridays. According to a website (World Business Culture, 2008), dress codes differ base on the size of company and industry sector in Hong Kong. Men mostly wear dark suits, shirts and ties while women wear conservative suits and dresses. Trousers and causal wear are tended to be worn only on informal occasions or designated days. Written versus verbal contracts – In different parts of the world people have different definitions toward the sealed business agreements as mentioned in a recent book (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 30). In some places, one’s word means more than a legal document while others need to put down all the details on a paper in black and white. Problems would appear when the contracts are expected by the head office to be signed, sealed and delivered from a place where one’s reputation and honor are way more valuable than some legal documents. Figures from Schneider Barsoux (2003, 30) for the estimated numbers of lawyers per capita of some countries like United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan reflect the differences on expectations. American managers will bring it to the legal department to retrieve whenever a business deal has been fell through while some other countries would sort things out through the relationship. Since Hong Kong is a Common Law Jurisdiction like most of the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2008a), people most likely to expect to have a written contract over a business deal. Criteria for success – It depends on the importance of stakeholders whether it is the benefit of the shareholders, the customers or the employees. Beliefs and values differ when there are different stakeholders; there are different criteria for success. Schneider Barsoux (2003, 31) claimed that American companies only exist for the benefit of the shareholders. This might be disagreed in Japan or even shock the Japanese as they believe customers have the divine rights. Some countries in Europe such as Germany or Sweden believe that the employees have the divine rights instead. Although all these factors are crucial to the business success, you still need to have a closer look to the cultural preferences in different countries like Hong Kong. Task 4 In my opinion, the key functions for managing people and human resource management are recruitment and selection, compensation and rewards, employee relations, and career development. Recruitment and selection – This can be the most challenging and important function for managing people and human resource management. It is because finding ‘the right people for the right job’ is essential. It is often a challenge as well especially when the nature of the local labor market or the available human resources is not familiar. The company needs to understand how to access the local labor pool in order to get the equivalent people to work for the company. So finding those candidates who have the abilities and requirements to finish the task and get the job done is also hard and essential, not to mention to get those who seem to likely match with the existing corporate culture. Moreover, the standard profile of one country might be very different from another in terms of representation and the differences in education systems also play a part to make the selection difficult in selecting which person fits the profile for the job (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 151). Compensation and rewards – The cultural differences play a role when it comes to determine the terms of reward and who gets it. Different cultures have different type of value in relations to the reward and vary to the extent in the belief that reward should be collective or individual. Pay for performance is assumed to be based on contribution or ‘equity’ instead of the belonging to the group or ‘equality’ (Eretz and Early, 1993). In the contractual view of employment, the notions of equity, ‘you get what you deserve’, are embedded while the notions of equality, ‘you deserve what you get’, correspond to the social view (Pennings, 1993). According to Susan Barsoux (2003, 165), the current trend of linking salary payment to working performances is especially suspect to be cultural related. It has been discovered that in some countries like France, it would be shocked for the French executives to have clearly stated quantifiable objective relating increased performances to increased bonus. It is because the French executives found that discussion about money and finance is such a turned off. It also provoked outcries when the merit pay was attempted to be introduced in Japan. It created uproar as the Japanese executives were scared that it would ruin the harmony of the group and might also encourage short term thinking especially when the employees only focus on the performance in order to get the bonus. On the other hand, the dominant influence in American managerial thinking is the principle of equity that each one should be rewarded based on the solely contribution by that particular person. Nowadays in the view towards team management that demands group cooperation instead of competition among individuals finds the merit-based pay in the United States demotivating (Susan Barsoux, 2003, 167). The preference between financial or non financial incentives is also related to the culture. The motivating potential of money, status, vacation time is also affected and changed across countries. Swedish would prefer to have some time off rather than a bonus because they are more concerned with the quality of life and monetary rewards are less motivating while giving time off might seem to have not much point in Japan when most of the employees only take half of their holiday entitlement (Susan Barsoux, 2003, 167). So the internationally operated companies should learn to appreciate the different values and evaluate the potential impact as well because the remuneration package is a very strong indicator of the culture and the behavior expected and also can be used in order to encourage cooperation or competition, risk taking or conservatism, and information sharing or information hoarding. The remuneration package is also a very important signal when it comes to aspiring recruits. When the company wants to attract local elite, it can choose to align itself with the local norms or the alien one when the preference of the company changes to attract the less mainstream or adventurous or those that are frustrated with the local practices and looking to be rewarded for their efforts and success (Susan Barsoux, 2003, 168). Employee relations – It is important to have a good relations and mutual understanding between the management and the staffs of the company. Any staff grievances of the company should be dealt with and well listened to in order to promote a harmony environment. An open dialogue is needed to be promoted between the management and the unions of the company to eliminate any conflicts or fictions that may occur between the staffs and the management specially when there is a new implementation of company policies. Also the employees’ political standing should be respected and well listened to especially when it is toward the company policy and issues. Good employee relations help increasing the engagement of the employees to the company so as their commitment and involvement as well. It also helps with the staff retention which is necessary for a company setting up in a new country like TDS (CIPD, 2008). Career development – National culture has an impact on career development and the natures of the managerial tasks on what management should do or be are depended on assumptions of being versus doing. The determinants for success varies across cultures when some places have it based on achieving results like the United States while in the United Kingdom having good interpersonal skills and personal connections are the keys for success at the career front. Favored career paths also differ culturally and it is bound up with cultural assumptions regarding the importance of the individual versus loyalty to the company, doing versus being, and tolerance for uncertainty. So a multinational company should make sure that the perceptions of what it takes to get to the top and the patterns of career development would include people with different skills, abilities, knowledge and perspectives (Susan Barsoux, 2003, 168 -70). With the references to managing people and HRM, I feel the four department managers, two from the United States and two from Hong Kong, should focus on during their first three months is selection because it is vital to get the right people for the right job in any organization (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 151). Local talent may have different types of abilities, skills, knowledge and strength owing to the national values differences placed on the education so it is also a challenge to get the right people who fit the requirement for the particular job and also fit with the company culture. The managers should consider the differences in attitude towards the hiring practices in Hong Kong and also the cultural differences will influence on how to recruit as well. So getting access to the local labor pool to get the people that match with the job criteria is important too. Therefore, selection should be focused by four department managers for the first three months to get the right people in place and help them to adjust and fit into a new culture and way of life in order to make the launch of TDS in Hong Kong a success. The trade unions in the United Kingdom has a culture as a collective bargaining tool with management while the one in the United States has more of a hire and fire culture. In Hong Kong, there are four trade unions and the largest one among them is the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions and their main slogans are patriotism, solidarity, right, welfare and participation (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2008b). Although the unions in Hong Kong are focused on the rights and welfares of the workers as much as those in the United Kingdom and the United States but they are still at the stage of establishing as the largest unions in Hong Kong was founded in 1948 while those in United Kingdom have been existed for over 100 years like the General Federation of Trade Unions (UK) (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2008c) and so as those in the United States like the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations was founded in 1886 (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2008d). Since the United States is the biggest trade business partners of Hong Kong, most of the companies would contain the culture of the United States to remain individual. Task 5 The benefits of creating and working within the context of a multicultural team are given the larger complexity and speed of change in the international business environment. It seems obvious that bringing people together from different cultures enhance the quality of decisions taken. These multinational cultures contribute a greater range of perspectives and options with even more successful marketing strategies and ideas to attract different types of customers. It can also provide a different or new way of looking at the old or existing problems and help to promote the chances for greater innovation and creativity with the cultural differences as well (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 218). Combining people from different cultural backgrounds also benefits the organization integration and learning so as the managerial development. It improves lateral networks for the communication and information flow. Also when bringing the people with the different cultural backgrounds together, it can be a solution to help minimize the risk of uniformity and pressures for conformity which can appear in the company when there are too many like minded people working at the same company together at the same time (Janis, 1971). Also teams that are composed by members with different profiles are far more effective than teams that are made by the best and the brightest performers or with the members who are having the similar profiles. Teams that have included a mixture of members with profiles of different areas performed better as they have the balance of roles. Different cultures have different assumptions toward the business issues and also have different ideas about the reasons of teams. So that to share information and discuss about any problem at work with people from different cultural background would often generate greater results in a dynamic way. Furthermore to the benefit of the combination with people from different cultures background would enhance the productivity for the organization. The challenges of creating and working within the context of a multicultural team are that bringing people together from different cultures is given more ambiguity and uncertainty in decision making. Also it would be much more complex in the organization from the procession to implementation due to the cultural differences in assumptions. People with different cultural backgrounds work together might create interpersonal conflict and communication problems at work. Also it would create greater potential for frustration and dissatisfactions that might lead to higher turnover of team members within the group (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 231). The choice of language using within the multicultural team might also creates friction and misunderstanding especially when the native language for the three American managers is English while the native language for the local managers is Chinese, there is a huge scope for misunderstandings that could hamper the cohesion and effectiveness of the team no matter how fluent the local managers could speak in English (I-change, 2008). According to the personal upbringing and values, technical background and training, and also the national backgrounds can distort and filter the messages in many layers of meaning within a multicultural team that can lead to further misunderstanding and frustrations. Barriers would also be created for the multicultural team due to the direct versus indirect communication; trouble with accents and fluency; differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority and so as the conflicting norms for decision making (Brett, Behfar Kern, 2006). Direct versus indirect communication is that in western cultures, the communication is typically direct and explicit. The listener does not need to know much about the speaker in order to interpret the context because the context of the meaning of the conversation is on the surface while the meaning of the conversation is embedded in the way the message is presented in many other cultures. Although the language of international business is English, the trouble with accents and fluency may lead to deep frustration and misunderstanding because of nonnative speakers’ accents, problems with translation or usage and lack of fluency would also influence the perceptions of status and competence. A challenge inherent in multicultural team with differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority is that by design, teams have a rather flat structure. But team members from some cultures that people are treated differently according to their status in an organization probably are uncomfortable on flat teams. If they defer to higher status team members then their behavior will be seen as appropriate when most of the team members are came from a hierarchical culture; but they may damage their stature and credibility and even face humiliation if most of the team members are came from an egalitarian culture. Cultures differ enormously when it comes to decision making due to the conflicting norms for decision making particularly on how much analysis is required beforehand and how quickly the decisions should be made. American managers like to make decisions very quickly and with little analysis relatively when compared to the managers from other countries that may also be the challenge too. Task 6 Management Approach The four profiles are Village Market Well oiled machine Family or tribe Pyramid of people Ethical considerations: Managers and companies need to access how different spheres of cultural influence contribute to ethnical behavior. Ethical considerations could include such things as ‘harsh capitalism’ which could include laying off workers, breakdown of psychological contract, corruption, codes of conduct, and the Sullivan Principles. Common rationalizations in explaining unethical behavior can be: It is not really illegal or immoral It serves the best interest of the individual or company It is safe because it will never be found out or publicized The activity helps the company and therefore it will be condoned and protected References: Brett J., Behfar K. Kern M.C. (2006) Harvard Business Review[online]. Available from:http://web.gsm.uci.edu/~kbehfar/Behfar-HBR%202006.pdf [Accessed 27 July 2008] Business Expectation Statistics Section, Census and Statistics Department. (2007a). Hong Kong Statistics – Statistical Tables [online]. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Available from: http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistical_tables/index.jsp?htmlTableID=133excelID=134chartID=tableID=133ID=subjectID=5 [Accessed 29 June 2008] Business Expectation Statistics Section, Census and Statistics Department. (2007b). Hong Kong Statistics – Statistical Tables [online]. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Available from: http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistical_tables/index.jsp?htmlTableID=134excelID=chartID=tableID=134ID=subjectID=5 CIPD. (2008) Employee Relations: an overview [online]. 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