Virtual Teams

The business is an international NGO called The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that works on issues regarding the conservation,research and restoration of the environment.

WWF is one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, acting locally through a network of over 90 offices in over 40 countries around the world. It is an independent foundation registered under Swiss law. The central secretariat for the network (called WWF International) is located in Gland, Switzerland.

MesserWoland. WWF Logo. 2008.  Retrieved on May 10, 2011 from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WWF_logo.svg 

WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of our planet's natural environment, and build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature.Since 1985, WWF has invested over US$1,300 million in more than 11,000 projects in more than 100 countries. WWF runs about 1,300 projects at any one time.In carrying out its work, WWF cooperates with many partners, including UN organizations, IUCN, and development agencies such as USAID and the World Bank. WWF also works with business & industry partners. Individuals contribute 60% of WWF's income.

Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world, with high living standards and with diverse linguistic and cultural regions: German, French, and Italian with a strong sense of belonging to the country founded on the common historical background, shared values (federalism, direct democracy, neutrality) and Alpines symbolism.

Traditionally, Switzerland avoids alliances that might entail military, political, or direct economic action and this neutrality is the reason for the unusual number of international institutions that have their seats there.

Switzerland has one of the best environmental records among nations in the developed world, part of lots of organizations and treaties and with politics that allow them to be for example one of the top recyclers in the world.

Virtual Teams. Retrieved on May 15, 2011 from:
http://www.businesscapturemastery.com/proposal-writing-with-virtual-teams  

Mongolia is an Asian developing country with an economy based on agriculture and mining. Mongolia has rich mineral resources, and copper, coal, molybdenum, tin, tungsten, and gold account for a large part of industrial production. Despite growth, the proportion of the population below the poverty line is around 30%, being a considerable percentage. As a result of rapid urbanization and industrial growth policies Mongolia's deteriorating environment has become a major concern. The deterioration of the environmental situation is rooted in the irresponsible conflict of interests, the lack of coordination among the member implicated, the inadequate monitoring of natural resource conditions and the lack of serious and respected environmental regulations.  

Siebdrat, F., Hoegl M. & Ernst, H. 2009. How To Manage Virtual Teams.
Article MIT Loan management review. Retrieved on May 12 from:
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/the-magazine/2009-summer/50412/how-to-manage-virtual-teams/ 

n this order of ideas, Switzerland could be a useful partner to transfer environmental practices to Mongolia. But is not as simple as it sound, because their hugest differences in technologies, time zones, cultural differences, knowledge transfer could be a source of misunderstandings. First of all there are located in two different continents with a different time zone (6 hours) and different languages  which would make complicated the agreement on the development of communication. Cultural differences could generate differences in the group member’s willingness and ability to collaborate with each other and also the development of trust among them. Both countries have notorious differences in their technology development, which could make harder the compatibility between the tools that are use to communicate and the availability of such tools. 

ASSIGNMENT GOAL	DESCRIPTION (Hypothetical Case)
Audience	Managers
Purpose	Define a recycling project to develop in Mongolia by the supervision and coordination of the Switzerland branch.
Deadlines and deliverables	Each member must send to the other a project proposal before the date of the virtual meeting. In the virtual meeting there’s going to be a discussion to define the project. After a period of one week the proposal must be defined and ready to be started.
Content	The meeting will be directed by the manager of the Switzerland branch.
Evaluation	Accomplishment of the definition of the project by the date proposed.
Resources	Skype and email.

REFERENCES:

The World Wide Fund for Nature web site. Retrieved on May 10, 2011 from: http://wwf.panda.org/ 

Communication

Non Verbal Communication. 2009. Retrieved on May 12 from:
http://maxatkinson.blogspot.com/2009/07/non-verbal-communication.html 

Non verbal communication includes any kind of communication without using words, and constitutes a big percentage of what we communicate. Facial expression, head or eye movements, hand signals, and body postures are some of the ways of nonverbal communication. All cultures make us of nonverbal communication, but the meaning differ across cultures. 

According to Hofstede cultural dimension, the differences in non verbal communication can be described as follow: 

• Immediacy and expressiveness: demonstrate availability for communication.  High immediacy cultures are called contact cultures, and are mostly located in warm-temperature areas like Arab countries.  
• Individualism vs. Collectivism: Individualistic cultures tend to remote and display less non-verbal communication, on the other side collectivistic cultures stress cohesion as a group and spend time in close proximity to one another. 
• Masculinity: Women in low-masculinity cultures show more synchrony in their movement than those in high-masculinity cultures. 
• Power distance: high-power distance cultures tend to be more “untouchable” and be more tense in subordinates’ body movement, tend to smile more for subordinates to appease superiors or to be polite, and tend to be more aware that vocal loudness may be offensive to others. 
• High and low context: in high context cultures people tend to be more implicit in verbal codes, perceive highly verbal persons less attractive, tend to be more reliant on and tuned into non-verbal communication, and expect to have more non-verbal codes in communication.  

 In this order of ideas, lets see some examples described by De-hua & Hu in their publication "Nonverbal language in cross-cultural communication"

Non verbal communication. Retrieved on May 14 from:
http://www.timmersgems.com/ztnoh.php?bjqt=Chinese-Nonverbal-Communication 

• Body language: Researchers found wide variations in this aspect, even with such universal rituals as nodding agreement and greeting friends. Example: In Italy, Colombia, and China, people may wave good-bye by moving the palm and fingers back and forth, a gesture that more likely means “come here” in the United States. But in Malaysia, beckoning someone by moving the forefingers back and forth would be taken as an insult.
• Body space and body touch: Various cultures have their own customs of different distance that make their people feel comfortable in personal conversation situations. The way human beings space themselves is determined by their culture and the particular relationships involved. Example: Chinese do many more touches than Americans. It is quite usual for the Chinese to walk hand in hand between the same sex. But in America, friends with the same sex never keep such a close distance. Such kind of behavior is considered homosexual in the west and is strongly disgusted.
• Paralanguage: The vocal cues that accompany spoken language like the pitch, speed, volume, pause and silence. People use the basic elements to transfer the emotional and intellectual meanings of their messages. Example: Different traditions view silence much differently. Chinese people value silence more than the use of words, many of them believe that inner peace and wisdom come only through silence, just as the old sayings “Silence is gold”; “Silence speaks louder than sound”, etc. But in American culture, Americans tend to think there is no communication in silence. For instance, in response to the question “Will you marry me”, silence in America would be interpreted as uncertainty; while in China it would be interpreted as acceptance. 

Many nonverbal expressions vary from culture to culture, and what is accepted in one culture may be completely unacceptable in another making in some cases the nonverbal communication as a source of misunderstanding. 

REFERENCES: 

• Kirch, M. 1979. Non-Verbal Communication across Cultures. The Modern Language Journal Vol. 63, No. 8 (Dec., 1979), pp. 416-423. Retrieved on May 11, 2011 from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/326027
• Culture and non verbal communication.  [WWW page]. Retrieved on May 13, 2011 from: http://www.cba.uni.edu/buscomm/nonverbal/culture.htm
• De-hua, W. & Hui, L. 2007. Nonverbal language in cross-cultural communication. Sino-US English Teaching, Volume 4, No.10 (Serial No.46). Retrieved on May 15, 2011 from: http://www.linguist.org.cn/doc/su200710/su20071016.pdf          

The role of workers + migrant workers + expatriates

World. Retrieved on May16, 2011 from:
http://www.bhbl.org/charlton/chhistory/CHhistory.htm 

“From an advertisement found in China in the mid 1800s:

Americans are very rich people. They want the Chinaman to come and will make him very welcome. There you will have great pay, large houses, and food and clothing of the finest description. You can write to your friends and send them money at any time, and we will be responsible for the safe delivery.... There are a great many Chinamen there now, and it will not be a strange country. Chinagod is there, and the agents of this house. Never fear and you will be lucky. Come to Hong Kong, or to the sign of this house in Canton, and we will instruct you.

Money is in great plenty and to spare in America". 

From Linda Perrin, Coming to America: Immigrants from the Far East, (New York: Dell Publishing Co. Inc., 1980), pp.7-8.

Immigration USA. 2010. Retrieved on May 12, 2011 from:
http://www.frugal-cafe.com/public_html/frugal-blog/frugal-cafe-blogzone/2010/04/24/tough-arizona-illegal-immigration-law-igniting-controversy-liberals-smear-campaign-begins-70-of-az-residents-support-it-video/

REFERENCES:

Macalester College. Immigration case studies. Retrieved on May 9, 2011 from: www.macalester.edu/geography/mage/teachers/.../as_case_studies.pdf 

Organisational learning + Change + Conflict

Nowadays, due to the global competition and the increased customer sophistication, organizational learning has been becoming not only a need but also an essential pillar for the survival of organizations. 

O’Keeffe proposes an interesting set of characteristics that must develop an organization to be a learning one and how each contribute to the effective learning.

But this is not an easy process is a challenge that not all organizations achieve to manage or do in the proper way. In many cases organizational culture become a barrier to develop OL, because it requires a culture that encourage, support and facilitate transformation and learning. This requires that the three culture that are present in an organization, the operator, engineering and executive (Sceien, 1996), align themselves with the same objectives, achieving mutual understanding and promote trust, openness and communication among them in order to make the learning initiatives on lived. 

Randy, G. Social learning blog. [Cartoon]. Available at:
http://www.dashe.com/blog/social-learning/brain-rules-for-learning-who-knew

Examples of some organisational learning practices:

• Johnsonvile Foods’: policy of giving each employee one day a year to spend with an employee in another department.
• Toyota Canada: departments invite employees from other departments into their monthly meeting and take staff on tours if the company.
• Honda: requires each manager to exchange each jobs for a two-week period with a counterpart in another function.
• General Motors: plants performance evaluations include an item on networking that encourages the integration of information.

 REFERENCES:

• Dixon N. (1999). The organizational learning cycle: how we can learn collectively. Second Edition. Gower Publishing. Retrieved on May 6, 2011 from: http://books.google.com/books?id=gTn1rJFSOm0C&dq=organizational+learning&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s
• Singh, Kavita. 2010. "An Analysis of Relationship between the Learning Organization and Organization Culture in Indian Business Organizations". Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies. Vol. 1  (1): 142-165.
• Ted O’Keeffe, (2002) "Organisational learning: a new perspective", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 26 Iss: 2/3/4, pp.130 – 141. May 2, 2011. DOI: 10.1108/03090590210422012 

Leadership styles and Convergence

¿How does organizational leaders should behave in cross cultural environments?

Leaders working in cross cultural environments, need to have a clear and deep understanding of the concept of culture, with its multiple, fluid and dynamic elements, in order to develop cross-cultural skills and create an ability to work with diversity.

They also should construct a leadership based in cooperation, instead in competition, in this way it would create an environment in which everyone can accept their cultural differences as an advantage, in which diversity favors creativity for the consecution of the common goal of the organization.

They should create a level of cultural sensitiveness that help the to develop understanding and intercultural communication.

Leaders are also required to become transformative agents, inspiring and motivating others to higher levels of performance.  

They have a duty to mediate between groups, to help them discern their differences and be proactive in the creation of new cultural solutions that engage diversity and readdress  motivation.  

Diversity. Retrieved on March 2011 from:
http://www.hrvoice.org/

One model that gather the previous characteristics in a simple and effective way is the XLQ model. The XLQ model present an effective model to understand the main dimensions which, leaders working in cross cultural environments, should develop in order to be successful.The theory is based in seven attributes, a weakness in some of them will result in a reduction of the leader’s effectiveness: Trust, transformation, communication, power, empathy, culture and conflict management.

XLQ Model. Retrieved on March 2011 from:
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1769232&show=html

"The hub of the steering wheel is trust, without it, leadership cannot function. The spokes of the wheel are transformation, communication, power, and empathy. The wheel itself is culture for without the effective use and coordination with the other aspects, the wheel would in fact not be a wheel, and would be ineffective. The lubricant for the wheel is conflict management. Conflict can be used to stimulate creativity, but if not managed can cause enough friction so that the wheel cannot turn. The wheel also assumes that the leader has knowledge of each component of the wheel, and of the destination or goal of the drive"1.

REFERENCES

1.Grisham, T. & Walker, D. (2008) Cross-cultural leadership. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, Vol. 1 Iss: 3, pp.439 – 445. Online publication March 4. DOI : 10.1108/17538370810883873

Collard, J. (2007) Constructing theory for leadership in intercultural contexts. Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 45 Iss: 6, pp.740 – 755. Online publication March 4. DOI : 10.1108/09578230710829919

Decision making + Ethical behavior in international business

1. What does the statement “all capitalism is crony capitalism” is referring to? Do you agree with this statement or not? Give an example.

The statement “all capitalism is crony capitalism” is referring to the condition in which every economy based in capitalism, is an economy in which success in business depends on the relationships between business people and government entities. The relationships are not base on quality or merit, but on the posture that their result be mutual advantageous for the interest of both parties, influencing the economy and the society.

In the worst of the cases, this deformation of capitalism can create a situation in which the taxes are used to pay overpriced good and services of favored suppliers.

Nowadays, in an era in which the corporations are increasing more and more their social and economical power, the maximization of value for their shareholders and the pursuit of money at any cost is becoming the rule for business, this statement provides a suitable description of what capitalism has become. A very popular example is the case of Enron. Let see the next articles:

"Enron used revenues –not profits- as its primary financial objective, performance drivers and measure of success. Enron’s use of distorted, “hyper-inflated” revenues was more important to it in creating the impression of innovation, high growth and spectacular business performance that the masking of debt in special purpose entities"¹

'Cronyism' made in USA

Enron used creative accounting practices to dress up profits and conceal losses. When the managers saw disaster looming, they sold off their shares at a profit. Those footing the bill were the employees, their pension fund and all investors without insider connections.

Before the bankruptcy, the firm had been politically 'connected' on all sides. Enron made huge contributions to Bush Jr's election campaign. Eighty-five per cent of Congress members received Enron funds. The corporation favoured the Republicans, but also backed the laissez-faire wing of the Democratic Party. Last year Enron contributed decisively to writing the Bush Government's national energy plan and placed its own people in key positions in the administration.²

1. Dharan, B. & Bufkins, W. Red Flags in Enron’s Reporting Of Revenues and Key Financial Measures. Retrieved form: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bala/files/dharan-bufkins_enron_red_flags.pdf

2. Daily News (2002). Lessons from the Enron scandal : Crony capitalism everywhere. P. Niggli. Features. July 16, 2002. Retrieved from: http://www.dailynews.lk/2002/07/16/fea03.html

2. What is a Banana Republic? Why the author is comparing India with a Banana Republic?

Banana Republic is a republic ruled by the crony capitalism, in which the power is concentrated and ruled by a small, self-elected and wealthy group of people. "The purpose of a banana republic is commercial profit by collusion between the State and favoured monopolies, whereby the profits derived from private exploitation of public lands is private property, and the debts incurred are public responsibility".

America The Banana Republic. Retrieved on march 2011 from: 

 http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/10/hitchens200810

The author is comparing India with a Banana Republic, because the power is concentrated in a small group of people, the corporates (even the media is a corporation). They manage and manipulate things around India to their convenience and for their benefit, also with the cooperation and participation of some government officials. As is show in the article: “Large contracts being awarded, conditions of contracts becoming a little vague, eligibility of capability being abused”.

3. Why is it problematic that in the business world “The Media” becomes a corporation?

The media has the objective to inform and educate through the information they give and the interpretation they place over this information, influencing the perception that people have from diverse topics.

As a corporation it main objective will be to earn profit for its owners, managing they power to favor certain group of people in their convenience. As a consequence the information and it interpretation they give to the public will be biased according to their interests, without considering the real issues that must be taken into account in a country.

Corporate Corruption. Retrieved on march 2011 from: http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/c/corporate_corruption.asp

4. In this situation, what behaviors are considered unethical for corporations, journalist and the state?

They all work based in their crony relationships managing the interests of a whole society, according to their own convenience. They put their economic and personal interests over the pubic interest and welfare of the society.

In the case of the journalists they distort the information to favor their own interests and relationships, not being loyal to their profession and to the people that follow their publications. As the author says: “The media are mostly stenographers to power, especially corporate power”.

In the case of the government they fail to provide its function as a protector of the public interest, instead they allow the existence of these crony relationship and in fact they are part of them. They “play” with the public resources of the State to favor a little group of powerful and wealthy people.

In the case of the corporations they manage the whole country at their convenience, manipulating the media (choosing for example the publication of an article regarding and issue or not, or a interpretation that must be done according to a specific issue) and the government (influencing some decision over the concession of certain contracts or the people that must be in certain politic positions) to gain as much profit as they can regardless of the cost for the “people of lesser power”. As the author says: “From pitching for licences, mines and spectrum using money and media power to pitching for ministerial candidates and portfolios by the same methods is not a huge leap”.

Do Corporations Have A Responsibility To Society? 

Retrieved on march 2011 from: http://rosemarysalum.blogspot.com/

  

5. What can The Media, Corporations and the States do in order to behave ethically and in the benefit of the people and not their own interest. Give at least 5 good ideas.  

I think more than the media, the corporations and the state are “the people of lesser power”, the ones that see all the consequences of the unethical behaviors, the ones who must do something to pressure the behavior of these entities to the common benefit. We must be critical with the information we receive everyday by the media, creating our own opinions, not believing everything they said and demanding them qualified and objective information. We also must be very selective with the products or services we chose, supporting those corporations that take seriously the social responsibility and contribute with the welfare of the society. And finally, be very strict with the government, demanding them the accomplishment of its functions and also participating actively in their decisions.  

·         The Media should be objective in the way they give and select the information they transmit, it should be information according to reality and useful for their spectators. For this, the media should not have participation or investment of other corporations, in order to avoid conflict of interests.

·         The Corporations should adopt mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility programs, investing a certain percentage of their revenues in the benefit of society.

·         The State should create more strict rules in which they regulate the media and corporations, for example demanding to the last one that a percentage of their revenues must be invest in SCR programs . Also they should not allow the participation of their members in Media or in the ownership of the corporations.

REFERENCES:

• The Hindu (2010) The Republic on a banana peel. P. Sainath. Opinion. December 3, 2010. Retrieved from: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article927895.ece?homepage=true
• Daily News (2002). Lessons from the Enron scandal : Crony capitalism everywhere. P. Niggli. Features. July 16, 2002. Retrieved from: http://www.dailynews.lk/2002/07/16/fea03.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crony_capitalism
• Dharan, B. & Bufkins, W. Red Flags in Enron’s Reporting Of Revenues and Key Financial Measures. Retrieved form: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bala/files/dharan-bufkins_enron_red_flags.pdf

The rise of multinational corporations (The Corporation)

1. How can we ensure corporations are held accountable for their actions “ethically” and “legally”?

In the latest years, due to the globalization forces, an unprecedented surge in the growth of multinational corporations is taking place, increasing their economic and social power to unimaginable levels. But the bigger the power the bigger the controversy around the price of this power, mainly on the ethic and legal schemes.

As a consequence, a contemporaneous trend is surging as a way to ensure corporations held accountable for their actions “ethically”, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This tendency is about making companies responsible for their corporate behavior with better business practices and using their resources in a way that benefit the community. However, this practice has not been completely effective, because:

Corporate Social Responsibility. 

Retrieved on march 2011 from: blog.acton.org

SR programs can bring many benefits in the states in which there are present, sometimes providing some things that the local government has fail to offer, but these can also be used as a way to hide their real situation.

CSR programs are still internal mechanisms, in which the corporation has the authority, making really complicated the evaluation of their effectiveness.   

In the other hand, the legal responsibility of the corporations is still a challenge, because due to the lack of an international legal framework that rule their behavior, there is always going to be an issue of jurisdiction in the decision of being legally responsible to the regulation of their home country or their host country.

The discrepancies in the resulting literature conclude the only real conclusion is that there is no transparent path to standardize to corporate citizenship.

2. Should individuals (directors, employees, shareholders) bear any responsibility for the actions of a corporation? If so, to what degree?

A corporation is defined as an artificial person, who´s existence is considered separate and distinct from its members. As a person it has rights and responsibilities, but these are artificial responsibilities, because we cannot say that something that is virtual or fictitious can make decisions and assume them. In the last term, the decisions are taken by the people that conform the corporation and in this sense are them the ones who must be responsible for their actions. Not only the ones who work for it, like their directors and employees, but also and in the same degree their shareholders. Because how it’s mentioned in the movie “The Corporation”, the final objective of the corporation is to maximize the value of their shareholders no matter the price, they don’t care by which means this is achieved, because the important is the money. 

3. What are the benefits of the corporate form? Could an alternative model offer these as well?

Under the law the corporation is consider as a legal entity, who´s existence is considered separate and distinct from its members, bringing:

·         Limited liability over the corporation’s debts or liabilities protecting the member’s personal assets.  

·         Corporate tax treatment, in which their members pay taxes separately and apart from the corporation.  

The stock structure under the corporation is constituted, make it:

·         Attractive opportunity to invest in.

·         Attractive for talented employees offering them ownership of the corporation through stocks. 

·         Flexible, because as shares can be transfer, it existence not depend on who the owners or investors are at any one time.

·         Its operational structure allow the establishment of a set of distinct and separately roles (shareholders, board of directors and officers), in which the shareholders don’t participate in the operations of the corporation.  

·         The existence of the corporation is determined only by its shareholders. They can decide when to dissolve it or merge with another business.

How a clerical error made corporations “people”. 

Retrieved on march 2011 from: hightowerlowdown.org

  

4. Search for a foreign multinational corporation that has operations in Colombia. Research if they are run under Colombian rules or regulations or if they have special regulations?

In the following news article we can see how some multinational corporations operating in Colombia have a special treatment in matters of regulations. In this case some oil consumer companies, under the Upme (Unidad de Planeación Minero-energética) resolution, received a “huge gift” by the government not charging them a global oil tax. Let see the article:  

http://www.elespectador.com/articulo-232802-denuncian-regalo-del-gobierno-trasnacionales-usa-de-combustibles 

5. Should economic efficiency (Main argument for privatization) be the primary concern for commons and public services? Are there other criteria to determine who should own or operate them?

Common and public services are the services that should be provided by government to all its citizens, regardless of income. According to these, the primary concern for the privatization of public services must be that they accomplish its function to be available for all, reducing it cost and improving the quality and efficiency. The public’s benefit must be upon the economic efficiency. To achieve this the privatization must occur under a framework in which the government and the corporation work together: They should consider which functions are going to be more effective under the government and under the private sector, it should be an adequate number of companies competing for the development of these functions and it should be regulated by detailed, concise and specific contracts that has rigorous control by the government through performance indicators. 

Fat Cat Water Privatization.
Retrieved on march 2011 from: lalinternadediogenes.wordpress.com

REFERENCES:

• Holland, C. 2010. Multinational Corporations and Global Governance: Is Corporate Social Responsibility Enough? A study of Chevron’s Yadana Gas Pipeline Operations in Burma. Covalence intern analyst papers, advance online publication March 4. DOI: http://www.ethicalquote.com/docs/MultinationalCorporationsandGlobalGovernance.pdf
• Bennet, J. 2002. Multinational Corporations, Social Responsibility and Conflict.  Journal of International Affairs, vol. 55, no. 2, advance online publication March 4. DOI: http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/57510/bennett_article.pdf
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Forming a Corporation. Advance online publication March 2. DOI: http://www.allbusiness.com/business-planning/business-structures-corporations/686-1.html
• Laguzza-Boosman, K. 2008. Does Privatization at the Federal Level Serve the Public Good?. Walden University, MMPA 6250-06. Online publication March 2. DOI: http://www.klbcommunityconsulting.com/DoesPrivatizationattheFederalLevelServethePublicGood.pdf
• El Espectador. 2010. Denuncian ‘regalo’ del Gobierno a transnacionales que usan combustibles. El Espectador. November 2: Politics.