Module 2 Study Guide PDF

Preview

Summary

study guide...

Description

MGT3001 Global Management

Module 2 Study Guide

Module 2 – Challenges for and responsibilities of global managers Introduction This second module continues our discussion of changes in global business environment in the first module by exploring challenges brought about by the changes for global managers. We will firstly review traditional management models and managerial roles managers are expected to play in those traditional management models. Then we shift our focus to the context of global management in terms of cultural environment, organisational environment and situational contingencies so as to understand demands and constraints surrounding a manager’s job. Based on an understanding of the context of global management, we try to reconfigure managerial roles and practices from a comparative cross-cultural perspective to understand the importance of matching managerial roles to local situations. Finally, we are going to discuss diversity in global assignments in terms of three categories of global managers: expatriates, frequent flyers, and virtual managers.

Principle learning objectives for Module 2 ●

Understand traditional management models and managerial roles.

●

Understand the three contexts of global management.

●

Reconsider management models and managerial roles from a cross-culture perspective.

●

Describe three categories of global managers so to understand diversity in global assignments.

●

Understand the global management model as a basis to understand logic of this course.

Traditional management logic and managerial roles The concept of management is essentially about getting things done through coordinated efforts. Management as a practice has its root in the early years of human organisations and is widely thought to form a central pillar of organised society. Early management scholars such as Frederick Taylor, Henry Fayol and Max Weber believe that organisations must be managed through strength, discipline, hierarchy, and logic so to operate efficiently and effectively. As a result, traditional organisations are structured around the concept of bureaucracy, which originally means structuring an organisation in a hierarchical form, but now the term has taken on very different and negative connotations (Weber 1922). In those traditional organisations, it is believed that rules and standard operating procedures need to be carefully established and uniformly enforced by competent managers so to ensure efficient operations. In accordance with this traditional view, management is thought to be a universal practice based on similar sets of principles. A competent manager must play ten different roles so to fulfil his or her managerial responsibility (Mintzberg 1993). These roles can be grouped into three categories, interpersonal, informational, and decisional, as shown in Exhibit 2.1 of the textbook.

© University of Southern Queensland

MGT3001 Global Management

Module 2 Study Guide

Reading activity 1 Read the ‘Traditional management models’ section of Chapter 2 from page 22 to page 24. Considering the Learning Objective: 

Understand traditional management models and managerial roles.

Learning Activity 1 Watch the ‘What is the global manager?’ YouTube video from the link of the course website. Then read the selected reading ‘Cultural intelligence as an important attribute of global managers’. Discuss the following questions with your fellow students in online Module 2 discussion forum. ●

It is stated that ‘like it or not, in today’s increasingly turbulent and complex business environment, everyone is, or is rapidly becoming, a global manager regardless of where they work’. Do you agree with this statement? Why?

●

What kind of intercultural/multicultural competencies do you believe you should focus on developing during your study of this course so to be effective as a global manager?

The three contexts of global management The traditional conception of management as largely a universal pursuit and that the key to good management is to follow prescribed rules and policies has been challenged in recent years when the world has been changed by the trend towards globalisation. Different from those traditional managers who only do their job within their own national boundary, today’s global managers must perform the managerial roles across cultures. In this course, we take the view that cultural differences can significantly impact on conceptualisation and practice of management around the world. Global management nowadays is everyone’s business as the global economy becomes a reality and most business is international. To succeed in a globalised economy, a global manager needs to understand the context surrounding their managerial job. The textbook provide us with a useful framework to understand the complex context of global management at three levels: cultural, organisational and situational, as shown in Exhibit 2.3 in the textbook. At the top level, culture environment is about understanding those predominant cultural values and trends in a particular country or society within which a global manager is expected to perform managerial functions. The key to understand this culture environment well is to understand beliefs, values, worldviews, norms and custom which underpin people’s behaviour. At the second level, every organisation has its own unique personality or culture which forms the organisational environment. Understanding this unique identity or culture is vital for the global manager to effectively manage and lead within the organisation. Lastly, understanding situational contingencies is about understanding things happening around a particular social encounter or managerial event such as the nature of the work being performed (e.g., marketing, production, etc.), the location of the interaction (e.g., office, restaurant), the relative positions of roles of the people involved (e.g., supervisor, subordinate). One needs to put these three contexts together so to be able to understand the whole picture surrounding a management role.

© University of Southern Queensland

MGT3001 Global Management

Module 2 Study Guide

Reading activity 2 Read ‘Context of global management’ section of Chapter 2 as a whole from page 24 to page 28. Considering the Learning Objective: ●

Understand the three contexts of global management.

Learning Activity 2 Read the end-of-chapter Case: Two expatriates on pages 48 to 50 to understand contextual influences in real-world examples. Discuss the following questions with your fellow students in online Module 2 discussion forum. ●

From what you can learn from this case, how would you describe the ‘context of global management’ (cultural, organisational, and situational) for each of these two expatriates (see Exhibit 2.3)? Where are the key differences, if any? What is similar?

●

How might these contextual differences influence the behaviours of Smith and Zhang? Explain.

Reconsidering management models and managerial roles from a cross-cultural perspective Once you understand the three contexts of global management, it is time for us to reconsider the traditional management models and managerial roles we introduce at the beginning of this module. We aim to understand two things. Firstly, how cultural differences will impact on managerial role expectations? Secondly, what should global managers do to accommodate such cultural differences? As illustrated in Exhibits 2.5 and 2.6 of the textbook, people from different cultures perceive managerial roles differently. For example, managers in the Chinese culture are seen as ‘parents’ who must take care of and control their subordinates. In turn, subordinates in Chinese culture are often treated like ‘children’ who must be dependent and obedient. The reason for this is that Confucianism uses the family structure to cultivate its hierarchical pattern in Chinese culture. Power distance patterns of social organisations in Chinese societies are thus just an extension of the family structure. On the contrary, Australian culture values equality and low power distance. As a result, social relationships between supervisor and subordinates, parents and children are ‘relatively equal’ compared with what these relationships should be in Chinese cultural heritage. If you understand cultural differences’ impact on people’s perception of managerial roles, then the next question is what should you do then as a foreigner being posted in a different culture so to be effective as a global manager? Do you need to change your personal management style to suit the local culture requirements? Or should you educate your local subordinates and make them to fit in your preferred way of management? It is suggested that the key to success as a global manager lies in one’s ability to adapt or conform just enough to the local environment as not to be rejected by the local culture. Conforming not enough means that one cannot be accepted by the local culture and therefore is deemed to be

© University of Southern Queensland

MGT3001 Global Management

Module 2 Study Guide

ineffective. However, conforming too much is no good as well because it will undermine one’s potential to initiate expected changes in the organisation. Effective global managers must understand how to maintain a balance between these two extremes. Also, effective global managers need to understand what can be changed about the local culture and what cannot. They must operate within those constraints. Exhibit 2.7 illustrates some important cultural influences on managerial roles. Make sure you familiarise yourself with this exhibit so that you can explain these cultural influences on managerial roles.

Reading activity 3 Read the ‘Rethinking management models’ section on pages 28 to 33 of the text. Pay particular attention to the Exhibit 2.7 Cultural influences on managerial roles to understand cultural differences’ impact on managerial roles. Considering the Learning Objective: 

Reconsider management models and managerial roles from a cross-culture perspective.

Different forms of international assignment In this course, we define a global manager as someone who works with or through people across national and cultural boundaries to accomplish global corporate objectives. This definition assumes that global managers must have a worldview instead of a national one. They must understand not only cultural differences but also how to navigate such differences to achieve corporate objectives. Most importantly, they must have the competence and confidence to work with colleagues and partners from different cultural backgrounds. The text groups global managers into three overlapping categories: expatriates, frequent flyers, and virtual managers. Expatriate traditionally means a manager from the parent country being posted to a foreign country to undertake management duties that cannot be performed by locals. However, nowadays the term has come to describe any person working in residence in a foreign country. Although advantages of expatriate assignments are obvious, there are also challenges and disadvantages associated with this expensive approach. Another type of global assignment – frequent flyers – are gaining popularity when specific tasks or projects need to be done in short term. While international assignees often see short-term assignments as being more family and home-country career friendly, those short-term frequent flyers often find it difficult to become adjusted and develop relationships. Also, strong pressure to perform and a poor work-life balance often lead to enduring high levels of stress. With rapid advancement in technology – especially in communication technologies and the internet – the so-called virtual managers have emerged as a new type of global assignment. The virtual managers rely on using modern communication technologies such as smart phones and tablets to maintain constant connection with the outside world. However, a key issue here is whether a virtual manager really has the expected ability to use such technology to build and/or maintain workable networks and relationships that collectively serve corporate interests. It is important to understand that there are overlaps between these three types of global management. For example, many expatriates today also rely on using modern telecommunications to build and main their networks and relationships, while some virtual managers may also be requested to travel at times to complete tasks.

© University of Southern Queensland

MGT3001 Global Management

Module 2 Study Guide

Reading activity 4 Read the ‘Diversity in global assignments’ section on pages 33 to 42 just above Application 2.6. Pay particular attention to the Exhibit 2.8 Challenges of global assignments to make sure you understand differences, challenges and key success factors for each of the three type of global assignment. Also, attention should be paid to Application 2.3 to understand two new terms of self-initiated expatriates and inpatriates. Considering the Learning Objective: Describe three categories of global managers so to understand diversity in global assignments.



A model for global managers The prescribed textbook proposes a global management model (as shown in Exhibit 2.9 of the textbook) as a useful framework to guide you develop your global management understanding and skills in this course. Also, you can use the model to help you understand responsibilities of global managers in a globalised business environment. As suggested in this model, global managers should firstly strive to develop a coherent set of targeted goals and objectives that are feasible and achievable for the organisation. Then, they need to understand various contextual demands and constraints that can enhance or limit managerial actions. Within these limitations, they must propose and develop multiple managerial options and actions to address different environmental scenario. Finally, they must keep learning new global management skills to be effective with their jobs.

Reading activity 5 Read ‘MANAGER’S NOTEBOOK: A model for global managers’ section at end of Chapter 2 from page 44 to page 47. Considering the Learning Objective: ●

Understand the model for global manager as a basis to understand logic of this course.

© University of Southern Queensland

MGT3001 Global Management

Module 2 Study Guide

Learning Activity 3 Read ‘Application 2.6 Training culturally competent employees at Tata’ on pages 42 to 44 to understand how the Indian MNC use purposefully crafted international training programs to develop management talents for the company. Discuss the following questions with your fellow students in online Module 2 discussion forum. ●

Why is it so important for the Tata Group to pay great attention to developing the cultural competencies of its employees?

●

If you were chosen for the Tata IIP and posted in one of its companies in Mumbai, what cultural competencies do you think you would gain from the experience and how would it affect your career as a global manager?

●

Discuss what would happen if global organisations did not pay attention to developing the cultural competencies of their employees.

You may also wish to conduct an internet search by yourself to find out more, best practice examples about how to help employees develop their intercultural competence in other MNCs. Share your findings with your fellow student in Module 2 discussion forum.

Conclusion This second module extends our discussion of importance for global managers to understand their working environments. In particular, it proposes to understand challenges for global managers from three contexts: cultural, organisational and situational. Also, a model for global managers is presented to help understand how to develop global management skills to achieve targeted corporate goals and objectives.

References Mintzberg, H 1993, Structure in Fives: Designing Effective Organizations, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs. Simpson, D 2016, ‘Cultural intelligence as an important attribute of global managers’, International Business and Global Economy, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 295 – 308. Wang, KY & Clegg, S 2002, ‘Trust and Decision Making: Are Managers Different in the People’s Republic of China and in Australia?’ Cross Cultural Management, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 30 – 45. Weber, M 1922, Economy and Society, (translated by Guenther Roth), University of California Press, San Francisco.

© University of Southern Queensland...