We need a Team Strategy

This week in class we were talking about virtual teams and to go deeper I want share 10 principals that could be very important and a different point of view of team building

Principals of Virtual Teams (Watkins, 2013)

1. 1.     Get the team together physically early-on this means it improve the trust if it cannot be possible so a told could be skype.
2. 2.     Clarify tasks and processes, not just goals and roles means to simplify the work and use that to measure the performance and if there is necessary adjustments and training needs.
3. 3.     Commit to a communication charter, in my opinion the most important element of a virtual team for this is necessary to create a chapter that specify when a meetings, reports and the channel that will be used.
4. 4.     Leverage the best communication technologies ,means that use a platform that is well used for all of the team members
5. 5.     Build a team with rhythm ,create connections between them ,by constantly meeting so the thing that is normally a problem that each one work by then on, could be reduce.
6. 6.     Agree on a shared language it the biggest barrier so is the first step in my opinion define the language that will be used.
7. 7.     Create a “virtual water cooler” means: not only talk about work, to share social and personal information also help to increase and achieve this difficulty to work in a virtual context.
8. 8.     Clarify and track commitments, use milestones to control the productivity of each member.
9. 9.     Foster shared leadership , means that share the leadership of the team because this increase engagement because you will have members focused and proactive
10. 10.   Don’t forget the 1:1s, it is when the leaders talk individually with each team member to identify their needs and motivation and abilities that always better that working with a group.

Other´s point of view of teams buildings

I was looking for information about team build and I found and opposite side in Forbes an article that I want to share with you from Mike Myatt. He was explaining that team building is not always a consensus is an activity that try to homogenize the understanding (Myatt, 2012) . I want to share a paragraph of him:

“It is one thing to be able to recruit talent, something altogether different to properly deploy individual talent, and quite another thing to have your talent play nicely in collaboration with one another. It is the responsibility of executive leadership to set the tone for great teamwork by putting forth a clearly articulated vision, and then aligning every aspect of strategic and tactical decisioning with said vision. A lack of clarity, obviously flawed business logic, or constantly shifting priorities/positions are the death of many a venture. However chief executives who implement a well thought out and clearly articulated vision, create a sense of stability and a bond of trust among the ranks. This in turn leads to a much focused, coordinated, and ultimately, a very passionate work environment. It is not too difficult to get your crew all oaring together when these characteristics are firmly in place because they now know which direction to row.” (Myatt, 2012)

Personally I am totally in disagree with him but is good to know other side of the topic.

What activities of team building are?

Looking for the answer I found a paper of Rockhurst University Continuing Education Center, that explain many way to do a team building, if you are in a team of leading on this will help a lot because you will be able to implement the activities. The one I like the most is call The Game of Possibilities is a game that use a napkins and the creativity of the team members, the time is between 5 to 6 minutes and it is with small groups and the goal is that each member show a use of a napkin without talking .The objective of this activity is know the other, show that there many way to solve a problem and the creativity that your team have. (Rockhurst University Continuing Education Center, 2008)

References

Myatt, M. (2012). Consensus - Team Building's Silent Killer. http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemyatt/2012/04/19/consensus-team-buildings-silent-killer/.

Watkins, M. (2013). Making Virtual Teams Work: Ten Basic Principles. https://hbr.org/2013/06/making-virtual-teams-work-ten/.

Rockhurst University Continuing Education Center. (2008). 30 Team-Building Games, Activities, and Ideas.

About conflict

The Four Intercultural Conflict Styles

We saw in class that there a four types of conflict of Thomas Kilmann. Accommodating : it’s when the parties want to cooperate but the assertiveness is low, that means that ne party have a better solution and the other acceptant and start to help .the disadvantages is that your owns goals ,objectives are not the ones that will be used.  Avoiding: It’s when you are not interesting to cooperate and your objective doesn’t care. Collaborating: For me it’s the best part because both want to help each other and both care about their goals and it have high level of trust. Competing: It´s when one want to win and also want that the other lose because you are really interested in your own goal but to collaborate you don’t have any interest. Compromising it´s a middle ground but both of the parties lose. (Sources of Insight)

Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing Model

This theory was created by Bruce Tuckman that help to understand how the development and behavior of a team is and have 4 stages (Businessballs, 2015):

Forming - stage 1: The means that a member have high dependence of their leader, and they will ask a lot for information and processes and normal forgotten

Storming - stage 2: it could be one difficult part when everyone show is point on view and could create cliques that could divided the group, but to avoid this it is possible to focus on the main a general goal.

Norming - stage 3: After all the point of view were talked there is a consensus so, roles and responsibilities are accepted and defined .This stage is when Commitment and unity get strong. Also, the relationship get stronger.

Performing - stage 4: In this stage the team member know what to do and the reason why they are doing it .The participation of the leader is little and the team members work motivated (high degree of autonomy).Finally this is the stage that all the teams want to stay.

What are other elements have influences in a conflict?

There are some that I want to share .First of all , the main concept that I have talking all the semester that is culture and I include ethnic and race .That background affect a lot in how a conflict could escalate .Second ,Gender and sexuality ,affect in the way how is perceive the conflict and their behavior. Third, knowledge that is more internal for each matter about the topic that they are arguing applying the theory it could be avoiding because one of them don’t know nothing or competing if both know what they want. Finally, that past experiences and the attitude of the messenger affect. All this element we have to take in account. (OHRD, 2015)

References

Businessballs. ( 2015). tuckman forming storming norming performing model. http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.htm.

OHRD. (2015). he Role of Perceptions in Conflict. https://www.ohrd.wisc.edu/onlinetraining/resolution/aboutwhatisit.htm.

Sources of Insight. (s.f.). 5 Conflict Management Styles at a Glance. http://sourcesofinsight.com/conflict-management-styles-at-a-glance/.

Other sources

Much more can be said about this subject. We have posted an article as an additional resource: "Managing Intercultural Conflicts Effectively," by Stella Ting-Toomey, 1994.

 This topic is well addressed in the writings of Professor Deborah Tannen, who has focused extensively on gender differences in communication.

Motivations Theories

Today I will talk about two very interesting topics about motivations of Human Beings:

Three Needs Theory

It was created by David McClelland in one of his book The Achieving Society .The most important contribution is the division of the dominant motivator for humans n three .Need of Achievement is when persons  have: Likes to works alone and accomplish the goals by himself; like to set many goals in their life and also when he is performing ,they  like to restive feedback on his progress. Need of Affiliation is the second one that is for persons that are the opposite side of the achievement’s one. They want to be in groups ,have friend ,be liked from others, don’t like risk and conflict. Need of Power is the final motivator factor: it is when persons  likes to talk a lot in the meeting and wan to influent other and control the desertions that will take the team, if there is any discussions they always want to win for status and recognition. This are the three motivation factor that if you identified in your team will help with your strategy of goals, feedback and rewards. (Mindtools, 2015)

Expectancy Theory (Vroom)

In this theory Vroom the author separate effort, performance, and outcomes with the objective that is maxima pleasure and minimize pain. He divided in three variables. Expectancy is that they think that if work harder they will be better  .Instrumentally means that on how you do the things you will have that in your outcome i.e. if you do well you will restive a good thing for that. Valence is the last variable, means that persons have a special item that motive them could be (family, recognition ,money) the offers that will increase their performance have to be the same as the desire . (YourCoach , 2013)

Let’s see a video that explain other motivations in peoples life’s

How motivation theories can be use in the workplace?

Looking for the answer I found an article of David Ingram that explain that there are four steps with expectancy theory.

First: as the employees put an almond of effort for each activity look for the ones that refuse to do it or said that they are not paid to do that.

Second: Use tangibles and intangibles rewards for the ones that have a deeper integration and do an extra effort

Third: Develop a program to compensate the employees ,the same as the second spay tangibles(money) are not the only reward .After identify with the human resources area with of the employees have power, acceptance or personal achievement .Dived in groups an motivate differently

Four: After segmenting the employees in this three groups use driver motivation for each and implement the strategy that will help to they all stay engaged. (Ingram, 2015)

References

Ingram, D. (2015). How to Apply Motivational Theories in the Workplace. págs. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/apply-motivational-theories-workplace-10962.html.

Mindtools. (2015). McClelland's Human Motivation Theory Discovering What Drives Members of Your Team. págs. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/human-motivation-theory.htm.

YourCoach . (2013). Vroom expectancy motivation theory. págs. http://www.yourcoach.be/en/employee-motivation-theories/vroom-expectancy-motivation-theory.php.

Westernization

Today I  will talk about one topic that in my opinion is happening in many cultures also in Colombia that is westernization . I can explain this concept  with the words that is normally related for example : capitalism, rationalism, industrialism and individualism, coca cola , hamburgers, hot dogs , pizza and modernity. They are people that are in favor and other that doesn’t like too much, in some extend it minimize the tradition in each country with universal costumes as we see in many countries in the example of Coca-Cola.

Other understanding of westernization is with all that the “west” involve American :companies universities ,government army, that have played an important role in globalization in my opinion helping the process of minimizing the barriers between culture but imposing its culture so is qualified imperialistic. (Marc, 2015)

To use this blog not only to put my ideas i want to ask an interesting question: Why Japanese and Filipinos have surgeries in their eyes to look like people from the west? why Michel Jackson and other people have plastic surgery to have white skin? Why most of the movies and TV show are made in US and Europe?

As in common in my post I want to share  with you this video that explain the relation that are between Islam and globalization and with this we can go furthers on the topic from a study of the University of Yale

We saw in class that despite the westernization is a very heavy movement in all the cultures around the world we can see in different areas such as, medicine , marketing, publicity , fashion industry but this week my teacher show a different type of banking that help to have a question:

What is Islamic banking and how it works?

It is a totally different type of system that we have in Colombia it is a system that is based on Islamic rules for examples that is prohibited that you pay for interest  for landing or acceptance money , imaging the Colombian “presta diario” there it could be a heavy problem . The system is attached with the culture and religion .The origin of this where with the sayings and actions of Prophet Muhammad .It is not only in the Islam’s cultures it is in there are  countries that also have  for example in Spain (Islamic Banking, 2015)

Lets finish with this video that help to explain how it work  and the differences:

Reference

Islamic Banking. (2015). Obtenido de http://www.islamic-banking.com/what_is_ibanking.aspx

Marc, H. (2015). Westenization., (pág. 3).

Ethic for International Negotiator

This afternoon I will explain a very important topic that I saw in class and found an extra information that will help you to understand more the topic of Ethics in a business environment because nowadays a company doesn’t have to worried about only with the costumers there are more: direct contact with company we have employees, supplier, costumers, stakeholders, distributors, government, competition and if the company expand its limits to others country these multiply by two.

The first thing I want to share is the differences between too way to see the ethics the Relativism and Universalism .The first one is when we judge something depending our legal and social standards for example in here in Colombia to past a traffic light in red or go over the speed limit could be not as bad as for example a country of Europe other example that is controversial is the adultery in the men of having many wife’s. In the other hand we have universalism that is the opposite is not judge based on you culture if not we have universal “rules” one example in my opinion in an organization context could be to steal something in the company. With the globalization and the MNEs the tendency is to Universalism

I want to share 12 principles of ethics that I found for business and executives that are (Josephson, 2015):

1. Be honest in your communication
2. Integrity means that the words that you mean the same than your actions
3. Keep promises and fulfill commitments
4. Be loyal within the framework of other ethical principles
5. do not exercise power arbitrarily
6. Demonstrate compassion and a genuine concern for the well-being  of others
7. Treat everyone with respect, doesn’t matter who you are
8. Follow the rules
9. Pursue excellence all the time in all things
10. Exemplify honor and ethics by your actions and being a leader
11. Build and protect and build the company’s good reputation and the morale of it’s employees
12. Be responsible for the rules are followed

Lets see a video about a topic that is related with this,, Corporate Social Responsibility

I want to share the definition that I found in Investopedia of business ethics:

“The study of proper business policies and practices regarding potentially controversial issues, such as corporate governance, insider trading, bribery, discrimination, corporate social responsibility and fiduciary responsibilities. Business ethics are often guided by law, while other times provide a basic framework that businesses may choose to follow in order to gain public acceptance” 

(Investopedia, 2015)

How we can manage Ethic in an Organization?

Looking for the answer I found that is can be managed with different strategies, for example creating ethics management program writing down what is ethical and unethical for the company .Other way is to create a codes of conduct for the employees for all the company. On that could be very important is to communicate and use the channel inside the company to promote Education, Model, Reward to these Values and Standards (Josephson Institute, 2015). To answer this question I also use a video to help the explanation.

References

Investopedia. (2015). Obtenido de http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/business-ethics.asp

Josephson Institute. (2015). Obtenido de http://josephsoninstitute.org/business/blog/2011/02/4-strategies-companies-use-to-manage-ethics/

Josephson, M. (2015). Business Ethics & Leadership. Obtenido de http://josephsoninstitute.org/business/blog/2010/12/12-ethical-principles-for-business-executives/

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The cultural clusters of the Globe Study (GLOBE )and Metaphors

Today I will talk about one of the main topic of these blog , that is about GLOBE that is a study of 62 countries divided in 10 clusters  based on their  cultural similarities . The begins of this study start from the author of the a past post that were talking about Hostede. The dimensions are (Mensah, 2013) :

• ·         Power of distance: How is distributed the power in a organizations ,if is only in one person or is between all.
• ·         Uncertainty avoidance: how the society is worry about the capacity predict what will happened in the future event
• ·         Humane Orientation : how much the individual care about the other humans  ,for example generous and caring
• ·         Institutional collectivism  How much the public institution care about the distributions of resources
• ·         In-Group Collectivizing: How loyalty are individual to their families and public institutions
• ·         Assertiveness How aggressive are the relationship between the individual with the public  institutions 
• ·         Gender egalitarianism: how s the gender equality
• ·         Future orientation : how much the individuals invest and focus  in the future event
• ·         Performance orientation How much the individual care about to the thing in a excellent way

In this image we can see the clusters (Leadership, 2014):

Other important concept that I want to share is Metaphor in culture .It is an activity, food, place or institutions that a members are identify , for example we know some of the metaphors that I will give: Eiffel tower for French , American football  for North Americans; Hokey for Canadians; Soccer and Rio de Janeiro for Brazilians : these are metaphors. (Gannon, 2002) 

How is Colombia in GLOBE and what are its Metaphors?

Searching about this question I found a research in Universidad de los Andes in Colombia .In terms of COLLETIVISM have this in a high levels because from childhood they depend on their family until adults ,also the most important sport are with teams (soccer); POWER DISTANCE , the power in concentrate in a few hands , in this case the elite and a high social inequality ; UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE is one that have the highest level in the GLOBE Study and is characterize by improvising and ambiguity ; GENDER EQUALITY now is the normal but still the inequality when to be a men is better to a women in Colombia ; ASSERTIVENESS , due to the past of Colombia the level of aggressiveness for Colombia to public institution is really high; PERFORMANCE ORIENTATION, we Colombians are increasing this score since the secondary until the organizational level with the award and using foreign methods; HUMANE ORIENTATION as Colombia have many beggars and homeless different to others countries people with having a norm to help them and take care , people use to help with waiting in order to get something ; FUTURE ORIENTATION is not focus in the future they are most focus in the present and past.  (Ogliastri, 1998)

And the most common metaphors are: Bandeja Paisa, Vallenato, Cartagena de Indias, The Colombian soccer team and Coffee

References

Gannon, M. J. (2002). Cultural metaphors: Their use in management practice and as a method for understanding cultures. University of Maryland.

Leadership, C. o. (2014). Leader effectiveness and Culture:The GLOBE Study.

Mensah, Y. (2013). Global Clouster of Countries By culture- Extension of the GLOBE Study . Rutget University.

Ogliastri, E. (1998). CULTURE AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN COLOMBIA. Universidad de los Andes.

Measuring culture

Today I will talk about the how we can measure culture? Sounds strange ,isn´t  it? .But yes I can be possible, I will explain two theories that help us to differentiate one culture to another. The objective of this post is that after you read these two theories you can use one  or both to differentiate for example the culture of brazil and other from Japan. I did a really nice activity in my class and we get a conclusion if you use different theories you will get a different approach and results. So let’s begin.

Hostede Dimensions  

Gerard Hendrik was the inventor on this theory  , the objective is to that to measure the cultures around the world and the have a special characteristic that differentiate  and help as international negotiator improving our abilities in  intercultural management. There are six dimensions that I will explain, just below:

1. Power distance Index : explain how separate are the manager from the workers, how easy is for a worker to give and idea and enter in the sedition making process .Also can show inequality in social status inside the company .in and the differences  in income depending the position. For example Colombia  have a high power distance index ,all the sedition in the majority of the company are taken by the owner or manger and for example a manager can earn 15000USD by month and a worker earn 250 USD .In the other hand ,European countries have low power distance instead due to the is common to integrate all the company the incomes are no big deference.
2. Individualism and collectivism : how is the work in the cultures, some cultures work together as a team and do a better performance if they are more than 1 person such us Japanese and South Korean. In the other hand are the ones that prefer to work individual or if they are working in group tent to de individual and he work is not  so much more efficient ,for example Brazilians
3. Uncertainty avoidance index: explain how we worried about the future: the activities that we have to and the control that we have. I found a really good definition of Hostede Center that said: “members of a society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity” (The Hostage Center) . let’s see o examples : with high UCI is Russia and low is China.
4. Masculinity Vs. femininity : Explain in which gender are more reference in society for achievement, who is the want that put the rules and the most  how important is the success graded on material thing (cars. Houses) or other thing  that love in the other hand as graded of succeeds , searching for an example to clear the explanation, I found to extremes for the masculinity is Japan (The Hostage Center) and for femininity is Iceland (Sofeminine, 2015)
5. Long term and short term orientation: Means how the people work and think, short is related with past and present and long is with the future. Let’s see the next image a comparison between Colombia and South Korea 

The culture map

It is another theory by Eric Meyer, She divided the cultures in 8 dimensions (Lubin, 2015):

1. How is the communication in the country
2. How people give  the feedbacks soft or direct to the point
3. When is the moment when people persuade in the first moment or after
4. How is the leadership is the same for all  or hierarchical  
5. How is decision making consensual or only small group
6. How he trust the other, depending on the task that  have been well or in the relationship between people
7. If the people normally confront or try to avoid
8. If people is doing their schedule they are flexible or structured

How Colombia is based on Hostede´s dimensions?

I found that Colombia have one of the highest score of the countries, saying that the culture think that inequality is normal and they are having this. Colombian culture is collectivizing similar to Panama, that means they belong to a group are very family persons and it difficult to be independent a leave the house. Also, they are masculinity oriented, that means that the country is very materialize, and we have success if we have big apartment big cars. In addition, in UAI, Colombians are worried about to control the future. Also, they are short term, they think in the past and present  And in the last dimension ,they are indulgent  they are free to think and there are not to many social rules. (The Hostage Center)

References:

Lubin, G. (2015). These 8 Scales Reveal Everything You Should Know About Different Cultures. Business Insider.

Sofeminine. (2015). Women’s rights worldwide: Top 10 feminist countries. Obtenido de http://www.sofeminine.co.uk/personal-life/women-s-rights-worldwide-d50167c584736.html

The Hostage Center. (s.f.). Recuperado el 2015 , de http://geert-hofstede.com/dimensions.html

Barriers to communication Across Culture

The topics for today are ones of my favorites , Have you thought  about why we as Colombians talk too much, we don’t go to the pint, when we is in France can be have a bad situation when a French guy go straight to the point and give a feedback without making soft . Why is difficult to understand a Chinese? So, this explanation could give you a context about these questions and then you can use in your favor. The first one in the two context in communication.

Low context and High context 

Low context cultures are: Germans ,Australians, North Americans, English amount other . What they have in common? The communication is verbal that means that the words that the are saying are exactly the ones that you have to understand , they are logic go straight to the point(highly explicit) and if you don’t understand is their responsibility something they do wrong.

And the other one is High context are the ones: Chinese, Brazilians, we Colombians, Korean, Japanese among others. What is the deal of them? Totally opposite from the low ones. When they are talking you have to take in mind that the most important things are happening in the non-verbal communication; they are not explicit, they are more guide with the context and if you don’t get the message is your fault not of them.

When we as  Colombians talk each other doesn’t happen or between British , but the thinks that you have to take in mind are three question.

• 1.      Which one am I?
• 2.      Which one my pother party is?
• 3.      How I will use that information in my advantages?

Let’s look the next imagine , now is easy to understand since it show in what thing each of the dimensions focus in a conversation.

Non-verbal communication

This topic is in  my opinion the most important in this blog because with you can understand many thing in the air or context .Non-verbal communication are all the actions. Signal of the body that you perform all the time ,your face(facial excretion), how you sit, if you cross your arms  or not when you are talking , in other word. Everything that you do communicates. when you are in a date or a business appointment , if you know how are the excretions and what they mean, you win the deal.

What could be more important verbal or non-verbal communication in an interview?

This question could be very important for me and my classmates that are going to finishing the university in 6 month, after that we will have many interviews to enter a company and this topic that we saw in class will be very useful.

I found that "Body language comprises 55% of the force of any response, whereas the verbal content only provides 7%, and paralanguage, or the intonation -- pauses and sighs given when answering -- represents 38% of the emphasis." Based on CollegeJournal reports (Doyle), so for as will be more important the non-verbal communication .I found 7 mistake that could confirm us that non-verbal is more important (Quast, 2013).

• ·         Unusual handshake : if is too hard means arrogance and if is too soft means insecurity
• ·         Poor or too much eye contact means that you are not interested in the job
• ·         Poor posture you could communicate that you are lazy or arrogant
• ·         Too much cologne/after shave/perfume you could have problems with the interview that could be a distractor.

    References:

Doyle, A. (s.f.). How to Use Nonverbal Communication to Impress. About careers .

Quast, L. (2013). Job Seekers: Avoid These 7 Nonverbal Mistakes In Job Interviews. Forbes.

The impact of culture

Levels of culture

Today I will explain two very important topics for us, as International Negotiators .Nowadays is so important to take in mind Culture when you are: Doing business, talking with a relative, studying abroad, understand the news until only when you are traveling as a tourist. We all know that countries have different culture even though, the countries speak the same language and are close (e.g. Colombia VS Venezuela) but one interesting thing that I learn at the class and I want to share with you is that there are levels of culture :Subculture and Subgroups .

Subculture, I could define in an easy words in: It is a group of people that share social habits, common words when they are talking each other’s, similar income, ethnic and religion that differentiate with the others in the same society. Ex: rappers, miners, skaters, punkers, rockers, etc. 

Subgroups, it´s different, it is more referring to a pattern of behavior that a group have to follow .We see them normally in a MNE´s or a company that have a very strong pattern. For example: doctors, layers, Army, fraternities in the US, Google.
This two levels of culture are so important, for example: in the situation when a company (government) have to work intervening an area in the city of Medellin and you are the one that are planning the project, you will have to take for example the skaters if the project is a park where they use to skate as a main factor.

Archetypes and the collective unconsciousness

 Other topic for today is Archetypes. The word Archetypes has a meaning do “original pattern “that we can found in persons, objects. Studies for example the one of the psychologist, Carl Gustav Jung, said that Archetypes tend to be universal doesn´t matter the culture. That is so important in the case of branding, you have to know already what the company want to express with the brand and with the marketing strategy.

 We see example with the brand Paco Rabanne with the last perfume, the wanted to communicate that the perfume is strong, warrior, for guys, winner so the use the next image to show all that they wanted. 

Who big and strong can be a subculture?

They are many subgroups in the world, and they are with different objectives and characteristic, I found that the can be enormous and very strong .I will give one example of a subgroup that Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners, they are all around the world, have special characteristics that are:

Majority is under 35 years old and the median age is 46.7 ;The media income of a rider are proximally $38,000 ;Have a special costume to ride “his baby”; Is part on the group HOG ( Harley Owner Group the biggest club was create in 1983);Its vision :Harley is not a product is a lifestyle (Schouten & McAlexander, 1995)

Reference:

Dictionary. (02 de 2015). Obtenido de http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/subculture

Golden, C. (02 de 2015). soulcraft. Obtenido de http://www.soulcraft.co/essays/the_12_common_archetypes.html

Schouten, J. W., & McAlexander, J. H. ( 1995). Subcultures of Consumption: An Ethnography of the New Bikers . Journal of Consumer Research, 43-61.