Canadian and American Values

Are Canadian values becoming more similar or dissimilar to American values? Explain and justify your position. (Assignment

1. The point in history, physical geography, location, and population profile the scenario for Canadians and Americans was roughly the same and in many ways, this deep similarity remains. But different in important ways, the history of Canada and the United States is quite different. Over 200 years ago, the U.S. became a country after a war of independence with their mother country, Britain. However, Canada never had to fight for independence from Britain; instead, Canada quietly became a country, in 1867, nearly 100 years after the U.S. did. This historical difference has caused and reflects some small, but important cultural differences between the two countries (Stapleton, 2000, Page 2, Para 3). Politically, Canada has a parliamentary democracy, while the U.S. is a republic. This is a very important difference because it reflects feelings about populism. In parliamentary governments, candidates are chosen by their parties and once elected expected to vote with their party on proposed motions. In other words, in some cases they have to suspend their individual opinions and perhaps what they believe best reflects the views of their constituents, in the name of party solidarity. In American politics, candidates are not chosen by their party but by the people during primaries. Then once elected, they are free to go against party lines if they so choose in order to best serve their constituents (Stapleton, 2000, Page 4, Para 2). Religion is another area in which Canadians and Americans show differences. Americans are becoming more religious than Canadians, with weekly church attendance in the United States at 50 percent and in Canada is at 20 percent respectively (Langton and Robbins 2007, Page 96). In Canada, the belief in the father’s supremacy is in decline (21%), whereas in the United States it is growing (52%). In Canada in the year 1983 it was 43% and in the year 2004 it was 20% i.e. In Canada belief in the father’s supremacy is in decline 1% to 2% every year. Among large countries, Canada is one of the most multicultural societies in the world. Toronto, Canada’s largest city has close to half of its population born outside of Canada (Statistics Canada, 2006). The cosmopolitan nature of both Canadian and American societies is a testament to their immigration laws which are largely similar and have gone a great distance towards composing the populations of the two countries. In this sense, the similarities between the two are much greater than the differences. 2. For change to be effective, management should consider a collaborative approach. This means that employees, managers and senior management work together by sharing an understanding of the imperative for change, and potential enablers and inhibitors for successful implementation. This encourages employees to voice their concerns about the change, and this releases the potential and energy for managers and staff to design solutions. It also builds a sense of commitment to the project and the process. Mexican Labor News and Analysis report (2009) concluded that the time has come to recalibrate our relationship and focus on a path built upon shared economic growth and sustainable development. We hope that the Leaders Summit serves as an opportunity to lay out a new agenda for North America, one which makes our region competitive, sustainable and just, and our organizations commit to working together to promote that agenda. 3. A major issue for all companies expanding their business and ships them across the border to the U.S. and overseas to Europe is how to best handle the multi-state benefits programs, cost containment and the complexity and dealing with customers. Resolve customer issues efficiently by providing customer service professionals with user-friendly tools to access relevant customer data including purchases, call and escalation histories, interactions, e-mail, and documents sent and received. If you have an assortment of products or services to offer, you may have identified your differentiation already. Common examples of differentiation for products may be based on size, speed, color, components, combinations or accessories. Common examples of differentiation for services include speed, performance, quality, responsiveness, availability, ease of integration. If you are in the unique position of having only one product or service to offer potential customers then you should consider accessories, partners or other options to create a variety of levels from the perspective of your future customers. If all else fails, you can offer different levels of shipping speed or delivery.

References:
Langton, N., Robbins, Stephen P. (2007). Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour. Third Edition. Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Mexican, Canadian, and U.S. Unions Statement on NAFTA. Mexican Labor News and Analysis Sept 14, 2009. Retrieved from http://nacla.org/node/6122
Staleton, P. (2000).Canadian and American values. Retrieved from http://www.paulstapleton.info
Statistics Canada (2006). Immigrant population by place of birth, by census metropolitan area (2001 census). Retrieved from Http://www40.statcan.ca/101/cst01/demo35c.htm

References: Langton, N., Robbins, Stephen P. (2007). Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour. Third Edition. Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall. Mexican, Canadian, and U.S. Unions Statement on NAFTA. Mexican Labor News and Analysis Sept 14, 2009. Retrieved from http://nacla.org/node/6122 Staleton, P. (2000).Canadian and American values. Retrieved from http://www.paulstapleton.info Statistics Canada (2006). Immigrant population by place of birth, by census metropolitan area (2001 census). Retrieved from Http://www40.statcan.ca/101/cst01/demo35c.htm