MGT 501 Management And Organizational Behavior
Trident University International
Case Assignment #1
MGT 501 Management and Organizational Behavior
Introduction In this paper I am going to discuss the case of Ms. Myers and her failed venture in managing a company in a foreign country. I am going to discuss the five dimensions of a culture and then compare them to Ms. Myers case. Finally, I will give my recommendations of what she should have done to become successful.
What went wrong during Ms. Myers tenure from your point of view? Ms. Myers had a lot of experience working in cross-cultural business. She was well trained on how to teach people to figure out how to succeed in the new cultures. I think though when it came to her turn she was not as prepared as she thought. There were many difficulties that she faced but I …show more content…
will focus on what I believe to be the three biggest. I think her biggest hurdle was one of the basic principles when dealing with people and that was communication. She didn’t know the language and while it seemed the Korean company tried to work with her by giving her translators it seemed that the importance of knowing English there was not as highly expected like it is in other countries. The second hurdle that she faced was compacted by her lack of understanding the language. Ms. Myers seemed to not be fluid when it came to her interaction with the company at SK. She did not understand the culture that she was interacting with. In America we respect diversity and change. Ms. Myers noted that even looking at the city she was astonished by how similar everything was (Green, 2011). That should have been another identifier to Ms. Myer what she was getting herself into. The way she conducted business was considered abrasive to her Korean counterparts and she even offended some of them. While she did not mean to offend intentionally she needed to know how to communicate and interact with them in order to succeed.
Finally, this final issue was no fault of her own. With Korea having a focus on masculinity she was already at a disadvantage and when she received the email from the SK recruiter that started with “Dear Mr. Myers” she should have seen that as a warning sign. Just like anyone who is a trailblazer in their category they deal with preconceived notions that they must battle against in order to succeed. Just like Jackie Robinson had to deal with racism when he became one of the first black professional baseball players. He had to change people’s mindsets in order to be successful. Ms. Myers had to change the mainly male-dominated environment in order for them to see her as an equal. The culture she was working in normally do not have women in the position she was in and it was abnormal for these men to conduct their business with a woman. Add her lack of cultural knowledge into the mix and it is not surprising that SK declined to renew her contract.
Explain the problem Ms. Myers is encountering using Hofstede 's five dimensions of culture to compare Korean and American assumptions about interpersonal relationships and management.
Dr. Geert Hofstede studied the values of workplace cultures for many years. He looked at how different culture’s values can effect how a business is run. He came to the conclusion that there are five dimensions to a culture (Mindtools, 2012). In the next section I am going to discuss the five dimensions and how they apply to the case of Ms. Myers.
The first dimension we will look at is the Power/Distance (P/D) dimension. This portion focuses on how a culture views their hierarchies and their emphases or how they deemphasize them. A culture with a high P/D focuses on a clear separation between the members in management roles and their subordinates. The managers are seen as superior and it is important for a subordinate to respect that view. Cultures with a low P/D do not emphasize status and management and workers are seen as equals. They both serve their purpose and neither is greater than the other. In high P/D cultures the managers make the decisions while in low P/D cultures many people at different levels work together to make a decision. In the case of Ms. Myers she was working in a culture that has a high P/D level. When she told her subordinates to call her by her first name this was culturally unacceptable and confusing for her subordinates. In their eyes she was seen as being superior and when she humanized herself by asking to go by a first name basis she was going against the social norm.
The second dimension is the view of individualism in a culture. Some cultures focus on the importance of an individual and what they bring to the situation while other cultures focus on the group and individualism is seen as being bad. People who are in highly individualistic cultures like to stand out and celebrate their uniqueness. They are motivated when they are rewarded for the individual accomplishments towards a goal. In a society that has a low focus on individualism these people do not want to be singled out and prefer the group as a whole be recognized for its accomplishment. Ms. Myers came from America, which has a high level of individualism. When she went to Korea it was probably hard for her to establish how successful she was because Koreans look at the success of their company in order to receive gratification. Her boss probably never told her she was doing a good job because to them her individual contributions were not as important as the overall success of the company.
The third dimension is the Masculinity or femininity of the culture. Generally a culture that is considered masculine focuses on distinct roles between the sexes. Men have their job and women have their own. They seldom interact in the workplace as equals. In a masculine culture the focus is on getting the job done while a feminine culture focus on making sure the quality of life for the workers is emphasized. Korea had a clearly masculine defined culture. She stated that she did not often see women in the workplace except for certain positions like secretaries. These men that she worked with had the view that women should be home taking care of the families and that it was not the norm for her to be in the position that she was in. That is probably why her team leaders would circumvent her when it came to reporting. They didn’t feel that she was a superior.
The fourth dimension is the Uncertainty/Avoidance Index (UAI). In life there are always going to be uncertainty. For example, a new business venture may not always be successful. Different cultures avoid these situations in different ways. Some cultures avoid these situations as much as possible while others embrace it. These avoidance levels are where we get the UAI. A culture with a high level of UAI is very structured and tries to remove as much uncertainty as possible. They do not like variances because they increase the chances of uncertainties. Cultures with low levels of UAI are usually more informal and are more willing to take risks in new ventures. They embrace differences and are willing to explore other options. Korea was very formal in how they conduct business and Ms. Myers was very different then what they were use to. This difference increased the chances of uncertainties to happen and lead to her being unsuccessful.
The fifth dimension is the Long Term Orientation (LTO). A culture with a high LTO focus on tradition and perseverance. There is an emphasis on family and respect for the past. In a culture with low LTO there is an emphasis on short-term goals and the embracing of change. Ms. Myers came to SK thinking that her bosses wanted her to instigate change for the betterment of the company. She realized at the end that this was not the case. The culture emphasized tradition and was not immediately accepting of any changes that she wanted to introduce.
Make a recommendation of three specific changes Ms. Myers could have made to her management style to accommodate the Korean environment.
In the case of Ms. Myers the three recommendations I would have gave her would be: learn the language, learn the culture, and understand her role. In regards to the language I would have taken either a Korean language class or bought some software to help at least create a basis of the language. She should have at least created some base of communication and it may have impressed her Korean counterparts by showing that she cared enough to learn their language. Also, it would help her since she would be living there for some time and there won’t always be a translator around to help.
She should also have researched the culture she was getting into.
There are many resources on Korean culture and it would help her understand some of the dynamics that she would be dealing with. She would have had a better understanding of how her coworkers viewed the world and it would have helped her in her interaction with them. She may not have offended some of her peers if she knew how to interact with them.
Finally, I would suggest that she understood her role in the business. Instead of going to the company under the assumption that they wanted her to change it she should have communicated with her superiors and had them explain what it was they wanted her to do. If she understood her position and their expectations she may have been successful in this venture.
Conclusion
In this paper we discussed the case of Ms. Myers and the five dimensions of culture created by Dr. Hofstede. We discussed how the five dimensions come into play in the globalization of companies and how they must personalize the company for each country. Also, we discussed how those five dimensions affected Ms. Myers and how she could have been successful had she been aware of these
dimensions.
References
Green, Sarah. (2011). The Would-Be Pioneer. Harvard Business Review, 89(4), 124-126.
Mind Tools. (2012). Hofstede 's Cultural Dimensions: Understanding Workplace Values Around the World. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_66.htm
Case Assignment #1
MGT 501 Management and Organizational Behavior
Introduction In this paper I am going to discuss the case of Ms. Myers and her failed venture in managing a company in a foreign country. I am going to discuss the five dimensions of a culture and then compare them to Ms. Myers case. Finally, I will give my recommendations of what she should have done to become successful.
What went wrong during Ms. Myers tenure from your point of view? Ms. Myers had a lot of experience working in cross-cultural business. She was well trained on how to teach people to figure out how to succeed in the new cultures. I think though when it came to her turn she was not as prepared as she thought. There were many difficulties that she faced but I …show more content…
will focus on what I believe to be the three biggest. I think her biggest hurdle was one of the basic principles when dealing with people and that was communication. She didn’t know the language and while it seemed the Korean company tried to work with her by giving her translators it seemed that the importance of knowing English there was not as highly expected like it is in other countries. The second hurdle that she faced was compacted by her lack of understanding the language. Ms. Myers seemed to not be fluid when it came to her interaction with the company at SK. She did not understand the culture that she was interacting with. In America we respect diversity and change. Ms. Myers noted that even looking at the city she was astonished by how similar everything was (Green, 2011). That should have been another identifier to Ms. Myer what she was getting herself into. The way she conducted business was considered abrasive to her Korean counterparts and she even offended some of them. While she did not mean to offend intentionally she needed to know how to communicate and interact with them in order to succeed.
Finally, this final issue was no fault of her own. With Korea having a focus on masculinity she was already at a disadvantage and when she received the email from the SK recruiter that started with “Dear Mr. Myers” she should have seen that as a warning sign. Just like anyone who is a trailblazer in their category they deal with preconceived notions that they must battle against in order to succeed. Just like Jackie Robinson had to deal with racism when he became one of the first black professional baseball players. He had to change people’s mindsets in order to be successful. Ms. Myers had to change the mainly male-dominated environment in order for them to see her as an equal. The culture she was working in normally do not have women in the position she was in and it was abnormal for these men to conduct their business with a woman. Add her lack of cultural knowledge into the mix and it is not surprising that SK declined to renew her contract.
Explain the problem Ms. Myers is encountering using Hofstede 's five dimensions of culture to compare Korean and American assumptions about interpersonal relationships and management.
Dr. Geert Hofstede studied the values of workplace cultures for many years. He looked at how different culture’s values can effect how a business is run. He came to the conclusion that there are five dimensions to a culture (Mindtools, 2012). In the next section I am going to discuss the five dimensions and how they apply to the case of Ms. Myers.
The first dimension we will look at is the Power/Distance (P/D) dimension. This portion focuses on how a culture views their hierarchies and their emphases or how they deemphasize them. A culture with a high P/D focuses on a clear separation between the members in management roles and their subordinates. The managers are seen as superior and it is important for a subordinate to respect that view. Cultures with a low P/D do not emphasize status and management and workers are seen as equals. They both serve their purpose and neither is greater than the other. In high P/D cultures the managers make the decisions while in low P/D cultures many people at different levels work together to make a decision. In the case of Ms. Myers she was working in a culture that has a high P/D level. When she told her subordinates to call her by her first name this was culturally unacceptable and confusing for her subordinates. In their eyes she was seen as being superior and when she humanized herself by asking to go by a first name basis she was going against the social norm.
The second dimension is the view of individualism in a culture. Some cultures focus on the importance of an individual and what they bring to the situation while other cultures focus on the group and individualism is seen as being bad. People who are in highly individualistic cultures like to stand out and celebrate their uniqueness. They are motivated when they are rewarded for the individual accomplishments towards a goal. In a society that has a low focus on individualism these people do not want to be singled out and prefer the group as a whole be recognized for its accomplishment. Ms. Myers came from America, which has a high level of individualism. When she went to Korea it was probably hard for her to establish how successful she was because Koreans look at the success of their company in order to receive gratification. Her boss probably never told her she was doing a good job because to them her individual contributions were not as important as the overall success of the company.
The third dimension is the Masculinity or femininity of the culture. Generally a culture that is considered masculine focuses on distinct roles between the sexes. Men have their job and women have their own. They seldom interact in the workplace as equals. In a masculine culture the focus is on getting the job done while a feminine culture focus on making sure the quality of life for the workers is emphasized. Korea had a clearly masculine defined culture. She stated that she did not often see women in the workplace except for certain positions like secretaries. These men that she worked with had the view that women should be home taking care of the families and that it was not the norm for her to be in the position that she was in. That is probably why her team leaders would circumvent her when it came to reporting. They didn’t feel that she was a superior.
The fourth dimension is the Uncertainty/Avoidance Index (UAI). In life there are always going to be uncertainty. For example, a new business venture may not always be successful. Different cultures avoid these situations in different ways. Some cultures avoid these situations as much as possible while others embrace it. These avoidance levels are where we get the UAI. A culture with a high level of UAI is very structured and tries to remove as much uncertainty as possible. They do not like variances because they increase the chances of uncertainties. Cultures with low levels of UAI are usually more informal and are more willing to take risks in new ventures. They embrace differences and are willing to explore other options. Korea was very formal in how they conduct business and Ms. Myers was very different then what they were use to. This difference increased the chances of uncertainties to happen and lead to her being unsuccessful.
The fifth dimension is the Long Term Orientation (LTO). A culture with a high LTO focus on tradition and perseverance. There is an emphasis on family and respect for the past. In a culture with low LTO there is an emphasis on short-term goals and the embracing of change. Ms. Myers came to SK thinking that her bosses wanted her to instigate change for the betterment of the company. She realized at the end that this was not the case. The culture emphasized tradition and was not immediately accepting of any changes that she wanted to introduce.
Make a recommendation of three specific changes Ms. Myers could have made to her management style to accommodate the Korean environment.
In the case of Ms. Myers the three recommendations I would have gave her would be: learn the language, learn the culture, and understand her role. In regards to the language I would have taken either a Korean language class or bought some software to help at least create a basis of the language. She should have at least created some base of communication and it may have impressed her Korean counterparts by showing that she cared enough to learn their language. Also, it would help her since she would be living there for some time and there won’t always be a translator around to help.
She should also have researched the culture she was getting into.
There are many resources on Korean culture and it would help her understand some of the dynamics that she would be dealing with. She would have had a better understanding of how her coworkers viewed the world and it would have helped her in her interaction with them. She may not have offended some of her peers if she knew how to interact with them.
Finally, I would suggest that she understood her role in the business. Instead of going to the company under the assumption that they wanted her to change it she should have communicated with her superiors and had them explain what it was they wanted her to do. If she understood her position and their expectations she may have been successful in this venture.
Conclusion
In this paper we discussed the case of Ms. Myers and the five dimensions of culture created by Dr. Hofstede. We discussed how the five dimensions come into play in the globalization of companies and how they must personalize the company for each country. Also, we discussed how those five dimensions affected Ms. Myers and how she could have been successful had she been aware of these
dimensions.
References
Green, Sarah. (2011). The Would-Be Pioneer. Harvard Business Review, 89(4), 124-126.
Mind Tools. (2012). Hofstede 's Cultural Dimensions: Understanding Workplace Values Around the World. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_66.htm