Amba_620

Managing People in a Global Economy South Korea: Are They Ready for Me' Am I Ready for Them' Survival of an Female American in a Foreign Business Environment University of Maryland University College AMBA 620 Managing People and Groups in the Global Workplace My latest assignment from the multinational organization I work for is relocating me to the South Korea headquarters to lead the proposal group, gearing them to respond to more international opportunities. My first thought is how in world would I fit into their culture to successful fulfill my new duties. I am glad the organization has a global human resource system in place and will be working with an international HR manager to prepare me for the cultural differences between South Korea and the US. They will also inform me of their implications for effective manager-employee relationships. I will begin my training that consists of a four-step approach as described by author Gary Dessler in A Framework for Human Resource Management which consists of the following: Level 1 focuses on the impact of cultural differences and awareness of those differences and their impact on business outcomes. Level 2 makes me understand how attitudes (both negative and positive) are formed and how they influence behavior, i.e. stereotypes that may subconsciously influence how I may treat my team. Level 3 provides facts about South Korea. Level 4 gives me the skill building in areas like language, adjustment, and adaptation skills. I will also have additional training at a management development center in the future in continuing my professional development and growth (2009, p. 375). I am happy to know I will not go blindly into my new environment. Leading a proposal group in the US is stressful enough now I will have to assimilate into a new social and business culture. Challenges In my level 1 training we discussed the nine cultural dimensions from the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) project that was invented by Robert J. House a University of Pennsylvania professor in 1994. Although there are nine dimensions, I will focus on those that will directly impact my role and pose challenges in the workplace due to cultural differences as a US proposal manager/supervisor of the proposal group consisting of South Korea country nationals (Kinicki & Kreitner, p.69). I will be dealing in-depth with the following dimensions: Power Distance - According to Geert Hofstede™ Cultural Dimensions US power distance is indicative of a greater equality between societal levels, including government, organizations, and even within families. This orientation reinforces a cooperative interaction across power levels and creates a more stable cultural environment (http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_united_states.shtml). In South Korea power distance that is the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. Power and inequality, of course, are extremely fundamental facts of any society and anybody with some international experience will be aware that 'all societies are unequal, but some are more unequal than others’ (http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_south_korea.shtml). Leading a proposal group, that is process driven in and of itself, relies both on a collaborative and dictatorial climate in order to successfully produce a compliant and winning proposal response to an opportunity. In developing the proposal team the proposal manager works in conjunction with high ranking executives to formulate the team, technical/management solutions, win themes, strategies and provide critical business intelligence. The make-up of the team would consist of lower ranking individuals such as subject matter experts, accountants, technical writers ect… In the US there would 99% be a clash between high/low ranking members of the team due to the lower level of power distance and all persons feel they can freely share their ideas and thoughts regarding the project in a collaborative environment. Usually the outcome of heated discussions results in a stronger product in the end. In South Korea there would be a challenge to get those lower ranking members of the team to freely contribute their ideas. The process becomes dictatorial when lower ranking team members refuse to engage in the collaborative process any key ideas are lost that may be crucial to a winning response due to the high power distance in the South Korea culture. Uncertainty Avoidance (UA) - Geert Hofstede™ Cultural Dimensions gives the US a low ranking in the UA that is indicative of a society that has fewer rules and does not attempt to control all outcomes and results. It also has a greater level of tolerance for a variety of ideas, thoughts, and beliefs (http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_united_states.shtml). South Korea’s UA indicates the society’s low level of tolerance for uncertainty. In an effort to minimize or reduce this level of uncertainty, strict rules, laws, policies, and regulations are adopted and implemented. As a result of this high UA characteristic, the society does not readily accept change and is very risk adverse (http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_south_korea.shtml). Behind the art & science of the proposal process is technique. The technique lends itself to the creative process and the willingness to carefully craft a creative response to an opportunity that catches the customer’s attention while sticking to the strict rules that governs most proposal responses more so in the federal sector. Another challenge in South Korea would be to coax the high/low ranking team members that being creative in a competitive global marketplace would be to their advantage. Gender egalitarianism – In the US, the proposal industry has traditional been a male dominated field. Within the past twenty years women have slowly integrated and the field is virtually split with equal gender representation. As a female moving from the US to South Korea where there are still gender inequalities in the workplace will be a huge challenge to but one I am willing to confront to minimize its potential impact on my job performance. There is an overall perception that women prefer not to take on international job positions. As Dessler describes, “ Many managers assume that women don’t want to work abroad…In fact, one survey found, women do want international assignments, they are not less inclined than male managers to move their families abroad…and safety was no more an issue with women than it was with men” (2009, p.374). In South Korea women are still not empowered in the workplace as reported by the Woodrow Wilson International School for Scholars website. In an article titled Where They Stand: The Status of Women in South Korea, states, “… World Economic Forum and United Nations reports rank South Korean gender empowerment among the lowest in the developed world”. But the outcome is hopeful as “Most South Korean women have the ability and qualifications (both educational and professional) to be successful—a reality that renders their current lack of empowerment particularly troubling, but that also offers hope for the future” (http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm'event_id=166060&fuseaction=events.event_summary). But I am glad it was mentioned by Kinicki & Kreitner that “North American women have a very high success rate on foreign assignments” (2009, p.76). Culture Shocks/ Cultural Differences High Context Culture – As noted by Kinicki & Kreitner, “rely heavily on situational cues for meaning when perceiving and communicating with others. Nonverbal cues such as one’s official position, status, or family connections convey messages more powerfully than do spoken words” (2009, p.72). The art & science of directing a proposal center filled with staff is dynamic fast- paced, flexible and deadline driven. If one is not used to the environment in due course a person would burn out. In the US there are many verbal and non verbal signals that one gives off during an active proposal and even just in daily communication that may conflict with each other that if in South Korea will be definitely misconstrued nor understood, but is part of the US culture. It will be up to farsighted and motivating leader to be able to quickly assimilate the cultures mores in the work and social environment. Merging of Societal and Organizational Cultures – Going to a cultural diverse university (NJIT) where I interacted with many people from different cultures stands me in good stead with this new job opportunity. I am glad my cultural intelligence, which is the ability to interpret ambiguous cross-cultural situations accurately, and emotional intelligence skills are at a level where I could assess situations from a more cultural enlightened perspective. The ability to garner and distinguish from a person or group behavior features that are universal or characteristic versus cultural is a great skill to have and I am looking forward to further honing these skills during my post training for South Korea (Kinicki & Kreitner, p.68). Ethnocentrism - I am glad I tested for a low for ethnocentrism, which is the belief my culture is better than any other (Kinicki & Kreitner, p.65). A proposal manager even one stationed in another country like South Korea must still have a varied set of skills that is employed daily in the work environment such as communication, problem-solving, team builder, motivator, and have excellent leadership skills. Action Plan My action plan is one I consider international due the industry in which I work. 1. Make sure I have post cultural training 2. Learn the language. 3. Survey the environment by listening and observing 4. Find a male and female mentors within the environment (high/low ranking people) 5. Build relationships with all key stakeholders 6. Quickly learn how to gage words and actions of the culture. 7. Find several sponsors socially and professionally. These actions are well supported by the research I have conducted. I also feel that there does not truly exist an international manager in today’s global marketplace. In the words of author Yehuda Baruch of There is No Such Thing as a Global Manager, “…the examination of a wide set of possible characteristics indicates that there seems to be no distinct set of such individual qualities, so there is no consistent way to point out what a global manager is. What we are left with is the search for good “conventional” managers with a global mindset who could succeed in the international marketplace” (2002, p.36). One would just need the abilities to be open, adaptive, and have desire to gain knowledge. References Baruch, Y. (2002, January-February). No Such Thing as a Global Manager. Business Horizons, 45(1), 36-42. doi:10.1016/S0007-6813(02)80008-8 Dessler, G. (2009). A Framework for Human Resource Management (5th Ed.). New Jersey; Pearson/Prentice Hall. Kinicki, A. & Kreitner, R. (2009). Organizational behavior: key concepts, skills and best practices (4th Ed.). Boston; McGraw Hill. If you need to type anything after the reference list then start it on this page