INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT

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INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT

• Dr. Abel Femi Adekola
• Associate Professor of
• International Management

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Chapter 1 - The International Management Process

• The managerial talents within a nation have come
  to be recognized as a key ingredient in the
  economic welfare of that nation.
• Along with its natural resources and its
  population, the ability to organize production is
  extremely important to developing and maintaining
  high standards of living in any country.

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What is Management and a Manager?

• Management is the Planning, organizing, leading
  and controlling of employees and other resources
  to achieve organizational goals.
• A Manager is a person that make sure the goals of
  the organization are achieved, by allocating and
  directing human and material resources towards
  the set goals.

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• Managers are multicultural not only when they
  work with people from other countries but also
  with people from the same country, who speak the
  same language, have the same national heritage
  and yet, have different ways to look at the
  world. - Pierre Casse (1980)

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What is International Management?

• It involves doing all the aforementioned across
  unique multicultural and multinational
  boundaries.
• A multi-cultural manager is someone who has to
  handle things, ideas and people belonging to
  different cultural environments.

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• For the 21st century, traditional management
  training must be adjusted to the new requirement
  of the managerial functions.
• Planning, organizing, leading and controlling
  aspects have to be approached from the
  cross-cultural perspective if corporations want
  to keep up their productivity inside and outside
  the countries they belong.

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Purpose of this course?

• This course is slated to address how to
  transplant the critical managerial processes such
  as Communication Problem-solving Decision
  making Performance appraisal Recruitment and
  Promotions, from one culture to another with the
  Necessary Adjustments.

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Steps to cross-cultural Management Effectiveness

• Step 1 - Self Awareness
• Step 2 - Cross-cultural understanding of host
  country
• Step 3 - Adaptation of Management Skills to
  the host culture

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What Is Culture?

• Culture is the code of behaviors, values,
  beliefs, and patterns of thinking that we learn
  as we grow and develop in our social groups.
• Culture determines how we view ourselves and
  others, how we behave, and how we perceive the
  world around us.
• The nucleus of each culture is built on CORE
  VALUE which are preferences for certain states of
  affairs or outcomes over others.

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Sources Of Cultural Learning

• The family
• Nuclear or joint family
• Educational institutions
• Focus on structured or conceptual ideas

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Sources Of Cultural Learning

• Major religions
• Christianity
• Islam
• Hinduism
• Buddhism
• Religions and international management process

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The Impact Of Culture

• International planning
• Master of destiny or predetermination?
• International organizing
• Importance of enterprise or personal
  relationships

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The Impact Of Culture

• International staffing
• Merit or family?
• International coordinating
• Shared decision making versus centralized
  decision making
• Issues with local leadership styles and
  communicational styles
• International controlling
• Based on data versus emotions and judgment

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Key Variables of Cultures Core Values Are

• Nature
• Time
• Action
• Communication
• Space

• Power
• Individualism
• Competitiveness
• Structure
• Formality

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Subcultures

• Managers should recognize, of course, that
  cultural generalizations in cultural profiles
  will produce only an approximation, or
  stereotype, of national character.
• Many countries, in fact, comprise diverse
  subcultures, whose people conform only in varying
  degrees to the national character.

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• In Canada, distinct subcultures include
  Anglo-phones and Franco-phones (English-speaking
  and French-speaking people) and native Canadians.
• United states is itself an example, with varying
  subcultures. While abroad, Americans are almost
  always dealt with in the context of stereotypical
  Americans, but at home Americans recognize
  differences among themselves due to ethnic,
  geographic or other sub-cultural backgrounds.

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• The Japanese tend to be a very formal, correct,
  non-touching, non-arguing people, whereas the
  Koreans are more apt to be informal, outgoing,
  spontaneous, and argumentative.
• Above all, good managers treat people as
  individuals, and avoid any form of stereotyping.

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Harris Morans Eight Categories Forming the
Subsystems

• Kinship
• Family relationships, nuclear vs. Extended
• Education
• Formal informal
• Economy
• Means of production distribution in a society
• Politics - system of govt. In a society

• Religion
• Spiritual belief of a society
• Associations
• Formal informal associations
• Health
• Health care in a society
• Recreation
• Use of leisure time

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Hofstedes Cultural Framework

• Hofstede, a researcher from the Netherlands
  proposed a useful framework for understanding how
  basic values underlie organizational behavior on
  over 116,000 people in 50 countries.
• He proposes four value dimensions.
• Power distance, uncertainty avoidance,
  individualism, and masculinity.

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Power Distance Uncertainty Avoidance

• Uncertainty avoidance is the extent to which
  people in a society feel threatened by ambiguous
  situations.
• People in strong uncertainty avoidance cultures
  tend not to be high-risk takers.

• Power distance, is the level of acceptance by a
  society of the unequal distribution of power in
  institutions.
• People in large power distance cultures accept
  and expect authoritative leadership.
• While people in small power distance cultures
  accept and expect participative leadership.

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Collectivism Masculinity

• Collectivism is a strong belief in group
  decisions.
• People from a collectivist country, like Japan,
  believe in the will of the group rather than that
  of the individual.

• Masculinity, refers to the degree of
  traditionally masculine values i.e.
• Assertiveness.
• Materialism, and.
• Lack of concern for others.

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• Confucian dynamism high score on this dimension
  reflects traditional Chinese value system. Basic
  tenet is that unequal relationships between
  people create stability in society.

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Reasons For Globalization

• Increasing interdependence among nations
• Rapid business growth and expansion due to new
  technologies
• Increased opportunities due to world-wide
  deregulation

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Global Corporations

• Enterprises involved in international.
• Business are usually referred to as.
• International corporations, multinational.
• Corporations (MNCs), or global.
• Corporations.

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Characteristics Of The Global Manager

• Augmented skills
• Computer literacy
• Prudent negotiating skills
• Ability as a change agent
• Visionary skills
• Effective delegatory skills

• Core skills
• Multidimensional perspective
• Proficiency in line management
• Prudent decision making
• Resourcefulness
• Cultural sensitivity
• Ability to be a team builder
• Physical fitness and mental maturity