HI6005 Management and Organisations in a Global Environment

Introduction

Because of globalisation, the business organisations now perform businesses in more than a country and on the way of expanding globally in number of overseas regions. These global business expansions are highly lucrative as well as attractive as it offers several business opportunities to the businesses. In the business expansion there develops multicultural organisations which have employees from various diverse cultural groups. But managing the global operations and the cross cultural teams is not an easy job (Cavusgil, et al., 2014). There are several kinds of issues and problems which occur at the time of managing these highly diversified groups. It is essential to have effective teams and efficient managerial practices so that the diversity in the cultures does not pose negative implications on the business operations or the success of the company. There is a vital role of managers in managing these cross-cultural teams as it is the key responsibility of the managers to develop effective communication, teamwork and proficiency ammo the teams (Chow, 2015). There are number of times when the issues arise due to diversity in culture but with efficient managing skills and competence the risks can be decreased and a balance can be formed within different cross cultural teams. There is a great importance of diversity and culture in the global organisations. it sir essential to understand these issues associated with the  cultural teams so that they can be resolved on time. There are various factors that impact the international business of the organisations. These factors have a relevancy with the diverse cultural factors. It is necessary to plan the recruitments in the global business to have effective managers to perform business functions in an efficient manner (Dunning, 2014).

Challenges in recruiting and effectively managing cross cultural teams

Issues faced by expatriate managers

In the global business expansion, maximum of the organisations have expatriate business managers who already posses complete knowledge of the business operations of the company. These are the managers who are shifted from the domestic country to the host country where the organisation has expanded its business. But being an expatriate to the host country there are several issues and challenges which are faced by these expatriate managers at the timed of global operations (Scullion, Collings and Gunnigle, 2007). The key and the primary issue which is faced by the expatriate managers is the language issue. It is not essential that in the country where the business is expanded also follows the similar language. There are many differences in the languages of the people of diverse nations. Because of language issues, there are times when important information is not able to share with the team members in an appropriate manner. The second issue faced by expatriate managers is managing the interpersonal interaction. Being an expatriate with language difference, it is very difficult to develop interpersonal interactions with bother people and the employees (Johnson, Lenartowicz and Apud, 2006). Because of cultural differences there develops a level of formal relationship among the individual which acts as the barricades for successful interpersonal interactions. The next challenge face by the expatriate managers is making recruitments. In any international business, it is essential to have recruitments of domestic individuals of the host country for having a better understanding of the market and the business operations. Bering a manger, it is the responsibility to recruit more number of efficient and potential candidates who can help the business to grow. But at the time of recruitment there are issues such as language, understanding of opinions, issues related to have recruitments of superior candidates, etc. (Toh and DeNisi, 2005).

Next challenge for the expatriate mangers is to provide trainings to the employees. It is essential part of the international business to offer adequate training to the employees so that they can work in an appropriate manner with utmost efficiency. When the training is provided to the employees, it is essential to clear all the queries and doubts of the new employees so that they can have a better understanding but due to several cultural factors, it becomes problematic for the manager to offer adequate trainings to them. The next issue faced by the expatriate manager is to settle in the overseas regions (Tahir and Ismail, 2007). It is also necessary to have adequate facilities for the other family member such as education for children, etc. Therefore, it is an issue for the managers to have a proper understanding of host country to manage all the thongs. An expatriate manager is also required to offer feedback to the employees on their work and performance. The cultural openness in every country is different. It is not necessary that there is high level of cultural openness. In several countries there is required to give feedbacks in a very appropriate manner otherwise it may result into attrition of the employees (Abbott, et al., 2006). The next challenge faced buy the expatriate manager is to understand the laws and regulation of the host country. It is essential to have a deep understanding of the various laws and regulations. For example, it is essential to make the employees work as per the labour laws and there pay should be justified as per the wages act. Any kind of variation or disobeying of these laws may create problems for the business to operate in the international regions. Thus, it a challenge for the managers to first have understanding of all these laws and regulations (Mezias and Scandura, 2005).

Skills and abilities identified in successful international managers

Being a successful global or international manger is not an easy job. There are several competencies and skills which are required to be inherent in an individual to become an effective and efficient international manger. The global business operations are much difficult then the domestic business operations. There is a need of multiple skills and proficiencies for having an effective team and management in the host country. There are diverse roles of a global manger which he is requiring to play with utmost effectiveness. The diverse roles of an international manager comprises of the role of a functional manger for having effective business practices and competent knowledge to carry on the business operations (Jokinen, 2005). The second key role is of a country manager which comprises of responsibility to have a clear assessment of the opportunities and threats present in that country as well as to build the local capabilities and the resources so that there can be effective participation of individuals in the international business operations. The third key role as an international manger is the business manager. As a business manager there is a need to develop strategies for the organisation to have competitive benefits in the host country. It is also a responsibility of the international manager to coordinate all the business transactions across the national borders. For managing all these roles, it is essential to have several competencies and skills. The abilities and skills indentified in the successful managers include knowledge competencies, interpersonal competencies, personal competencies and global mindset (Pies, Beckmann and Hielscher, 2010).

Knowledge competencies

To become a successful international manager, it is essential to be technology savvy which means that the manager must have high competence with the technologies. In the global business market, there is also take use of innovative technologies in the process and the business operations. Therefore, a manger must be competent enough to take efficient use of the telecommunication, information systems and other technology based software and applications (Mendenhall, 2012). Another knowledge related competency essential for becoming a successful international manager is having international knowledge. It is essential that the managers must have adequate analysis of the country. The manager must have socio-cultural, political, technological and environmental knowledge of the international country. The knowledge of all these factors offers advantage to the company to have sustainable business operations in international markets. In the absence of such knowledge there is always a risk of external threats. Another knowledge competencies which the managers are required tpo possess for becoming successful comprises of to be industry and business savvy, to have competencies to manage the global risks and to have best practice standards (Wu and Lee, 2007).

Interpersonal competencies

For becoming successful international managers, it is not enough for the global managers to only posses’ efficient knowledge competencies whereas they are require to have adequate interpersonal competencies too. The interpersonal skills are related to the management or the social interaction with other individuals. For being interpersonally competitive it is essential that the managers must have possessed acculturation. The managers who possess this competence have appropriate knowledge of the culture of the international market. They are also aware of the various cultural differences in the host and the home country. The successful managers remain open to the cultural diversity and have the skills to work on innovative ideas and to make effective communication with other individuals no matter whether they fare from a similar culture or diverse cultural group (Mangan and Christopher, 2005). The global managers must have complete knowledge of the various aspects of culture such as customs, negotiation style, manners, communication, business and meeting etiquettes and other various factors. Another interpersonal competence is that the global managers must have appropriate skills for managing the diversity in organisation which means to have an improved coordination among the various cultural teams and to eradicate any kind of diversity issues from the organization. The next interpersonal competence is to have competence to motivate and lead the diverse workforce. There are several issues which takes place at the workplace where there is diverse workforce. Thus, a successful manager effectively led as well as motivates the diverse workforce. The successful leaders also possess few more interpersonal competencies such as effective cultural networking skills, having the ability to develop and covey a clear vision to other individuals and possessing the capacity to manage the conflicts and the uncertainties which occurs in the global business environment. All these interpersonal competencies are few of the most important characteristics of a successful international manager (Thomas and Mengel, 2008).

Personal competencies

The personal traits and the competencies of a global manager have a direct association with the success of the international business. The first and the primary personal competence is that the successful leaders are self-aware which means that they possess high level of emotional intelligence. The global managers must effectively monitor the emotions and the feelings of one as well as of others. The next competence is that the successful global managers possess inquisitiveness (Draganidis and Mentzas, 2006) It means that the global manager always seek for information and continuous learning so that they can be aware of the most recent information. The next competence is that the successful manager possesses high level of integrity and honesty. It is essential that the global managers must maintain high level of trust among the employees as well as the other stakeholders. The greater level of integrity and honesty helps the global managers to build trust. Other personal competencies possess by the successful international managers comprises of being open-minded, highly flexible in adopting changes, remain positive in difficult situation i.e. being an optimistic and also to posses high level of empathy is that the viewpoints of other can be understood easily (Furuya, et al., 2009).

Global mindset

It is also one if the skills and abilities of a successful leader to have global mindset. Global mindset means that the global managers do not think with a restrictive approach or perspective. It is essential to view things from global perspectives. The leaders understand the benefits of cultural diversity, globalization, have broader view, work on achieving the competitive benefits from global business operations. Therefore, the successful global managers always work with contemporary and global approach (Mitchelmore and Rowley, 2010).

Multivariate analysis used in recruitment of international managers

Multivariate analysis can be understand as taking use of various analytical tools for performing analysis of a specific thing. The purpose of taking use of multivariate analysis is that to understand the various perspectives of any statistical outcome or any aspect. It is very much potential to understand the pros and cons of a thing and having knowledge about the different aspects so that there can be accurate decision making (Chatfied and Collins, 2013). The companies also take use of the multivariate analysis for the purpose of recruitment for the international business operations. Making effective and efficient recruitments is an essential need for the success of the international business. There is a need of competent and proficient international managers to carry on the business activities. Thus, the companies for recruiting the most capable candidates take use of multivariate analysis. With the help of multivariate analyze, the candidates are analyzed and evaluate from several perspectives. The individuals are not only analyzed on the basis of their educational qualification rather they are analyzed from the personal experience, professional experience, education, emotional intelligence, versatility and also from the behavioral aspects. Analyzing a candidate from various perspectives gives a better understanding and the companies can evaluate whether it will a resourceful asset for the organisation or not (Van Hoye and Lievens, 2007).

Acculturation issues in expatriation and repatriation of international managers

The global managers are required to change their locations as per the needs of the businesses. There is change in the location of the global managers when the businesses plan to expand globally. As well as once a project or the work is finished, the international managers who are working as expatriate managers have to relocate back to their original place and have to work in the domestic nation. But the entire process of expatriation and repatriation of the international managers is very crucial and complex (Cho, Hutchings and Marchant, 2013). There takes place numerous acculturation issues in the process of expatriation and repatriation. Acculturation can be understood as the modification or change in the cultural beliefs, values and habits of an individual by adapting, working and inheriting the traits of some other culture. There are various acculturation issues which are experienced by the global managers such as issues related to relocation. It is not easy to relocate on self from one country to another (Mesmer-Magnus and Viswesvaran, 2008). To move into an overseas region, it is necessary to understand the various cultural factor of that nation. A lot of time and effort is exhausted in learning the customs, values and cultural etiquettes of another country. Other issue is related to the language. The global managers are required to be efficient in various languages to function effectively in the international regions. Once the project or task is accomplished, the global manger has to relocate oneself again in the domestic country but then also issues occur. There are various repatriation issues which the global manager faces such as adjusting again in the previous environment (McEvoy and Buller, 2013). With the change in time, there takes places several changes at the organisations also. Therefore, it becomes difficult for the global managers to readjust themselves. There are several other issues such as personal issues related to family, children and their education. These acculturation issues are required to be managed in an appropriate manner otherwise it can result in decreased productivity and efficiency in the performance of the global managers (Haslberger and Brewster, 2009).

Conclusion

In the globalised world and international businesses, there are several cross-cultural groups and teams which are formed. It is then the key responsibility of the international managers to effectively handle the functioning of these culturally diverse teams and groups of people. For any kind of concern or issue related to cultural diversity is the accountability of the global managers to resolve them. There are number of issues arise in the global business because of increased cultural diversity. Thus, it can be understood that the global mangers taking numerous initiatives to have successful functioning of the business in the overseas regions. From this report, it can be concluded that there are various issues and challenges which are faced by the expatriate managers in the host countries such as recruitment related issues, training, feedbacks, cultural issues, interpersonal issues etc. All these issues hamper the success and development of the business operations in the international markets. From this report, it is also analysed that, to resolve all such issues, it is required to have successful and competent global managers. The international or the global managers possess a set of skills, abilities and competencies which male them successful in the international business operations. The other managers are also required to possess the knowledge competencies, interpersonal competencies, personal competencies and global mindset to work smoothly in international regions. It is also analysed and concluded that the successful global managers also take use of multivariate analysis for having recruitments so that the most competent human resources can become the part of the business. But in the process of global expansion and expatriation and repartition, the global managers have to face a number of difficulties. Thus, it is essential that while globalising, the business organisations must have efficient strategies to manage the business operations, acculturation issues, challenges faced by the global managers and the recruitment of competent managers who can carry all such operations.

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