RELIGION AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

1.How can we create an ethical relationship between religion and business so that they may cooperate towards a more sustainable and respectful development of life?

Religion includes an ethic code, that code can be used by organizations, that doesn't mean organizations should act by the will of god but to enhance and to appreciate fair business practices. In the practice Religion is not the issue itself is the way people interpret it. Most of the people act weird when someone relates anything with religion, but if a company is subtle enough it can inject ethic principles in the way they do business

2.Can you imagine a world without religion where everyone would be trying to get immediate satisfaction to their individual needs? 

More than without religion I cannot imagine a world where people does not have a conscience. Human beings have the tendency to believe in something higher than them. If a society does not have some kind of code of behavior it is destined to destruction. I fact, although reliogin has caused problems it also has provided peace for indivitual and entire societies. With religion comes hope, and if there wasn't any hope I don think there would be a world to talk about. Mankind is selfish by nature, but religion can act like a barrier that avoids all the "evilness" go out. Is your beliefs that make you who you are and thet way you act.

3.Religion can create networks of trust and familiarity that facilitates economic transactions. Can you name other positive aspects of this relationship?

Religion can create a link of tolerance, if someone elses's religious beliefs are understood you can't prevent cultural undestandings. Religion is an interesting to talk about if is adress with respect, so itc an be an advantage if an organization is helding a negociation with another that does not have the same religious practices. 

4.Do you think that stereotyping based on religion has been influenced by economical or political interests, why, whose? What is the role of The Media in this issue?

I believe that the media has the power to turn certain community into the "bad guys". Stereotyping affect not only economics but the peoples life in a dialy basis. Have you ever noticed how people stare if someone is using a burqa? is disrespectful and even embarrasing how people react to someone that doesn't look like everyone else. People assume muslims are terrorist or that the african tribes are ignorant... that is not the case!

 

Managing Diversity

Retieved from http://www.brandnewworld.com/images/d/multicultural/CM80_Multi_CulturalDressUpsCollection.jpg

With globalization and increasing ethnic and gender diversity managers are turning their attention to the management of cultural differences. 

Organizations should value diversity to enhance organizational effectiveness. 

Migration is one factor that put managing diversity in the spotlight. There's a qualified workforce that is not working in their home country but exploring different opportunities  abroad.

When you have different point of view, and you analysis is enriched by a cultural diversity it is more possible that an Organization remains more adaptable in different markets. in the words of Taylor H. Cox and Stacy Blake " For multi-national organizations, the insight and cultural sensitivity that members with roots in other countries bring to the marketing effort should improve these efforts in important ways. The same rationale applies to marketing to subpopulations within domestic operations. “

 

“…You cannot build network organizations on electronic networks alone…If so we will probably need an entirely new sociology of organizations.”

Nohria & Eccles, 1992, pp. 304–305.

 

Nowadays, Company management, including its top executives, is distributed geographically so the companies use virtual teams to support major global corporate customer sales and post sales services.

A virtual team is an evolutionary form of a network organization (Miles & Snow, 1986) enabled by advances in information and communication technology (Davidow & Malone, 1992; Jarvenpaa & Ives, 1994). According to other autors, a virtual team " is a temporary, culturally diverse, geographically dispersed, electronically communicating work group" The concept of virtual implies permeable interfaces and boundaries, project teams that rapidly form, reorganize, and dissolve when the needs of a dynamic marketplace change, and individuals with differing competencies who are located across time, space, and cultures (Kristof et al, 1995; Mowshowitz, 1997)

 

Retieved From  www.skype.com

Retrieved From www.teamviewer.com

Companies today face increasing challenges to remain competitive and to develop products that reach a sustainable success over time, with virtual teams a company ensures “flexibility, responsiveness, lower costs, and improved resource utilization necessary to meet ever-changing task requirements in highly turbulent and dynamic global business environments” (Jarvenpaa &  Leidner, 1998).

However a virtual team has its downsize:

• low individual commitment
• role overload
• role ambiguity
• absenteeism
• social loafing ( people exerting less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group)

 To avoid such problems, the team leader must held face to face meetings in orther to create a link between members and also to enhance the communication flows and to increase trust between team members. " only trust can prevent the geographical and organizational distances of global team members from becoming psychological distances (O'Hara-Devereaux & Johansen, 1994)"

Retrieved from mastermedia.org

Must of the time, team members have never worked before and/or have never seen eachother in the "real life" becaus of that the reltionships between member are not developed and can affect the team's performance. Leaders have the responsabily to implement a strategy so the team's dynamics operate the proper way and that the work relations have more harmony. 

“Time, Interaction, and Performance (TIP) theory describes work groups as time-based, multi-functional, and multi-modal social systems. Effective groups are engaged simultaneously and continuously in three functions: (1) production (problem solving and task-performance), (2) member-support (member inclusion, participation, loyalty, commitment), and (3) group well-being (interaction, member roles, power, politics). Member-support and group well-being relate directly to relationship development.” (McGrath's ,1991).

Retrieved from ounae.com

From my experience, you don't have to be in another country to engage into a virtual team. I some cases there is just no time to meet with the team and waiting till you can face eachother can affect theresult if you are tied to a deadline. I don't know if this happens to other people, but for example is easier for me to reach my mom via e-mail than calling her or waiting until she gets home. 

Virtual tools are not just to get a business done, and although the communication and the relationships are not exactly the same, virtual tools can bring people closer together :) 

 
 

Non Verbal communication is Basically sending and receiving messages in a variety of ways without the use of words.  It is both intentional and unintentional.  Most speakers and listeners are not conscious of this.

Retrieved from http://2.bp.blogspot.com/

_fwKmcVARkpM/TJPbpE-oYMI/

AAAAAAAAAOM/p4PfEs9iIUk/s1600/communication.jpg

According to Peter Bell "Nonverbal communication includes many features - touch and  smell, clothing, masks, vocal features and body movement.  The  nonverbal and verbal are both parts of communication. Indeed, nonverbal communication may take place in conjunction with our speech or even against our own intentions.  nonverbal communication can be unintentional, unconscious and unique in each individual

"Nonverbal cues have always been regarded as central to interpersonal relationships. Indeed people often define intimacy in terms of nonverbal behaviour. In one study, a participant wrote, a touch of the hand ... the meeting of our eyes, a kiss, conveyed our intimacy better than a thousand words". they also provide exterior signals. 

Retrieved from

http://jakestakeonsports.com

/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/surprise.jpg

Our body language is closely related with our speech, hand gestures can be an example of it. Have you ever notice that some time you are trying to say something but words are not enouhg? that's when the hands do the talking for us, and some time gestures are easier to comprehend.

Innocence, anger, wonder, shock, grief, terror, indiffer­ence, seriousness, friendliness, approval, disapproval, exasperation, and many other feelings can be expressed through the body language.

It is said that the face is the index of the mind. The thoughts of the mind, and the feelings of the heart often find expression on the face.

According to PK Singla "Physical presence and appearance of persons play a role in the process of communi­cation. The way the man or woman looks indicates the importance he or she attaches to his or her presence and participation. A disheveled look as evidenced by disor­dered hair, untidy, unruffled or unkempt appearance, suggests indifference or casual­ness."

Non verbal signals varies from one culture to another and the same signal can also have a different meaning, for example:

• touch: some cultures are more reserved about touch, it is closely related with respect. Colombians for example tend to touch everything and be very afectuous even with people they just met.
• eye contact: In some cultures looking into the eye can mean respect and that the receptor is paying attention. however in some cultures it can be a disrespectful behavior.
• volume: For some cultures being loud is offensive, for others a low volume can be interpreted as lazyness or lack of interest.
• proximity: Some cultures appreciate personal space more than others. proximity can be related with closeness.
• gestures: Some gestures have a uneversal meaning, however, you can offend a person from another culture without noticing.

OVERSEAS EXPERIENCE

Retrieved From http://raulpiriz.files.wordpress.com
/2010/01/expatriacion1.jpg?w=300&h=270 On May 1

Thanks to globalization, getting to know the World got way easier. Nowadays there’s a trend to explore and discover opportunities in other parts of the world. The newer generations got to understand that the world goes beyond their home country and that the barriers are basically in the mind.

Individuals know from the beginning that if you want to have a competitive advantage you must have a strategic thinking that goes along with the international context.

The desire to have an Overseas Experience comes from within.  That desire comes from curiosity and also the yearning of knowing more about different cultures.

 under construction....