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Social Responsibility in Germany

November 10, 2018 by ecm5336 2 Comments

This is the German flag.

While each country in Western Europe has their own distinctive culture, there are still principal themes that they all share (Moran, Abramson, and Moran, 2014). This includes Europeans having an inherent interest in the quality of life such as enjoying socialization with family and friends over beverages and meals and a sense of social responsibility (Moran, Abramson, and Mora, 2014). I am going to be focusing on Germany (Deutschland) in this post because I currently live in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Germany is a beautiful country with a lot of history. There are castles all over the country along with historical sites as well. Since I live in West Germany the major city I am closest to would be Frankfurt. I am going to be discussing how leaders need to be aware of certain European characteristics from my personal experience here in Germany.

According to Moran, Abramson, and Moran (2014) Europeans have an inherent interest in the quality of life, at all levels of society. This is something that can be seen all throughout Germany. People are treated very well here. Taxes are high, usually 19% on goods and 9% on food but all of this money goes back into the community. We have nice roads, a lot of parks, clean tap water we are able to drink, free education (including college), and socialized health care. Leaders from other countries, especially the United States, need to be aware of the fact that Germany cares about their people and their well-being. This is different from America where certain cities do not have clean water, health care costs are very high throughout the country, and education is not usually not free. When leaders and their businesses come to Germany, they need to make sure that whatever their intention is, it doesn’t interfere with the quality of life. Something that is valued here compared to the United States is family/rest time. Every Sunday businesses are closed. This gives people time to have a day to spend with their friends and family. This does not occur in the United States. Germans believe it is important to have a day off in order to rest. Additionally, stores close early on weekdays as well.

According to Moran, Abramson, and Moran (2014) an aspect of having an inherent interest in the quality of life includes socialization with family and friends over beverages and meals. This is extremely important. Last week in my post I talked about how in the Japanese culture meals were very important to bond with colleagues and business associations because they were able to make personal connections this way. This is similar to dining out in Germany. Whenever you eat at a restaurant, there is no one who is going to rush you to finish your meal. The restaurant will pretty much give you the table for the entire meal period because dining out is seen as a social occasion. While food is affordable, restaurants charge for tap water and drinks are more expensive because this is one way to make money since people will usually be there for hours. Many people go to the grocery store every day to get food to make for the day and so many meals are made at home. This is why dining out is seen as a social event. Leaders from other countries shouldn’t expect to have a quick meal. Additionally, drinking a beer is seen as acceptable as well, during the day or evening. Beer and alcoholic drinks are sold almost everywhere in Germany such as at family friendly festivals, farmers markets, and museum cafes.

This is an example of the different ways we are required to sort our trash in Germany.

Now I want to discuss the characteristic that Europeans have a sense of social responsibility. This can be seen in many different ways but one that really stands out to me is their disposal system. Residents are required to sort their trash into six different categories including trash, bio (food), paper, plastics, and glass. Bio gets collected every week, plastics are set out in yellow bags every other week, and trash is collected every other week as well. We are required to take glass to community bins and are required to pick up yellow bags for plastics at the local town hall. The bins provided to each house are about half the size of the bins in America. The other category include glass bottles and plastic bottles. These have to be kept at your house until you take them to a grocery store to be recycled since you pay a deposit when you initially purchase them. To people in other countries this can be seen as a hassle, but in Germany it is seen as a social responsibility to keep the country clean and recycle whenever possible. Pretty much everything you buy will be in packaging that is able to be recycled. Leaders need to make sure they know this or else they will be seen as inconsiderate for not caring about recycling. Additionally, social responsibility includes being less wasteful. We are responsible for bringing our own grocery bags to the grocery store along with at department stores in the mall as well. In order to reduce the amount of plastic and paper waste, restaurants in the mall and other fast food settings use reusable plates and utensils. Customers place their entire trays on different rows and everything gets washed and reused. This is different from in America where even if you are getting fast food and eating at the establishment, you are given your food on paper plates and use plastic utensils.

This is an example of a reusable bag from Aldi Sud. This is a popular discount store in Germany.

A final social responsibility that I have witnessed here in Germany is that we have different food standards than in the United States. The food here does not contain growth hormones, this means that chickens are about half of the size they are in the United States. All food would be viewed as “organic” according to U.S. standards, additionally Germans have a “bio” version which is their version of organic. There are farmers who drop off fresh milk throughout the villages along with fresh fruit. This is really unique because the food here is really fresh and comes from local farms.

Leaders and organizations need to be aware of these certain characteristics of European nations, especially Germany. A company that wants to sell a product that isn’t seen as being socially responsible will probably not have very good results here, whereas a company selling reusable products and want to bring their business to Germany will have a better chance at succeeding. Just like other countries, European nations also have their own specific views and ways of doing things. Global leaders need to be aware of European priorities and values in order to not offend anyone. Even leaders who are just trying to reach German companies on a Sunday should not expect to receive a reply that same day. I realize these values are a lot different than those in the United States and so I think Germans would be very impressed if global leaders from other countries demonstrated social responsibility and awareness while visiting on business.

References

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences (9th ed.). Oxford: Routledge.

Japan’s View on Individualism, Culture, and Personal Relationships

November 4, 2018 by ecm5336 Leave a Comment

According to Hofstede Insights (n. d.) Japan scores a 46 on Individualism whereas the United States scores a 91. This shows that Japan is a collectivistic society meaning they put group harmony above the expression of individual opinions (Hofstede Insights, n. d.). According to Moran, Abramson, and Moran (2014) group leadership is more highly regarded than individual initiative. This means that if leaders from the United States are trying to motivate employees at a Japanese company, they need to use group rewards and group work in order to be a successful leader. Whereas in the United States, many jobs require employees to directly compete with each other in order to receive a reward. If a leader from the United States were to go to Japan and try to have employees compete with each other for a reward, this could greatly interfere with relationships which could result in lower productivity and higher conflict issues. Personal relationships score high with Japanese meaning cut-and-dried relationships with business contacts are inadequate and must be supplemented by a social relationship for maximum effect (Moran, Abramson, and Moran, 2014). This means that gift giving and entertaining a client with a “night on the town” is appropriate in Japanese culture. Leaders need to know about this when they have Japanese business associates visiting them in the United States. They will have traveled a long way and so American leaders need to really focus on making sure they keep a personal relationship by entertaining them.

Another aspect that leaders need to be aware of is their dress and appearance. Managers and business associates are expected to dress in neat, orderly, and conservative ways usually including a dress shirt, tie, and suit (Moran, Abramson, and Moran, 2014). When I visited Japan a few years ago I was told beforehand that the culture is very conservative. What is deemed appropriate in the United States might not be appropriate in Japan. What I mean by this is that casual wear also needs to cover a good amount of your body. One of my friends was stationed in Japan and it was a huge culture shock for her. She was accustomed to wearing sport clothing when going out but realized that many of the local Japanese people put more effort into their outfits and were more put together than she was. She was extremely embarrassed and from then on she made sure to spend more time on her appearance. According to Friedman and Lagrave (2018) unless you are a teenager, you need to look more polished. I think this also relates back to concept of having a strong sense of shame for losing face. Japanese tend to be clean, polite, and disciplined and self-control disguise is a highly emotional quality of Japanese character (Moran, Abramson, and Moran, 2014). This means that even being dressed appropriately is something that is highly regarded in order to preserve their reputation.

This is the Flag of Japan.

Another concept that leaders from the United States need to be aware of when entertaining Japanese business associates is that in Japanese culture eating is ritualistic, communal, and time consuming (Moran, Abramson, and Moran, 2014). When I traveled to Japan I was taken to a traditional Japanese restaurant where I had to take my shoes off and sit on the floor because the table was close to the floor. The meal was presented in multiple rounds and took almost two hours. We were having conversations with other people the entire time and so I really think this is a way to build personal relationships and get to know one another better.

This is an example of a traditional dining setting in Japan, similar to what I experienced at a restaurant while traveling in Japan.

Finally, I want to discuss a personal experience I had in Japan that really supports the concept of how Japanese culture values collectivism over individualism. When my family first arrived in Japan at the Tokyo airport we traveled by train to get to our hotel. The train was underground and so when we arrived at our stop we had to walk up a couple flights of stairs to get to the street. We had 2 suitcases, a stroller, a carseat, and our carry-on bags with us. While my husband was making trips carrying our stuff up the stairs an older woman came up to me and offered to help us. I was extremely shocked at her generosity because at her age I don’t think she could have carried a suitcase up flights of stairs by herself. There was another person walking by who saw me standing at the bottom of the stairs with my baby and asked if I needed help as well. In another situation my family and I were trying to figure out the train system and had multiple people come up to us and asked if we needed assistance. This really shows that Japanese culture emphasizes being polite and working together as a group.

Japan is a collectivistic nation meaning they will always focus on what is good for the group instead of over what is good for the individual. Since this is such a big difference in culture when compared to the United States, leaders need to make sure that they understand how to make personal connections when hosting Japanese business associates along with the appropriate ways to act and dress when traveling to Japan as well. Making sure leaders behave appropriately both in their home country when entertaining guests is just as important and behaving appropriately when in a foreign country.

References

Country Comparison: Japan, United States. (n. d.). Hofstede Insights. Retrieved from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/japan,the-usa/

Friedman, S., Lagrave, K. (2018). The Essential Things to Know Before You Visit Tokyo. Conde Nast. Retrieved from https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2014-12-08/how-not-to-look-like-a-tourist-in-tokyo

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences (9th ed.). Oxford: Routledge.

Power Distance in China

October 28, 2018 by ecm5336 1 Comment

I’m going to be discussing Hofstede’s concept of Power Distance and how this theory is portrayed in China. According to Hofstede Insights (n. d.) China has a score of 80 on the Power Distance scale. This scale is the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. China’s score represents the concept that their society believes that inequalities amongst people are acceptable. According to Hofstede Insights (n. d.) the subordinate-superior relationship tends to be polarized and there is no defense against power abuse by superiors. This means that workers should not have aspirations beyond their rank. I find this interesting because I believe this is the opposite in the United States. In the United States, Power Distance is 40 (Hofstede Insights, n. d.). We mostly believe that everyone is equal along with there being many laws and regulations in place to make sure employers and organizations are not abusing their employees.

I believe that factories in China are a good representation of China’s score on the Power Distance scale. What I mean by this is that abuse in factories is not uncommon in China and many of the workers either have to deal with the abuse or will be without a job. According to Barboza (2008) some Chinese companies routinely shortchange their employees on wages, withhold health benefits and expose their workers to dangerous machinery and harmful chemicals, like lead, cadmium, and mercury. Workers are usually very poor whereas the companies that are paying for the goods they are producing are very wealthy such as Wal-Mart, Disney, and Dell (Barboza, 2008). China’s view on power distance is also demonstrated in factories by their management’s lack of honesty. According to Barboza (2008) these factories practice unfair labor procedures such as child labor, forcing employees to work 16-hour days on fast-moving assembly lines, and paying workers less than minimum wage. A study by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences revealed that factory workers lose or break about 40,000 fingers on the job every year (Barboza, 2008).

This is an image of a garment factory in Bangladesh after the building had collapsed (due to hazardous working conditions) and injured many workers in 2013.

I believe that something that leaders in America need to remember when interacting with organizations from China is that Chinese leaders do not mind having inequality between the powerful and less powerful within their culture (Pennsylvania State University, 2018). If an organization from the United States is going to partner with an organization from China they need to make sure that employees at both companies are being treated fairly. Since the United States’ Power Distance score is 40, this means that Americans do not necessarily share this same view as the Chinese do. Companies that partner with Chinese organizations could really risk gaining a bad reputation if their partner company is abusing their workers. For example, in 2013 a factory building in Bangladesh collapsed and killed more than 1,000 workers. This was the deadliest disaster in the history of the garment industry (Yardley, 2013). Companies that were having their clothes made in this factory such as H&M, Wal-Mart, and Gap, pledged to improve the safety of workers in their factories (Abrams, 2016). Publicity about how organizations are not treating their workers fairly could result in a loss of profit for the American company due to customers perceiving them to be unethical.

Finally, I have a personal example of Power Distance that I have witnessed over the years. Part of my family is Chinese and so I have been able to experience the culture and values throughout my life. My mother’s brother married a Chinese woman and so whenever I would visit my uncle I would be able to interact with his wife’s family as well. Her family immigrated from China to the United States and so their culture is very much traditional Chinese but over the years they have incorporated more American values. From what I have seen is that they have a big power distance when it comes to the adults and their kids. Pretty much the adults have the only say when it comes to decision making. While in the majority of cultures parents make decisions for their kids, in Chinese culture there isn’t much consideration of what the kids want. What this shows is the same concept of how there is an inequality between those who are powerful and less powerful. My aunt’s brother and his wife (both from China) tell their kids what to do without caring about what their kids’ opinions/wants are, while in America it seems like parents take into consideration what their kids want and let them make more decisions on their own. Of course this isn’t the same as leaders in factory workers abusing their workers, but it shows that leaders or people with more authority in China and in the Chinese culture make decisions without regard to less powerful peoples’ opinions or regard.

Hofstede’s concept of Power Distance is very important to remember when doing business with people in China. Their views reflect the idea that there are some people who are powerful and some people who aren’t. Leaders shouldn’t be offended when Chinese leaders want a bureaucracy instead of an ambiguous social structure when doing business (Pennsylvania State University, 2018). In Chinese culture it is more acceptable to have someone in charge rather than multiple people equally in charge.

References

Abrams, Rachel. (2016). Retailers Like H&M and Walmart Fall Short of Pledges to Overseas Workers. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/31/business/international/top-retailers-fall-short-of-commitments-to-overseas-workers.html

Barboza, David. (2008). In Chinese Factories, Lost Fingers and Low Pay. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/business/worldbusiness/05sweatshop.html

China. (n. d.). Hofstede Insights. Retrieved from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country/china/

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2018). OLEAD 410 Lesson 10: Asia: Focus on China and India. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1942644/modules/items/24935431

United States. (n. d). Hofstede Insights. Retrieved from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/the-usa/

Yardley, Jim. (2013). Report on Deadly Factory Collapse in Bangladesh Finds Widespread Blame. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/world/asia/report-on-bangladesh-building-collapse-finds-widespread-blame.html?module=inline

Using Planned Change to Increase Productivity

September 23, 2018 by ecm5336 1 Comment

I am going to be discussing Bandura’s social learning theory and explore how this theory can be applied in the business world in regards to training and organizational change. According to Pennsylvania State University (2018) social learning is about how people learn behavior by observing others behave. Employees will look up to their role models in the workplace and mimic their behavior. This is why when organizations plan on implementing/updating new policies or enacting some sort of organizational change, they need to remember that people are often times resistant to change. This is where Schein’s planned change theory can assist these leaders.

According to Pennsylvania State University (2018) leaders must motivate people in the organization to want to change, help them unlearn old behaviors, help them learn new behaviors, as well as make sure that there is a support system to make sure the change actually goes beyond lip service. Schein created a three-stage model that explains how global leaders should successfully implement change, including Unfreezing, Disconfirmation, and Changing. One of the organizations I worked at during my freshman year decided to implement a new policy. Since I worked at a retail store, this new policy was aimed at making returns faster and more smoothly. When a customer would make a purchase we would automatically put the receipt in the bag. Our manager was noticing that a lot of customers who would come back and make returns did not have their receipt with them. Since our manager couldn’t make a new policy stating that customers did not need to have a receipt to return items, she decided that we needed to start asking customers if they would rather have the receipt with them or in the bag. This way people would be more likely be able to locate their receipt if they needed to make a return.

The first stage in this theory is called Unfreezing and incorporates disconfirmation. Disconfirmation is the process of showing organizational members that their current behaviors or attitudes are incorrect, and that continuing to behave in those ways will not only harm the organization, but themselves as well (Pennsylvania State University, 2018). Our manager had us go through the process of making a return when the customer did not have a receipt verses when a customer did have a receipt. If they didn’t have a receipt, we were forced to write down all of their information from their driver’s license along with getting a manager’s approval. This took a very long time and was very tedious. It actually decreased productivity because we weren’t able to help other customers during this process. This showed us that by giving the customer a choice of whether they wanted their receipt with them or in the bag would hopefully reduce the amount of work we would have to do if they wanted to return an item. The second stage is called Changing. Changing is about the actual changes in behaviors and attitudes to the new desired behaviors and attitudes (Pennsylvania State University, 2018). Our manager displayed this new behavior and acted as a “change agent” to the lower employees. She encouraged the assistant managers to also display this new behavior and made sure all of the leaders were on the same page. Finally, the third stage is called Refreezing. Refreezing is when leaders stabilize the changes by freezing the new behaviors into the standard behavior (Pennsylvania State University, 2018). There was some resistance at first from a few employees because a lot of the customers that would come into the store spoke a difference language, and so by continuing to speak to them in a language they didn’t understand would just further confuse both parties. Eventually the majority of employees followed this new policy because of the decrease in returns without receipts. While my personal example is quite simple, it demonstrates that Bandura’s social learning theory functions alongside the planned change theory.

Linking this back to Bandura’s social learning theory, we can see that there are many similar aspects between these two theories. According to Pennsylvania State University (2018) planned change is about organizational functioning, while social learning is about how to change specific people’s behaviors. Social learning involves a four-step process: attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation (Pennsylvania State University, 2018). For example, the lower level employees focused on the manager’s new behavior every time a customer made a purchase. By witnessing the manager follow the new policy every time, employees were able to retain the observed behavior. Whenever a lower level employee rang up a customer, they would remember to communicate with the customer about their receipt because they were motivated not to have to go through the lengthy process of a long return in the future. Finally, all employees spoke English and so everyone was able to go through the reproduction process.

Bandura’s social learning theory can be applied throughout the business world, especially when training new employees and implementing organizational change. Whether an organization is making a small or drastic change in a policy, leaders need to remember that most of the time their followers/employees are going to resist change. A change that might not seem like such a big deal could actually result in the organization taking a step back and being less productive due to a lack of effort from leaders.

References

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2018). OLEAD 410 Lesson 5: Learning and Change in a Global Setting. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1942644/modules/items/24935391