In this ever changing business climate, you have two choices; evolve, or die out. Social learning is defined as, “how people learn behavior by observing others behave,” (Social Learning, p. 1). Businesses keep an eye on one another to keep up with technology, to see what strategies work, and to make sure they aren’t falling behind. Schein created a theory in the 1980’s which is implemented in businesses to this day, mostly without their knowledge. Schein’s planned change theory not only keeps businesses from dying off, but leads to new and innovative ideas. It involves “a three-stage model of planned change: unfreezing, changing, and refreezing,” (Planned Change, p. 3). Faisal Hoque with Business Insider agrees that change is not only essential in this day and age, but a skill to be harnessed. “With the rapid change of the social-technology-economic climate, transformation is the greatest leadership and management challenge of our times,” (Hoque, 2014, p. 6).

Astrophysicist Carl Sagan said,

“Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.” (Hoque, 2014, p. 3)

The first stage that Schein explains in his model of planned change is called unfreezing. It is where businesses must find the motivation that provokes a positive change. This means that change needs to be planned in such a way that the benefits outweigh any risks and that the outcome will be favorable. “If you or your organization isn’t evolving — innovating, growing, or reinventing — you are in danger of failing,” (Hoque, 2014, p. 2). A company that doesn’t change, doesn’t survive. Successful businesses keep an eye on how their market is doing as well as what their competitors are doing, and then make the necessary changes in order to stay competitive. “Companies’ learning behavior is generally driven by their market performance,” (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014, p. 106)

The second stage the Schein explains in his model of planned change is called changing. This is the actual behavioral changes in a business that happens in order to stay in the game. Businesses make changes by “scanning the environment, looking in particular for information about the current problem and solution,” (Planned Change, p. 9). This means that a business sees that they are slipping in the market, or that a rival business implemented a new strategy that has them climbing the ladder of success, and makes intelligent changes in order to outperform its competitors. “This requires new organizational thinking, the creation and sharing of new kinds of information, and new processes for creativity and innovation. Only in this way can growth through innovation become repeatable,” (Hoque, 2014, p. 27). Successful business leaders observe others and look for positive or negative results from their ways, then make the necessary changes to their own business to keep their competitive advantage. “Global leaders with foresight scan for information about their competitive environment, local and worldwide, that may cause changes in strategies, policies, and technologies. They analyze and anticipate trends that influence their companies’ futures,” (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014, p. 126).

The third stage that Schein explains in his model of planned change is called refreezing. “The final stage in Schein’s (1980) planned change theory is stabilizing the changes by freezing the new behaviors into the standard behavior,” (Planned Change, p. 11). Making changes won’t actually help a business unless the business is able to ensure that the changes last, until the next time that change is necessary. “Successful, sustained organizations are those that are continually transforming themselves, or have segmented themselves to enable overlapping transformative initiatives that allows them to escape economic disruptions,” (Hoque, 2014). This mean that a business shouldn’t think its going ot be successful forever because of one successful change, a business must stay in an ever evolving, ever changing cycle to remain competitive. In order for the changes to last, the employees in the business should be trained from the start to accept change and become adaptable. “Instill in teams the behaviors and values that will lead to the best use of information for customer, supplier, and partner relationships,” (Hoque, 2014, p. 26). Successful businesses know that lasting change has many aspects that need to be taken into consideration, and having lasting change should affect each of these areas in a positive way as well. “Successful Change agents take a multidimensional approach, considering legal, economic, and technological aspects of the change without ignoring its social, political, and personal implications,” (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014, p. 134).

References

Hoque, F. (2014, March 19). Why You Must Be Constantly Changing In Order To Succeed. Retrieved from Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/help-your-company-avoid-extinction-2014-3

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. ,. (2014). Global Leaders Learning from Others and Change. In Managing Cultural Differences (pp. 101-139). New York: Routledge.

Planned Change. (n.d.). Retrieved September 19, 2018, from PSU Instructure: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1942644/modules/items/24935391

Social Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved September 19, 2018, from PSU Instructure: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1942644/modules/items/24935389

Many businesses are moving away from their previous male-management patterns and enforcing that more women be placed in management and higher positions. This sounds like a legitimate way to break that glass ceiling that seems to linger above most women’s heads. And breaking that ceiling is definitely important to the advancement of society, but how we do it is just as important; you don’t want to shatter it with a thousand other people standing under the falling shards. “Careful observation reveals a rapidly increasing number of countries and companies moving away, for the first time, from their historical men-only pattern of senior leadership” (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014, p. 165). Although the gender diversity gap is getting progressively smaller, there is reason to believe that the techniques used may not be as effective as we had hoped. “The U.S. is behind 48 other countries around the world when it comes to closing the gender gap, according to data published recently by the World Economic Forum” (Johnson, 2017, p. 1). Although America did manage to rank above average, the gap has actually gotten worse in recent years. “America dropped four spots since 2016, largely because of low performance on the “political empowerment” metric, which is based on the ratio of women in public office” (Johnson, 2017, p. 3). This recent backwards movement in the gender diversity spectrum was at first surprising, but through research on the matter, I found a simple yet important reason as to why this could be happening.

“California Gov. Jerry Brown has until the end of September to sign legislation that would require public companies based in the state to put a certain number of female directors on their boards”(Stoll, 2018, p.1). This piece of legislation at first sounds like it could work, however if we think about how this would actually pan out, it starts to sound iffy at best. If companies are forced to appoint a certain number of females as directors on their boards, certainly the companies will feel like their arms are being twisted and see this as an annoyance. They would likely not see the benefits to having female business leaders, but rather see them as a chore, something they had to do. The women appointed here will not be as respected in the business, and may be ostracized by the males who had already been there until they were forced to become more inclusive, and thus, not be as advantageous to the business as they had hoped to be.

I believe the best way for women to break the glass ceiling and be respected in their heightened positions is for them to it themselves, rather than have someone force companies to put us in these positions. The University of Utah posted three strategies for women who want to bring down that ceiling themselves; understand the confidence gap, don’t negotiate like a man, negotiate like a woman, and get comfortable with rejection (Breaking the glass ceiling: 3 career strategies for women, 2017, p. 4-14). These three strategies didn’t sound like much to me at first, but after reading the article I saw how effective they could be.

Understanding the confidence gap is the first strategy and the most interesting to me. “A meticulous study by Washington State University psychologist, Joyce Ehrlinger, and Cornell psychologist, David Dunning, found that men overestimate their abilities and performance while women underestimate both. In reality, the quality of their performances do not differ” (Breaking the glass ceiling: 3 career strategies for women, 2017, p.4). This means that women should learn to understand their own abilities, and know what that their input has substantial worth, and should not underestimate themselves.

Don’t negotiate like a man, negotiate like a woman. Although the article states that male students initiate salary negotiations more often than women, and when women negotiate they receive 30% less money that men do, “Hannah Riley Bowles of Harvard’s Kennedy School asserts that women can negotiate successfully through using a “relational account” or “I-We” strategy. The key to a relational account (or “I-We”) strategy is to explain why your counterpart should perceive your negotiating as legitimate in terms that also communicate your concern for organizational relationships,” (Breaking the glass ceiling: 3 career strategies for women, 2017, p.10).

Getting comfortable with rejection sounds like the hardest thing for me to do. But after reading the article I learned that it would be beneficial for me to learn. “See rejection as an environment for progress and courage, rather than a reflection of personal value. Never been rejected? Aim higher,” (Breaking the glass ceiling: 3 career strategies for women, 2017, p.13).

While it is profoundly important for businesses to promote women to their higher ranks, it is important that this is done in a way that can ensure the growth continues, rather than seeing a sudden spike and then a disappointing drop. I know that progress is not a straight line to the top of the chart. The general progression and its consistency are what matters. “There are more women in executive jobs today than there were 15 years ago, five years ago, or a year ago, and men’s reluctance to give them executive rank seems to be diminishing. That is not to say that the historic barriers against women in top positions have crumbled. But the surface cracks are widening” (Mejia, 2018, p. 9).

 

References

Breaking the glass ceiling: 3 career strategies for women. (2017, February 16). Retrieved from The University of Utah: https://eccles.utah.edu/news/breaking-glass-ceiling-3-career-strategies-women/

Johnson, D. (2017, November 17). 48 Countries Are Ahead of the U.S. in Closing the Gender Gap. Retrieved from Time: http://time.com/5028384/gender-gap-united-states-world-economic-forum/

Mejia, Z. (2018, May 21). Just 24 female CEOs lead the companies on the 2018 Fortune 500—fewer than last year. Retrieved from CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/21/2018s-fortune-500-companies-have-just-24-female-ceos.html

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). In Managing Cultural Differences (pp. 140-197). Routledge.

Stoll, J. D. (2018, September 8). To Shatter the Glass Ceiling, Don’t Force It. Retrieved from The Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-shatter-the-glass-ceiling-dont-force-it-1536379201

The ever-expanding advances in the technology industry has made it significantly easier for businesses of all kinds to expand globally. But are they ready to? For a business to go global and stay global, it needs to learn how to traverse the dense waters of cultural differences. Many companies jump into this water without the skills to keep them afloat, and these cultural mistakes or gaffes can be very costly to them. Therefore, it is extremely important for the leaders of businesses which are going global to be global themselves. Being a global person is defined as being aware that other cultures live their lives and have views that are different from our own and are interested in worldly issues (Managing Cultural differences, 2014). Without recognizing that other cultures may act and think differently from your own you are very likely to accidentally miscommunicate a message or offend a business counterpart who comes from a different culture than your own.

The successful globalization of a business can be due to multiple complicated reasons, but every successful venture has an important starting point. “The first Step in managing cultural differences effectively is increasing one’s general cultural awareness” (Managing Cultural differences, 2014). Just becoming educated on the fact that there are many different cultures who do things differently can put your business on the path to success. According to Fortune, “Companies will need to put in place the cultures, platforms, and processes to make collaboration easier and equip people with the right skills to foster effective cooperation” (Royal & Stark, 2015). The businesses that succeed in globalization know that they need to ensure proper verbal and non-verbal communication between people of different cultures. But is it enough to just learn how to communicate? Fortune thinks the success of a business is more than just that. “To succeed amid Globalization 2.0, it won’t be enough to merely operate internationally. Instead, companies will need to be truly global in all that they do” (Royal & Stark, 2015).

Unfortunately, not all businesses who make an attempt at globalization are able to keep up with the culture differences in this changing world. Going global and being a global leader with the skills to successfully interact and conduct business with people from other cultures is necessary in this always developing world. If an organization is unable to do this, it is likely they won’t be in business for very long. Commisceo Global describes many instances where big brand businesses have failed to show cultural sensitivity or knowledge, and such cultural mistake or gaffes lead them to fail in their business venture. For example, “US supermarket giant Walmart completely failed in its effort to break into the German market. Analysts saw the transplanting of US corporate management and retail culture onto an alien environment as the main cause for the massive failure” (Global, 2016). Walmart refused to integrate the German culture into its business inside of Germany. Instead, it insisted on using the vastly different US culture, which resulted in its failure to conduct business within Germany. Another example, shows what seems to be a much lower level decision, and yet, this cultural gaffe was also very costly. “When colouring in 800,000 pixels on a map of India, Microsoft coloured eight of them a different shade of green to represent the disputed Kashmiri territory. The difference in greens meant Kashmir was shown as non-Indian, and the product was promptly banned in India” (Global, 2016). It was certainly surprising for me to learn that such big corporate giants as Walmart and Microsoft would be victim to their own cultural ignorance.

Avoiding cultural mistakes or gaffes is essential for leaders because for people to successfully work together, they need to not only communicate efficiently and appropriately, but receive training for how to conduct business with foreign cultures. “Cultural understanding may minimize the impact of culture shock and maximize intercultural experiences, as well as increase professional development and organizational effectiveness” (Managing Cultural differences, 2014). If a business counterpart feels as though they are being offended it is more than likely that they won’t want to conduct business with you. “Many international businesses are now investing heavily in providing staff with language lessons in order to be able to crack foreign markets as well as providing cultural sensitivity training to address issues such as etiquette, protocol, communication styles and negotiation approaches” (Global, 2016). The YouTube video, Cultural Gaffes Beyond Your Borders, explains many ways in which people in general can avoid cultural mistakes. They include; researching the cultures everyday behaviors and practices, talking to people who grew up in that culture, becoming aware of your own behaviors, and watching for signals that you may have made a gaffe. If you think that you did make a mistake, you should ask about it (Corps, 2010). This is a great opportunity for people to learn more about other cultures, and to show others that you are respectful of their culture and did not purposely try to offend or confuse them. However, it is always best to try and avoid these mistakes in the first place.

References

(2014). In R. T. Moran, N. R. Abramson, & S. V. Moran, Managing Cultural differences (pp. 1-33). Routledge.

Corps, P. (2010, October 15). Cultural Gaffes Beyond Your Borders. Retrieved from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haohj1sVnyk&feature=youtu.be

Global, C. (2016, November 14). How Lack of Cultural Awareness Can Cost A Business Big. Retrieved from Commisceo Global: https://www.commisceo-global.com/blog/cultural-sensitivity-in-business-1

Royal, M., & Stark, M. (2015, February 19). The Most Admired Companies are More Global Than Ever. Here’s Why. Retrieved from Fortune: http://fortune.com/2015/02/19/wmac-globalization2-0/

 

 

 

Hi Everyone!

My name is Lyne and I live in Eastern Pennsylvania. I am currently working as a Global Security Administrator. Professionally, I am just beginning my journey into leadership. I have dipped my toes into it a few times in the past, but with this job I am being fully submerged into its deep waters. I am in a supervisory position where I make split second judgment calls.

My goal is to graduate and receive my bachelor’s degree, which will hopefully aid me in finding an enjoyable career where I can grow and advance. My end goal is probably sounds familiar; the dream job, the nice home, the pets and babies. One of the things I hope to be able to do more of in the future is to travel because it’s my greatest passion. I can’t get enough of seeing how other people in the world go about their casual days and also trying delicious cultural dishes.

I have been in my current position for about two years now, however recently I have been promoted to a more supervisory/ leadership role, and with that comes a lot of responsibility. I have been receiving leadership and supervisory training from my manager for a few months now, and I can say it’s a lot of hard work. I’ve learned quickly that leadership is not just a few things that you can write down and memorize, its really learning to think and react a certain way. Every situation will be directed in a different way, and there are many right ways to do it.

“Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.”

I recently came upon this quote by Tom Peters, and it immediately struck a chord with me. I like this quote because I believe it relates to how I am being taught to lead by another talented leader, and I hope that one day I can be the type of person who creates even more successful leaders.

I was born in Karlsruhe, Germany and I love to visit this small wonderful city whenever I can. It is my favorite place to be, not only because my family lives there, but because of its simplistic beauty and of course the amazing food! I love to travel anywhere though. I also enjoy cooking, reading, rock climbing, crocheting, playing with my little tortoise (her name is Dorian), and trying new things. I try to make an effort to try all sorts of new things, regardless of whether I think I will enjoy it or not. I think it’s important to step out of your comfort zone, even just a little bit, because you never know if you will find a new passion if you never try it.