Before computers there were working businesses that had to communicate throughout the world. However, now everyone wants their items now and not wait; even the classroom.   In this state of constant connectivity even learning has moved on to the internet. Albert Bandura, Professor Emeritus of Social Science in Psychology at Stanford University placed 4 steps of learning. Attention, retention, reproduction and motivation is how he theorizes how people learn. His throey is still used today and most feel that people learn from one another, just as we have from the beginning of time.

Bandura’s four steps were introduced in the 1970’s; so how do theses steps on learning change in a global setting? The answer may be a mixture of classroom and electronic training; their should be a human element in the process.

Using the four principles, business can use social media to show a human element that fits the process. Attention step of the process could be peer pressure as a motivator to mentors that help others learn new skills; If these aspects are paired with schooling the lessons are reinforce formal. As the first step attention is about keeping the focus on the task.  As Retention is the storing of the memory for future use.  This step necessitates no distractions so that the task is fully seeded. Desire is the core to motivation, if the person has now want to learn they will not retain the knowledge. This concept calls for the person to have a positive environment, trust,  and peers.  If the person does not feel the three; the unmotivation causes learning to be useless.

The internet is the new social platform for the global community; we can research and recall when we forget and the interaction of a human through a quick email is a driving force on learning and change in a global setting.  There are ways that business can incorporate these principles and techniques. the web has been creating social and political change then the use of the internet globally can unite.

References

1. Picture Social Media. www.caclubindia.com/editor_upload/243285087untitled.png.
2. Hatcher, Alex. “Keep It Social: Using Social Learning Theory to Improve Instructional Strategies.” Designed:2:Learn, 27 Mar. 2015, lpd.nau.edu/keep-it-social/
3. “Canvaslearning Management System.” Penn State Canvas, psu.instructure.com/courses/1867265/modules/items/22824731.

Melissa Adams

OLEAD 410, 001, FA17

Cultural Synergy

Cultural Synergy was coined by Nancy  Alder in 1980 when she wrote an article for Trends and Issues in OD: Current Theory and Practice. (1. Alder) She starts the paper with a copy of a memo to North American Executives in Saudia Arabia. (2. Anonymous)   The person writing the memo was upset about “nonchalant” behaviour.  However, saudi Arabia is not the United States; creating an atmosphere for a global policy is not as clear.  Companies trying to take their successful business model from one country to another often find this is not a clear and  streamlined process.

I have also worked on a Middle Eastern project, the first thoughts that came to mind was when the project wanted the United States retailers to create a shopping center that had minimal households in the area.  US retailers have precise formulas that include housing, population, wages and access to products.  In the Middle East and other place people travel to where they shop at top retailers.  This is not a concept that can be mimicked for other locations outside the US.

There are many cross-cultural management systems that have to be considered  some include parochial, assimilation, ethnocentric, polycentric, comparative, geocentric, and synergistic. Theories are only as good as the information on the area relates; there is amnay assumptions as to the similarity and difference of a culture. Weick in 1976, wrote that to enact new forms of management, the companies have to transcend the individual culture of their members.  (3.Weick, 1976) Cultural Synergy has to be aware of the members differences and similarities and use them as a resource to grow the team. with proper research to uncover the true possibilities.

Pondy and Mitroff, stated in a 1979 article that business are ” static framework and empirical systems; which is still true today. (4. Pondy and Mittroff, 1979) They believed in 1979 that on a scale of 1-9 that most companies only understood Cultural diversity between 1-3. In an article in the Economic Times from this year there is little change; yet there is a foreseeable future want to change.  “When the people strategy is aligned to overall business strategy, it helps build sustainable and scalable business. This coupled with a digitised work environment will help business achieve efficiency and enhanced customer experience and engagement.” (5. Bhattacharyya 2017)  With more businesses reaching globally for financial backing. The article quotes, Avendus Capital CEO Ranu Vohra, “We wanted to take on board someone to head our HR function, someone who had the experience of growing and nurturing businesses, someone who could spot and groom talent, someone who could create a cultural synergy across our businesses.” (6. Bhattacharyya 2017)

Reference

Adler, Nancy. (1980). Cultural synergy: The management of cross-cultural organizations.  page 163 – 184

Weick, K.E. Enactment in Organization. In B.M. Staw & G.R. Salincik (eds) New Directions in Orgaizational Behavior. Chicago: St. Clair Press, 1976

Pondy, L.R. & Mitroff, I.I. Beyond Open Systems Model of Organizations. In B.M. Staw (ed) Research in Organizational behaviours, Greenwich Conn. JAI Press, 1979 Pg 3-39

Bhattacharyya, Rica & Shah, Snesha. “Pay of HR Heads Rises as Finance Sector Expands.” The Economic Times, 9 Sept. 2017, economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/pay-of-hr-heads-rises-as-finance-sector-expands/articleshow/60739654.cms.

Media plays a strong and decisive role in modern international relations  in this age of information technologies.   In modern global economics, media has merged from geographical to social communication altitudes as it tries to form perceptions to illicit outcomes of the economics and political offerings.  Modern communication within a community , removes the need to actually be in attendance to the representation shown on the internet and other forms of media.

Without an ethical, respectful dialogue the global communications, international relations will forever be skewed.  As the media seeks ways to increase their viewership the intentions will continue to be less moral and increase friction in communications for the world.

Media plays a large role in military, political, economic, scientific, academic, and cultural diversity discourse as it skews the confines of the global discussions. Global mergers of companies, create a company that is now impacting two countries that have completely separate political and social goals.  Broadcasts of shows and news into other countries cause social revolutions by introducing new concepts. Yet under these same changes there is good and bad.  He introduction of new ways to live can cause unempowered and the underserved and exploited to view a better life.  This can help bring voice to atrocities that are down played in the media and it can topple elite ruling parties.

Iran is a topic of great definition on how Media affects global communications.   With recordings from Ayatollah Khomeini to his followers after being exiled.  The  Marcos family ruling was toppled was broadcast on television . In the Middle East, many opposing parties smuggle in videos to illuminate the royal families.   The same happens daily in North Korea, with the US and other nations promoting the delivery to educate the people.  China’s Tiananmen Square  tape of the activists being run over by tanks is still shown as atrocities by the Chinese government.  The list goes on, and can be tracked to an uprising, that does not always create change but does communicate globally that alter international relations.

References

Mowlana, Hamid. “The Role of Media in Contemporary International Relations: Culture and Politics at the Crossroads.” Taylor & Francis, The Journal for Multicultural Discourses, 1 Nov. 2016, www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17447143.2015.1032296?src.

References

• New York: United Nations Background Note. 1995 March: 4p. [Online]. Accessed: http://www.un.org/rights/dpi1627e.htm[2007 September 7]
• New York: United Nations Background Note. 1995 March: 4p. [Online]. Accessed: http://www.un.org/rights/dpi1627e.htm[2007 September 7]
• New York: United Nations Background Note. 1995 March: 4p. [Online]. Accessed: http://www.un.org/rights/dpi1627e.htm[2007 September 7]
• Published by the United Nations Department of Public Information DPI/1627/HR–March 1995

In 2007 Diana Ayton-Shenker wrote an article on the “Challenge of Human Rights and Cultural Diversity.” The author notes that the end of the cold war era should bring about a “new order.”(1)   However, in 2017 the cold war is back in a new incarnation.  Society has to look more globally to work on the transitions in the national powerhouses. 2007, did not bring the end to the global rivalries but diverged them.  In 2017, the powerhouses are societal problems of migration from hostile countries, just like in 2007,causing violence, poverty and unemployment, homelessness, displaced persons and the erosion of environmental stability (2) .

The article was interesting to compare a decade of change to a decade that tayed the same.  movement of people, cultural clashes and the cold – war all changed but stayed the same.

Ironically, 2007 Diana Ayton-Shenker  wrote about secluded cultures freely and unwillingly migrating into new regions that are not always politically aligned then creates cultural shifts with diversity and inclusion problems.  This convergence of differing philosophies has caused adjustment problems to the interlopers.   This movement creates sectioning of people clinging to old conventions, traditional cultures, fundamental values, and the familiar, seemingly secure, sense of one’s identity(3). In these places of migration,  humans resort to isolationism, ethnocentrisms and intolerance from what they do not understand.

Change challenges human rights, yet as the cultures are embraced the problems reduce. So human rights can exist with changes in culture. The author notes that cultural relativism is the assertion that human values, far from being universal, vary a great deal according to different cultural perspectives.  (4)  The rights constructed in the UN Agreements are not as forth right and effective as the writes of the documents hoped.  The 2017 era threatens the hope the writers of Human Rights had in the earlier decades that the rights were “for all without distinction” and not a freedom to a few.(4)

Hawai’ian culture derives from many cultures, and depending on which island the diversity changes.  The Big island brought cowboys from Mexico for their ranches, Maui brought in chines for the cane fields, Oahu has a huge flux of mainlanders due to the militar.  the majority on the islands consists of mainlanders which they call Haoles (translates to no breath), Japanese, Polynesians Hawaiian, and Filipino.   Hawaii is very isolated from the continents yet there is many islands on the pacific, however the big island is considered the most populated for its relative size.  The closest to the Us Is California at 2,500 miles to California with Japan being 4,100 miles away. What people in the United States, called Mainland, see is from Hawaii 50 and other media outlets. Yet that is not Hawaii that is paradise marketed to increase the tourism economy. There are people in Hawaii that feel the island was not taken nicely by the US but most feel a kinship to the US.

The cultural differences come from being isolated and having to rely on family or Ohana because until recently there was no Walmart or Costco, and even those are only on two islands.  And with Amazon now the world is now opening up to the residents.  Hence the culture is uniquely Hawaiian. The diversity in the travelers that made residents on this island create a difference that is found nowhere else. Hawaii is a place where all cultures meet and create a unique and welcoming place to live.

In Hawaii, it is common to have more then one generation in  a household, the paper “unpacking Cultural effects on Classroom Learning” observed on the island there is  “…Hawaiian sibling caretaking varies widely across households and individual child experience. Parents’ beliefs about sib-care show a mix of shared acceptance and ambivalence. In natal settings, child-generated activities, carried on without adult intervention, produce most literacy-related behaviors (such as school-like tasks and increased language use). Among the classroom learning activities that are successful with Native Hawaiian children are child-generated interactions, in which children are able to use scripts similar to those observed in natal settings. Other features of natal activity settings (such as personal, goals and motives, and everyday tasks) are discontinuous with those of the classroom centers.” though this happens ion the mainland, older siblings take care of all not just the brothers and sisters, but mom, dad, grandma, grandpa and extended family. This is expected of the older children to financially and physically care for the family.

Some fun differences:

In Hawaii, it is common…(adapted from Quora)

• to remove your shoes when entering someone’s house
• to have chop sticks available at all restaurants
• to find shoyu (soy sauce) as a condiment in most restaurants
• to find a scoop of macaroni salad,(mac salad in Hawaii is potatoes, pasta, egg and mayo)
• to always have rices as a side dish (do not expect french fries)
• to call everyone Aunty or Uncle (a sign of both respect and endearment)
• to give flower leis on special occasions (graduations, weddings, high school proms, etc.)
• to wear rubber slippers (i.e. flip flops) instead of tennis shoes
• to wear white at funerals
• to paddle out on surfboards as the end to a funeral
• to see politicians of Asian ancestry.
• to see people stocking up when there’s a sale on Spam (there is hundreds of types of SPAM – there is usually a whole grocery isle)
• to offer your guests leftovers to take home, after a party (normally, you always make more than you need, for this very reason)
• to bring back gifts (‘omiyage’) for friends and relatives, when you travel

Though we are all the same  we are different.  And though the above is in Hawaii, giving food is a Jewish trait, and you may also do some of the above yet culture is about people who are all the same yet a little different.

Reference

• Melissa Adams, General Manager
• Please provide brief responses to the following questions:
  • Where are you located geographically? Oahu, Hawaii
  • Where are you in your life professionally? i am an executive but my next career will be a lawyer
  • What are your long-term goals? to finish a lawy degree
  • What is your current or prior leadership experience? I have lead many committees, boards, and companies.
  • Do you have a favorite leadership quote? If so, provide a brief comment about why this quote has special meaning for you.
  • WEll behaved women rarely make history – I have fought and made waves my entire life.
  • Optional: Post something interesting about yourself:
    • Do you have children? I have 2 adult boys
    • Any special interests? I have no time – but I surf and SUP
    • Do you have an unusual hobby? nope – I am boring