OLEAD 410: Leadership in a Global Context

Cultural Leadership blog

Women Working for Less in Brazil

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Brazilian women in the working world will on average earn about 25 percent less than men while performing the same job duties, despite the women’s educational level being higher (Canineu, Carvalho, 2018).  Or to look at it from a different perspective, a woman would have to work 16 months to earn the same amount as a man would in 12 months.  Brazil is ranked number 92 out of 153 on 2020 Global Gender Gap Index rankings for countries with gender gaps.  There seems to be a noticeable difference for men and women in the workforce, especially women with a higher level of education (Canineu, Carvalho, 2018).  Brazil has made significant advances over the last decade, but gender inequality still remains present.

While overcoming gender inequality for women remains challenging, building an inclusive culture and driving change is possible (Wyman, 2018).  From a political standpoint, Brazil has female representatives in the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches (Wyman, 2018).  More and more women are working towards upper-management positions (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014).  To increase diversity and gender balance, it’s important for women to seek higher level positions and increase their participation in the economic and social fields.  The economy in Brazil is growing immensely and is evolving rapidly (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014).  Women in Brazil are capable to be placed in decision-making roles and share the same equality as men.

So, what explains the current situation?  According to Wyman, 2018, “Society is trapped in a sub-optimal equilibrium, where the talents of women are not being leveraged to its full potential” (p. 12).  Women oftentimes give up in the middle of their careers because they feel discriminated and don’t see opportunities of progression (Wyman, 2018).  In fact, the biggest challenge to career progression is maternity, which can happen at any stage during a women’s career.  Social and cultural norms have unfortunately developed where women primarily take care of their children full time while the men go to work.  This mentality gets passed down from parents to children and is persistent across generations (Wyman, 2018).  On a more positive note, some Brazilian families will utilize the grandparents, aunts and uncles as a source of childcare to ease the expensive costs, so that woman can return to the workforce.

The value that women can bring to the workforce is truly immeasurable. Closing the Brazilian gender gap will not be easy.  Companies who embrace the importance of women in the workforce is growing every day.  Those who actively encourage women into the workforce and into leadership roles will create a gender diverse and inclusive workplace.  Having more women engaged in the workforce and in leadership roles is essential to drive the movement of gender gaps.

References:

Canineu, M. L., Carvalho, A., (2018). Working for less in Brazil. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/03/08/working-less-brazil

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

Wyman, O. (2018). The gender gap lifecycle. Retrieved from https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-ex pertise/ins ights/2018/aug/the-gender-gap-lifecycle.html

Chinese Guanxi: The Good and The Bad

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What is Guanxi? Guanxi (“gwan-shee”) is loosely translated as “connections” (Wenderoth, 2018).  It’s known as social networking and is perhaps one of the most important Chinese cultural practice in foreign business (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, p. 418).  “Guanxi loosely translates as personal connections, relationships or social networks. It implies trust and mutual obligations between parties, and it operates on personal, familial, social, business and political levels. Having good, bad or no guanxi impacts one’s influence and ability to get things done” (Wenderoth, 2018).  By having good practices of guanxi, it will help build trusting relationships with others.

Guanxi is a cultural characteristic that has strong implications for interpersonal and inter-organizational behaviors in Chinese society.  In China, people as well as organizations try to nurture guanxi energetically, which influences their attitudes toward long term social and personal relationships. An example that I would like to share of my guanxi experience is with my employer, which conducts business worldwide. During my travels in China, my co-workers and I were able to build a planning IT system for our China colleagues, so that they could enter orders effortlessly and without worry.  Since this was my first time traveling to China, I was unsure of what to expect.  It was refreshing meeting my teammates in-person for the first time.  During our IT project, we created trust and mutual benefit.  Since guanxi is deeply rooted in China, it was important for me to have an understanding of China’s cultural practices and philosophies.  Now that I have personally met my China colleagues, they always ask me how I’m doing and how my family is doing, which makes me feel like we connect on a deeper level.  It’s a great feeling.

After doing some online research in the library, I found out that there is a downside to having bad guanxi and that it can lead to poor unethical choices.  It has been apparently known for corruption and bribery in business transactions (Littlefield, 2003).  While it’s important to have strong business connections with your coworkers, it can also result in businesses cutting corners and going outside of the law “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” so to speak (Littlefield, 2003).  Illegal business transactions are very common worldwide and should be strictly prohibited.  While I’m glad that I did not encounter this experience, I can only imagine what business transactions take place that are unethical and illegal.

The concept of building personal relationships, or guanxi, is extremely important in Chinese culture and crucial when doing business (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014,).  When you have the same goals and aspirations to succeed, similar to my planning system IT example, it’s helpful to create strong relationships with your business partners.  Having a positive multi-cultural workforce gives my organization an advantage to succeed.

References:

Littlefield, J., Sirgy, J. & Su, C., 2003). Is guanxi orientation bad, ethically speaking? A study of chinese enterprises… Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication /227109970_Is_Guanxi_Orientation_Bad_Ethically_Speaking_A_Study_of_Chinese_Enterprises

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

Wenderoth, M. (2018). How a better understanding of guanxi can improve your business in china. Retrieved from https://peopletalkonline.ca/avoiding-stereotypes-in-the-workplace/

Surface Level Diversity 1st. Then Deep Level Diversity 2nd.

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Stereotyping in the workplace is happening more often that you think.  When you make assumptions about your co-workers based on gender, culture, religious or physical attributes, you are stereotyping them.  In other words, placing labels on coworkers and making assumptions can result to high tension in the workplace.  It’s important for people to have an understanding that stereotyping happens more often than you think, and that you should be mindful to avoid it at all costs.

When I first started working at my employer, I would recognize that I was being stereotyped from a variety of different avenues.  If I wasn’t stereotyped for my blonde hair, I was stereotyped for being a single female, and if I wasn’t stereotyped for that, I was stereotyped for being a young employee who didn’t know what she was doing.  Since “being judged” became a part of my everyday work routine, I didn’t know how to interact with other employees, nor did I know how to change how they felt about me.  Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, explains that there is surface level diversity and deep level diversity.  Surface-level diversity represents an individual’s visible characteristics, such as age, body size, race, or sex.  While deep level diversity is non-observing characteristics such as attitudes, beliefs, and values (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, p. 177).  While I was living in this stereotypical environment, I knew that something had to change.

As time had went by working at my company, I had noticed that the stereotyping had started to diminish.  Human resources had put forth mandatory training’s on workplace diversity and respecting others, which helped bring awareness to our workforce.  Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, explains that “Research has demonstrated that as the length of time increases when diverse group members work together, the negative effects of surface-level diversity decreases” (p. 177).  Since I had built trust with my coworkers, they were able to have a better understanding of who I am (my deep level diversity) and apologized for the comments that they had made.  “Breaking down, recognizing, and eliminating stereotypes begins with dialogue.  Having conversations with other employees reduces bias because we learn more about each other and reach an understanding.  Discussions also reduce preconceptions by educating us on misinformation and limits the spread of biases” (Gill, 2012, p. 1).    The more you interact and work around your co-workers, the less likely you are to stereotype Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, (p. 177).

It’s important to understand that having stereotypical views of others in the workplace is nothing but a setback for yourself.  It impacts people’s lives and can truly cause lack of productivity in the workplace. “It’s important to recognize and remember that we all have stereotypes; it is part of the human experience.  However, the first step is to be honest and recognize our preconceived notions about others and why we have formed them, and then take an active approach to educate ourselves” (Gill, 2012, p. 1).

References:

Gill, G. (2012). Avoiding stereotypes in the workplace. Retrieved from https://peopletalkonline.ca/avoiding-stereotypes-in-the-workplace/

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

 

Emotional Intelligence IS important

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In order to be an effective leader within an organization, there are many different characteristics a leader should possess.  It’s important for leaders to be able to properly evaluate a business environment, manage tasks efficiently, promote strategic thinking, and manage change.  Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, explain that while all of these traits are important, effective leaders must also have a high degree of emotional intelligence (p. 98).  If leaders did not have emotional intelligence, they would essentially struggle being a leader.

Some people may ask, what is emotional intelligence?  Is it someone who is emotional?  Is it someone who is smart?  What does emotional intelligence even mean?  While emotional intelligence can be defined in various ways, it can be referred to a person’s ability to recognize, understand, manage, and reason with emotions (Cherry, 2019).  A person who is in a leadership position must have an awareness of their emotional intelligence.  Leaders must also be aware of how important emotional intelligence can be for day to day functioning within the work environment.  Could you imagine a workplace where no one could recognize, control or evaluate feelings or emotions?  Well I can, but it’s in a robotic environment and not a human environment. Humans need to express their feelings and they should feel valued and wanted.

Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, explain that there are five components of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills (p. 93).  Self-awareness is the ability to recognize and understand someone’s moods and emotions (p. 93).  For example, you walk into a room and meet a stranger and quickly sense that something doesn’t seem right.  This can also be known as your intuition and ties back to emotional intelligence.  Self-regulation is the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods (p. 93).  This is being able to adapt and work with different people in different situations while remaining calm and rational.  Motivation is the ability to work for reasons that go beyond money or status with strong drive to succeed (p. 93). Setting and achieving goals, even when faced with failure, it’s important to always stay motivated.  Empathy is the ability to understand the emotional makeup of another person (p. 93). This is the ability to experience and relate to the thoughts and emotions of others.  Having this trait can make people feel a part of a team and increase productivity.  Social skills are explained as managing relationships with others, building networks and leading teams (p. 93).  Having effective communication with others and cooperating with your teammates are all examples of social skills.

An example that I would like to share in regard to emotional intelligence is with my co-workers.  I work with union and salaried individuals, they all range from 1 year of service to 30 years of service.  I’m self-aware of my emotional intelligence while interacting with my co-workers.  How I talk to person “A” may not be the same as how I talk to person “B.”  I thoroughly enjoy asking others for input on all work decisions, because it’s important to gather everyone’s thoughts before making a decision.  Another component that I use often is self-awareness, I like to take checkpoints to recognize and understand my own character and how I’m feeling.  This keeps me in line when I’m writing difficult emails, I always save it as a draft and then go back to it later to make sure I didn’t allow my emotions to flood into my emails.  I try to practice being  mindful of my own feelings and reactions to others, which also helps me to become more empathetic.

“Understanding your emotions, controlling them, and understanding other peoples’ might be the most important asset in working with others” (Sanfilippo, 2019). Many factors come in to play in regard to emotional intelligence.  Emotional intelligence is a powerful tool that includes the ability to use emotions to increase motivation and focus, but it also includes the ability to detach from very powerful short-term emotions when needed to better focus on the tasks at hand (Sanfilippo, 2019).  Leaders must be mindful of their emotional intelligence in order to build trusting relationships.

References:

Cherry, K. (2019). 5 ways to become more emotionally intelligent at work. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/utilizing-emotional-intelligence-in-the-workplace-4164713

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

Sanfilippo, M. (2019). How emotional intelligence is linked to career success. Retrieved from https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/10429-emotional-intelligence-career-success.html

Understanding Intercultural Communication and Human Dynamics

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Society and the business environment we live in today are more complex than ever before.  Intercultural communication is growing at a rapid pace in the world, and it’s not slowing down.  “Intercultural communication is a process whereby individuals from different cultural backgrounds attempt to share meanings” (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, p. 40).  As a global society, people come together across divisions of culture, religion, race, age, gender.  It has never been more important for humans to understand each other for interpersonal development (Seagal, 2018).

The growth of society and businesses today has forced us to pay more attention to intercultural communication and human dynamics.  How and what we communicate is an essential piece for successful intercultural communication.  Intercultural communication is relevant for society, since many cultural groups around the world have different patterns of behavior, belief, values and norms (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014).  We as a society need to acquire the necessary knowledge to understand, communicate, and physically interact with people who are different, in order to benefit from intercultural communication and human dynamics.

The world consists of many different countries, so it’s vital to understand the details behind human dynamics.  In order for societies to interact effectively, we need to understand the human systems. Human dynamics provides the necessary framework of human understanding.  It enables society to recognize, appreciate, and optimally utilize their diverse capacities, and work together productively (Seagal, 2018).  Human dynamics contains three principles mental, emotional, and physical (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014).  These three principles are the fundamentals that cross culture, age, race, and gender to unify us.  As we learn to appreciate similarities and differences, we use these principles and apply new understandings to enrich our cultural relationships, communicate more effectively and work together more productively.

I would like to share a personal life event that involved intercultural communication and human dynamics.  This is a small-scale example, but an important one.  I communicate frequently both verbally and non-verbally with my colleagues in China.  Together we have positive intercultural communication.  We communicate about 2-3 times per week.  As I mentioned earlier, having an understanding of intercultural communication and human dynamics is essential for society.  Intercultural communication is communication across different cultures.  Human dynamics involves mental, emotional, and physical mindsets that are all needed in the functioning and development of a person.  I would describe myself and my colleagues in China as having a physically centered mindset, because we process information in a systemic way and gather large amounts of data.  Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, explains that physically centered people use words such as (we, us, our), focus on the (past, present, future) and gather detailed information systematically.  By working together and making a diverse connection, we are quite successful within our organization.

Having an understanding of intercultural communication and human dynamics is significant for developing successful and effective human relationships of all kinds.  It helps to builds trust, strengthens relationships, and results in simplifying the complexities of intercultural communications (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014).  “The most basic skill that global leaders must cultivate is learning how to effectively communicate and listen cross-culturally” (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, p. 66).

References:

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

Seagal, S. (2018). Human dynamics for the 21st century. Retrieved from https://thesystemsthinker.com/human-dynamics-for-the-21st-century/

 

 

 

Class Introductions

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Hello,

My name is Miranda Keefer and I reside in Corning, NY.  Corning is located in the Finger Lakes region in upstate NY.  People travel from all over the world to explore hiking trails, lakes, wineries and is known for its glass museum (The Corning Museum of Glass).   In my spare time I enjoy watching/traveling to hockey, baseball, basketball and football events.  I have attended the Stanley Cup for hockey and the World Series for baseball.  The degree that I’m pursuing is Organizational Leadership (back in the day it was Criminal Justice).  My goal is to succeed in this course and to learn something new that I did not know yesterday.  I look forward to talking with all of you.

-Miranda

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