International Organizational Behavior Discussion Topics

There are many facets when discussing international organizational behavior. In this paper, I will be discussing three of those topics I feel are important for growth and understanding of international organizational behavior. The first topic I will be discussing is how to engage outsourced employees from different cultures. Corporate culture is defined as a model or style of business operations within a company. The culture dictates how different levels of employees communicate with each other along with clients and customers. Without culture in business there cannot be a successful business strategy (Torben, 2014). Studies have shown that there is not a more critical source of business success or failure than a company’s culture. Culture is even more important than strategy and leadership within a company. Strategy can succeed only if it is supported by the proper cultural attributes. An example of creating a positive culture within a company is the philosophy of Zappos. Zappos strategy is to be the best in customer service (Rosenbaum, 2012). To achieve this strategy, Zappos created a culture of happiness within their company.

These core culture values include embrace and drive change, create fun and a little weirdness, do more with less and be humble. The culture is dependent on training their employees, trusting them to make the right decisions when doing their jobs and having the company backing on the decisions they make. Another part of engagement is the alignment of the culture. Alignment can be a struggle for companies at times due to priorities and strategies changing often. If alignment needs to be changed, the company must make sure to communicate those changes and explain why those changes were needed. To reduce the stress of those changes, strategic employee recognition can play a foundational role in helping employees understand a changing strategy, so they can stay aligned with the business’s needs. A simple gesture of praise for delivering on the expected changes and expectations will be beneficial. Additionally, important to a businesses culture is to make sure to be open and allow cultural behaviors and actions to be heard from employees. Cultural behaviors are attitudes, reactions, activities and mindsets of employees (Heathfield, 2006). Making sure to communicate the needs and expectations to every employee on what the strategic goals and objectives are and how to achieve them. Having engagement opportunities such as having the team volunteer at a local charity or at an event outside of the normal working environment will also add to the cultural well being of the company. The second topic I will be discussing are types of motivation and engagement across cultures.

Typically, when a change in culture needs to happen within a company the change needs to start with the leaders of the group (Pontefract, 2017). This is considered a top down approach. The change starts with the top leaders such as CEO’s down to the line leaders or managers of a company. To make change happen, core values of the change need to be established. Core values are the backbone to creating culture. When upper management lives by those values, employees typically follow. To understand what motivates employees to make the change, you need to understand what the current culture is. In typical situations, employees want to know how they are progressing in their jobs (MacLachlan, 2016). These benchmarks can include formation of goals, or training on different aspects of a company. Motivation does not need to be in monetary form but can be substituted with the feeling of doing a great job. Different business cultures around the world require different motivations for engagement. For example, people in the Middle East value time as a motivator. When a trustful relationship is built with this business culture, others will respect you and will do almost anything to serve you. In Asia, acknowledging individual strengths and recognizing people as an individual are simple and effective ways to impact engagement.

In France, there is such a work life balance that there is a ban on taking work emails outside of work. As you can see different world-wide cultures require different types of motivation. The underlying fact is that if employees are engaged, profitability will be company wide. The final topic I will discuss is how to manage in multicultural settings. There are many benefits to having a multicultural team. One of the benefits is the viewpoints that team members bring (Bennett, 1998, page 121). These viewpoints are used to promote deeper product knowledge and a way to support culturally sensitive issues. Added innovation is also a by product of a multicultural team. However, there are challenges with multicultural settings. Multicultural settings are a situation where members of a team are from all different parts of the world. These challenges can include a language barrier. Non-native speakers may struggle to get their view points heard effectively. This can be a problem in collaborative environments where different members have different native languages. If frustration reaches high enough levels, motivation and moral may suffer.

Within this setting, decision-making may be difficult. Different cultures have different opinions on what must be in place before a decision is reached, how long the process should take and how much effort should be used. Other issues that are treated differently across various cultures are hierarchy and authority. It may be acceptable in some cultures for an individual to walk into a CEO’s office and discuss ideas, other cultures require the ideas to proceed through a chain of command before it reaches upper management. Overcoming the obstacles of managing in a multicultural setting is important to achieving the overall goal. There are many ways to hurdle these obstacles. One way is to listen and adapt. This can include asking employees for feedback and encouraging the exchanging of ideas. Another way is to encourage team dialogue. This can include creating team building events when communication is the focus. Setting clear expectations is also important.

A clear sense of direction and purpose is important for every individual and improves the effectiveness for the group to achieve. It is also important to intervene early if any communication issues arise within the group. In conclusion, managing and engaging people and teams is not easy. While a diverse workforce does not need special attention, it is very rewarding for the organization and employees to carry out an objective as a team. Thoughtful management, ongoing team communication and a respect for differences is the key to maintaining a successful creative culture. I believe multicultural workforces are how great ideas are born, how solid relationships are formed and how people grow.