Author: chris

BM’s Multicultural Multinational Teams

Historically, IBM was one of the most tradition-bound companies on the planet. It was famous for its written and unwritten rules—such as its no-layoff policy, its focus on individual promotions and achievement, the expectation of lifetime service at the company, and its requirement of suits and white shirts at work. How times have changed.

IBM has clients in 170 countries and now does two-thirds of its business outside the United States. As a result, it has overturned virtually all aspects of its old culture. One relatively new focus is in the teamwork area. While IBM, like almost all large organizations, uses work teams extensively, the way it does so is unique (Aguinis, & Kraiger, 2009).

To instill in its managers an appreciation of local culture, and as a means of opening up emerging markets, IBM sends hundreds of its employees to month-long volunteer project teams in regions of the world where most big companies don’t do business (Hymowitz, 2008). Al Chakra, a software development manager located in Raleigh, North Carolina, was sent to join GreenForest, a furniture manufacturing team in Timisoara, Romania. With Chakra were IBM employees from five other countries. Together, the team helped GreenForest become more computer savvy to help its business. In return for the IBM team’s assistance, GreenForest was charged, well, nothing.

This is hardly pure altruism at work. IBM calculates these multicultural, multinational teams are good investments for several reasons. First, they help lay the groundwork for opening up business in emerging economies, many of which might be expected to enjoy greater future growth than mature markets. Stanley Litow, the IBM VP who oversees the program, also thinks it helps IBMers develop multicultural team skills and an appreciation of local markets. He notes, “We want to build a leadership cadre that learns about these places and also learns to exchange their diverse backgrounds and skills.” Among the countries where IBM has sent its multicultural teams are Turkey, Tanzania, Vietnam, Ghana, and the Philippines.

As for Chakra, he was thrilled to be selected for the team. “I felt like I won the lottery,” he said. He advised GreenForest on how to become a paperless company in 3 years and recommended computer systems to boost productivity and increase exports to western Europe (Gupta, 2008).

Another team member, Bronwyn Grantham, an Australian who works at IBM in London, advised GreenForest about sales strategies. Describing her team experience, Grantham said, “I’ve never worked so closely with a team of IBMers from such a wide range of competencies.”

Assume you are employed by a consulting company that works with Fortune 1000 companies on Organizational Behavior topics. You have been asked to write a white paper in which you discuss the following questions. This paper will be used to inform potential clients about your company’s philosophy on teamwork and to give them a sense of how your company will prepare their teams. This is an extremely high profile assignment and its success is critical to your company.

Based on the above reading and the knowledge gained from your assigned readings, respond to the following questions:

• If you calculate the person-hours devoted to IBM’s team projects, they amount to more than 180,000 hours of management time each year. Do you think this is a wise investment of IBM’s human resources? Why or why not?
• Why do you think IBM’s culture changed from formal, stable, and individualistic to informal, impermanent, and team oriented?
• Describe the stages of group development these teams should expect to experience. At each stage, make recommendations that will help move the team into the next stage.
• Multicultural project teams often face problems with communication, expectations, and values. How do you think some of these challenges can be overcome?
• Explain some of the group decision-making challenges the team may experience and recommend ways to overcome them.
• Discuss at least three recommendations to help make these teams effective.
• Identify three factors that will help make individuals into team players.

Visit the website of the CIA World Fact Book (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/).

Analyze the economy of at least two countries (not the U.S.).

Complete a one page response to the following questions.

• How do the economies of the countries you selected compare to the U.S.?
• Is either of the selected countries still in an agrarian phase of economic development? An industrial phase? Explain.
• Can you find a country that is still in the agrarian phase of development?

BM’s Multicultural Multinational Teams

Historically, IBM was one of the most tradition-bound companies on the planet. It was famous for its written and unwritten rules—such as its no-layoff policy, its focus on individual promotions and achievement, the expectation of lifetime service at the company, and its requirement of suits and white shirts at work. How times have changed.

IBM has clients in 170 countries and now does two-thirds of its business outside the United States. As a result, it has overturned virtually all aspects of its old culture. One relatively new focus is in the teamwork area. While IBM, like almost all large organizations, uses work teams extensively, the way it does so is unique (Aguinis, & Kraiger, 2009).

To instill in its managers an appreciation of local culture, and as a means of opening up emerging markets, IBM sends hundreds of its employees to month-long volunteer project teams in regions of the world where most big companies don’t do business (Hymowitz, 2008). Al Chakra, a software development manager located in Raleigh, North Carolina, was sent to join GreenForest, a furniture manufacturing team in Timisoara, Romania. With Chakra were IBM employees from five other countries. Together, the team helped GreenForest become more computer savvy to help its business. In return for the IBM team’s assistance, GreenForest was charged, well, nothing.

This is hardly pure altruism at work. IBM calculates these multicultural, multinational teams are good investments for several reasons. First, they help lay the groundwork for opening up business in emerging economies, many of which might be expected to enjoy greater future growth than mature markets. Stanley Litow, the IBM VP who oversees the program, also thinks it helps IBMers develop multicultural team skills and an appreciation of local markets. He notes, “We want to build a leadership cadre that learns about these places and also learns to exchange their diverse backgrounds and skills.” Among the countries where IBM has sent its multicultural teams are Turkey, Tanzania, Vietnam, Ghana, and the Philippines.

As for Chakra, he was thrilled to be selected for the team. “I felt like I won the lottery,” he said. He advised GreenForest on how to become a paperless company in 3 years and recommended computer systems to boost productivity and increase exports to western Europe (Gupta, 2008).

Another team member, Bronwyn Grantham, an Australian who works at IBM in London, advised GreenForest about sales strategies. Describing her team experience, Grantham said, “I’ve never worked so closely with a team of IBMers from such a wide range of competencies.”

Assume you are employed by a consulting company that works with Fortune 1000 companies on Organizational Behavior topics. You have been asked to write a white paper in which you discuss the following questions. This paper will be used to inform potential clients about your company’s philosophy on teamwork and to give them a sense of how your company will prepare their teams. This is an extremely high profile assignment and its success is critical to your company.

Based on the above reading and the knowledge gained from your assigned readings, respond to the following questions:

• If you calculate the person-hours devoted to IBM’s team projects, they amount to more than 180,000 hours of management time each year. Do you think this is a wise investment of IBM’s human resources? Why or why not?
• Why do you think IBM’s culture changed from formal, stable, and individualistic to informal, impermanent, and team oriented?
• Describe the stages of group development these teams should expect to experience. At each stage, make recommendations that will help move the team into the next stage.
• Multicultural project teams often face problems with communication, expectations, and values. How do you think some of these challenges can be overcome?
• Explain some of the group decision-making challenges the team may experience and recommend ways to overcome them.
• Discuss at least three recommendations to help make these teams effective.
• Identify three factors that will help make individuals into team players.

Chapter 6  The presence of the United States

Answer the discussion questions throughly  by Thursday midnight remember to respond to at least two of your classmates.

• Discuss the  importance of the presence and influence of United States in Latin America throughout its history?
• What are the main characteristics of the US Latin American relationship?
• Give the class some initial thoughts on the film “Panama Deception”. You will find this film under your course content folder.

Give a brief overview of the levels of the Project Management Maturity Model (PMMM).  Review the “Foundation of Excellence” section of Chapter 4 of the text.  How does your response compare to the view of power according to servant leadership

What is your given “authority” at your work place and/or professional life? Describe a time when you have exercised this authority in your journey as a professional nurse? How does your response compare to the secular view of power? How does your response compare to the secular view of authority? How does your response compare to the view of power according to servant leadership? How does your response compare to the view of authority according to servant leadership?

eing able to send appropriate, professional emails is a vital skill in today’s workplace. When considering audience and context, determine why it is so important to know to whom you are writing and for what specific purpose you are sending the email communication.

• Describe an example of a workplace or personal email communication in which the sender (you or someone else) did not pay close attention to audience and context. Ascertain the consequences.

From moment to moment, a nurse leader’s day involves communication—with patients, families, colleagues, supervisors, and so on.

Think of a particular day you spent working in a health care environment, and consider three or four distinct points in time. For each point of time, consider the following: With whom did you interact? Which forms of communication did you use? What issues were communicated about—did they seem to be light-hearted or sensitive? Straightforward or complicated? How would you describe the pace of the interactions and your work?

As you consider these questions, it becomes clear that communication can be quite complex, with many layers of meaning that shape the experience for everyone involved. How could this awareness help you to understand instances of ineffective communication when they arise?

To prepare:

• Review the information in Chapter 19 of the course text, as well as the assigned articles.
• Reflect on an incident involving ineffective communication within your organization or another health care setting. Consider this incident through the lens of the communication process outlined in Figure 19.1 of the course text (p. 439).
• What barriers contributed to this incident? What other challenges may have influenced this situation?
• Using the information presented in the other Learning Resources, consider what could have been done to prevent or address the ineffective communication. Why do you think the use of these strategies would have resulted in better outcome(s)?

On the Week 7 Discussion Board, post 3 

1. a summary of an incident involving ineffective communication.
2. Describe communication barriers and other challenges that contributed to the incident.
3. Propose one or more strategies that could have been employed to promote a better outcome.
4. Be sure to refer to elements of the communication process.

 

Course readings

Readings

• Marquis, B. L., & Huston, C. J. (2015).Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: Theory and application (8th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.

o   Review Chapter 19, “Organizational, Interpersonal, and Group Communication”

• Gifu, D., Dima, I. C., & Teodorescu, M. (2014). New communication approaches vs. traditional communication. International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, (20), 46-55.

  Retrieved from Walden Library Databases.

  The study highlights some communication instances of actual approach of human society evolution in contrast with traditional communication.

• Johansson, C., Miller, V. D., Hamrin, S. (2014) Conceptualizing communicative leadership: A framework for analyzing and developing leaders’ communication competence, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 19(2), 147 – 165.

  Retrieved from Walden Library Databases.

  Excerpt from Abstract: Four central communicative behaviors of leaders (i.e. structuring, facilitating, relating, and representing), eight principles of communicative leadership, and a tentative definition are presented. A communicative leader is defined as someone who engages employees in dialogue, actively shares and seeks feedback, practices participative decision making, and is perceived as open and involved.

• Manojlovich, M., Harrod, M., Holtz, B., Hofer, T., Kuhn, L., & Krein, S. L. (2015). The Use of Multiple Qualitative Methods to Characterize Communication Events Between Physicians and Nurses. Health communication, 30(1), 61-69.

  Retrieved from Walden Library Databases.

  The purpose of this study was to develop a methodology for identifying and characterizing communication events between physicians and nurses to better understand communication patterns on general medical–surgical units.

• Seyranian, V. (2014). Social Identity Framing communication strategies for mobilizing social change. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(3), 468-486.

  Retrieved from Walden Library Databases.

  Except from Abstract: Social identity framing delineates a set of communication tactics that leaders may use to harness follower support for a vision of social change.  Results showed that participants exposed to inclusive language were more likely to indicate that renewable energy was in-group normative; intend to engage in collective action to bring renewable energy to campus; experience positive emotions and confidence about change; and to view the leader more positively. The combination of inclusive language and positive social identity increased ratings of leader charisma.

• Van Keer, R. V., Deschepper, R. D., Huyghens, L. H., Distelmans, W. D., & Bilsen, J. B. (2014). Dealing with cultural diversity during the process of communication and decision-making in the ICU: a literature review. Critical Care, 18(Suppl 1), P24. doi:10.1186/cc13214

  Retrieved from Walden Library Databases.

  Excerpt from Abstract: The aim of this study is to review the experiences of the involved actors, namely the care providers, the patients and their family members, with cultural diversity during the process of communication and decision-making in the ICU.

Write a two-page paper in which you explain your perspectives on customer service today. Specifically, be sure to:

• Explain why you think customer service is important.
• Describe your perceptions of how most businesses view their customers and meet their needs. Support your views with examples.
• Explain one positive and one negative customer service experience you have had personally or observed.
• Recommend one thing that businesses could improve upon in order to deliver excellent customer service.

Submit your completed assignment to the drop box below. Please check the Course Calendar for specific due dates.

Save your assignment as a Microsoft Word document. (Mac users, please remember to append the “.docx” extension to the filename.) The name of the file should be your first initial and last name, followed by an underscore and the name of the assignment, and an underscore and the date. An example is shown below:

Write a two-page paper in which you explain your perspectives on customer service today. Specifically, be sure to:

• Explain why you think customer service is important.
• Describe your perceptions of how most businesses view their customers and meet their needs. Support your views with examples.
• Explain one positive and one negative customer service experience you have had personally or observed.
• Recommend one thing that businesses could improve upon in order to deliver excellent customer service.

Submit your completed assignment to the drop box below. Please check the Course Calendar for specific due dates.

Save your assignment as a Microsoft Word document. (Mac users, please remember to append the “.docx” extension to the filename.) The name of the file should be your first initial and last name, followed by an underscore and the name of the assignment, and an underscore and the date. An