Global Mindset

• Global Mindset--What is it? Why is it important? How does one develop it?

• Examples of global mindset or lack of global mindset

• Explain global mindfulness and how does it impact the way you can lead a global organization. What are

  the characteristics for global mindset?

• How does one lead or manage internationally with global mindset?

• What is ethnocentrism? Why important for global managers to understand ethnocentrism?

  Role of Culture in Management Practice

• Explain tension between global integration and local adaptation. What are the alternatives for companies in managing this tension and how does one choose?

• How did this tension appear in the Disneyland Paris case? Leo Burnett case?

  Cross-Cultural Encounters and Learning

• What are the thoughts and feelings people experience when plunged into a new culture? Why is it important to understand these feelings and reactions as a global manager?

• What is culture shock and how can a company assist managers in overcoming the challenges of living/working overseas?

  Frameworks for Understanding Cultural Differences

• Explain what culture is, where does it come from

• What are the cultural dimension frameworks that we discussed in this course? Why are they important for us

  to understand in cross-cultural management?

• Explain the Dynamic Complex Flux and how it impacts global companies.

  Developing Cultural Competence

• What can managers due to increase their intercultural competence?

• What global skills are essential to working in a cross-cultural environment?

• How can you develop yourself into a global leader?

  Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Communication

Characterize common aspects of the communication styles of Americans and contrast with other cultural styles of communication. What are the best practices for intercultural communication? What are some examples of good and bad cross-cultural communication from the cases?

Managing Global Teams

• Challenges faced by global virtual teams. Advice for organizing and leading a global virtual team (eg. Leo Burnett case)

• Explain the Map-Bridge-Integrate model.

  Global Leadership

• Based on the. Javidan et al. article (In the Eye of the Beholder), what are the universal impediments and facilitators of global leadership behaviors from the GLOBE study?

• How do leaders differ around the world? Please provide examples from readings, cases and articles

Executing Global Strategy

• Challenges to managing successful international joint ventures (eg. Cushy Armchair, Magdi Batato, Asis and Delta Beverages)

• Understand the four different types of global strategy and structureswhat are the differences and under what conditions should you be utilizing each one (Geographic, Global Matrix, Global Product, International)

• Different possible modes for entering a new country context, advantages and disadvantages of each. How do you choose?

• Understand how you would assess the match between internal and external alignment in a global company. What should you as a global executive pay attention to for alignment (structure, task/work structures, people) to match strategy and environment?

• How do you evaluate a global companies organizational type? How is the organizational type impacted by the complexity of the global business environment?

  Selecting and Developing Global Managers

• What is the fundamental tension faced by expatriate employees?

• What are the criteria for selecting effective expatriate employees?

• Success factors for successful expatriate deployment (individual and company)--before, during and after the

  international assignment

• Describe some experiential development opportunities that companies should implement for expatriate development.

  Change Management

• Understand the impact of change on global companieswhat should global leaders be aware of during the change management process?

• Explain the three phases of change management and what questions should a global leader should be asking

  Ethics and Corruption

• What is corruption? bribery? What are the costs of corruption?

• What is the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act?

• Best practices to reduce pressures to engage in questionable business practices in international operations, best

  practices for deciding how to deal with situations that arise

• What are some of the cultural dilemmas that an international manager might face when working overseas?

  Personal Integrity and Corporate Social Responsibility

• What is the difference between personal integrity and corporate social responsibility?

• Identify the conflicts that could exists between personal and corporate ethical dilemmas

• Be able to provide example of CSR and what strategies are companies using to promote CSR (Global compact,

  Global Reporting initiative, Dows Jones Sustainability Index)

• Understand Bennetts concept of intercultural sensitivityCan you be culturally sensitive without abandoning your

  moral and ethical beliefs? Why or why not?

cases related to the questions:

Case Study: Disney

1. To what extent, and in what ways, is the Disney product American? Is there something universal about Disney? If so, what is it?

Disney was established in America that by itself should conclude the argument of it being American. But to be more specific not only is the product American but what it produces identifies as American. For example, most characters it produced have American values in them, like heroism and hard work. Characters like Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse are created by Walt Disney himself are definitely American. Although Disney is known and enjoyed world all over the world, it is ultimately a product of the U.S. No matter where you are. The only aspect of Disney being universal is the fact of it expanding to Europe and other countries.

2. Why didnt Disney managers anticipate better the cultural blunders they experienced when Disneyland Paris first opened?

Disney managers didnt anticipate the cultural change, because in their previous locations they did very well. Disney obviously didnt put much thought in the cultural aspect when opining Disneyland Paris, because they thought costumers are coming for the same experience as their original park. Instead of learning the European ways and customs and implementing those, they created a park that was familiar to them as they did in the past. In the article it gave an example of Euro Disneyland not serving alcohol when it first opened. This decision was ridiculed by European consumers. Soon after opening, Euro Disneyland started serving wine and beer, but the public did not forget the initial mistake.

3. How did Disney approach the multicultural issues once they identified them? How would you assess their effectiveness?

After Disney realized their multicultural issues, they preceded to fix them. A couple of their mistakes include them not serving alcohol when first opining, having American managers, and the preferred language was English. Disney fixed those issues by, serving alcohol, switching to French managers, and changing the preferred language to French. Disney proceeded to learn more about the European culture to incorporate that into the park. Once the customers saw that their culture was integrated into Disney, the number of visitors increased.

4. Should Disneyland Paris managers adapt the resort more to local cultures, or make it more American? How would they implement your suggestion?

Yes, I think that adding local culture into Disneyland Paris would be beneficial to their business. Although Disney should stay true to their roots, adapting local cultures into the business would be good for-profit margins. Not changing the whole goal or direction of the business but incorporating little things such as food, drinks, and clothes of the local culture would bring a connection. When consumers feel a personal connection to the business, they could be more open to spend more money with the business. Creating that attachment between a business and where they are located would definitely increase customers and profit.

Leo Burnett: virtual team management case

1. I am an employee LB among the members of the creative team in London
2. Question 2

1. My everyday working environment at LB would involve up and down movements within the office to discuss projects with my colleagues and responding to the requests made by our clients. Due to factors such as project deadlines and the needs, which determine work priorities, I often work late. We have close ties at work and is shown by the late-night socializing at the office.
2. One notable difference is that the structure of communication makes it hardly possible for me to have direct communication with some of my peers. Davids and Lee were to act as the link between the teams. This is an implication that there was a limited possibility of developing close ties and understanding of each other, as it happens in LB.

3. Question 3

One of the difficulties that the Forever Young global advertising and communications team faced throughout the launch process is the numerous changes in personnel. This difficulty was attributed to natural occurrences such as pregnancy and poor planning for personal retention and replacement. There was also the challenge of communication, especially during the later stages of the launch. The lack of consistency must have been a result of the lack of a detailed communication structure and strategy for the project. There was also the challenge of costs exceeding the initial budget. This must have been a result of ineffective planning for human resources with respect to the specific needs of satellite teams.

4. Question 4

At this point, it would be best for Janet Carmichael to go for the decentralization of the team. The extent to which the Toronto team understands the Canadian market is an implication that they are in a better position to create content that matched the needs of the market.

Cushy Armchair Case

What course of action did you choose?

My course of action was to perform all the necessary data analysis to uncover the hidden loops in the companys decentralized system so as to align the organizational culture towards change. I then approached this by having a one-on-one meeting with the employees, rather than sending them an email. This way, these employees were able freely to voice their opinions and also ask questions where applicable. In this meeting, I addressed the reasons for altering the organizational functioning and structure. I also discussed the objectives and goals and encouraged the employees to share knowledge on international businesses with one another. I brought up the subject of the potential conflict between myself and the employees since none of the changes that I proposed were adhered to. I then emphasized on the essence of addressing incompatible outcomes and goals and thus asked the employees to voice their opinions and ideas, as well as what they felt about the changes that I made. I thought the diversity in ideas would benefit the organization as a whole. The employees, in turn, voiced out their fears about how the proposed changes did not take into account what they wanted. Rather, it was just tailored towards meeting organizational goals and objectives. Realizing this, I used innovative thinking to develop a reward system that would motivate the employees to work towards meeting the proposed changes.

How did it work out? Why do you think it was successful or not?

I think this cause of action was successful. Employee support is key to the achievement of this success as the success or failure of a change depends on the attitudes of employees. By appealing to the opinions and feelings of the employees, I was able to reduce their resentment on the new changes that I had made. I was also able to make some few more changes that motivated them to work towards meeting the proposed changes. Previously, I had approached the situation aggressively, without considering the opinions and ideas of the employees, who were the key to the companys success. For this reason, appealing to their opinions gave me the support that I needed to realize the goals and objectives of the changes made.

What barriers to success did you encounter?

The barriers to success that I encountered entailed that of the top management team. My management team did not have the skills with team/group processes. Like I was before, these senior managers were concerned with their authority; thus, the employees resistance to change. Organizational culture was yet a barrier to change. The changes made previously gave the top executives great autonomy which made Cushy Armchair seem like an outdated system. Employees were resentful to these senior managers and therefore resisted the change. Another problem was the reward system. There was a need to develop a reward system that was tailored to the needs of the employees. Finding a correct balance between financial incentives and non-financial incentives was a great challenge that weighed down the proposed changes.

If it was not successful, did you try a different course of action? What did you do differently?

The course of action was successful. For this reason, I did not consider making any changes to the system. Instead, I kept the output intact by insisting on the need to respect diversity in the design of the centralized system. Ideally, the course of action that I took elicit the behavior needed by Cushy Armchair's strategy. Previously, the procedures had been imposed without due consideration of the employees. However, the corrective action that I took eliminated this controlling factor, thus earning support from the employees.