essay: reluctance in work

Reluctant workers

(Name)

(Institution)

(Instructor’s Name)

(Course title)

22^nd July 2013

Reluctant workers

Introduction

In the case study, Aston who is a young and enthusiastic project manager has faced difficulties in handling the staff in the company. He therefore approaches the project director Mr. Phil Davies so as to find solutions for the reluctance of employees in the company. In their conversation, Aston is urged to exercise patience and tolerance because most of the employees are in their forties hence may have ignorance towards a younger project manager. The following are the core skills that have been explained in the case study:-

Analysis of the core skills observed in the case study

Team building

Team building is defined as the process by which an organization develops team work in its operations. The company’s employees lack the skill of team work in their daily operations thus others opt to leave meetings which are in progress, attend different functions at the expense of the company; and also retain employees in departments because of the selfish interests of some officials. Even though Tim Aston struggles to bring together and consolidate the employees assigned in the project; his efforts are futile because each of them seems to have had a prior engagement. For this reason, the customers who had planned to travel and get the fast hand observation about the project are bound to be disappointed.

Conflict resolution

Conflict resolution is the seeking of methods that would eliminate disagreements and misunderstanding within an organization (Kerzner, 2009). In the case study, Tim Aston was able to identify the conflict in time hence seek clarification from the director of project management Phil Davies. During the process of conflict resolution, Aston clearly explains to his boss the situation that he faces as the project manager of which Phil advices him accordingly. Though Phil’s explanations were not satisfactory; they gave Aston an insight on how the company’s employees operate. Moreover, Phil has shown an important step of conflict resolution by listening to the grievances raised by Tim Aston.

Leadership

Leadership is defined as the action of those in authority to issue guidance and direction to the junior employees. In the case study, both Tim Aston and Phil Davies have shown good leadership qualities. As a leader, Aston tries to bring together the employees in the project into working extra hours and satisfy the customers in the upcoming test observation. In addition, he encourages junior employees to communicate directly to him in the event of any problem. On the other hand, Phil Davies has shown exemplary leadership qualities by listening to Aston and providing the relevant advice to him. Also, he is able to recommend a book for Aston to read so that he can have good managerial ability by understanding the human behavior.

Analysis of Tim Aston’s effectiveness

Tim Aston had the core skills of leadership, conflict resolution and team building in the case study. The following is the analysis of his effectiveness in these skills

Team building

In regard to the nature of the company, Tim Aston was ineffective in the skills of team building. Though he encouraged employees to work harder, looked for competent skilled employees from other departments and attended meetings together with other employees; Aston failed to motivate the employees. He should have also proposed employment of new personnel and team work training so that a competent and hardworking team of workers in built.

Conflict resolution

Tim Aston is effective in conflict resolution because he was able to identify the occurrence of conflict between the company’s interests and the employees’ personal interests. In this regard, he takes the step of seeking help from his superiors hence contributing to solution to the conflict. Also, Aston’s conflict resolution capability is shown by his efforts to personally contact the accounting department and ask them if they could assign him one of the hardworking employees in that department. This shows that Aston had already identified the possibility of work conflict and he was trying to resolve it before he faces a shortage of willing employees.

Leadership

In regards to leadership qualities, Tim Aston is ineffective in his leadership skills. This is because he is unable to take control as a project manager and impose rules and regulations that would curb the unwillingness to perform work. Also, Aston fails to motivate the employees; a trait in which a good leader should posses. Moreover, Tim Aston has poor leadership qualities because he is unable to relate properly with juniors. Through good relationships, Tim would have built respect and recognition among the employees hence they would not have to disregard him due to his young age.

Analysis of the degree of support required by Tim Aston

In the case study, Tim Aston requires proper support from the management in order to curb the problems he faces as a project manager. The company should assign more personnel to the project, issue rules governing negligence of work and employee motivation

Employment of more personnel

The company should employ willing and younger personnel who would be able to carry out the work of the project more seriously. The employment of younger personnel would allow the prevalence of respect between the employees and Aston as the project manager.

Rules and regulations

The company should impose rules and regulations that ensure commitment of employees to their daily jobs. Through these regulations, the laxity and unwillingness to work by the employees would be curbed.

Staff motivation

Aston requires assistance from the management on giving motivations to the employees. This can be done through the issuance of incentives, high salaries, insurance, gifts and allowances. Through motivation of staff, the employees would be able to operate fully in the project.

Analysis of the degree of support received Tim Aston

Tim Aston has received minimum support by the company in handling of the problem he faces in the project management. After contacting Phil Davies, his response seemed ignorant on the matter as he regarded the problem as an old tradition. Phil however encouraged him to motivate the employees so that they would be able to work more cordially. Also, Phil proposed that Aston should read books on human behavior so as to improve his skills as a project manager.

Recommendations to the company management

Employee motivation

The employees should be properly motivated so as to boost their perception of their working environment. These motivations may be in the form of cash or the issuance of basic services that would help to boost the employee loyalty. Therefore the employees would remain committed in their project job.

Staffing

The company should supply the project management department with more workers. The selection of these new employees should be based on merit and their passion for the projects of the company. This would limit the incidence of laxity in the company thus boosting the production rates of the company.

Company’s code of conduct

The rules and regulations governing the company employees should be fully enforced and wherever necessary revised. Seminars should be organized to remind the employees on the importance of following the rules and regulations of the company. This would boost the employees’ commitment into hard work hence smooth running of the project management department.

Recommendations to the Tim Aston

Exercise good leadership skills

 Aston should improve his leadership skills by having a good relationship with the employees. The creation of the bond between him and employees would limit their possibility of ignorance towards him due to his young age. Also, through proper leadership skills, he would be able to motivate employees in to working extra harder.

Proper planning

Aston lacks proper planning methods as a manager. This can be seen by his lack of advanced planning on the possibility of the customers visit and his lack of communication to other employees. Therefore, Aston should learn proper planning skills that would help him to avoid inconveniencing other employees.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the core skills identified in the case study involved conflict resolution, leadership and team building. Even though Tim Aston posses these skills, he is ineffective in team building and the exercise of leadership. In the analysis of Aston’s case, he requires assistance such as in the employment of more personnel, motivation of employees and follow up of rules and regulations by the management. In addition, Aston requires exercising of good leadership skills and proper planning methods so as to deliver fully as a project manager.

References

Kerzner, H. (2009) project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling and controlling 10^th Ed. New York: Wiley publishers. Print

is leadership culturally bound?

Is Leadership Culturally Bound?

Introduction

Culture is a characteristic of a specific group of people defined by their social, economic and political relationships. In the world, culture has created a sense of identity and lifestyles for groups of people who are able uphold and follow a certain way of life. In this regard, culture has influenced the relationship between the exercise of authority and influence on people. Hence, leadership in the society in culturally bound.

How culture affects leadership in the society

Over the years, different cultures have affected the style of leadership, the concept of leadership and decision making in leadership.

Style of leadership

A style of leadership is the methods used by those in authority to ensure that a certain task is implemented. The culture of the society determines a leader’s choice of method for implementing a given task. For example, most Asian countries prefer the use of autocratic leadership whereby the leaders issue orders for the sub-ordinates to follow. However, this method has proved to be ineffective in the Japanese culture which advocates for joint solutions by both the employees and their subordinate staff.

Concept of leadership

Culture has influenced people’s reasoning and view point about the concept of leadership in the society. This is because a person’s environment influences his / her thinking and behavior in respect to the authority. In the United States society, children are brought up with the concept that leadership is about giving guidance and direction to the rest of the society. This can be attributed from the teaching methods in schools, the constitutional laws, and the general nature of the society’s point of view. However, in the Middle East and other known monarchies in the world; the society understands leadership as respect and absolute obedience towards those in authority. The people in this society would therefore be unable to question decisions made by their leaders.

Shapes decision making

The decision making process by the leaders of a specific group of people is influenced by the culture and the general public perception. This is because the leaders cannot impose rules and regulations that are against the public’s beliefs and culture. For instance, the United States government cannot abolish Islam religion in the country because freedom of religion is part of the society. Also, the leaders in Jamaica are bound not to make decisions that illegalize the use of cannabis sativa drug due to its general acceptance in the society.

Application of leadership and culture in business today

Culture has proved to be an essential ingredient of leadership in today’s business world. Though not clearly visible; it has helped in the decision making process, fostering interpersonal relationships, confidence building and hence increased productivity by the employees.

Interpersonal relationships

The understanding of employees’ cultures has helped in building good interpersonal relationship between the leaders and the rest of the employees in the company. This is because the appreciation of personal culture would omit misunderstanding and employee rebellion hence boosting the company’s production level. For example, the leaders in the company would not force employees to adopt a specific dress code which may be demeaning to their culture.

Method of delegating duties

A manager’s culture would influence his /her method and style of delegating duties in the company. Some cultures have a tendency of giving individuals complete responsibility in a given section without follow up while others; such as the European culture, involves constant delegation of duties and supervision by the managers. Therefore, the success of the business depends on the managers’ ability to use the most favorable business culture in delegating of duties.

Internal business culture

Every business has its own culture in regards to method of operations on their day to day activities. This may include the company’s code of conduct, the relationship between the juniors and superiors, the company’s dress code etc. This determines the nature of leadership to be practiced because the company’s employees are accustomed to a specific way of life. For example, an organization that encourages direct consultations between the junior employees and the management may develop this culture hence the leadership style would be rather consultative as opposed to autocratic leadership.

Key lessons

Leadership and culture has led to the understanding of the society’s conceptual knowledge and view points on how culture affects the innate qualities of human beings. The following are key lessons learned through-

Text and outside articles

According to the article, “leadership is culturally bound” by Sree Rama Rao; leadership depends on the context of the culture (Rao, 2008). In this regard, the leadership style varies from place to place depending on the culture of the inhabitants of the place. For example, the leadership style in the United States is more of guidance as opposed to that in Arab countries which involves the use of orders and instructions.

In the Ivey Business journal, Arlkadi Kuhlmann in his article “culture driven leadership” asserts that the culture shapes the leadership style of the society. In this regard, only leaders who are able to blend in and identify themselves with the given culture would be able to deliver fully and be a success (Kuhlmann, 2010). This is because they would face little resistance in their exercise of power, thus resulting to more production levels in the company.

Class discussions

Leadership and culture have a mutual relationship that assists them to co-exist in the society. As a result, leadership affects the culture of the people in that given society while at the same time; the culture influences the leadership of a given group. For example, the rules and regulations set up at the set up of a company would result into development of a given culture which in essence the culture would shape the future leadership styles of the company.

In the class discussions, the concept of leadership and culture was found to be relative according to ones perception. While other leaders would opt for a full exercise of power, others would prefer a softer and understanding method of leadership. Regardless on the nature of leadership adopted, all the leadership styles and skills are affected by the society’s culture.

Personal experience

The quality of leadership is affected by the type of culture within which a person grows and develops in. Since culture is part of human environment, it affects a person’s perception and beliefs of the society. For example, a person growing in a racially divided society would not be able to exercise good leadership qualities because of his/ her prejudice on racial capabilities. This principle also applies in the integration in the society due to gender, race, religious and other forms of human differences.

Though culture plays an important role in nurturing one’s leadership skills, it takes an effort for an individual to master good leadership skills. Sree Rama Rao in her article states that the culture would provide the framework for enforcing leadership skills but it is up to an individual to develop good leadership skills. This explains the occurrence of good leaders in a society that is deemed to be intellectually and morally incompetent.

Conclusion

In conclusion, leadership is culturally bound due to its mutual relationship in the society. Culture affects the style of leadership, the concept of leadership and the decision making process in the society. The concept of culture and leadership can be applied in the running of business activities because it fosters interpersonal relationships, affects methods of delegation of duties etc. In this regard, the lessons about leadership and skills from articles, class discussions and life experience have generally created a good understanding on how culture affects an individual’s leadership skills.

References

Rao, R (2008). Leadership is culturally bound. Citeman online journal. http://www.citeman.com/3609-leadership-is-culturally-bound.html

Kuhlmann, A (2010). Culture driven leadership. Very business journal. Retrieved from http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/leadership/culture-driven-leadership#.Uez4mqw35dg

case study: intreprenuership

International entrepreneurship project of The John’s Pharmaceutical Company

Introduction

The John’s pharmaceutical Company is a leading medicine manufacturer in the United States. It is involved in the research, manufacturing, testing and supply of drugs to the hospitals and clinics within the country. For the last one year, the employee populations have tremendously grown to 5,000 with 40,000 other people indirectly employed. As part of the expansion plan drafted in 2009 by the company’s management board; the Company has decided to go international and explore new markets in the world.

Preferred country for internationalization

After proper assessment of international business, John’s Pharmaceutical Company has decided to explore business in India. Being a third world country, many people are faced with various diseases such as cholera, typhoid, malaria etc hence there would be a ready market for the Company’s products. In addition, India’s large population would not only provide market for the products but would also provide cheap labor thus reducing the company’s operational costs.

Market entry strategy

The company has opted for direct investment method of market entry. This involves the setting up of a manufacturing plant in India that would be able to process and distribute medicine to the general population. This strategy would reduce the shipment costs of the products hence increasing the profitability of this project (Hill, 2012). In addition, the setting up of a subsidiary in India would be economical due to the presence of cheap labor and available raw materials from the country.

Business environment

The general business environment in India is harsh and not sustainable for new business investments. This is as a result of poor infrastructure, low security levels, power blackouts; inadequate amounts of water and lack of government commitment to curb the selling of counterfeit drugs. This is bound to affect the Company’s operational levels hence reducing its profitability.

Cultural profile

The Indian culture is conservative in nature and involves a lot of rules and guidelines in regard to personal beliefs. Though there would be cultural differences, the work output from the employees would not be affected. Moreover, it is expected that there would be a positive reception from the government and other stakeholders such as suppliers and consumers. This is because the government of India encourages foreign investments that would enable creation of employment for the populous youth.

Organizational structure

The John’s Pharmaceutical Company

Headquarters New YorK

 

Brazil Branch

South Africa branch

England branch

Indian Branch

This organizational structure was designed to include all the continents in the world so as to expand the company’s market base.

Staffing policy

The company would opt for an ethnocentric type of staffing policy. This involves the employment of top managers from the original company while the rest of the posts would be filled by the native people in the host country. This mode of staffing policy would be effective because the consumers would be able to identify the company hence improving the sales of their products.

Leadership and motivational systems

The company would develop an open form of communicative leadership; whereby, the employees would be free to express their views to the top management without fear of being victimized. This form of leadership would help to build the confidence of the employees hence encouraging them to work harder.

Moreover, the company can motivate the employees by providing free medical insurance for their families, good salaries and remunerations, fare job promotions, provision of housing facilities and also reducing their working hours (Feenstra, 2005). This would be beneficial in retaining qualified personnel and motivating them to deliver maximum service for the success of the company’s subsidiary.

Communication problems

The management team is bound to face language barrier because the Indian people mostly communicate in Hindu. However, this can be avoided by the employment of qualified personnel who are able to efficiently communicate in good English. Also, the company may opt for the employment of translators hence reducing the communication barrier between the employees and the management team (Ghemawat, 2007).

Special control issues

The company should ensure that it operates under the correct legal terms so as to avoid incidences of corruption and tax evasion. This would be done through acquiring all the necessary documentations from the government of India as per the international trade laws. In addition, the company should ensure that it avoids the incidences of child labor that is mostly experienced in other third world countries.

Concerns of the host country

The host country is bound to be concerned about the environmental pollution resulting from the Company’s production process. Also, the community would be concerned about the erosion of their ancient Indian culture due to the urbanization brought about by the company. In order to address these concerns, the company would develop proper waste disposal mechanisms that would be harmless to the environment. Also, the Company would build the processing plants in an urban setup hence not interfering with the indigenous cultures in the Indian countryside.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the globalization of John’s Pharmaceutical Company is an essential step in its expansion strategy. Its involvement in Indian market would be economical due to the provision of cheap labor, access to raw materials and availability of ready market. The ethnocentric staffing strategy would be effective for this new market hence contributing to the success of this subsidiary. However, the management of the company is bound to face communication barriers and concerns of the host country which must be addressed for it to fully operate.

References

Feenstra, R.(2005) advanced international trade. New Jersey: Princeton University press. Print

Ghemawat, P. (2007) redefining global strategy: Crossing borders in the world where differences still matter. Harvard: Harvard business review. Print

Hill, C. (2012). International business. New York: McGraw Hill publishers. Print