International Management Example > The Case of Floundering Expatriate

In this part of the study, I would like to share information and definitions which are related with the international management, globalization, leadership and the influence of culture on managements and leadership. after better overview of the description, would like to continue to discuss and answer the questions about the case study. Let`s start with basic and clear own quoted sentence of respectively Henri Fayol (1916) and Barbara Parker (1998) "It is generally agreed that planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling are basic activities of management". and "Globalization represents a new stage of world development - a development process that is having a profound effect on business activities". The world of international management is no longer limited to jet-setting corporate troubleshooters or seasoned expatriate managers. Virtually all business conducted today is global business. It is difficult to identify a product or service that is not somehow influenced by a cross-border transaction of some kind. Likewise, international responsibilities and contact with other cultures are commonplace and might not even involve leaving the office. Dramatic shifts are often encapsulated in globalization. International managers must function in terms of its economic, legal, political, and cultural elements by examining the changes that define globalization. Each of these environmental factors is influential; however, the most difficult to deal with can be the influence of culture on management. In addition, cultural effects are difficult to observe. [2] Management can be defined both in terms of what managers do and what functions they perform. The roles that managers play share certain features across cultures but are best understood within their cultural context. Focusing on what managers do emphasizes the importance of the interpersonal aspects of the managers` job. Managers around the world share a significant degree of similarity in the roles they perform. However, at the same time managers around the world differ in important aspects of their roles and behavior. these differences are the result of both a direct effect of culture on behavior and a more indirect effect of culture on organizational context. [3],[5] Above I tried to explain that culture has a broad influence on what international managers do. We need a clear definition of culture to better understand how culture affects the practice of management. Clyde Kluckhohn (1952) presents a widely accepted definition: " Culture consists of patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiment in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values". When I searched about definition of culture, I had found a lot of definitions, and each of them just presented has limitations. However, many of the concepts presented in these definitions have implications for understanding the relationship between cultural issues and international managements. Related with all of them, now we have 2 questions about conceptualization of culture and its influence which are raised by the notion of the existence of an organizational culture. First, how are national culture and organizational culture related? how are they similar or different? Second, to what extent does an organizational culture moderate or negate the effect of national culture? Hogstede et al. (Hofstede,Neuijen, Ohavy, & Sanders, 1990) have made perhaps the clearest distinction between the constructs of corporate and national culture. Organizational culture might be a somewhat different construct and composed of different elements from that of national culture. That is, although the culture (values) of founders and key leaders shape organizational cultures, the way these cultures affect organizational members is through the routinized practices of the organization. The reason proposed for this distinction is that people enter organizations after their national cultural values, attitudes, and fundamental beliefs are well-developed, whereas organizational practices are learned through workplace socialization. That is, organization members adopt an organizational culture through selection and socialization, whereas people are born into their national culture and societal culture. [2],[3]

Introduction thought the Case

Strategy and culture are among the primary levers at top leaders’ disposal in their never-ending quest to maintain organizational viability and effectiveness For better and worse, culture and leadership are inextricably linked. Over time an organization’s leaders can also shape culture, through both conscious and unconscious actions (sometimes with unintended consequences). The initial perspectives of Argos and CEO & Johnson Argos Diesel Europe is experiencing cross-cultural challenges among various divisions of the company (Argos Diesel Europe, its European suppliers, local company employees and the new member – an American expatriate). The company places high priority on achieving results, and it is conscious that in order to achieve their financial targets they must become an integrated team. However, the team’s cultural diversity and lack of understanding for each other’s differences, demonstrates an intense friction and cohesiveness among members. Depending on the group members’ nationalities, each one has a different degree of expectation, motivation, participation and commitment. Bill Loun, CEO of Argos International, seems to believe that in the end, is fully aware of the multiple cultures within which Miller and Johnson are embedded, can sense when change is required, and can deftly influence the process. He certainly trusts Johnson she believed his experiences and talents, so send him to build important networks throughout Europe, who has great experience. Perhaps Loun thought that the power of Johnson`s appointment because of his potential and the Cairo experience, were adequate for this strategically important and tension-filled challenge which is to become a global manager. “An effective international manager needs to develop skills for understanding an managing diversity. Since different cultures have various approaches to diversity, it is important to understand these approaches and the potential impact they could have on the manager” (Francesco et al., 2005, pp 209). Johnson spent five years in Cairo and had valuable experiences in five years of teaching in Cairo. Overview his experiences that were full of leaderships responsibilities and successful projects in Cairo, was a good start, so Johnson had great capability to be global manager. Accounts of Johnson’s performance in implementing the cross-divisional and cross-functional teams in the States indicate that he is a capable professional. He was willing to take this assignment in Zurich. Try to imagine a manager without this expertise and with the transnational and multicultural challenges of this assignment doing his job. But as his career advances, at some point he was promoted into a job which includes responsibility for areas outside his specialty and culture, and it makes it far more complex than any he has faced to date. Johnson may be failing in Europe simply because his superiors didn’t explain the new dimensions of leadership that this position would require and didn’t develop a plan for him to learn them. Loun and the other people responsible for Johnson`s assignment did not prepare Johnson and his family sufficiently for the move. This is a crucial dilemma which is not only about Bert is the right person for the job in Zurich, but also about the company`s entire approach to executive development. When Bill Loun thinks about hiring for cultural fit, CEO focuses almost exclusively on whether candidate reflects the values, norms, and behaviors of the team or organization as it currently exists. United States did not consider cultural adaptability—the ability to rapidly learn and conform to organizational cultural norms as they change over time. Consider the meetings he had directed. He blew it with this meeting. He had turned the meeting over to Miller unless there was a clear reason to do so. Your goal- and task-oriented style, which has brought you success in the past, is not enough in this international context. A decision needs to be made. The information is collected, the arguments for and against the options are determined. However, none of these points indicate a clear conclusion about the options. The time is coming to 17:00 and after their meeting, The eyes of everyone around to CEO. The expectation of everyone is to demonstrate a good reasoning; that is, if there is evidence pointing to the correct option, it should be revealed The perspective of the advisor Johnson must help Argos become more international. Johnson should not be failed, since Bill Loun thinks he can do well, he can build an international team, then the company can become a global player. of course, If he fails, he will be setting a precedent for other Argos managers. Argos has much to lose if he fails and a lot more to gain if you succeed. Especially for Miller this situation is crucial, because Loun thinks highly of Johnson, he will try to find a good opportunity for him back in Detroit. Although Miller could do many things to solve some problems in time, he did not focus Johnson leading style and his adaptation. He just looked for the end, that is how Johnson`s performance reflects on his work. He only concerned his trips and his projects. Though Loun and any part of United States are not helping to handle this situation, they even don’t know about the problem. Miller knows that he has credibility with CEO, and Argos can’t face to lose Miller at this stage. So Loun always trusts him that he will do best decision and recommendation for the company and its stakeholders. Now he should make a thoughtful but decisive settlement. He barely has two option to fix this situation. First, Johnson should be returned to United States or to another European country to train himself and adapt for European culture at least one year. He can use Johnson`s family circumstances to cite. Miller should call Loun and tell him everything. He should tell him Johnson seems unaware of how ill prepared he is. Loun and Miller should provide that Johnson should be returned to United States as soon as possible. Johnson`s cultural sensitivity and depend on that the family circumstances can be showed as the reason. Because Johnson is valuable person for Argos. There is no way that retaining him in Zurich will help either him or the company. Keeping Johnson on just for the sake of his career would be too costly for the company and for his family. At the end, Miller should tell Johnson candidly that, after considerable thought, he has decided that Argos needs a local European to unite the acquired companies. He should help him view this experience as a learning process so that he will return to the States with positive outlook and not think of his time in Europe as wasted. In the best scenario, Miller should consider becoming the change leader himself or appointing one of the European executives to do the job. Second, he can try to fix in Zurich as not only speaking with and giving training to him but also walking at this challenged way together with and supporting to him: We become habituated to corporate life culture as same as a country`s culture. We develop an unwritten understanding of how interactions should go, and it can be jarring when we trip across unexpected fault lines. The risk is high when a new leader takes over management. Take one side on the hand that coming into a new environment, he may have been briefed by the board, CEO, or hiring committee, but you can’t necessarily rely on that information. Like all humans, they have their biases and blind spots, and they may be unaware of behind-the-scenes dynamics, like employees who are feuding, or those who exert disproportionate political influence within the department or team. He should be sure to talk to a wide variety of sources. If you do not know who a reliable source of information is, it is easy to be overly impressed by a person or group's interpretation of events. And another side, the researches shows that despite leaders` education and experience, 74 percent of new leaders say they are unprepared for the new role, and almost 50 percent say they are disappointed or completely unsuccessful within 18 months. In many cases, leaders either make decisions very quickly, make quick decisions that prove to be imprudent, or wait from time to time to gather more findings, and it is now critical time. Considering the interest shown to him, he will be willing to prove that hiring him is the right decision but learning and acting first is very important. He had great ideas but insisted on pushing conditions on a topic without knowing his colleagues and organizational culture. Johnson who thought that he is confident that he already knows the most correct movements should listen, observe and suspend his judgment. This was particularly difficult because those around him might be expecting a quick move. Miller should choose a critical focus area for the year. Moving too quickly in a new role for his new colleague is dangerous, but it is also dangerous to look as if it was not making any changes at all. Choosing a focus area helps people direct their efforts towards it and evaluate progress. Miller can help him to manage the urge to make quick judgments, gathering information from all parts of the organization, and determining his primary focus will help him build the infrastructure and political capital he needs to succeed in his new position. Today`s rapidly changing business environment requires to reevaluate how Miller, Johnson and the company work. They should adapt and believe that changing the way they interact with one another can unleash our full potential. For this culture change to be successful, it will need to be centered on building trusting relationships. Johnson may be at the very beginning of your learning journey about this culture shift. There is new terminology to master, there are new tools being rolled out, and there are new practices to support a better way to work together. A key to a leader`s success is having the correct networking ability to connect and interact with others. That`s why while long working days, ineffective communication, and lack of cooperation has been present in his team. Johnson always should keep his mind that the desire is that every person and every voice is valued. Especially his behavior should show as open mind to everything and informal social interaction. As a director, Johnson should try to be more charismatic, join the local staff for lunch and go for coffee and talk with them informally, or even try to interact outside of work for example he can friendly ask their life or daily news. After building up personal contacts such socializing, he eventually can get good and valuable feedback from them at the end. Although when executive European meeting is happened, during starting time and break times of the meeting, he did have any conversation with the local companies and other suppliers , he should keep in his mind the local companies also have something to offer, that`s why he has to join for a drink or lunch to set a conversation with them. They should be respected for their competencies and knowledge. He needs to recognize that these are acquisitions and that these executives have managed their own companies until now. Johnson`s the other support centers In this section let`s have a look for Johnson`s support center where he can get easy, reliable and all necessary help for all his assignments and plans. Just as he might when taking an overseas posting, look for a cultural mentor who can help him interpret and navigate the implicit codes of his new environment. Johnson should look for someone who has a deep understanding of the corporate terrain, wants him to succeed, and doesn’t have an overt political agenda that could their perspective or cause them to give you biased information. Possibilities might include former company employees that he knows through social or professional circles, or respected colleagues in other offices or departments. Johnson should start to behave in ways that show Frau Schweri that he respects her position and values her assistance. She can help Johnson understand how best to communicate his plan and manage cultural difference with her experience and knowledge of Europe and the local environment. His wife has not succeeded in integrating herself into Zurich environment, and their eldest daughter is having problems at school. He can also try to establish friendly contact with her and ask her about his family issues, for information about his daughter`s schooling and find out what the options are-how other expatriates have handled the problem. He can also ask how to make this time in Zurich a more enriching experience for his wife. This kind of informal conversation becomes good working relationship and friendship, because personal relationship can build by good environmental relationship from work to family. When we start to mentioned about family issues, in this point I can add more in that Johnson and his family must learn language, because an inability to understand the nuances of a local language can affect the way a person views the culture as a whole. Reduced to its essentials, cross-cultural training aims to help people be productive and feel comfortable in unfamiliar surroundings. His family and he should get cultural and language trainings, it will be more supportive, and his family life would be that much more stable. Especially for him that is a golden key to contact with colleagues and his work team and to set all formal/informal conversation. The whole situation will then be easier to handle and manage. Another help would be from Paul Janssen at work surrounding, he is Argos Europe`s vice president of human resources. For sure, he can help Johnson understand better how to get people, how to adapt the culture, how to integrate the people to his plan, and how to be more effective in his assignment. In addition, that, this case indicates that Janssen hasn’t given people feedback and information, so Johnson should urgently ask him and identify him or Frau Schweri as your cultural mentor. [1]

In Zurich Johnson and Miller could sit down and talk one-on-one at least once a month about things that really matter to his. Johnson should visit each country`s manager individually, present his plan. Moreover, he should know their expectation from him, and then he should present his ideas, and ask for their opinions, comments and suggestions. He shouldn’t hesitate to listen to their problems and ask question, because he needs to look for the information that is not being communicated. Then they can have built a trusting relationship along the way. At the end he can get the information that could help Johnson to help them in their current assignments. Yet neither Johnson nor Miller seems to have any idea of how the various parts of the company are going to conduct business in Europe. Right now, it seems as if Argos is telling everyone to be a team but not giving anyone a chance to do so. Miller`s behavior seems like that his only concern is how Johnson`s performance reflects on his own image. Because Miller thinks this issue will not stay about what Johnson has done or has not done; it will be what Miller has failed to do. In addition, when Johnson has failed, Miller has failed, too. The reason of this that the company`s culture – created and supported by Bill Loun - is not helping Miller face the real challenges of managing internationally. Miller needs regularly to see how Johnson fits into the bigger picture. Johnson needs to understand what his position is and what his responsibilities are in both the current assignment and organization as a whole. He should also able to clarify the expectations placed on his, as well as to express what expectations Johnson has of his manager and others, regarding the support he needs. When he approaches Miller with a problem or concern, Miller doesn't just solve it for his, Miller instead coaches Johnson so he realizes his own ability to overcome obstacles. Johnson must share his frustration while letting Miller know that he wants the projects to succeed and that he is committed to putting in the time and efforts to make it happen. Miller must establish specific objectives for Johnson`s assignment. In addition, he must articulate what this experience will mean for his career development. The certain thing is that believe, people are inherently trustworthy, want positive impact, want to be treated on eye level, like to learn & support, are willing to take the lead. Leadership practices are connected to the People component, it is focused on people: the performance, development, and engagement of people. Johnson`s goal should be to create eye-level, trusting relationships with each other. He should want to engage through more autonomy, accountability, and collaboration; foster coaching to promote actionable decisionmaking; and drive sustainable people and team performance through trust-building, feedback, and development.

The compliments from other countries

When we consider about the compliments from other countries, I would like to summarize below. It’s human nature to grumble a little about the boss, the boring meeting, or some seemingly clueless directive from several layers above. Strictly speaking, such grumbling doesn’t cause real harm; everyone needs to vent now and then. Understanding events that have shaped cultural and organizational behavior in a country can help a foreigner adjust more quickly. Such knowledge also will help Johnson understand that in Europe, most organizations and large communities are culturally heterogeneous. He will learn, without resorting to stereotypes, that there are certain cultural tendencies he can expect. He also will learn how European managers balance the various behavioral differences, and he will begin to do it himself. Johnson needs to remember that he is not dealing with one foreign culture; he is dealing with several. In Germanic cultures, for instance, managers are valued for technical competence—for managing tasks. In Latin cultures, more emphasis is placed on a person’s ability to build relationships—on managing people. You won’t be able to please everyone in every situation, but at least if he is aware of the different attitudes and styles, he may be able to navigate more effectively. Consider the meetings Johnson have directed. Managers from Germanic cultures are likely to complain about lack of structure in meetings and presentations, describing it as poor organization. Being on time and following the schedule are considered very important; any changes should be announced. Latin Europeans, on the other hand, may be amused if not annoyed by such a systematic approach. They may find it constraining and feel that there is not enough room for spontaneity and creativity, or enough time to build rapport. Use these differences to create synergy—to get the best from each culture. Try to find a balance; be systematic while allowing for flexibility. Find ways to be both task oriented and people oriented. At meetings, acknowledge the differences among the managers and ask for their solutions. [1],[8]

Transformational Leadership Models

Transformational leaders can create integrity and harmony in the organization through aligning people and the systems. Moreover, transformational leaders have capability to motivate their employees to go beyond the mediocrity and focus the higher order needs rather than ordinary expectations. A wide range research has consistently proven this leadership style having positive impact on subordinates getting their objectives and giving high performance (Bass, 1998). According to Full Range Leadership Model by Bass and Avolio (1997) transformational leadership is characterized by 5I’s which are Idealized Attributes, Idealized Behaviors, Inspirational Motivation, Intellectual Stimulation and Individualized Consideration. These five factors are considered most active and effective leadership behaviors. Followers can deliver performance beyond expectation as a result of these behaviors from the leader. [6] While transformational leadership is evaluated considering its characteristics and criteria, Johnson is a leader in the intellectual stimulation model. Intellectual Stimulation (IS) – the leader challenges followers to be innovative and creative, they encourage their followers to challenge the status quo. A common misunderstanding is that transformational leaders are "soft," but the truth is that they constantly challenge followers to higher levels of performance. It’s all about relationships, what makes leaders effective. Transformational leadership theory is the most widely studied of all theories of effective leadership. Here are some items from our new measure of transformational leadership. See if you have transformational leadership qualities (Agree or Disagree). [4],[5] 1. He certainly have tried to do something to build a team. He did effective training in Cairo. 2. he was willing to take this assignment in Zurich. He moved with his whole family to Zurich. 3. His working habits (ex: working during lunch time and until midnight) could be inspire the others. 4. He tried to show positive energy and dynamic working and management style of him by walking around. 5. His followers would say that he is very attentive to proactive engager. 6. Even though he could easily do a task myself, he delegated it to expand his followers' skills. He sent the questionnaires to get feedback 7. Team creativity and innovation are the keys to success. He tried to establish an international team 8. He tried to encourage local stuff and suppliers to question their most basic way of thinking. (Items 1 & 2 = II; 3 & 4 = IM; 5 & 6 = IC; 7 & 8 = IS)

Conclusion and Discussion

As expected from all previous case studies, that a high level of cultural fit led to more promotions, more-favorable performance evaluations, higher bonuses, and fewer involuntary departures. Cultural adaptability, however, turned out to be even more important for success. Employees who could quickly adapt to cultural norms as they changed over time were more successful than employees who exhibited high cultural fit when first hired. These cultural “adapters” were better able to maintain fit when cultural norms changed or evolved, which is common in organizations operating in fast-moving, dynamic environments. Recognizing the potential influence of the external environment on workplace behaviors is critical when managing others. For example, when designing work teams and setting reporting structures, managers should consider whether regional cultures might drive employees toward collaboration or independent effort and to what extent employees expect hierarchy and structure. Not taking these factors in consideration is one reason so many global expansion efforts fail. Particularly when managing global teams, employees’ implicit values and beliefs can lead to misunderstandings and tension. For example, when eliciting participation in meetings and conference calls, managers should consider whether potential differences in culture may drive participants to reserve comments until their opinions are specifically solicited or whether they might offer their views voluntarily. Cultural considerations also come into play when motivating employees, designing incentive schemes, training new employees, and implementing decisionmaking processes. Culture can be a powerful lever for maintaining, renewing, and shaping an organization’s viability. While global teams can provide cost savings and help firms access talent from around the world, cultural differences and divergent expectations around workplace norms can be sources of friction. Cognizance of these regional patterns provides valuable contextual information; however, it is also important to remember that a wide range of organizational cultures exist in all regions. Managers should take care not to make broad assumptions or to stereotype others based solely on regional origin. Regardless of leaders’ specific goals and ambitions, making an active effort to understand and acknowledge the cultures that operate within the organization is a critical undertaking for effective management in today’s global environment. There are different approaches to completing tasks from culture to culture; there are different ways that people move toward completing roles or projects. Some reasons include different access to resources; different judgments of the rewards associated with task completion, different notions of time, and varied ideas about how relationship-building and task-oriented work should go together, but found that everyone worked well together to find appropriate data that was relevant to the actual task and respected asked criteria. References 1. Gordon Adler, “The Case of the Floundering Expatriate “, August,1995 Website: https://hbr.org/2011/11/the-expat-dilemma. 2. Nishii, L.H./ Buller, P.F. (2013): Research for practice. The Management of Expatriates. Thunderbird International Business Review 55(2), pp. 213-226 3. Bartlett, C.A./ Ghoshal, S. (2002): Managing Across Borders. The Transnational Solution. 2 nd edition, Boston: Harvard Business School Press 4. Bass, B.M. 1998. Transformational Leadership: Industrial, Military, and Educational Impact. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates. 5. Bass, B.M. and Avolio, B.J. 2000. Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Redwood City: Mind Garden Inc. 6. Bass, B.M. and Riggio, R.E. 2006. Transformational Leadership, 2nd Ed. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Mahwah, New Jersey 7. Gilbert, K. and Rosinski, P (2008) ‘Accessing cultural orientations: the online Cultural Orientations Framework Assessment as a tool for coaching’. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice. Vol. 1, No. 1, March 2008, p. 88 8. Gilbert, K. (2009) ‘Week 4: Coaching and Mentoring Across Cultures. International Management Competencies. Slides 8, 9. 9. Berger, M. (1996) Cross-Cultural Team Building: guidelines for more effective communication and negotiation. London, McGraw-Hill, Chapter 2, 11, pp. 22, 175.