Overcoming Cultural Differences And Understanding Organisation Culture Commerce Essay

Overcoming Cultural Differences And Understanding Organisation Culture Commerce Essay What is culture? Culture is something you belong to. Here a few definitions of the word culture. Geertz describes culture as a system of shared meaning, (Griffin, 2003, p. 273), Pancanowsky said culture is not something a organization has, a culture is something an organization is. (Griffin, 2003, p. 273) Philipesen describes culture as a socially constructed and historically transmitted pattern of symbols, meanings, premises, and rules.(Griffin, 2003, p.420). In this case study EUROCOM Systems is a German organization and SOFTCOM is an IT organization in New Zealand.EUROCOM Systems is taking over SOFTCOM. According to the above definitions about culture, we can see that EUROCOM Systems and SOFTCOM are two different types of organizations with two different cultures. Firstly their languages are different, and also the German organization has a very traditional management style. Their staff are expected to wear traditional business suits and ties and keep to fixed daily working hours. The New Zealand organization has an easygoing and relaxed atmosphere, including a dress code and flexible working hours that suit their customers. There are also other problems that could happen in the new organization. As the case study mentions that EUROCOM will send their own managers to New Zealand. These managers have to face a new environment, so could have a lot of anxiety. During the takeover, it will be two different countries with different cultures merging together; obviously this could cause culture conflict. How can these cultural differences be overcome? The above provides two hypotheses, using some theories to help to achieve the hypotheses. Agenda-Setting Theory Maxwell McCombs Donald Shaws Agenda Setting Theory uses framing where they select a feature and put this into the mind of people making them think about it. For example, SOFTCOMs flexible working hours change to fixed daily working hours. If at lunch time or outside working hours, the customers has some software problems needing speciality help, who can serve them to figure out the problems. Does the customer have to wait until the speciality staff are back from lunch? No, no one has the patience when they have a problem. They want the company solve the problem at once. As no one can run a business without customers, SOFTCOM should put those points to frame the cultural differences, and let EUROCOM think about by changing SOFTCOM culture it may cause many problems, and even lose customers. Social Penetration Theory Cultural approach to organization Theory Social Penetration Theory is when the onion is peeled by layer the two nationalities will soon be friends and appreciate each other. (Griffin, 2003, p. 133) Once they penetrate well below the surface, the Germans and New Zealanders will become close. Story and ritual (Using the metaphor) can help to understand an organization culture. So in this case, SOFTCOM can tell some stories through ritual that will help EUOROCOM Managers to understand SOFTCOM culture. Below is an provide an example combining these two theories. When the managers of EUORCOM come to New Zealander at first, they might feel uncomfortable and not know what to say to SOFTCOM staff, but after a few days they will start to know each other. Also SOFTCOM can provide some rituals such as a party or a BBQ, and by corporate stories, collegial stories or personal story telling increase their relationships and help them understand the SOFTCOM culture. Understanding organization culture Communication theories: Information Systems Approach to Organisations Cultural Approach to Organizations Face-Negotiation Theory Narrative Paradigm Theory From the case study, it seems that SOFTCOM Systems is a culture system and belongs to Individualistic culture. EUOROCOM Systems is an information system and belongs to collectivistic culture. Below are some theories to identify the statement, and also will provide a strategy for SOFTCOM to keep the unique features of the organisation. Information Systems Approach to Organisations Theory According to Weicks Information Systems Approach to Organisations theory, every organisation as living organizations that must constantly adapt to changing environment in order to stay alive. (Griffin, 2003, p. 259). Weick talks about the information and how it relates to the organisation, whereas organisation systems depend on the information system. Weick considers in his theory the hierarchy structural of the organisation. Every employee is put on different levels of positions. The boss is at the top, flows down to the associate managers, along the path to the next level will be the workers at the lower level. From this hierarchy structural, Weick forms up the chain-of-command lines of communication. Information is pushed down from the top, where the boss is, down to his associates and from the associates to the workers below. Information flows in the organisation. Cultural Approach to Organisation Theory Geertz and Pacanowskys theory of the Cultural Approach to Organisation base on Information Systems Approach to Organisations theory, but they state that culture is not something that an organisation has; culture is something an organisation is. Geertz describes culture as a system of shared meaning, (Griffin, 2003, p. 273), From the above explanations of the two theories, we can see EUOROCOM is an information system, because the boss at top level pushes information down to the next level associates, and to the workers. The workers do not have a chance to raise opinions to the managers. As the case study said the EUOROCOM organization has a very conservative management style. SOFTCOM is a culture system. As EUOROCOM the boss from the top pushes the information to the next level and to the workers. But SOFTCOM have effective communication and a shared meaning about the information. The case study says SOFTCOM has an easygoing relaxed atmosphere, which is why SOFTCOM is an innovative and creative software development. Face-Negotiation Theory According to Ting-Toomeys Face- Negotiation theory, she distinguishes national cultures within collectivistic and individualistic categories. (Griffin, 2003, p. 436). Collectivistic culture means where people identify with a larger group loyalty thus acting from a We-identity. The collectivistic culture has a high context communication or message. Individualistic culture means where people look out for themselves and their immediate families thus acting from an I-identity. The Individualistic culture has a low context communication Using these definitions we can see that EUOROCOM is a Collectivistic culture, because the EUOROCOM System values collective needs and goals over individual needs and goals. In EUOROCOM, staff behaviour is controlled by the company, for example, the EUOROCOM System boss asked the SOFTCOM staff to wear traditional business suits and ties everyday, and they had no choice, but to do it no matter whether they want to it or not. EUOROCOM has a very high context on sending messages from their boss to staff. The power gap between the boss at the top and his associates below is wide. It is hard for the worker to communicate their thoughts to the top level. The SOFTCOM system is an individualistic culture; because SOFTCOM treat every person as unique. SOFTCOM has a very low context communication between their boss and staff. Its a narrow hierarchy structure. The power gap between the boss at the top level and his associates below (the workers of the organisation) is narrow. In other words, communication between the workers is easy and they help each other, not like the high context communication staff of EUOROCOM Systems. So their company is conducive to more innovation than EUOROCOM. How can the take over be effective? In the case study EUOROCOM will create a more disciplined culture in the new organization which means the Germans will run the merged organisation to their collectivistic culture. How could the New Zealanders persuade the Germans not take away the unique features of SOFTCOM? Here using narrative paradigm theory could persuade EUOROCOM to keep the SOFTCOM system, so that SOFTCOM will not lose the unique features of the organization. Narrative Paradigm Theory Using Walter Fishers theory Narrative Paradigm would be effective. Fisher says that people are storytelling animals and to reason to others we use stories. SOFTCOM could persuade the Germans and point out that the organisation is living in its own culture and they do their own work according to the features of the culture of their organisation and their effect on the society. So they can use their customers to tell a story to EUOROCOM to persuade the Germans to confirm the takeover without taking away their unique features. Customers might say they are familiar with the service that SOFTCOM gives them because SOFTCOM serve them on their own way. If EUOROCOM takes that away, loss of customers could turn out to be true which EUOROCOM would not want to happen for the sake of the organisation.

Department Stores

A department store is a retail establishment preferring wide range of commodities, usually including ready-to-wear apparel, fashion goods, beauty necessities, yard and household goods and further on. Numerous department in which it is divided such as merchandising, advertising, marketing, services, accounting and financial department usually handle it. The first department store in the retailing history was Bennett’s in Derby, it opened in 1734 and it remains in the same building since it’s opening. The origin of department stores is related to the industrial revolution in the 19th century and the growth of a consumer society.A wealthy class was growing, dragging with a constantly changing fashion, which created an enabling environment for the expansion of stores in that area. Today, department stores are mainly part of a retailing chain, usually a main department store is located in strategic area of a big city and the others are all around the city, country or sometim es the world. But we can still find independent retailers. â€Å" Vision without action is a day dream. Action without vision is a nightmare. † – Japanese proverb. This applies to marketing. Indeed, establishing a procedure in marketing without planning it in advance will lead to ruin.Before initiation, a plan should be well prepared from it’s begging to its end leaving to chance any step. For a successful marketing plan the contractors have to initially think about the aim. All factors must be taken into consideration before starting the procedure. JC Penney’s case is a relevant example. When the American department store launched its new pricing strategy consisting in the suppression of discounts, heavy promotions, coupons and replacing it by every day low price. The chief executive underestimated the importance granted by costumers to sale and special discounts, which made its plan a big failure.In the fashion industry, when a company needs to launch a new product or line they develop a marketing plan. These plans explain the strategy that will be followed and the details of the procedure in order to legitimize the costs, which will be implied on the company. We can count the main type of marketing plans: the strategic one, where the decision is up to the senior management and the plan is designed to achieve a long-range goal (at least five years), for example a ?10 billion investment plan for Japan’s premier department store, Isetan Shinjuku, based in Tokyo.The outlet has been completely redesigned and transformed into a fashion museum presenting a combination of art, music and films while maintaining its primary function as a department store. The second type is the functional planning, which is a short-term plan up and is up to the middle mangers in key business areas but supervised by front line mangers.This is the kind of marketing planning is used during the Christmas period with the window displays in the biggest de partment stores, such as Galleries Lafayette in Paris or Selfridges in London, they team up with fashion houses and designers for displays with recurring themes including architecture, fairy-tales and scale play. We can also count the operational planning, a short-term action plan developed by supervisors or front-line mangers to accomplish a specific goal, for example: the case Macy’s plan to open on thanksgiving, while all of its competitors are closed on that day.The goal here is to be the only department store open, generate a tremendous profit in one day. Finally, there is the contingency plan, aiming to get a back up plan ready to cope an anticipated situation if it ever occurs. All of these plans need to be efficiently prepared step by step. According to Phillip Kotler, there are six essential steps for a successful planning. The first one is the situational analysis, where the company examines the Macro forces to highlight its strength and weaknesses. Although these f actors can play in the favour of the company, sometimes they can also be barriers in the smooth running of a project.Then comes objectives setting, in order to set its objectives a company have to take into consideration it's stakeholders, company reputation, technology and other matters of concern. Then, once the goals are set a timetable has to be held to avoid any mishaps. Then the strategy, by choosing which strategy will be pursued to complete the task successfully. The company then sets its mode of action and the path that will be followed during the project. After that comes the tactics, this step is meant to plan what is called in marketing the 4Ps (product, price, place, promotion) but also to schedule the strategy into a calendar.And finally the controls, which lasts throughout the project, since it aims to ensure the effective conduct of each part of the marketing plan and if not then find a solution to remedy the situation. All of these plans differ from one company to a nother according to its positioning goal. The positioning of a company is what distinguishes it from its competitors, so the ideas in costumers mind when they think about that company. As we can see in the perceptual positioning map above, the customers may see department stores that sell the same product as different.Thereby, the Italian department store, Rinascente, is considered as one of the most fashionable department stores across the world. However, the German department store Kadewe which is ranked equally fashionable is perceived as more luxurious while Debenhams despite the fact that the fashion perception it granted is as high as the two previous stores its luxury perception is lower than both of them. Nowadays, these marketing plans include immense use of technology to improve and facilitate their performance. â€Å"Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven.I don’t think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without talking about the other. † – Bill Gates. Reaching that goal is made possible by the numerous advantages of technology. One of them is social media. Based on telecommunication and social interaction, it is the best way to disclose information and to advertise, but in the same time get live feed back about it. Indeed, markets behaviour is changing, how they are known for talking but not listening and now a new strategy is being implemented known as buzz monitoring. This consists of tracking relevant conversations through the Internet that will allow the  company to get an idea about its level of popularity amongst people, but also what comes to their mind when they think about it. However, a scientifically developed panel is still more effective than social media listening to gather data but then social media is more relevant because costumers are discussing with each other. Indeed, they don’t always trust what the company says to them since it is a part of their strategy to o nly reveal the best about it self, but costumers will talk about their experience and what they honestly think about it as they don’t have any interest in hiding the truth.The beauty department store Sephora belongs to those who knew how to make profit from social networks. Indeed, it manifests its presence in all of the most popular social medias – such as Facebook, micro blogging as Twitter, photo-sharing websites as Pintrest, smartphone photo-sharing application as Instagram, video-sharing websites as YouTube and further more. It takes advantage by finding the purposes other than advertising and buzz monitoring.The department store figured out that customers want beauty advices and tutorials both in store and online, so it started sharing experts’ knowledge and guidance, which will then boost sales. It also promotes loyalty programmes via social medias, offering exclusivities to followers which was obviously a successful marketing plan to gain followers since they count more than 5 million fans on Facebook and more than 1. 8 million followers on Google+. But technology is not used by department stores only for advertising and maintaining a relationship with customers; it is also used for selling purposes.E-shopping makes life easier by a greater availability of products, constant sales and discounts and international shipping. However, the relevance of department stores websites for shopping is still questionable. Indeed, when a retailer selects a brand to work with, it can’t also select the products that will be displayed under that partnership and the brand won’t display all of its collections in the department store. Since then, when it comes to online shopping the brand’s own website is more attractive as there are considerably more options.In the pictures below we can see the example of Adidas and Galleries Lafayette – the French department store- website. While the retailer only sells four bags for both men and women, in the brand website customers can shop up to 218 bags and that’s only for women. The maintenance of this relationship between the business and the customer is based on the principal of communication. Communication is the process of transferring information between senders and receivers, using one or more written, oral, visual, or electronic media.â€Å"The art of communication is the language of leadership.† – James Humes Whatever the idea one person has, even if it is the greatest ever, it won’t be useful for the company if the person doesn’t know how to communicate it, how to explain it and make other people understand what it means. Whether addressing to a superior or an employee if there is a misunderstanding the project will be doomed to failure. Also, for some positions in the workplace one needs to deal with costumers who don’t have the same level of expertise, in such situations good communication skills will be usef ul to explain intricate things in a simple way.Likewise, the higher the hierarchical position, the lower are the technical skill requirements and the greater are the good communication skill needs. This is explained by the fact that important positions implies dealing with more important people, who are more punctilious when it comes to the way you talk or behave near them. Tough, to be an effective communicator it is necessary to master the different stages of the communication process: To manage this process successfully a behavioural equilibrium has to be found.There are three main types of behaviours: Passive Behaviour involves saying nothing in a response, keeping feelings to yourself, hiding feelings from others, and perhaps even hiding your feelings from yourself. Aggressive Behaviour involves expressing your feelings indirectly through insults, sarcasm, labels, put-downs, and hostile statements and actions. And the third type is Assertive behaviour, which is a balance betwee n both of the preceding behaviours. It involves describing your feelings, thoughts, opinions, and preferences directly to another person in an honest and appropriate way that respects both you and the other person.It is the latter, that is most recommended to adapt in the workplace. Then, the sender needs to decide which communication tool is the most suitable one to the audience and the situation. When it comes to business-to-business communication e-mails are faster, efficient and direct. They say enough without saying too much. While Faxes mark certain indifference since they are limited to the strict minimum. Usually, they should be accompanied with a phone call to give further information or at least show interest from the sender’s part to the receiver.Phone calls can also be used for other purposes; it is a good way to show concern but also to show respect. This leads us to the audience-centred approach which consists in getting to know the audience we are dealing with which is known as the  «you  » attitude. This ability to relate to the need of the others is one of the keys of success of manager leaders. It works both in the Business-to-Business communication and Business-to-Customer communication. In the example below, we can see the example of an advertising campaign of the French department store Galleries Lafayette.The model on the signboard is dressed like the  « perfect  » Parisian, with the beret, the white top and blue pair of jean’s and in addition to amplify the French spirit, on the foreground of the scenery an accordion is shown. All of this staging is meant to flatter Parisian, which are proud of their identity and make them feel that the department store is made for them. Communication skills may also be useful when it comes to marketing communication. Marketing communication is defined as the media tool used to reach a market; it refers to the promotion part of the â€Å"marketing mix† and the â€Å"four Psà ¢â‚¬  (Price, place, product and promotion).It also refers to the different strategies used while making the promotion of a certain product. The marketing process is divided in five steps: Here, marketing communication starts in the second stage and goes until the fourth one and its primary purpose is to create value for customers and build customer relationship because without customers a company has no reason to exist. To achieve that goal numerous tools can be used. Advertising is one of them, provides a direct line of communication to your existing and prospective customers about your product or service.As here for example, with Harvey Nichols advertising campaign called THE NEW BREED which plays on the luxury stereotype of the handbag dog replacing the traditional Chihuahua by a bull terrier to promote its new involvement into an accessible fashion  « The new breed  ». Public relation is also a tool of marketing communication. Building and keeping good relationships with m edia is important for the brand/store’s image and reputation. But the art of good public relation also involves being able to manage successfully and adverse publicity.Another tool is sales promotions, commonly used to increase sales in short term, it attracts new customers interested in lower price, which can later become loyal customers depending on their experience in the department store. For example, the British department store Selfridges runs every year  « Christmas comes early  », which consists in Christmas sales earlier than its competitors so it can attract its concurrent customers since they can do their Christmas shopping earlier without paying the high price.To make their promotion, companies use more and more direct mail, which consist in an e-mail address of the receiver by its name and selling him products destined for its target group depending on information the company collected about him in its database. The Internet marketing – as seen previou sly – also used very much by retailers to sell and promote their products. Sponsorship is a form of indirect marketing that consists of paying an organisation, which will use your brand logo and this way generate publicity.Below are Macy’s areas of sponsorships in 2011 according to IEG Research. Competition in the retailing world has very quickly grown during the last century. Today, to face the concurrence retailers resort to strategies aiming to bring them to the top. To reach that aim different tools are used and mainly communication that builds relationship between department store, stockholders, partners, employees and customers.

Admissions Essay for Postgraduate Study at The University...

I am an international student from China who is going to graduate from Birmingham City University with a degree in Computing Business E-Systems and Technology. This is a personal statement on applying for the postgraduate study at the University of Durham. To achieve a master degree is a goal in my life plan, when I decided to study bachelors degree in the U.K. During two years of academic study of computer science in Birmingham City University, I enjoyed the British approach to education. It offers an opportunity for students to implement their plan, develop their interest and discover their strengths and weaknesses. In Birmingham City University, I have learnt what I am required to do and I am interested in the field of Information†¦show more content†¦Recently, I learned programming languages (Java, PHP, HTML and CSS) individually in my final project on building a database system for a pharmacy. The last two years were also years of self reflection and improvement. Through my study in university, my experiences such as social activities and personal skills have been developed. For instance, I visited local families to experience British culture, advanced my Communication Skills and developed Networking Skills; I obtained a business mentor to be employable and extended my Networking through student services. What is more, my Academic Writing, Critical Thinking, Teamwork and Self Management Skills have progressed through assignments and projects. From the IT Practice Model, I developed my professional skills in aspects of professional morals, ethics and codes of conduct. It also offered me an opportunity to discover my abilities and layout my career plan. Generally, based on my character, I am determined to devote myself to information system development focused on business analysis, systems design and requirement analysis in an enterprise after graduation. When I learned Enterprise resource planning (ERP) in my off hours, I feel it is difficult but interesting, regarding supply chain management and stock management in the area of manufacturing, and my ability of analysis, management and control couldShow MoreRelatedEducation response Essay example43180 Words   |  173 PagesA progress report by the Independent Reviewer on Social Mobility and Child Poverty October 2012 University Challenge: How Higher Education Can Advance Social Mobility A progress report by the Independent Reviewer on Social Mobility and Child Poverty October 2012 University Challenge: How Higher Education Can Advance Social Mobility Contents Foreword and summary 1 Chapter 1 Introduction 11 Chapter 2 Access all areas 19 Chapter 3 Making the grade Read MoreA Descriptive Study of the Practice of Music Therapy in Hong Kong17388 Words   |  70 PagesHONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF THE PRACTICE OF MUSIC THERAPY IN HONG KONG By LAM HOI YAN April, 2007 04002865 ABSTRACT The purpose of the study was to examine the development of music therapy in Hong Kong. Specifically, a number of related issues were studied including definition of music therapy, the origin of music therapy, the recent developments in music therapy in China, establishment of a music therapy session, and the setting of

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