Deck 3: Organizational Behavior in a Global Context

Question 1

Stereotyping. The most effective global managers use stereotypes. In what ways can you use stereotypes to your advantage when working with people from other cultures?

Answer 1

It is said that the effective and efficient managers uses stereotypes for business and functioning globally to flourish.
Stereotyping is a form of categorizing which organizes experiences and guides the behavior in the direction of different groups of society. It involves the behavioral norms of members of specific group.
Stereotypes can be advantageous for working with employees from different cultures in the following ways:
1. The managers and employers are conscious and aware that they have to explain and describe a group norm and not to any particular individual.
2. The stereotype describes the people from the particular group will be same and not to evaluate between bad or good people. Thus stereotype helps in descriptive discussion rather than evaluation of individuals.
3. There is more accuracy and specific norms to be described and maintained by all in the group with no individual or specific norm.
4. There is group guessing about any information and no individual or personal approaches.
5. Stereotype leads to better modification through updated knowledge, observation and experience of actual person involved.
Hence stereotype can be used to work with people from various cultures if used properly.

Question 2

Using Stereotyping. What stereotypes do you have about lawyers? About South Africans? If you had an appointment with two South African lawyers, how would you expect them to act? How would you prepare for the meeting?

Answer 2

Stereotype is the form of categorizing which involves in the organizing of the expectations and guides the behavior to the different groups in the society. Stereotypes will never describe any particular individual behavior but it describes the behavioral norms of specific group.
Stereotypes regarding lawyers which have almost in everyone's thinking are that they have a specific sense of judging and critically analyzing every subject. Lawyers are said to have stereotype in having an inner strength to understand the characters and inner thinking of a person's mind.
If an individual is appointed in between two lawyers of Country A the lawyer's may act in the following way:
• The lawyers will be judgmental in their own theory and conclusion
• Try to criticize or draw different conclusions in the same topic
• They will be deducing their own judgments as per the rules and laws in the regulations and acts in legal cases
• Legal matter will be handled as per the given laws and regulations in the rule books
• Give the proper solutions to a particular problem giving logical explanations and legal reasoning

Question 3

Communicating Across Cultures. Today many managers work with people from other cultures, both at home and when traveling abroad. What are some of the ways in which your organization could train managers to communicate more effectively with people from other cultures?

Answer 3

Managers work with people from other culture both when travelling abroad or at home. Hence the managers of organization need to get ample training for effective communication to deal with other culture people.
Organization must provide training to its managers for enhancing communication skill in the following ways:
• The effective global managers must be trained by expert team to know the differences and similarities in culture of their own and others
• The attempt to know the meaning of the communication rather than understanding the words is important
• The need to understand what and how it is said and performed rather than evaluating the fact is essential
• Describing any situation in more descriptive ways accurately will be helpful during communication
• Understanding what the other are trying to explain through their views and eyes will make managers understand the motive of the other people
• Checking thoroughly through other processes or other colleagues in home or abroad will explain and make one certain to the guesses or interpretations
• The managers should be clear, loud and slow in their speech to make other cultured people understand each line better
• Repeating the important facts and figures is essential
• Avoiding of compound sentences during verbal communication is essential
• Try to avoid passive verbs and use active verbs in verbal communication
The above ways taught during the training sessions to managers can make them efficient and effective to communicate with people of other culture.

Question 4

Communicating Nonverbally: Cultural Self-Awareness. In seeking to understand the importance of nonverbal communication, we must start by examining ourselves. Describe four examples of nonverbal communication that you commonly use and what each means to you. Then indicate how each might be misinterpreted by someone from another culture.

Question 5

Communicating Nonverbally: Cross-Cultural Awareness. Describe four examples of nonverbal communication that managers in other parts of the world use but managers from your own country do not. Indicate how each might be misinterpreted by colleagues from your own country.