Communication + Virtual Teams

COMUNICATION




Comunication is the process by which information is transmitted from one entity to another.Communication processes are sign-mediated interactions between at least two agents who share the same repertoire of signs and semiotics have common rules.Traditionally, communication has been defined as "the exchange of feelings, opinions, or any other information by speech, writing or other signs."1 All forms of communication requires a sender, a message and a receiver. In the communication process, information is included by the issuer in a package and channeled to the receiver through the medium. Once received, the receiver decodes the message and provides an answer.
The functioning of human societies is possible through communication. This is the exchange of messages between individuals.
From a technical point of view communication is understood by the fact that a particular message originated at point A reaches another given point B, the former distant in space or time. Communication involves the transmission of certain information.

Organizational communication is the process of sending and receiving messages within a complex organization. This process can be internal, ie based on relations within the organization, or external (for example, between organizations). If your organization is a business, communication distinguishes three systems:
- Operational (refers to tasks or operations)
- Regulatory (orders and instructions)
- Maintenance (public relations, recruitment and publicity) BN READ

Communication within a company acquires a hierarchical, based on orders and mandates, acceptance of policies, etc. That is why we must highlight the importance of individual relationships against collective relations and cooperation between senior officers and directors or employees. The effectiveness and good performance of an enterprise is entirely dependent on good organizational communication. Thus, organizational communication studies more efficient ways within an organization to achieve the desired objectives and project a good corporate image to the outside public













VIRTUAL TEAMS

Also known as geographically dispersed team (GDT) - A group of individuals who work across time, space, and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technology. They have complementary skills and are committed to a common purpose, have interdependent performance goals, and share an approach to work for what are held mutually accountable. Geographically dispersed teams allow organizations employ and to retain best people regardless of location. The members of virtual teams communicate electronically, so they can never meet face to face. However, most teams will meet at some point in time. A virtual team does not always mean teleworker.
Teleworkers are defined as individuals who work from home. Many virtual teams in today's organizations consist of employees both working in the country and small groups in the office but in different geographical locations.



Virtual groups are the evolution of a set of services offered by all web portals throughout its history. These virtual groups allow users to participate in a synchronized or timeless, dealing with subjects that interest them, exchanging files and documents, uploading photos, and media to share with other users, reading, responding and creating messages.

A virtual community includes chat, forums and mailing lists, among other features, which address an issue and have a common group of users interested in the subject. Today this movement is becoming very strong and are used as official websites, fan clubs, student groups or websites of real partnerships.











Source:

• 1) Cf. L. Cinabal en "Teoría de la Comunicación Humana", Perso.wanadoo.es.
• Image Source: http://marucanales.wordpress.com/2009/01/18/feng-shui-y-comunicacion/
• Image Source: http://blog.fotocommunity.net/es/2007/04/hola_estimados_companeros_y_mi.html
• Image source: http://mba.americaeconomia.com/articulos/reportajes/equipos-virtuales-como-formarlos-y-potenciarlos
• http://www.k12.wa.us/curriculuminstruct/communications/default.aspx
• http://www.pstcc.edu/facstaff/dking/interpr.htm
• Interpersonal comunication, Peter harley, second edition
• http://books.google.com.co/books?id=HxQkmzOv3JQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=interpersonal+communication&source=bl&ots=aMG3JSJLI8&sig=Lq3XeFH6k2xyOQrCYVylLSGpolc&hl=es&ei=9XCITLn_CcG88gbVzPm8BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

Based on the article “If Intercontinental were a sound…what would it be?”*, Please discuss the implications (potential advantages, disadvantages, challenges, etc.) of using sounds to send strategic messages. You need to integrate the use of key concepts relating to the topic of communication to support your answer.


The concept of using sound with messages has created a new way of doing things, and now days it has been adopted by many companies, and people nowadays are associating sounds easier to a brand; but is logical because Sound and comunication have been liked sice their origins. The problem of using sounds is that at first glance they are a very subjective concept and what can be appealing to someone can not be to other. So in order to identify which sounds are appealing to a wide group of people the perception screens have to be over come in order to go deeper into the core values that identify any given group in order to avoid giving the wrong message.

Motivation

MOTIVATION

" motivation is, in a few wordst, what makes an individual act and behave in a certain way. It is a combination of of intellectual processes, physiological and psychological factors that decides in a given situation, what force is acted and in what direction energy is channeled. " (1)

Motivation is a generic term that applies to a wide range of drives, desires, needs, desires, and similar forces.

An administrators say´s that motivates his subordinates, ie doing things that can satisfy those urges and desires and lead subordinates to act in a certain way. "(2)

In other to explain, predict and influence human behavior, some motivation theories, based on internal needs and external incentives, have been developed. some of the most relevant theories are:

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow identified a range of needs experienced by the individual, giving rise to the so-called 'pyramid of needs. " According to this theory, the satisfaction of needs which are at a given level leads to the next in the hierarchy, however there are areas of overlap from one level to another and in which there is not a total satisfaction of needs.

Maslow proposed at first five levels of needs and ranked them in order of relevance. At the base of the pyramid are the basic and primary needs, and on the cusp are psychological or secondary.

When you have covered the basic needs; the desires of each individual are the ones that determine the order  needs and even the hierarchy may change over time.

 Herzbergp´s factors Theory
Herzberg believes that there are two factors that explain the motivation of employees in a company: Motivating factors. Which determines the greater or lower job satisfaction degree  and that it is related to  the job content:

- Conducting an interesting job.
- Achievement.
- Responsibility.
- Recognition.
- Promotion.
- Etcetera.

These factors are driving the worker to a positive attitude and feel satisfaction. Hygiene factors. They relate to the work context and refer to the treatment that people receive in their work:

- Working conditions.
- The salary.
- Human relations.
- The policy of the company.
- Etcetera.

ERG Theory

Clay Alderfer, is consistent with Maslow in the sense that individuals have a hierarchy of needs, however, Alderfer claims that are not five but three groups of people's basic needs:

 Basic Needs: Are the material needs that are met with food, water, air, pay, benefits and working conditions.

 Requirements for: They are satisfied to establish and maintain interpersonal relationships with co-workers, with bosses, subordinates, friends and family.

 Need for Growth: Are those that are expressed through the attempts of the person, in order to find opportunities to develop as creative or productive contributions made to work.

Theory X and Theory Y Theory
was developed by Douglas McGregor. People is classified as either X or Y. X type is lazy, dislike working and responsibilities, don’t have ambitions, whereas Y type sees working as something valuable, is involve in the organization, is creative and enjoy responsibilities. Further more Douglas includes the Maslow hierarchy as a way to motivate both types; lower order needs for type X and higher order needs for type Y.

Sources:

• (1) Solana, Ricardo F.. Management Organizations. Interoceanic Ediciones SABuenos Aires, 1993. Page 208
• (2) Koontz, Harold; Weihrich, Heinz. Administration, 11th overall perspective. Edition.Editorial Mc Graw Hill. Mexico, 1999. Page 501
• Image source: http://nodearth.wordpress.com/
• http://www.businessballs.com/mcgregor.htm
• http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_mcgregor_theory_X_Y.html
• Image source: http://www.anacco.pl/page,list,id,29,ids,13,Teoria_ERG_wg_Alderfera.html

1. What are the Hawthorne Studies? explain its importance for studying motivation at the workplace and its influence over divers you think has the most relevance for understanding the behavior of Griffin and fostering her motivation at work?e motivation theories. (include key findings and limitations) (max. 500 words)

As The Hawthorn Studies are known those studies conducted to a group of female workers at the Western Electric by its managers and a group of researches from Harvard University between 1924 and 1932. The objective of this investigation was to prove Taylor’s idea that more light in the workplace would increase the productivity of workers. But what researchers and managers did discover was that despite a reduction in light provided to work areas, Productivity would still rise. After this findings the investigation focused on the relation ship between managers and workers However, to the amazement of the researchers, the experiment showed productivity rising still further, even with a decrease in illumination.







These studies made by Hawthorne are important to take into account at the time of analyzing motivation theories over employees' performances, because it shows factors that weren't considered in the theories that we saw before and are causing alterations in the results of productivity even if these alterations are seemed in a short-term way.


This study influence the other theories due to fact that this was one of the first studies made and concerned about employees' motivation depending on internal and external factor, and was experimenting how productivity could change depending on the motivation and treatment that was being given to the workers. Even though there were obstacles obtained by the fact of the experiment, they could see there was an increase of productivity when tasks and jobs were dynamically changed for a short-time period

.

2. Based on the class activity about "Flight 001: Motivating Employees", please answer the following question:


¿Which motivation theory do you think has the most relevance for understanding the behavior of Griffin and fostering her motivation at work?

In my opinion , what happened to Griffin at her old Job was that she did not have Job security and its manager and job did not also provide her with any motivation so she quit her job, but the story was completely different for her at Flight 001. She found there that  hygiene factor such as achievement, recognition,responsibility and growth make her motivated at many different aspects that she literally fell in love with his job an feel herself satisfy and ready to give her best at working in Flight 001,all this factors were provided so she did not become dissatisfy .So in my opinion the theory that fits better to the behavior of Griffin and fostering and her motivation at work is Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory. This is because first it explains the importance of provide hygiene factor to a person in order to avoid dissatisfaction and Motivators to improve their Job satisfaction and motivation.

Management Styles + leadership styles

Japanese Management 

The japanese management culture and its organization became from the 50’s to the 90’s in a synonym of corporate success, and even though after the 90’s crisis many changes have taken place to the management culture and organization, most of it traditions stills intact and plays a important role in the japanese daily life.



Corporate Organization 

Keiretsu 


Post-World War II and after the dissolution of the Zaibatsu , which were groups of large Industries run by a single family, Japanese business corporations were organized as Keiretsu.

The Keiretsu is a group of corporations, in which each corporations within it own share of each others member’s stocks of the Keiretsu. This guarantee that that the group sticks together and becomes a cohesive and cooperative entity. Additionally, The Keiretsu has a research group in order to promote joint projects between member and articulate their goals. There are two types of Keiretsu. The horizontal Keiretsu that groups different industries and sectors, which are organized around a general trading company (Sogo Shosha) and a major bank to which all members resort according to their necessities, whereas the vertical Keiretsu groups companies in one industry, where a manufacturing corporation stays in the center surrounded by its key suppliers.


Traditional Management Style and Organization 

Despite of the fact that the crises suffered in the 90’s from some of the Japanese companies have lead to the modification of some management and organizational culture in some of the companies, the time span for this changes is too short to really be changing the core values of the japanese people. After saying this, comes then very important to identify and explain some key concepts embedded in the japanese organization and management style.

Groupism

Embedded in the japanese culture is the concept of groupism by which many of the management and organizational characteristics of the japanese will be dependent. The organizational structure in Japanese companies pay respect to this concept as employees are organized in office groups that at the same time have work groups. In this way, many times who gets rewarded or punished is the group instead of the individual. Additionally, its very common that japanese workers do not identify themselves in a formal job position but to its work group. So for the japanese people “Collective needs and goals of all employees are more important than individual needs”[1]. Even the office layout of an office is made in order to arrange tables in which groups work around its group’s supervisor and the general manager can see all groups at work.

In the japanese organization, the Habatsu is a social organization within companies, where individuals are organized in informal small social groups in which membership is a permanent obligation and people are expected to be completely loyal to their Habatsu. This groups have their own hierarchy , set of rules and seek their own goals. The Habatsu is formed based on a specific criteria such as the university in which a person graduated or coming from the same town. As Habatsu has a very strong influence in a company, they can be then an instrument for cohesion and corporate alignment if the top management can take a grip of them or a destructive and dividing force if they are let to operate by themselves, as every Habatsu is completely different from other Habatsu and many of their interests and goals generally are different from those of the company.







Korean Management

Nevertheless, the Japanese cultural way of doing business and organizational behavior has influenced the Korea management style:

- During the colony period a lot of the industrialization of Japan took place in the Korean land. Heredity that Koreans keep it to themselves after the colonization.

- The repatriation of a many Korean experience that have living in Japan during 1945.

- The opportunity to imitate the Japanese post- war economic policy to the benefit of the domestic growth.

- The glovalization of the Japanese`s technology and technical in operation management that were skills famous around the word.



Religion and philosophical beliefs of Koreans are seen in Confucianism, Buddhism and Christianity, but there are minorities of Koreans that believe in Taoist tradition holism who are Influences on the South Asian neighbors.

The Koreans government has a strong commitment to education, its goals is to increase the level of literacy in people and at the same time grow the ambition of its citizens to achieve great accomplishments. To achieve this, South Korea, has construct a solid reputation for its educational institutions, and graduating a high proportion of engineers and scientists of high educational level.

Now the government controls the private business sector and the cuts are selective. Stein also aims at restructuring and economic liberalization the regulation by the government in addition to the internationalization of the economy and the entry of foreign investment.
The second objective of the government is the financial reform that reduces government influence in the banking sector.



South Korea management style. 

The main feature of the management style of the Koreans is the close relationship that has private companies with the government, which was copied from the Japanese style. chaebol structure also was copied from the Japanese zaibatzu. Koreans tend to be more individualistic in spite of emphasizing the concept of group harmony and do not include loyalty and consensus which is the Japanese style. The family business in Korea is a very solid figure based on bloodlines.



Another feature of the management style of the Koreans is the management of the affairs of a hierarchical way. Fukuyama, a political scientist contextualizes better the Japanese hierarchical management style of Korean, (2) “virtually all comparative studies of Korean management (have indicated) that Korean businesses tend to be run in a hierarchical, authoritarian, and centralized manner … this was particularly true of … chaebol still run by founding entrepreneurs, who insisted on making all major management decisions personally … the authoritarian nature of decision making in Korea makes it easier for Korean companies to move quickly and decisively; they are not bogged down by the Japanese style need to develop extensive consensus throughout the hierarchy before making a move. This more decisive style, however, can also mean that decisions are not adequately vetted by staff and (may) be made on the basis of insufficient knowledge’



Corporate Organization 

Chaebol is a business based model on large conglomerates with presence in different economic sectors, which has developed in South Korea. Companies that have this peculiarity are characterized by its strong growth, technological development, diversification and strong business dimension. “The Korean word means "family business", but is also used to refer to a monopoly”. [3]

The model emerged after the independence of South Korea when their government gave various national strong political and financial companies the support to lead the country's economic boom by investing in different fields as industry, metallurgy, technology and construction among others. The work of these groups contributed to the country's economic growth in the second half of the twentieth century to put South Korea as one of the four Asian tigers. Examples of chaebol are Samsung, Hyundai, LG, Lotte and SK Group.

The conglomerates of South Korea ("chaebol") have becomed in a few years in companies of enormous size and remarkable technological capabilities .The recent evolution of the Korean economy and disadvantages of the particular corporate structure of large companies have forced the "chaebol" to undertake, in recent years, a process of internal restructuring, trade diversification and a rapid multinationalization.

The advantages of Chaebol

* The size of their internal resources
* The value of their brands on the market
* The stability of their supply chains
* The social network based on trust

The weaknesses of the Chaebol

* Lack of directive transparency
* Bureaucracy
* Vulnerability of trademarks
* Lack of control over the distribution network




sources

• 1) Management in South Korea: a reviewTony MordenUniversity of Teesside, School of Business and Management, Middlesbrough, UKDavid BowlesDirector of Operations, Northern Development Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, U
• 2) Leanne Fiftal Alarid, Hsiao-Ming Wang, (1997) "Japanese management and policing in the context of Japanese culture", Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 4, pp.600 - 608
• 3) Lee, Jangho, Thomas W. Roehl, & Soonkyoo Choe. 2000. What Makes Management Style Similar and Distinct Across Borders? Growth, Experience and Culture in Korean and Japanese Firms. Journal of International Business Studies, 31(4): 631-52.
• Image source: http://www.burneylawfirm.com/blog/category/investigations/
• Image Source: http://hanopolis.com/?articleNo=1145&story/Businessweek-Do-the-Chaebol-Choke-Off-Innovation
• Image Source: http://picses.eu/domain/losmejoresskate.blogspot.com/
• · Management in South Korea: a review; Type: Research paper; Author(s): Tony Morden, David Bowles; Source: Management Decision Volume: 36 Issue: 5 1998 (Emerald Database) 
•  http://www.worldbusinessculture.com/South-Korea-Management-Style.html 
• The Management Characteristics of Korean Chaebols vs. non-Chaebols: Differences in Leverage and its Ramifications: Myth or Reality?Texto completo disponible By: Kim Hanjoon; Paul, D. Berger. Advances in Management, Nov2009, Vol. 2 Issue 11, p26-35, 10p, 4 Charts; (AN 47637192) (Ebsco Database) 
• Family still has a role to play Geoffrey Owen. Financial Times. London (UK): Aug 5, 2010. pg. 8 (Proquest Database) 
• · http://www.apmforum.com/columns/boye46.htm 
• http://www.rpi.edu/dept/advising/free_enterprise/business_structures/management_styles.htm 
• http://www.learnmanagement2.com/leadership%20styles.htm 
•  http://smallbusiness.dnb.com/human-resources/workforce-management/11438-1.html 
• http://www.managementstyle.net/ 
•  http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Log-Mar/Management-Styles.html 
• http://managementstyle.org/E

Explain the phenomenon of convergence in terms of management styles. What are the forces or factors pushing for convergence?

I think both Korean and Japanese management styles tend to converge as we see that many aspects of the Korean management styles are adopted from the Japanese management styles. Also this two cultures share some history specially religion and philosophy that allow them to share at a certain extent values, attitudes and beliefs, which make for Korean organizations and easy task to implement the Japanese model without much resistance . As management styles adoption depends on its success, so as long a the Japanese model remain successful natural convergence will go to it, but as mention not all dimensions of a model are successful so Korea and even Japan will look at another Management styles. They will then tend to look for a new management style that resolve their model drawbacks and improve their actual model.

Personality, Perception and Attribution - Attitudes and Values

The personality is but the pattern of thoughts, feelings and behaviors that persists throughout people´s life, through different situations.

Until today, Sigmund Freud, is the most influential personality theorist, this opened a new direction for studying human behavior.

According to Freud,¨ the basis of human behavior has to be sought in several unconscious instincts, also called impulses, and distinguished two of them, instincts and unconscious instincts ratios., Called also the life instincts and death instincts¨.

Trying to understand more about this lets mention the five major categories of the personality which are:

Extroversion:

Talkative, bold, active, bustling, vigorous, positive, spontaneous, warm, energetic, enthusiastic, adventurous, communicative, honest, flashy, loud, dominant, sociable.
Agreeableness:

Warm, friendly, cooperative, loose, flexible, fair, courteous, trusting, forgiving, helpful, friendly, affectionate, gentle, kind, compassionate, considerate, compliant.
Conscientiousness:

Organized dependent, conscientious, responsible, hardworking, efficient, glider, capable, deliberate, careful, precise, practical, conscientious, serious, thrifty, reliable.
Emotional stability:

Impassive, not envious, relaxed, objective, calm, serene, loving, stable, happy, secure, undisturbed, very demanding, consistent, placid, peaceful.
Culture and intelligence:

Intelligent, perceptive, curious, imaginative, analytical, thoughtful, artistic, insightful, wise, witty, refined, creative, sophisticated, knowledgeable, intellectual, clever, versatile, original, profound worship.

PERCEPTION 

Perception is the interpretation or discrimination of external stimuli associated with prior knowledge and the individual's emotional state.
Perception is an active process whereby the brain transforms information that captures the eye in a recreation or copying of external reality, which is personal, based on genetically determined programs and gains a unique emotional tone

ATTRIBUTION

It is called attribution to search of individuasl for reasons to explain their successes and failures. We say that an individual has positive internal attribution strategies when it is attributed to themselves their success; these causes can be internal (person) or external (Situation).

ATTITUDE

All people have their attitudes that result in tendencies to respond positively or negatively to another person, before a group of people, with one object, to a situation involving objects and people with an idea.

Very often, the possession of an attitude predisposes an individual to react in a specific way. Knowledge of the attitude can sometimes predict behavior in business and in other aspects of life.
TYPES OF ATTITUDES

The most important types of attitudes within the organizational behavior are three:
Job satisfaction .- It is a set of feelings and emotions favorable or unfavorable to which employees view their work. It is the attitude that assumes an employee about their work. Logically those who derive a high level of satisfaction with their very positive attitudes provides activities and charities.
Involvement with the work .- It is the degree to which employees are immersed in their work, time and energy are invested  and they conceived the work as a central part of their existence. It measures the degree to which the person values herself through sociological identification in his post within the company. A fully identified worker really care about his work.
Organizational commitment is the degree to which an employee identifies himself with the organization and want to continue to participate actively. states the employee is identified with the company, goals, objectives, and that is inserted into it as anyone else who works there, ie this refers to the service person to identify with the organization and the commitment to Work to identify with their specific task.

VALUES

refer to stable beliefs that people have an consider important to them according to a cultural background, what is important to me might no be for someone else. For example achievement, concern for others, honesty, fairness and so on.

Please explain, using your own words, the concept of Pygmalion Effect

This is the effect caused by positive or negative influence on people, you could influence both in the end they end up believing it, it depends on the basic idea (whether positive or negative) may eventually render that person a new , improving or deteriorating certain aspects of personal motivation or demotivation. A good positive example of this with the Rosenthal´s experiment : In a school of FP was made or intelligence test various kinds. Uncorrected, Rosenthal selected 20% of the pupils in each class and teachers said that this 20% was higher and gained greater skills. At the end of the course they should have improved compared to their peers at four points their  IQ. And so, four months after students actually improved their academic and intellectual level. Same effect could result when applying this within an organition, where you can convinced that a group of people is better than other because of its subculture.

Sources:

• Advanced Psychological Studies, Raul Skirmish, contemporary issues, Madrid Spain, 1992
• Image Source: http://www.markstivers.com/cartoons/main%202002.html
• Image Source: http://tatiiloja.blogspot.com/2009/10/percepcion-visual.html
• Image source: http://lourdes-lojeda.blogspot.com/2009/07/actitudes-de-la-vida.html
• Image Sorce: http://vidadiariatuayuda.blogspot.es/tags/personalidad/
• 
  
• Technical study on the personality of Marcos Avila Cabral, Poster Editions, Lima Peru, 1970.
• Research psychology modern concepts, Jalón Corominas, presentations made at the riding school confluens University of Madrid, May 2003.