Global Workforce Integration Essay -- Labor Outsourcing Integrating Es

Global Workforce Integration Outsourcing, offshoring, and workforce globalization. Those words were voiced late 1999 in Seattle inside and outside the World Trade Organization meeting. Damages in Seattle amounted to $2.5 million, and 500 plus protesters were arrested. 3 In those days, outsourcing was about moving manufacturing jobs to developing countries to take advantage of the lower salary there. The affected blue-collar US workers were acting violently out of anger and frustration since their jobs were taken away. White collar population didn ¡Ã‚ ¯t voice any opinions about the issue back then, since US had the largest demand for white collar workers. Today, white collar workers are feeling the pressure of outsourcing in America and starting to discuss the matter seriously. According to researchers at UC Berkeley, 1 in 10 current job positions in the US can be outsourced, while 1 in 6 Silicon Valley jobs are vulnerable to outsourcing. 4 Since software facilitates the white collar job outsourcing and software development is one field most prone to outsourcing, I will focus on the outsourcing issues related to software. I have chosen three specific computer companies  ¨C Peoplesoft, Oracle, HP  ¨C to discuss their outsourcing trends and make inferences about the global effects. In the end, I hope to arrive at a decision about outsourcing from the ethical analysis of the outsourcing issue. But first, let ¡Ã‚ ¯s have a look at why outsourcing is being applied to white collar job positions today. Why Outsource? A major reason for outsourcing is pay difference. Even though we have currency exchange rates between different countries ¡Ã‚ ¯ currencies, the exchange rates are only for monetary values and don ¡Ã‚ ¯t sh... ... d=20040221 3. Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The WTO Legacy, http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/wto/ 4. San Francisco Chronicle, Looking Offshore, Feb 7th, 2004, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi- bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/07/BUGMJ5FA9G1.DTL 5. Yahoo Currency, http://finance.yahoo.com/m5?a=1&s=USD&t=CNY 6. SFC 7. SFC 8. A. Aneesh, Programming Globalization: Technological Modes of Labor Integration, forthcoming 9. WebEx, http://www.webex.com 10. SFC 11. SFC 12. SFC 13. SFC 14. SFC 15. NEELESH MISRA, Associated Press Writer, Yahoo News, March 12th, 2004, http://story.news.yahoo.com/news? tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040312/ap_on_bi_ge/india_outsourcing_1 16. SFC 17. SFC 18. SCU, Engineering Handbook - Ethics, http://cseserv.engr.scu.edu/NQuinn/COEN288/EngrHandbook_Ethics.pdf 19. SCU 20. SCU

‘Of Mice and Men’: the relationship between Curley and Curley’s wife Essay

In the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’, the relationship between Curley and Curley’s wife is very unstable lacking communication, love and respect. Additionally neither one showed attention for one enough, Curley liked to believe his wife was a possession this is shown by the quote ‘’you seen a girl around here? He demanded angrily’’ also ‘’ Go back home’’. These quotes implies that Curley is an extremely restless and always looking for her, furthermore he is an aggressive man, ordering people and getting away with it being the Boss’s son. In the relationship neither one is happy, Curley’s wife is flirtatious by ‘putting her self-out there’ and ‘kicking her legs about’ which shows that she is lonely and lacking the attention needed. But, this must have been expected being the only women on the ranch. She also likes to manipulate and intimidate Curley which drives him crazy, but s he enjoyed it, because it provided her power. Even though Curley’s wife despised Curley she could never leave him. In the 1930’s, the year this novel was set, once married the women became the man’s belonging, and the women’s belongings also became his such as; money, clothes etc. Curley does care about his wife but is shown in an unexpected way, for example when Curley is trying to find her and being restless till he succeeds to do so. Even Whit tells him this by saying ‘’yella-jackets in his drawers’’ this means that Whit’s implying that Curley has ants in his pants. Curley could be seen in either of two perspectives, either him being protective to her and being paranoid and not wanting to lose her to ‘lower’ class with-in the ranch. Alternatively people can see this as being controlling her, wanting to know where she is every second of the day. Curley’s wife married Curley the day they meet, which can be seen as love at first sight or on the other hand a way to escape from her mum. Which was shown for by his wife; she had only married him because she didn’t get a letter from a guy to get her into Hollywood to gain her a step closer to becoming an actress there. She believed her ‘’o’l’lady stole it’’ which made Curley’s wife resentful. Moreover a lot of people from the 1930’s would have gone to see movies in Hollywood as w way to escape the reality of the depression if it could be afforded. And mass entertainment also a multi-million dollar industry additionally huge cinemas were built which could seat more people. Hollywood became a major film-making centre.

The Cultural Anchoring Of Leadership Styles

With globalisation and related intensification of trade and commerce effective leadership has become indispensable in the business world. Where traditionally the business leader took the role of commanding â€Å"the troops† towards effectiveness and efficiency this has changed dramatically over the last decades. The service industry rise, knowledge management trends, increased workforce diversity combined with international trading and global sourcing of talent, has considerably reshaped the role of the leader in the contemporary organisation.Numerous firms are in global alliances depending upon flexibility/adaptability to local markets, requiring their managers to possess appropriate leadership styles to cope effectively with different value systems and cultures (Fahy, 2002; Coviello et al. , 1998). 2Arguably, the flattening of hierarchical structures has also contributed to this reshaping process as traditional sources of authority, upon which leaders have built on for years , have been diminished.Combined with the rise of new trading powers such as the â€Å"Asian Dragon†, business leaders, especially in international MNEs do not only face domestic multiculturalism and diversity but are also increasingly expatriated. Consequently completely new cultural pitfalls and challenges are faced requiring understanding of cultural values as well as quick cultural adaptation to transfer domestic leadership abilities into foreign markets. Combined with steadily rising competitive pressures, the contemporary business leader in a role not easily filled.Despite leadership being a universal concept (Bass, 1990), with most literature anchored in the (individualistically oriented) US, it has been questioned to what extend western leadership styles are cross-culturally transferable (Dorfman, 2003). Resultantly, debate has sparked over how far leadership is culturally contingent, if universal leadership qualities and tactics exist and what the explanatory variable s are (Scandura & Dorfman, 2004).This assignment aims at contributing towards this debate by exploring leadership disparity and possible congruence between the UK and Japan using academic measurement of national culture; Hofstede’s framework respectively. The next section will give an overview over the concept of leadership followed by an in-depth cultural comparison and concluding section. 4The term leadership incorporates some elements of controversy over its meaning and practices. Different cultural gist or terminology or in cross-cultural contexts makes a universal definition difficult (Yukl, 2002).This seems unsurprising as the understandings and expectations of authority roles differ between cultures. Nevertheless, despite cultural differences the majority of leadership definitions reflect some basic elements these manly being â€Å"group†, â€Å"influence† and â€Å"goal† (Bryman, 1992). Keeping this in mind, leadership can be seen as the â€Å"pr ocess of influencing others towards achieving some kind of desired outcome. † (De Jong & Den Hartog, 2007, p. 44) or bluntly spoken â€Å"leadership is the ability to get [people] to do what they don’t like to do and like it†Whilst this is a very basic attempt of a definition it allows for easier application in a cross-cultural context and highlights an important point: In order to lead one needs followers (Drucker, 2007). It is here where the inseparable link to power emerges whereby the power of leaders is largely dependent upon the perception of others (Hollander & Julian, 1969; Maurer & Lord, 1991; Pfeffer, 1977) but nevertheless forms the basis of leadership authority.It appears that only effective use of this power, combined with â€Å"leading by example† (Pfeffer, 1981) will result in positive and proactive guidance fostering creativity, innovation, commitment and long term organisational development. 6However, this is questionable and it seems that far too often in academic literature the terms â€Å"manager† and â€Å"leader† are merged giving a blurred picture of what each role actually entails. Readers should be reminded that leaders, unlike managers, do not have to rely on forms of power to influence subordinates, often actually relinquishing formal authoritarian control.This is due to the idea that to lead is to have followers, and following is always a voluntary activity. Nevertheless, it can be argued that even leaders need some foundation of authority; may it only be their charisma (Weber, 1968). This has been manifested in the participative, charismatic or transformative styles of leadership (Den Hartog & Koopman, 2001) as oppose to the transactional style more related to operational, task focused managers.Especially in western economies with predominant service industries, innovation and knowledge management, the former have been the focal point in recent years as autocratic leadership styles do no lon ger seem sufficient to extract the full potential of an increasingly knowledgeable, highly skilled and demanding workforce. Such, arguably â€Å"softer† approaches fostering employee involvement and participation have nevertheless been proven to result in increased organisational performance (Bass, 1996; 1997; House & Shamir, 1993) and are arguably more â€Å"ideal† forms of organisational leadership (Bass & Avolio, 1989).This might be applicable to western societies yet a cross-cultural generalisation might be prejudiced and the influence of personal values and cultural influences upon leadership styles should not be ignored (Byrne & Bradley, 2007). Rather, culture, an essential component of which is personal values (Kroeber, 1952; Kluckhohm, 1949), is to be seen at a centre stage when analysing leadership differences (George et al. , 1998; Nakata & Sivakumar, 1996; Steenkamp et al. , 1999; Cadogan et al. 2001), as t is â€Å"the collective programming of the mind wh ich distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another† (Hofstede, 1980, p.260) and shape leadership preferences.Culture hereby should not be limited to national culture but has to be extended to incorporating organisational as well as political culture (Schein, 1985), the latter two arguably being extensively shaped by the former. Democratic or authoritarian political systems, national values regarding sex differences and ethical behaviour as well as organisational attitudes towards factors such as centralisation and work attitude, undoubtedly influence leadership styles.Not only will such factors shape leadership approaches, but with regard to cultural differences these will often even stand in conflict to each other. Consequently domestically implemented leadership approaches might not be applicable in other cultural settings and render ineffective in maintaining firm sustained competitive advantage and superior international performance (Kimber, 1997 ; Jackson and Aycan, 2001; Pfeffer, 2002).The next section will investigate the effect of cultural values upon leadership styles in detail using the U and Japan as examples. 9British leadership style has often been described as more casual in nature fostering teamwork and seeking group consensus (Lewis, 2001). As such, a more participative leadership style is predominant reflecting flatter hierarchical structures in UK organisations. So, hierarchical structures not primarily seem as means to establish authority structures (Laurent, 1983) but more as core administrative frameworks.This according to Hofstede (2001), is a reflection of the UK’s low association to Power Distance. Essentially, subordinates do not attribute much to position and title and leaders must â€Å"embody a collective will and take personal responsibility for it while continuing to communicate and co-operate with the team† (Mole, 1990, p. 105). Unsurprisingly, networking capability and people managem ent skills are highly valued in the UK (Stewart et al. 1994) as leadership qualities.Nevertheless, this (collectivist) team and people orientation is mainly seem as a path towards achieving organisational targets and innovation assuring individuals in team settings aggregate knowledge that has strategic relevance to the organisation (Miller &Morris, 1999). As such transformational leadership attitudes (Burns, 1978) can be seen where leaders are to create conditions under which subordinates devotedly contribute to the organisation yet this is done primarily through a strategic lens. (McCarthy, 2005).Nevertheless, the Anglo-Saxon system of shareholder satisfaction drives leaders towards task orientation often combined with a short-term outlook. As such quick, short-term organisational (financial) success is often more valued than long-term organisational success and relationship building, reflecting according to Hofstede, a culture of highly short term orientation and low uncertainty avoidance. Essentially, risks are seen as part of daily business practice and leadership approaches reflect that subordinates are given opportunity to implement potentially rewarding, but high risk, strategies.This shows that, despite team orientation and a one might say more relaxed, friendly and diplomatic leadership style, the British cannot deny their American leadership style influence, fostering structured individualism, speed and drive (Lewis, 2001). Falsely, m any authors seem to ignore this connection, even so influences of hire and fire mentality and the creating of specialist roles underlining a core individualistic attitude are undeniable reflecting British national, and interlinked to that, legal and organisational culture.Such individualistic attitude constantly resurfaces in leadership styles often portrayed through individual target setting, remuneration practices and shorter employment contracts. Employees do not look for lifetime employment and a steady career in o ne company resultantly British leaders are more reluctant to invest heavily in the training and education of subordinates (Schneider & Littrell, 2003). This continues to the often actively sought after and purposely created assertive and competitive environment amongst colleagues or departments reflecting a relatively high masculine attitude as Hofstede’s culture scale clearly outlines.While these attributes sketch general aspects of British leadership, styles will vary between organisations, industries and individuals. Service- or R&D intensive industries for example, will follow a more Theory Y (McGregor, 1960) approach fostering employee involvement and empowerment. Leadership on traditional manufacturing industries on the other hand due to their reliance on productivity and output combined with an often repetitive working atmosphere, might take a more Theory X attitude.In contrast to the UK, Japanese leadership, like many Asian countries, is grounded in Confucian principl es (Redding, 1990; Tan, 1986) and despite rising western influences, strong Confucian traits believing in moral, interpersonal relationships/loyalties, education and hard work still lurk beneath the surface (Lewis, 2001). Especially â€Å"taking the family as a model for society at large, Confucianism is basically authoritarian and stresses hierarchical and status differences† (Selmer, 2001, p.8).As such, through its vertically orientated hierarchies and rigid organisation (Chen, 1995) one would expect Japan to score higher than the UK in Hofstede’s power distance index, and so indeed it does. This offers leaders with traditional and legitimate power bases however, surprisingly not resulting in autocratic leadership styles as one would expect, but far more the association of assertiveness-authority and reason tactics (Schmidt & Yeh, 1992).As such, Japanese leadership style rewards subordinate respect and obedience with highly paternalistic attitudes, expressed by mendo u: â€Å"I think about your, I will take care of you† (Dorfman et al. 1997). Consequently, the Japanese leadership culture, despite placing emphasising hierarchy and status differences requiring full subordinate obedience, expects helping and caring for followers and being involved in their personal lives (Whitehall & Takezawa, 1968; Bass et al.1979).As a result the most powerful force of the Japanese leader is not autocracy but charisma combined with intrinsic rather than extrinsic (materialistic) reward mechanisms often predominant in the UK: bonuses, on-target-earnings, etc. (Maslow, 1943, 1954). This seems surprising considering the high masculine score, which, from a western perspective would result in autocratic, top down, assertive, tough and focused on material success (Hofstede, 1998) leadership.It is here where Hofstede’s framework seems to only partly explain the Japanese culture and low individualism but high masculinity and power distance stand in conflict with each other. 14Additionally, in such an environment more focus towards ascription rather than achievement would be expected (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1997, 2000). Nevertheless, the contrary appears in the Japanese context with leaders having to possess superior, often specific, (hard) knowledge supplemented by strong educational backgrounds (Nestler, 2008).Here another disparity to UK leadership emerges, where despite educational background being important for initial work placement, greater focus upon (soft) â€Å"people skills† and strategic directive is desired and ascription of leadership positions remains (Hampden-Turner & Trompenaars, 1994). 15The collectivist principles shape Japanese leadership style dramatically, requiring group consensus and decision-making despite extremely high masculinity and higher power distance.Essentially a â€Å"bottom-up† (ringsho) process of decision-making is chosen (Wu, 2006) with the leader granting independent decision making to the group generally letting subordinates use their own approaches to achieve overall collectivist objectives (Dorfman et al. 1997). This is surprising, as in western societies strong hierarchical structures often result in a â€Å"top-down† leadership approach but can be explained through high uncertainly avoidance collecting input and consensus from all parties involved before decisions are made.Even more so, the concepts of â€Å"wa† (maintaining social relationships) and â€Å"kao† (maintaining â€Å"face†) actually require the involvement of subordinates in the decision making process and the preservation of harmony rendering western leader contingent punishment behaviour inappropriate. It is here where Japanese leadership style diverts extensively from its UK (Anglo-Saxon) counterpart where public scrutinising is part of daily leadership practices reflecting a competitive and individualistic culture driven by short-term financial objective s with high-risk acceptance.Due to the collectivist environment and extensive future planning, Japanese managers on the other hand, do not view themselves as risk takers, despite this characteristic often being attributed to charismatic leaders (Bass, 1985). This is reflected in Japan’s extremely high uncertainty avoidance score and is further supported by strong long-term orientation valuing prevailing face and harmony. Unsurprisingly, life-long employment is desired, supplemented b continued job rotation aimed at developing employees.As a result leaders and subordinates enter into long and close relationships hardly ever interrupted contrasting the UK’s â€Å"burn out† environment fostering high staff turnover. Unlike in the UK, Japanese business leaders look for generalist employees capable of working in multiple levels of the organisation reflecting a society placing less value upon specialists than western cultures. 17Overall, Japanese leaders focus upon co llective (not individual) responsibility (Hayashi, 1988) and group harmony maintenance is usually considered more important than profitability and overall productivity (Bass, 1990).Nevertheless, also Japanese leaders have to drive performance resulting in somewhat of a trade-off situation between performance and collectivist harmony maintenance. According to the performance-maintenance theory (Misumi, 1990), Japanese leaders have to chose between goal achievement and the continuation of the group, preferably combining high levels of both (Misumi, 1995). If this is achieved, such supportive or participative leadership styles (Ouchi, 1981) are said to result in â€Å"higher levels of motivation, delegation of decision-making, commitment, and intrinsic job satisfaction† (Keys and Miller, 1982, p.6). This appears to be in line with the currently preferred leadership style in the UK.However, one should not forget that unlike the Japanese working environment, the UK has been subjec t to great inward as well as outward FDI flows resulting in a blending of many different leadership approaches. As such arguably UK leaders would find it easier to adapt to Japanese principles than Japanese leaders. This is due to the western â€Å"farce† of collectivist team working for individualistic goals and the limited respect paid to status differences.While Hofstede’s framework helps to understand the leadership differences between the two countries if fails to explain some factors. So for examples does high Japanese power distance explain hierarchical structures and respect to superiors but the theoretical assumptions of complete centralisation of power, low emphasis on developing the workforce and autocratic top-down contact initiation (Hofstede, 1991) do not fully reflect the Japanese working environment.On this note one should not forget that Hofstede’s framework is not free of criticism and arguably is outdated, limited in scope of methodology and m easurement (Dorfman and Howell, 1988; Roberts and Boyciligiller, 1984) and only reflects a blend of organisational (IBM) culture and national cultures (Hunt, 1983; Robinson, 1983). As such it is no surprise that other studies such as the GLOBE project have found differing or even contradictory results for similar cultural dimensions. The Cultural Anchoring Of Leadership Styles With globalisation and related intensification of trade and commerce effective leadership has become indispensable in the business world. Where traditionally the business leader took the role of commanding â€Å"the troops† towards effectiveness and efficiency this has changed dramatically over the last decades.The service industry rise, knowledge management trends, increased workforce diversity combined with international trading and global sourcing of talent, has considerably reshaped the role of the leader in the contemporary organisation. Numerous firms are in global alliances depending upon flexibility/adaptability to local markets, requiring their managers to possess appropriate leadership styles to cope effectively with different value systems and cultures (Fahy, 2002; Coviello et al., 1998).Arguably, the flattening of hierarchical structures has also contributed to this reshaping process as traditional sources of authority, upon which leaders have built on for years, h ave been diminished. Combined with the rise of new trading powers such as the â€Å"Asian Dragon†, business leaders, especially in international MNEs do not only face domestic multiculturalism and diversity but are also increasingly expatriated.Consequently completely new cultural pitfalls and challenges are faced requiring understanding of cultural values as well as quick cultural adaptation to transfer domestic leadership abilities into foreign markets. Combined with steadily rising competitive pressures, the contemporary business leader in a role not easily filled.Despite leadership being a universal concept (Bass, 1990), with most literature anchored in the (individualistically oriented) US, it has been questioned to what extend western leadership styles are cross-culturally transferable (Dorfman, 2003). Resultantly, debate has sparked over how far leadership is culturally contingent, if universal leadership qualities and tactics exist and what the explanatory variables a re (Scandura & Dorfman, 2004).This assignment aims at contributing towards this debate by exploring leadership disparity and possible congruence between the UK and Japan using academic measurement of national culture; Hofstede’s framework respectively. The next section will give an overview over the concept of leadership followed by an in-depth cultural comparison and concluding section.The term leadership incorporates some elements of controversy over its meaning and practices. Different cultural gist or terminology or in cross-cultural contexts makes a universal definition difficult (Yukl, 2002). This seems unsurprising as the understandings and expectations of authority roles differ between cultures. Nevertheless, despite cultural differences the majority of leadership definitions reflect some basic elements these manly being â€Å"group†, â€Å"influence† and â€Å"goal† (Bryman, 1992).Keeping this in mind, leadership can be seen as the â€Å"process of influencing others towards achieving some kind of desired outcome.† (De Jong & Den Hartog, 2007, p. 44) or bluntly spoken â€Å"leadership is the ability to get [people] to do what they don’t like to do and like it† (Truman in Sadler, 2003, p. 5).Whilst this is a very basic attempt of a definition it allows for easier application in a cross-cultural context and highlights an important point: In order to lead one needs followers (Drucker, 2007). It is here where the inseparable link to power emerges whereby the power of leaders is largely dependent upon the perception of others (Hollander & Julian, 1969; Maurer & Lord, 1991; Pfeffer, 1977) but nevertheless forms the basis of leadership authority. It appears that only effective use of this power, combined with â€Å"leading by example† (Pfeffer, 1981) will result in positive and proactive guidance fostering creativity, innovation, commitment and long term organisational development.However, this is quest ionable and it seems that far too often in academic literature the terms â€Å"manager† and â€Å"leader† are merged giving a blurred picture of what each role actually entails. Readers should be reminded that leaders, unlike managers, do not have to rely on forms of power to influence subordinates, often actually relinquishing formal authoritarian control. This is due to the idea that to lead is to have followers, and following is always a voluntary activity.Nevertheless, it can be argued that even leaders need some foundation of authority; may it only be their charisma (Weber, 1968). This has been manifested in the participative, charismatic or transformative styles of leadership (Den Hartog & Koopman, 2001) as oppose to the transactional style more related to operational, task focused  managers. Especially in western economies with predominant service industries, innovation and knowledge management, the former have been the focal point in recent years as autocrati c leadership styles do no longer seem sufficient to extract the full potential of an increasingly knowledgeable, highly skilled and demanding workforce.Such, arguably â€Å"softer† approaches fostering employee involvement and participation have nevertheless been proven to result in increased organisational performance (Bass, 1996; 1997; House & Shamir, 1993) and are arguably more â€Å"ideal† forms of organisational leadership (Bass & Avolio, 1989).This might be applicable to western societies yet a cross-cultural generalisation might be prejudiced and the influence of personal values and cultural influences upon leadership styles should not be ignored (Byrne & Bradley, 2007). Rather, culture, an essential component of which is personal values (Kroeber, 1952; Kluckhohm, 1949), is to be seen at a centre stage when analysing leadership differences (George et al., 1998; Nakata & Sivakumar, 1996; Steenkamp et al., 1999; Cadogan et al. 2001), as t is â€Å"the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another† (Hofstede, 1980, p. 260) and shape leadership preferences.Culture hereby should not be limited to national culture but has to be extended to incorporating organisational as well as political culture (Schein, 1985), the latter two arguably being extensively shaped by the former. Democratic or authoritarian political systems, national values regarding sex differences and ethical behaviour as well as organisational attitudes towards factors such as centralisation and work attitude, undoubtedly influence leadership styles.Not only will such factors shape leadership approaches, but with regard to cultural differences these will often even stand in conflict to each other. Consequently domestically implemented leadership approaches might not be applicable in other cultural settings and render ineffective in maintaining firm sustained competitive advantage and superior internationa l performance (Kimber, 1997; Jackson and Aycan, 2001; Pfeffer, 2002). The next section will investigate the effect of cultural values upon leadership styles in detail using the U and Japan as examples.British leadership style has often been described as more casual in nature fostering teamwork and seeking group consensus (Lewis, 2001). As such, a more participative leadership style is predominant reflecting flatter hierarchical structures in UK organisations. So, hierarchical structures not primarily seem as means to establish authority structures (Laurent, 1983) but more as core administrative frameworks. This according to Hofstede (2001), is a reflection of the UK’s low association to Power Distance. Essentially, subordinates do not attribute much to position and title and leaders must â€Å"embody a collective will and take personal responsibility for it while continuing to communicate and co-operate with the team† (Mole, 1990, p. 105).Unsurprisingly, networking cap ability and people management skills are highly valued in the UK (Stewart et al. 1994) as leadership qualities. Nevertheless, this (collectivist) team and people orientation is mainly seem as a path towards achieving organisational targets and innovation assuring individuals in team settings aggregate knowledge that has strategic relevance to the organisation (Miller &Morris, 1999). As such transformational leadership attitudes (Burns, 1978) can be seen where leaders are to create conditions under which subordinates devotedly contribute to the organisation yet this is done primarily through a strategic lens. (McCarthy, 2005).Nevertheless, the Anglo-Saxon system of shareholder satisfaction drives leaders towards task orientation often combined with a short-term outlook. As such quick, short-term organisational (financial) success is often more valued than long-term organisational success and relationship building, reflecting according to Hofstede, a culture of highly short term orien tation and low uncertainty avoidance. Essentially, risks are seen as part of daily business practice and leadership approaches reflect that subordinates are given opportunity to implement potentially rewarding, but high risk, strategies.This shows that, despite team orientation and a one might say more relaxed, friendly and diplomatic leadership style, the British cannot deny their American leadership style influence, fostering structured individualism, speed and drive (Lewis, 2001). Falsely, m any authors seem to  ignore this connection, even so influences of hire and fire mentality and the creating of specialist roles underlining a core individualistic attitude are undeniable reflecting British national, and interlinked to that, legal and organisational culture. Such individualistic attitude constantly resurfaces in leadership styles often portrayed through individual target setting, remuneration practices and shorter employment contracts.Employees do not look for lifetime emplo yment and a steady career in one company resultantly British leaders are more reluctant to invest heavily in the training and education of subordinates (Schneider & Littrell, 2003). This continues to the often actively sought after and purposely created assertive and competitive environment amongst colleagues or departments reflecting a relatively high masculine attitude as Hofstede’s culture scale clearly outlines.While these attributes sketch general aspects of British leadership, styles will vary between organisations, industries and individuals. Service- or R&D intensive industries for example, will follow a more Theory Y (McGregor, 1960) approach fostering employee involvement and empowerment. Leadership on traditional manufacturing industries on the other hand due to their reliance on productivity and output combined with an often repetitive working atmosphere, might take a more Theory X attitude.In contrast to the UK, Japanese leadership, like many Asian countries, is grounded in Confucian principles (Redding, 1990; Tan, 1986) and despite rising western influences, strong Confucian traits believing in moral, interpersonal relationships/loyalties, education and hard work still lurk beneath the surface (Lewis, 2001). Especially â€Å"taking the family as a model for society at large, Confucianism is basically authoritarian and stresses hierarchical and status differences† (Selmer, 2001, p. 8).As such, through its vertically orientated hierarchies and rigid organisation (Chen, 1995) one would expect Japan to score higher than the UK in Hofstede’s power distance index, and so indeed it does. This offers leaders with traditional and legitimate power bases however, surprisingly not resulting in autocratic leadership styles as one would expect, but far more the association of assertiveness-authority and reason tactics (Schmidt & Yeh, 1992).As such, Japanese leadership style rewards subordinate respect and obedience with highly paternalisti c attitudes, expressed by mendou: â€Å"I think about your, I will take care of you† (Dorfman et al. 1997). Consequently, the Japanese leadership culture, despite placing emphasising hierarchy and status differences requiring full subordinate obedience, expects helping and caring for followers and being involved in their personal lives (Whitehall & Takezawa, 1968; Bass et al. 1979).As a result the most powerful force of the Japanese leader is not autocracy but charisma combined with intrinsic rather than extrinsic (materialistic) reward mechanisms often predominant in the UK: bonuses, on-target-earnings, etc. (Maslow, 1943, 1954). This seems surprising considering the high masculine score, which, from a western perspective would result in autocratic, top down, assertive, tough and focused on material success (Hofstede, 1998) leadership. It is here where Hofstede’s framework seems to only partly explain the Japanese culture and low individualism but high masculinity and power distance stand in conflict with each other.Additionally, in such an environment more focus towards ascription rather than achievement would be expected (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1997, 2000). Nevertheless, the contrary appears in the Japanese context with leaders having to possess superior, often specific, (hard) knowledge supplemented by strong educational backgrounds (Nestler, 2008). Here another disparity to UK leadership emerges, where despite educational background being important for initial work placement, greater focus upon (soft) â€Å"people skills† and strategic directive is desired and ascription of leadership positions remains (Hampden-Turner & Trompenaars, 1994).The collectivist principles shape Japanese leadership style dramatically, requiring group consensus and decision-making despite extremely high masculinity and higher power distance. Essentially a â€Å"bottom-up† (ringsho) process of decision-making is chosen (Wu, 2006) with the leader granting independent decision making to the group generally letting subordinates use their own approaches to achieve overall collectivist objectives (Dorfman et al. 1997). This is surprising, as in western societies strong hierarchical  structures often result in a â€Å"top-down† leadership approach but can be explained through high uncertainly avoidance collecting input and consensus from all parties involved before decisions are made.Even more so, the concepts of â€Å"wa† (maintaining social relationships) and â€Å"kao† (maintaining â€Å"face†) actually require the involvement of subordinates in the decision making process and the preservation of harmony rendering western leader contingent punishment behaviour inappropriate. It is here where Japanese leadership style diverts extensively from its UK (Anglo-Saxon) counterpart where public scrutinising is part of daily leadership practices reflecting a competitive and individualistic culture driven b y short-term financial objectives with high-risk acceptance.Due to the collectivist environment and extensive future planning, Japanese managers on the other hand, do not view themselves as risk takers, despite this characteristic often being attributed to charismatic leaders (Bass, 1985). This is reflected in Japan’s extremely high uncertainty avoidance score and is further supported by strong long-term orientation valuing prevailing face and harmony. Unsurprisingly, life-long employment is desired, supplemented b continued job rotation aimed at developing employees.As a result leaders and subordinates enter into long and close relationships hardly ever interrupted contrasting the UK’s â€Å"burn out† environment fostering high staff turnover. Unlike in the UK, Japanese business leaders look for generalist employees capable of working in multiple levels of the organisation reflecting a society placing less value upon specialists than western cultures.Overall, J apanese leaders focus upon collective (not individual) responsibility (Hayashi, 1988) and group harmony maintenance is usually considered more important than profitability and overall productivity (Bass, 1990). Nevertheless, also Japanese leaders have to drive performance resulting in somewhat of a trade-off situation between performance and collectivist harmony maintenance. According to the performance-maintenance theory (Misumi, 1990), Japanese leaders have to chose between goal achievement and the continuation of the group, preferably combining high levels of both (Misumi, 1995).If this is achieved, such supportive or  participative leadership styles (Ouchi, 1981) are said to result in â€Å"higher levels of motivation, delegation of decision-making, commitment, and intrinsic job satisfaction† (Keys and Miller, 1982, p. 6). This appears to be in line with the currently preferred leadership style in the UK. However, one should not forget that unlike the Japanese working e nvironment, the UK has been subject to great inward as well as outward FDI flows resulting in a blending of many different leadership approaches. As such arguably UK leaders would find it easier to adapt to Japanese principles than Japanese leaders. This is due to the western â€Å"farce† of collectivist team working for individualistic goals and the limited respect paid to status differences.While Hofstede’s framework helps to understand the leadership differences between the two countries if fails to explain some factors. So for examples does high Japanese power distance explain hierarchical structures and respect to superiors but the theoretical assumptions of complete centralisation of power, low emphasis on developing the workforce and autocratic top-down contact initiation (Hofstede, 1991) do not fully reflect the Japanese working environment.On this note one should not forget that Hofstede’s framework is not free of criticism and arguably is outdated, lim ited in scope of methodology and measurement (Dorfman and Howell, 1988; Roberts and Boyciligiller, 1984) and only reflects a blend of organisational (IBM) culture and national cultures (Hunt, 1983; Robinson, 1983). As such it is no surprise that other studies such as the GLOBE project have found differing or even contradictory results for similar cultural dimensions.

Mental Health Counseling

Professional competence among practicing mental health counselors has not been resolved yet whether it is attained through a licensure or higher educational training of this field.   As per many researches that have been conducted, it takes a lot of training and experience before one could get competence.   Besides, counseling a person with a mental health problem requires adequacy and expertise because irrelevant referral may result to a more aggravated condition on the part of the patient.   Thus, the issue of competence among mental health counselor requires a more rigid consideration for comprehensive trainings designed to develop competency. Professional competency is not acquired easily after four years of education in college nor if someone practicing it finds counseling a less difficult one.   Even highly experienced therapist may also seek professional help or doubt their abilities as counselors according to Gerald Corey, Marianne Schneider Corey and Patrick Callanan (p. 315).   This is why; many experts recommend a kind of training for these counselors in order to meet criteria of a competent counselor especially in dealing with mental health problem. There are practical ways in approaching difficult cases that requires good judgment.   In the first place, a counselor must identify whether he can do something about the problem, and refer that client to another therapist long before the allotted sessions end and not at the last day of therapy.   This only annoys the client and causes him to be disappointed further because of irresponsible referral. Based on the common issues observed in counseling sessions, the therapist must understand two factors that may contribute to his effectiveness: his judgment of the case and adequate training. Personal judgment of the case involves how a counselor evaluates the case and his own capability to handle it.   This also engages whether the case needs referral and when or how to communicate that to the client.   Referral is the last option when all the possible resources have been used up or exhausted. Training on other hand, is one basic component of competence.   Training must be comprehensive and organized in terms of selection of trainees, content, and best approaches to ensure desired results (Corey, Corey & Callanan, p. 319).   Meanwhile, the kind of training to obtain licensure is under the jurisdiction of the accreditation committee; however, in most cases, licensure is given to those who obtained degree of psychology in college.   Here, the necessary trainings to develop a student are incorporated in the curriculum.   Generally, hands-on training is the transition point of students to have him acquire knowledge and skills. The content of a training program should be structured around a specific theoretical orientation that revolves around challenges as seen by concerned groups such as schools and practicing practitioners. Corey, et.al. pointed out that content must be objective and practical enough to offer students a variety of therapeutic techniques and strategies that can be applied to variety of problems (p. 332).   Training program then must provide theoretical explanation to given problems in order to help them formulate rationale for every situation. Professional licensing may indicate that a person is competent as long as a comprehensive program is offered to students by the school and licensing department of the government.   – stated, â€Å"Licensing examination generally contains a written component which may be supplemented by oral examination or practicum exam (patient diagnosis or counseling).   These examination are commonly written or administered by the state board which also provides for scoring them and determines what â€Å"passing† scores are (p. 132). Also, on the part of the school, â€Å"The supervision work experience or practicum is meant to ensure that during the initial years of practice, the professional has the guidance necessary to deal with the complexities of practice.   It is a transition period between the intense supervision that is supposed to be part of academic training (p. 132). Work Cited Corey, G., Corey, M., & Callanan, P. Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions 7th Edition. Smith, S. & Meyer, R. 1987.   Law, Behavior, and Mental Health: Policy and Practice. USA: NYU Press.      

North Country Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

North Country - Essay Example However, an underlying issue in this positive feedback was the equally superb characterization of the other roles, which highlighted the value of the Josey Aimes character. One of the most important of these supporting roles was the character played by Frances McDormand, Glory Dodge. She was Aimes’ best friend and that she was the one who encouraged Josey to work on the mines. In perhaps the best description of Glory, Kyle spoke on her behalf and declared: â€Å"My name is Glory Dodge and I’m not fucking dead yet. I stand with Josey.† Through the other characters, Theron was able to deliver and demonstrate what was called for by her role. There was a requirement to give the character as well as the narrative the compelling human detail. Through Dodge, for example, the director and storyteller were able to depict a believable Josey, one who just wanted a house of her own, sufficient meals and clothes for her children and just enough extra dollars so she could buy her son hockey skates once in a while. Dodge played the proverbial best friend, who was there to highlight the need, frustrations and longings of the leading character. In many instances, she offered the ways out of the mess for Josey. Concerning the mine, it was Glory who told Josey about the mine, about how working for it could mean a decent life for her family. Dodge, besides playing the part of the best friend – the person who is there to help, cheer, scold and be nice to Josey – also reinforced Aimes’ experience as a woman miner. Like Josey, she was a miner and had been subjected to such workplace vicissitudes including being sexually harassed, discriminated upon and treated as someone inferior simply because of her gender. Glory warned that Josey have to be tough and that she should learn to get right back to the men and not to show that her experiences get to her. What is interesting here is that Dodge offered an alternative approach in dealing with

International Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

International Relations - Essay Example Pakistan state is reflected by its economy as CIA Factbook characterizes Pakistan as â€Å"an impoverished and underdeveloped country†. Nevertheless, in the early part of the century, the government has been spending to usher development which significantly reduced poverty levels and created a semi-industrialized economy (CIA Factbook, 2009). As a country strives to push for a stronger economy, there is a chance of progress in a gradual basis. In fact, Pakistan today is considered as having the 27th largest economy in terms of purchasing power and has the second largest economy in South Asia (Bloomberg, 2009). Nonetheless, the country is still struggling with inflation and rising foreign debt as worsened by the world financial crisis in 2008. The good thing about Pakistan is that countries like the United States and international organizations (IMF) have initiatives to help Pakistan recover from a bad economy which can possibly improve its economic situation in the future. In short, Pakistan is not a failed state, it is a country marred by a long political history that affected its economy. It is torn by internal conflicts and pressure from groups like Taliban but it is essentially a state with a functional government. If one takes a closer look at news about Pakistan, much reports harp on widespread violence as caused by terrorism.

German Student Movement of the Late 1960s Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

German Student Movement of the Late 1960s - Essay Example The young Germans were of the view that the government failed to act and get over the post Nazi era. The students held that Nazi sympathizers were going unpunished and the people in authority had mentalities that were similar to those used to create the Nazi government. This and along with the many problems that existed in the university systems evoked sentiments of distrust and fear of the authorities among students. The grievances in the university system were associated with unfair representation of the students in their unions and university panels. The ex-Nazi professors brought the view that the administration was reminiscent of the infamous third Reich of the Nazi regime. The United States of America played a major role in influencing and determining the outcome of the 68er –Bwegung in West Germany. Though not physically, the United States clearly determined a clear path followed by the movement and contributed to the start of the riots. West Germany and America had clo se cultural and social relation after the war that helped in transnational exchange. The anti war movement in America instituted teach-ins that influenced the German student movement. The teach-ins produced intellectuals who shared an opinion that was in opposition to the Vietnam War. The war illustrated the worldwide spread of imperialism by America to the West German student organization, SDS, who saw the need for a global revolutionary alliance of activists of the first world against the cynical democracy that was the United States. Though the movement focused on the national grievances and problems in the university system at the time (Turner 166), the Vietnam War was a fundamental issue that was associated with the formation and sustaining of the German student movement. The transnational exchange system allowed the exchange of views as well as a sneak peak of the American society to Germans. This generated a part of the population that had more awareness of their rights and in creased civil rights actions. The increased popularity of left extremist movements converted many universities in West Germany into battlefields for ideas (Turner 166). The perception of the US government by the young generation started changing as they share views that are more liberal. The generation had a negative view of the occupation and thought their nation had not mastered its legacy in the post war period as because of the United States political influence. The students turned into critiques of the United States who joined the growing movements around the globe that were anti-America. Therefore, America through its social and cultural relation and activities with West Germany facilitated the arising of the German student movement as it resulted in creating intellectuals with more liberal views and civil rights awareness. The powerful uprisings in the united states in the 1950’s were significant in the emergence of the German student movement. Movements like the Afric an-American civil rights movement had strategies that advocated denunciation of a system and civil disobedience in order to attain equal rights for everyone. These beliefs and strategies motivated protesters, mostly students, to change their approach in protesting. They adopted methods that were more political, violent, and militant (Turner 171). The end of the Second World War saw the occupation of West Germany by the United States. The United States supported the government of Federal Republic of Germany, through the marshal plan, in its attempt to rebuild the economy and infrastructure. This resulted in developing a good relationship between the two nations and in the citizens of West Germany having a good opinion of America. The