It seems clear that this situation describes the problems that arise, when the meeting between ascription based and achievement based cultures is not handled in the right way. Achievement based cultures accord status on the basis of what you have achieved, while in ascription based cultures your status depends on your family background, gender, age and education. Things you should avoid when doing business with ascription based cultures is sending young executives to important negotiations, using performance related reward and fast track promotion policies.
The main problem in the situation seem to be the fact that Mr. Yamamoto, coming from an ascriptive culture, does not feel that Janne Sundhagen, coming from an achievement based culture, has the necessary skills to handle such an important negotiation. Ascriptive based cultures must be assured that your organisation has great respect for you and that your are near the top. The fact that Mr. Yamamoto politely insists to speak with her boss might indicate that he does not believe her to be in a position to make important decisions. Read more…
Amazon.com is the largest on-line retailer in the world. It sells a very wide range of products from books, music, and videos to software, screwdrivers, and sofas. Because Amazon.com is very successful others would like to get a piece of its market pie. In order to have become successful in this competitive environment, the founder, Jeff Bezos, must certainly be an extraordinary entrepreneur. To understand his success, one should analyze his managerial skills, the many different functions he performs in his position as the CEO of Amazon, and the importance of effective communication.
Jeff Bezos has impressive managerial skills. After noticing the benefits of the Internet, the virtual world, he convinced his employees to be a part of the team. Then he convinced his customers that Amazon is the best, and by making constant changes, Bezos makes Amazon continue to be the best. This is why his customers are very loyal and happy with what they get from Amazon. Read more…
The road to your new front door may be short and smooth or very long and rough. In a buying a home, preparation is everything. Make sure you are physically, mentally and financially prepared. With this you need to have the time, energy and patience that’s required to look at different homes. Review you credit history and financial status and be sure those things are in good status. Before making any other decisions, you would need to start thinking about the neighborhood or subdivision you would like to live in. Some of the things you would need to consider would be the school system you would like for your child or children. What type of home design you are interested in and what price range you can afford. In the book “ The unofficial guide to buying a home” there is a form on page 56 that should be filled out when making a neighborhood or subdivision a choice. Some of the questions that are listed on the form are-what is the mileage and the amount of minutes it takes to get from your future home to the particular location. For example, how far are you away from you and your spouse job, your church, the children’s school, the supermarket, and the closest hospital. All of these things are important when making a house your home. Read more…
E-commerce has been evolving at an unbelievable pace. Only about a decade ago we have heard the term of ‘e-commerce’ and now it had become so attach to every business enterprise and even individuals at home are catching fast with this idea. E-commerce is a wide scope and it offers many divisions such as e-banking, electronic data interchange (EDI) and online shopping. It is the business-to business (B2B) that we’re mainly focused on. All available fact shows that e-business is developing rapidly with turnover reported to have doubled between 1998 and 1999.
Most companies view e-commerce or more specifically, B2B as a tool to reach customers whether domestically or regionally. It involves selling, marketing or advertising products or services electronically. It’s seen as an opportunity to earn profit. As for customers or individuals, we seen more of convenience offered and also a more cost-efficient means of shopping. Overall, every parties acknowledge the need to keep in pace with this technology advancement and understand that it offers unprecedented opportunities. Read more…
Many organizations are harnessing the power of teams to improve performance and replace traditional “command and control” methods. Robinson defines a team as “[…] a unit of people with complementary skills who are committed to a unilateral purpose and hold themselves mutually accountable for performance to goals using a common process” (Maintenance Management 2506). While effective teams may indeed generate synergistic results, ineffective teams may actually prove to be counter-productive.
Team dynamics are affected by the characteristics of the individuals and the ways in which they interrelate as a group. Achieving high performance levels with teams is dependent on constructive interaction among the members. Teammates must be able, and willing, to draw on the individual strengths of each other as well as to compensate for weaknesses. While teams are used in many different ways, for this discussion we will focus on project teams. Read more…
