Wikipedia:Project Tiger Writing Contest/Topics
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Global managerial skills Introduction Globalization is the key factor that influenced developments in the business world. Most of the large organizations in the countries have accepted and incorporated globalization to growth their business further. However, due to the incorporation of globalization, managements face different types of challenges and most of those are related to the culture of people. Due to the differences in culture and values of the people in different geographic areas, it is a big issue to satisfy all of them at one time. This study will focus on a particular article “Managing Cross-cultural: Issues and Challenges in Global Organizations” by Dr. Raminder pal singh and Harmeet kaur to understand the challenges that global managers are facing in international business management. At the same time, the study will also indicate the steps that global managers should adopt o manage the challenges. What do you see as the challenges for a global manager? Reviewing the article “Managing Cross-cultural: Issues and Challenges in Global Organizations”, it has been understood that due to globalization, the managers in the global companies are facing several challenges and the biggest challenge is managing the people from different cultural backgrounds (Singh and kaur, 2018). The authors have mentioned that if an organization performs globally, it is obvious that it will include the people from different countries and it will serve the customers with different taste and choice patterns. The major challenges that the article has indicted in respect to the global business management are as follows: Managing employees of different cultural background – This is the biggest challenge to a global manager. There are many employees in the global organization, who are not from the similar cultural background of the manager (Thomas and Peterson, 2017). Therefore, it is problematic for the manager to understand their values and beliefs. It takes several years to adjust with various cultures and it hampers business performance. Internal conflicts – This is also a major issue to the global manager. As most of the time culture of the manager differs from the culture of the sub-ordinates, common interests are missing in the global organization (Singh and kaur, 2018). Due to this,
4 most of the time, a sense of non-cooperation is originated in the minds of employees, which creates internal conflicts. This type of situation is difficult to manage. Language issue – Language is one of the major barriers in the global organization. Many times the managers who are from different countries cannot understand the local language of the employees, which create communication differences within the company and hampers the performance standard of the company (Luthans and Doh, 2018). Socio-political risk – This is the other issue that the large multinational companies face while expanding business in the foreign countries. This particular risk is difficult to avoid because this risk is generated from the broader aspect (Deresky, 2017). Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be stated that there are several issues or challenges that the managers in the global organizations face while managing business in a different geographic zone. Discuss the area(s) (cultural, organisational or situational environments) a global manager needs to develop a good understanding of. Reviewing the article “Managing Cross-cultural: Issues and Challenges in Global Organizations” and the analysis of the Global Management Model by Steers, Nardon and Sanchez-Runde (2013), indicates that global manager requires having the capacity of for managing an organization and its people amidst the complexity of a global business, which is conducted across divergent time zones as well as cultures. A global manager requires playing different roles in a business (Varela and Gatlin-Watts, 2014). He or she is responsible for planning, organizing, staffing, directing as well as controlling. However, in order to do so, manages requires having a good understanding of the global environment. After a global manager has understood the global challenges, he or she needs to understand how the local environments of a business in which they operate and make appropriate choices among the available alternative. Due to this reason, it is important for all global managers to develop an understanding of various areas. The three major approaches or ideas that need to be developed by a global manager are organizational environments, cultural environments and situational environments. In order to accomplish the tasks, roles and responsibilities, a global manager must be succeeding in understanding all these three areas simultaneously. The first area over which a
5 global manager requires developing knowledge is the organizational environment. The environment of a global organization comprises of various types of forces and factors. Each of these factors and forces has an impact on the operations, activities, performance as well as resources of the organization. An organizational environment is dominated with two main factors - internal factors as well as external factors (Alexiev et al., 2016). The internal environment of a global business is composed of various elements inside the business itself. Management, shareholders, current employees and trade unions have a substantial control over the internal environment of a global business. On the other hand, the external environment of a global business contains forces outside a business which also has an impact over the different activities of the business. However, the external environment of a global business is of two categories - task environment and general environment (Dou and Yang, 2015). The general environment of a global business comprises of external factors such as political, socio-cultural, economic and technological forces. On the other hand, the task environment of a global business comprises of four major factors - suppliers, customers, competitors and distributors. All the internal forces and external forces have a substantial effect over the organizational environment (Fang and Chen, 2016). The changes in these factors have both direct as well as indirect influence over the environment of a global business. For example, in case of changes in the economic forces prevailing in the external environment in a specific country in which the global business operates, changes take place in the operations of a global business in that country only while the operations of the business in other countries remain unchanged. At the same time, there can arise various types of problems related to the employees of a business, such as conflicts between the employees of a global business, issues related to the management and its employees, etc., which also has substantial impact on the operations of an organization. In order to ensure effective management, a global manager requires understanding its organizational environment. Due to these reasons, a global manager requires understanding its organizational environment. In addition to organizational environment, it is important for a global manager to understand the cultural environment of a global business as well. The cultural environment in case of business can be referred to as the set of values, beliefs, practices, behaviours and customs found within the employees and the workers operating together in a business (Sanchez-Runde et al., 2013). The cultural environment of a business is one of the major factors that affect a business. This is because
6 there are a large number of employees appointed in a global business who work together within same office premises. The cultural background of every employee working in a global business is different. Each employee working in a business has his or her own values, beliefs, attitudes and culture, which leads to the conflict of cultures of one employee to another. The cultural differences between employees is a vital factor, which leads to the occurrence of various types of conflicts and differences between employees, thereby leading to arousal of various issues in the global business (Steers et al., 2010). Thus, in order to manage a global business, a global manager requires having an understanding of cultural environment as well. Another important factor for a global manager to have a good understanding of is the situational environment (Kew and Stredwick, 2017). The environment of a global business comprises of the combination of contextual factors and individual differences, which collectively define the situation in which a global manager finds him or her. This the major challenge that a global manager faces. It is extremely difficult for a global manager to deal with the different types of situations that arise in a global business. There arise diverse situations with different types of problems every time a global manager goes out to the field to work. A global manager requires having an understanding of each situation they are dealing with and in most cases, situations are different from the previous one. Thus, it is important to have a good understanding of the situational environment as well. Discuss the global management skills that need to be developed In the above discussion, it has been identified that the global managers face different challenges while managing business in the foreign countries. However, in order to manage the business efficiently, the global managers must develop certain managerial skills, which are discussed below: Team building skill – As per the article, the global manager must have the skill of team building. It is one of the most effective elements that can create the sense of co- operation among the employees (Singh and kaur, 2018). However, in order to build the team, the global manager must identify the common goal and convey the importance of that goal of the organization.
7 Communication skill – This is another major and most important skill. The global manager must know the language through which communication with the local employees and customers is possible (Usunier et al., 2017). This communication must include verbal communication. Therefore, the global manager needs to develop or learn the local language of the people. Selection of right employees – The global manager must have the skill to identifying the right people who can serve the company in the best way beyond any organizational barrier. The manager must identify and recruit the people, who have the capacity of working with a diversified team (Singh and kaur, 2018). Need identification – This skill is very important to manage the people from different cultural backgrounds. The global manager must identify the different needs of different employees. The global manager must keep in mind that due to the cultural differences, the needs of the people change (Singh and kaur, 2018). For example, employees in America need their space at the workplace because they believe in individualism culture; whereas, employees in China do not focus on personal space at the workplace because they believe in collectivism culture. Proper work division – The global manager must divide the work responsibilities as per the capacity of the employees (Singh and kaur, 2018). There are some people in some countries, who are physically stronger than the other people or who are more educated than the other people (Luthans and Doh, 2018). Hence, work division must be done as per the capacity of the employees. Friendly leadership – The global manager must have the skill of leading people in a friendly manner. As the manager generally belongs from a different cultural background, he or she should not be arrogant with the people in the workplace. Arrogance of the manager creates the sense of non-cooperation among the team members or employees. Hence the global manager must behave in a friendly manner (Thomas and Peterson, 2017). Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be stated that there are several skills that are important for managing people and business in the global market. What are the ethical implications? In order to manage cross cultural issues in global organisation, managers have to understand the ethical implication at all level. In the broader construction of ethical context, managers’
8 role is broader beyond the level of fiduciary. Therefore following implications need to be applied in overall management process Ethical Leadership In global organisations, managers have to maintain proper honesty, integrity and trustworthiness. In this case, Integrity is required to firm adherence as per practiced code in the organisation. Mangers have to apply proper positive leadership skills to maintain discipline between ethical as well as unethical decision. In the term of leadership, global manager’s moral behaviour and functional implication is required to communicate explicitly, openly for resolving ethical as well as values. Therefore, individual character is also important factor to foster standard leadership. Ethical Decision-making In the global decision making concepts large and small enterprises often face difficulties to foster ethical decision making. Managers recognise the ethical elements, which is embedded in day to day operations. Therefore, decision making concept need to be implied for maintaining legal boundaries. However, ethical decision making issue arise while decision involves moral conflicts, which can be occurred due to negative independent situation. In this case decision making frameworks need to be applied in organisational context. Managers have to maintain proper justice and Utilitarianism (Varela and Gatlin-Watts2014). Principles of justice here is the basic approach to accelerate ethical decision making. In this case, mangers have to understand not only organisational behaviour but also on external impact that can hamper global business process. Therefore, ethical justice needs to be applied at all level. After a global manager has understood the global challenges, he or she needs to understand how the local environments of a business in which they operate and make appropriate choices among the available alternative. Moral Development The ethical decision making framework is also important for utilising the principles of tights, utility and care. Moral reasoning is required as per the practice code of conduct. In this current scenario, larger corporations developed the code of practice to foster standard managerial role. Therefore, strong top management commitment and communication need to be applied with core element of ethical leadership. Global manager requires capacity of for
9 managing an organization and its people amidst the complexity of a global business, which is conducted across divergent time zones as well as cultures. Therefore, code of practice is required in this context to create moral development on managerial role. Conclusion Hence, through the review of the article “Managing Cross-cultural: Issues and Challenges in Global Organizations” and the analysis of the Global Management Model by Steers, Nardon and Sanchez-Runde (2013), it can be evaluated that global managers face various challenges such as internal conflicts, cultural differences, etc. It can also be evaluated that a global manager requires having an understanding of cultural, organizational and situational environment along with requiring skills such as team building, communication, proper work division, etc. along with acquiring knowledge on the various ethical implications of global managers.
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Reference list Alexiev, A.S., Volberda, H.W. and Van den Bosch, F.A., 2016. Interorganizational collaboration and firm innovativeness: Unpacking the role of the organizational environment.Journal of Business Research,69(2), pp.974-984. Deresky, H., 2017.International management: Managing across borders and cultures. Pearson Education India. Dou, Z. and Yang, W., 2015. Evaluation of the influence of the organizational environment on project cost management based on the Grey Relational Analysis. Fang, S.C. and Chen, H.K., 2016. Strategic intent, organizational environment, and organizational learning mechanisms: A multiple-case study in the construction industry in Taiwan.Personnel Review,45(5), pp.928-946. Kew, J. and Stredwick, J., 2017.Business environment: managing in a strategic context. Kogan Page Publishers. Luthans, F. and Doh, J.P., 2018.International management: Culture, strategy, and behavior. McGraw-Hill. Sanchez-Runde, C.J., Nardon, L. and Steers, R.M., 2013. The cultural roots of ethical conflicts in global business.Journal of business ethics,116(4), pp.689-701. Singh, R.P. and kaur, H. 2018. [online] Managing Cross-cultural: Issues and Challenges in Global Organizations, Available at: http://ijariie.com/AdminUploadPdf/Managing_Cross_cultural__Issues_and_Challenges__in_ Global_Organizations_ijariie2711.pdf [Accessed 17 May 2018]. Steers, R.M., Sanchez-Runde, C.J. and Nardon, L., 2010. Management Across Culture.Challenges and Strategy. Thomas, D.C. and Peterson, M.F., 2017.Cross-cultural management: Essential concepts. Sage Publications. Usunier, J.C., van Herk, H. and Lee, J.A., 2017.International and cross-cultural business research. Sage.
11 Varela, O.E. and Gatlin-Watts, R., 2014. The development of the global manager: An empirical study on the role of academic international sojourns.Academy of Management Learning & Education,13(2), pp.187-207.