Globalization

GLOBALIZATION AND INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT

Management as a concept has transcended all geographical boundaries and cultures to gain significance. International management has extended itself beyond traditional management practices reflecting different perspectives influenced by cultural diversity and conflicting social forces. The issue of cultural diversity is used to argue that it is divergence that is taking place and not convergence. The emphasis is on the national culture that acts as a key determinant in management behavior. National and regional differences may become one of the most crucial problems for management-in particular for the management of multinational, multicultural organizations, whether public or private.

International Managers:

Organizations are on the look out for international managers who could transcend themselves nationally to fit into any location for a specific job consideration.

• Managers are expected to live abroad and run the overseas division or company
• They are also sent to complete temporary assignments of limited duration, like plant installation and sales missions
• Companies aim at developing an international manager who can overcome a limited set of national and cultural boundaries, such as euro-manager, middle eats manager.

Expatriates:

Companies prefer to have their managers as expatriates, owing to the lack of availability of skills in the host country, to prevent dilution of control, to safeguard the overseas investment and to increase performance. But organizations also have to give a second thought about the cost involved in transferring the expatriates, recruitment and issues regarding legal restrictions.

International managers have to possess the following skills to compete in the global environment.

• Technical expertise and experience
• Sound financial skills
• People skills, especially cultural empathy, team-building and motivation
• Intellectual skills, seeing the big picture, thinking macro not micro
• Emotional maturity, being adaptable,independent,sensitive to national culture,confident,having self awareness to overcome prejudice
• Having ambition, drive, persistence, stamina and energy.

Focus of Global Organizations:

Global organizations employ several techniques to develop international managers. They focus on in-house language, culture courses and tailored development programmes for host country managers, imparting education courses with an international base. International firms are also concerned about the power, politics, conflicting priorities, view points existing in the international scenario and they have to confront with coalition of vested interests. To cope, and more importantly to survive, in an organization, there is a growing view that managers have to become politically competent.

De-Centralization:

Decentralization is the key factor that is going to decide the developing trend of organizations in the years to come. A smaller, but more highly skilled, group of managers will assume an “expanded role” in clearly defined strategic business units. They will be given greater control over resources, technical, financial and human, and be expected to utilize those resources to achieve broad objectives and performance targets. A trend may develop where there is a shift by individuals away from the objective of managing a team of people towards a search for autonomy, creativity, growth and accountability for oneself, if the organizations fail to suitably reward the managers and present them with suitable career prospects.