Team Building and Virtual Teams

During the fourteen and fifteen class of Intercultural Management, the professor Heiko Schmidt explained the concept of how to build a team and virtual teams. First, I am going to explain how to build teams, then I will continue with the advantages and disadvantages of virtual teams and finally I will answer my research question, what are the principles of virtual teams?

Team Building 

In order to build a team, it is important to first identify the issues and the goals. This will guide to get in a more efficient way to the expected results. However, when dealing with teams works gets complicated because different factors such as division, not knowing the other person, communication, resistance to change, morale (related with ethics), team work and the most important of all Trust appears (Schmidt, 2015 ). Here in Colombia we try to do everything in teams because it gets easier and you always work with friends that you know they work and make suggestions. Nevertheless, when you do not know your teammates it gets complicated because as a Colombian I would say we do not trust in others, this is mainly for cultural and historical factors.

With the stated above we can say that in order to have a good team is important to maintain your mind open, communicate effectively and be prepare to deal with others opinions and suggestion, that is what a good leader should do to make other comfortable with the team.

Virtual teams

According to professor Heiko Schmidt we can define virtual teams as “Virtual teams are teams geographically disperse that works through communication technologies (Skype, WhatsApp, Facebook, Google Hangouts, Viber and others) in which communication face to face is limited” (Schmidt, 2015 ). Virtual teams are used to increase the respond to the changes of the market, in addition, helps the company to gain more knowledge about specific problems and solve through the interaction of different people from different backgrounds (Virtual teams are similar to multicultural teams).

Some of the advantages of virtual teams are (Managing Virtual Teams, n.f.):

1-      Time is flexible

2-      Money: you save money because there is no need to have a physical location.

3-      Comfort: you have the possibility to work at home and set you own schedule.

Disadvantages (Managing Virtual Teams, n.f.)

1-  The communication is made through devises, which affects the understanding of not verbal communication

2-     Multicultural teams: they are composed by different people with different backgrounds, beliefs and values which complicates the work

3-   Time: even though we have our own schedule, we have to plan meetings at night or early in the morning.

What are the principles of virtual teams?

According to the Harvard Business Review in order to have an effective virtual team is important to take into account the following advises (Michael Watkins, 2013):

1-      Get the team together physically early-on. It may seem paradoxical to say in a post on virtual teams, but face-to-face communication is still better than virtual when it comes to building relationships and fostering trust, an essential foundation for effective team work.

2-      Clarify tasks and processes, not just goals and roles. All new leaders need to align their team on goals, roles and responsibilities

3-      Commit to a communication charter. Communication on virtual teams is often less frequent, and always is less rich than face-to-face interaction, which provides more contextual cues and information about emotional states — such as engagement or lack thereof.

4-      Leverage the best communication technologies. Developments in collaborative technologies — ranging from shared workspaces to multi-point video conferencing — unquestionably are making virtual teaming easier.

5-      Build a team with rhythm. When some or all the members of a team are working separately, it’s all-too-easy to get disconnected from the normal rhythms of work life. 

6-      Foster shared leadership. Defining deliverables and tracking commitments provides “push” to keep team members focused and productive; shared leadership provides crucial “pull.”

7-      Don’t forget the 1:1s. Leaders’ one-to-one performance management and coaching interactions with their team members are a fundamental part of making any team work. 

Bibliografía

Managing Virtual Teams. (n.f.). Obtenido de http://managing-virtual-teams.com/en/virtual-teams-articles/project-management/advantages-and-challenges-of-virtual-work-teams.html

Michael Watkins. (Junio de 27 de 2013). Obtenido de https://hbr.org/2013/06/making-virtual-teams-work-ten/

Schmidt, H. (2015 ). Virtual teams.

The Intercultural Conflict Style and Multicultural Teams

During the thirteen class of Intercultural Management, the professor Heiko Schmidt explained the Intercultural Conflict Style of Mitchell Hammer and finally multicultural teams. First, I am going to introduce the Intercultural Conflict Style of Hammer, then I will continue with the definition, advantages and disadvantages of Multicultural teams, finally I will answer my question Does culture really matters?    

Intercultural Conflict Style:

The Intercultural conflict style is a tool developed by Mitchell Hammer in 2002. It is used to resolve problems between different cultural backgrounds or ethnic differences. According to the Intercultural Conflict Style webpage, the tool “is composed by 18 items and is a self-scoring, easy to use, cross-culturally valid and statistically reliable instrument that can be used for individual, group, and organizational level assessments” (Hammer, 2002).

(Taken from the presentation of Intercultural Conflict Style Model, Heiko Schmidt)

Two dimensions according to the components of the conflict compose the conflicts styles. Substantive dimension (Indirect and Direct approaches to communication) and the emotional dimension (Expressive or Restrained). In addition, both dimensions are combined to identify the type of conflict style. For example, direct discussion and emotionally expressive engagement. These terms means that the person confronts directly arguments and problems in a calm atmosphere and tends to be more frank with emotions (Schmidt, 2015).    

By the other hand, we have the accommodation and dynamic person; these means that the person is aware of other opinions and cares about the relationship, with dynamic the person feels comfortable with the help of others and emotions (Schmidt, 2015).    

With stated above we can know how to deal with these kind people when having problems. This is very common when dealing with persons of different countries (High and low context cultures) because as seem throughout the curse misunderstanding can arise depending of the communication with others.

Multicultural teams  

Let us begin with the definition of multicultural teams, according to Small Business Multicultural teams can be defined as “is one in which a wide range of cultural differences exist among the team” (Kokemuller, n.f.) 

Benefits of a multicultural team

• ·      When having multicultural teams is easy to do brainstorming due to fact that we are different and have ideas and solutions that do not might seem conventional.
• ·         Ability to adapt to different circumstances  
• ·         Understanding of social, political, economic issues in different markets
• Creativity exploits 

Disadvantages of multicultural team

• ·         Different perspectives
• ·         Cultural barriers
• ·         Communication barriers
• ·         Misunderstanding may arise

In conclusion, having a multicultural team is a good idea when organizations want to enter to other markets in which the culture is unknown. However, it is important to know that differences and conflict may arise when having these teams because as been said throughout the curse we are different, I do not think the same as my German colleague even I do not think and have the same values as my Colombian partner.  

Does culture matter?

According to Abdullahi A An-Naim “Culture matters to globalization, to economic and social rights, and to civil and political rights because the very idea of rights is a cultural construct” (AN-NAÍM, 1998)in other words, being a globalized world requires the attention of those small parts that we do not consider important. The best example is when doing business in Asia; during the last two decades, Asia has become an important player in the international economy that is why companies look at Asia as a potential market. However, in order to enter in those markets is important to know about their culture (Guanxi, Mianzi, business presentations and others) if you do not take into account those “irrelevant” factor you will not be able to do business there.   

Bibliography

AN-NAÍM, A. A. (1998). Obtenido de http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/archive/dialogue/1_11/requisites_for_shared/598.html

Hammer, M. (2002). Intercultural Conflict Style . Obtenido de http://www.icsinventory.com/ics_inv.php

Kokemuller, N. (n.f.). Small Business . Obtenido de http://smallbusiness.chron.com/definition-multicultural-workplace-15469.html

Schmidt, H. (2015). The Four Intercultural Conflict styles presentation.

The Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East, Latin America and Latin Europe Cluster

During the eleventh class of Intercultural Management, we had the presentation of the Sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East Cluster. In addition, during the twelfth class we had the presentation of the Latin America and Latin Europe cluster. First, I am going to explain both cluster with some examples used by classmates, and then I will finish with my research question, Is Islam related with male chauvinism in the Middle East?

The Sub-Saharan cluster

The Sub-Saharan cluster is composed by Nigeria, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. The cluster shares the similarity that was British colony in the 19 and 20 century and these countries had high scores on humane orientation and had average scores on most other dimensions (Ortony, n.f). Something that I found interesting with the presentation was the question asked by my classmates; could a high power distance be the heritage from being mostly a colony continent? I would say yes (personal opinion), the relation master-slave have continued since the decolonization process. Europeans and North Americans are still seem as the master of the continent; that are involved in all the economic sectors of the region and are the ones that generate jobs. Still we see how white descendants in South Africa gets better jobs and salaries than others natives and the ones that gets into college or have the money to pay for it are white people. In addition, most of the government of these nations are full of corruption that plays against the development of the nations; even we can classify the governors as individualistic because they are looking for their benefits nor the benefit to the society.

Metaphor: 

Sub-Saharan bush taxi

The Bush taxi represents the African Time orientation in which time is take in a more relaxed way, where there is not thoroughness towards scheduling or be on time for meetings or reunions. Also, it represents the sense of communalism and community sharing in which every time you have the possibility to share (have a conversation) with someone in the taxi is exploited, something curious is that anyone is left behind even though they do not have money to pay the taxi fare (Team, 2015).

Middle East Cluster:

The Middle East cluster is composed by Qatar, Morocco, Egypt, Kuwait, and Turkey. I would say that is the cluster more stereotype in the world, even though they do not have direct problems of security with IS (Islamic State, Al Qaeda and others). They have been classified as a dangerous region, this is mainly because the news that remark the difficult situation in other countries such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and are been group in a single region call the Middle East.   The Middle East Cluster scores high for in-group collectivism and low scores on gender egalitarianism, future orientation, and uncertainty avoidance/acceptance of risk (Ortony, n.f). 

Metaphor: 

Turkish coffee houses:

Coffee houses in Turkey were used to the social life contribution, in which people seat together and have a conversation with their friends of different topics. In addition, the coffee houses were used as recreational locals where people can see different performs of artists, theatre and taste different coffees. With the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, the Coffee houses did it as well. Now coffee houses are representatives of the Turkey culture around the world.

Latin America cluster:

The Latin America cluster is composed by Ecuador, El Salvador, Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Argentina, Costa Rica, Venezuela, and Mexico. The  cluster share the similarity that were part of the Spanish and Portuguese Empire (In the case of Brazil) the region speaks a common language (Spanish) and is intelligible with Portuguese. Even though we are not a single entity, we share similar customs and traditions. In addition, from other people eyes we are seem as friendly, kind, “rumberos” and that we want to dance every time. In my opinion, I consider these stereotypes as good because is not the rule but in Latin America we try to be always happy.  According to the Hofstede study, the countries of the clusters are predictably scored high on in-group collectivism and low on performance orientation, future orientation, and uncertainty avoidance/risk acceptance.

Latin Europe Cluster

The Latin Europe Cluster is composed by France, Portugal, Spain, French-speaking Switzerland, Italy, and Israel. Something that gained my attention of this cluster is Israel; I do understand why the other countries belong to the cluster. However, Israel do not share the same background as France or Italy, for example the romance languages (in which is included Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese) I would say that Israel have more in common with the Middle East Cluster even though they been fighting for more than 50 years. Hebraic for example was born in the Middle East, the nation is located in the Middle East and unbelievably Arab is part of Israeli society.   The cluster had fewer high scores on any of the cultural dimensions and the scores were quite moderate, but the cluster scored low on humane orientation and institutional collectivism

Is Islam related with male chauvinism in the Middle East?

According to As`ad AbuKhalil “Although there is no gender equality in the Middle East (including in Israel), the phenomena of sexism and misogyny are global—not peculiar to Islam, or to the Middle East” (AbuKhalil, n.f). We as western people, always look at Middle East countries as sexism countries, in which women do not have rights, where male controls all the spheres of the society and where women are look as weak and passive. This is mainly because the stereotypes we have of the Arab society. Yes, there are countries such as Saudi Arabia where women are not eve allow to drive a car. However, there are other countries such as Tunisia in which abortion is legal, Egypt in which women are allow to vote, Syria, Jordanian, and Turkey in which women occupied ministries and are allow to vote.

In conclusion, even though there are countries such as Saudi Arabia in which women rights are inexistent, there are other countries that recognizes the importance of women and that they should have all the rights that were granted to men years ago. In relation whit Islam, even Christianity and other religions considered women as not part of the political society until the last century in which were granted fundamental rights in almost all the countries in the world (in 1920, the right to vote was granted for women in the USA) . This means that Islam is not the cause of sexism in Arab countries is something cultural that comes from our ancestors and was replied in all the religions around the world.      

Bibliography

AbuKhalil, A. (n.f). Islamic Research Foundation International. Obtenido de http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_401_450/women_in_the_middle_east.htm

Ortony, A. (n.f). sagepub. Obtenido de http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/30903_Chapter1.pdf

Team, S.-S. A. (2015). Sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East Cluster.

Coca-Colonization and the Anglo-Nordic Cluster

Coca-Colonization and the Anglo-Nordic Cluster 

During the eighth and ninth class of Intercultural management, we talked about the concept of Coca-Colonization and the Anglo-Nordic Cluster of globe. First, I want to talk to about how is the national culture affected by the arriving of international corporations that might change the traditions and culture of a culture. Then, I will introduce the topic presented by my classmates of the Anglo-Nordic cluster. Finally, I will respond my research question; what is the impact of national culture in organizational culture?  

Coca-Colonization is the combination of the name of Coca Cola company and the term of colonization, in other words, conquer of Coca Cola and western (American culture) in the world.

The concept of Coca-Colonization makes me to wonder if we are living a process of losing national cultures. In particular, Colombia has passed through a rapid economic growth during the last decade, making attractive the country for foreign investment and for Multinationals Corporation. Now, is possible to find in every corner American fast food companies that change the way we eat outside home.

Are we living a process of universalization or westernization? First, let us define universalization and westernization; “globalization understood as universalization refers to the dispersion of various objects and experiences to people around the earth (Schmidt, 2015)”. By the other hand, we have the concept of westernization “it claims that globalization is the spread of the western social structures of modernity (like capitalism, rationalism, industrialism and individualism) to other countries, destroying the existing cultures in the process”

According with the stated above, we can say that the cultures around the world are living a process of westernization; countries continuously adapt their politics for example to western customs. However, despite the adaption of western rules, policies, customs, traditions, celebrations and others, culture stills matters. Culture is something that have been shaped during years meaning that a single company or culture would not be able to change their artefacts and customs in the short term.

In conclusion, we are living a process of universalization of a brand that has been able to enter to other countries taking into account cultural artefacts, traditions, symbols and customs in order to be more involved with the native culture.   

Anglo Cluster:

South Africa, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zeeland, the UK and the United States composed the Anglo cluster.  These countries share the similarity that were colonized by the British Empire and share the same language. Additionally, the Anglo cluster share characteristics of competitiveness and result-oriented meaning that for the Anglo cluster matters more the results that the creation of relations in comparison with the Confucian Asian Cluster, the Latin American Cluster and others (Ortony, 2014).

Nordic European cluster:

The Nordic European cluster of countries, which include Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, scored high on future orientation, gender egalitarianism, institutional collectivism, and uncertainty avoidance/acceptance of risk and low on assertiveness, in group collectivism, and power distance (Ortony, 2014). In my personal opinion is what countries should appoint to, because shows how the power or articulate institutions help in the construction of nations.

What is the impact of national culture in organizational culture?  

According to Professor Barry Gerhart “…claimed that management is culturally dependent and that if we see what effective organizations in different cultures have done, we recognize that their leaders did adapt foreign management ideas to local cultures” (Gerhart, s.f.). However, reforming local cultural traits is a difficult task and he recommends that for best results multinational management practices should fit the local culture.

In other words, for and effective entry and sustain during time, experts recommended to fit into the culture of the country in order to be successful.

Bibliography

Gerhart, B. (s.f.). Management and organization . Obtenido de www.researchgate.net/...National_Culture...Organiza...

Ortony, A. (2014). Understanding cultural metaphors . Obtenido de http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/30903_Chapter1.pdf

Schmidt, H. (11 de Marzo de 2015). Globalization and Culture .

National stereotype and Germanic, Eastern Cluster

National stereotype in Ads

During the tenth class of Intercultural management, the professor Heiko Schmidt talked about national stereotyping in ads. In addition, we had the presentation of the Germanic and Eastern Cluster. Firstly, I want to talk about how national stereotypes in ads influence the perception of a country in other countries eyes. Secondly, I will give a small introduction about the Germanic and Eastern cluster. Finally, I will give the response to my question, how do ads influence us?

“Stereotypes are harmless jokes based on the identity that a certain nation or people has established or projected towards other countries through the years” (National Stereotypes , 2014)

According with the stated above, we can think many examples that comes up to our mind such as:

1          1- Swiss love clocks.

2- Germans are unfriendly.

3- Caribbean people is always dancing.

4- The French have poor hygiene.

5- Colombians are drug dealers.

6- The United States is liberal

Some of them are offensive and could affected the relation with people of those countries. Even though, national stereotypes are based on historical situations we cannot generalized arguing that what we learnt from television, internet, comments, and opinions and so on. Something that I found interesting about national stereotypes is that many of them are not true for example, “the United States is liberal”. When talking about this premise we found many inconsistencies with reality, gay marriage for example is not legalized in all the country, in addition, the use of marihuana which in European countries such as Holland is completely legal in the United States has been just approved by certain states making their position a little more conservative than liberal.

Another example is “French have poor hygiene”. In Colombia, we do think that French people do not take showers regularly some of my friends argue that is because water is too expensive or because they have such a large perfume industry that is not necessary to expend water when you can buy perfumes at a low price. I have never been in France so I am giving my perception of what I heard and know about France.

Germanic Cluster

The Germanic cluster is composed by Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands and other territories that have Germanic languages. Those countries share similarities such as language and that they were part of what we know the Holy Roman Empire.  In comparison with other cluster, I would say that the Germanic cluster is one of the most compact of the entire cluster classification. I mean with compact, that we can find German customs and languages in a territory more than 450.000 km2. Finally, the cluster of countries scored high in performance orientation, assertiveness, and future orientation and low in humane orientation and both forms of collectivism (Ortony, 2014).

Metaphors: Windmills and watermills

Windmills and Watermills are part of Dutch landscape and form part of Dutch identity. The Netherlands is located in a zone easily flooded by the power of the sea. That is why Dutch people decided to build windmills and watermills to protect the land from the sea.  We can say that windmills and watermill have evolved within the Netherlands.  

Eastern Cluster

Greece, Hungary, Albania, Slovenia, Poland, Russia, Georgia, and Kazakhstan compose the Eastern Cluster. In my personal opinion, the countries of the Eastern Cluster are one of the most received influenced from a single country Russia. Almost all of them were part of the URSS unless Greece and have uncommon that share Russian values and part of the population speaks Russian or have Russians ascendants. These countries scored high on in-group collectivism, assertiveness, and gender egalitarianism. They scored low on performance orientation, future orientation, and uncertainty avoidance/acceptance of risk (Ortony, 2014).

How do ads and mass media influence us?

The massive media industries worth millions dollars every year and is capable of influence our opinions and decisions. It is known that companies’ use persuasive advertising messages to influence the buying decisions through newspaper, magazines ads, saw and heard television, radio and websites (Curtis, 2012).

Lately, advertising companies are using senses to approach to clients and influence the buying decisions. One of the best examples is Dunkin Donuts in South Korea; Dunkin Donuts is using their jingle to release the aroma of coffee along with radio advertisements in buses in Seoul. This incentives people to look for a Dunkin Donuts shop to buy coffee right away they get off the bus.

By the other hand, we have the mass media corporations that influence mainly our opinions and perceptions. For example, the main news lately comes from the Middle East and the IS (Islamic State) when watching broadcasting corporations such as BBC, NBC, Fox, ABC, CNN and others. The main topic is the expansion of IS in Middle East, their executions and the destruction of human heritage. Changing the perception of what people thinks about the region and generalizing the actions of IS to countries that has not even been touched by the IS.

Conclusion  

·          1-   Ads and mass media plays an important role when transmitting a message.
·   The beliefs we harbour and the decisions we make are based on our assumptions, our experiences, our education and what we know for a fact.    
·     We rely on mass media for the current news and facts about what is important and what we should be aware of.   

Bibliography

Curtis, A. (2012). University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Obtenido de http://www2.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/Courses/ResourcesForCourses/Media&Society/MassMediaInfluenceOnSociety.html

National Stereotypes . (2014). National Stereotypes. Obtenido de http://www.nationalstereotype.com/you-are-not-your-country-top-10-national-stereotypes/

Ortony, A. (2014). Segapub . Obtenido de http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/30903_Chapter1.pdf

Confucian Asian Cluster and the concept of Guanxi and Mianzi

Confucian Asian Cluster and the concept of Guanxi and Mianzi 

During the seventh class of Intercultural Management, my teammates and I presented the Confucian Asia and Southern cluster in which we talked about some metaphors that represents the culture of both clusters.  Additionally, during this class we had the presence of Doctor Pablo Echavarria ex-ambassador of Colombia in China who made a presentation about culture, Confucianism, etiquette and protocol in China.

Firstly, I am going to talked about the Confucian Asian cluster giving a small historical background of Confucianism, then I will give some metaphors from this cluster especially from China and Japan. Secondly, I will introduce the Southern Asian cluster; follow by some metaphors from Thailand and India. Finally, I would like to point out the concept of Guanxi and Mianzi from Chinese society. 

The Confucian Asian and Southern Asian cluster is represented by:  

Confucian Asia cluster	Southern Asian cluster
Singapore	Philippines
Hong Kong	Indonesia
Taiwan	Malaysia
China	India
South Korea	Thailand
Japan	Iran

In order to understand the Confucian Asia cluster, it is important to recognize the influence of the Confucianism in the Asian society. Confucianism “can be defined as a philosophical system based on the teachings of Confucius (551-479 b.C), continued and developed by his disciples during the last 2.500 years” (Echavarria, 2015). The Confucianism is characterized by using culture as a mean to promote human feelings and maintain the integrity and welfare of individuals especially when talking about the roles in the state. This premise can be seem throughout countries that received Chinese influences or adopted certain characteristics from Chinese society such as Singapore, Korea and Japan.

The beliefs are called Li, Hsiao, Yi, Xin, Jen and Chung, which represents in order etiquette, love within family, righteousness, honesty and trustworthiness, benevolence and loyalty to the state. This beliefs are art of Confucian  

Japanese metaphors: the Japanese Garden

The Japanese Garden represents the integral relation between the nature and the society as Professor Ganon says “Like the water flowing through a Japanese garden, Japanese society is fluid, changing yet retaining its essential character…” even though Japanese has passed through different stages in a short period of time (Feudal society Shoguns, Meiji Restoration, Imperial State and finally constitutional monarchy). The Japanese society has been able to sustain their traditions and beliefs through the years. For example, its common to see western marriages In Japan, however, they like to use the traditional Japanese Kimono. In addition, the Japanese language has absorbed different terms and definitions that comes from other languages especially English; for exampleコンビニ konbini that traduces convenience store.

Chinese metaphors: The Great Wall and Chinese language

The Great Wall in my opinion represents the beliefs of the Confucianism especially the loyalty to the state. The constructors of the Great Wall were thinking about the protection of the state and the protection of their families from the north invaders (Mongols). Such a big construction guaranteed peace during centuries in which Chinese society flourish. In addition, the Great Wall represents the determination of Chinese society to maintain their traditions and language through years. Moreover, the Chinese language has evolved within China adapting certain characteristics from their multi-ethnic society and recompiling in a single language.

The Southern Asian Cluster

The Southern Asian cluster is a combination of different multi-religions societies that influenced aspects such as food, beliefs, language, customs and others throughout the Southern Cluster. The region received influenced by the Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity (mainly in the Philippines). However, I will concentrated on Buddhism which is one the biggest religions in India and Thailand.

Sidarta Gautama in India founded the Buddhism during the IV b.C. Buddhism aims to “focus on personal spiritual development. Buddhists strive for a deep insight into the true nature of life and do not worship gods or deities” (British Broadcasting Company , s.f.). 

     

Thai metaphors: the Thai Kingdom  

One of the best examples of metaphors from Thailand is the King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The King uses vertical hierarchy, which means that people have asymmetric positions in a linear hierarchy in which subordinates defer, respect and obey; in other words, superiors have strong power while less powerful people tends to follow orders. However, the king has strong relations with their subordinates, which indicates that the concept of Kreng Cai (taking the other feelings into account) is widely used by the king. In addition, the King Bhumidol is not involve in daily governmental issues, however, when the situation warrants, the king gives his opinions and are highly accepted by Thai politicians and society.

Indian metaphors: Nataraj: The Dancing Shiva

The Dancing of Shiva represents for Indian society the main important aspects of Hinduism. In addition, represents the cycles of creation and destruction and the daily rhythm of birth and death. This representation was developed during the Chola period (880-1279 CE) and gained rapid recognition by Indian society throughout the years.

The four hands of Lord Shiva represents the four cardinal directions (north, east, south, and west) Finally, the dance of Shiva also represents his five activities: 'Shrishti' (creation, evolution); 'Sthiti' (preservation, support); 'Samhara' (destruction, evolution); 'Tirobhava' (illusion); and 'Anugraha' (release, emancipation, grace).

Guanxi and Mianzi by Doctor Pablo Echavarria

When talking about Guanxin and Mianzi, we are talking about Chinese culture itself. Guanxi means personal connections or favour-sharing relationship with individuals. Guanxi is use in every aspect of the Chinese culture to get objectives or solve problems; that is why the Chinese people pays a lot of attention in the connections. As Doctor Pablo says, “In China, does not matter what you know, matter the people you know” meaning that there is not impossible if you have friends in the right place.

While in other parts of the world doing business could be something easy, in China is not. Chinese people pays a lot of attention in Guanxi or building relations; that is why when closing a deal meetings could extend for a couple of weeks or months. This is because, for Chinese people is primordial to get to know the other counterpart and expends a lot of time doing so. They will invite you to several banquets or informal meetings sessions to drink tea with the main objective of getting to know everything related with you and your family and they would like you to know their family.

By the other hand, we have the concept of Mianzi. Mianzi means Face or reputation and defines the role (hierarchy) of a person within the society. Reputation in China is much more important in Chinese society that in western societies. Losing face in the Chinese society represents not only a problem for the person also represents a problem for all the family.

Research question

Is there a concept similar to Guanxi in other Asian countries?

The Korean and Japanese societies have similar concepts to Guanxi. However, Korea and Japan put attentions in other things that creating a favour-sharing relation with individuals.

For Japanese society, the concept is known as Wa or harmony, “group loyalty, and consensus building.  Developing long-term relationships and plans, and loyalty to an organization or company are very important in Japan.  Loyalty to an organization or company is placed above loyalty to individuals”. In other words, Wa means the construction of loyalty within the company (Cultural Savvy, 2014)

For Korean society, the focus is "inhwa", or harmony as defined by the Confucian system.  It is a system of loyalty between unequals such as ruler-subject, husband-wife, father-son (Cultural Savvy, 2014).

As conclusion, even though countries share similar concepts they are focus in different things; while Chinese focus on building favour-sharing relations, Japanese builds loyalty within the company or organization and Korean builds loyalty towards family.  

Bibliography

British Broadcasting Company . (s.f.). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/

Cultural Savvy. (2014). Cultural Savvy . Retrieved from http://www.culturalsavvy.com/did_you_know_archives_2.htm

Echavarria, P. (11 de Marzo de 2015). Confucianismo, Cultura y Etiqueta en China. Medellín .