1

The Global Manager International Management May 25, 2010

Abstract

2
Nowadays we live in a globalized world and most companies are either global, international, or in the process of becoming one. With this new trend and process having come forth in the world, managers are now facing new obstacles and challenges. It is important for a manager to understand what new things they have to deal with as the companies they control become more international and engage new practices and markets. Manager now must be global and change their mentality to fit the new challenges companies are facing today

3
Nowadays we live in a globalized world and most companies are either global, international, or in the process of becoming one. With this new trend and process having come forth in the world, managers are now facing new obstacles and challenges. It is important for a manager to understand what new things they have to deal with as the companies they control become more international and engage new practices and markets.

What is globalization though? Covering a wide range of distinct political, economic, and cultural trends, the term globalization has quickly become one of the most fashionable buzzwords of contemporary political and academic debate. In popular discourse, globalization often functions as little more than a synonym for one or more of the following phenomena: the pursuit of classical liberal, free market, policies in the world economy (economic liberalization), the growing dominance of western forms of political, economic, and cultural life, the proliferation of new information technologies (the Internet Revolution), as well as the notion that humanity stands at the threshold of realizing one single unified community in which major sources of social conflict have vanished (global integration). (Scheuerman, 2002)

The effects of Globalization exert intense influence on the financial condition as well as the industrial sector of a particular nation. Globalization gives birth to markets based on industrial productions across the world. This in turn, widens the access to a diverse variety of foreign commodities for consumption of the customers, owing to the marketing strategies undertaken by different corporations. In the world economic arena, Globalization facilitates the formation of a common worldwide market, on the basis of

4
the liberal exchange of both cash and kinds. As far as Political Globalization is concerned, it helps in the formation of a world government to normalize the existing interactions among countries. It also ensures the rights emerging out of Economic and Social Globalizations. (Scholte, 2000)

Of the many pressing questions that CEOs of global multinationals face, one remains constant: Where will I find the next generation of global managers? Traditionally, multinationals have recruited most of their top executives from their home countries; this is especially true in the head offices of firms based in major power countries such as the United States, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. But this approach is changing: Companies recognize that it produces too narrow a pool of candidates and can have a demotivating impact on foreign high-potential employees who view their careers as limited by their nationality. Why bother striving to become an executive at Toyota if one is a gaijin and not Japanese? As firms evolve from nationally centric to multinational to truly transitional new approaches, they must adopt new solutions.

Research suggests new managers need a number of characteristics; one of the most important being the ability to understand, empathize, and work with multiple cultures. A multinational company investing around the world will face clients and customers from cultures totally different from that of the home country. For example, business in Latin America is based very much on relationships of personal trust: One gets to know a Mexican or Argentinian boss before one presents him with a formal contract. In France, one deals directly with the powerful patron at the top. In Germany, on the other hand, written rules and procedures are all-important: A foreign manager seeking to speak to a

5
German CEO will immediately be directed to the appropriate department head. In contrast to Germany's strict written rules, the Japanese operate on strict unwritten rules, known as kata. Job security is considered in America to produce a mediocre employee, but in Japan, the lack of job security will do the same. The French admire intellectual prowess, the Americans short-term success; Australians are often wary of both. (Bartlet, 1992)

The old model of multinationals-styled after how the British ran their empire, in which each country manager was sovereign and little was shared between subsidiaries-is a sound approach in a limited set of industries. For most, however, regional if not global integration and synergies are paramount. In such industries, managers will spend a considerable amount of their careers in foreign countries and will need to manage and coordinate with people who have different views of the world than their own.

Because of all these changes managers are no longer just company managers, but global ones. A manager has to be prepared to work with different cultures, different markets, and different needs and has to have better leadership skills in order to lead the company to success. Companies wont succeed without an adequate management. Management is one of the most important things for businesses to succeed today. The growth of a knowledge-based workforce has led to a greater focus on people performance rather than asset performance and has changed how they will be managing the workplace.

There is increasing evidence that large scale globalization is rendering traditional ways of doing business largely irrelevant. There is a growing need for managers to become

6
global managers with a global perspective. A global perspective consists of a global mindset supported by appropriate skills and knowledge. Managers have a number of mindsets that range from the domestically-oriented, continuing on to the explorer, the controller, and the globally-oriented integrator. For global managers to be effective, they need to develop the global mindset of an integrator. A global mindset allows meaningful global strategizing that requires managers to effectively integrate the three global forces of: global business, regional/country pressures, and worldwide functions. A global mindset and a holistic global strategy should create conditions to build the worldwide organization characterized by specialization, interdependency, and coordination. A global outlook is a process of moving an organizations structure, process, people, and culture from a set of highly autonomous business units to one that becomes an integrated and effective global network. (Mukherji, 1999)

The rise of shareholder value as a primary measure of company performance and the growing influence of the corporate governance movement have also had a dramatic impact on the way executives think and act. Other challenges will come from dealing with different age groups of employees. Over the next 15 years, there will be three different generations in the workplace at the same time, each with very different needs and aspirations. Baby Boomers will no longer dominate and Generations X and Y will play a much larger role. Managers will be expected to manage a workforce spanning these three age groups and acquire specific leadership and management skills including managing a generation of older workers who, thanks to the economic collapse and recession, will not retire in the traditional manner.

7
Globally, mangers will have to come to grips with a world economy increasingly shaped by the emergence of China, Brazil, India and others as major economic powers. They will face global labor markets and complex environments generated by moving operations overseas and other strategies for operating in several different countries.

The next ten years promise further transformation and with that change will come a new agenda for executive education and development. As a result, they will need more sophisticated strategies to engage in the global market. They will travel frequently and spend a greater part of their business careers outside their own country. To help prepare them for this expanded role they will need to be proficient in:

Recruiting, hiring, and developing talent around the world Acquisition and diversification strategies encompassing a global outlook Business and market expansion opportunities worldwide Understanding international politics Managing global supply chains Environmental challenges that will vary greatly by country Communication across the organization in several different languages Organizational change challenges in different cultures International Law and exchange rates Risk management priorities in different parts of the world

In addition to all these it is very important to address some other important skills a global manager must develop:

8
Ability to develop and use global strategic skills Global managers will require a working knowledge of international relationships and foreign affairs. Ability to manage change and transition Constantly fine-tuning the balance between global and local pressures under changing competitive conditions. Ability to manage cultural diversity. Cultural awareness or how another persons culture affect his or her behavior, and self awareness or understanding how our culture affects our behavior. It is not sufficient to understand how other differ, if we dont understand how we also differ. Ability to design and function in flexible organization structures The best managers are already creating borderless organizations where the ability to learn, to be responsive and to be efficient occurs within the firms administrative heritage. Ability to work with others and inn teams With the increased complexity of global operation the ability to function in work teams, especially in culturally diverse ones, is even more important. Ability to communicate It is obvious that the global environments managers will need to communicate with diverse groups of people. To do so effectively will require multilingual skills and high levels of cross cultural awareness and sensitivity. Ability to learn and transfer knowledge in an organization Broad interest, and openness to a variety of experiences and a willingness to experiment and to take risks are all ingredients of success. (Beamish, 2003)

9
The most important skill that manager should have is leadership. This was as important and true 200 hundred years ago as it is today, maybe even more. Leadership is the attribute that separates successful companies from mediocre ones. The old way of analyzing leadership divided it into three basic styles: authoritarian, democratic and laissez-faire. The authoritarian, or autocratic, manager uses a commanding style. Do as I say, because I am the boss. This style is based on the power of the position. The democratic, or participative manager (sometimes called authoritative), on the other hand has a style that includes participation and greater equality between the leader and followers. This leader asks, What do you think? and may make some decisions by majority rule.

The Laissez-faire, or free reign, manager has a style which is unengaged in leadership, and simply lets people do their own thing with the leader exerting few controls. The free reign style can be good or bad, depending on whether the followers are high performers or not. Good performers need free reign to perform best, but for beginners and marginal performers this style is completely ineffective. However this style has been very popular lately because of the trend of giving the employees more power over what they do.

Newer conceptions of leadership agree on two types of leadership in management: the transactional leader, who is focused on operations or the business of the organization and the transformational, who is focused on creating a new and shared vision of the future. This transactional mangers goal is to maintain the status quo. In this conception leadership rests on the unspoken agreement between leader and employee, in which

10
the leader is in charge, and the employee, by accepting the job, agrees to that fact. The transformational manager, on the other hand, worries on how to get from where the situation currently is to where it is needed to be. The status quo is no longer enough. This style seeks to transform the organization.

The world we live in today has turned so competitive and fierce that it is very difficult for any manager, or leader for that matter, to use any specific manual or predetermined style. A true global manager must be prepared for change and shifting situations. The global manager must be malleable and react according to specific situations with specific characteristics and specific people. A true leader will not be molded by the situation by instead mold it and lead its company towards success.

11
References

Bartlet, G. (1992). What is a Global Manager? Harvard Business Review . Beamish, M. I. (2003). International Management. New York City, NY: McGraw-Hill. Mukherji, B. L. (1999). Global managers: developing a mindset for global competitiveness. Journal of World Business , 230-251 . Scheuerman, W. (2002, June 21). Stanford Encyclopedia of Phylosophy. Retrieved May 23, 2010 Scholte, J. A. (2000). Globalization: A Critical Introduction.