International Challenges And Opportunities For Managers Operating (Essay Sample)

Global Management
Name
Institution
Global Management
Introduction
Predominantly, global management refers to the process of applying management techniques and concepts in a multinational environment and adapting management practices to different economic, cultural, and political environments. This process involves the incorporation of knowledge on social practices, history, culture, and business to enable companies to identify opportunities in international communities and allow them to work successfully in foreign cultures (Park, 2010). That said it is simply the practice of applying controlling and directing techniques and concepts in international organizations. Ideally, global management is assessed from the different functions of an organization namely human resources, marketing, finance, legal issues, and research and development among others. As follows, the term global management is applicable to firms that have personnel ranging over managers, executives, and technicians situated overseas and are knowledgeable on business operations in foreign territories. As such, the concept of global management is particularly imperative for firms that intended on establishing new customer bases in foreign nations as different countries host different beliefs and cultures, which will ultimately affect ways in which the companies conduct their operations. Further, the placement of an employee in a foreign state is accompanied with compliance to the foreign nations labor laws since countries with high levels of unemployment discourage employment of foreigners (Kawar, 2012). Secondly, the concept enlightens managers on ways of procuring right business permits to operate in foreign land and ensuring that products and services comply with the laws of the said state. Lastly, international managers are enlightened on the concept of culture and ways in which it impacts management of global companies. That said the present paper will examine opportunities and challenges faced by international managers.
Opportunities for Managers Globally
For global managers, conducting business operations in a global market offers numerous opportunities to the company and manager alike ranging over increased market share, learning from diverse cultures, diverse experience, and career development. Like any other profit making venture, international brands are equally concerned about increasing sales which is in tandem with increasing company market shares (Kawar, 2012). For a majority of the global brands, operating on a global scale indicates that the company has saturated the local market hence, there is need to expand to other markets, which is in turn accompanied by increased sales and market share. However, this is not to say that the company’s main motive is to gain profits rather, it is a combination of fulfilling a niche in the market and increasing sales. This in turn implies that the company will gain a greater market share.
On another note, global operations present senior personnel with the opportunity to visit numerous countries, and experience new customs and cultures. Seeing as each country hosts a diverse system of beliefs, business ethics, and arts among other cultural factors, managerial staff have an added advantage of acquiring knowledge on these fields, which in turn increases their value to the firm (Park, 2010). Alongside gaining insight on new cultures, staffs are exposed to foreign languages, which facilitate in-depth understanding of different cultures and are seemingly useful in and outside the work environment. Nonetheless, one’s appreciation for diversity determines the interaction between the individual and people from different ethnic and racial backgrounds, which in turn impacts on the person’s ability to gain understanding of the different cultures. Aside from advancing knowledge on culture, personnel operating in international companies are presented with the opportunities to learn from leading international brands. Whereas a company’s brand cannot be a leader in every market it operates on, leading brands in other products and services in the same country can serve as case studies for ways in which the company can advance its brand in certain countries.
Seemingly, international assignments offer a platform for career development and personal growth for company managers, executives, and personnel on all levels who are involved in the assignment. Whereas education in global management might equip one with necessary skill, international experience enables managers to advance their cultural literacy, expand professional network, facilitate mastery of foreign language, and expand one’s business perspective (Smith, 2013). In regards to mastery of foreign languages, a majority of foreign employers require senior management to have mastery of two or more foreign languages in order to be considered for the advertised positions. In some instances, managers are required to attend work summits and trainings after which they are awarded with certificates of completion, which serve to boost their curriculum vitae. On another note, in the course of their travels, managers have a global access to a greater pool of skilled talent. Such meetings can be facilitated by work summits and conferences held in different countries where managers are able to meet talent and conduct a first-hand analysis of their skills. In other cases, the human resource is able to conduct virtual work teams throughout the company where employees based in multiple countries can interact and share ideas on ways to meet organizational objectives.
Challenges for Managers Globally
Even though managers operating in international organizations are faced with numerous challenges ranging over diversity management, rules and regulation to compliance, adaptability, and culture change, the main challenge is centered on culture and cultural factors, and diversity. With increased globalization, present-day managers primary challenge is diversity management, particularly, workforce diversity that acknowledges that personnel differ in social status, gender, age, marital status, religion, sexual orientation, personality, disability, background, culture, and ethnicity. In this regard, managers are required to ensure that taskforce operate to their full potential by guaranteeing an equitable work environment where no individual has an advantage or disadvantage over others in the firm (Onday, 2016). The main challenge, however, in this aspect is the issue of competency where managers tend to attribute competency to certain cultural attributes rather than the actual skills of individual employees. Nonetheless, to tackle such, managers can adapt a multi-country approach where by programs and initiatives of the company in a certain nation are developed, implemented, and maintained by various personnel in the locales. In addition, management of diverse workforce is accompanied with poor communication, which then leads to misinterpretation and poor office/working relationships.
Whereas operating in a global market provides an opportunity to learn diverse cultures, interacting with different cultures can also pose as a challenge for the manager particularly in terms of organizational culture (Luthans & Doh, 2015). Since organizational culture influences the shared norms and values among professionals, having personnel in multiple countries is challenging as personnel in each country might hold diverse work-related norms and values in spite of the fact that they work for one company. This is owing to the fact that culture and background greatly influence values of staffs. For instance, whereas Latin cultures promote work flexibility and relationships, the U.S culture advances adherence to time over flexibility and working relationships. Research shows that cultural factors such as masculinity index and individualism greatly affect organizational cultures in different organizations. According to Luthans and Doh (2015), masculinity refers to the situation in which the society mainly values monetary and material possession whereas individualism refers to the trait of being concerned for one’s need. That said countries with low masculinity index uphold values such as cooperation while countries with high masculinity index uphold values such as economic growth and increased sales.
Another major challenge for businesses operating globally is adaptation to multiple and diverse cultures. To facilitate adaptation, managers need to have an understanding of perceptions, values, cultural diversity, and stereotypes. In particular, companies have resulted to conducting research on cultural attitudes and dimensions in countries where they have operations (Luthans & Doh, 2015). In spite of this, however, managers are cautioned to avoid over generalization as individual differences equally affect their overall organizational culture.
Ostensibly, as a majority of the firms expand their global operations in an attempt to increase profits, they are faced with several challenges such as new regulatory environments and local and international competition (Park, 2010). Foremost, companies assume that having a global brand guarantees them success whenever they choose to expand, however, foreign markets have shown that they equally embrace their local brands. Therefore, to increase success rate in local markets, international brands’ should enter into joint ventures with domestic brands. Likewise, local brands attempting to expand to international markets face similar challenges in regards to competition. For instance, the Australian airline, Qantas, is experiencing international competition in international air routes from existing airlines (Massola, Kenny & Aston, 2014). In spite of its financial success, the company might be forced to lower prices in attempt to compete for clients with existing bra...