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| Category: Business |
Date published: September 16, 2004 |
 In the past few days students from various classes that I facilitate this semester did their presentations on multiple interesting topics. Although the subjects varied from management principles to workplace diversity issues, there were some commonalities among them. The main consistency in all of these subjects is, of course, that they are all, in foundation, business and management related. But there is more under the surface, which is why I tried to produce a list of the most valuable statements I could extract from these presentations. And who knows! Maybe one or more of them may hit home for you! Here we go:
* No matter how small the business one operates in, it remains important to keep the global picture in mind. We are, after all, constantly competing on a global level, whether we are running a mom-and-pop store or a dot com. Besides, we never know what the future has in store for us. That is why having some basic insights into the fact that the world does not only consist of our culture and habits, but of many others as well, is a good point to start with. A valuable thought to cherish in this regard may be that, as a manager, you want to maintain a geocentric perspective, which is the awareness that representatives from every part of the world can contribute to a good outcome, and that people should therefore be given a chance on basis of merit and not on basis of their descent. The worst a manager can do is to take an ethnocentric standpoint, and believe that only his or her culture provides quality outcomes. The second worst idea is to be polycentric, whereby the manager considers the people in a host country to know best, and wanting to leave it all up to them.
* Every leading person has to show some determination when push comes to shove. Even Mother Theresa, a woman who was mostly known for her softness and empathy toward the less fortunate ones in India, could sternly put her foot down when she wanted to get something done. Nothing wrong with that, as long as the goal is noble enough, and not self-centered at the expense of others.
* There are glorious times and less celebrated ones for every person. The art is to change your strategy when the signs of dissatisfaction take on an enduring character. In the case of Michael Eisner, the once so revered and now so reviled Disney CEO, there was a time when a rigid approach worked excellently. However, times have changed. Unwillingness to recognize that, and subsequently adjust tactics and mannerisms, may become catastrophic.
* It is important to know one's weaknesses and strengths. Walt Disney had big dreams and worked hard to realize them. However, he knew that his day-to-day managing skills were meager. That's why he hired a family member with excellent organizational skills to take care of that part. It should not be underestimated what the value of this person in Disney's time has meant to the ongoing existence of the Disney Company. It is wonderful to have the skills for picking out the right forest, but it is invaluable to know which trees to chop down and which ones to nurture.
* Not all companies make a point of mentioning their diversity performance on their websites. Yet, this absence does not necessarily mean that these companies discriminate. It may actually even be interesting to consider that some of these non-diversity stressing organizations originate from - or are located in - countries where diversity does not have to be emphasized, because it is seen as a normal way of living. Having to stress a diversity-oriented policy may very well be an act resulting from a homogeneity-oriented past of either the company itself, or of the society in which it operates.
* With the right wording, every social order can be ridiculed: even our own. Some of the readers of this article may already know the text about the Nacirema, but my students did not. According to the author of this article, the Nacirema, an odd society of the Western Hemisphere, has a number of outrageous rites and rituals that members from different cultures perceive as plainly preposterous. He describes the society's obsession with the human body and its desperate attempts to modify it in every thinkable way, and to hide it whenever possible. He explains about the inhabitants' adherence to a magical box, in which they keep potions of all kinds for all possible diseases; and their seeming masochism, which is expressed in their regular visits to the mouth healer and the latipso, a place where people endure extreme hardships and pains, and have to pay for that! It is only much later, that it becomes obvious that this author, in his intriguing way, presented us a mirror of our own habits, complete with reference to our constant beautification surgeries; our ever present medicine cabinets; our dental visits, and our hospitalization processes (Read the words "Nacirema" and "Latipso" backwards). Once that insight is gained, though, the reader cannot help but realize that, through the eyes of others, who practice different sets of habits, our culture may seem rather peculiar. It is this insight that every manager should maintain in order to work up the right amount of empathy toward other societies and their useful knowledge.
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