Challenges and Opportunities in International Management Report

This report examines the challenges and opportunities of international management, focusing on a case study involving Shonteur Inc. and its executive, John Thompson. It explores issues such as language barriers, cultural differences, and the impact of leadership styles on a global workforce. The report evaluates the challenges of managing employees across borders, highlighting the importance of understanding local culture, values, and behaviors. It analyzes the problems encountered, such as miscommunication due to language differences and the failure of participative leadership in a specific cultural context. The report proposes measures to prevent these problems, including open learning, increased interaction with workers, and cultural analysis. Additionally, it discusses the positive and negative aspects of international business, offering advice to managers on accountability, leadership style, and social interaction to improve international management practices.

International
Management: Part 2

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. Evaluate the challenges & opportunities to manage global workforce which helps in
achieving organizational goals.....................................................................................................1
2.The reason as to why the problem occurred are explained below:...........................................2
3.Measures to prevent problems of international management: .................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
International management required the various knowledge & skills which is more than
normal business experience. Where they are familiar with the business regulation which helps in
organizational operations, understand the local culture, value or behavior of individual. Company
should have capacity to include the multiple currency for the transactions. This report focused on
the given case study which is about Shonteur Inc. where John Thompson is the executive of
wine whole seller company and it will be based on Massachusetts USA. This report include the
various topics such as various challenges & opportunities which divers the global workforce and
achieve organizational goals. In addition, it include the factors which contribute to the notion of
a globalized economy and increase the awareness regarding accountable international policies
(Brustbauer, 2016).
MAIN BODY
1. Evaluate the challenges & opportunities to manage global workforce which helps in achieving
organizational goals
Establishing bases at international platform is not an easy task, the owners have to deal
with several challenges while managing people across borders. As stated in the case study John
Thompson an executive was appointed as head in Shouter Inc. In order to manage any entity or
subsidiary the most important requirement is to engage the workers into the activities of
business. Change in economy, culture, language, behaviour and political are some of the factors
that act as roadblock in the management. Several managers learn about the society perceptive,
language and behaviour so that they can adjust themselves with new surrounding.
Language barrier: Difference in language is one of the key issue that managers faced
when moved to new places. This may look as important but this is one of the significant factor
that can affect the profitability of business. As John was aware with the language used
Massachusetts, no problem was faced with respect to communication. But in France linguistic
barrier created ruckus. Having strong knowledge about language is essential to communicate
properly. Studies have said that over 65% US business entities faced language barrier which led
to inefficiency in business. Manger needed to communicate about different aspects like what are
the objectives of organisation? What strategies will be taken to deal with uncertain problems?
How objectives can be achieved etc. Even on day to day basis workers should be instructed
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about the procedures. Most of the employees especially low level workers did not have
understanding of English language and majority of them speaks and understands French. This led
to lot of miscommunication and confusion (Driouchi and Bennett, 2012).
Culture: These are the values, beliefs, perception and behaviour which specific territory
own. Before expanding bases at foreign lands managers should evaluates the characteristics
possessed by that particular society. Many companies change their way of doing business in
order to adjust themselves with the norms of country. The difference in the society is because
generation is brought up in a similar fashion. For example Chinese insist on forming relationship
due to this foreign business operating there have to interact with locals entities on social level.
Though France is diverse country but majority of the people are not very comfortable with
foreigners due to the colonial past. It was one of the most difficult challenge which John had to
face. French people are known for following rules and regulation which makes them less tolerant
about any inappropriate behaviour at workplace. This was the reason that John was apprehensive
while taking risks.
Business attitude: The businesses have to adopt certain attitude, etiquette and habits
which are used by the local companies in international market. Every country has a distinctive
way of dealing with the market situations. However John has experience of working in
California, USA, Nepa velly but in France difficulties was faced with respect to this aspect. For
example french people put lot of emphasis on punctuality, greeting others with warmness and
appearance. John had to comply to these measures and extra efforts were taken to overcome
these problems (Fan, Zhang and Zhu, 2013).
These were the general issues that every company faces in international territory. But
using certain leadership style can also be a challenge that managers face. As per the case study it
is known that Thompson believes in using participative style. This is the style in which in
managers take inputs of employees. It helps in building strong workforce that takes initiatives
into the affairs of business. John adopted this method in in all the previous companies as well as
in French subsidiary. Before taking final decisions french supervisors were asked about their
point of view. The purpose of doing so was to increase their morale and productivity. However
this practice failed. Instead of being motivated employees felt anxiety, dissatisfaction and low
morale.
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2.The reason as to why the problem occurred are explained below:
Unskilled workers: This could one of the factor which caused anxiety in the workforce.
Many people that working in the subsidiary are not aware with benefits of this type of
leadership . They might think that by giving their opinions they will be subjected to criticism.
Hesitation stops them from expressing freely. When people puts too much stress on what need to
said and how it will be perceived this can lead to dissatisfaction and low morale. Thus employees
were not able to handle this style of leadership.
Manager's perception: Sometimes thinking from other's perceptive is equally important
which John failed to understand. It is not necessary that participative management works in
every country. People in America have different desires and expectations than French in terms of
working culture or other valuable factors. This can be another reason which led to the failure of
participative style as employees perhaps may not be comfortable. They might think that they are
being questioned unnecessarily (Gundolf and Filser, 2013).
3.Measures to prevent problems of international management:
Open to learning: The first and foremost step that every management should take is to
be more open to the diversity that comes with new places. John should be open to learning new
language and culture. Several businesses are not expanding huge sum of money in order to
overcome linguistic barrier. This would help in solving the problem of communication with the
employees.
More interaction with workers: Interacting with employees on regular basis will
develop a sense of bond through which expectations will be shared mutually. Creating more
transparency about the organisation's practices, objectives etc. this will help achieving their trust.
Discussion are required to be take place at workplace, in French subsidiary John can organise
small events on weakly basis. This would allow workers to shed their inhabitation and talk freely
on different subject matters (Lauring and Selmer, 2012).
Culture analysis: Another step that needs to be taken by every business entity is
concerned with studying about all the necessary details of market. This includes their beliefs,
values, attitudes and perception which should be taken into consideration by the all the
managers. Different techniques like interacting with established business houses or local retailers
can provide help in understanding the French culture.
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Class room sessions: Parent company can conduct classroom sessions for managers in
which they will be given guidance about foreign land. Using this techniques organisation prepare
future managers, so that they will be able to deal with dynamics of market effectively. Also in
this section managers will be given feedback from time to time about how they are perceived by
the other team members and whether they should make any changes in their way of leadership
style or not.
Every experience teaches some thing whether positive or negative, John in the same way
gained perceptive about different aspects. Some of the positive and negative aspects are
discussed below:
Positive aspects:
Patience and open: Working on france might have been cultural shock for most of the
people but this helps in increasing knowledge about how differently people react to certain
situations. Gaining knowledge about various cultures increases the manager's ability to deal
patiently and effectively. From business entities that have headquarters in one country and
subsidiaries in global economy one can gain learning about how company can effectively
business at international platforms (Leithwood and Hallinger, 2012).
Solving problems: Another learning that is part of this process is concerned with
manager's ability to find solutions of different problems. While working internationally mangers
encounter problems like inability to understand varied cultural preference. New ideas and
techniques will be developed to solve such issues. Use of appropriate measures will lead to
growth of company. The way other businesses have dealt with market dynamics defines the
effective measures which manager can take in order to enhance the profitability of business.
Career opportunities: One of the significant advantage that one can experience on
personal level is of attaining various potential opportunities that comes from going international.
Cross culture experience will provide manager's top position in the company. Therefore it is
beneficial to get out of comfort zone and experiencing new cultures.
Negative experience:
Mental stress: Managers have to constantly juggle between the two countries this causes
stress and anxiety. For example Taking orders from parent company and then converting it into
the foreign language in order to make employees acceptable towards the decision making can be
very hectic (Lewin, 2014).
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Non Cooperation from employees: It has also been experienced that employees of
international territory are reluctant to accept the changes brought by the managers who does not
share their beliefs or values.
Delay in decision making: The decisions taken by the mangers like John, are delayed as
they go through multiple sources like taking approval from government or by following rules
regulations of particular country (Testa and Sipe, 2012).
Future experience of other companies: There are various companies that are executing
business activities at global level where their headquarter is in one country and their subsidiary
in another country. Such types of entities are KFC, L'Oreal, Amazon, McDonald's, Marriott etc.
all of them acquire benefits and also face some issues. All of them are as follows:
Positive aspects: When companies have headquarters in one country and subsidiary in
another then it helps them to acquire higher profits by increasing the sales. It also helps to cover
larger market area.
Negative aspects: Having headquarter in one country and subsidiary in another country
creates issues for the organisations because they have to adopt the culture of that nation and if
company fails in this task then it can result in failure at international level.
Advice given to Thompson:
Accountability: As every actions has some sort of consequences therefore managers
should be more accountable. Taking responsibility towards the employees irrespective of cultural
differences will help in removing hesitation of people with respect to risks. If John gives an
impression that employees can completely rely on him in case of emergency they will perform
more effectively.
Change in leadership style: As it can be understood from the case study that French
supervisors were not comfortable with the democratic management some other approach can be
used in place of it. Bureaucratic style is suggested to John, this is an effective form of leadership
in which employees have to follow the instructions and procedures made by the management.
Social interaction: John should build effective relationship with employees for this
purpose interaction should be made with employees. This will lead to sharing of expectations
and ideas. Long term relationship with workers helps in increasing their morale and satisfaction
(Tietze, 2013). With the help of it, negative impact of executing business at global level which is
faced by the company can be reduced as it will help to establish good relation with employees.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that international management is the
foundation of business. No business can survive if managers does not know how to handle cross
culture difference. Managers have to face various difficulties like linguistic barrier, political
barrier, cultural and different business attitude. Religion and ethnicities shape the behaviour,
perception and belief of people. Therefore overcoming these challenges is essential for the
managers. Such problems can be prevented if managers are given training to become more open
and accepting to diversity. The positive outcome of this are increased knowledge and growth
opportunities while negative are concerned with non cooperation from employees and delay in
decision making.
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REFERENCES
Books and references
Brustbauer, J., 2016. Enterprise risk management in SMEs: Towards a structural
model. International Small Business Journal. 34(1). pp.70-85.
Driouchi, T. and Bennett, D.J., 2012. Real options in management and organizational strategy: A
review of decision‐making and performance implications. International Journal of
Management Reviews. 14(1). pp.39-62.
Fan, D., Zhang, M.M. and Zhu, C.J., 2013. International human resource management strategies
of Chinese multinationals operating abroad. Asia Pacific Business Review. 19(4).
pp.526-541.
Gundolf, K. and Filser, M., 2013. Management research and religion: A citation analysis. Journal
of Business Ethics. 112(1). pp.177-185.
Lauring, J. and Selmer, J., 2012. International language management and diversity climate in
multicultural organizations. International Business Review, 21(2), pp.156-166.
Leithwood, K.A. and Hallinger, P. eds., 2012. Second international handbook of educational
leadership and administration (Vol. 8). Springer Science & Business Media.
Lewin, A.Y., 2014. Emerging economies open unlimited opportunities for advancing
management and organization scholarship. Management and Organization
Review. 10(1). pp.1-5.
Testa, M.R. and Sipe, L., 2012. Service-leadership competencies for hospitality and tourism
management. International journal of hospitality management. 31(3). pp.648-658.
Tietze, S., 2013. International management and language. In International management and
language (pp. 67-84). Routledge.
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