The Corporation

Corporations are no longer just independent companies or invisible beings of the society, they have become individuals that must be treated with the same or almost the same rights than the humans, why? … Corporations are able to make the same things that an individuals can, the can buy and sell properties; they can make loans, sign contracts and even commit crimes.



However, it is important to note that corporations, in most of the cases do not act alone, therefore it is important to seek human makers who made decisions. Thus, the problem must be attacked in two lines, the corporation as an entity that can be loaded with legal implications, and as a living person in most cases making it directs the company. A distinctive line must be drawn at a point that marks the extent of the operations of the company itself, legal sanctions must be present. In the first instance be human blame, then you must punish the company.

The International Organization for Migration

The International Organization for Migration is an intergovernmental organization created with the objective of providing secure and reliable services for the migrants that require international assistance in migration. Since the creation of this organization, it’s been seeking to protect and search for the effective respect of the Human Rights of Migrants.
The IOM works in a base of for grand areas of migration management:


Source: IOM online webpage

The IOM has various functions, in which the IOM & Gender issues can be found. One of the main issues involved is the encouragement of women by enhancing gender balance in terms of treatment to these people and supporting the development of women within the organization, whether is personal, social or economical. A program I found worth of bringing into this topic is “Migrant women for development in Africa”, because it acknowledges the importance of women in the development of the area, encouraging them to be successful entrepreneurs and help avoiding discrimination because of status. The WMIDA supports African women migrants that moved to Italy and are interested in setting up business in their home countries by making Joint Ventures with Italian Companies. For further information, please read the following 7-page article Call for Proposals, which may be very helpful both for our information and the IOM’s research development. Link: http://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/shared/mainsite/microsites/mida/call_for_proposals_en.pdf

I also found this interesting and fun to watch video, I’d like everyone to watch it, and it is really interesting. It’s an animation of a metaphor of migration, in which the migrants try to find in several tries the correct way to migrate to another place. It caused a bit of an impact in me and I think it is worth sharing.



Bibliography
www.iom.int
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isxhSsCNTUI

Mergers and Acquisitions

First of all, we need a definition of these two trendy moves in the business world of today. A merger, according to what Business Link Government webpage from the UK says, is “A merger is when you integrate your business with another and share control of the combined businesses with the other owner(s)” (BSL, N/A). In easy words, it is when two companies become one in all meanings, for example Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham.

And an acquisition is, as stated by the Business Link, is “An acquisition is when you buy another business and end up controlling it” (BSL, N/A). To put this in easier words is harder than to understand that definition. In some cases, acquisitions can be friendly or not, it depends if the company bought expresses its desire to be bought or not, which is not the majority of the cases.

My case study, for matters of the task, is one that I found very interesting. This article says that the rumors of the famous de-merger of Air India and Indian Airlines are fake and no more than just rumors. The ministry of civil aviation said that “The merger was a carefully thought-out process and a collective decision of all agencies of the government. We have no move afoot for the Air India-Indian Airlines demerger (…)”.
This is an interesting article I decided to share with everybody.
At last but not least, here’s a News Video from an Indian news program called 24x7. This video shows the main points within the merger when it was made.

You can find a good example of this subject in the following video:


Bibliography
Mergers and Acquisitions http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1074407579
Air India and Indian Airlines merger case http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/business/air-india-indian-airlines-merger-to-stay-lead_100310655.html
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIMFEPhetd4

Ubuntu philosophy as a tool in Management

“I am who I am because of who we all are” (translation by Leymah Gbowee) is the famous phrase that expresses the strong relationship and dependence every one of us has with each other. This sentence is the basic principle that defines a humanist philosophy called Ubuntu. Main premises of this philosophy are:

· Extended family is important: " I belong, Therefore I am"

· Decisions by consensus

· Social Harmony is important

· Rewards are shared as well as suffering

Due to the great importance this way of thinking attributes to maintaining relationships, people believing this have great respect for the ones surrounding them, as well as their family and friends, thinking of everyone as a big organization that could not work without these good beliefs.

In seeing the importance of this concept in the African culture, The Ubuntu Mission was created in order to lead a way to leaders in business to keep in mind the importance of this issue and make them commit greatly to trust and understand others. As said before, this is an important issue that should be taken into account when managing people within an organization. This could be a common answer where the problem in an organization is not well spotted and the managing of relationships between individuals is not of main importance.

Video:

Bibliography:

Mangaliso, Mzamo (2003). Building competitive advantage from Ubuntu.

Putoobundo. Online http://putoubuntu.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/wallpapers-ubuntu/

Metaphors: COLOMBIAN HAMMOCKS ARE GOLDEN PETALS

Hello everyone,

Today I will discuss a very interesting topic, which combines psychology with the language through imagination. At issue are the metaphors. To start, what's a metaphor?

A metaphor is a figure of speech that speakers and writers use in which a word or phrase that denotes a certain object or idea is applied to another word or phrase to imply some similarity between them(How to study. 2010)

That is to say that a metaphor is a kind of comparison in which two things that are not alike in most ways are similar in one important way. (RHL School. 2010)

Clear examples of metaphors could be:

Your eyes are stars (Which means that her eyes are bright)

Your teeth are ivory (Which means that her teethes are really white)

Your lips are flowers(Which means that her lips are soft and perfumed)

The intention of this post is to create a good metaphor that is going to be applied to the promotion of a good or service.

The product I will use is ”Colombian Hammocks”

“COLOMBIAN HAMMOCKS ARE GOLDEN PETALS”

This sentence seeks to give a very attractive image to the product, because consumers will feel curious about a commodity that can have the strength and beauty of gold, with the softness and delicacy of a petal.

In the mind of the guest will be the idea of a product very soft, beautiful and colorful. With all the quality and the seal, of the Colombian products.

Strategy:

The strategy to enter new foreign markets has a lot to do with this metaphor, which is going to be the image of the company while it is well recognized and creates customer royalty.

-The product will be commercialized in a web page that must include the metaphor.

- The Hammocks are going to be designed only one time per collection, to assure exclusivity the company will only sell the same product in the same country 5 times.

- The curiosity of using a new product will be taken in advantage with aggressive advertising campaigns.

- The web page will be full of images and photos of the product

Bibliography:

RHL School. Metaphors. march 1999. Disponible [Online]: http://www.rhlschool.com/eng3n26.htm

Images taken from:

http://www.jardineria.pro/tag/regalar-plantas

http://opcionlibros.blogspot.com/

http://www.artesaniasmorroco.com/index.php?cPath=25&osCsid=9e72ebd307c9185692b8fe5d24ed80be

http://blogs.deia.com/inutilmanual/

Comments

Looking for a constructive critique to our classmates here I post me five comments to others blogs:

- Valentina Valencia BLog. Click HERE

hello Velentina ,

I love the way you explain the effect. Based on historical grounds it is easier to understand any theory. The example is great, so creative and moving. Those who have seen the movie certainly understand clearly how the effect is applied there. The encouragement of a child does bring up any parent.

I believe that relating this movie with the theory of which we spoke was very creative.

I recommend you take a look at my blog, you will find a vidio that clearly illustrates this effect.

- Natalia Toro Blog: Click HERE

Hello Natalia,

Great example, Pygamlion effect as a way to get what you expect is explained clearly with your example. In other blogs, including mine I have read a lot of examples using kids and teachers. With your post it is shown that this effect, when used properly, can produce excellent results within organizations. As the Ritz Carlton Hotel did, many other organizations should follow the example and use this kind of practice among workers especially those in positions related with customer service.

- Juliana martinez Blog: Click HERE

Hi Juliana,

I really enjoy your blog. I liked the example you used because it is very similar to the example that I use for my blog (which among other things I recommend you visit) I can not believe that the academic development of children can be affected that much by factors that could be considered as arbitrary for anyone.

The part I liked most of the post is the definition of four key factors exposed by Rosenthal. Those drivers of the pygamalion effect, give us great tools that are very useful in order to understand the way pygamlion effect works.

-Nicolas Arrazola Chalid Blog: Click HERE

Hello Nicolas,

The explanation of the effect is very clear, However, I think that the example you use is one of the best that I have read, after having developed a number of investigations on this subject, even I can not believe how important incentives are for a human beings.

I believe that we as future managers must learn to apply the Pygmalion effect within the organizations.

- Juan Camilos Vanegas Blog: Click HERE

Comment:

Hello Juan,

I enjoyed visiting all the blogs that you recommend, I find it a very productive exercise to set aside personal interests and leave open the possibility that those who follow you or the readers of your posts, can also enjoy the knowledge exposed by others.

Of your recommendations my favorite was the fist one. EcoPlaneta, it talks about climate change, a subject we all should care. I will begin using that blog a lot beacuse I am developing a research of green practices among colombian companies. Thanks for the information.

Images taken from:

http://www.taringa.net/posts/downloads/4126946/Folder-2-ISO-Crea-un-ISO-desde-una-carpeta.html

http://freelancewritinggigs.com/networkblogging/10-ever-so-helpful-lessons-in-blog-comment-etiquette/

Pygmalion Effect

Today I am going to talk about the Pygmalion Effect, this topic is really interesting and most people have heard about it. However it is difficult to find a accurate definition from common people. Pygmalion effect is the possibilities of affecting someone behavior based on the beliefs that you have in his or her abilities. This effect is also known as the self fulfilling prophecy (Digest, 2003).
In other words, the Pygmalion effect is a phenomenon in which with grater expectation placed on students, children or employees, you will get a better performance from them. This Effect may be seen in any place at any moment in a work ambient, scholar ambient or even at home. Using the Pygmalion effect managers and anyone in charge of personnel management can create better employees, just bringing them confidence. That is simply to say that potential creates potential.
In order to explain in a better way this topic I will took an investigation madeby Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson. This was a classic experiment made with elementary school children from 18 classrooms, in which they randomly chose 20% of the children from each room and told the teachers they were geniuses. Naturally and showingthe Pygmalion effect those children were the best of the best. As the research shows “The children, performed admirably, gaining an average of two IQ points in verbal ability, seven points in reasoning and four points in over all IQ.” (Rosenthal & Jacobson 1992).

At the end of the experiment the teachers were informed that those students were not genius, and that they were selected in the same way that teachers were selected, randomly.

In this video you will find a brief explanation of what is this effect about and a simple and useful example that will illustrate better the idea.




References:

Envision Software, Incorporated Tampa, Florida. Disponible[Online] http://www.envisionsoftware.com/articles/Pygmalion_Effect.html

Sehgal, A. The Pygmalion Effect - Belief in potential creates potential. 2009. Disponible [Online] http://www.chrmglobal.com/Replies/2953/1/The-Pygmalion-Effect-.html

Machaalani, M. The Pygamlion Effect. 2005. Disponible[Online] http://www.accomplishlife.com/blogs/8/The-Pygmalion-Effect.html

Images taken from:

http://thingaboutskins.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/my-friend-chad-victims-and-victory-and-those-visitors-who-want-indians-to-stay-virtually-the-same-part-1/

Video taken from:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wl_MZc1cTU&feature=related

Organizational Behavior

Today I am going to talk about Organizational Behavior and the way an International Business Manager can use some tools and have to develop some skills in order to be successful.

Organizational behavior could be defined as the analysis with concrete tools and a particular knowledge of the way people act inside the organizations, it could be the study of the way individuals behave and also the way a group of people behave. In other words, Organizational Behavior is “The understanding, prediction and management of human behavior in organizations.” (Kreitner, R. Kinici,. 2007).

Using these tools that study the behavior of people, international business managers will success in their decision making process easier, in addition, the will achieve more and better goals in less time to the organization interests, because he will know how to face challenges like Globalization, workforce diversity and Ethics, among their clients and employees.

An International Business Manager planning, organizing, delegating and controlling the organization interests is a fundamental element in the negotiation process that its organization id carrying out in order to achieve its goals, then, the main role of this agent is to supply the coordination, the encouragement, and the leadership to get to those goals in differing cultural and governmental environments. In order to success, any manager has to develop many skills that provide him the ability to survive in a multicultural world, without those skills it would be impossible to lead and coordinate any process.

The needed skills, as the Lansing Community Collage said are in the following areas“(…)leadership, creativity, communication, human relations, marketing, organizational development, accounting and economics(…)”(Leasing Community Collage. ttp://www.lcc.edu/business/mgmt_marketing/careers/intnatl_bus_mgr.aspx)

Managing appropriate skills in the international negotiation arena is a fundamental criteria for success in the global business environment. There are three levels that we as International Business students have to take into account in order to manage cultural differences, and those are Self, Interpersonal and organizational (Sizoo & Serrie, 2004)
“International business managers rate the ability to work with people of other cultures as the most important quality of success, particularly in overseas assignments” (Bhawuk & Brislin, 1992).

References:

Kreitner, R. Kinici, A. Organizational Behavior(Irwin/McGraw-Hill), Hardcover (2007)

Steve Sizoo "Developing cross-cultural skills of international business students: an experiment". Journal of Instructional Psychology. FindArticles.com. 24 Aug, 2010. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCG/is_2_31/ai_n6130128/

Bhawuk, D. P. S., & Brislin, R. (1992). The measurement of intercultural sensitivity using the concepts of individualism and collectivism. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 16, 413-436.

Leasing Comunity Collage. Management and Marketing Program Facts. Disponible [Online] http://www.lcc.edu/business/mgmt_marketing/careers/intnatl_bus_mgr.aspx

Images Taken From:

http://www.mbgconsulting.com.au/business-management
http://tx.technion.ac.il/~acheshin/OB.html
http://www.professionalspeakersgroup.com/speaker_bios.asp?CategoryIDNumber=9
http://chrissonksen.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/leader-on-arrow.jpg

Other good blogs

There is a webpage with lots of good blogs(www.thebobs.com). I just want to share somo of my favorite ones with different topics. These are the links:


Climate change is a problem that affect the entire world,that is why we should be alert and know all the things that we can or we can not do in order to help to protect the environment:
http://climatechange.thinkaboutit.eu

Brasil each day became a better and more important country, then, learning portuguese will be a great tool for International Business people, the following blog is in taht lenguague and talks about varied and interesting topics:
http://365diasqueacalmaramomundo.zip.net/

New forms of government and policy issues could no be left behind. The following blog contain very interesting articles or posts on this subject
http://thethirdestate.net/