International Managment - Essay Example

?International Management Overview I come from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and living and mingling with the residents of the Sydney, Australia, is itself a whole new experience for me. However, there is something that I have never experienced in my life before, the Zen meditation. I loved it and I guess it loved me, as I can’t get enough of it. I went to this Zen meditation club after the seminar and spent two day meeting and coaching there, and I’m already experiencing a lot of changes in me. It is not something you do to divert your attention. Zen meditation is all about focusing, inward, looking at yourself, your own soul and become one with oneself. This experience is a whole new philosophy that anyone can apply to any aspect of one’s life. Zen art has shown me the way, the true way to wisdom and knowledge and I’m not going to stop at any demented or passive thought of abandoning the journey of my life enlightenment. Zen is not just about seeing things as they are; mountains as mountains and rivers as rivers, it is much more than that (Borup, 2008). The second activity worth mentioning is giving an insight to others about my own country, Saudi Arabia. This time, I analyse my country as an outsider and see it in a different light. And show what secrets it holds for the people who are unfamiliar with this land that was once nothing but desert cones. But now the world knows Saudi Arabia as one of the key players in the world energy sector. There is so much more to discover in Saudi Arabia other than deserts and oil. There is only a little that the world knows about the people of Saudi Arabia, its culture, religion, food, the way people live and communicate with each other, and how recent developments have changed the life of Saudis. This is how it should be; people should recognize a country for its diversity and not for just a specific thing or two. A country is not its products, its natural resources but its people. Activity I: New Cultural Experience The Zen Meditation Impression It would be better to introduce Zen before delving into the details of its meditation. Zen is one of the many schools of Buddhists teachings, called Mahayana Buddhism (Zen.rinnou.net). China was the birthplace of this meditation but now this practice is world popular. Zen is the key to the great wisdom of Asia (Johnston, 2003), an inner art and “design of the Orient” (Reps & Senzaki, 1998, pp. 17-18). The art of Zen awakens the student to the art of formless (Merton, 1968, pp. 6-7), which also means not pondering at the pointed finger but observing what is being pointed at (Johnson, 2000, pp. 21-22). I have joined the Sydney Zen Center in Annandale, NSW. I’ve attended two gatherings there or more than two hours each. It has turned out to be a great cultural experience for me. I have come to know about the Chinese Buddhist culture and how it resonates in the life of an individual. The Zen philosophy is all about attaining inner peace, also known as enlightenment. The main focus is developing an insight into the Buddhist teachings. So it is not merely reciting some verses, or visiting the temple, it is about applying the principles of Zen in one’s life and seeing how it creates a difference in the everyday living. The first lesson given by the teacher was to defeat duality. I later read in book that the most important lesson of Zen is not to be dualistic (Suzuki, 2010). The feelings I experienced were incredible, I have never felt an inward observation towards my soul. Zen is magical and whoever journey’s it finds whatever they seek (Arokiasamy, 2005). The feelings were mostly of calm and peacefulness as if eliminating the negative energy out of one’s mind and filling it with the pure white energy. This white energy also fills the mind and the eyes, and that is how one starts to feel and see the world differently. The calmness of this energy put me to a state of mind where I stopped resisting and fighting for useless objectives. After the meditation session was over I felt as if we all engage in many unnecessary battles in our daily lives that soak up our useful energy and leave us restless and agitated. Zen teaches to stop resisting and flowing with the tide, saving precious life energy. While the entire time not letting dark feelings haunt us. In fact there is an interesting point that caused us to debate about the Zen teachings. During brakes, I along with three other Zen meditation students debated that Zen teaches singularity of focus (of mind) while there are some who argue that since sentient beings are born with enlightenment, therefore it is necessary to be dualistic to see the difference between enlightenment and delusion as referred by Schlutter (2010, pp. 4-5). Our debate ended with mutual agreement that duality is not such a bad thing. From what I have observed so far, I am considered an outsider in the group. It is not because there is some hate involved towards me, it is because I have no knowledge at all about the Zen culture or the Buddhist teachings. For this reason, I’m given special attention. Even while the whole group is meditating, I’m frequently told by the instructor to look inward and not to let my mind wander around. The Zen coaches tell me that I have to stay in the present moment, this way I will be more responsive to my surroundings. This is very hard for me to achieve, as I’m constantly worrying about something which is not relevant to the present moment. For this reason, the coaches tell me to work harder and increase my power of concentration. The coach specifically asked for my background, my country of origin and what interests me and what concerns me. This never put me into a difficult situation as I knew they were asking me these questions to help me meditate. Often they would give examples from the vast deserts such as, “Imagine you’re standing in a vast desert, breathe in and imagine that an oasis springs up from underneath your feet.” After some time when we got to know each other, it became relatively easy to follow instructions. I did hold stereotype perceptions about the Chinese. There were only two Chinese teachers there, the rest were local (from UK). The senior instructor was Chinese and spoke English very well. Holding on to my stereotype perceptions, I thought he would be speaking Mandarin and a translator would be translating. Moreover I also held the stereotype image that Chinese would be violent and I was confused that Zen would have something to do with Martial Arts, but I was wrong altogether. The Chinese instructor was very soft spoken, it immediately gave me the impression that Zen can’t be about violence or destroying an opponent’s bones. In fact Zen is person specific; without experiencing it in one’s life Zen is not much of a use (Wright, 2000, pp. 41-42). Applying contact theory, which is a way of improving relations in a group (Brown & Hewstone, 2005), interpersonal contact played the biggest role in bringing me closer to the group. At that Zen center, many people are from Sydney, but a good number of people are also from China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Overall, there was no particular group in majority but considering their background and their cultural similarities and on top of that, their familiarity with Zen philosophy made them a group and I was the ‘other’ person. However, during brakes and after class, I interacted with almost every one of them personally. It is amazing, how hospitable they all are. They are so much interested in learning about my home country and how my cultural values affect my life, the games that I enjoy and the kind of life I want to live. They kept asking me a lot of questions about my life and my likes and dislikes, and I was doing the same. I had never interacted before with Chinese or any East Asian person. After I was done talking to them, it felt as if a burden had been lifted from my shoulders. The very people that looked like strangers to me an hour ago were sharing food with me. We were laughing together, even when some of us couldn’t speak English in a proper accent. According to Allport (1954), the five conditions of Contact Theory were fulfilled in such a way that; 1. Equal Status: We were all students of Zen meditation class. We were given similar instructions to follow; we were meditating on the same mat following similar cues. 2. Common Goals: We all were following the same goal, to excel in Zen meditation, becoming one with oneself, to apply the Zen principles to life routine and earn the rewards of peaceful soul. 3. Acquaintance Potential: After the class, we mingled together and shared each other’s life stories. I made two friends; one Korean and one Chinese. Even the Chinese instructor and I got to know each other very well. 4. Support of Law: This is the fourth condition of contact theory and it was fulfilled in the classic sense. The Zen group was supposed to follow Zen principles and that philosophy was the authority that we commonly obeyed. All of these conditions contributed towards better mingling with each other. We started enjoying each other’s company, as if all cultural and border values were demolished. However the fourth condition, 5. Long Term Contract is not part of my Zen club membership and there is no obligation to appear again there. Activity II: National Culture, Self-awareness Culture not only gives information about other people and their art but it gives a renewed insight into our own life (Alamoud, 1986). And for this reason, here is an attempt to understand not only my culture but for others to understand their own. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the official name of my country and here I give an insight to my country as an outsider. I want to show how a tourist would feel while living in KSA. Saudi Arabia is the home to Islam’s two of the holiest cities, Mecca the Blessed and Medina the Radiant. Anyone who wants to explore the country would find it unfulfilling to ignore the Islamic history tied to this country. Saudi Arabia occupies 80% of the Arabian Peninsula and struggles to strike a balance between its Islamic tradition and the modern values (Broberg, 2002). The people’s way of life is drenched in Islamic values, one can simply observe this by the names that many Saudis name their children with. For instance, the world ‘Abdul’ will be found in almost every man’s name, which means ‘servant of’, and after ‘Abdul’ there is usually one of the ninety nine names of Allah (God), say for instance ‘Rahman’ is one of Allah’s name, which means ‘the merciful’, and when put after ‘Abdul’ it becomes ‘Abdur Rahman’, which now bears the meaning ‘servant of the merciful one’ (Lippman, 2012). However, on the other hand, modern times and the challenges they bring are constantly pushing the Saudi values to bend towards them. This is the reason for the struggle between the Arabic culture that is deeply rooted and connected with the people’s souls, and the modern culture of the 21st century. It is the birthplace of Islam and every year, hundreds of thousand people turn up to pay the holy pilgrimage known as Hajj. It is the spiritual home of over 1 billion Muslims living across the world (Janin & Besheer, 2003). Every year almost 350,000 Muslims gather here for the pilgrimage while over 650,000 people from the Saudi lands flock in (Katakura, 1977). If managers from the other countries are to visit the KSA, they would realize that Islamic tradition is prevalent in the country. Respect for families and elders is paramount to the Saudis, anything that goes against their tradition and culture is rejected by the people. For instance, it would be useless to setup a pork shop or alcohol counter in KSA as these things are not only banned by the government but utterly detested by the people. This only puts emphasis on how dear the culture is to the people of Saudi Arabia. The culture of Saudi Arabia is influenced by its predominant religion (Islam) and its climate. There is no doubt that the climate and the physical isolation of this piece of land has put a deep impact on the moods of its people. Long seacoasts, far reaching deserts, have been absorbed in the hearts and minds of people. The poets refer the desert sand and the water as the main themes of their poetry. Tribal system has indeed ended there, yet the bloodlines are extremely important for the Saudis (Long, 2005). This is something that has been absorbed in my personality too. When I will be a cross cultural manager, it would be in my instinct to ask for people’s lineage, their ancestors. Probably this skill will not be much helpful in my career but this is something that I cannot depart with. Almost 90% of the population of Saudi Arabia is of Arabs while Asians and Africans are in minority. But there is hardly any discrimination here, people are friendly and treat the visitors with hospitality. Monarchy is the rule of this country, the reason why countries like Yemen and Saudi Arabia have monarchies is because they had tribal system for centuries and they have been engaged in many battles with each other, so when one tribe conquered the other, it imposed its own family monarchial rule (Pulsifer, 2003). This is the reason there is still monarchial rule in Saudi Arabia. The great thing about the people of Saudi Arabia is that they are willing to change the stereotypical image that Hollywood projects about the Middle East. There is a perception that Middle East is full of Red Necks who are always looking for chaos when in fact the reality is quite the opposite. People here want to communicate and make friends with the world. They would be more than willing to cast a positive image about their country and its people. I have lived my whole life in Saudi Arabia and it is only common sense to assume that I am a part of that culture, my beliefs, values and my thinking has been shaped by the values of my country. I love my family, and I’d love to live with them till I die, this is something that my culture seeded in my brain. The modern western world doesn’t preach family orientation. Moreover, in the matter of communicating, business, studies or any field of my life, there is a sense of morality which is a gift that Saudi Arabia has taught me. I judge my actions from an ethical and moral perspective. Every day I go to sleep, I ask myself, did my actions today harm or hurt anyone? This sense of self analysis keeps me on my toes and others can sense it. This sense of moral obligation puts me in the good books of my family and friends. I’m proud to be an Arab and the values it has taught me. I’m proud to represent my culture. The hospitality, sense of moral obligation and ethical reasoning are the values that have shaped by behavior. As far as I have experienced, KSA is not ethnocentric. The predominant religion is Islam and overwhelming majority is of Muslims so there are hardly any factions left out that could face prejudice. However, if outsiders want to settle in KSA and become Saudi nationals, then it is not as easy a process as in other countries. My observation is that Saudis are very concerned regarding what happened with Palestine, as settlers started by buying small properties and then it was chaos, so probably this is why buying property here is far too difficult. The concern for the protection of Saudi lands is only genuine (to me), I would not put it in the category of parochialism. Saudis do not have a narrow scope of reality; however there are hard and fast rules over some issues but which country doesn’t have them? In the past the Shiite Muslims who are only a handful were not given holiday on their holy day (the tenth of Muharram) according to lunar calendar, but now they are permitted to do so. There is one thing though, that might count as parochialism, the preaching of other religions. This is something that the Saudi authorities do not tolerate. They have their reasons but to an outsiders, this might seem unjust or too rigid, hence parochialism. To the outside world, Saudi Arabia does seem like a closed society, where they have a unique interpretation of Islamic law, insistence on royal privileges and there is a record of human rights violation (Jerichow, 1998), however this trend is constantly changing. I too agree that there shouldn’t be a monarchy in the 21st century and I too am in the favor of a democratic system in my country but no one can deny the fact that Saudi Arabia has come a long way from what it was some eighty years ago. The Saudi society is gradually changing, there is much traveling within and outside the country and education has achieved paramount importance, the society has become mobile. And this mobility has been beneficial, as it is pushing KSA towards a modern society (Katakura, 1977). The mobility has been the key factor in transforming the Saudi society and its people. The exposure to foreign influence has been the main accelerator in this societal progression (Katakura, 1977). The Saudi culture remains dominant but flexible enough to allow the necessary changes in the tradition that need to be in the society to cope with the changes of the modern world. For people who question the monarchial rule in KSA; huge developmental projects in all field of civil respect; health, education and food, have turned the tide immensely. The culture of Saudi Arabia is shifting, it is moving in a more progressive direction. Huge financial revenues are being spent on educational (especially in higher education) and health facilities for the benefit of the Saudi people (Oxford Business Group, 2010), it is important to realize that people are quite happy with the monarchy as long as it protects and provides for the people. Royal privileges aside, the kind of governance system in Saudi Arabia does prevent crimes and people get jobs and the taxes are low. The Saudis are not frequenting foreign embassies to get visas to get out of this country. Just like any other government system, the Saudi monarchy also has its drawbacks, but the nation is slowly and gradually progressing towards a better government system where people’s participation in the policy formation is paramount. There is an interesting way to observe the Saudi culture and values; the advertisement industry in Saudi Arabia. Saudi culture is beautifully depicted in community stories narrated by Saudi Arabian advertising (Zirinski, 2005). Arabian fantasies are depicted in these advertisements. But it is also true that cultures never remain the same, Saudi Arabia is entering into 21st century, with drastic changes taking place in and around her. Who knows, there might be drastic changes that will shape Saudi culture in the near future (Cordesman, 2003). From my own observation, there are certain things that are raising their heads despite the restraints put up by the dominant culture. People are really into popular culture and music and I see that the Saudi authorities have to work very hard to suppress it. I think that music and dance would have positive impact in this country and would define a new cultural wave but the elders differ considerably and I respect their decision. My upbringing is typical of an Arab family. When I am a manager in some other country, the values I learned back at home in Saudi Arabia would be driving my social interaction. People would recognize me for my honesty, truthfulness and dedication to work. Conclusion The Zen meditation class has been superb for my journey of understanding myself and learning so much new about another culture. The interaction between students, learning to gain common knowledge helped me in more than one way to overcome my fear of interacting with strangers. This way, I feel less fearful of the people around me. By the Zen class, I have learned that lack of communication creates problems; creating assumptions about someone without even meeting them in person is detrimental to a healthy social interaction. Zen teachings are tied to Chinese tradition, by learning Zen meditation, I learned about a new culture. The major steps during these classes have been; learning a new way of thinking and thinking from another’s perspective. The best way to gain an insight into someone else’s life is to communicate with that person. That’s exactly what I did in that class. The insight into my own country has been beneficial to me in many ways. I now consider myself a better ambassador of my own country. And I do hope that people have a better understanding about my culture and its governing values. After reading about Saudi Arabia, I realize that if my culture is so rich and flows through my blood, same would be the case with any culture. I have not come across any culture in my life that preaches intolerance or chaos. When I compare my culture with Mandarin Zen culture, I only realize different shades of grey. We the people of this earth are of same color, just different shades and different habits. The way I have learnt so much about the Chinese and the Zen culture, I’m sure many will feel the same when they visit my country, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Work Cited Allport, G. W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Perseus Books, Cambridge. Alamoud, Y. I. 1986, The influence of Saudi culture on valuing the outdoor sculpture in the public places of Jiddah City, Saudi Arabia. University of Wisconsin – Madison Arokiasamy, A. M. 2005, Zen: Awakening to your original face. Sudarsan Graphics, Chennai. Borup, J. 2008, Japanese Rinzai Zen Buddhism: Myoshinji, a living religion. Hotei Publishing, Leiden Broberg, C. 2002, Saudi Arabia in pictures. Twenty First Century Books, Minneapolis Brown, R., & Hewstone, M. 2005, An integrative theory of intergroup contact. Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego. Cordesman, A. H. 2003, Saudi Arabia enters the 21st century. Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport. Janin, H. & Besheer, M. 2003, Cultures of the World; Saudi Arabia. Marshal Cavendish Corporation, Tarrytown. Jerichow, A. 1998, The Saudi file; People, power, politics. St. Martin’s Press, New York. Johnston, W. 2003, Christian Zen: A way of meditation. Harper Collins Publishers Inc., San Francisco. Johnson, N. 2000, Barefoot Zen: The Shaolin roots of Kung Fu and Karate. Samuel Weiser Inc., York Beach Katakura, M. 1977, Bedouin Village: A study of the Saudi Arabian people in transition. University of Tokyo Press Lippman, T. W. 2012, Saudi Arabia on the Edge: the uncertain future of an American Ally. Potomac Books, Washington. Long, D. E. 2005, Culture and customs of Saudi Arabia. Greenwood Press, Westport Merton, T. 1968, Zen and the birds of appetite. New Directions Publishing, New York. Oxford Business Group. 2010, The report: Saudi Arabia 2010. Oxford Business Group Pulsifer, K. A. 2003, Life in Saudi Arabia. AuthorHouse, Bloomington. Reps, P. & Senzaki, N. 1998, Zen flesh, Zen bones: A collection of Zen and Zen pre-Zen writings. Tuttle Publishing, Boston. Rinzai Obaku Zen n.d. What is Zen? Rinzai Obaku, the Official Site of Joint Council for Japanese Rinzai and Obaku Zen. 4th October, 2012, Website Suzuki, S. 2010, Zen mind, beginner’s mind. Shambhala Publications, Boston Schlutter, M. 2010, How Zen became Zen: The dispute over enlightenment and the formation of Chan Buddhism in Song-Dynasty China. University of Hawaii Press Wright, D. S. 2000, Philosophical Meditations on Zen Buddhism. Cambridge University Press Cambridge Zirinski, R. 2005, Ad hoc Arabism: advertising culture and technology. Peter Lang Publishing, New York Read More