Values and Ethics in a Global Setting in IT - Essay Example

A. Values and Ethics in a Global Setting Outline Based on his or her experiences in life, every individual has a set of personal, organizational, and cultural values. The individual then takes actions and makes decisions based on these values and beliefs. In today’s era of rapid globalization, every individual must learn how to respect other people’s values and must aim to develop common grounds with others to be successful, personally as well as professionally. This paper sheds light over the personal, organizational, and cultural values and ethics of an individual and how he or she should harmonize them in a global setting with respect to the field of information technology (IT). It also discusses the communication barriers that may arise in a global setting and the steps management should take to deal with them. 1. Personal Values Every individual has a set of beliefs and philosophies in mind that carry meaning and significance. Whether he or she consciously believes in those beliefs and philosophies or not, is not important. They can be in the subconscious mind, and the person does not have to think hard before reflecting them in his actions. These values are known as personal values and can include principles of punctuality, hard work, trust, and harmony. Steve Job’s belief of “Think different” has reflected in Apple’s success of coming up with innovative and creative technology that has earned them their brand recognition (Labrosse, 2010). Personal values are relatively easier to tailor to a global setting. Most of the personal values, such as justice, trust and love, are prevalent in most of the communities around the world. What individuals need to do is find a point of intersection between the personal values and global values and build upon that. One can observe the online social communities, such as facebook and orkut, to see how they reflect personal values in a global arrangement. Individuals from all over the world use these mediums to interact with each other and socialize using harmony and trust with each other and are seen to give respect to others throughout the world. There are, however, differences found in personal values also. These clashes must be taken a note of and efforts must be made to come to common terms. 2. Organizational Values Every organization has a formal or informal code of conduct. The code of conduct includes values and principles that are adhered to by the workforce of the company. To incorporate the aspect of globalization in the organization, it is the responsibility of the management at the strategic level to impose values and ethics in the organization. Every company aims to create a premium brand to maximize profits. This can only be achieved when the company stands for certain principles and promises, and makes sure that the values reflect at every customer touch point. This process of uplifting the brand through communication is the management’s responsibility. Management must communicate the organizational values throughout to ensure motivation among employees to act upon them. This could be achieved through using proper cooperation. Organizations should use the common traits in the personal and cultural values found in different communities in different geographical regions and must build up on them. Organizations should then use these commonalities to introduce organizational values that are flexible enough to incorporate differences as well. A major part of Apple Computer’s success can be attributed to their strong organizational culture promoting solutions for the society’s problems through technology (Posner). These values are well communicated throughout the organization and are also projected in their advertisement campaigns. 3. Cultural Values Culture includes all the values and knowledge, shared by a community. Culture is very important for every individual to understand from a global perspective. Because of globalization and increasing dependence on Internet, the world is moving toward becoming a single marketplace and all cultures from all over the world are coming together at one point and interacting with each other. This means that individuals today must understand and respect other people’s cultural values. The most important part in most of the cultures is their religion. Most of the major religions such as Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, and so on, have certain common values. These values include justice, equality, love, etc. Therefore, one should promote these commonalities to establish a healthy relationship when faced with different cultures. The Japanese people give consensus-based decision making a lot of importance. Therefore, the IT companies aiming to expand across borders must take note of this requirement and should adapt their organizational structure to facilitate this need. 4. Communcation Today’s technological advancement has grown communication and collaboration between people and companies exponentially. If this grown communication is of good quality, however, is debatable (Farahat, 2009).Many communication barriers hinder with and affect the quality of communication across borders. The Internet and telecommunication technologies have facilitated much collaboration between businesses and people. However, although communication has dramatically improved, the quality of communication has not. (Farahat, 2009) I. Communication barriers Firstly, there are differences in the languages used in different parts of the world. Instances of advertising campaigns that have failed because of non-compliance with the language and understandings in the different cultures are present. The differences in language can pose difficulties for managers as they have to adapt and change their communication strategies to suit the requirements of different regions. Another important consideration is the time difference in different parts of the world that managers dealing with a workforce spread across the world, have to deal with. Moreover, a telecom company that is aiming to expand in the rural areas of a third world countries may face communication problems because of the lack of technological infrastructure present in those areas (Harris). In addition to these problems, managers must deal with the differences in personal, cultural, and organizational cultures present in different parts of the world. For instance, a call center operating in India for an American company must have Indian representatives that communicate with proper English language with the right American accent and understanding of terminologies to give the customer the same kind of experience as he would receive from an American customer service representative. Managers must consider the local perceptions of the people. For instance, in India, employees believe that the criticality of a task depends on the level of follow-up by the supervisors (Harris). Therefore, if a computer manufacturing company outsources production of machines to India to save costs, it must ensure that deadlines of productions are met through proper follow ups using frequent communications and meetings. II. How to overcome communication barriers The most important thing to do is to use information and understanding to bridge the communication gaps and make communication effective. Managers must use simplified language throughout the organization when communicating to the employees and could consider using repetitions in critical messages to resonate the important messages as long as necessary. To promote equality in the organization, communication messages must not be gender specific as they are a source of significant de motivation in the workforce. All tools that can aid in achieving effective communication must be used. These tools can be in the form of technology, such as video conferencing, or consulting experts specializing in diversity training based on local cultures (Harris). 5. Conclusion In today’s environment of globalization, it is essential for every individual to understand the importance of personal, cultural, and organizational values and ethics and must respect and adapt to the differences to excel. However, there is no particular way to measure how well an individual is achieving reconciliation. In fact, there isn’t even a fixed way of reconciling the values. It varies from one scenario to another. Nonetheless, every person must realize that being myopic and self-absorbed is not the way to go anymore. With the pace at which technology is advancing today and cultures are mixing, finding common grounds and using them to build relationships is vital and that is the key to success for many of the personalities and companies today. B. Works Cited Farahat, G (2009, February 9). How to reconcile one's personal values with organizational values and cultural values as well as ethics in a global setting. Retrieved February 17, 2010, from Today's Question: http://todayquestions.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-reconcile-ones-personal-values.html Harris, K (n.d.). Communicating for Diversity. Retrieved February 17, 2010, from Writing Assistance: http://www.writingassist.com/articles/communicating_for_diversity.html#GlobalCommunicationBarriers Labrosse, M (2010, January 13). What is Your Tagline. Retrieved February 15, 2010, from Quality Digest: http://www.qualitydigest.com/inside/quality-insider-column/what-s-your-tagline.html malamg01 (n.d.). Personal, Organizational, and Cultural Values and Ethics in a Global Setting. Retrieved February 17, 2010, from Hub Pages: http://hubpages.com/hub/CulturalValues_Ethics Murphy, H. A., Hildebrandt, H. W., & Thomas, J. P. Effective Business Communication. Mcgraw-Hill. Posner, R (n.d.). The Power of Personal Values. Retrieved February 17, 2010, from Gurus of Software: http://www.gurusoftware.com/GuruNet/Personal/Topics/Values.htm Weihrich, H., & Koontz, H (1992). Management: A Global Perspective. Mcgraw-Hill. Read More