Impact of Globalization on Modern Organizational Management - Coursework Example

Impact of globalization on Modern Organizational Management Name: Course: Instructor: Institution: Date: Outline Introduction Definition of globalization Impacts of globalization on modern organizations Conclusion Introduction Human beings in different parts geographical locations of the world have constantly interacted with each other over an extended long period of time dating back to thousands of years. Interactions of such kind usually involve exchange of information on several aspects of human existence such as religion, culture, entrepreneurial ideas, philosophy and language among others. The exchange of ideas as well as global movement of goods and services has significantly developed and evolved around such initial interactions, hence globalization (ASMUSSEN, 2011). Global human interactions have been largely boosted by modern technology in transport as well as in information and technology sector. This paper therefore seeks to exploit and elaborate on some of the managerial challenges and impacts that have emerged as a result of interaction of people in different parts of the world on a global platform. It will give start by giving an elaborate definition of globalization, relate the same definition to the managerial context and finally discuss some of the impacts of globalization on overall organizational management. Globalization According to the oxford English dictionary, globalization is defined as the process of international integration which is usually realized from exchange of information, products, services, views and other cultural based aspects. The major common pillars of globalization include modernization of transport and communication systems, cultural diversity and economic diversity. The international monetary fund on the other hand advocates for economic transactions, capital investment, human migration and intellectual integrations as the four major aspects of globalization. Challenges of globalization on today’s organizations Globalization is a common term and phenomenon in organization management and culture. It is collectively used to refer to the integration of an organization’s operational processes, culture and strategies into more inclusive and extensive cultural practices, new products and services as well as organizational structures. Globalization has therefore deeply impacted on several aspects of organizational set up such as labor force management, recruitment and selection, cultural heterogeneousness and general diversification. Globalization may be summarized into the free and unrestricted movement of people, goods and services across the world globe. Complicated managerial tasks One major challenge arising from globalization is the labor force and employee management. Globalization advocates for free movement of people and goods from one region to another as a form of integration. Modern organizations have since opted for subletting, international mergers and take overs, franchising and international operations as strategies to rapidly increase their operational scope and penetrate new markets. Such strategies have brought people from different parts of the globe, often required together for the common objective of the respective organizations. More often than not, each of the various employees comes from a different religious, ethnic or cultural background. It thus becomes a real challenge in cases where such individuals are expected to work under a centralized management. For instance, it becomes hard for a manager to plan for such breaks and off sessions to effectively cover holidays associated with Muslims and Christians without affecting the overall performance of the organization. Globalization has further complicated and hardened managerial tasks due to recruitment and selection diversity. Organizations with constituents around the world experience unique problems when it comes to organizational management. Each society and constituent locality has its own unique holidays, gender considerations, communication patterns and organizational behavior. For example, in certain countries such as India, a senior manager is never challenged or questioned while in United States of America, there is room for discussion and challenging of managerial policies and policies. Such and other many factors combine to constitute national economy, culture and politics. While it may be slightly to manage easy such employee diversity at local levels, it becomes more complex to sufficiently attend to them on international scenes. For instance, how does a manager supervise employee attendance patterns when they all observe different national holidays, each taking different durations and coming at different times? The human resource department in particular is required to design work schedules of tasks to be undertaken when different offices in different parts of the world have different holidays at different times? How does a manager for instance assemble an organizational team when certain countries are constantly at conflicts, sometimes at war with each other? Imagine of a case where such people in feuding countries have either the necessary success resources or knowledge required by the management for a particular task. These are all issues that have been instigated and spread by globalization. General increase in operational costs Globalization has increased the overall operational costs for many organizations. Different countries implement different economic policies to enhance and sustain economic development. The salaries and remunerations patterns and schemes also vary from one country to another. It is a common entrepreneurial practice that most organizations will develop tendencies to invest and operate in countries with rapid economic development. Most developing countries with such lucrative economic development traits often charge high interests on its factors of production. The cost for land, labor, capital investment and entrepreneurial services are expensive in such locations. It would be much more expensive for the same organization to export or import such labor thus forcing the firm to do with then expensive locally available resources. (MARKOVIĆ, 2012). Such countries have high employee perks as well as escalated initial capital investment. For instance, it will be slightly cheaper in terms of initial capital investment and labor costs for a European based organization establishing an organizational base n African states. However, there are rare cases of African based organizations expanding into European markets due to the huge capital investment requirements and the extremely expensive cost of labor. An organization cannot afford to stick in one with the eminent looming globalization. Besides, similar organizations could be embracing the same globalization as a developmental strategy. In order to favorably compete and survive in such economic environments, new market entrants will often be required to offer slightly higher rates in terms of employee perks and charge slightly lower for their products and services. The higher employee remunerations and salary perks are meant to enhance successful recruitment and selection while the lower rates are meant to increase the market span by way of attracting initial clients. Although such operational strategies might still yield some marginal returns, the profits reaped from such operations are not as big as the case would have been when the organization could have stuck in its original place of operation. The end product is that such firms end up experiencing significant increments in the total expenditure on operational costs due to globalization. Degradation of organizational ethics and environmental degradation Extremely globalized organizations have resulted into degradation of organizational ethics and environmental consideration. Each society has its own code of conduct, habits, customary believes, habitual characteristics and material objects that dictate the people’s way of life. Modern organizational managers have experienced criticisms due to highly globalized organization structures and societies. In most scenarios, highly globalized organizations implement global culture in place of the initial domestic culture. While domestic cultures encourage consumerism and have high regard for local ethics and social set up, global culture often a mix up of several cultures which might clash with the local society. The various dress codes, personal interactions, regard for humanity, sexuality and organization conduct vary from one culture to another. For instance, the African culture initially had a high disregard for women in long trousers. While the United States cultures allow same sex relations and marriage, the same is considered a social immorality highly discouraged and shunned in the African culture. While some societies openly allow public smoking, it is highly discouraged in some society set ups. It would therefore be considered an ethical disregard if an association would have an employee population consisting of same sex couples, yet required to work in Africa. It will be considered a dire and open disregard for society morals and dignity. Managers are thus in constant tussle to define identify strategies to retain the initial operation region’s cultural inclination in their end products and overall output. Most recent environmental enactments and regional treaties have been implemented to offer checks and balances to globalization. The global interchanges of gods and services have resulted into enormous levels of environmental pollution. For example, the exchange of ideas, opinions and views via online platforms is majorly done through electronic gadgets which pause great threats to human life at the end of their useful life. Some gadgets as mobile phones, computers and fax machines pose radioactive particles. The disposal of such electronic gadgets has soon become a global concern. The exchange of goods through air and on water also has major environmental degradation threats. They are all fundamental contributors of globalization which cannot be assumed if globalization ought to be realized and achieved. These are coupled with philanthropic operations which do not cater for efficient utilization of resources. Conclusion Globalization is one of the characteristics of modern organizations. Diversity and global integration has even resulted in innovation and creative organizational management systems and policies. (KORPELA, 2003). It has been largely embraced by most organizations both as an emerging trend and a competitive advantage. However, globalization has not been all along presented pots of blessings; t comes along with its own setbacks and challenges. If not well implemented, globalization can be more challenging unlike the prior advantages foe which globalization as initially drafted. Globalization has resulted into managerial challenges; managers being forced to go an extra mile in order to manage the diverse employee populations. Globalization has also resulted into considerable upward adjustments in the organizational operational costs. Firms are required to hugely invest in order to sustain competition due to global investments efforts. Organizations have also experienced ethical clashes due to embracement and accommodation of diverse cultures within the organizational population. This goes hand in hand with philanthropic lifestyles which in turn culminate into environmental pollution and degradation. This therefore calls for efforts to device necessary strategies in order to oversee successful implementation of global strategies and practices so as to realize the initial profit projections, maintain dignity and morality as well as spearhead environmental conservation by modern organizations. References ASMUSSEN, C. G. (2011). Dynamics of globalization: location-specific advantages or liabilities of foreignness? Bingley, Emerald. MARKOVIĆ, M. R. (2012). Impact of globalization on organizational culture, behavior and gender roles. Charlotte, Information Age Pub. KORPELA, M. (2003). Organizational information systems in the context of globalization: IFIP TC8 & TC9/WG8.2. & WG9.4 Working Conference on Information Systems Perspectives and Challenges in the Context of Globalization, June 15 - 17, 2003, Athens, Greece. Boston [u.a.], Kluwer Acad. Publ. RITZER, G. (2010). Globalization: a basic text. Malden, MA, Wiley-Blackwell. Read More