Emirates Airline: Management And Leadership Across Cultures

Emirates Airline: Management And Leadership Across Cultures 1.0 Introduction In todays competitive business industries, travel and tourism industry is one of the worlds biggest and fastest growing industries. Now People are travelling for leisure, recreation, business purpose and most of them are travelling as a part of their employment than ever before. Tourism has become a popular global leisure activity. According to United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO, 2009) there were over 922 million international tourist arrivals in 2008, with a growth of 1.9% as compared to 2007. Now travel and tourism industry has become one of the largest and dynamically developing sectors of economic industries. A country can earn a massive amount of foreign currency by travel and tourism. The development and growth rates of tourism industry, significant volumes of foreign currency inflows, infrastructure development, and introduction of new management affect various sectors of economy. It completely contributes to the social and economic development of a country. Trav el and tourism business makes an important connection to the world, which provides services to people from another region or country. Airline industry makes a vital role to increase tourism and travel industry. Its one of the most important parts in tourism and hospitality sector and Emirates airlines is not an exception as it play an important role in the hospitality and tourism sector. 1.1 Overview of Emirates Airline: Emirates Airline is one of the major airlines in the Middle East. It is a subsidiary of The Emirates Group. The Emirates Story (2010), states that Emirates had started the air business with only two aircraft-Boeing 737 and Airbus 300 B4 and had flown its first route out of Dubai on 25th October 1985. Now with a fleet of 137 aircrafts, Emirates Airlines fly to over 100 destinations in 60 countries around the world and almostÂÂ  700 Emirates flights depart from Dubai each week on their way to destinations onÂÂ  six continents. Yearly the expansion of Emirates has never been lower than 20% and the airline has recorded an annual profit in every year since its third in operation (The Emirates Story, 2010). From Emirates website, the Emirates Group (2010), Sky-Cargo division is the freight division of Emirates airlines which under take their cargo activities and provides inclusive cargo solutions to more than 100 destinations in over 60 countries on six continents. According to T he Emirates Group (2010), in 2008, Emirates Sky-Cargo stimulated its operations into the 43,600 square metres state-of-the-art Cargo Mega Terminal and yearly it can process 1.2 million tonnes of cargo. In 2001, Emirates announced the largest valued at $15 billion order in aviation history which confirmed its future growth in Airline industry. It was staggering 58 new aircraft, a mix of Airbus and Boeing for its rapidly growing fleet. Now Emirates is growing rapidly and carried a lot more passengers than before. The Emirates Story (2010) also shows that in 2007/2008, Emirates carried 21.2 million passengers andÂÂ  carried 1.3 million tonnes of cargo which indicates that Emirates is one of the fastest growing airlines in the airline business. 1.2 Leadership and management roles of Emirate Airline: Leadership and management which are seen very differently by diverse group of people. Some individuals see these terms as synonyms, while others approach them as extreme opposites; so extreme, in fact, that they would argue that at the same time a good manager and a good leader cannot be the same person. Still other people reside somewhere in the middle. But the fact is these two terms are often interchanged. Pascale, R. (1990) defined Leadership as the sculpture of creating an environment and influencing people to follow a chosen direction willingly. It requires a clear vision and guide followers along a path that realizes the vision.In1980,the president of American association defined (cited by Patrick J, M. et al, 2000) that management is getting things through other people. Patrick J, M et al (2000) pointed that the current definition of management is working with and through other people to accomplish the objectives of both the organisation and its member. Management organises, controls or directs people or resources in a group, these are done according to morality that have already been established. Management and leadership, both are necessary to make teams and organizations successful. Just like the right or left wing of an airplanes flight. Without leadership and management business cannot attain its organisational goals. Emirates leadership and management process play an important role for the continuing success of Emirates Airlines. Sheik Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline who is highly talented and under his leadership, Emirates has grown from a local airline operating three destinations has become a highly praised international airline and fastest-growing international carrier which operates more than 100 locations in over 60 countries (The Emirates Story, 2010). Now Emirates is one of the largest airlines in Middle East. No doubt that their talented leaders play a vital role but this has been made possible through their excellent management techniques, quality customer service and highly skilled diverse workforce. Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline alongside with other leaders have been capable to show their natural ability that they can lead the company economically and effectively (The Emirates Group: Leadership, 2010). Leaders of Emirates are always responsible, being very grown up, treating people equally, being honest, working hard, prioritising and planning, connecting their staff in their thinking and especially in managing change. The management and leadership teams know how to make the airline business attractive to customers and how to admire those who are worthy of praise for making the company successful. 2.0 Concept of Management, Leadership and Motivation Management, leadership and motivation play an important role for the success of company. Emirate Airline like any other organization or company needs effective leadership and excellent management to direct their staffs to get the achievement of specific objectives. 2.1 Management Theories: The unique behavioural pattern adopted by a leader to motivate and influence the behaviour of subordinates, is called Management theories. It is an ongoing process which helps to get something through people or to use resources to generate profit. Management can create a condition and by the appropriate implication of this condition, organization can achieve their goals. Mainly there are three different types of management styles; bureaucratic management style, participative management style and strategic management style. Emirates Airline is trying to be competitive and marketable by using different management styles. The management style of Emirates typifies a combination of participatory and strategic management. Lamb (1984) pointed Strategic management is an ongoing process that evaluates and controls the business and the industries in which the company is involved; assesses its competitors and sets goals and strategies to meet all existing and potential competitors. The companys strategic apex deals with planning and developing initiatives on behalf of owners, connecting proper use of resources to increase the performance of company in their external environments. Emirates use strategic management style to establish the mission of company, vision and objectives, initial policies and plans, often in terms of projects and programs. All these are designed to achieve a competitive advantage in the travel market. Participative management is the management style where decisions are consulted with the subordinates, by their manager, before implementation. This management style helps to create good relation between manager and employee .Participative management is like democratic management which allows employee to take strong decision making role. After establishing this management, company will get more profit and can reduce its cost. The management of Emirates involves their employees and other stakeholders to take part in making decisions. Emirate encouraged their employee to give their own ideas to identify and get organizational-goals, to solve problem and other decisions that can straight affect the company. The management of Emirates take decision in consultation with their subordinates 2.1 Leadership theories: Leadership means having an ability and desire to inspire and influence others. From trait theory, leaders are born with leading leadership qualities and also inherit positive qualities and personality that make them to be leader. When someone has five traits such as honesty, inspiring, forward-looking, competent, intelligent, he will be a good leader. The spirited advantage and position of Emirates can be endorsed by their leaders. Behavioural perspective of leadership holds that anybody who demonstrates the appropriate behaviour can be an effective leader. Leaders are made by learning appropriate behaviour and not trait. The key contribution of the behavioural perspective was the identification of effective management systems working inside an organisation. The contingency or situational model of leadership emphasise on the nature of the circumstance. Emirates Airlines leadership do not have one particular leadership style and the leaders of Emirates are able to incorporate patience as well as the will to attain compromise with the ability to act rapidly and decisively. The leaders of Emirates are democratic and the leadership composes the ability and skills to motivate and influence the activities and the thoughts of people or subordinates. Their leaders make a social influence which encourages staff to achieve common goal. 2.2 Motivation theories: Motivation was initially came from the Latin word movere. Movere means to move. Motivation is a process which influences people to do. According to Campbell Pritchard (1976) Motivation has to do with a set of independent or dependent variable relationships that explain the direction, amplitude and persistence of an individuals behaviour, holding constant the effects of amplitude, skill and understanding of the task and the constraints operating in the environment. There are different types of theory such as Maslows Hierarchy of Needs theory, Alderfers Existence-Relatedness-Growth theory and Herzbergs Motivator-Hygiene theory. These theories are revealed to motivate people that help the leader of a company to motivate his employee. Maslow motivation theory is one of them which are most popular theory of human motivation. According to Maslows Hierarchy of Needs (2002-2010) psychologist Abraham Maslow developed a motivation theory, in this theory basic and low-level needs such as physi ological needs and safety have to be satisfied before higher-level needs such as self- actualization are pursued. Maslow motivation theory covers all basic requirements of an individual and it would please them. Maslow theory is based on five levels of needs; these are from bottom to top- physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self-actualization. The lower level such as physiological and safety needs has been met by employee then higher level needs become important. Emirates Airline motivates their employee strongly. For this reason lots of diverse people are interested to work with Emirates group. They offer a number of employee rewards, recognition, incentive and performance programmes, all designed to encourage the best from individuals who chose to build their careers with Emirate Airline(About Emirates Group: Our People,2010) . Well trained and skilled employees are the key for the success of a company. So Emirates provide vocational training and deve lopment to ensure their people are able to do their job well. The Emirates Group Carriers Centre, FAQs ( 2010) stated that high performing Cabin Crew have been able to attain the position of Flight Purser within five years and many have also become trainers in cabin service. 3.0 Cultural diversity A variety of different societies or peoples with dissimilar origins, religions and traditions all are living and interacting together -That is cultural diversity. Many people from different part of the world are not treated fairly in their work place because of their race, nationality, creed, sexual orientation, background, age or even disability but it is essential for every organization that all people are treated with respect. If individuals treated unfairly or inaccessible by their managers or other employee because of their race, nationality, cultural differences and other reason , company will loss productivity. Cultural diversity plays a vital role to reach out on a worldwide level for an organization which has a varied or diverse group of employee. Managing diversity focus organisation to obtain a better perceptive of how other cultures do business which is a fundamental element for doing business in todays worldwide marketplace. Developing diversity provides different types of ideas from different people and variety of viewpoints give larger pool of idea that can provide a competitive edge in company. All Successful and winning company need to take urgent action to establish managing diversity in the workplace. 3.1 Managing culturally diverse workforce of Emirates Airlines: In todays global market managers of every organisation should focus on culturally diverse workplace or employees in order to increase organizational effectiveness. In the Middle East, Emirates Airlines also weigh up and evaluate diversity process which is a significant part of their management system. Emirates employee diversity of over 160 nationalities is a unique strength for them as a global organisation and their divers employees are from different nationalities, cultures, religious and ethnic backgrounds. Their diverse employees get new ideas, innovations and thinking styles which help them to lead the business to success (Emirates Group: Cultural Diversity, 2010). Emirates Airlines recruit and endorse or promote people without discrimination and treat all people with respect and give every employee with the opportunity to build up to the full. Emirates Airline ensures cultural diversity through the following means: Communication: Language plays an important factor to understand others. In a company where there is more than one native language or different cultural background, communication problems will arise. In some company they have interpreters but this double translation offers more opportunities for misunderstanding. In Emirates Airlines, they use international language English for communication and it is used within the industry throughout the world. As English is an international language and learn by different people from different countries Emirates use English as a common language to manage a culturally diverse workforce. The website of Emirates, recruitments process and advertisement is also done in English. Equal opportunity: Equal opportunity means when all people in company are treated equally and fairly. In Emirates, they consider all people individually, treat them fairly and also provide opportunities for development and progression. As the management of Emirates treat their employees well, they too can treat each other with respect and provide best service to their clients. In Emirates Airlines men and women employees are treated equally and recruitment process provides both men and women an equal chance of selection. Recruitment: Emirates airlines recruit from a diversified workforce. They recruit both men and women and do not think that talented is the exclusive preserve of men, white population or their countrymen. Talent does not lie exclusively with the white men, Arabic, Asians or Chinese. The management of Emirates policy is only searching talented and suitable people. They are not bothered where these talentes came from, what is their religion, sex or culture. 3.2 Managing culturally diverse customers of Emirates Airlines: Managing culturally diverse customer is fundamental element for business because customer is business and without customer there is no business. Every organisation has its own cultural frame and successful leadership should shift ahead of its cultural structure of reference to support well-built intercultural communication and also produce and build up culturally designed or culturally considered services, products or goods that provide international standard. As Emirates presently fly to over 100ÂÂ  destinations inÂÂ  60 countries around the world (The Emirates Story, 2010), it means they are serving or operating different origins and backgrounds with different work habit, different cultural attitudes, different ethnic group, multinational and diverse people. ÂÂ   Communication: Effective communication are fundamental for the success of business, it is in terms of advertising company products and services which is provided by company to their clients. Emirates must know what their customers want and also listen to other business contact, such as banker, investor or supplier. If Emirates does not know what their customers want, then it is impossible to create business market. For providing good service and creating understandable communication with their customer Emirates provide international language. Their customers are diversed; in this case they use English which is understandable for all types of people. When people have communication problem then it creats a great disaster for their future business, company will not exit because they have failed to make relationship with their customers. Food service The cultures of Emirates are Middle Eastern culture. They provide Arabic style food which is really tasty and they give very open-handed portions. Their food taste has already attracted different religious, different ethnic group and different customers from different cultural backgrounds. As Emirates follows Islamic food handling procedures, so in their flight they never serve alcohol so that if passengers want they may serve themselves. Travel House UK on Wednesday 11 August, 2010 posted that during Ramadan period they provided iftar to their customers. According to travel news (2010) Emirates Vice President Aircraft Catering of Emirates Robin Padgett told that even as they take pride in their cultural diversity, the foundation of Emirates is based on Islamic culture so they are committed to ensuring that their Muslim passengers are well looked after during the holy month of Ramadan and their non-fasting passengers will continue to enjoy the world-class meals that Emirates provide globally. 4.0 Effective Management, Leadership and Motivation across culture: In todays business leaders should know how to lead and motivate workforces across many diverse cultural backgrounds and take action to the requirements and expectations of different types of customers those who come from different cultures. Management is a process and company activities which involves getting people together to achieve wanted goals and objectives economically and effectively. Principles of effective management based on planning, organizing or directing and controlling. Planning is an important element for effective management and it is a process, determines what action needs to be done to achieve company goal and what their future goal is. Organising and directing involves employee of company and resources like finance, materials and time. Organising is a way in which work is done. An effective management always organises and direct that employees are engaged in working on performance to meet plan and goal of company. It also involves motivating staff because motivating employee is the way to the determined hard work which is needed for efficient performance. Organizational relationship is important for effective management. Companies are concern about cultural diversity because almost every organisation operates different types of people from different ethnic group or multicultural that means company operates diverse customers and diverse employees. An effective management always focus on customer satisfaction because customers are the main element for their business, without customer business cannot exist. If the management focus on diverse employees in their organisation and give them equal opportunity they can get the idea how to deal with diverse customers which is beneficial for global business. Controlling is the way of monitoring and modifiable performance to ensure that it conforms to the plans and the goals of the company and involves taking the proper corrective act to make sure that what is really phenomenon or happening is in accordance with the expectations of planning process. Effective management is not only selected according to the culture of business but also with the environment of workforce. Management style run by a leader, so effective leadership is essential to create effective management. Management is not possible without a suitable leader. According to Fullan M. (2001), effective leadership has to have a clear making-a-difference sense of purpose, bring into play strategies that assemble many people to solve problems, be held responsible by calculated and arguable indicators of success and be eventually assessed by the amount to which it awakens peoples basic commitment which is none other than the mobilizing of everyones sense of moral purpose. Effective leader has to have clear idea how to deal with diverse people; he is democratic and encourages his employees in decision making process which help him to make relation with his employee, more concerned with communicating vision and also succeed by motivating, encouraging, stimulating and connecting their employees. A good leader knows how to motivate his employee who comes from different cultural background. In an organisation people have the right equipment, right knowledge, skills and abilities and the right type of organisational framework. But even after that they need something which drives them willing to do the work for the success of company or organisation. According to Peters and Waterman (1982) pointed that management should be dedicated to the motivation of its human resources and successful companies stress strategies which empower employees and give them control of their work and their work environment. Jacson, T. (1995) said that work motivation can be accredited to the nature of person needs and to the allocation by managers of work related outcomes perceived by employees as both valid and relevant. 4.1 Impact of Emirates Airlines Motivation, Management and leadership Styles Today Emirates airline has gain competitive position and getting market place by their effective management and leadership. The leadership of emirates airlines are based on the leadership style of family. Emirates airlines leadership analysis(2009), found that Emirates leadership style are democratic which means their management encourage other members to connect themselves and other members of the conglomerate especially the shareholders are engage to take the final decision. Leaders of Emirates are motivating employees; motivation is their way to inspire their employees to do willingly which help the company to get marvellous success in airlines market. Under different situations, individual will respond differently. Now Emirates have been operating flights in different cities all over the world and corporate plan gives importance with the diversity of their stakeholders, specifically with their clients. They are also dedicated with the diversity of their clients and their management approach are diverse which involves that the clients and communities of Emirates obtain marvellous service and their fervent and committed staff and employees provide very good service to their clients. According to Emirates airlines leadership analysis (2009), the present move of Emirates Airliners is to set itself as an airline industry leader with a focus strategy in the airline industry. Emirates Airlines aims to expand their business to reach more clients which will enable them to be more profitable. Their management are customer focus, they know that if they involves huge amount of money they will get marvellous profit and by this Emirates can gain a competitive position in air market. Change management are very important because it allow the company to adjust with the stable changes in the worldwide market. Emirates leader have declared a major misshapen in the company. Their change is to develop their airline services and by means of more enhanced information technology system. These technologies have led to a boost within the community of the airline industry which allow them to have more employees from different countries. The key elements of continuing business success of Emirates are not only their management but also their employment of high quality multi-cultural team who come more than 160 nationalities (Cultural diversity: Emirates Group, 2010). Emirates Group (2010), article states that Emirates effective management and talented leaders help employees to become one of the worlds best airhostess winning more than 400 awards which help them to recognize a name for superiority in aviation and travel industry. H H Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Executive Chairman of Emirates, he thinks that sponsorship is fundamental in the airlines marketing strategy and it is one of the best ways to incorporate with passengers or clients which allows Emirates to share and support their customer or clients interests and to build a personal relationship with their customers. Rick Helliwell, vice president recruitment of Emirates (sponsorship, About Emirates Group, 2010) pointed that the broad range of worldwide sponsorships that the airline supports parallels the diversity of the workforce on the airline and in Emirates as there are a huge amount of diverse employee who comes from 140 nationalities working together and their high performance team competing internationally are able to provide the customer superior services and best products. Now it can be said that Emirates management and leadership make an impact for them to become one of the worlds fastest growing airlines. 5.0 Recommendation and conclusion: It can be said that in competitive and worldwide accepted airline market, Emirates Airline has been capable to have a competitive and well-known position by its effective management and leadership in Dubai and global recognised airline industry. It is recommended that the diverse employee of Emirates must be able to give superior service to their customers, because their effective leadership have been able to bring together a group of people with diverse background which is a powerful team and a source of strength. To provide superior services to their clients, they have recruited talented and superior people from different countries or different ethnic group or different culture. It is also recommended that their management must do more in working with diverse people. The leadership should provide new ideas which are beneficial for the company and every time the company upgrade their service delivery to provide number one services to their customer. Emirates need to empower its employees to get profit and competitive position in competitive global business market. To enhance the satisfaction of employees, the leadership can choose to send some of their staff on continuous professional training which will expose them to new idea, better motivated and will also help to make good relation among employee and leader. It is recommended that the strategic management of Emirates Airlines give significance with the diversity of their stakeholders, especially with their customers, because the diversification management systems provide excellent services and products to their clients by their trained, fervent and enthusiastic staffs and employees. The strategic management should do more to guide Emirates from the motivation theory and challenges and opportunities which appear in the market environment as they have done in the latest of the 2000s if they are to build on their successes. Child Molestation: The Silent Monster Child Molestation: The Silent Monster Child molestation is a sexual crime that has not always been an open topic of discussion for many families, religious groups, and communities. Over the years, many people have been unwilling to speak of such a silent monster, and child molesters have been able to escape years of ridicule and shame through the force of intimidation and threats on their young victims. In addition, there are many reasons people believe that child molesters offend young children, but there is no scapegoat that conceals the fact that this sexual crime has destroyed both the esteem and hope of numerous children. With an increase of children finally gaining the courage to speak of their encounters with child molestation, and the startling findings of who their perpetrators can actually be, the silent monster is being surfaced. Its sufferers are surprisingly found to be from a variety of races, religious groups, and social classes. In order to prevent child molestation from occurring in families, religious g roups, and communities of our society, it is important to understand the facts and statistics, discover ways for the victim to experience freedom of this dreadful experience using his/her voice, and to prevent cases of child molestation from continuing to be one of the silent monsters of the 21st century. Sexual crimes range from an array of offenses, but one that appears to be quite common in families, religious groups, and communities of the United States today is child molestation. Child molestation, which is also known in psychiatric terms as pedophilia, is a crime that involves indecent sexual relations between an adult and a child. Of all things, it definitely should be considered a silent monster of the times, because it causes a great deal of fear and pain in the minds and hearts of its victims which can linger throughout their lives. Several young victims do not find the courage or strength to speak about their offenders; the offenders are often those who are respected members of their families, religious groups, or communities. In an attempt to protect the child molester, the juvenile victim may wait for years to thrash out about the atrocious and humiliating experiences of their sexual experiences with his/her offender. Unfortunately, the silence continues for years and som e gain the courage to expose the ghastly nature of their sexual offender while others may believe that a discussion of the molestation will create even more pain and shame. Understanding the Facts To make an effort to understand the severity of such an awful sexual crime, it is important to understand the facts. According to the Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute (2010), It is estimated that at least two out of every ten girls and one out of every ten boys are sexually abused by the end of their 13th year. With this startling information, it is vital that adults find as many opportunities to speak with their children at an early age, to strongly monitor the adults that their children interact with on a daily basis, and to inform the child that this issue is very much prevalent in todays time and world. According to National Child Abuse Statistics (2010), 90% of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way; 68% are abused by family members (National Child Abuse Statistics, 2010). Adults must make children aware of the fact that a child molester can be a member of even their close circle of family and friends. Often, children that are victims of c hild molestation are fearful of reporting information, because their offender is a relative or person of a respected position in the church or community. Therefore, adults must continuously emphasize that the silent monster can appear from places a child may least expect. In addition, About 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse (National Child Abuse Statistics, 2010). So, the possibility of the cycle of child molestation continuing over family generations can likely increase if the molested child does not reveal how he or she was sexually offended. Repression of this appalling crime can later cause other innocent children to fall victim to child molestation. Possible Causes of Child Molestation Many people question how an adult could possibly allow themselves to offend a young, vulnerable child through forceful, sexual acts. Moreover, society often perceives the child molester as a monster or a person who is greatly sickened both mentally and emotionally. Without surprise, the stigma of child molester on an adult can remain with them for a lifetime despite the fact that he/she may have chosen to transform their ways. When an adult is exposed as a child molester, their lives can become absolute turmoil. For example, some may often hear stories of child molesters that have been harassed greatly in federal prisons after they have received their sentences as punishment by the judicial system. Although there are many other horrendous crimes, even those that are imprisoned for extreme offenses consider the child molester to be one of the greatest criminals. According to Fuller (1998), some of the few causes for molestation include, heightened arousal to children, early childhood experience, hormone imbalance, sexual anxiety, unresolved conflicts, child pornography and advertising, sexual addiction, alcohol and drugs, and cultural tolerance. Although there are many potential causes for child molestation, there is no apparent justification for adults that delve into this are of sexual crime. Several adults from many ethnic backgrounds, religions, and social classes have come forth in some cases to speak of their experiences as victims of child molestation. Both common and famous people reveal to the world everyday stories of the evils of child molestation and the memories that still remain in their minds and hearts, and their beliefs and reasoning for the child sexual abuse often stem from one of the above causes of child molestation. Child Molestation in the Church World Allegations of cases of child molestation in the church have increased drastically over the past years. Although the Catholic Church seems to be one that has been in the media for some time now with accusations of clergy taking sexual advantage of young boys, it is obvious that the topic of child molestation in the church reaches far beyond the Catholic Church. Recently, there have been accusations in the media of adults coming forth and discussing how they were sexually molested as children by their spiritual leaders. As Clowes and Sonnier (2005) state, The church has always had a small number of priests and other religious who have taken advantage of their positions of authority and influence in order to gain sexual favors or to take advantage of the helpless. As a result, child molestation becomes widespread in many churches, because the young victims are either intimidated by the role of the clergy member that is abusing them or they begin to fear the demise of the level of respect the members of the church have for the person that has violated them sexually. Since many of the religious leaders in the church are predominantly men, the topic of homosexuality, as it relates to child molestation, arises. Most of the victims that experience child molestation by clergy are young males. Henceforth, it is apparent that those religious leaders that partake in child molestation are dealing with issues of homosexuality as well. It has been found that, In fact, a number of studies performed over a period spanning more than half a centurymany of which were performed by homosexuals or their sympathizers-have shown that an extremely large percentage of sexually active homosexuals also participate in child molestation (Clowes Sonnier, 2005). Some of the young males that have experienced child molestation by esteemed clergy members of the church also often question their sexual orientation as time passes, because they are being molested by a member of the same sex. Targeting the Signs of Child Molestation Many children that are victims of child molestation often display signs to adults that are not recognized or even ignored. If the signs are acknowledged early on, adults can go forward to try to bring criminal charges to the sexual offender and bring some sense of peace and relief to the young child that is being sexually abused. There are some signs that are not made evident immediately while there are others that adults can pinpoint very early. Some signs that adults need to become aware of are many. According to Williams (2001), a few of the warning signs of child sexual abuse are: extreme mood swings excessive crying/nightmares bed-wetting acting out inappropriate sexual activity school or behavioral problems bruises, rashes, cuts, limping, multiple or poorly explained injuries Although these warning signs can also be related to other behaviors, these should serve as things that adults should continuously be aware of. A childs behavior, once they have been sexually abused, can reveal a great deal of what stage they are in the sexual indecent acts done by their sexual offenders. The key to prevention is to find the willingness to accept and be proactive towards the warning signs. This could be the difference between saving a childs life or having the sexual crime continue. Ways to Prevent Child Molestation Child molestation is a sexual crime that many families, churches, and communities desire would not come to their doors. For those that are severely affected by child molestation, they may suffer their entire lifetimes with scars from the indecent sexual experiences with their adult offenders. Even though child molestation is a devastating problem and issue for all of those involved, there are ways to prevent child molestation. It is strongly encouraged that adults create avenues for children to speak openly about fears they may have of being sexually abused or to discuss encounters they may have already experienced as a victim of child molestation. According toWhy Should Kids Tell? (2008): Perhaps the greatest defense against childhood sexual abuse is to help both children and adults become more comfortable discussing it. We can bring about a paradigm shift so that children will not think twice about confiding sexual abuse to an adult in their life who they trust. If we encourage enough children to tell, and teach enough adults what to do, we can change the repetitive cycle of childhood sexual abuse: studies show that 87% of all sexual abusers were themselves sexually abused as children. In addition, there are other preventive measures that adults can take to ensure that their children are safe from the harm of child molestation. According to the child molestation prevention organization Darkness to Light (2008) some ways to prevent this sexual crime is to learn the facts, minimize opportunity, talk about it, stay alert, make a plan, act on suspicions, and get involved. Child molestation is definitely a problem of todays times. It is a sexual crime that must be actively approached in order to prevent childrens lives from being destroyed. The predators of this crime can be a close family member, an elite church representative of the clergy, a coach for a sports team, etc. Nevertheless, adults must be cautious of all other adults no matter whom they are or where they are from. Victims of child molestation can be any race, come from any social class, and even be male or female. The statistics show that this is an ever-increasing problem, but the measures for prevention do offer a sense of hope for those that are wronged by the sexual crime of child molestation. All in all, it is one a silent monster, and it will continue to be until children find the courage to speak out against their adult offenders along with adults discovering the strength to address the situation proactively no matter how much pain may surface before a resolution is provided. Sexua l crimes are common to many in the United States, along with other parts of the world, but there is the opportunity to bring justice to those that choose to destroy the dignity of all those aggrievedone being the precious, young children of the world who have the right to have their innocence and childhood protected.

The Pillory in Nathaniel Hawthornes Scarlet Letter Essay example -- S

The Scarlet Letter - The Pillory       The pillory stands tall as "the very ideal of ignominy" amongst the Puritans (52). Its method of discipline involves the convicted criminal standing upon a scaffold, in some cases with their heads confined, for the rest of the population to gaze upon with disdain. It is an outrage against common nature for the culprit to be forbidden to hide his face for shame. By definition, the term "ugly" means morally reprehensible or at fault; consequently, ugly best describes this technique of public humiliation as a sort of punishment. Just as the pillory blatantly defies human nature, so too do the Puritans defy nature by upholding such a practice. Thus, the pillory embodies the ugliness of Puritan society.    The Puritans' sense of justice consists of making those they deem sinners an object of public mockery and a shameful example to the rest of the people. The pillory is portrayed as a "contrivance of wood and iron" constructed in such a way that it was "fashioned as to confined the human head in its tight grasp, and thus hold...

FAITH AND REASON DURING THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURY :: Essays Papers

FAITH AND REASON DURING THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURY During the seventeenth and eighteenth century many ideas were placed forth that ended up changing peopleà ­s faith and reason. These new ideas challenged humanà ­s conception of the universe and of oneà ­s place in it. They challenged the view of a person, and they also challenged the belief of the economy. There were many scientists and philosophers during this time period, Francis Bacon, Renà © Descartes, John Locke, Nicolaus Copernicus, Isaac Newton, and Adam Smith to name a few. All of these people contributed to the change in peopleà ­s faith and in their reason. They were given new ideas and a new way to look at life. Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) helped change peoples reason. People believed that most truth had already been discovered. And those who have "applied themselves to the invention of arts have but cast a glance or two upon facts and examples and experienceÃâ€"."1 Bacon believed that these people never really worried about the facts. He believed that these people were afraid that movements and changes in philosophy would end in assaults on religion. They were also afraid that their investigation of truth might be dangerous to them. But he believed "that all knowledge is derived from sense experience, observation, and experimentation"2 and that there was much left to be discovered. Bacon believed that we are servants and interpreters of nature. What we know and what we do is only what we have observed of natureà ­s order in fact or in thought.3 Renà © Descartes helped change the idea of how the person is looked. He also came up with a way of deductive reasoning. He believed that "human beings were endowed by God with the ability to reason and that God served as the guarantor of the correctness of clear ideas."4 Descartes believed in "I think, therefore I am."5 He believed that everybody had the ability to think for themselves. Descartes provided a way of deductive reasoning, a way to arrive at an answer. The first step of this process is not to accept anything to be true unless it was not clearly true. The second step is to divide each of the difficulties into as many parts as possible. The third step is to conduct thoughts in order. And the final step is to make detailed reports to make sure that nothing is omitted.6 This method was influential well into the

Does the globalization of supply chains favors a leagility solution to a supply chain? Essay

The globalization of supply chains favors a leagility solution to a supply chain. Nowadays organizations can no longer efficiently and effectively compete in isolation of their suppliers, customers or other interest, supply chains, not organizations, compete against each other, those who will survive are those who can provide management to the fully integrated supply chain, entire supply chain must be viewed as one system. It implies that organizations across the supply chain must take interest in each other and work together to make the entire supply chain competitive. (Andersson, R. , 2007) To be successful in the future the supply chain should be market-driven or demand-driven, where the key model is oriented toward virtual networks, information bases and perceived customer value (Andersson, R. , 2007) . References â€Å"The Institute for Working Futures†. Supply Chain Issues and the Push-Pull Boundary. Retrieved June 13, 2009. http://www. marcbowles. com/courses/adv_dip/module4/module10/m10four. htm Goldsby, Thomas J. , 2006.MODELING LEAN, AGILE, AND LEAGILE SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES. Retrieved June 13, 2009. http://www. allbusiness. com/professional-scientific/management-consulting/4089028-1. html Mason-Jones,Naylor,B. ,Towill, D. R. â€Å"Lean,agile or leagile? Matching your supply chain to the marketplace†. Retrieved June 13, 2009 http://ihome. cuhk. edu. hk/~b103313/Exetrain/lean%20agile%20or%20leagile. pdf Andersson, R. â€Å"Quality-driven logistics†. Retrieved June 13, 2009. Division http://bada. hb. se/bitstream/2320/1777/1/Quality-driven%20logistics. pd

Prejudice Can Be Hurtful and Destructive Example.

ROBERT KENNEDY COLLEGE – UNIVERSITY OF CUMBRIA| ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIORS | MID-TERM ASSIGNMENT| 2/18/2013 | Question 1 Understanding Human Behavior is critical to organizations – discuss the benefits of self evaluation/self assessment as it related to leaders today. Self-evaluation or â€Å"self-leadership† (Runn, 2011) forms a critical part of a leaders repertoire and some key blocks of the foundation for this persons leadership. If someone can ultimately say that they fully understand themselves, they will find it much easier to understand others around them.Self-evaluation is an ongoing activity that leaders must use to identify their strength and weakness to work towards of improvement. Kaplan (Kaplan, Robert S. ;, 2007) in his experience has learned that the key characteristic of highly successful leaders is not that they figure out how to always stay on course, but that they recognize a deteriorating situation and get back on track as quick as possible. Sel f-assessment and self-evaluation help managers and leader to get back on track working of the weak area and empowering their strength.Leader often lack to receive feedback, therefore they must find way to evaluate themselves. Holmes (Holmes, 2012) identifies nine areas that a leader should focus and they are critical of a high performance work environment and enables people to perform at their best. The areas are: 1. Providing direction 2. Problem solving/Decision making 3. Support/Reliability 4. Team involvement and Communication 5. Recognition 6. Interpersonal skills 7. Culture building 8. Coach/influencer 9. Personal Power These areas are fundamental in achieving the good results, establish vision and communicate it to the subordinate.In an organization vision and goal are sat and when they are not correctly communicated subordinate becomes demotivated and uncommitted. A leader should always communicate effectively his and organizational vision, give feedback and have continuous coaching. Kaplan (Kaplan, Robert S. ;, 2007) argues that leaders often fail to coach employees in a direct and timely fashion and, instead wait until the year-end review. Leader avoiding coaching and giving effective feedback can have unpleasant surprise and can undermine effective professional development.Robbins & Judge (2010) argue asking whether it is actually possible for individuals to be their own leader. Coveys, in his book the 7 habits of highly effective people, describe the way people can improve their actions to be highly successful. Leaders needs to have a high emotional intelligence and Goleman (Goleman, 2000) defines the emotional intelligence has the ability to manage ourselves and our relationship effectively. In my experience, we often don’t lead but we manage and being driven focusing on the say-to-day jobs.When I was assigned to a project my priority were to have the work done and pushing on subordinates to obtain the results without clearly envision and c oaching them. Being involved in day to day activity, leaders are managed by these activities often becoming the subordinate of their subordinate as explain in monkey management instead of delegating responsibilities. In today organization, leaders are coping with fast changes and they need to adapt and apply them. Self-assessment will drive them to be open to change and also evaluate their weakness to be successful.Most of the Fortune 500 has been implementing the self-assessment and evaluation. The question is the efficacy of the self-assessment and self-evaluation. It is a personal change and often leader are not open to it. Knowing the personal weakness helps in making a paradigm shift but these changes are hard to be applied because they require going out of the comfort zone. People resist changes and struggle with this idea, especially when they are having low esteem, un-secureness. They see these weakness has negative and instead of working out to improve and motivate themselv es in improving.In the history, these factors have been used in the wrong way and against the person. In today organization, these concepts have been changing and researchers have showed the importance of identify and work to improve them but if they resist this change process; they will continue having the same problem. The Leadership Steps Assessment (LSA) (Clawson & McNay, 2000)discusses the importance of identifying six leadership ability, as also discussed above. One of ability is to clarify their own center.Clawson define that clarity of core values is a key leadership characteristic, because if one is not internally clear about priorities, what it is good to do, what it is ethically acceptable, the influence of others may sway one’s behavior away from achieving one’s goals or from ethical means of achieving them. Covey identifies these activities as Emotional Bank Account individual creates in others. If we are not able to recognize our values or we focus in oth er value like money, success that are Personality Characteristic instead of Character values we are easily influenced by them.In conclusion, today leadership must focus on their strength and weakness evaluating themselves and training in improving the Emotional Intelligence. Self-assessment is an on-going process to achieve high successful result that will benefit companies but at the same time work environments. Researches have analyzed many data in different company size. These researchers have identified that leaders being self-aware, self-confident have reduced turn-over, created healthier environment and got from subordinate to work at their max performance.Self-assessment has given to leaders’ better vision and focuses more on organizational goals. They have been improving empathy and coaching of the staffs being accepted as great leader. Whenever we understand ourselves, we are able to share idea and let others accept the changes without many resistance and we create f ollowers. These are beneficial on personal and organizational level. By understanding themselves, they are creating a stable base to work from, and also helping others understand themselves. This is where the significant benefit will arise from.It is not from one leader, but from the vision and leadership they share, and openly distribute among their peers and subordinates. By allowing individuals all around them to gain the same understanding we are forming a cluster of stability, strength, drive, passion and most importantly a culture which feeds on the outcomes. Question 2 Prejudice can be hurtful and destructive – discuss how you can personally reduce prejudice in your workplace – please provide an example. Allport (Allport, 1991) define prejudice as an antipathy based on faulty and inflexible generalization.It may be felt or expressed. It may be directed toward a group or an individual of that group. Clawson (Clawson & Bryan, 1990) affirm Prejudice revolve around strong feelings; prejudices thrive in the context of the past and begin to wilt in the light of new and broader experience. Avoiding address prejudice it’s to ignore a significant factor in the organization’s chance for success. Banaji (Banaji, et al. , 2003) argue that prejudice arises from the ordinary and unconscious tendency to make associations; it is distinct from conscious forms of prejudice, such as overt racism or sexism.Banaji (Banaji, et al. , 2003) identify the prejudice in: * Implicit Prejudice: bias that emerges from unconscious beliefs * In-group favoritism: bias that favor your group * Over-claiming credit: bias that favors you Human are not free from prejudice and they are built during the life. The prejudice is created by the environment, media, parents therefore everybody is biased against a group, developed some stereotyping and difficulties in judging other and make decision that are driven by unconscious biases.These flawed judgments are ethically problematic and undermine managers’ fundamental work to recruit and retain superior talent, boost the performance of individuals and teams, and collaborate effectively with partners (Banaji, et al. , 2003). To reduce biases and prejudice organization must develop strategic learning program that partially helps but especially they must work in favor of prejudice elimination. Prejudice against a group can be removed coaching and mentoring people to work together to better know each other and removing the biases.About prejudice I can give some example from my experience in organization where I worked. When I joined an Italian retail company I was not well accepted by the supervisor and my colleagues. Surely because of my nationality. As Benaji identify, I was victim of an in-group and unconscious bias. There were commenting and talking at my back of what I can contribute with the company, some were curious if I have knowledge appropriate to work in the company so they were keep on asking all about me.Being categorized as part of a group that in majority was making low qualification works, the first year I really had hard time and I had to work more than others to demonstrate my knowledge, skills and remove the prejudice. Besides, I developed a strategy to share more work and project with the colleagues showing them other way to achieve the result and improve the outcome and allow the organization to increase them revenue. In one of the project, I lead and liaised with a Chinese company to get a partnership contract.In that situation, I started highlighting the cultural difference and gathering facts of biases that my colleague were having. Showing them that their beliefs were not true and they were having unconscious biases brought them to see the difference and deal with the biases. In that case making them aware of unconscious biases and beliefs brought them to act in different way and also let them understand the reason of past failure on dealing with Chinese company. In conclusion people are born without biases and prejudice but during the life we develop them based on the environment we are exposed.Prejudices are not easy to be eradicated but an organization must will to change and integrate diversity and remove the prejudice. Bibliography Allport, G. , 1991. The nature of prejudice. Political Psycology, Volume 12, pp. 125-157. Banaji, M. R. , Bazerman, M. H. & Chugh, D. , 2003. How (Un)Ethical Are You?. Harvard Business Review, Issue R0312D, pp. 97-106. Clawson, J. G. & Bryan, S. , 1990. Prejudice in Organizations. university of Virginia Dareen Business Publication, Issue UVA-OB-0381. Clawson, J. & McNay, E. , 2000. Leadership Steps Assessment (LSA). Darden, Issue Rev. 11/01. Goleman, D. , 2000.Leadership That Gets Results. Harvard Business Review, Volume R0024, pp. 78-90. Holmes, S. , 2012. Leadership and Motivation Training. [Online] Available at: http://www. leadership-and-motivation-training. com/leadership-self-assessment . html [Accessed 12 February 2013]. Kaplan, Robert S. ;, 2007. What to ask the person in the mirror. Harvard Business Review. Oncken, W. & Wass, D. , 1999. Management Time – Who's Got the Monkey. Harvard Business Review, Volume 11. Runn, G. , 2011. Self Evaluation in Leadership. [Online] Available at: http://garyrunn. com/2011/08/17/self-evaluation-inleadership/ [Accessed 15 2 2013].

A Look at Personal Beliefs of Teaching

When I was immature, I ne'er had a dream to go a instructor. My instruction besides was non in the instruction field. I had ne'er been learning anyplace before I worked at my university. Therefore, instruction is a new thing for me. When I began to learn, I realized that it was non easy to go a good instructor. It was a large duty. What you teach today could impact person ‘s hereafter. Therefore, as a instructor, I need counsel as my foundation to go a good pedagogue. I believe it is of import that personal beliefs about instruction be explored. This should be an on-going and germinating procedure, because constructing up a personal doctrine of instruction has been a journey of hunt and find. It will turn over the clip based on experiences, and besides on personal and educational developments. The challenges that I will run into during the journey excite new demands to go a better pedagogue. As a instructor, it is my desire to link with my pupils. I believe that instructors should give the pupils attending and affect them in learning and larning procedure. This essay is about my doctrine of instruction. It will be organized as follows: first, I will offer my point of position about the purposes of instruction. Second, I will exemplify my beliefs about instruction and larning methods. Third, I will show my positions about curriculum execution. I will so depict my moralss and morality in instruction and acquisition procedure. I will shut by reasonin g my doctrine of instruction that I mentioned before. My doctrine of instruction starts with what I feel about instruction. For me, the purposes of instruction should include and learn rational, personal, civic, cultural, and moral facets of life. This will guarantee all-around and balanced persons. Education is non merely about developing pupils ‘ minds but besides developing pupils ‘ emotional capacities. Education should make people who care for other people. We do non desire create rational but nescient people. Education should besides concentrate on the civic duties of persons beyond the schoolroom. I think pupils should be encouraged to make out in openness and service to the community beyond the school, to go actively involved in their community. Persons should obtain accomplishments through instruction which contribute to autonomy in work outing jobs of mundane life. I feel pupils should develop regard for the usage, civilizations, and beliefs that occur in our diverse universe. Students should develop values that will be good to the common public assistance of society. In add-on, I feel it besides of import for instruction to encompass plans that develop regard for the environment. Students should acknowledge and aware about their environment and how to use sustainable life. I realize that to accomplish those purposes is a challenge. I hope my doctrine of instruction will assist me and pupils to accomplish them. As a instructor in a distance acquisition university, my focal point is on-line learning. It is a bit different from learning in a â€Å" conventional † or face to face university. I normally have a big on-line category for my class. Sometime it is hard to pay attending to every pupil separately, but I do believe that pupils need attending to do them prosecute with the class. They need to be recognized as an person. So, my doctrine of instruction is a student-centered 1. I believe in concentrating on single demands, and affecting pupils in the procedure of their acquisition. It is my belief that single differences need to be respected. I believe that all pupils have strengths, and that is the end of instruction to help pupils in identifying and edifice upon these. These beliefs are stronger after I have been analyzing at Simon Fraser University ( SFU ) . I see that pupils can larn more if they are engaged with the lessons and with the instructors. Therefore, the lessons have t o be interesting and instructors have to give their best attending to the pupils. I besides believe Freire ‘s ( 1970/2000 ) construct about teacher-student with students-teachers. He argued that â€Å" the instructor is no longer simply the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself or herself taught in duologue with the pupils, who in bend while being taught besides teach. They become jointly responsible for a procedure in which all grow † ( p. 50 ) . I think it can be employed in distance acquisition university, where most of the pupils are big scholars, and parts of the teaching-learning procedure are based on tutorials. In this method, instructor and pupils have chances to develop treatments, and from those, we can larn from each other. For me, the most meaningful acquisition takes topographic point when pupils are motivated and interested. It is my belief that the manner to accomplish this is by giving pupils a voice in the acquisition procedure, and by helping them in happening connexions in the course of study with their ain life and involvements. By leting pupils to convey their ain narratives, experiences, and thoughts into the schoolroom, we provide the pupils with chances to work together, to larn from each other, and to esteem each others ‘ differences. I besides believe that pupils should be given chances to associate their acquisition and critical thought accomplishments to societal challenges and jobs outside of the schoolroom. Not merely do pupils hold the possible to do a difference within the society, they can turn as persons in the procedure. This attack has the benefits of authorising pupils and constructing their ego regard and job resolution accomplishments. Related with course of study, I believe that establishments and instructors still hold the chief function in developing course of study, and instructors can be flexible in the course of study execution. I learned from my experiences in SFU that pupils could be involved in curriculum execution. They are given a opportunity to give their input, so instructors can place their demands. I believe when instructors give the pupils chances like this, it will do them experience challenged to larn and go more interested and satisfied with the acquisition procedure. Analyzing in a distance acquisition university is non easy. Students have to go self directed-learners. They have to be independent. However, sometime they need to inquire and confer with about their survey troubles with instructors. That is why I besides believe that I should be a good facilitator for my pupils. Not merely should I be a good instructor academically, but besides I should be a usher to my pupils. If there are some inquiries and concerns about their survey, I will assist them exhaustively, administratively and academically. My doctrine besides includes respects, kindness, duty, democratic instruction, forbearance, and clip. Even though pupils and teacher hold different functions, I believe that I, as a instructor, have to handle them with regard, because when we respect each other, the learning acquisition procedure will run swimmingly. I besides have duties to give my pupils a good quality of instruction. Students should derive something utile when they study. In add-on, in my experience, because pupils besides need attending, as a instructor I should be patient and give them my clip for listening. My doctrine of instruction has been shaped by experiences within my ain life and my instruction. I feel that attending every bit good as affecting pupils are of import as parts of the instruction and acquisition procedure. As I enter the profession of instruction, my doctrine may germinate as I gain experiences as a instructor. However, the foundations of my educational doctrine will go on to steer me in the manner which I interact with my pupils.

Joint Venture of the France Based Company Alcatel

A joint venture, according to Adler and Graham (1989),along with mergers and acquisitions, licensing and distribution agreements, and sales of products and services – critical aspects of all such interorganizational relationships, are face-to-face negotiations. This would mean the interaction between people. In today’s society, as the world becomes much more globalized than we could ever think of, with the fast growth of the internet industry, we are connected with people from another country at an instant. However, business to business deals and negotiations are still at a stage where face-to-face communication is still required. As interpersonal communication is brought onto the table, with the clash of different cultures as companies today all have the tendency to become globalizes and multi-nationalized, the understanding of another’s culture and cultural values plays an important role in the negotiation, and the interactions thereafter. As the proportion of foreign to domestic trade increases, so does the frequency of business negotiation between people from different countries and cultures. To successfully manage these negotiations, businesspeople need to know how to influence and communicate with members of cultures other than their own (Adler and Grahamd (1989)). Through the analysis of the case study on the joint venture of the France based company Alcatel and the U. S. based company Lucent Technologies, issues of cross-cultural management, the weakness and strength of an international joint venture, including the rights and wrongs of the particular case study will be discussed. As Shenkar (2001)said in an article, establishing a measure gauging the â€Å"distance† between cultures has understandably presented an even greater challenge. At the end, recommendations will be provided for future companies seeking joint ventures. Body The major differences between the initial negotiation in 2001 and the final successful negotiation in 2006 was the division of power. In 2001, in the original negotiation, the base company was Lucent, which was based in the US. Because it was a joint venture, the amount of power on Alcatel cannot be decided. Due to this inequality, the joint venture was called off in 2001. In 2006, as this inequality no longer stands between the two companies, it established the final negotiation of the joint venture, and at least in the beginning, both companies were satisfied with the negotiation. According to Barkema and Vermeulen (1997), differences in uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation cause problems. Differences in how IJV partners perceive and adapt to opportunities and threats in their environment are more difficult to resolve. Cultural differences regarding power distance, individualism and masculinity are more easily resolved because they are mainly reflected in different attitudes towards the management of personnel, something firms can make explicit agreements about before entering the partnership. As Berkema and Vermeulen (1997) already said, issues on power distance, individualism and masculinity are considered to be more easily resolved cultural issues, and realizing the fact that if the joint venture between Alcatel and Lucent Technologies could not even solve the more easy problems, it is pointless to say the success of the negotiation. Since the merger in 2006, it is now the fifth year for the joint venture to be in business. With the resignation of Russo, the company is now led by The company is under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Ben Verwaayen and the non-executive Chairman of the Board is Philippe Camus. Verwaayen and Camus joined the company in the third quarter of 2008 after Alcatel-Lucent's first CEO Patricia Russo and first Chairman Serge Tchuruk resigned. For 2008, the company posted revenues of â‚ ¬16. 984 billion and a net loss of â‚ ¬5. 215 billion (Alcatel-Lucent (2009)). As Powell and Dent-Micallef (1997) found in their article, ITs alone have not produced sustainable performance advantages in the retail industry, but that some firms have gained advantages by using ITs to leverage intangible, complementary human and business resources such as flexible culture, strategic planning–IT integration, and supplier relationships. The results support the resource-based approach, and help to explain why some firms outperform others using the same ITs, and why successful IT users often fail to sustain IT-based competitive advantages. Alcatel-Lucent has done what it was suppose to do a long time ago, which was to appoint leaders based on expertise, and not nationality. As the entire industry was going downhill during 2006, for the past few years, with the correct leadership of Verwaayen and Camus, the joint venture is in much better shape than it was before. As Tchuruk commented initially that the merger is â€Å"a giant transatlantic experiment in multicultural diversity,† the company has run into some major cross-cultural problems since its merger in 2006. One major issue is the fact that the appointed CEO of the joint venture could not effectively run the business, resulting in six quarterly losses, which led to the restructuring of the company, and a cut of 16,500 jobs in total. As the case study states, it was a poor decision to appoint leaders based on their nationality rather than skills. For the time that Russo was CEO, she struggled greatly to bring together a company that consisted of two entirely different cultures, especially when she has no background knowledge of any French language at all. In addition, because there was a lack of understanding between the cultures, the two companies, although formed as a joint venture, were literally pushed into each other out of desperation because of the down sliding industry. However, more importantly, it was the cultural clash that brought the JV into a poor state initially. As Adler, Doktor, and Redding (1986) wrote in their article, with the growing shift of business from the Atlantic to the Pacific Basin, East-West cultural differences are becoming increasingly significant. Research in developmental psychology, sociology, and anthropology shows that there are major differences among the cognitive processes of people from different cultures. In the era of the global corporation, cultural diversity has to be recognized, understood, and appropriately used in organizations. It is suggested that cross-cultural management would greatly benefit from comparative studies considering the impact of the cognitive aspects of culture on managerial practice. Moving forward as a combined company, the JV faces great competition from low-cost Chinese rivals, and as the internet technology is increasingly changing the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is faced with much deeper challenges as demand in the entire industry is decreasing tremendously. Yet one challenge would also be the challenge to integrate the French culture with that of the American Culture. As Shenkar (2001) pointed out, establishing a measure gauging the â€Å"distance† between cultures has understandably presented an even greater challenge. With the globalization of the firm into the Eastern side of the world, and with the JV servicing clients all over the globe, it is not hard to imagine the importance of cross-cultural management as the firm takes its role onto the global stage. In Ralston et al. (1993)’s research on onvergence/divergence of managerial values, the four Western-developed measures (Machiavellianism, locus of control, intolerance of ambiguity and dogmatism) and the four dimensions of the Eastern-developed Chinese Value Survey (Confucian dynamism, human-heartedness, integration, and moral discipline) were used to find that often times both culture and the business environment interact to create a unique set of managerial values in a country. It is the values of the management, the values of a company, that makes up the success of an industry. Conclusion Soderberg and Holden (2002) defines cross cultural management as a discipline of international management focusing on cultural encounters between what are perceived as well-defined and homogeneous entities: the organization and the nation-state, and offering tools to handle cultural differences seen as sources of conflict or miscommunication. However, in the business world today, with its transnational companies that face the challenges of the management of global knowledge networks and multicultural project teams, interacting and collaborating across boundaries using global communication technologies. There is the need for an alternative approach which acknowledges the growing complexity of inter- and intra-organizational connections and identities, and offers theoretical concepts to think about organizations and multiple cultures in a globalizing business context. Today’s world has become a big clash of all different types of culture. Not only it is seen in the business world, but this clash of cultures has become part of today’s society, and the whole world. This phenonmenon not only suggests more research topics for scholars, as Thomas and Mueller (2001) said in their study, that the relationship between culture and four personality characteristics commonly associated with entrepreneurial motivation. By demonstrating systematic variation in entrepreneurial characteristics across cultures, we raise important questions about the boundaries of international entrepreneurship research and the challenges of transcending them, in the real world, cross-cultural management is also becoming more important and is discussed and faced by many entrepreneurs in the business world. With the case study of Alcatel from France and Lucent Technologies from United States as an example, it has proven the fact that the importance of understanding the different cultures that one’s engaging in, and the importance of acknowledging cross-cultural management has become a requirement for any company leading to a JV or entering into a foreign country. Everyone country has its own unique culture, and every country has its own set of rules. In order to gain profit, in order to become globalized, one must take the time to learn about the culture, and go by their rules, because ultimately, in the business world, you are never alone.