Management and Organisations in a Global Environment Assignment Answer

Introduction: Exploring Globalization and Organizational Culture: Understanding the Dynamics

This report evolved around a basic theme i.e., the importance of management and organisations in the global environment. For this purpose, two activities had been chosen and explored in-depth. Based on the understanding of the concept behind the activities, certain questions were answered. The first activity glossed the concept of globalisation in the modern era and its role in flattening the world. For this purpose, the speech of Thomas Friedman on Globalisation had been listened to and quoted in the report. In addition to this, the report had also highlighted the key drawbacks of living in the flattened world. Furthermore, it also explained whether or not there is a uniformity in the level of globalisation.

The second activity highlighted the definition of organisational culture and its importance in the context of an organisation. In addition to this, the certain question regarding the definition of culture was answered in brief in here.

E-learning Activities

Week 2- Activity 1: Thomas Friedman on Globalisation; 3 Eras of Globalisation; World is flat

The following activity highlights the views of Thomas Freidman on Globalisation and its three different eras. The first era that began in 1492 to early 1800s. It shrunk the world from a size large to medium and it is characterised as country's globalisation. The second era began in the 1820s and ended in 2000. This era is characterised by company globalisation as company globalised people. The version 3.0 it shrank the world from size small to tiny. This era is built around individuals. This era has flattened the global economic plane (Friedman, 2008). This activity highlights the key drawbacks of living in the flattened world. Along with this, it also discusses whether or not there is a uniformity in the level of globalisation.

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1. What would be some of the key drawbacks or risks of living in the flat world of Globalisation 3.0 as Friedman describes it?

By flat world, it is meant that a platform where there is no walls or barriers in order to allow people to collaborate and communicate with other individuals anywhere in the world. This theory can have many risks or drawbacks to most of the human kinds and countries:-

• The governments may have to vanish the capital controls.
• The national solidarity and tradition may get affected.
• This theory may cause disaster to developed countries as their functions to become deregulated and open so as to incorporate the rising cross-border economic flows.
• This may increase the social and economic disparity between the poor and the rich.
• This may induce unfair working conditions.

2. Do you agree with Friedman's iron rule of the flat world? Explain.

No, Friedman's thesis of a flat world is not totally valid as no world can be totally flat in the context of unfettered access and completely open. In some cases, the theory may work while other time it may not. Even when a country reforms its retail and wholesale, maintain infrastructure and good governance, there is a high probability that the country may not proceed in a much-sustained manner. However, one cannot completely deny the theory of a flat world as modern day's globalisation is characterised by a lot flatter world than it was ever before.

3. Is the level of globalisation uniform across the world? Explain

The answer to this question is straight away "no". This is because the globalisation cannot vanish the cultural differences and they will always be existing in the future. This is because culture is a resilient and dynamic phenomenon. People in America and Australia have their modus operandi and they have built their own cultures (Peters, 2017). This cultural difference stays strong and gets evolved with time. Coming in terms of legal aspects of globalisation, due to flexibility in the labour laws, the working conditions have become very worse. Companies are appointing people on a temporary basis in order to bypass the obligations of giving provident funds other incentives. Workers are made to work extra hours without being extra paid. This has induced an unrest among the lower class people.  

Week 3- Activity 2: Definition of culture

Organisational culture can be regarded as "the sum of rituals and values that serves as a binding matter to integrate people working in an organisation.” Some may call it a civilisation of an organisation. This activity elaborates and outlines the importance of organisational culture in carrying out day-to-day operations (Mohr, et.al, 2012). Here, the organisational culture is discussed in general. For that purpose, some definitions of culture given by people are reviewed from a distinct perspective.  

1. Why do you think people's definition of culture may vary?

There are many reasons for culture to have a varying definition. Organisational culture has many sizes and shapes. It has a wide range of domain that includes elements from faith, politics, history, behaviour, and lifestyle. Due to the varying perspective of people, there is no exact definition of culture. To define a culture, one has to consider a large number of factors, such as knowledge, language, laws, customs, religion, music, work patterns, historical background, and much more. To understand in other words, culture is a reflection of society's personality. Since it is impossible to define society's personality, one cannot define the term 'culture.'

2. Which definition of culture do you agree with most and why?

The definition of organisational culture given by Richard Perrin is the most appropriate definition. He defines the organisational culture as "Organizational culture is the sum of values and rituals which serve as 'glue' to integrate the members of the organization (Watkins, 2013).” The reason is that it emphasises the values and rituals of an organisation as a binding material to integrate members of an organisation. In addition to this, it also puts attention on the significance of symbols and explains why it is crucial to understand them.

Conclusion

In this report, two distinct activities were discussed as part of an assessment. The first activity highlighted the views of Thomas Freidman on Globalisation and its three different eras. This activity outlined the key drawbacks of living in the flattened world. Along with this, it also elucidated whether or not there is a uniformity in the level of globalisation. Talking about the second activity, it elaborated and outlined the importance of organisational culture in carrying out day-to-day operations.

References

• Mohr, D.C., Young, G.J. and Burgess, Jr, J.F., 2012. Employee turnover and operational performance: The moderating effect of group‐oriented organisational culture.  Human Resource Management Journal,  22(2), pp.216-233.
• Peters, M.E., 2017.  Trading barriers: immigration and the remaking of globalization. Princeton University Press.
• Schmukler, S.L. and Abraham, F., 2017. Financial Globalization.
• Thomas Friedman, 2008, Thomas Friedman's Three Eras of Globalization, video recording, YouTube, viewed 21 August 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp4znWHvsjU >.
• Watkins, D.M., 2013. What Is Organizational Culture? And Why Should We Care? [Online] [Accessed on: 21 August, 2013]. Available on: https://hbr.org/2013/05/what-is-organizational-culture.