ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING

1. MOTIVATION IN THE WORKPLACE: Argentineans has a strong influence from Europe mostly from Italy, and this influence has a strong impact on business. The management style in most of he countries are mainly position, dignity and personal style. Managers tend to be authoritarian and paternalistic, they think that the manager needs to be respected and obeyed and the power and the decision making are on his hands, he should maintain his role as a boss: when working collectively, this needs to be clearly stated. “The business set up in a lot of countries is hierarchical and, as such, clearly defined roles exist. To ensure successful cross cultural management it is important to remember this.”

What is innovation: is the force that make us do things, is the result of individual needs and change parson to person. “Your employees are your greatest asset and no matter how efficient your technology and equipment may be, it is no match for the effectiveness and efficiency of your staff.” There are two kinds of incentives for employees; financial (for those employees involved in production; company cars, private health, or share of the company profits) and non-financial (giving employees more responsibilities and promise the chance of promotion if they reach a certain standard or target).

for example the Argentineans organizational culture: Argentines have a relatively strong work ethic; it is based on the short-term planning, High information flow, Relationship oriented. A handshake and nod show respect when greeting someone, but most of the time they use a hug and a kiss on the cheek to great friends and acquaintances. About the body language Argentines are touchers and stand close to each other when speaking. Do not back away. Business dinners are generally held in restaurants. When you are the host, arrange payment ahead of time. If this is not possible, insist on paying when the bill comes. And Argentines are extremely fashion conscious. Dress well if you want to make a good impression. Conservative, modest clothing is best. It is important not to change your negotiating team because Business is based on personal relationships, and these relationships are based on trust.

2. WORK ETHICS: The ethics of an organization, it is how an organization ethically responds to an internal or external stimulus. Organizational ethics is interdependent with the organizational culture. It aims at inculcating a sense within a company’s employee population of how to conduct business responsibly. Some organizations choose to recast the concept of business ethics through such other terms as integrity, business practices or responsible business conduct. U.S. business scandals that occurred in the 1980s gave rise to corporate compliance, which is most often narrowly focused on complying with national and local laws and regulations. Corporate governance refers to the broad range of policies and practices that stockholders, executive managers, and boards of directors use to manage themselves and fulfill their responsibilities to investors and other stakeholders.

In Vietnam for example the 80% of the population is young, they think that actions are more important that words, they focus the time in season instead of weeks, and for them saving faces is very important, they are very collectivist and a masculine society. Some tips that are important when doing business with Vietnamese people are: know the person before doing business, act professional and conservative, respect the hierarchical structure, international business are made in English but it is important to have all written documents translated into Vietnamese. Most of the foreign companies do not agreed to any labour contract, their work conditions are very bad, they have not safety regulations and to explain this they use the case of NIKE.

3. COMMUNICATION AND TEAM WORK: In the United States for example, the organizational culture of the corporations is strongly oriented to “results”, they work long hour and spend a lot of time doing work-related travel. Americans like to know exactly where they stand, what are their responsibilities and to whom they report. Telecommunications, information technology, service and manufacturing jobs are very common in the US, agriculture is scantier every time. The society has individualistic attitudes and compared with the word average, this country experiences a higher degree of gender differentiation of roles.

We can see some communication problems as the cultural differences, language barriers, gender differences, noise interrupting a communication process.

Communication styles:

- Aggressive communication: this is common in someone that is Close minded, does not listen, and that has problems to get and understand the other person's point of view Interrupts in conversations.

- Passive communication: this kind of communications is clear when you allow others to choose and make decisions for you, you are emotionally dishonest, you are indirect and self denying, you are inhibited, you feel anxious, ignored, helpless, manipulated, angry at yourself and/or others.

- Passive- aggressive communication: you can see this kind of communication when someone Manipulates, Speaks up if he needs to, Not honest with others, Tries to achieve his/her most wanted goal no matter how.

- Assertive communication: used by someone that is effective, active listener expresses self directly, honestly, and as soon as possible about feelings and wants, makes sure others feel good and comfortable as well.

Teamwork can be defined as the process of different people working together to achieve the same goal by taking into account the following factors:
• Communication

• Coordination
• Balance of contributions
• Effort

Behaviour on business in USA: Business meetings may be arranged as breakfast meetings, lunch meetings, or dinner meetings depending on time schedules and necessity, business conversation may take place during meals, gift giving is discouraged or limited by many US companies, Americans value straight talking and 'getting to the point'.



4. ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING: foe example The Russian business culture is very difficult because it change from generation to generation.

1. Severe climate conditions: fatalistic mentality.
2. Orthodox Christian ethic: forbearance, strict hierarchy, obedience.
3. Rapid historical change: communist to post communist mentality.

For these characteristics it is impossible to generalize the Russian culture in business. They are divided in three groups:

Technocrats:
- Inventive
- No formal management education
- Soviet tradition
- Rules oriented
- Highly qualified
- Collectivist, hierarchical and paternalist work style

First entrepreneurs:
- “the end justifies the means”
- Perestroika influences
- Pragmatic
- Risk taking
- Flexible

Modern Russians:
- Diplomatics
- Less tough negotiators
- Highly educated
- Business oriented
- Western influences

Organizational learning: “ways to design organizations so that they fulfill their function effectively encourage people to reach their full potential and at the same time help the world to be a better place.”