MY BLOGGING EXPERIENCE
This was the first time I actually wrote blogs in my life. I was required to write these blogs as assignments for Organisational Behaviour.
Before this, I always though blogging was a waste of time and was kind of boring. This is because I though that why should people actually write down their lives stories on the internet when they could be doing other better things. I find it a waste of time because there is no guarantee that other people will read your blog especially when they don’t even know you. I mean, why we should read another person’s stories when we don’t even know that person is. I also though that is was boring to write blogs and to read it. I also didn’t blog because almost all my family members and friends don’t do it either. I was not influenced into blogging and was not inspired by anyone to blog.
But after I started writing blogs for my assignment purposes, my perceptions of blogging changed. As a form of assignment, I really like the idea of blogging. This is because blogging is much more intense that just preparing a theoretical assignment. When students do their assignments, they usually just include the theories they studied into their assignments and pass it up. Or even worst, students always intent to “copy and paste” materials, theories, examples, explanations and so on from other articles on the internet. They never really understand what actually they are writing or talking about in their assignments. This causes failure to them to relate what they have studies to the reality world, further they will find difficulties in adapting to working situations in future.
Therefore, I agree with having blogs for assignments because when we write blogs, we don’t just include theories, but we also include a reflective side of a particular topic given to our lives. This reflective portion helps us to understand the topic and subject better and further to relate and apply it in our daily lives. By having assignments in form of blogging, lecturers can also easily identify who understands the topic deeply and who doesn’t by the way the students express themselves and the examples given by them in the blogs that they have experienced in they lives. Blogging can also reduce or totally eliminate the “copy and paste” method commonly used by students in universities. This is because by blogging, students are required to express their own perceptions, ideas, explanation, understandings and experiences. They won’t be able to obtain any of this from the internet and therefore, it increases the credibility in an assignment.
I also think that having assignments in the form of blogs are much more convenient as we don’t have to print the hardcopy and pass up. We just need to create an entry base on the topic given any type the answer and finally just upload it. Indirectly, it also helps to minimize the usage of paper and protect the environment, where global warming seems to be getting worst. This brings me to my first OB theory, which is motivation. Since blogging is much more convenient compared to the normal standard assignments, it really motivated me to complete this assignment. Each blog didn’t take too much time as I was motivated to sit and complete it as soon as possible. I’m also motivated to continue blogging in future, as I really learned a lot from it by sharing ideas and knowledge with other people.
(This video shows the motivation spirit)
The second OB theory I would like to highlight here is individualism. Since I’m a person who prefers completing assignments individually, I really liked the idea of blogging as a form of assignments. This is because completing a task individually is faster and less time consuming. We don’t need to have meeting every week for updates. Also, by having these individual blogging as assignments, students will also be able to share their knowledge and experiences with each other and further, understand more on the topic.
As for me, it was a challenge to write a blog for the first time. This is because I didn’t know how I should write one, how would I address myself and the readers and so on. It was also a challenge because I was requested by the lecturer to even include a reflective portion of my life experience into the blog.
I overcame the challenge by asking my classmates who had wrote blogs before. They actually helped a lot rights from the start, even when I was registering for my blog page. My classmates were very helpful and I felt very thankful to them. Even after we finished our first blog, I didn’t upload the multimedia videos into the blog because I didn’t know how to upload it. My classmates helped me and in my second blog, I was able to upload the videos to make my blog much more interesting. I have not only learned how to upload videos, but also how do I express myself in the blogs.
The reflection portion was a little difficult at first; because I was not sure myself how do I really relate the topic to my experience in live and put it into words on the blog. At first I wan not sure how to actually write the reflection portion, but then I discussed it with my fellow classmates and we kind of figured it out. The first blog was a little difficult as we all have never written such a thing before. But after reading each others blogs, it was easier for us to write the second blog’s reflection portion. This is because we had the idea of how to relate our experience with the topic and the subject matters.
From this blogging assignment, I was able to share lots of knowledge with my peers, who are my classmates. This brings me to my third OB theory, which is knowledge sharing. Firstly when we were required to writes blogs, we weren’t sure of how to do so and we discuss among each other and share each other’s knowledge regarding on how to write an academic blog. Then after the completion of the first blog, we were required to comment on each other’s blogs. Knowledge sharing also took placed when we read each other’s blogs. For example, I wasn’t sure what social learning theory means, and after reading one of my peer’s blog,Miss Naemah, I had a better understanding on it. We also shared knowledge while writing comments for each other, as we learn on how to improve our blogs for the better from the feedbacks by our peers. We also learned from our peers experiences in life as part of knowledge sharing.
After the completion of the first blog, we could feel that our relationship among peers actually improved. This is because of the knowledge sharing culture that emerged between us as we share ideas and experiences in our blogs. After reading each others blogs, we intent to discuss it whenever we happen to meet each other. For example, from the first blog, I wrote about how my mother being so achievement oriented, and Miss Deana, one of my peers, also stated that her mother is also the same. So when we meet, we intent to talk about how our similar our lives are and how we deal with it. We share experiences and therefore, our relationship improved.
This comes to my last OB theory, which is communication. Since by this blogging assignments, all of us have over come the communication barriers among us and share ideas openly. There used to be communication barriers as we don’t really understand what a person is trying to say, or maybe at times we interpret other people wrongly. For example, I had a little problem understanding one of my peers, Mr. Fam. Maybe the way he explain things isn’t too clear for me to interpret it right. But after completing this blogging assignment, he actually improved on the way he expresses himself. I like the way he expresses himself in his blogs especially in the reflective portion. I’m able to understand what he actually means and relate it to the topic given. Therefore, this blogging assignment has helped some of us to overcome our communication barriers especially in expressing ourselves, ideas and perceptions.
(This video shows examples that occur from communication barriers)
In conclusion, I would like to say that I enjoyed blogging this semester, and I hope we will be exposed to more blogging assignments in the future. Good luck to all!!!!
REFERENCES:
1. http://www.wikipedia.com
2. The Knowledge Management Toolkit, Amrit Tiwana, Prentice Hall (2000).
3. McShane & von Glinow2007, from Organizational Behaviour, McGRAW. HILL INTERNATIONAL EDITION
4. http://www.youtube.com
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
ASSIGNMENT 2
Implementing knowledge management is difficult in organisations as many employees are afraid of sharing their knowledge. Based on your organisational behaviour knowledge and theories that you are familiar with, suggest ways to encourage team members to share their knowledge. Why do you think your suggestions would be effective?
Knowledge is a valuable intangible asset for creating and sustaining competitive advantages, which is the value or key aspect that is derived from information. Knowledge is much more useful and powerful compared to information. Knowledge management refers to the acquisition of knowledge, sharing knowledge and utilizing knowledge for a company’s survival and success. Knowledge management helps a company to be more efficient and effective as expertise are stored in a knowledge bank or other databases within the company which can be used in the future when the same situation occurs.
(A short video essential on what knowledge management does)
Implementing knowledge management is difficult in organizations because many employees are afraid to share their knowledge. This is mainly due to the fact the employees are not secure to share their knowledge because they are afraid that they colleagues will over-take them, will be more successful and will obtain a promotion for knowing much more knowledge then them in the organization. This insecure feeling limits or restricts employees from sharing their knowledge to others.
Knowledge sharing is a very important element in knowledge management. Therefore, in order to implement knowledge management, we must first encourage team members to share their knowledge. Why should people give up their hard-won knowledge, when it is one of their key sources of personal advantage? In some organizations, sharing is natural. In others the old dictum "knowledge is power" reigns.
(Presentation in Kuala Lumpur ... knowledge sharing facilitators telecentre.org)
One of the ways to encourage team members to share their knowledge would be to change the culture of the particular organization. Culture change is never easy and takes time. But cultures can be changed. Culture is defined in many ways, such as "commonly held beliefs, attitudes and values" (Institute of Personnel Development), and "the collective programming of the mind that distinguished one group from another" (Geert Hofstede). I like the simple but effective definition "the way we do things around here". There is no one place to start, but most interventions are based on a simple layered model that portrays how people's observable actions and behaviours are influenced by reportable attitudes and values based on more deep-rooted beliefs. Therefore to change people's actions you have to address the more fundamental underlying layers. This can be done as an organization-wide programme or in small groups or even individually.
Some of the activities that might be used to plan and induce change would be that having a culture audit, challenge 'improper' behaviour (if you identify people hoarding knowledge unnecessarily, challenge them, though avoid "knowledge rage"), encourage involvement (some of the best knowledge sharing cultures are where everybody believes that their knowledge is respected, valued and used to inform decisions), use of role models, have team-building or organization development sessions, align rewards and recognition to support appropriate behaviours and change people by moving the knowledge sharers around. A good example of changing culture alongside an evolving knowledge management programme is that of Siemens (reference 6).
The theory involved here would be the expectancy theory of motivation. This is because when we change the culture of the organization, employees will be more motivated to share their knowledge and further will help to increase their efforts, performance and outcomes. Since knowledge sharing will help them to increase their expertise (know more), they will be more motivated to put in more effort, perform better and produce better outcomes. By align rewards and recognition to support appropriate behaviours can also be associated with this theory. This is when outcomes are to be increased, rewards such as money and recognition should be given to employees in order to increase performance to outcomes expectancy. Further, employees will be encouraged to share knowledge in order to improve their performance and outcome in order to obtain rewards.
Other way to encourage team members to share their knowledge would be challenging to co-opetition. Human beings are at the same time social cooperative beings and have a competitive streak. We all like to do better than our peers and excel in something. Yet, in today's complex world, we need help from them to achieve our aims. In an organization, lack of competition - both for individuals and teams - leads to complacency. But competition must be done in a healthy manner. One of the things to consider here is in early stages of product development don't simply approve one line of approach, rather have several "competing" projects under way but make sure there are mechanisms to exchange knowledge and challenge or encourage each "runner" e.g. through people sharing, peer reviews etc. Another thing to consider will be that to continually benchmark internal processes and functions with other organizations and potential suppliers in order to encourage them to strive for improvement through learning from each other by sharing knowledge. We could also introduce 'competitions', such as the "knowledge champion of the year", the "innovators team award", but invite everybody to the award ceremonies.
The theory involved here would be the four-drive theory. Drive to bond shows that we need to form relationships and socialize and while we are doing this, we are sharing knowledge with others. Drive to learn also refers to knowledge sharing such as benchmarking and competing for knowledge champion award as mention above.
I think that my suggestions would be effective because it will promote or encourage employees to share knowledge in a healthy and voluntary manner, which is very important especially when it comes to tacit knowledge sharing. This is because tacit knowledge can’t be codified and it will be difficult to share with others in a forced manner, unless it comes voluntarily. I also think that having a culture audit is effective because it helps in finding out the difference between what is articulated as the desired culture and what is done, and further it helps us to clearly identify which values and behaviours conflict with better knowledge sharing and perhaps (more importantly) which people should be the target for change. Using role models and rewarding them are also effective because other employees will be motivated to work harder to achieve that same level. In order for them to work harder, these employees will share theirs and acquired the role model’s knowledge and sharing knowledge that’s place.
In my perspective, I also think that knowledge sharing is a very important element in knowledge management because we will not be able to management knowledge if it is not first shared. We need to share knowledge in order to practice continuous learning within an organization. Knowledge sharing will also helps an organization to be more effective and efficient, further increases profits. My own experience through observations is that knowledgeable people do like to share their expertise - just listen to them in the bar after work. It's just something about their work environment that discourages this natural inclination. Understanding these barriers and individual motivations is the first step towards implementing changes in the work setting. Different approaches will be appropriate in different situations. Therefore, I have listed above some ways to help encourage employees to share knowledge.
REFERENCES:
1. http://www.wikipedia.com
2. http://www.skyrme.com/updates/u64-f1.htm
3. http://www.worldorg.com
4. Knowledge Sharing in Practice, Marleen Huysman and Dirk de Wit, Kluwer (2002).
5. The Knowledge Management Toolkit, Amrit Tiwana, Prentice Hall (2000).
6. Knowledge Management Case Book: Siemens Best Practises (2nd Ed), eds. Davenport and Probst, John Wiley & Sons (2002).
7. Miller, D.; Shamsie, J. (1996). "The resource-based view of the firm in two environments: The Hollywood film studios from 1936 to 1965". Academy of Management Journal
8. McShane & von Glinow2007, from Organizational Behaviour, McGRAW. HILL INTERNATIONAL EDITION
9. http://www.youtube.com
Knowledge is a valuable intangible asset for creating and sustaining competitive advantages, which is the value or key aspect that is derived from information. Knowledge is much more useful and powerful compared to information. Knowledge management refers to the acquisition of knowledge, sharing knowledge and utilizing knowledge for a company’s survival and success. Knowledge management helps a company to be more efficient and effective as expertise are stored in a knowledge bank or other databases within the company which can be used in the future when the same situation occurs.
(A short video essential on what knowledge management does)
Implementing knowledge management is difficult in organizations because many employees are afraid to share their knowledge. This is mainly due to the fact the employees are not secure to share their knowledge because they are afraid that they colleagues will over-take them, will be more successful and will obtain a promotion for knowing much more knowledge then them in the organization. This insecure feeling limits or restricts employees from sharing their knowledge to others.
Knowledge sharing is a very important element in knowledge management. Therefore, in order to implement knowledge management, we must first encourage team members to share their knowledge. Why should people give up their hard-won knowledge, when it is one of their key sources of personal advantage? In some organizations, sharing is natural. In others the old dictum "knowledge is power" reigns.
(Presentation in Kuala Lumpur ... knowledge sharing facilitators telecentre.org)
One of the ways to encourage team members to share their knowledge would be to change the culture of the particular organization. Culture change is never easy and takes time. But cultures can be changed. Culture is defined in many ways, such as "commonly held beliefs, attitudes and values" (Institute of Personnel Development), and "the collective programming of the mind that distinguished one group from another" (Geert Hofstede). I like the simple but effective definition "the way we do things around here". There is no one place to start, but most interventions are based on a simple layered model that portrays how people's observable actions and behaviours are influenced by reportable attitudes and values based on more deep-rooted beliefs. Therefore to change people's actions you have to address the more fundamental underlying layers. This can be done as an organization-wide programme or in small groups or even individually.
Some of the activities that might be used to plan and induce change would be that having a culture audit, challenge 'improper' behaviour (if you identify people hoarding knowledge unnecessarily, challenge them, though avoid "knowledge rage"), encourage involvement (some of the best knowledge sharing cultures are where everybody believes that their knowledge is respected, valued and used to inform decisions), use of role models, have team-building or organization development sessions, align rewards and recognition to support appropriate behaviours and change people by moving the knowledge sharers around. A good example of changing culture alongside an evolving knowledge management programme is that of Siemens (reference 6).
The theory involved here would be the expectancy theory of motivation. This is because when we change the culture of the organization, employees will be more motivated to share their knowledge and further will help to increase their efforts, performance and outcomes. Since knowledge sharing will help them to increase their expertise (know more), they will be more motivated to put in more effort, perform better and produce better outcomes. By align rewards and recognition to support appropriate behaviours can also be associated with this theory. This is when outcomes are to be increased, rewards such as money and recognition should be given to employees in order to increase performance to outcomes expectancy. Further, employees will be encouraged to share knowledge in order to improve their performance and outcome in order to obtain rewards.
Other way to encourage team members to share their knowledge would be challenging to co-opetition. Human beings are at the same time social cooperative beings and have a competitive streak. We all like to do better than our peers and excel in something. Yet, in today's complex world, we need help from them to achieve our aims. In an organization, lack of competition - both for individuals and teams - leads to complacency. But competition must be done in a healthy manner. One of the things to consider here is in early stages of product development don't simply approve one line of approach, rather have several "competing" projects under way but make sure there are mechanisms to exchange knowledge and challenge or encourage each "runner" e.g. through people sharing, peer reviews etc. Another thing to consider will be that to continually benchmark internal processes and functions with other organizations and potential suppliers in order to encourage them to strive for improvement through learning from each other by sharing knowledge. We could also introduce 'competitions', such as the "knowledge champion of the year", the "innovators team award", but invite everybody to the award ceremonies.
The theory involved here would be the four-drive theory. Drive to bond shows that we need to form relationships and socialize and while we are doing this, we are sharing knowledge with others. Drive to learn also refers to knowledge sharing such as benchmarking and competing for knowledge champion award as mention above.
I think that my suggestions would be effective because it will promote or encourage employees to share knowledge in a healthy and voluntary manner, which is very important especially when it comes to tacit knowledge sharing. This is because tacit knowledge can’t be codified and it will be difficult to share with others in a forced manner, unless it comes voluntarily. I also think that having a culture audit is effective because it helps in finding out the difference between what is articulated as the desired culture and what is done, and further it helps us to clearly identify which values and behaviours conflict with better knowledge sharing and perhaps (more importantly) which people should be the target for change. Using role models and rewarding them are also effective because other employees will be motivated to work harder to achieve that same level. In order for them to work harder, these employees will share theirs and acquired the role model’s knowledge and sharing knowledge that’s place.
In my perspective, I also think that knowledge sharing is a very important element in knowledge management because we will not be able to management knowledge if it is not first shared. We need to share knowledge in order to practice continuous learning within an organization. Knowledge sharing will also helps an organization to be more effective and efficient, further increases profits. My own experience through observations is that knowledgeable people do like to share their expertise - just listen to them in the bar after work. It's just something about their work environment that discourages this natural inclination. Understanding these barriers and individual motivations is the first step towards implementing changes in the work setting. Different approaches will be appropriate in different situations. Therefore, I have listed above some ways to help encourage employees to share knowledge.
REFERENCES:
1. http://www.wikipedia.com
2. http://www.skyrme.com/updates/u64-f1.htm
3. http://www.worldorg.com
4. Knowledge Sharing in Practice, Marleen Huysman and Dirk de Wit, Kluwer (2002).
5. The Knowledge Management Toolkit, Amrit Tiwana, Prentice Hall (2000).
6. Knowledge Management Case Book: Siemens Best Practises (2nd Ed), eds. Davenport and Probst, John Wiley & Sons (2002).
7. Miller, D.; Shamsie, J. (1996). "The resource-based view of the firm in two environments: The Hollywood film studios from 1936 to 1965". Academy of Management Journal
8. McShane & von Glinow2007, from Organizational Behaviour, McGRAW. HILL INTERNATIONAL EDITION
9. http://www.youtube.com
Saturday, July 12, 2008
ASSIGNMENT 1
INDIVIDUALISM-COLLECTIVIST, POWER DISTANCE, ACHIEVEMENT-NURTURING ARE SEVERAL KEY VALUES THAT PEOPLE AND ORGANISATIONS SUBCRIBE TO. THESE VALUES PLAY A PIVOTAL ROLE IN ORGANISATIONS AND WOULD UNDENIABLY AFFECT THE ORGANISATIONAL PRACTICES IN THE ORGANISATION. DISCUSS AND REFLECT ON THESE VALUES.
There are many values that people and organizations usually practice. One of these key values is Individualism vs. Collectivist. Individualism is a term used to describe people that stress human independence and the importance of individual self-reliance and liberty. This is normally refers to the people who likes to get things done by themselves, very independent, values personal freedom and being appreciated for unique qualities. In other words, individualism stands for a society in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after himself or herself. In an organization for an example, the employees are rather willing to complete their task individually then to work together in a group. For example, individualism cultures like USA (highest score = 1st rank) and France (10th rank) are more self-centred and emphasize mostly on their individual goals. People from individualism cultures tend to think only of themselves as individuals and as "I" distinctive from other people. Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaLMuI0FMRk . This video helps to futher define the term individualism.
Collectivist on the other hand, refers to people who prefer to work in groups, rather then individuals. Collectivist cultures have a great emphasize on groups and think more in terms of "we". The relationship between employer and employee is based on trust and harmony and deep understanding. Collectivist culture is usually practiced by the Asians, such as Malaysians. Most of the time the employees here in Malaysia carry out their task in groups or teams rather than doing it alone or individually. Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uFa0hBPqOY . This video shows in further the differances between individualism and collectivist culture.
I had experienced both individualism and collectivist in completing my assignments in my university life. For example, I have done assignments by myself and also in groups. Individualism is a much faster process and I get to be my own boss. I’m able to get tasks done based on my own ideas. Although it’s a faster process, the ideas may seem to be from only one perspective. Collectivist allows me to obtain more perspectives by receiving different ideas from other people. It allows me to think from different perspectives and share knowledge among ourselves. I think that collectivist is a little time consuming because we have to conduct meetings with our members, discuss a lot of ideas to finalize it and wait for their parts. I would prefer individualism culture because I find it more effective and efficient, but collectivist would also be effective if diverse ideas are needed and the group members are proactive.
Next key value would be Power Distance. As said by Hofstede, power distance is the extent to which less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. Power distance refers to how the employees within an organization react towards their superiors. High power distance is usually practiced in Malaysia, where employees are comfortable receiving commands from superiors and resolving conflicts through formal rules and authority. This means that the employees will just receive instructions from their boss without providing any inputs. For example, Malaysia is said to be high power distance due to the bureacracy that is practiced in the goverment and organisations. But things are changing now in the up coming generations because education is also playing a role these days, where students are trained and practiced to work in teams during their tertiary studies.
Low power distance is where the employees more prefer participative management and resolving conflicts through personal networks. This means that the employees will provide inputs such as ideas and suggestions to their superiors in order to make any decisions within the organization. Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btkOHQMa9y4 .This video helps us to differentiate high and low power distance better.
In my point of view, low power distance is better then high power distance because the employees are given change to voice out their opinions and suggestions which may be the best idea. This is due to the fact that each individual has their own perception and they can think of a solid idea which the superiors didn’t think about. It’s also better to practice low power distance because as the employees participate by providing inputs, this will further improves the commitment and performance of the said employees. Allowing employees’ participation also helps to make them feel appreciated by the superiors. I think that high power distance is effective and fast, but it doesn’t allow a two-way communication between the employer and employee. This is because the boss just passes down the command and the employees will just carry it out. The relationship between the employer and employee is also not as close as in a low power distance culture.
I had experience low power distance almost in every assignment which I have done in university. This is where the leader of the group will receive inputs from the members rather than just commanding them to do certain task without any inputs provided by the members. From my experience, most members in such a group will not have a hundred percent commitment in doing their task because they feel that they are not being appreciated by their leader. Even so, Malaysia practices high power distance culture very widely. In my opinion, high power distance helps work to be completed faster and more effectively as the employees are afraid of their superiors because their relationship is not as close in the low power distance culture.
The final key value would be Achievement vs. Nurturing. The achievement culture refers to organizations where the employees value assertiveness, competitiveness and materialism. This means that these employees are focused on achieving goals and targets and are concern about the organization’s success. These employees ensure that they achieve the goals and targets that are planned successfully and within the time allocated for the task to be completed. Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsp8H9UiI3E .This video shows ur how to create and understand further regarding an achievement culture.
On the other hand, nurturing culture refers to people that values relationship and the well-being of others. This means that these organizations think about their employees’ well-being first before the organization and they focuses more on helping others. These culture shows that the employees are caring and concern towards each other and the relationship between them is very strong. Unlike nurturing, achievement culture doesn’t really take relationships among employees into much consideration. The main focus is just about achieving what is targeted.
In my point of view, I would say that it is better to practice achievement culture, but also with the blend of nurturing culture to an extent. This is because achievement culture will help us to get things done effectively, efficiently and within the time constraints, but we have to also help each other and ensure the well-being of others at the same time to a certain extent. I think that with the blend of both cultures a particular organization will be better off.
I experienced both achievement and nurturing culture in my home with my parents. My mother shows the achievement culture and my father shows the nurturing culture. This is because my mother will always want me to study hard and obtain high marks for all the exams I sat for in school. She used to push me to study very hard in order to achieve good grades, even though at that time of the day I was tired and can’t pay attention to study. Therefore, I would say that my mother shows that achievement culture because she always wanted me to achievement good grades without considering the well-being of me. On the other hand, my father practices the nurturing culture. I would say this because whenever my father tells me to do something, he will consider my well-being first. For example, when my father asks me to study, he will ask me whether I can pay attention first or not. If I say I’m tired and can’t focus on the subject at the moment, he would tell me to take a rest first and study later. He would also help my in my studies especially in Mathematics. This shows that my father practices the nurturing culture, because he values the relationship and also he is concern regarding my well-being first.
Each culture is good to practice to a certain extent, because too much of something good can also be not too good sometimes. Therefore we must practice each culture with the blend of each opposite culture to a certain extent. For examlpe, the individuallism culture is good for an effective task, but a little of collectivist culture should help to diverse the idea to obtain better results. In coclusion, i would like to say that
REFERENCES
1. "Individualism is a term used to describe people that stress human independence and the importance of individual self-reliance and liberty (McShane & von Glinow2007), from Organizational Behaviour, McGRAW. HILL INTERNATIONAL EDITION.
2. http://oliverhofman.de/284.html
3. "Collectivism is defined as the theory and practice that makes some sort of group rather than the individual" by Stephen Grabill and Gregory M.A.Gronbacher. "Individualism holds that a human being should think and judge independently, respecting nothing more than the sovereignty of his or her mind."
( http://freedomkeys.com/collectivism.htm )
4. Jun Zhao, Lijun Chen, 2008, Management Research News Journal, Individualism, collectivism, selected personality traits, and psychological contract in employment: A comparative study.
5. "Individualistic societies tend to show a high preference for confrontational procedures such as arbitration, while those from collectivist cultures prefer harmony - enhancing procedures like negotiation and mediation, in resolving disputes" by Leung,1987.
( http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3717/is_199701/ai_n8749483 )
6. "Power distance is the extent to which less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally" by Hofstede (page 262)
( http://www.via-web.de/282.html )
7. "Individualism is a moral, political, or social outlook that stresses independence, self-reliance and individual liberty." "Collectivism is a term used to describe any moral, political, or social outlook, that stresses human interdependence and the importance of a collective, rather than the importance of separate individuals. Collectivists focus on community and society, and seek to give priority to group goals over individual goals."
( http://wikipedia.com )
8. http://www.youtube.com
There are many values that people and organizations usually practice. One of these key values is Individualism vs. Collectivist. Individualism is a term used to describe people that stress human independence and the importance of individual self-reliance and liberty. This is normally refers to the people who likes to get things done by themselves, very independent, values personal freedom and being appreciated for unique qualities. In other words, individualism stands for a society in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after himself or herself. In an organization for an example, the employees are rather willing to complete their task individually then to work together in a group. For example, individualism cultures like USA (highest score = 1st rank) and France (10th rank) are more self-centred and emphasize mostly on their individual goals. People from individualism cultures tend to think only of themselves as individuals and as "I" distinctive from other people. Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaLMuI0FMRk . This video helps to futher define the term individualism.
Collectivist on the other hand, refers to people who prefer to work in groups, rather then individuals. Collectivist cultures have a great emphasize on groups and think more in terms of "we". The relationship between employer and employee is based on trust and harmony and deep understanding. Collectivist culture is usually practiced by the Asians, such as Malaysians. Most of the time the employees here in Malaysia carry out their task in groups or teams rather than doing it alone or individually. Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uFa0hBPqOY . This video shows in further the differances between individualism and collectivist culture.
I had experienced both individualism and collectivist in completing my assignments in my university life. For example, I have done assignments by myself and also in groups. Individualism is a much faster process and I get to be my own boss. I’m able to get tasks done based on my own ideas. Although it’s a faster process, the ideas may seem to be from only one perspective. Collectivist allows me to obtain more perspectives by receiving different ideas from other people. It allows me to think from different perspectives and share knowledge among ourselves. I think that collectivist is a little time consuming because we have to conduct meetings with our members, discuss a lot of ideas to finalize it and wait for their parts. I would prefer individualism culture because I find it more effective and efficient, but collectivist would also be effective if diverse ideas are needed and the group members are proactive.
Next key value would be Power Distance. As said by Hofstede, power distance is the extent to which less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. Power distance refers to how the employees within an organization react towards their superiors. High power distance is usually practiced in Malaysia, where employees are comfortable receiving commands from superiors and resolving conflicts through formal rules and authority. This means that the employees will just receive instructions from their boss without providing any inputs. For example, Malaysia is said to be high power distance due to the bureacracy that is practiced in the goverment and organisations. But things are changing now in the up coming generations because education is also playing a role these days, where students are trained and practiced to work in teams during their tertiary studies.
Low power distance is where the employees more prefer participative management and resolving conflicts through personal networks. This means that the employees will provide inputs such as ideas and suggestions to their superiors in order to make any decisions within the organization. Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btkOHQMa9y4 .This video helps us to differentiate high and low power distance better.
In my point of view, low power distance is better then high power distance because the employees are given change to voice out their opinions and suggestions which may be the best idea. This is due to the fact that each individual has their own perception and they can think of a solid idea which the superiors didn’t think about. It’s also better to practice low power distance because as the employees participate by providing inputs, this will further improves the commitment and performance of the said employees. Allowing employees’ participation also helps to make them feel appreciated by the superiors. I think that high power distance is effective and fast, but it doesn’t allow a two-way communication between the employer and employee. This is because the boss just passes down the command and the employees will just carry it out. The relationship between the employer and employee is also not as close as in a low power distance culture.
I had experience low power distance almost in every assignment which I have done in university. This is where the leader of the group will receive inputs from the members rather than just commanding them to do certain task without any inputs provided by the members. From my experience, most members in such a group will not have a hundred percent commitment in doing their task because they feel that they are not being appreciated by their leader. Even so, Malaysia practices high power distance culture very widely. In my opinion, high power distance helps work to be completed faster and more effectively as the employees are afraid of their superiors because their relationship is not as close in the low power distance culture.
The final key value would be Achievement vs. Nurturing. The achievement culture refers to organizations where the employees value assertiveness, competitiveness and materialism. This means that these employees are focused on achieving goals and targets and are concern about the organization’s success. These employees ensure that they achieve the goals and targets that are planned successfully and within the time allocated for the task to be completed. Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsp8H9UiI3E .This video shows ur how to create and understand further regarding an achievement culture.
On the other hand, nurturing culture refers to people that values relationship and the well-being of others. This means that these organizations think about their employees’ well-being first before the organization and they focuses more on helping others. These culture shows that the employees are caring and concern towards each other and the relationship between them is very strong. Unlike nurturing, achievement culture doesn’t really take relationships among employees into much consideration. The main focus is just about achieving what is targeted.
In my point of view, I would say that it is better to practice achievement culture, but also with the blend of nurturing culture to an extent. This is because achievement culture will help us to get things done effectively, efficiently and within the time constraints, but we have to also help each other and ensure the well-being of others at the same time to a certain extent. I think that with the blend of both cultures a particular organization will be better off.
I experienced both achievement and nurturing culture in my home with my parents. My mother shows the achievement culture and my father shows the nurturing culture. This is because my mother will always want me to study hard and obtain high marks for all the exams I sat for in school. She used to push me to study very hard in order to achieve good grades, even though at that time of the day I was tired and can’t pay attention to study. Therefore, I would say that my mother shows that achievement culture because she always wanted me to achievement good grades without considering the well-being of me. On the other hand, my father practices the nurturing culture. I would say this because whenever my father tells me to do something, he will consider my well-being first. For example, when my father asks me to study, he will ask me whether I can pay attention first or not. If I say I’m tired and can’t focus on the subject at the moment, he would tell me to take a rest first and study later. He would also help my in my studies especially in Mathematics. This shows that my father practices the nurturing culture, because he values the relationship and also he is concern regarding my well-being first.
Each culture is good to practice to a certain extent, because too much of something good can also be not too good sometimes. Therefore we must practice each culture with the blend of each opposite culture to a certain extent. For examlpe, the individuallism culture is good for an effective task, but a little of collectivist culture should help to diverse the idea to obtain better results. In coclusion, i would like to say that
REFERENCES
1. "Individualism is a term used to describe people that stress human independence and the importance of individual self-reliance and liberty (McShane & von Glinow2007), from Organizational Behaviour, McGRAW. HILL INTERNATIONAL EDITION.
2. http://oliverhofman.de/284.html
3. "Collectivism is defined as the theory and practice that makes some sort of group rather than the individual" by Stephen Grabill and Gregory M.A.Gronbacher. "Individualism holds that a human being should think and judge independently, respecting nothing more than the sovereignty of his or her mind."
( http://freedomkeys.com/collectivism.htm )
4. Jun Zhao, Lijun Chen, 2008, Management Research News Journal, Individualism, collectivism, selected personality traits, and psychological contract in employment: A comparative study.
5. "Individualistic societies tend to show a high preference for confrontational procedures such as arbitration, while those from collectivist cultures prefer harmony - enhancing procedures like negotiation and mediation, in resolving disputes" by Leung,1987.
( http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3717/is_199701/ai_n8749483 )
6. "Power distance is the extent to which less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally" by Hofstede (page 262)
( http://www.via-web.de/282.html )
7. "Individualism is a moral, political, or social outlook that stresses independence, self-reliance and individual liberty." "Collectivism is a term used to describe any moral, political, or social outlook, that stresses human interdependence and the importance of a collective, rather than the importance of separate individuals. Collectivists focus on community and society, and seek to give priority to group goals over individual goals."
( http://wikipedia.com )
8. http://www.youtube.com
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