Understanding organizational behavior has never been more important for

managers. A quick look at a few of the dramatic changes now talking place in
organizations supports this claim. For instance, the typical employee is getting
older; more and more women and people of color are in the workplace; corporate
downsizing and the heavy use of temporary workers are severing the bonds of
loyalty that historically toed many employees to their employers; and global
competition is requiring employees to become more flexible and to learn to cope
with rapid changes. The war on terror has brought to the forefront the challenges of
working with and managing people during uncertain times.
In short, there are a lot of challenges and opportunities today for managers to use
OB concepts. In this article, we review some of the more critical issues confronting
managers for which OB offers solutions or at least some meaningful insights toward
solutions.
Responding to Globalization:
Organizations are no longer constrained by national borders. Burger King is owned
by a British, and McDonalds sells hamburgers in Moscow. Exxon Mobil, a so called
American company receives almost 75 percent of its revenues from sales outside
the United States. New employees at Finland based phone maker Nokia are
increasingly being recruited from India, China, and other developing countries with
non-Finns now outnumbering Finns at Nokias renowned research center in Helsinki.
And all major automobile manufacturers now build cars outside their borders; for
instance, Honda builds cars in Ohio; Ford in Brazil; Volkswagen in Mexico; and both
Mercedes and BMW ins South Africa.
These examples illustrate that the world has become a global village. In the
process, the managers job is changing.
Increased Foreign Assignments: If youre a manager, you are increasingly likely to
find yourself in a foreign assignment transferred to your employers operating
division or subsidiary in another country. Once there, youll have to manage a
workforce that is likely to be very different in needs, aspiration, and attitudes from
those you were used to back home.
Working with people from Different Cultures: Even in your own country, youre going
to find yourself working with bosses, peers, and other employees who were born
and raised in different cultures. What motivates you may not motivate them. Or
your style of communication may be straightforward and open, but they may find
this approach uncomfortable and threatening. To work effectively with people from
different cultures, you need to understand how their culture geography, and religion
have shaped them, and how to adapt your management style to their differences.
Coping with Anti-capitalism Backlash: Capitalisms focus on efficiency, growth, and
profits may be generally accepted in the United States, Australia and Hong Kong,
but these capitalistic values arent nearly as popular in places like France, the
Middle East, and the Scandinavian countries. For instance, because Finlands
egalitarian values have created a soak the rich mentality among politicians, traffic
fines are based on the offenders income rather than the severity of the offence. So,
when one of Finlands richest men (he is heir to a sausage fortune), who was
making close to $9 million a year, was ticketed for doing 80 kilometers per hour

through a 40-kilometer zone in central Helsinki, the Finnish court hit him with a fine
of $217,000.
Managers at global companies like McDonalds Disney, and Coca-Cola have come to
realize that economic values are not universally transferable. Management
practices need to be modified to reflect the values of the different countries in
which an organization operates.