Click in the image for extending the comparative chart between Japanese, Korean and Colombian management styles according to some variables considered in the Lee, Roehl, and Choe study.
References:
Lee, Jangho, Thomas W. Roehl, & Soonkyoo Choe. (2000). What Makes Management Style Similar and Distinct Across Borders? Growth, Experience and Culture in Korean and Japanese Firms.Journal of International Business Studies, 31(4): 631-52
Llinás Toledo, Fernando. (1997). Competitividad internacional y estratégica de las empresas colombianas. Gestión. Universidad del Norte. 3. Retrieved March 24, 2010 from:
Lanzas Duque, Angela María, Zuluaga Ramírez, Carlos Mauricio, & Patiño Diaz, Ariel. (2008). Estilos gerenciales administrativos en las empresas comerciales de artículos de ferretería, cerrajería y vidrio. Scientia et Technica Año XIV, 40. Retrieved March 24, 2010 from:
Canada has experienced in summary three scenarios in its history of immigration. The first one before 1901, was characterized by low levels of immigration as this territory was considered a cold, remote, and backward country. In fact the net migration to and from Canada between 1861 and 1901 was negative. The second one consisting of increasing rates of immigration since the late 1890s when almost all sectors of the economy began to expand rapidly and the third one, a recent and visible trend apparently resembling the situation in nineteenth century where concerns that have to do with brain drain phenomenon and failing the desires of the government in terms of immigration of skilled people exist. This uncertainty is generating doubts about the future in immigration to Canada, and finally after this overview, one probably new phenomenon to occur is the future increasing of immigration from Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, being immigration from this last region the most noticeably over the last quarter century.
Three supporting ideas
The supporting ideas can be identified in the text when Verbeeten (2007) states:
The trends of migration to and from Canada were transformed by the economic boom that propelled the Dominion into the twentieth century. In the late 1890s, almost all sectors of the economy began to expand rapidly as cuts in transport costs stimulated the export of goods—and the import of people. Immigrant arrivals went from 17,000 in 1896 to a record 403,000 in 1913 (Buckley, 1965, series A254, p.23). Immigration accounted for 44% of population growth between 1901 and 1911, a level not again reached for 75 years. (p.4)
Immigration to Canada collapsed with the Depression in 1930 and remained suppressed for nearly 20 years thereafter. After 1930, Canada shut its doors to many potential immigrants, often Jewish refugees, more tightly than did the US. (p.5)
Thus even though, from 1990 to 1996, Canada was reported to have received four graduates for every one Canadian graduate who moved to the US, this ratio related to permanent migrants only: it is reversed once. Temporary migrants are taken into account. The fact that a foreign-born professional is not truly fungible with his or her (absent) Canadian-born counterpart has exacerbated the negative economic consequences of the ongoing loss of native skilled workers. (p.7)
My impression
It is quite interesting how a country has to join efforts to achieve the objective of attracting people overseas to its territory, of course when it is important and valued as a font of economic and social growth. Also it is impressive how the competition in the skilled labor market intensify between countries that can offer good conditions of life and how cautious they should be with specific economic variables that could affect the life condition perceived by a skilled person or group to control flows of this human capital in these countries.
One of the first questions I always raise in this topic is at which level could be the idea of increasing immigration in a country can be considered as a strategy of economic growth and social wealth. It can be a big opportunity for reaching a state of multicultural nations where different opinions, approaches and ways of achieving objectives will be enriching culture and encouraging positive values for the development of that culture. But we can’t forget that this situation may conduct to the appearing of conflict between local culture and coming cultures, being this situation exposed by the Canada’s Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King who warned that the socioeconomic assimilation of foreigners from cultures whose norms diverge markedly from those of Canada does entail greater sacrifice and expense, not only for the individual immigrant, but also for society as a whole.
Finally it is also interesting to see how globalization has an effect in migration since it eases mobility of people between countries which can be rapidly noticed due to any change in economic incentives, direct or indirect policies that provoke reduction of migrant’s income, or in general life conditions that help appearance of the phenomenon of flows of skilled, flexible people going out of a determined nation and leading to a brain drain situation.
Reference:
Verbeeten, David. (2007). Thepast and Future of immigration to Canada. Int. Migration & Integration. DOI: 10.1007/s12134-007-0005-0
First of all I want to clarify that this article is based on the publication “Defining the Expat: the case of high-skilled migrants in Brussels” by Brussels Studies, the e-journal for academic research on Brussels which provides a conceptualization of the expatriates (in abbreviated form expat) staying in Brussels, identifying their characterization and also the perception the citizens of this city have of this “high-skilled migrants”. At the same time it gives an understanding of the difference that exists between expats and migrants. This work was conducted by making 30 structured in-depth interviews with young professional expatriates from 25 different European countries and that’s why with a textual analysis of paper publications specially related with expatriated and the analysis of the interviewees’ point of view it goes beyond a theoretical understanding of the expat phenomenon, defining what an expat is and clarifying the expats’ sense of belonging to a community in an empirical way.
Before entering this topic I would like to say that this difference is commonly tricky and I think it is generated by the common use of both terms, in some cases used in an unclear way or even as if they were considered the same. The critical aspects to understand this difference are social status, education level and profession, reason why the definition of expatriate might require considerations that go beyond a person’s nationality or mobility schemes, and imply these critical aspects.
As stated by Gatti (2009):
Migration is characterized by low levels of qualification and socio-economic status, which evidently contrast with the expats’ situation. Expats are considered educated people who go to a country not because they are motivated by basic needs, but rather by professional reasons or because they seek an experience abroad. Migrants, on the other hand, are perceived as people who are obliged to leave their countries because of the tough life and work conditions in their homeland. (p.2)
The division between migrants and expatriates has also a spatial connotation, confirming that they do not locate themselves in a city randomly, but rather add their own territorialization mode to the existing social construction of urban space.
It results interesting how Gatti (2009) describes the following situation:
In the case of Brussels low-skilled migrants, especially but not only those from North-Africa, concentrate in specific neighborhoods. Often, long-established Expats and estate agencies recommend newcomers to avoid these areas (the classical advice one may receive when looking for an apartment in Brussels is on the order of: “do not go there, it is in a North Africa area”).
Consequently, migrants and expatriates do not seem to get in touch as they have different biographies, different links to their country of origin, and obviously a totally different perception of Belgium and their future there. (p.3)
On the basis of the interviewees’ descriptions gathered by the Gatti’s work, expatriates usually present the following characteristics:
• Job driven;
• In Brussels for a short period;
• Highly educated;
• Group in an international community and seem to be very sociable;
• Usually have minimum contacts with Belgians;
• Often do not speak French
The characteristics of minimum contact with Belgians and that they do not speak French is explained because they are conscious of their temporary staying in the city which generates low commitment for personal relations and learning of the spoken language. Although this is shown as common, there can be found expatriates who want to keep living in this city, becoming this temporary staying aspect a not necessarily differentiating aspect between migrants and expatriates.
Finally as a way of conclusion, we can say expatriates appear to be a special subgroup of migrants characterized by a high level of education and a relatively high professional status who move abroad for professional reasons or looking for a constructive experience but there is not necessarily a relation with improving quality of life, which for migrants is the main objective due to economic or political factors specially labor conditions in their home country.
As an example of Colombians expatriates we can list Mauricio Molina in South Korea, Angela Becerra in Spain, Clemencia Rodriguez, Orlando Luis Cabrera, Edgar Enrique Rentería in The United States, Robinson Orozco Castillo and Carolina Herrera in London and Ivan Córdoba and Juan Camilo Zúñiga Mosquera in Italy. Most of all expatriates are high-skilled soccer, baseball and basketball players, others are writers, musicians, and generally people with a considered level of studies.
The following videos are proposed since they show some situations experienced by migrants and expatriates from Mexico and the United States.
References:
Gatti, Emanuele. (2009). Defining the expat: the case of high-skilled migrants in brussels. Brussels Studies, (28). Retrieved March 6, 2010 from:
In order to develop the content of this space it would be useful to start conceptualizing the terms of culture and organizational culture and also establishing the difference existing among them.
Starting by understanding the meaning of the first term, Bates & Plog (as cited in Khurana, 2007) argues that:
Culture is defined as the system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of a society use to cope with their world and with one another, and which is transmitted from generation to generation through learning. (p. 3)
And due to its meaning and depth, cultural influence can be identified at different levels of society, including the national, regional, gender, generation, social, and corporate level being the national one of the most known, identified and referenced by most of the people.
The culture of a nation for example embraces many aspects. It is shaped and molded by the background of its population, their languages and beliefs. It includes the different ways that people express and communicates themselves in words, movements, music and images. It is revealed in the ways people choose to spend their time, the music they listen to, the books they read and the films they watch, the sports they encourage, and the historical places and natural environments they protect. These aspects shape how a nation sees itself, and how it establishes its identity. (Stanbury, 1998)
Now after defining and understanding culture, the next concept to be developed can be perceived in the corporate level of society and is corporate culture, also known as cultural organization which basically is the personality of the organization.
Understanding organizational culture is identifying the collective rules by which an organization operates. Those rules which are shaped by shared behaviors, values and beliefs will determinate what is known as organizational culture and at the same time is this culture which forms the basis for how every person operates within the environment of the organization (Khan, 2005). Thanks to this the corporate culture will be based on the nature, operation and purposes of a particular organization and “never trumps national culture” (ITAP International, Inc., 2010, para. 4).
Examples of culture at this level can be the degree of formality with which employees communicate themselves, the dress code of the company, the way in which every employee is rewarded and the type of technology used.
Khan (2005) argues that:
Being aware of an organization’s culture at all levels is important because the culture defines appropriate and inappropriate behavior. In some cultures, for example, creativity is stressed. In others, the status quo is valued. Some cultures are more socially oriented, while others are task-oriented, “business only” environments. In some companies teamwork is key. In others, individual achievement is encouraged and valued (p. 5)
It is possible to realize how important is understanding and identifying corporate culture in order to know in the deepest way a company’s “lifestyle” or “day-to-day life” and then, the way it functions, develops and grows been possible to clearly identify what is the relation an specific organization wants to create and keep with its clients, what it wants to say to people, to its environment.
It could be concluded that while culture of a society has to do with the deeply held values of its integrating participants, like having the perception of what is good or bad, normal or abnormal, safe or dangerous and rational or irrational, organizational culture is comprised of a group of guidelines which are rooted in organizational practices learned on the job.
References:
ITAP International, Inc. (2010). Organizational Culture and National Culture: What’s the Difference and Why does it Matter? Retrieved January 1, 2010, from
