...Assignment 14.10.2015 Since globalization have forced global companies work and cooperate across geographical borders, their employees must travel and work in different countries and therefore have to deal with variety of cultural differences. Ellen Moore, an experienced consultant from Systems Consulting Group despite some warnings that woman is not prefered as manager only if she is high qualified, was sent to Korea to work as a manager of korean consultants. Ellen's advantage why she was elected for this position was her experience in project management and her international experience from work in Bahrein. As Ellen arrived in Korea, she takes every possibility to learn language and to understand local culture, lifestyle and values and soon she realized that there are remarkable differences from Western countries in the everyday live and also business environment, mainly based on historical evolution and impact of Confucianism which properties were affecting and reflecting in social and work environment: Complete loyalty to structure Duty to parents expressed in loyalty, love and gratitude Very strict rules of conduct (parents / children; old / young; male / female ; teacher / student) In Western countries good manager and leader has to express positive emotions public and some negative remarks are prefered to announce in private in order not to reduce person's public confidence. In Korea manager should express disappointment about person’s performance public,...
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...Analysis 3 Ellen Moore Jenna Gilson Talal Khader Britton Larson Aubrey Morgan MGT 400 2/20/12 1. Identify the problems that the focal company/person in the case face. There is an unclear hierarchical reporting structure within the project team, making it impossible for the project to continue and limits communication and knowledge transfer. The main problem that the Systems Consulting Group faces is that they need to complete their consulting project that they are behind schedule on, and need to choose a course of action quickly. 2. Identify underlying causes to the problem at hand There are many problems that are halting the progress of the project. The team is clearly suffering from lack of communication, disorganized team structure, unclear leadership and constant disagreement over the decision-making process. Business: The Korean structure appears to be hierarchical which seems to impact the understanding of relationships between consultants and clients of both the Americans and Koreans. Management: In Korea, respect for position and status influences how a project is executed. It is evident that power authority is undefined. Jack and Ellen don’t have a specific role, so there is an overlapping of power. As a result, subordinates are often confused and find it a bit hard to follow the lead of their superiors. There seems to be a lack of trust between Ellen and Jack ever...
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...1. CQ: Is what happened to Ellen a surprise? Why or why not? Do you think what happened to Ellen would have happened to people like yourself, and from your background? Why? It is a surprise what happened to Ellen. Although she is from a country with different culture from Korea, Ellen is a high quality professional with international experience. She had put a lot of effort to adapt to Korea culture and know how to do business at that country. She took every free time to learn and be familiarized with the local language, business etiquette, mannerism and culture in order to have a better environment to work at. Therefore, even coming from a very different culture, Ellen made a big effort to behave as close as possible to her colleagues from Korea. What happened to Ellen would probably happen to any other person even with the members from our group. Despite some similarity of the culture style between Brazil and South Korea ,it looks like her co-worker Jack didn’t recognize Ellen’s as a co-responsible for the work, so from this point of view anyone in her place could have the same problem. What might help in this situation is if it was a man in Ellen’s shoes as Korean’s culture is more male oriented. But it is not clear that Jack would react better even with a man, as Jack had studied at an American university and it would be expected that he would understand the situation of working together with an woman co-worker. 2. CQ: Is Ellen a “typical North American female manager”...
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...established Systems Implementation team consisted of five Korean consultants, one translator, and three North American consultants. Two co-supervisors were assigned to this team - Ellen Moore from American consultants’ side and Jack Kim from Koreans’ side. Consulting project was estimated to be one of the largest undertaken in South Korea to date. Problem There are several factors that affect project results: Cultural gaps between two nations – western and eastern Korean culture has different values than in the North American culture. Korea has long historical influence from religion and philosophy, like Confucian. It has a big impact on persons in business and the business etiquette in Korea. There are several actions what are may be considered as insignificant in western business area, here are very important, like the exchange of business cards, to know how to address a Korean by name, or replenishing a colleague’s drink at dinner, etc. Koreans took care that Confucian thoughts of loyalty to a hierarchical structure of authority and superiors-subordinate relationships (old/young and male/female) are always redeemed. Older man’s opinion is always taken as truth, comparing with younger’s. The same pattern is between males and females, males opinion is appreciate more than females Ellen worked hard to grab all cultural nuances to be...
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...Ellen Moore: Living And Working In Korea A female American consultant Ellen Moore has to face different problems working in Korea as a project manager. The Korean project Ellen is managing is month behind schedule. The tensions have arisen between her and her Korean co-manager, and the Korean project director Mr.Song is blaming Ellen for the problems. There obviously are differences between American and Korean culture. Some of the differences in relation to the Hofstede’s Framework: The Index of Power Distance is much higher in Korea (60; hierarchical society) than in America (40). Korea is considered as collectivistic society (Index of individualism = 18) contrary to very individualistic society – USA (91). The Masculinity Index of Korea is 39 which indicates that the culture is feminine; In USA the Masculinity Index is 62. 1. Why has the project run into problems? There are several causes that have led the project to problems. And these are not only cultural differences. Firstly, I would like to mention the management aspect. There were some contradictions of the information given to both co-leaders regarding who is leading the team. It seems that the power of authority is not clearly defined which led to misunderstanding which role each person should play. It resulted in overlapping power. Jack had more commanding power over subordinates than Ellen, but it anyway inevitably created confusion between the subordinates. As it was mentioned, there are great cultural...
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...« Ellen Moore (A): living and working in Korea » * Why is Ellen successful as a manager? Ellen Moore is a hard-worker person and she did a lot of study to acquire a good status. Every job she had, before going to Korea, were successfully achieved. In fact she quickly got a good level in the hierarchy of every company which she had worked for. So, she was chosen to accomplish this project with a truly confidence of her superior. In addition of her skills and study, she also had a really hard experience in Bahrain. A very difficult culture for a woman, there she had to gain respect among men but because of this difference, she acquired high skills in capability, creativity, and project management. So, when she arrived in Korea she had already read some basis staff about how to act in a business manner. For example, she knew that while receiving a business card she had to pay attention to it carefully and ask some question about it. Also she had to be aware that asking question while someone explains you something is really inappropriate in Korea and means that your teacher is not relevant. To conclude, Ellen is a good manager for all the skills mentioned above and also because she was performing while she had the occasion to manage the consultants and find out that they were less experimented than expected. * What would you advise Ellen to do and why? Ellen Moore is a really good manager but she had some troubles with it. Indeed, her partner Jack seems really...
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...The case “Ellen More (A): Living and Working in Korea” shows us how the Systems Consulting Group (SCG) is struggling with challenges stemming from cultural difference, gender difference in leadership (even though the gender difference was ratified in the earlier stages), lack of direction from leadership, fundamental challenges with cultural hierarchy and authority, challenges with group dynamics, low morale, and communication barriers. Due to the cultural diversity, communication barrier has posed the biggest challenge. Secondly, difference in perception is another big challenge. In North America, the culture differs from Korea where it is very direct and uses explicit communication. Example: giving direct feedback or compliments to high performing workers is normal, however, it is not socially accepted in Korea as the employees are treated with the same level of respect. On the other hand Korean culture is indirect and they almost never ask questions when in doubt as it depicts that is unclear and can be taken as disrespectful. In addition, the Confucianism of Korean cultures teaches to show respect to teachers and managers. Soon after Ellen’s arrival and spending some time in Korea, she discovered that the Korean consultants had less experience. During the short tenure of the project, she could sense the tension arising between her and the co-manager Jack Kim. Jack had made it clear in his communication style to the group that he was the boss and with his demeanour...
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...1. Possible solutions that Ellen faced a) Take the Customer Services position: • Strength: By accepting the Customer Service position, she is taking her career to a new level. With new challenges to face, more responsibilities to meet and huge number of employees to manage which she has proven herself to have the skills and qualifications in this new role. It could be an option to take her career further and even could be a role model for women in this country that want to be in management position. • Weakness: By accepting this position, she is sending the message that she is accepting the discrimination that she experienced. She would be compromising her values, which is probably painful for her as an educated American woman, because her true personality has been violated. b) Fight Back: • Strength: Fighting back can help Ellen remain her true personality. By seeking help from Senior Vice-president, Ellen may persuade the SVP to stand by her side, get the position that she dreamed of. Another way to do it is to try her chances in the Bahraini Labor Tribunals, if she wins the case in the tribunal, it will help her change the women' unequal rights in the company or even to be a role model for women in the Bahraini society. • Weakness: Stepping over the general manager and reaching the Senior Vice-President to solve the issue might affect her relationship with the general manager who trusted her and nominated her for senior management position. This may result in serious...
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...raise against them. What damages can they request, and do you think they will get them? Why or why not? 14a8b106 It is discovered that 2 weeks before the Ellen show, she had sold $2 million in JOSB stock (at a gain of about $2,200). The morning after her show, Ellen sold JOSB short (which means she was betting the stock price would go down), and she made another $210,000 in the next week on that trade. The swing in the price was not directly tied to her comments but was suspected to be a result of a recall JOSB made on their entire line of men's black and brown dress slacks when it was discovered that they had been sewn together with white thread. Ellen's previous trading activity shows that she made it a normal practice to “vigorously trade” the stock of any company with which she did business. A review of her trading activity for the past year showed that she had bought and sold JOSB stock 25 different times, including short sales like this one. Her overall trading for JOSB stock for the last 12 months was a net loss of $82,000.00. Do you think the SEC will file anything against Ellen for her sales of JOSB? Is there any cause to do so? Analyze her transactions with respect to insider trading activity (based on what you know) and whether she should be concerned. Is her prior trading activity a defense? Should Ellen...
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...Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream (2000) will blow your mind. It may be one of the most disturbing films ever made, not in the sense of gore, but in the sense of commonplace situations that are relatable to any person in today’s society. Requiem for a Dream grabs you emotionally and gives you a slap on the face, with its intense drama and striking visuals. This is the simple story with a plot concentrating on addiction and human weaknesses, based on the novel by Hubert Selby, Junior. Aronofsky narrates the tales of four addicts. Three of them are young junkies, Harry Goldfarb (portrayed by Jared Leto); his girlfriend, Merion (Jennifer Connelly); and his buddy Tyrone (Marlon Wayans). The movie is memorable for Ellen Burstyn's role as Sara Goldfarb, the mother of Harry. Her most memorable quote, summing up most of her character: “Purple in the morning, blue in the afternoon, orange in the evening, and green in the night.” It shows that even things that are considered normal, such as medication prescribed by doctors, can backfire and jumpstart an addiction for naïve patients. Sara’s dream is to get back into a red dress, nostalgic of her younger days when she was thin and conventionally beautiful. A lonely house, a refrigerator, a television set symbolizes the empty and mundane life of the elderly Sara Goldfarb. Striving for her dream, she seeks medical help to go on a diet. The doctor does not hesitate to prescribe her four medications to take daily. She is hopeful about...
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...ACCEPTANCE IS THE KEY -RoMae The third sex was and still is an issue in today’s society. They aren’t accepted by the people around them and sometimes they aren’t even accepted by their own families. They are discriminated, bullied physically and emotionally and these things lead them to fear other people which cause self-torture, self-pity and sometimes even suicide. But why aren’t they accepted in our society? Is it because they’re different—that they don’t belong to the norms because God only made men and women not gays and lesbians nor bisexuals and transgenders? But aren’t they human too so why can’t they be treated equally as how we, men and women, are treated? I know a lot of people who belongs to the third sex. Take for example one of my friends and former classmate in high school, Ronel, a fine-looking young man who is a part of the LGBT community. When I asked him what the reasons behind him being gay were, he answered that it had always been in him, that he had always thought of himself as a girl trapped in a boy’s body. The same goes with another friend and former classmate, Jonas, who despite having a strict father turned out to be gay which he said that it was the effect of him playing with girls when he was still very young. Hanging out with girls and other gays was also the reason why Mark and Christian, two of my friends since elementary, turned out to be bisexuals. On the other hand, I don’t know much about the Lesbians. But I do know some people like my...
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..."Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity." When Oprah Winfrey made this statement I believe she was trying to address those of us who believe that luck is just a matter of a good thing falling into one’s lap. But, frankly, any opportunity given must be ready to be received, hence, preparation. Good things happen to people every day, but unless that person is ready to make the best of it, the potential that the opportunity once had will never come to pass. Needless to say I agree with Ms. Winfrey and the intentions behind this quote. I especially believe, for many reasons, both personal and not, that people must stop waiting on things to happen for them and work for what they want. This is the only way we can truly become and create anything great. Personally, I am in the midst of living this quote. Having been out of school and working for the past couple of years, I have yet to make the impact on the world that I once dreamed of. Writing this essay and taking the previous parts of this entrance exam, I have taken my first steps in preparing myself for bigger, better, and brighter opportunities that I know are awaiting me. Not if, but when I am accepted into your school I will do even more preparation and soon my luck will change. It will change because I have allowed it to change. I will have allowed myself to become open to any opportunities I seek. Because without going to school and making the necessary preparations I now realize that I have limited...
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...be aware of the place in the story for both the book and the movie because there is always a twist right around the corner. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin keeps the reader entertained throughout the whole story while also keeping the reader in shock waiting to discover what will happen next. The Westing Game novel and movie contain many similarities and differences between them that are worth explaining. In The Westing Game book and the movie, there are many...
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...Grey’s Anatomy stars Sarah Drew, Jessica Capshaw to leave show Medical drama Grey’s Anatomy recently announced the departure of longtime stars and fan favorites Sarah Drew and Jessica Capshaw. Both are expected to exit the popular TV series after the conclusion of season 14. Both actresses are veterans of the show, with Drew having been a cast member for the past nine seasons and Capshaw for the past ten. Their characters, Sarah Drew’s April and Jessica Capshaw’s Arizona, have long been fan favorites on the program and are notable for representing groups that are less visible on many TV shows. Drew’s April Kepner drew acclaim from many Christian groups for her devoutly Christian background while Capshaw’s Arizona Robbins was hailed by LGBT...
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...Official SAT® Practice Test 2013-14 Taking the Practice Test • The practice test will help you most if you take it under conditions as close as possible to those of the actual test. Set aside 3 hours and 20 minutes of uninterrupted time That way you can complete the entire test in one sitting. Note: The total testing time is 3 hours and 45 minutes, but you save 25 minutes because the unscored section* from this practice test was omitted. Sit at a desk or table cleared of any other papers or books You won’t be able to take a dictionary, books, notes, or scratch paper into the test room. Allow yourself the specified amount of time for each section Pace yourself by using a watch (without an audible alarm), which is what you are allowed to use on test day. Have a calculator at hand when you take the math sections This will help you determine how much to use a calculator the day of the test. Use a calculator with which you are familiar-----preferably the same calculator you will use on test day. Read the test instructions carefully They are reprinted from the back cover of the test book. On test day, you will be asked to read them before you begin answering questions. Make sure you use a No. 2 pencil It is very important that you fill in the entire circle on the answer sheet darkly and completely. If you change your response, erase it as completely as possible. It is very important that you follow these instructions when filling out your answer sheet. Record your answers on paper...
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