anna chakvetadze russian harcut

anna chakvetadze russian harcut
anna chakvetadze russian harcut
anna chakvetadze russian harcut
anna chakvetadze russian harcut
anna chakvetadze russian harcut

Want to buy!!!

AH!!! Two things to buy!!! Things that not cheap, things that I want them so much!!!

One; Ga-In first solo album, Irreversible.

Two; 2AM new album, Saint O'Clock.

I really don't know where can buy Irreversible and Saint O'Clock... Especially Irreversible, don't think Malaysia can buy it... :/ now is hoping aunt's friend can help... And Saint O'Clock, Speedy maybe will have stocks but... I scared I won't have enough money to buy it... 55555...

Just hope I can get these 2 albums as soon as possible... :)

Going watch Music Bank later but can't see Ga-In anymore, because last Sunday;Inkigayo was her Good Bye Stage. 55555... And now, she is at Japan with her BEG members... BEG will soon daebak at Japan... :)

Never mind, I will just watch 2AM and SNSD! ^^ this time hope 2AM can have the first place... :))

GTG, going tuition soon... :)

Too much things happened in once

Just Sick Of CHS!!!

Damn it... Damn stupid school... YA! is you, CHS!!! the worst school I ever attended...

Why?! Let me tell you,

First, because of the stupid school rules

Second, because of the stupid discipline teacher

Third, because of the worst and stupid principle

Discipline teacher, when you want to scold student with those school rules, it's ok... but when scolding the ex-student of CHS, please don't use those STUPID school rules... because they are not student of CHS!!! They no need follow those STUPID school rules... OK!?!?

Pn.Cheam. Yup, crazy woman who scolded my sister who already graduated from CHS N years ago!!! damn dulan her... without thinking and just scolded, ordered and shamed my sister... F! you la!!! you shamed CHS, Pn.Cheam...

Just want to tell you: 아줌마, 시끄러! (Aunty, SHUT UP!)

Second thing,

Dear principle, Pn. Lee Kim Lai (LKL) any student should given a chance to change. Did you give any chance to him??? NO! You fired Kah Heng just because he ponteng school... You can just gantung him for few days but you no need directly fired him!!!

And also Kah Heng is our friend, he is not your puppet or your 'sponsor'! Just hope his father won't be so stupid for donate 30k to keep his son in this stupid school, CHS!!! Kah Hang will stay in CHS with us but not with his father donation... OK!?!?

Kah Heng, hope you can stay... Can't help you and only can hope you can stay with us until graduate... :)

2AM is BACK!!!

Watched 2AM first comeback stage on MCD!!! They all really talented on ballad songs...

Especially Changmin, his voice is so man! and he can sing high keys!! Of course, I won't forget my Jokwon... I know, his voice is really a bit girlish but he really sing well with his girlish voice... love his voice much! :D

The four of them sang their new songs until my tears will come down themselves... Hmm... Me myself also don't know why?! Maybe expressions on their face? make me touched?! >.<

New Day Without Soul End Part

Ga-In's Irreversible taught me; Lie, Don't Lie, Don't Lie...

Learnt a lesson,

Never lie to teacher...

Never say different story to person who work together...

Never bring barang larangan to school...

Soul will be now living there, discipline room forever... RIP, my soul...

Don't know why, I scared Pn.Cheam more than Pn.Joyce?? what the heck!? I scared a afternoon session discipline teacher more than a morning session discipline teacher?!?!

YA! I know why... Pn.Cheam's face problem... hahahaha!!!

I didn't take back my things but feel relief after met Pn.Joyce because I no need to see her anymore!!! :P haha!! don't know why feel so happy?! :D

Fine... Had a 'meaningful' lesson from school today... Never bring barang larangan because I don't want to see THEM again... They will ruin my mood, ruin my life, ah just ruin my everything... OK, stop talk about those stupid fellows... Fellows who never have brains... >.<

(n_n)Y (n_n)Y (n_n)Y (n_n)Y (n_n)Y (n_n)Y (n_n)Y (n_n)Y (n_n)Y (n_n)Y

Listening to songs now so that can feel more relax after this incident... However, Ga-In will forever in my life while my soul is 'resting in peace' :P

Ish... My life won't finish without earphone and ring... so why am I so cared about them?!?!Cheh...

So teachers who 'cared' about my things, I feel so touched... thank you so much... :D so do take care of my things carefully if not I'll do everything... hehe!!

Found myself be crazy right after my soul is 'resting in peace'... :D Gonna find another soul to replace... But not to replace my Ga-In, just to replace the ring that represent my Ga-In...

:O Feel sleepy now but cannot sleep because I still have not finish my songs yet... :D

Nitez, everyone. Nitez, my blog... R.I.P. my earphone and ring...

New Day Without Soul Part 1

Incident should start from yesterday afternoon, I was in school and ready to leave. When I reached the lorong beside discipline room, my earphone was in my hand and Pn.Cheam was there. No need to say so clear, she rampas my earphone and my ring...

Earphone!!! I need it before I sleep.... Ring that represent my Ga-In also in danger... I want back my ring... ring that also represent my soul... My soul is always with me if the ring is just beside me... Now? It is now staying alone in a cold place and it is just to hard to alert without it...

Met Pn.Joyce this morning, she want to see my parents if I really want back my earphone... What can I do? Hope my mother can help me to get back my soul as fast as possible... When can I have it back??? haix...

Another of my soul.... I finally downloaded my favorite songs' live video; 20 Sign, 4 Abracadabra, 4 Mamma Mia. 28 videos took 2 weeks time... Just without my soul, I accidently move the Download file and all the videos lost in one second!! O.O WHAT THE HELL!!! I can't find them anywhere!!! Who could help me!? No one... I need to download again... 0.O Ish.....

New Day With Disappointment

Hai... Thursday until Sunday, I was watching the Korean music live show online; Mnet Countdown, Music Bank, Music Core and Inkigayo...

Feel very disappointed... Why? Ask the stupid 2PM la!!! Why comeback when my Ga-In is coming back also?! Ga-In lost in MB and Inkigayo just because of the six of them!!! Grh... feel very very angry and only angry... very 不爽... Ga-In is crying when she's performing, my heart... is bleeding. She sure very sad... She is just unlucky to met 2PM, she already did her best in her performance...

My dear, you'll still have chance next week... You'll always be the best in my heart... Try your best in your every performance, all the friends from the forum and I will always support you... 가인noona, FIGHTING!!! Win in the music chart, get back what you deserved!!!

가인,너를사랑해... Always love you...

New Day With Mummy Is Back

Mummy is back... :)) Back from Beijing, she really had fun and she gain some weight... It's a good thing because it showed she get her meal well at there... :)) She bought much things for sis becuase she is going Canberra, Australia to continue her study... :/ which means I need sleep alone for 3 years or longer because she maybe will stay there after her study... Never mind, it's time to alone... :)

Next thing, watched Music Core online... Ga-In did well in her performance!! YA!! Hope she'll successfully take the first place among all the others... :) Ga-In the best!!

The next thing to do, continue to download Sign performances... Nitez...

New Day With Freedom

HAHA!!! finally finished my last term exam... :)) happy...

Can watch We Got Married again!

Can watch tv again!

Can watch all the Music Show online again!!!

HAHAHA!!!! :D :D :D :D :D

Another thing, mummy is coming back tomorrow night... :)) Coming back safely... :))

Miss her much... she sure have many fun with her parents and sisters... :))

Hope she bought something for me... :))

Hope she is not worry about what time I woke up every morning and did I late for school...

I DID! once only... so don't worry about me again... :))

She called me once before the Acc Paper2, I'm proud because she called me... ;) Ya! the night she called, the next day I late for school... >.<

Next, going to download Brown Eyed Girls' Sign and Abracadabra all live show! :)) Download all and watch slowly!! haha!!! hope the computer don't hang the halfway... >.<

Going to watch music live show later, GTG! :)

Happy To Say 2AM Is Coming Back

3rd Teaser Photo

2nd Teaser Phtoto

1st Teaser Photo

New Day With Poor Thing

Knowing this time exam result will be very very poor... Just because of my Add Maths,History...

How to explain to mother?!?! Nothing... Just can say it is all my fault...

Why suddenly addicted to Korean Singer?!

Why suddenly love my Ga-In so much?!

Why suddenly love all the Korea things?!

Can't explain it... It's my attitude, my attitude to stay in this world...

Going to have more Add Maths tuition this year-end holiday... Swear to get my Add Maths good result when next year first exam... Hope I can success... Could I??? No one could tell...

Ya... GTG again... because Add Maths still have Paper1 haven't finish yet... Still have Chinese paper... Tomorrow is the last day of exam... Haix...

New Day With Guest

TeHee... Aunt's friend came to Malaysia from Taiwan... She reached house almost 9 at night... Have fun with her... :) Hope she really can help me buy Ga-In First Solo Album, Irreversible... I want it so much!!!

Going to have Add Maths Paper2 tomorrow...

Sleep early... Night :O

Topic 9 - The role of workers + Migrant workers + expatriate assignments

Summary

The role of workers

Recently, especially on countries such as Germany, the workers have had an increasing participation on the decision making process on the companies due to the fact that the labor unions in those countries are unified nationally and have gained more power due to this unity. In fact, in some cases, the employees and their representatives and the senior directives have the same power on the decision making process and the workers become as important as the stakeholders. This is the principle of Co-determination.

Image taken from http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma98/pollklas/thesis/cod.html. Accessed on October 18th 2010.

Regarding the co-determination and the unionization, the employees are not just union members since their participation in the company goes beyond their labor activities by being part of the board of directives, having the same voting rights than the directors. Additionally, they also have the ability to influence the firm’s decisions and the distribution of profits.

Image taken from http://www.bryangbrown.com/editorial12.html. Accessed on October 18th 2010.

This co-determination makes that the workers have more empowerment than in countries where the labor unions are more divided and these unions protect more the rights and interests of the workers. Additionally, they may prefer business diversification in order to avoid a firm default in order to reduce risk and may also contradict the owners’ interests and objective to make them a more collective goal instead of a focused goal.

Migrant workers

A migrant is a person who moves freely from one country to another, for reasons of personal convenience and without intervention of an external compelling factor. However, one should consider the fact that in this definition the “freely” expression refers to the fact that they are not violently forced to leave, but probably the economic and/or social conditions of the home country make a person to choose to leave in order to have better conditions for him/her and his/her family.

Image taken from http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/directory/m/migrant_workers.asp. Accessed on October 18th 2010.

But, in order to understand the concept of migrant worker, there must be a distinction between migrant and immigrant, since the first one has a temporary residence and the second one looks for a permanent one. The categories of migrants are mainly:

· Job seekers, who look for a better work.

· Students who are looking for better educational opportunities.

· Family members of migrants who want to be reunited with family members, but they are not as influential for this subject, since they travel for a very short time period and they don’t affect directly a company.

The types of migrants could be classified as:

· Migrant workers: person who is to be engaged in a remunerated activity in a State different from his/her nationality.

· Special cases: such as students and trainees, refugees and Stateless people and people employed by a State but who live outside its territory.

The role of workers

Based on the required reading and the class presentation about this topic, please answer the following question:

Analyze the potential implications of the Co-determination principles over the organization’s decision making process from the perspectives of the managers and the employees.

Required reading: Piette, Jean-Jacques. 2004. “Understanding Management German style”. Les Amis de L’ecole de Paris.

Image taken from http://www.smud.org/en/board/Pages/brdmtgs.aspx. Accessed on October 18th 2010.

Managers’ perspective

· More time would be required to take decisions, since there are more people involved in the decision-making process and having everybody agree with a choice will take more time.

· Since most of the Unions are conformed by workers who have just a high school degree or a technical degree, they might want to take some decisions that are financially impossible to achieve to the company, and if the company doesn’t take into account those wishes, then a powerful Union might cause some troubles to them.

· Due to the fact that strikes are not allowed in some countries that apply the co-determination, therefore the workers won’t leave their jobs to claim their rights since they have an important representation on the board of directors and the productivity will not decrease as a result of a massive strike.

· A powerful Union might impose some policies that are not easily achievable to the company; such as a high salary rise, huge improvements to the work conditions, among others; and those policies might ruin the company if there is a critic environment.

Employees’ perspective

· Since, in order to have consensus the board of directors must take into consideration the position of the unions, some arbitrary decisions will be abolished and the workers view will be considered when taking some decisions and their welfare will be taken into account.

· They might give some opinions and thoughts about the productive, and even managerial, processes; which give them more chances to increase their position in the company.

· Since strikes are not allowed in some countries that apply the co-determination, they won’t need to leave their jobs if they are not agree with the union’s point of view and, therefore, they are not forced to make strikes if they want to keep working. That’s why the workers have a representation in the board of directors, to have a voice there in order to protect their rights.

Resources

• Class presentations: The role of workers, Migrant workers and Expatriate assignments.

• Piette, Jean-Jacques. 2004. "Understanding management German style". Les amis de L'ecole de Paris.
  

New Day With Birthday

Yup... A new day with birthday but it's not my birthday...

Today, 18 Oct is a girl's birthday.

A girl who I knew her since Form 1...

A girl who is still friend after two years apart...

A girl who is still herself after two years changes...

A girl who is my best friend now...

A girl who I appreciate her much...

A girl who I love her... :D

A girl who named Yeo Jia Wen living in my heart as my best friend forever...

Just want to wish you here, a place where not everyone can have their footprints here... :)

Happy Birthday, Jia Wen. Wish you all the best in your exam, relationship and everything... Hope our friendship will last forever... The most important is, be happy always... Always remember here is a friend who always wait for you... :) Happy Birthday, Jia Wen.

Hope you'll see this one day... :) It's a secret which belongs to us... :))

New Day With Few Things

1st, Studied hard this afternoon for tomorrow's exam paper, Economics...

2nd, Cooked spaghetti for today dinner...

3rd, Aunts came and had dinner together...

4th, Studied again...

5th, Too bored and now blogging... Tehee... :D

6th, Going sleep earlier to prepare tomorrow's exam paper which is very very important to me... It's my first time to take this paper... Need put more effort than others... So... Got to go and study until 11.30 and go to sleep...

Nitez...

Just Can't Stop It

'YA!! Is having exam now!! Can't you stop listen to song and concentrate on your revision for exam?!'

'Sorry, I can't because without songs = without chargers = no heart to study.'

Heh... It's my characteristic, my attitude... with my style so that can study... What can I do.. Hai... Exam makes things beside me more attractive!!! >.<

It's late now... Got to go... Nitezzz...

New Blog New Style :))

New blog title with new blog style...

Previous blog with Hollywood stars, now with Korean Singers >.<

Although don't know their language, but with subtitles already enough :D Just don't know why... love korea song much now.. :)) Happy always...

A Korean Singer from girl group, Brown Eyed Girls.

Her name is Ga-In. She is the person who bring me into the Korea celebrities world... Love her much... :))

Topic 8 - Merging OC

Summary

The most important objective when creating successful acquisitions is the value creation. However, the real value is not created unless capabilities are transferred and the employees from the two organizations that are part of the acquisition team up to create the expected benefits and the unpredicted opportunities. The will and skills of the managers of the companies to work and teaming with a common future oriented goal are the requirements for this collaboration to rely on. Acquiring involvement of the people involved without risking or compromising the strategic tasks of the company is the key to integration.Image taken from http://venturebeat.com/2010/08/05/new-report-q2-sees-uptick-in-blockbuster-ma/ Accessed on October 11th 2010.


In order to avoid any type of dissatisfaction from the employees, managers have attempted to find similar organizational cultures and management styles since it could undermine merging and acquisitions’ performance. In contrast, managing cultural differences is more realistic and easier to obtain, additionally; it has been a more successful strategy in an integration process than finding the “ideal culture fit”.

Image taken from http://www.paddypowertrader.com/blog/index.php/financial-concepts-explained/mergers-and-acquisitions-explained/ Accessed on October 11th 2010.


An effective integration can be defined as the combination of firms into a single unity or group, generating joint efforts to fulfill the goals of the new organization, but this combination is often blocked by the challenges of nationality and perceived cultural differences. Contrary to an obvious choice of picking people with the same culture, believes and nationality; international mergers are more likely to bring together employees with different values and beliefs about the work place because merging implies the reconstruction of a new social identity.

Two organizational integration variables are particularly relevant in the acquisition process: the motive for the acquisition (such as the strategic fit and decision making process) and the process of implementation (including the acculturation process). The acculturative process describes the cultural changes resulting from the interaction of one organizational culture with another. A basic acculturative process occurs between the conflictive subgroup desires for cultural differentiation and organizational forces for integration. The reason for an acquisition is important because it will influence the degree of required interaction between members of each organization.

Image taken fromhttp://www.northern.edu/Academics/Departments/International_Programs/Intensive%20English%20Program/Pages/default.aspx Accessed on October 11th 2010.

Many organizational alliances fail to meet expectations because of difficulties in the acculturation process which would compromise the knowledge transfer and learning to occur. In order to avoid this situation, the success of a particular integration strategy depends mainly on the manager’s ability to reconcile the need for strategic interdependence between the two firms and the need for organizational autonomy.

Summary taken from: Alzira Salama, Wayne Holland, Gerald Vinten, (2003) "Challenges and Opportunities in Mergers and Acquisitions: Three International Case Studies – Deutsche Bank-Bankers Trust; British Petroleum-Amoco; Ford-Volvo", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 27 Iss: 6, pp.313 – 321.

Based on the required reading for this module, list and explain - using evidence from the cases presented in the reading - the main challenges and opportunities arising in processes of mergers and acquisitions from an organizational culture perspective. Include at least 3 challenges and 3 opportunities. Required reading: Alzira Salama, Wayne Holland, Gerald Vinten, (2003) "Challenges and Opportunities in Mergers and Acquisitions: Three International Case Studies – Deutsche Bank-Bankers Trust; British Petroleum-Amoco; Ford-Volvo", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 27 Iss: 6, pp.313 – 321.

Challenges in the process of mergers and acquisitions
• As stated in the chapter, the international mergers are expected to unite people with different values and believes about the workplace and this merging implies that a new culture must be created from the mixing of the two previous ones, since a country’s ideologies and relation systems increase the national distinctiveness of organizations. In the case of British Petroleum and Amoco, the BP managers worked in an Integration process that would assure that the people would guarantee a successful merging process. They focused on combining two head offices and merging two operating divisions. In the post-merger phase, the BP managers created several steps in order to successfully integrate those companies: the integrating duplicated areas (explaining how would be the decision on the common assets, the cost of each unit produced, the benchmarking and the desired future situation), the establishment of the management for the new company (creating opportunities for personnel in both companies), the integrating systems (to uncover the best practices inside each organization) and the building of a new corporate culture for the future organization (socialize BP’s operating philosophy and mix it with their counterparts from Amoco).
Image taken from http://arsnotoria.blogspot.com/2010/05/british-petroleum-now-bp-amocos-mafia.html Accessed on October 11th 2010.

• The acculturative process that describes the cultural changes resulting from the interaction of one organizational culture with another, since many organizational alliances can’t achieve their goals due to the hard and difficult acculturation process that could compromise the knowledge transfer and learning. In the case of Volvo and Ford, one can notice the high difference in both companies’ organizational practices, since in the first one they were decentralized and teamwork oriented and in the second one they were highly centralized and individualistic. The acculturation process in this acquisition had several steps in order to be successful, such as the recognition by Volvo that now they won’t have the same representation in the production line, the designing of a new organizational structure by dividing the Ford line and the Volvo line and the due-diligence period and the post-acquisition strategies on a six-month period focused mainly on potential financial synergies.

• The manager’s ability to reconcile the need for strategic interdependence between the two firms and the need for organizational autonomy. In the case of Deutsche Bank and Bankers Trust, the crucial successful action taken by the top management of Deutsche Bank was the way they used the adequate time used between the announcement of the deal and the closing of it. Also, during the due-diligence period, DB top management decided to undertake a cultural assessment exercise to minimize a culture clash between the two banks.
Image taken from http://www.stockwatch.in/deutsche-bank-picks-20-stake-mumbaibased-rama-cylinders-21780 Accessed on October 11th 2010.

Opportunities in the process of mergers and acquisitions
• The acquisition of new competences and knowledge.
• The creation of value by the transferring of capabilities and skills when people from both organizations collaborate to create the expected benefits.
• Differences in organizational culture and practices create unique learning opportunities for the partner firms.

In the case of Deutsche Bank and Bankers Trust, the good timing and integration strategies contributed to the acquisition success. Additionally, good communication from management to the employees allowed to avoid any type of cultural conflict and kept their name without losing the sense of belonging (Deutsche Bank-Alex Brown Investment Bank).

In the case of British Petroleum and Amoco, they uncovered the best practices inside each organization. For instance, BP performance management process was considered the best one in terms of generating a more efficient performance and the Amoco business model was adopted when allocating capital.

In the case of Volvo and Ford, there was created a new organizational structure to cover more areas due to the specialization. Ford Motor Company established two major divisions: Premium Automotive Group and Ford Cars. Ford focused on the traditional products with their Ford Cars division and Volvo focused on premium products, such as Jaguar, Land-Rover, Aston Martin, Lincoln and Volvo.
Image taken from http://www.cartuningcentral.com/tag/volvo Accessed on October 11th 2010

Topic 6: East Asia

Summary



The Japanese management style is characterized by:

• Not all the companies are alike.

• They are based on a market share-growth strategy.

• They have an aggressive price strategy in order to achieve economies of scale which lead them to a price war to reach more consumers.

• They are value maximization tended.

• Their relationship with the suppliers are seen as an inter-organizational perspective, where suppliers are seen as part of the organization in order to adapt better and easier to the changes because of a good coordination.



The best example of a successful Japanese management style is Zaibatsu, which began as diversified family enterprises that rose to prominence in the Meiji Era; they gained a privileged position in the Japanese economy by receiving subsidies from the State and favorable tax policies, additionally the government granted them a privileged position in the economic development of Japan. An example of their influence was that on the decade of the 30’s they controlled one third of the bank accounts and one third of the foreign trade of the country and, since they had their own banks, they had autonomy on who they would finance and safe financial taxes.



The Korean management style is characterized by:

• Being a Japanese colony from 1910 to 1945, so their managerial practices are influenced by Japan.

• In the 70’s and 80’s they still sought Japan as an economic development model.

• They had government intervention in aspects such as credits, foreign exchange rationing and benefits for exports growth.

• As a result the favored firms grew at a faster rate and diversified their economies better, but the gap between big and small firms widened.



A successful Korean management model is the Chaebol, which is a large conglomerate of family-controlled firms characterized by having strong ties with the government and is modeled on the Zaibatsu model. However, there are some differences of the Chaebol regarding the Zaibatsu: on Korea there is prohibited to own banks, since they are nationalized, they had special privileges from the government which lead them in some cases to grow because they borrowed vast funds instead of production growth.



The convergence occurs when as countries develop, management styles will converge to a model found in developed countries. Differentiation is a wider set of cultural norms in each society that acts as a powerful force that differentiates the culture and practices across borders.



On the convergence model there are two main pressures that determine if a management style tends to be homogeneous or not:

• Domestic pressure to retain culturally determined forms of management.

• International pressure to confront to conventional norms in the international marketplace.

Explain the phenomenon of convergence in terms of management styles. What are the forces or factors pushing for convergence?

Convergence in terms of management style refers to acquiring similarities in order to emulate a management practice from another country. Additionally, as countries develop, management styles will converge to a model fund in developed countries in order to copy the trends that are considered as the best managerial practices in order to reach a homogeneous practice. The forces or factors that push for convergence are mainly the international pressure to reach some standards that are established by the market in order to survive in a competitive environment (or isomorphism).

Explain the phenomenon of differentiation in terms of management styles. What are the forces of factors pushing for differentiation?

Differentiation in terms of management style is a set of forces which try to avoid homogeneity in the managerial practices of a certain country or culture in order to be differentiated and have identity and a proper style. The forces that push for differentiation are mainly the national culture and the national identity that try to keep an identity from a dominant culture.

Topic 4: Communication + Virtual Teams

Summary



Communication is how the ideas are transmitted between people through different means. The most common and known communication way is the interpersonal communication, which is the base for building and maintaining relationships. There are four main elements for this type of communication: the communicator, the receiver, the perceptual screens and the message. In order to have a good communication, the listener must be reflective, and the characteristics of this type of listener are: pay attention to the sender of the information, giving an appropriate feedback and try to correct any mistake that occurs during this process.



The effective managers must communicate in a proper way to make them clear, that’s why they must be: expressive speakers and express openly in order to show what they want to achieve, empathetic listeners and being willing to listen, persuasive leaders and motivate other people to achieve goals and not just giving orders, sensitive to feelings and improve the self-esteem of the employees, and finally informative and provide the necessary information to the employees.



The main principles of an effective communication are:

• Clarity: to give an idea clearly.

• Objective: don’t take any side when giving the information.

• Understanding: to give the information completely and avoid missing any important detail.

• Consistency: to have the same position during the communication.

• Completeness: to include all the relevant information.

• Feedback: to return the message given in order to be sure that the information was well received.

• Time: giving the information in the time required.



The concept of Team Work was established mainly in the decade of the 90’s, when the empowerment was the top managerial practice in order to avoid bureaucracy, reduce the time of the decision making and to improve service. Now, in the new millennium, there is a new practice called Virtual Teams in which members work in more than one physical location and is supported mainly by the use of technology as a communication mediator.

There are some characteristics of the virtual teams that are relevant: they are geographically dispersed, are driven by a common purpose, are enabled by communication technologies, normally they are not big and requires workers with different and complementary knowledge. The use of virtual teams might be a solution to enhance the performance and competitiveness and can represent also opportunities for intellectual growth and the transfer of information.



There are some advantages of using the virtual teams, such as:

• Relocation of time and costs.

• Time to market to be present where the market changes occur and improve coordination.

• Linking experts that could be difficult to communicate in a face to face situation and to increase the chances to communicate them.

• Productivity due to the short time to develop new products.

• Flexibility because changes are implemented easier.



However, there are some disadvantages of using virtual teams, such as:

• Lack of face-to-face conversations that difficult the understanding of the situation.

• The members of the team must be very responsible and honest when doing a self-monitoring.

• Possible mistrust, conflicts and power struggles.

• Cultural distance.



In this chart are shown the differences between Virtual and Traditional Teams

Virtual Teams Traditional Teams

Different locations and time zones Same workplace

Structured responsibilities Task coordination is given at the beginning

Communication through technological devices Face-to-face communication

Source: Class presentations Communication and Virtual Teams from Cristina Robledo.



Communication is a process that allows organizations to send/receive messages within their own boundaries but also to interact with outside entities (customers, suppliers, the media, etc.). Messages are send/received not only through oral and written statements, there are many channels and ways that need to be considered when discussing effective organizational communication. In that sense, the use of sounds has become increasingly important.



Based on the article “If Intercontinental were a sound…what would it be?”*, Please discuss the implications (potential advantages, disadvantages, challenges, etc.) of using sounds to send strategic messages. You need to integrate the use of key concepts relating to the topic of communication to support your answer.



Now days, the use of jingles or short musical themes are very common for a brand to have a position in the market and to be recognized, so it’s a very common practice to improve the recognition. As stated by the case “If InterContinental were a sound… what would it be?”:

"In reality artistic procedures are highly disciplined and can be effective catalysts in building and reinforcing better business practices. They can also provoke valuable insights well beyond the territories of the initial belief” [1]

Some of those sounds help the brand to be recognized by the customers since they are simple messages that don’t require the receiver to decode very complex information and might have an easier and faster response to the company. Sometimes, when the correct jingle is presented to the people when making some advertisement or presenting the company (such as a relaxing music, a rhythmic sound or other different) might increases the chances that the receivers of the message requires less time to response and give a feedback (that in this case could be to increase the chances to use more the InterContinental services).



Another advantage of using sounds as a strategic message is that there is no need to speak, and it implies that the message will be received equally to all type of languages and the codification of that information will be the same, so there will be no need to adapt the jingle to different languages and avoid one of the stronger communication barriers which is the Different Language. Additionally, since there is no singing on that sound, there wouldn’t be a semantic confusion that would lead to a misunderstanding of the information sent.



Possible disadvantages come when realizing that today’s world has a huge sound contamination, especially on the cities, and another sound to the environment could be perceived as negatively. Additionally the sound might be perceived differently due to the difference of the people regarding cultural tradition, age, gender, education and so on, because certain group of people might be pleased with certain sound but other group might perceive it as disgusting, so having a sound that pleases all the potential customers must be very adequate.



However, a great challenge to take into account is the fact that it is difficult to find which is the right sound that can express what the company wants to have in order to represent them correctly. As stated by the case, “it was necessary to learn how to explain logically the musical requirements for the brand” ². To choose the correct jingle is vital to show the right purpose of the company, which is their focus, to which people they want to reach, because it’s not the same to have classical music than a salsa rhythm when promoting a hotel that their main focus is the exclusivity to their customers. That’s why the sound (or could be called as well “the message”) must be clear and consistent in order to avoid ambiguity, have the adequate timing and being objective.



[1] Spencer, Michael. If Intercontinental were a sound… what would it be? P. 39.

² Spencer, Michael. If Intercontinental were a sound… what would it be? P. 41.



Sources:

Robledo Ardila, Cristina. Class presentation: Topic 7: Communication.

Spencer, Michael. If InterContinental were a sound... what would it be?