Importance of Luxury Value Perceptions - Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Importance of Luxury Value Perceptions. Answer: Introduction: In determining the cultural aspects including the national cultural differences, two most effective theories are the Hofstedes cultural dimensions and Trompenaars model of national culture differences. The first aspect of Hofstedes cultural dimensions is power distance index (Taras, Steel and Kirkman, 2012). It refers to the inequality in the society and the extent to which, people accepts the inequality in the society. The more power index for a country refers to the more centralization of the organizations and having huge gaps among the organizational hierarchical structure and vice versa (Martin et al., 2012). The next element in this model is the individualism versus collectivism. This refers to the extent to which people are interpersonally connected with each other and vice versa. Masculinity versus femininity is another aspect of this model. This refers to the distribution of the roles being played by males and females in the society. The next aspect is the uncertainty avoidance index. This factor refers to control of the people in controlling their own lives. Countries having high rate of uncertainty avoidance index will lead their life in a more predictable way and vice versa (Shah, 2012). On the other hand, pragmatic versus normative aspect refers to the extent to which, people is inclined towards nationalism and regions. One of the main advantages of this model is comparison of the national culture with respect to the organizational culture. This will be helpful and beneficial for the multinational companies. On the other hand, one of the prime limitations of this model is the less concentration towards globalization (Hitt, Ireland Hoskisson, 2012). Hofstedes model is being stated without considering the factor of globalization. The major part of this model is concerned with the specific cultural differences in different countries, which is irrelevant in the present era of globalization. On the other hand, Trompenaars model of cultural differences also covers the different dimensions of the manner at which, people deal with one another. If this model is being compared with the Hofstedes model, then Trompenaars model involves broader survey of responses due to the large scale survey covering 8841 managers and employees from more than 40 countries. Thus, the conclusion of this model is more practical compared to the Hofstedes model (Shukla Purani, 2012). One of the key advantages of this model is the problem solving approach compared to the Hofstedes model. This model is being stated in more practical ways compared to other models. However, on the other hand, the key limitations of this model are the use of theoretical concepts rather than any statistical means. Thus, the use of theoretical concepts will hamper the probability of aligning it with the practical situations. For the contemporary business organizations, managing the employees effectively is much important due to the fact that, motivational level of the employees is important in gaining competitive advantages by the business organizations. This is due to the fact that, the more motivated will be the employees, the more they will get involved in their workplace (Anitha, 2014). Eventually, engaged and involved employees will have more productivity and effectiveness in the organization. According to the theory of motivation being stated by Maslow, fulfillment of the basic need of the employees will help the organization to enhance the level of motivation in the organization. Managing the level of motivation of the employees is also important due to the fact that in the multinational organizations, employees belong from diversified social backgrounds (Dobre, 2013). Thus, enhanced level of motivation among the employees will help the organization to reduce the chance of having issues related to diversity. Another important management practice for the business organizations is leadership. Effective leadership is important in the organizations in order to lead and mange the internal stakeholders effectively. In addition, effective leadership also determines effective organizing and planning the organizational policies and strategies. One of the prominent theories of leaderships is the transformational leadership. According to this theory, effective leadership will help in building positive relationship with the employees (Hanson, 2013). Moreover, transformational leadership will act as leader rather than just be the manager. However, in case of cultural differences in the organization, leadership role should be played in such a way that, all the employees belonging from different cultural background will be equally represented in the organization. Moreover, in the case of diversified workforce, leaders have to consider all the diversified considerations of different employees, which may have adverse implications on the effectiveness of the leadership (Agrawal, 2012). Another effective management practice is the team working. For the contemporary business organizations, majority of the jobs are being done in teams. In addition, most of the multinationals are having diversified workforce and it is important for them to effectively manage the teamwork. This is due to the reason that, in any particular team, all the team members will be from different cultural and social backgrounds and thus, it is important to effectively manage the differences in the workforce. According to the theory of teamwork being stated by Tuckman, there are some steps such as forming, storming, norming and performing should be initiated by the organizations in order to effectively manage the issues in the teamwork. However, in the case of cultural diversity in the teamwork, the theory of Tuckman will be more beneficial due to the fact that, storming and aligning the team members with that of the organizational objectives is important. Conflict is one of the most probable and emerging issue in the contemporary business organizations. This is due to the reason that, as discussed earlier, contemporary business organizations are having diversified workforce and thus there is more probability of emergence of differences and conflict in the organization. With the difference in the culture and social background of the employees, all the employees will have different opinions and approaches towards a certain issue. This will lead to the origination of the conflict among the internal stakeholders. Thus, for the contemporary business organizations, effective resolution of the conflict is important. The key issue that is being faced by the contemporary business organization is the ethical issues. This is due to the reason that, the current business scenario is much more competitive in nature and thus various organizations indulge in unethical business practices in order to gain competitive advantages in the market. However, these practices lead to negative implications in the future for the organizations. Thus, it is important for the business organizations to effectively manage the origination of the ethical issues. Moreover, in the case of different culture in the organization, ethics should also be maintained in marinating the cultural diversity. This is due to the reason that, involvement of unethical practices including inequality among the employees will have adverse implications on the workforce. If the employees from a particular community will be given more attention, then the other employees will get de-motivated and will cause issues in the organization. As given in the case study, Jo Barnes is an Australian national and Monsieur Hulot is a French national. Thus, their approaches towards any particular issue will be different and moreover their process and methodology of initiating of management principles will also be different. One of the key differences between them will be the power distance. Australia is having more power distance compared to the France with having 36 compared to 68 of France. Thus, hierarchical structure and power distance is maintained more in France than in Australia (Country Comparison - Hofstede Insights, 2017). Thus, the management approach of Hublot will be more autocratic and directive compared to the shared and participative leadership style of Barnes. On the other hand, according to Hofstedes cultural dimensions, individualism is more in Australia compared to France. Individualism refers to the extent of the influence of society on the individuals. Thus, in this dimension, social influence is more in A ustralia compared to France. Thus, the management approach of Barnes will be more organization centric. He will only bother about the welfare of his particular organization. On the other hand, Hublot will be more universal oriented and will look for global approach equally for all the units around the world. Masculinity is another key element for Hofstedes cultural dimensions. It refers to the degree to which, the society is being driven by competition and success or it is being driven by caring and quality of life. In this dimension, Australia fared well compared to France and thus, the management approach of Barnes will be performance driven and his key motive will be to enhance the productivity of the employees (Country Comparison - Hofstede Insights, 2017). On the other hand, management approaches of Hublot will more social driven and employee oriented. He will be more concentrated towards the employee welfare and their work life balance. In case of the uncertainty avoidance, France scored more than that of Australia. Thus, France is more concentrated to having formal structure and the management approach of Hublot will be concentrated in having proper organizational structure and maintaining formalities. On the other hand, the approach of Barnes will be to enhance the generation of innovative ideas in the organization along with motivating the internal stakeholders in having out of box thinking. The next aspect of this model is long term orientation. In this dimension, the score of France is higher compared to Australia. Thus, the management approach of Barnes will be more oriented to customs and tradition of the society and the management decisions will also be influenced by then social traditions. On the other hand, the approach of Hublot will be less influenced to religion and traditions and the managerial decisions will be easily adaptable to the tradition. The last aspect is indulgence (Country Comparison - Hofstede Insights, 2017). In this dimension, the score of Australia is more than France. Thus, the approach of Barnes will be society oriented (Vaiman, Scullion Collings, 2012). He will more concentrate to the providence of relaxation of the employees. On the other hand, the approach of Hublot will be less relaxation for the employees. For the globalized business environment, organizations have to initiate change management in order to get accustomed with the rapid change in the business scenario. Two of the most effective model of change management is the Lewin model and Kotter model. Lewin model states three steps of initiation of change in the organization and Kotter model states eight steps in initiation of change (Shirey, 2013). However, one of the key limitations of lewin model is the lack of practicality. The steps being stated in this model is more rational than being practical. On the other hand, the key disadvantage for the Kotter model is the one way approach. The steps being stated here is having top down approach. Thus, the upper level management will have more responsibility and there is less chance for the subordinates to communicate their opinions. However, one of the key advantages of Kotter model over the Lewin model is the practical implementation (Appelbaum et al., 2012). It is easier to practic ally implement this model compared to the Lewin model. Multinational organizations such as Port Phillip Pharmaceuticals will have various factors to consider. In the given case study, it is being given that, the organizational issues being faced by Jo Barnes in Philippines and France is different. One of the differences being identified is the language issue (Louhiala-Salminen Kankaanranta, 2012). Barnes have faced language barrier in communicating with the French employees due to the reason that, they are not comfortable in English. Moreover, her sudden entrances in the French unit will also being unwelcomed by her French counterparts. Thus, in order to overcome these issues, she opted for the participative style of leadership by engaging with the employees (Cole et al., 2012). According to her, the first job is to convince the employees about her motive and reduce the negativity from them. Thus, she acknowledged the contribution of the employees, which made them feel involved in the organization. This also eased the path of communicat ion channel between them and her. Thus, with having more effective and extensive communication, the differences get solved and the objectives of her get accomplished. Political dimension The first dimension of globalization is political scenario. For the global scenario, organizations have to adhere with the diversified political scenario in different countries (Ravenhill, 2017). This is due to the reason that different countries will have different laws regarding the employees and business and thus, for the global organizations, it is important for them to get adhere to all of them. Economic dimension The next dimension is the economic dimension. This refers to the global economy. However, for the global organizations, it is important to adhere with the currency and economic fluctuations among different countries. Moreover issues such as global economic crisis will also have to be adjusted (Castells, Caraca Cardoso, 2012). This is due to the fact that, due to globalization, all the countries are inter-depended and thus economic crisis will have holistic implications. Social dimension The social structure around the world is diverse due to the presence of different societies and cultures. With the difference in language, it is difficult for the organizations to consider all the social differences (Van Dijck, 2013). Moreover, due to globalization, organizations are having diversified workforce and it is important for the global organizations to adhere to the international laws related to workforce diversity. Technological dimension The present business scenario is technology driven and thus it is important for the business organizations to adopt the latest technology in order to gain competitiveness in the market. Moreover, with the help of globalization, developing and under developed countries are also having the access of latest technologies of developed countries (Gourinchas Jeanne, 2013). Thus, it is a huge opportunities for the organizations to offer the latest technologies to the customers around the world. In the present era of globalization, one of the key sources of attracting investments for the governments is the foreign direct investments. This is the concept of foreign companies investing in other host countries to set up their manufacturing and operational unit in order to cater to the market in the host countries (Blonigen Piger, 2014). This helps the host country governments in enhancing the level of foreign reserve and increasing the opportunities for employment. Thus, the more will be the rate of foreign direct investment in the country, the more will be the employment opportunities. International labor organization is the umbrella organization for the all the employee related activities around the world. Various conventions such as minimum wage and forced labor are being initiated by them. Thus, in determining the employment policy, it is important to effectively adhere with the amendments of international labor organizations. Moreover, with the change in time, various new issues are being emerging and accordingly ILO is amending their regulations. Thus, employment policy should always adhere with these regulations. World Trade Organization is one of the leading bodies of initiating the free trade policy among its member states. Settlement of disputes among the member countries regarding the trade rules and regulations is also being managed by them. 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