BU5012

Leading International Business

Ian Shotton
Programme Leader
International Business Management
 What does it mean to be

A person?
An organisation?

Successful in producing a
desired or intended result.
 In an increasingly competitive environment an
understanding of the behaviour and actions of people at
work is of particular importance.

The activities of an organisation are directed towards the

attainment of certain goals and also have social
implications.

Organisational behaviour is a wide and essentially

multidisciplinary field of inquiry and should not be
considered in a vacuum but related to the process of
management and wider organisational context and
environment.
 Learning Outcomes: You will be able to
Evaluate the resources, core competencies and dynamic capabilities
required for competitive advantage in the international market

Work collaboratively in small groups to research and produce a

presentation that effectively demonstrates an ability to analyse and
communicate effectively
Plan and prepare a business report based on research and using
information provided

Critically evaluate international business management practices

Evaluate appropriate techniques for managing and leading an

international business
4
 Course Overview
• Understanding organisational behaviour
The organisational • Approaches to organisation and management
setting • The organisational environment

• Individual differences and diversity

• Learning and development
The individual • Perception and communication
• Work motivation and job satisfaction

• Working in groups and teams

Groups, leadership • Leadership in organisations
and management • Understanding management

• Organisation structure and design

Structure, strategy • Strategy, corporate responsibility and ethics
and effectiveness • Organisational culture and change
• Organisational performance and development

Business
Simulation
 Assessment
• 2,000 word individual report
• Submitted 10th December 2021
Assessment
1

• Group presentation and report

• Presentations and Report Submission 4th March
Assessment 2022

2
 Assessment 1
• You have secured an internship with Amazon UK. A
recent story in the New York Times "Inside Amazon:
Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace"
highlighted a number of shortcomings in the
management of the workforce and the recently
appointed UK Chief Executive is concerned that
improvements can be made.
• You have been asked to produce a report to inform the
management of how they might adapt working practice
to improve performance by considering some or all of:
– The Organisation
– Individuals, Groups and Teams
– Aspects of Leadership and Management
 Assessment 2
• The assessment is based on you and your team’s
engagement with the Phone Ventures business
simulation
https://businesssimulation.edumundo.com
• Part A. Group Presentation (15 minutes, 20% of
assessment component grade)
– An evaluation of your team’s approach to and performance in
the business simulation. To cover: Strategy; Effectiveness of
decisions; Team working; Key learning points
•  Part B. Individual Business Report (1600 words).
(80% of assessment component grade.)
 Mullins, L. J.
Core Texts (2016). Management
and organisational
behaviour (11th ed.).
Harlow: Pearson
Education.

Bratton, J., & Gold, J.

(2017). Human
resource
management: Theory
& practice (6th ed.).
London: Palgrave
Macmillan.
 Seminar 1

The organisational setting

Understanding organisational
behaviour
 The significance of
organisational behaviour
‘The study and understanding of individual
and group behaviour and patterns of
structure in order to help improve
organisational performance and
effectiveness’.
Identify an organisation you have worked at

Was
What made it Why did it not management
perform well? perform well? important to
effectiveness?
 Organisational behaviour –
a multidisciplinary perspective

INSERT FIGURE 1.1 HERE

Figure 1.1 Organisational behaviour: a multidisciplinary approach

 Three main disciplines

• The study of human personality and

Psychology behaviour, including perception, attitudes and
motives.

• The study of social behaviour, relationships

Sociology and order, including social structures, social
position and leader – follower relationships.

• The study of mankind, including cultural

Anthropology systems, beliefs, ideas and values and
comparisons among such systems.
 The
individual

The group

The
organisation
The
environmen
t

Influences on
organisational behaviour
 The individual
• Individuals are central to the study of OB.
• Organisations are made up of individual
members.
• Conflict arises if needs and demands of the
organisation and the individual are incompatible.

The role of management is to integrate

individuals and the organisation as a means to
attaining organisational goals.
 The group
• Groups are essential to organisation work and
performance
• Can be formal or informal
• Often develop their own hierarchies and leaders
• Can influence individual behaviour

An understanding of group structure and

behaviour complements knowledge of individual
behaviour.
 The organisation
• Individuals and groups interact within the formal
organisation.
• Behaviour is influenced by:
– Patterns of structure
– Technology
– Styles of leadership
– Systems of management.

Systems of management plan, direct and monitor

organisational processes.
 The environment
• External environment affects organisations as
the result of:
– Technological development
– Economic activity
– Social and cultural influences
– The impact of government actions
– Corporate responsibility and ethical behaviour.

Study of the organisational environment helps

organisations adapt to change.
 Breakout
Do you agree that an organisation is just a
collection of individuals?
Figure 1.2 Organisational behaviour (OB): a basic framework of study

A basic framework of study

 Importance of people
and organisational behaviour
‘One way to recognise why people behave
as they do at work is to view an
organisation as an iceberg. What sinks
ships isn’t always what sailors can see,
but what they can’t see’.

Hellriegel, Slocum and Woodman

 The
organisational
iceberg

87% of today’s leaders around

the world cite culture and
employee engagement as one of
their top organizational
challenges.
 Breakout

From your experience

can you identify any
examples of ‘Covert’
aspects of an
organisation’s
behaviour?
 Orientations to work
and the work ethic

Instrumental orientation
• Work is not central to life, just a means to an end.

Bureaucratic orientation
• Work is central to life and there is a sense of obligation
both to the work and the organisation.
Solidaristic orientation
• Work is about being part of a group and these
relationships are more important than the organisation.

Goldthorpe et al.
 International and cultural
influences
‘The Protestant version of the work ethic
prevails, implying heads-down work, focused
agendas, punctuality, efficiency. In French and
Spanish offices, it takes the first hour to kiss
everyone, the second to discuss local gossip
and the third to pop out for a coffee and
croissant. In Britain, these activities would count
as sexual harassment, time-wasting and
absenteeism’.

Reeves
 How do you view work?
Instrumental Bureaucratic Solidaristic
Means to an end Central Life Issue Involvement with work
Calculated, economic Positive involvement with groups rather than the
involvement career organisation

Distinction between Close link between Non-work activities

work/non-work activity work/non-work activity linked to work
relationships

An individual’s orientation to work and underlying work ethic is the

strongest influence on his/her motivation and organisational performance.
The actions of management have only minimal effect.

Do you agree?
 Social exchange theory
• People generally enter into a relationship
with others with the expectation of some
kind of mutually acceptable exchange.
• Exchanges are subject to a ‘cost-benefit’
analysis.
• The importance of actual (or perceived)
reciprocity in determining attitudes and
behaviours at work.
 The psychological contract
• A series of mutual expectations and
satisfaction of needs arising from the
people – organisation relationship.
• Rights, privileges, duties and obligations
which are not part of a formal agreement,
but have an important influence of
behaviour.
Think of the psychological contract you have had
with a workplace.
Write down:
• Organisational expectations
• Your expectations

Differences in status and power mean that the

psychological contract is balanced in favour of the
company. Managers have expectations and
individuals can only hope for fair reward later.

Do you agree?
 Individuals’ expectations

The psychological contract: possible examples of individual and

Figure 1.4
organisational expectations
 Organisational expectations

The psychological contract: possible examples of individual and

Figure 1.4
organisational expectations (Continued)
 Process of balancing
Successful companies:
• Caring
– Demonstrating genuine concern for individuals.
• Communicating
– Talking about what the company hopes to
achieve.
• Listening
– Hearing the words and the meaning behind them.
• Knowing
– The individuals who work for you.
• Rewarding
– Not necessarily with money, but recognition.
Stalker
 Management as an integrating activity
Figure 1.6 Management as the cornerstone of organisational effectiveness
 Globalisation and
the international context

Improvements in International
Increased mobility
international competitive
of labour
communication pressure

Greater cross-
International cultural awareness
business activity and acceptance of
diversity
 Managing people from
different cultures
‘Managers must develop organisational systems
that are flexible enough to take into account the
meaning of work and the relative value of
rewards within the range of cultures where they
operate’.

Francesco and Gold

 Factors affecting national culture

Figure 1.7 Factors affecting national culture

Source: From Brooks, I. Organisational Behaviour: Individuals, Groups and Organisation, fourth edition, Financial Times Prentice Hall (2009), p. 286. Reproduced with permission from
Pearson Education Ltd.
• Power distance
• Uncertainty avoidance
• Individualism
• Masculinity
• Long-term/short-term orientation
(formerly Confucian work dynamism)
 • Universalism vs. particularism
• Individualism vs. collectivism
• Neutrality vs. emotion
• Diffuse vs. specific relationships
• Achievement vs. ascription
• Future vs. past orientation
• Attitude to the natural
environment

Trompenaars’ framework for analysing cultural differences

 Hall’s cultural ‘languages’
• Culture as a series of ‘languages’
– The language of time
– The language of space
– The language of things
– The language of friendships
– The language of agreements.
• High- and low-context societies differ in the
way they communicate shared attitudes.
 High-Context Cultures
• Less verbally explicit communication, less written/formal information
• More internalized understandings of what is communicated
• Multiple cross-cutting ties and intersections with others
• Long term relationships
• Strong boundaries- who is accepted as belonging vs who is considered an
"outsider"
• Knowledge is situational, relational.
• Decisions and activities focus around personal face-to-face relationships,
often around a central person who has authority.

Examples:
Small religious congregations, a party with friends, family gatherings, expensive
gourmet restaurants and neighbourhood restaurants with a regular clientele,
undergraduate on-campus friendships, regular pick-up games, hosting a friend
in your home overnight.
www.culture-at-work.com copyright Jennifer Beer
 Low-Context Cultures
• Rule oriented, people play by external rules
• More knowledge is codified, public, external, and accessible.
• Sequencing, separation--of time, of space, of activities, of relationships
• More interpersonal connections of shorter duration
• Knowledge is more often transferable
• Task-centred. Decisions and activities focus around what needs to be done,
division of responsibilities.

Examples: 
Large airports, a chain supermarket, a cafeteria, a convenience store, sports
where rules are clearly laid out, a motel.