Introduction
In the changing workplace, the impact of globalization and diversity on the role of the manager is growing on almost a daily basis. The major task of management has changed from managing primarily homogeneous teams with similar educational, socioethnic and cultural backgrounds to managing heterogeneous teams composed of individuals from all over the world, with both visible diversity within the team and invisible diversity. The essential challenges of managing a heterogeneous team may rely on the manager’s intuition and knowledge of the situation in order to resolve; however, this is also perilous because the reliance on tuition places primary importance on the manager’s own cultural background, which may not be appropriate for all members of his or her team. This paper discusses the impact of globalization and diversity on the role of the manager, as well as the role that intuition has to play on the job of the manager and his or her handling of the issues caused by globalization and diversity.
Diversity brings many challenges to the role of the manager. Diversity can be defined most simply as the differences between people, both visible and not visible (Aghazadeh, 2004). It has long been considered to have significant influence on the performance of the organization, as it provides a number of different viewpoints from which a problem can be solved (Aghazadeh, 2004). However, the management of a diverse team is not without its challenges. One of the biggest challenges is the resolution of nonproductive conflict between diverse team members; often, non-visible differences such as cultural or religious background, sexual orientation, level of education, or other differences may cause nonproductive conflict within the team, which impacts the performance of the team and does not allow for a consistent team performance (Aghazadeh, 2004). In order to reduce this nonproductive conflict, the team leader must learn to create connections between the team. The role of the manager is also vitally important in the success of diversity training programs; without the enthusiastic support of the management, these training programs are not likely to be effective (Avery, McKay, Wilson, & Tonidandel, 2007).
The role of globalization in management is primarily due to its affect on diversity within the management team. The biggest reason for this is because the differences in cultures between global teams offer a significant amount of diversity within the newly structured team, including both visible diversity (racioethnic differences) and non-visible diversity (cultural expectations and other differences)(Prasad & Prasad, 2007). These differences in team members create an atmosphere where considerable conflict may occur, and where other problems as described above may also occur. However, there are also implications for the manager’s relationship to his or her staff members individually. One such example is in the case of a human resources manager of a widely distributed team; this individual will need to take into account the differences in HR requirements, laws and expectations between locales rather than attempting to impose a single standard across all his or her regions of oversight (Friedman, 2007). This may complicate matters greatly, and is one case in which a matrix organization (where the technical leadership of the organization is separate from the HR management) would benefit. Another issue is that of employee expectations for management. There are a number of variables that affect how a given employee will expect his or her management to act; for example, individuals in high power distance, collectivist cultures will expect what is called transactional leadership in the West, where the leader directs the followers to engage in each separate act and the followers obey (Pasa, 2000). However, in cultures with low power distances, this type of management style may seen to be authoritarian or too demanding, and may not gain the results it would in another cultural context.
In some cases, it may seem that the manager should do what his or her intuition tells him. However, this is the wrong assumption. A manager’s intuition is grounded in his or her own cultural background and assumptions, and as such is subject to its own bias that may moderate against the effective management of diverse individuals. (Robbins & Judge, 2006) Rather than relying entirely on individual intuition in order to make decisions when dealing with individuals with a different cultural background or other diverse viewpoints, it is better to use critical reflection in order to consider not only your point of view, but also theirs.
There is no way to completely control for the variables that are introduced into an organization by globalization. Many of these variables will end up impacting the role of the manager, by providing different viewpoints and new ways of thinking and challenging the status quo. In order to remain flexible enough to overcome the difficulties with diversity and globalization within the organization, it is important that the manager does not attempt to manage blindly, or without understanding of his or her diverse employees. Instead, the manager should seek to understand the difficulties that may be caused by diversity in his or her employees and to overcome these difficulties in order to gain access to the many positive aspects of the phenomenon. More robust problem-solving skills and an ability to think outside the box and connect with more people are just a few of the benefits to the well-functioning diverse team, and they are well worth the management effort to allow them to blossom.
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