Cross Cultural Communication

Kartik's Web poster about cross-cultural communication is very relevant in a globalized business world. I liked the fact that the poster used a specific example to illustrate a larger point. I have read about collectivist vs individualistic cultures in text books, but it takes personal experience to know the smaller, more subtle differences that can have significant consequences. Communication literature has many examples of cultural mis-steps by corporations entering new markets. Euro-Disney is one example of poor cultural planning. While initially Disney expected to clone their success in Anaheim, in the French countryside, they soon found out that cultural differences can be financially costly.

Story Coach

The subject of Violet's Web poster is organizational culture. I was interested particularly in the the "Story Coach" diagram, because several years ago, the organization I work for attempted a culture change. As Violet points out, this is not an easy thing to accomplish. Our company spent many hundreds of thousands of dollars on promoting the new vision of the company. The consulting firm that was hired to structure the roll out, had a motivational speaker who told a story from past experience to inspire employees. I did think the story was useful and dramatic, and the company put a lot of effort into this change. After about a year however, the effort seemed to fade out as management no longer seemed to be quite as commited. Although I think it the program did make some positive changes, it was not as successful as the company had hoped.

Communication Climate

Looking at Crives's Web poster about the relationship between communication and job satisfaction reminded me of a related section in our text; job satisfaction does not necessarily translate to organizational effectiveness or success. It seems Crives was on the right track in expanding the "Current" section of his poster to look at job satisfaction and organizational culture. I think job satisfaction would have a definite impact on culture, which is bound to "seep out" to customers or other external constituents. Even a lack of communication can be seen as a manifestation of a company's culture that has far reaching implications for business relationships.

Transparency

I agree with the idea behind ZamoraDesign's Web poster, the public would definitely benefit from greater transparency in GO's and NGO's. I also thought that the challenges were well represented. NGO's get the benefit of being good corporate citizens if they are transparent, but at the same time they have to maintain some degree of confidentiality in a competitive market. Government organizations however should be obligated to be transparent, after all, they are in a position of public trust. I am not sure how it would work to have third party oversite, as Zamora pointed out, who would keep an eye on them, and more importantly, who would foot the bill?

Second Life

I enjoyed Anima's Web poster not only because it was informative, but also because it was a demonstration of the concept of virtual worlds. The idea of a second life holds a lot of promise in different spheres of activity. I can absolutely envision its usefulness in areas such as product development, modeling, and education. I also appreciated the acknowledgment of its limitations outlined in the text. One of my issues about technology was humorously illustrated by a TV ad: the camera pans over a reenactment of a 1950's auto show, and lingers over Jetson style "cars of the future." Meanwhile, the voice over asks: "Where are the cars we were promised?" I think of this ad as the server goes down at work, the Website I was looking for has been taken down, the FAQ's on a Web page don't address my question, and I loose my wireless connection at home computer - all things that have happened to me in the last 2 weeks. My point is that the promise of seamless, integrated technolgy has yet to be delivered in first, or second life. Message to tech companies: promise less, deliver more.

Interactive Frustration

I am well aware of the imperative to save money, especially during the current financial downturn, but would really appreciate some attention to customer service. I would think that when business is slow, companies would pay special attention to differentiating themselves from the competition by being attentive to customers. Apparently that is not the case. I recently received a bill for a purchase made four months ago. When I went on line to pay it, I was not able to access my account due to "Error code 205" - whatever that was. When I tried to contact the company, I became frustrated by endless voice mail options and long hold times. I finally tried to pay on-line one more time only to have the system take my credit card number, but then respond with another error message leaving me to wonder whether my card had been charged or not. Technology needs human support for good customer service.

Technically Speaking

I work for a nationwide company, that has offices in over 60 cities. We all perform almost identical functions, but we use four different platforms and at least that many software systems to accomplish related tasks. I remember the roll-out for one of these systems; managers had to drive to a far away facility to attend an elaborate presentation by the vendor and company executives. When the system went "live" a number of problems began to surface, as the system was sometimes unreliable and did not provide the level of detailed information that is often required. Use of the system was monitored by the corporate office, and I soon received a call asking why our facility was not using the system consistently. I explained the situation, and they responded by sending a team from the vendor to essentially make another sales pitch. I explained what the issues were and provided examples, only to be assured these were temporary issues. Five years later the problems are not entirely resolved, but with a long term contract in place the vendor does not have much incentive to improve. I think the corporate executives who make important purchasing decisions should solicit feed-back from staff member before making expensive, long-term decisions.