Challenges that organizations do face on the organizational behavior front in the age of globalization

Introduction

            Globalization simply refers to the process of international integration in various domains including economic, cultural and technological unification. The advent of globalization presented a number of opportunities and challenges for organizations. Globalization can be perceived as a form of socio-economic integration across several countries resulting in cross-border movement of human resources, capital, commodities and ideas; which are all significant aspects in the business world (Gullen, 2008). The onset of globalization has entirely transformed various aspects of organizations in numerous domains such as changes in structure, changes in the leadership strategy, and changes in the planning strategy. These changes stemmed from several factors associated with globalization such as cross cultural differences, surfacing of global managers, workplace diversity and the creation of a level playing field (Mirjana, 2012). Of particular concern is the effect of globalization on organizational behavior, which primary stems from cultural integration. Organization behavior is concerned mainly with the study of human behaviors in the context of an organization.  This paper outlines the challenges that organizations do face on the organizational behavior front in the age of globalization.

The first challenge posed by globalization on organizational behavior is that globalization threatens the unification of corporate culture. With increasing globalization, it is becoming apparent that the organizational culture is increasing becoming irrelevant whereas the global culture is increasing its relevance; as a result, organizations are faced with the challenge of establishing a corporate culture that meets the demands of global culture. This imposes significant challenges several domains of organizations such as human resource strategies and increasing their sensitivity to diverse cultures (Parker, 2005). This is a significant challenge because organizations are compelled to align their organizational culture with global trends, and this threatens the unification of a corporate culture, which is a defining factor for organizational success. The challenge for organizations is striking a balance between the demands of corporate culture at the organizational level and global cultural trends. Therefore, it can be argued that globalization threatens the firm’s fundamental values, norms and disposition that shape the reasons for the firm’s existence.

The next challenge that organizations face in the wake of globalization regarding organizational behavior relates to the challenges of managing diversity. It is apparent that globalization increases workplace diversity, which translates to several implications for the managers and the entire organization. In addition, it is apparent that globalization tends to create a divergence between the organizational culture and global culture; which results in significant challenges for firms. For instance, in the wake of globalization, organizations are faced with the challenge of analyzing organizational cultures in to change them and facilitate coordination of activities; understanding the what and how the various levels of culture are likely to be influenced by globalization; knowing how organizational culture and national culture and interact to determine employee behaviors and shape the management philosophy (Mirjana, 2012).

Another challenge of globalization as regards organizational behavior relates to organizational relations, which refers to how individuals in the organization treat and interact with each other. It is apparent that globalization has negative impact on the facets of organizational relationships such as collaboration, supportiveness, involvement and openness and trust; this increases the difficulty in the establishment of a shared corporate culture. Organizational success in the age of globalization requires firms to adopt a global culture, which increases the difficulties associated with the leveraging diversity, addressing the gaps in corporate culture and global culture, and instilling core organizational values to strategies aimed at adopting a global culture (Mirjana, 2012).

The paper has identified a number of challenges that globalization pose on organizational behavior including: globalization threatens the creation of a shared corporate culture; challenges associated with managing diversity; and negative impacts on the aspects of organizational relationships such as coloration, openness, involvement, trust and supportiveness. As a result, firms are faced with the challenge of leveraging their corporate culture against the prevalence of global culture.

References

Gullen, M. (2008). The Limits of Convergence: Globalization and Organizational Change in Argentina, South Korea, and Spain. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Mirjana, R. M. (2012). Impact of Globalization on Organizational Culture, Behavior and Gender Role. New York: IAP.

Parker, B. (2005). Introduction to Globalization and Business: Relationships and Responsibilities. New York: SAGE.