“Know the unknown world”

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase that denotes a certain object or idea is applied to another word or phrase to imply some similarity between them. (Taken from: http://www.how-to-study.com/study-skills/en/language-arts/7/metaphors/).

We use metaphors to help people to understand something better, like and object or idea. We can communicate a great idea with just a simple word or phrase.

To use a metaphor I have an idea, the idea is a travel agency for people to like the eco-tourism nowadays are many people that really like extreme sports, in contact with nature know unknown places over the world so this agency is a good option for those people that is interesting in this type of trip.

This agency has a main page, and a data base of all the hotels of South America that provide the service of the ecotourism, but these hotels are not necessary luxury and expensive, they must to be in contact with the nature, and not expensive, because most of the people that like this program are young people looking for new adventures.

The metaphor that I want to use is “know the unknown world” this means that nature awakens all the senses when people are in unimaginable world, nature lovers will have sensations without limits.

Our service gives to the travelers a full package, hotels, restaurants that have typical food of the region and the activities and places they are going to visit during their stay.

The strategies that we will implement are:

• · Alliances and contacts with hotels that have specific tours for the activities.
• · Send the whole brochure to the travelers.

Image taken from: http://www.bapa.info

Others Blogs

I take a look of my classmate’s blogs and I made some comments this are the blogs I choose:

• Julian Martinez (http://oyceafit.blogspot.com/) I liked the video she posted about the Pygmalion effect because it shows a real example of the Pygmalion effect in schools.

• I commented in Maria Mercedes Agudelo`s (http://mariaorgcult.blogspot.com/). blog I agreed with her ideas and I thought she developed them in a clear way.

• Maria Camila Osorio`s blog (http://organizationsandculturescourse.blogspot.com/) I agree with what she said and the way explained the ideas of the main role of negotiators when they are in another country.

• Sara Acevedo`s blog (http://sacevedorganizationsandcultures.blogspot.com/) I agree with she`s point of view and the importance of management skills, because if negotiator take into account the importance of each culture can have better outcomes.

• Finally I commented in Juan Fernando Ramirez`s blog (http://juanramirez00.blogspot.com/) I really liked the video he published for explain the Pygmalion effect, very interesting.

The Pygmalion effect

Every day of our lives, things happen because, consciously or unconsciously, we are responding to what people around us expect of us, for better and for worse. What others expect of us can trigger a series of actions that lead us far beyond what we can imagine. This principle of action from the expectations of others is known in psychology as the Pygmalion effect. Confidence that others have about us, can give us the strength to achieve the most difficult goals.

Our behaviors are influenced by how others see us and the expectations that our environment has on us: family, friends, colleagues and bosses at the companies. Self-confidence, even if transmitted by a third party can give us sufficient strength to achieve what we hope to become and what they believe we can be. Resignations of not getting new goals, stop in the middle of the road, have also a negative impact in us. The Pygmalion effect is accomplished daily because every day we respond to what people around us expect from us.

Your expectations can help someone to failure or inspire them to greatness; we can inspire other people through conveying high expectations, a positive work climate, teaching, providing opportunities, and encouraging feedback…expectations can create reality! We teach more who those we expect more, we are able to give more information, so they are able to do a better job.

Rosenthal defines 4 key factors which drive this Pygmalion effect and I want to focus these factors in organizations:

1. Climate: This refers to the tone of the environment that we set for people. How supportive is it? How important do you make assignments seem and how competent and important do you make people feel? What kind of social and emotional atmosphere is there?

2. Input of the Supervisor: This factor entails the amount of teaching, helpful information, and resources (including the time) that supervisor provide to employees.

3. Output of the employee: This refers to the amount of opportunity give people to learn and “perform”.

4. Feedback: This includes the amount, quality, and tone of feedback we give regarding people’s efforts and performance.

The Pygmalion effect was described by J. Sterling Livingston in the September/October, 1988Harvard Business Review. “The way managers treat their subordinates is subtly influenced by what they expect of them," Livingston said in his article, Pygmalion in Management, taken from (http://humanresources.about.com/od/managementtips/a/mgmtsecret.htm)

Leaders must believe in their teams, and hold positive and high expectations that they will solve that difficult problem and achieve the goals they purposed.

Finally I want to share a quote that I really liked of Blaise Pascal Scientific, philosopher and French writer "Treat a man as it is and will remain as is. Treat him as can be, and become what can be."And a video that shows the Pygmalion effect in organizations; how the expectations influences the performances of employees.

Bibliography:
MCNATT Brian; the Pygmalion effect, managing the power of expectations, leader's guide taking from (http://www.atsmedia.com/productancillary/PYG-25_LG.pdf)

Cultural differences across the world.

Culture is the set of behavioral patterns, beliefs, norms, and values that is (implicitly) shared by a social group. The idea that culture may influence negotiation styles has received considerable attention (Salacuse 1998; Faure 1999; Gelfand and Dyer 2000; Adair et al. 2004; Metcalf et al. 2007) taken from (DuerMateo_BargainingStrategiesJEPP.pdf)

Culture may also have an indirect influence on negotiation behavior by the way an actor perceives the tactics used by other; for those who work in international business, it is sometimes amazing how different people in other cultures behave. (Taken from http://www.geert-hofstede.com/) most of the time we think that all people are same, but they are not. Before you go to another country maybe to do a negotiation, we have to know how the people of these country operates, because if we made decisions based in how we operate in our country, mistakes can made negotiation fail. Cultural differences have their effects on international business interactions.

Culture has different aspects or a dimension Nick B. Meyer describes five dimensions: Power Distance Index (PDI), Individualism (IDV), Masculinity (MAS) ¸ Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI), Long-Term Orientation (LTO). I want focus on individualism dimension and give some examples of individualism and collectivism societies.

Individualism countries are the United States, Australia, the U.K., Canada, Netherlands & New Zealand rank as the most highly individualistic nations while Latin Americans cherish strong family loyalties.

These nations are more self-centered and emphasize mostly on their individual goals. People from individualistic cultures tend to think only of themselves as individuals and as “I” distinctive from other people. Individualists view themselves as independent and only loosely connected to the groups of which they are a part. People in individualistic cultures emphasize their success in job or private wealth and aiming up to reach more and/or a better job position. Especially in the USA the fight about jobs and trying to climb up in the hierarchy ladder is something very common there.

Collectivistic countries include Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, El Salvador, Indonesia, Pakistan, Portugal, and Taiwan Cultures with low individualism scores focus more on collective efforts. Collectivistic cultures have a great emphasize on groups and think more in terms of “we”. They often are willing to maintain a commitment to a group even when their obligations to the group are personally disadvantageous.

As we said, highly individualistic countries are generally richer countries while collectivistic are developing countries, so, when a negotiators go to another country he must know the type of people or country he is going to try because they have to know if the other party think on common interest or self- interest despite when you negotiates you also want to fulfill your companies interests.

Bibliography:

Individualistic Trade Cultures: Me First Countries Value Independent Achievements http://www.suite101.com/content/individualistic-trade-cultures-a42764#ixzz0yhyO2QVn

Image taken from http://www.geert-hofstede.com/