What is the difference between a religious institution and a system of believings?

A religious institution is an institution that has only religious purposes. It is an establishment, organization or association instituted to advance or promote religious purposes or beliefs. Places of worship such as churches, mosques, temples and synagogues. Religion is a set of practices, and it can be reasonably independent of belief system or faith. Religion is based on worshipping or believing in a god whose physical characteristics cannot necessarily be seen by one that is not enlightened.
Some of the definitions that I had found for belief are:

- The mental act, condition, or habit of placing trust or confidence in another

- Mental acceptance of and conviction in the truth, actuality, or validity of something

- Something believed or accepted as true, especially a particular tenet or a body of tenets accepted by a group of persons.

A belief system can be based on faith or related to religious practice, but it can also be independent of religion and faith. Believing is something that you personally choose to accept. Practicing religion is attending services regularly. You can believe and not attend church, and you can attend church without truly believing. A belief system is faith based on a series of beliefs but not formalized into a religion; also, a fixed coherent set of beliefs prevalent in a community or society

Sources:

http://www.smallbusinessbible.org/featureswebdesigns_religiousinstitutions.html

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/belief+system

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_belief

Wednesday October 6

Summary of the class

The teacher talk us about the religious institutions.
Today, the christian church does not have the power it once had, like in the middle ages. In the middle ages the religion was the one that had the control. The Inquisition was a Roman Catholic tribunal for discovery and punishment of heresy, which was marked by the severity of questioning and punishment and lack of rights afforded to the accused. The christian church murdered, tortured, mutilated and destroyed millions and millions of lives both directly through the Inquisition and indirectly through all of the wars they incited. But inquisition ends with illuminism and with the end of the middle ages, and people stop believing in God, and start to study sciences, physics, and also other religions appeared. The church began to loose its power.

Buddhism

It is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha. The Buddha lived and taught in India, some time between the 6th and 4th centuries B.C. He is recognized as an awakened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end suffering (or dukkha), achieve nirvana, and escape what is seen as a cycle of suffering and rebirth. He started to realize that there was a lot of pain in the world and he started to suffer and connect that pain with the religious part. He wasn´t living because he was suffering all the time. Suffering doesn´t resolve anything. There was one thing that creates pain: desire.

Samsara: cycle of reencarnations in the Induism and in the Buddhism.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Inquisition.html

Wednesday Septembre 22

These are the summaries of the expositions done in class:

MOTIVATION IN THE WORKPLACE – ARGENTINA
What is Motivation?
Is the force that makes us do things.
Result of individual needs – Vary person to person.
Determine effort we put into our work.
“Your employees are your greatest asset and no matter how efficient your technology and equipment may be, it is no match for the effectiveness and efficiency of your staff.”

Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory: (hygiene factors)
- Factors that motivated employees in the workplace.
- Factors that prevented job dissatisfaction.

Actions for increase motivation
- If has a small number of employees, you will probably have an idea what motivates each one.
- If has a large number of employees, you may decide to delegate the task of identifying motivational issues to assistant mangers or immediate supervisors of the employees, etc.

WORK ETHICS – VIETNAM
The ethics of an organization, it is how an organization ethically responds to an internal or external stimulus. Organizational ethics is interdependent with the organizational culture.

Ethics in the organizations
1. BUSINESS ETHICS
2. CORPORATE COMPLIANCE
3. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
4. CORPORATE RESPONSABILITY
5. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSABILITY

Issues concerning ethics
- Reputation management.
- Accurate accounting.
- Fair labor practices.
- Environmental factors.

"Individualistic approach”
Every person in an organization is morally responsible for his or her own behavior, and any efforts to change that behavior should focus on the individual.

“Communal approach"
Here individuals are viewed not in isolation, but as members of communities that are partially responsible for the behavior of their members.

Vietnamise Culture
80% Vietnamese population is young.

90% literacy rate.
High context: Actions are more important than words.
Longer view of time: Focus time on season instead of weeks.
Formal behavior even in Interpersonal relations.
Saving face is very important for their culture.
They are very collectivist with respect for elderly and wisdom.
Masculine society

COMMUNICATION AND TEAMWORK – USA

Communication problems:
•Cultural differences
•Language barriers
•Gender differences
•“Noise” interrupting a communication process

Communication Styles
• Aggressive Communication
"Everyone should be like me."
"I am always right."
"I've got rights, but you don't."

• Passive Communication
"Don't express your true feelings."
"Don't make waves."
"Don't disagree."
"Others have more rights
than I do."

• Passive-Aggressive Communication
“ I am the most important“
“ I don’t care about others feelings and interests”
“ I do everything to achieve my goals and to be successful”

• Assertive Communication
• Him-/Herself and others are valuable
and important.
• Knows that oneself not always wins
• Handles situations to be effective
"I have rights and so do others."

Teamwork
Definition:
Teamwork can be defined as the process of different people working together to achieve the same goal by taking into account the following factors:
•Communication
•Coordination
•Balance of contributions
•Effort

Organizational Learning – Russia
Ways to design organizations so that they fulfill their function effectively encourage people to reach their full potential and at the same time, help the world to be a better place.

Learning Dimensions
-System levels:
Individual
Group
Organizational
Inter-Organizational

-Learning Modes
Cognitive
Cultural
Action Learning

-Learning Typology
Adaptive
Proactive

-Learning Process
Identification of info.
Generation of knowledge
Exchange & Diffusion

Wednesday September 15

At this class we saw a video about Korea:
North Korea:
- Poor country
- Empty roads
- Militarist men
- Stanlist vision
- Military defense
- Bicycle (universal transport)
- Concentration camps

South Korea:
- Rich country
- Tourists can´t go outside alone
- Social classes divided in three
- Totalitarians: Marxism, Leninism
- 34% of women suffer of “anemia”
- Nuclear weapons
- They create false truths of Americans through the different societies

EMOTIONS IN THE WORPLACE – JAPAN
Emotions: are psychological and physiological episodes experienced toward an object, person, or events that create a state of readiness. Different from Mood: less intense emotional states that are not directed toward anything in particular.

DEFINITIONS
• Events or “episodes: your anger toward a co-worker, for instance, would typically subside within a few minutes.
• Directed toward someone or something: tasks, customers, public speeches we present, a software program we are using, and so on.

TYPES OF EMOTIONS
Six primary categories: anger, fear, joy, love, sadness, and surprise.

Emotional labor: refers to the effort, planning, and control needed to express organizationally desired emotions during interpersonal transactions.
When interacting with co-workers, customers, suppliers, and others, employees are expected to abide by display rules. These rules are norms requiring employees to display certain emotions and to withhold others.

Cultural differences between North Korea and South Korea

First of all there are a lot of political and economic differences between the two countries. After world war II North Korea inherited a communistic form of government from the USSR, while South Korea became a democracy. The war had completely disrupted the country and left an uneasy government. There are great cultural differences because they have developed separately from each other, and while South Korea is doing better and better, North Korea is always into trouble. While South Korea has experienced economic success and Christianity, North Koreans are starving.
The large number of refugees from the North migrating into the South and economic and political instability are some of the problems between them, as the contrasting political ideologies and the great discrimination.
There is also a difference in the religious development, the number of protestant believers has multiplied at an amazing rate at South Korea. Since the Korean War, it has been illegal to be a Christian in North Korea.
As North Koreans migrates, they sometimes have problems finding their place, because they are treated differently by many South Koreans.

Sources:
- http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/essays/cot/t3w30korea.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_reunification
- http://econc10.bu.edu/economic_systems/Country_comparisons/Korea_North_South.htm

Wednesday September 8th

Informal Organizations
Informality: Operates in illegality but not with antisocial objectives. It has in mind legal goals.

Characteristics:
- Do not use complex technologies.
- There is not a well stablished work division.
- They are not legally constituted.
- They have many work relationships at the same time.

Social Problems:
- Don´t pay taxes.
- Unfair competition with the formal sector.
- No warranty on products.
- Social Disconfort.
- Threats on health.

Induction Factors:
- Economic needs.
-Traffic and explotaition of human beings.
- Migrations.
- Access to cheaper resources.
- Lack of legal and Financial opportunities.

South Korea
The role of workers and migrant workers
The term "migrant worker" refers to a person who is engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national.

Some things that a worker should consider

• Seeking a variety of assignments.

• tackling tough problems and asking for feedback.

• Opportunities to coach others and finding good coaches for him or herself

• Developmental relationships that provide a variety of learning.

• identify goals for new skills.

Which is my role towards immigrants?

Immigration is the proccess of entering the frontier of a foreign country by people who resides in a different place. The main reasons of why people migrates are:
- political, social, religious and racial percecution.
- lack of resources.
- increasing life expectancy.
- environment conditions.
- armed conflict.

It is true that immigrants are looking for new opportunities of job, for better conditions of life, they want to begging a new life in other place were they consider they can progress. I think that we have to give them support and give them our help, we don´t need more discrimination in our country, we have to provide immigrants better opportunities of life. But it is also true that they bring negative consequences to the country:

- Increase racist attitudes toward people.
- Growing competition for jobs.
- Leads to growing poverty and inequality, social fragmentation, marginalisation and unrest.
- Policies on social cohesion that promote assimilation over multiculturalism.
- Negative stereotypes about immigrants.
- Conflicting values.
- Different ways of thinking and different ways of thought.
- Changes in culture.

Sources:

http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/0/2/0/1/1/p20113_index.html

http://www.3s4.org.uk/drivers/attitudes-towards-immigrants

Wednesday September 1st

Some important concepts...

Expatriate: temporaly or permanently residing in a different country from were he or she is a citizen. Is a proffessional that goes to another country. Having an expatriate employee is really expensive, so it is possible to talk about an expatriation about quality and no quantity. They have to be thrustworthy employees and have the complete support of the organization.

Migration: Population phenomenon in which an individual or group of individuals moves from its habitat towards a new location, implying permanence in the new place.

Inmigration: Process of entering the frontier of a foreign country by people who resides in a different place.

Emigration: Act of leaving a country with the intention of staying in a second country or region.

Exposition China - Merging Process
Business combination transactions involving the combination of two or more companies into a single entity.

Seven Phases:
- Planning & Preparation
- Marketing
- Relationship building & negotiation
- Due diligence
- Approvals & communication
- Conversion
- Post – merger.

When one company takes over another and clearly established itself as the new owner, the purchase is called an acquisition.

A merger happens when two firms, often of about the same size, agree to go forward as a single new company rather than remain separately owned and operated

What is a manager in the modern organization?

Nowadays the manager plays a very important role in the organizations. Its main activities are:

"- Supervise and manage the staff in his department.
-Analyzing, reporting, giving recommendations and developing strategies.
- Achieve business and organization goals, visions and objectives.
- Involved in employee selection, career development, succession planning and periodic training.
- Working out compensations and rewards.
- Responsible for the growth and increase in the organizations' finances and earnings.
-Identifying problems, creating choices and providing alternatives courses of actions."

The manager is the one who answers all the questions, the one who know the solutions to all the problems, he stablishes an order in the company, is the one who has the power and assign tasks to its employees. The manager get involved in the productive activities and participate. He must encourage trust and confidence among its employees, interact with them, he must stablish cooperation and values as a priority. He also must avoid misinterpretations and dissatisfaction, clarify the goals to the entire company, he is the one who makes the most important decisions and give training and support. Nowadays the manager have a lot of responsabilities and have the most important tasks. He has high standards for goals and in the company is seen as a great leader. He also have the role of listening the ideas of the people he work with, and encouraging them to ask for help.

Sources:

http://www.suite101.com/content/the-managers-role-in-modern-business-a67373

http://www.about-personal-growth.com/managers.html

Wednesday August 25

At this class two groups made their expositions:

-Management style - Brazil.

-Change and conflict in enterprises - Chile.

Types of management style:

- Democratic: The manager delegates authority to his staff, giving them responsability to complete their tasks using their own work methods.

- Consultative: The manager will ask views and opinions from their staff allowing them to feel involved but the manager is who really makes the final decision.

- Laissez - Faire: The manager sets the tasks and gives staff complete freedom to complete them. Minimal involvement of the manager.

- Authocratic: The manager dictate orders to the staff and make decisions without consultants.

Efective management style:

- Participatory style: give an employee an entire task to complete.

- Directing Style: manager answers five questions to employees.

- Teamwork Style.

In Brazil...

Managers are expected to manage, boss give direct instructions without to much discussion or debate, boss and subordinates work hard to foster a relationship based on thrust and respect.

Change in enterprises: Organizational change is any action or set of actions resulting in a shift in direction or process that affects the way an organization works. Change is normal within an organization. It is important to listen and analyze their potential impacts within the organization. The types of change are: Development Change, Transitional Change and Transformational Change.

Conflict in enterprises: Organizational conflict is the difference, incompatibility, discord or divergence of values, ideas, interests and goals between individuals or groups within an organization. The types of conflict are: Interpersonal Conflict, Intragroup Conflict, Intergroup Conflict and Interorganizational Conflict. Generally it occurs:

- When there are difefrent objectives.

- When there is no teamwork.

- When there is no communication between supervisors and employees.

- When there is lack of communication and lack of motivation among employees.

- When there are cultural differences.

Wednesday August 18

At this class we did the first midterm, it consist in analyse a case in groups:
- Relate the Colombian manager with the document.
- What was the main idea of the author.
- Why is power important in a company.

Wednesday August 11th

At this class the teacher talk us about the corporate cultural diversity. It refers to the interaction between the cultures that coexist and participate in a company. We discuss about the concept of polarization, it is to think in a way that is different to another way of thinking, this polarization is created by any strong cultural manifestation, and it leads to a preferencial or discriminatory treatment in the company, but when time passes polarization tends to stablished.

We also talk about the cultural added value, the added value is an extra value when a product is made by a person from other country, these products are not only consuming products. The price of one product could change according to the perceptions we have of that particular product, for example is not the same to buy a mickey mouse hat made here in Colombia for the same price of that one that is from Disney.

Later we went to the coffee shop and we have to identify the different attitudes of the people that was there. With this activity we understand that we have to pay attention to details and people's behaviours because it help us to understand how an organization functions and how people interacts.

At the end of the class we discuss about the diversity appreciation, that we have to understand people attitudes and there must be an effective communication. We must avoid ethnocentrism and visual obstinacy.

Wednesday August 4th

In this class we saw a presentation about Organizational Culture. Organizational Culture generate human resources which are the key to be competitive and also generates cultural paradigms. A culture is a compound of habits, behaviours, customs and so many different ways to interact in order to have an identity.

Philosophy of the founders, selection criteria, top management and socilization (the way people talk to each other) contributes to organizational culture, because they allow to work in teams and to take good decisions.

Some of the characteristics of OC are:

- Members identity.

- Emphasis on group, not people.

- Indirect focus on people: consider implications and snowball effect.

- Integration of units: units work in a coordinated and integrated manner.

- Control: a compound of clear and low impact rules is stablished.

- Risk tolerance: permisiveness with employees.

- Reward criteria: Salaries, benefits, pecuniary and not pecuniary.

- Emphasis to ends or to means: the company could focus on its goals, techniques or processes.

- Open system approach: Degree the organization interacts with the outside.

The role of corporations in the actual context

A corporation can be defined as a group of individuals working together in order to achieve some objectives, they have a profit motivation, another definition:

"A corporation is defined as a legal entity or structure created under the authority of the laws of a state, consisting of a person or group of persons who become shareholders. The entity's existence is considered separate and distinct from that of its members."

Some time ago the corporation was an insignificant institute, but nowadays is very important in society. It means industrialization to create innovative products, it is today a dominant intitution, it inffluences people around the world. Thanks to the corporations, today commerce is crossing borders and this brings a lot of benefits to the society, like for example cheaper labour hand, great variety of products, major technologies, global communication, better life conditions, more opportunities to work because they provide employment, there is a great interdependence between countries, great advances in society and it also contributes to the economic development. Today the corporations are very powerful, but they also destroy the environment with so much chemicals and with so much carbón dioxide emissions. They make harm to human health with so much pollution, the human activity is destroying the animal´s habitats, the biosphere, and they don´t really know how much danger are they creating to the earth. So I can conclude that the corporation plays a very important role in the actual context because it contibrutes to industrialization and development, but it is also destroying the environment and that is the same as destroying ourselves.

Resources

- The Corporation, Joel Bakan, Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott.

- http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/contracts-agreements-incorporation/529-1.html

- http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC41/Rowe.htm

Wednesday July 28th

In this class we saw a movie call "The Corporation", it is a documentary film that talks about the modern day corporation and evaluates its behaviours toward society and the consequences it bring to us. It also show us the development of the contemporary corporations, its evolution, its impact and how it influences people in society. In class we conclude about five good things that brings the corporation:

1. They provide employment.

2. They provide a better quality of life.

3. Thay can reach any place of the world.

4. They are getting conscious of the damage they create.

5. They help to the development of the economy.