“IM report”

Following report has been attempted by considering UK and its companies for

examining the practices of international management.

1. Variables that contribute to the styles of management and business found in UK:

The UK companies employ various managerial styles and business strategies. There are

several important factors that affect the styles of management and provide feasibility in carrying

out them. Those varying factors contributing to the styles of management and business in UK

are detailed here below:

 Organizational culture:

It is the combined perceptions of the employees toward their organization.

There are several factors within an organization environment that adds to its

managerial style. They are stated here under:

o Internal factors: They include training programs for the workers,

concern showed for their welfare and the supervision support offered

by the managers to the employees.

o External factors: They include innovation, pressure put forward for

the production and vision and performance feedback to the

management.
 Employee attitude:

The attitude of employee is a main entity. The employees which are more

satisfied with their jobs perform best in their jobs. Due to this, the management

of most of the UK companies takes all necessary measures which lead to

employee satisfaction such as awarding pay incentives, promotions, granting

occasional holidays, boosting up the morals etc.

 Human Resource Management practices:

The HR management affects the company performance and thus must be

devised in a way that promotes positive approach in styles of management.

Through this, the management promotes innovation and motivation among

employees, making them responsible and thus increase their skills and abilities.

 Competition:

The market competition enables the management to find and exploit their

weaknesses and devise strategies to gain more market shares.

 Economics and Geography:

The economy of UK devise rules and plans which affect the organization and

thus the management has to develop styles accordingly. The upcoming

recessions and booms are taken care of greatly. Similarly, the geographic

conditions also affect agricultural firms that have to set their managerial styles

and strategies consequently.

 Efficiency in performance:

The best performance is offered by the work force when they are provided

best leadership. So, the UK companies provide dynamic leadership to the

employees which thus offer innovative ideas and perform best resulting in

enhanced efficiency of their firm.

 Innovation and Marketability:

Customers prefer innovative products along with effective customer service.

For this, the management need to market their product in best and effective

manner. This fact enables the management to employ guerrilla tactics and up-to-

dated market strategies to gain success for their products.

 Capital structure:

The demand of the required capital structure greatly influences the

management style. Debts and rising of funds require conservative managerial

style, whereas much larger debts for rapid growth acquire aggressive

management styles etc.

 Economic factors:

Economic factors include exchange rates, interest rates, taxes etc. They affect

the management styles to great extent. The management adopt different

approaches in different scenarios. For example, in case on less capital, the

management either go for debts or saves cash beforehand to be used in times of

crisis. Similarly, when the government imposes taxes with higher rates, the UK

companies have seen to be offering more hiring and growth in such times.
2. Integration of the knowledge of the recent social, political and economic history of UK

with an assessment of its current international standing:

 Recent Social history of UK:

The recent social history of UK starts in the 21 st century in which progress

was made in many fields. The country got strengthened security wise. It tied

strongly economically and politically to the post-cold war world. UK started

playing a leading role in Europe due to its strong bilateral relationship with

United States. It gained the potential of using its single European currency i.e.

euro.

 Recent Political history of UK:

The UK political structure is operated on a common law and traditional

rights. These laws are formulated by the Parliament which is subdivided into

“house of lords” and “house of commons”. In 2010 elections, the parliament

period was fixed to 5 years. The decision of the election is based on the voting by

the “house of commons”. The national legislatures are divided into three

assemblies. The cabinet holds the executive power and the government is

dependent on its support. In 2012, the Scottish government announced its

intention of getting freedom by 2014. This matter is under discussion now days.

 Recent Economic history of UK:

The recent economic history of UK starts in the 21 st century in which various

new reforms occurred. For example, more money invested in public services and

had consistent growth rate with steady inflation rate achieved by 2008. However,
 it faced economic crisis in 2008 due to the unemployment rate increased from

11.9% to 17.3%. However, by 2009, the UK economy grew by 0.8% which was

fastest growth in so far 10 years duration. For preventing the declining inflation

rate, the government introduced the pumping of large amount of capital in the

Bank of England. This increased British economy process was named as

“quantitative easing”. Moreover, the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies

attained substantial growth in the recent years.

 UK’s current international standing:

The United Kingdom is ranked sophisticatedly 8 th among the global

competitive environment of all countries. It has gained a rapid come back among

the top 10 countries. It stands 5th in the efficiency factor of its labour market. It

stands 10th for introducing innovations and employing latest technologies for

improving its productivity and operating in a large global market. It has gained

8th rank in financial category from its 2th rank of last year. On the other hand, it

has lowered in rank in macroeconomic environment with a fiscal deficit and

increased public debt. Its national saving rate has also lowered comparatively.
3. Key cultural elements which affect the application of typical management practices in an

international setting:

The cultural environment of any management varies from company to company, country

to country. The UK firms have a different cultural environment when they come in terms of

contacting and developing business terms with different foreign firms. The key cultural

elements that affect the management practices in an international setting are categorized and

explained here under:

 1st category:

It includes key cultural elements such as language, knowledge, behaviour and

rituals. These elements come into contact when the foreign firms meet face to

face while negotiating with one another, having communication and during

meetings also.

 2nd category:

It includes key cultural elements such as organization itself, its hierarchy and

decision making policies, labour relations and their attitudes toward the work.

This occurs when the foreign companies come into contact with each other while

making contracts, developing alliances, JVs and M&A.

 3rd category:

It involves two main key cultural elements i.e. consumer preferences and

“quality” of demand. It is faced when the company comes in contact with the

customer while marketing and developing new products etc.

This whole above cross-cultural business context is summarized in following figure:
4. Modification of management theories to the cultural, social and economic imperatives for

successfully managing a UK organisation in an international environment:

In order to manage a UK firm successfully among the international market, there is need

to modify the managerial theories and strategies and thus implement the necessary cultural,

social and economic changes with essential requirements. These required facts in terms of

modification for successful business in international environment are detailed here below:

 The cultural diversity must be handled carefully. Within a multicultural

environment, there are employees of varying values, beliefs, behaviour and

background etc. other physical cultural factors also include race, gender, age etc.

this varying cultural ethics and increased diversity affects the attitudes of the

work force and hence their performance. They have different work-related

behaviours. All the employees of different cultures must be provided a prejudice-

free environment. There must be no discrimination in work environment. All

should be encouraged to put forward their human talent and awarded accordingly

on the basis of their abilities and qualifications. If done properly, they can

penetrate through wider and enhanced global market easily. Every employee

must be encouraged to offer creative and innovative ideas. The diversity of

culture in work ethics also will result in better problem solving minds and tools.

If the multicultural work force is lead properly, they will also result in more

flexible organization adapting to any change at any time.

 In order to operate an organization, in our case a United Kingdom firm, in

international environment successfully, it needs to be operating on a C-

framework for fulfilling the social and political required changes. Following

factors must be combined properly to give enhanced international performances:

o Cross-cultural communication:

This involves two-way communication among companies,

employees and customers. The behaviour, language, moral values and

expertise of foreign firms and employees affect each other in various

manners. The meetings, conferences, documentation, business tours

etc. all handle such communication.

o Connection:

There must be a positive connection among the company and

its foreign and local employees or the company and an organization

and its foreign environment. Every employee must be welcomed in

out-door and in-door discussions, conferences and managerial issues

etc. everyone should be applauded and regarded for his/her novel

ideas presented. Similarly, the foreign organizations must be engaged

in all necessary operations. The necessary information and company’s

current status must be shared equally among all the partners etc.

o Control:

For an organization to be operated successfully in an

international environment, it must be given required control over

delicate issues. The control must not be centralized to the local

authority. Rather all the management and higher authorities must be

equally treated while granting orders, making decisions, introducing

changes or making plans and innovative strategies.

 Work Cited

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fulda.de/fileadmin/Fachbereich_SW/Downloads/Profs/Wolf/Studies/england_UK/uk_leader

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