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The second section emphasizes Leadership a ND the role it has in French companies. In addition, it highlights some of the ethical conflicts that may arise for American companies in France in relation to the views on leadership practices . The third and final section of this report focuses on the process of recruiting an integration al assignee as well as the process of repatriation. Topics such as language training, immigration, health coverage, schooling and French social customs are discussed as well. Cultural Profile of France
France is located in Western Europe, bordering Andorra, Belgium, Germany, It Luxembourg, Monaco, Spain and Switzerland. It is a semiprofessional republic with its capital in Paris, the nation’s largest city and the main cultural and commercial center. W tit an estimated population of 66 million people as of July 201 3, France is the storms populous us country in the world and the thirds populous in Europe (“The World Fastback’, 2014). Be sides the Celtic, other ethnic groups such as Latin with Teutonic, Slavic, North African, Indochina nest and Basque Minorities, comprises the French population.
The official language is French a ND is used by 88% of the population. Most of those who speak minority languages also speak k F-ranch, as the minority languages are given no legal recognition. In France, 3% of the popular Zion speaks German, 0. 2% speaks Flemish, around 1. 7% speaks Italian, 0. 1% speaks Basque e and 1. 7% speaks in Arabic. Dialects such as Catalan, Octane and Coors are spoken as w ell (“France French Culture”, 2014). As of religion standing, France has been dominated by the influence Of the Catholic Church, yet the constitution declares it to be a “secular” country.
Secularism d owes not reject elision but attempts to bar any single religion from gaining political control Culture of France”, 2015). According to the Central Intelligence Agency data, France has not officially collected data on religious affiliation since the 1872 national census due to a awe prohibiting state authorities from collecting data on individuals’ ethnicity or religious belie fess, which complicates assessments of France’s religious composition. However, there is data that shows that religions such as Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism are practiced in France.
The French economy is welkin worldwide, as it is a member of the Group of 7 eating industrialized countries. The G are the seven wealthiest major developed nations by national net wealth , representing more than 64% of the net global wealth ($263 trillion) according to the Credit Cuisses Global Wealth Report October 2014. France is r anted as the world’s seventh largest and the Ex.’s second largest economy by purchasing power parity (“World Development Indicators”, 2015). Some of the leading industries are steel, machinery, chemicals, automobiles, electronics, textiles, and tourism (“culture of France”, 201 5) .
With more than 84 million foreign tourists per year, France is the most visited county in he world and maintains the third largest income in the world from tourism. France’s leader s remain committed to a capitalism in which they maintain social equity by means of laws, tax police sis, and social spending that mitigate economic inequality. In 2002, France converted from t he Franc to Euro for all financial transactions. As Of today, one Euro is equivalent to one America an dollar with eleven cents. Food and wine are central to life at all socioeconomic levels, and much social zing is done around lengthy dinners.
France is famed for its excellent cuisine. It is who ere the designated name for the highest quality food originated – Cordon blue (“Relocating to Far nice”, 2014). As far as wine is concerned, France is renowned for its excellent wines produced on the vast expanses of vineyards that stretch across the hinterland. Ross© wines are primarily consumed within the country, but Champagne and Bordeaux wines are major exports, being known worldwide. As in all European countries, France has very strict safety regulation ins relating to Gas.
Although natural gas is available in most Of the towns and cities in France there e are large rural areas that rely on bottled gas (“Relocating to France”, 2014). The price of gas c institution in France is generally in line with that of the KICK. The most common form of greeting is a handshake. Friends on the other Han d may greet each other by lightly kissing on the cheeks, once on the left cheek and once o n the right cheek. Another interesting fact about French culture is that only family and close Fri. ends are reserved to call someone by their first name.
Other people refer to them by Monsieur or Madame and their last name as a sign of respect to others. In order to use a person’s first name you must wait until you are invited to do so. You are expected to greet everyone with politeness e en neighbors. The French also appreciate wine greatly and it must be of high quality when making g a gift. In dining etiquette, if you are invited to a French house for dinner you should always AR rive on time. Under no circumstances should you arrive more than 10 minutes later than invited a ND you should call to explain what caused the delay.
The further south it is in the country the MO re flexible time is. You should also pay attention the way you dress. The French are fashion cons socio and their version of casual is not as relaxed as in many western countries. In fact, Paris is known as the mom to many heighten fashion houses, such as Dior, Hermes, Louis Button a ND Channel. All the information above is very important to understand the French culture whenever visiting France. This is even more important if going to France to conduct buss news. It IS important to study your possible client’s culture and customs.
Every country s different so every country has their own style in conducting business. Leadership Learning about leadership and role within organizations is essential for a IS . S firm looking to expand internationally. In the context of international business, lea dervish can be fined as an interaction between two or more members of a group and coco RSI when one member of the group modifies the motivation and competence of another (Adler 1991 ) . Many times a leader influences the actions, perceptions and expectations of those around t hem.
Often times when we think of the word leadership in the United States, there are certain qualities that we associate with a good leader, such as someone who is decisive, who remains n control even when under pressure, who is energetic, charismatic, level headed, and confide One can note that leadership styles vary from country to country. In this case, we are going to focus on leadership style differences between France as compared t o the United States. Our main resource was the Hefted center, which offers valuable tools to hell p visualize cultural differences and their impact.
Professor Greet Hefted conducted one of the most comprehensive studies of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture. He divides c ultra into 6 different dimensions: masculinity vs.. Femininity, power distance, individualism vs.. Collectivism, uncertainty of avoidance, long vs.. Short term orientation, and indulgence. We are specifically ongoing to focus on the first four as they are the ones that best reflect the lead restyle differences between France and the Unites States. The first can be seen in the survey indicating that France has a relatively low masculine culture.
This definition means that attitudes toward success in the workplace are driven by a certain quality of life standard whereas in a male dominated society, the MME hashish is more on how much money they can acquire over their peers and being the best at the job. With a score of 43 in the masculinity index, France embodies more feminist values within the workplace, which at the surface level could be attributed to its famous welfare system (SE circuit© socials), its our standard work week, five weeks of holiday per year, as well as overall emphasis on the quality of life.
A unique characteristic, however, that notably distinguishes the French culture from any other country included in the model is the division between the pup ere and lower classes of people within France? as the upper class scores reflected more feminist values, whereas the middle or working class reflected more masculine values.
When considering adhering in international business from an American viewpoint, the term “leader effective news” becomes important and refers to the degree to which a leader’s actions result in the AC habiliment of the unit’s goals, the continued commitment of the unit’s employees, and the dove element of mutual trust and respect. On the contrary, as we have already noted above, United SST tastes’ expatriates would need to take into consideration this difference when working in France as it embodies more feminist values that differ from the masculine American values.
The second dimension deals with power distance. Power distance is defined a s the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. With a score of 68, France scores f airily high on power distance. This high score is largely contributed to the fact that children are taut got from a very young age to be emotionally dependent to a certain extent on their superiors; starting with their parents, following their teachers, and finally their superiors within the workup ace.
Many comparative studies have shown that French companies have normally one o two hierarchical levels more than comparable companies in Germany and the ELK. , where super rigors have privileges and are often inaccessible. In the context of the work environment, COO’S of big companies are called Mr.. PEG (President Director General) and are generally associated with having the highest educational prestige as many of them attended big school s (grander ©Coles).
On the other hand, the United States which earned a score Of 40 in this dime Sino is relatively low in power distance as compared to France; and would serve as a significant t agricultural preference for an expatriate moving from the U. S. To France. In the United Stats sees within the organizational environment, one can respectfully address their boss and even CEO without any problem. Furthermore, employees are expected to work together as colleague sees where information can be shared frequently, tasks and roles can be clearly delegated/ defined by those of higher ranking, and problem solving solutions around tasks can be developed.
Audit anally, communication is informal, direct, and participative on both ends (between el adders and their employees/ subordinates) to a certain extent. Furthermore, this communication difference e could result in cultural shock for an expatriate from the United States living in Franc e, as the French pride themselves on a more structured, harmonistically process. The fundamental issue addressed by the third dimension is the degree of intent iridescence a society maintains among its members (individualism vs.. Collectivism. Franc e, with a score of 71, is shown to be an individualist society. This means that one is only supposes deed to take care of oneself and one’s family. Even higher, the United States scores a 91 on this did mention, which sakes it one of the highest scores in the world. An example of the difference between the United States and France is that customer service in the United States involves treats Eng customers as royalty. They go out of their way to make sure the service is perfect first, which h is not the case in France. French are cultivated to be the best in their trade.
They, therefore, expect respect for what they do, after which they are very much willing to serve their customers well. The fourth dimension relates to the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations. This is the dimension in hi chi France and the united States differ the most. France scores 86 and the Lignite States scores 4 6. As mentioned earlier in this paper, one of the atypical qualities often associated with leaders hip from an American standpoint is the ability to remain in control even in an uncertain or pressurized environment.
A large part of France’s leadership style however is high uncertain into avoidance, which reflects a strong regard for structure and careful planning within the o organization to avoid the feeling of ambiguity towards unknown or unpredictable circumstances in he future. Additionally, because of their antipathy toward high uncertainty avoidance, there is a strong need for regulations and laws to ensure structure in their life; where those with the most power have certain privileges that often times hold them above the law.
Therefore, an Am Rican expatriate moving to France has to understand that French do not like surprises. Structure re and planning are required and before meetings and negotiations, they like to receive all nieces array information. These dimensions show the importance as well as impact cultural differences can have in the workplace. Expatriates moving from the United States to France should TA eke these cultural differences into consideration and try to adapt to them in order to make the best out of their experience abroad.
Expatriates profile The term international assignee, also known as expatriate, is generally used t o, “describe the process of moving any employee from one country to another for a period d of more than one year, while staying in the employment of the same firm” (Brioche 222). Accord Eng to Brioche, the main reasons why multinational enterprises transfer personnel from one country to another re for their technical or functional expertise, for control, to start new operate ions, and for managerial development purposes. Moreover, these transfers serve as a mea n for the company to develop healthy relationships and corporate identity.
This process also helps t o nurture a business culture among the management tiers and ensure that the necessary talent is i n the right location at the right time (Brioche 223). Hence, selecting the right candidate is key to en’s ere all of the former is achieved. It’s important to know that not all companies operate in the same way or use the uniform traceries to increase productivity and thus, profits. Companies recruit potent ail global managers either from within the organization or from other companies (Adler 276). This type of decision mostly depends on the company size and global standpoint.
For example, d mommies firms have no business need to send anyone abroad (Adler 273). On the other hand, mull iodination firms do engage in the international assignees process. Rather than selecting average performers, like the multiplicities firms, they prefer to send abroad their best performers to en’s ere better results (Adler 274). As for global firms, the fact that they operate in highly competitive , complexly networked, global business environments makes recruiting knowledgeable an d experience executives crucial.
It is essential to global firms that recruits understand the world and have experience working in numerous countries across several continents (Adler 2 75). Therefore, they select the best people, regardless of nationality, to send on global assignment When a company decides to seek potential employees to perform specific task KS in a different cultural setting, many factors are taken into consideration. Potential international assignees must possess high receptivity to international careers, as well as m authority, appropriate personal characteristics, and a positive attitude on the given assignment.
Some e of the selection methods for recruiting international assignees include: interviews, formal ass assessment, committee decision, and collections, among others. In order to find a candidate that pop assesses each of those qualifications, the selection method implemented in the process is crucial al. It’s important to note that there isn’t a best worst selection method, but the eight process, which depends on the qualifications required for the position and the complexity of the assignment.