Management Research Project

Introduction

The study of organizational behavior is gaining more and more importance as time goes by

because organizations are getting bigger and more complex in nature. This is compounded by

increasing globalization. This trend has resulted in a situation where people now have to work

with others belonging to a different culture or race. Organizational behavior can be defined as

“the study of the performance of individuals and groups in different structures and cultures

within the workplace.” (Glossary: Organizational Behavior. 1995-2004). This paper is a study

of a few important topics of organizational behavior. It will apply those topics to see how it can

help a working manager to improve his managerial abilities. The international courier and

goods transportation company, DHL Global Forwarding will be used as an example in this

study.

Background of Organizational Behavior:

The definition given in the previous section shows that human behavior is influenced by the

nature of the structure or organization he works in as well as the cultural diversity that may

occur there. Organized working has been in existence for a very long time even though no

formal studies have been known to be conducted with regard to human behavior within such

organization. An example of ancient and large organized working could be the building of the

great pyramids of Egypt. Formal studies of human behavior in an organization originated only

during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. One of the pioneers of this science was Frederick

Taylor who pioneered the principles of scientific management. But Taylor only focused on

improving performance in the workplace and not on the social and emotional needs of workers.

He focused on breaking down of a task into smaller observable units so that speed and

productivity could be increased. It was to his credit that he took into account better payment,

fatigue, shorter working hours etc. in his efforts to increase productivity

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But in all other respects he equated workers to machines which brought about deep frustration

within the working class. “Nevertheless, the industrial engineer with his stop watch and clip-

board, standing over you measuring each little part of the job and one's movements became a

hated figure and lead to much sabotage and group resistance.” (Wertheim). More humanistic

thinkers bought the human element into the picture and more importance was given to

organizational behavior. It was the Western Electric Study more popularly known as the

Hawthorne Experiments that bought about an awareness of group behavior. The study which

was originally about work performance and working environment also revealed the

sociological and psychological factors that exist in a group as well as the individuals in the

group. Another theory by Douglas McGregor called Theory X and Theory Y pointed out the

assumptions of managers about worker perceptions and the perceptions of the workers

themselves. The former was called Theory X and the latter was called Theory Y and it was

pointed out by McGregor that both the theories were contradictory to each other. Manger

perceptions of workers include inherent distaste of employees towards work, lack of ambition

and creativity, lack of problem solving ability and the need for close supervision. But the most

inaccurate assumption was that workers were motivated only by physiological factors and

security. Theory Y on the other hand contends that in the right environment, people enjoy

work, self-control is more effective than close supervision and that employees are creative. It

also says that they are motivated due to affiliation, self-esteem and self-actualization. The

development of the systems theories during the 1970’s and the contingency theories in the

1980’s paved the way for further studies into organizational behavior.

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Organizational Behavior:

Organizational behavior is not a subject by itself, but is in fact a combination of four other

social sciences namely psychology, sociology, social psychology and anthropology with

economics being used for to understand the economic impact of organizational behavior.

“Organizational Behavior is a unique combination of different disciplines. The predominate

areas are psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, political science, and

economics.” (Chapter-1, Understanding Organizational Behavior: Origins of Organizational

Behavior).

Organizational behavior is affected by three levels namely the individual, the group and the

organization itself.

Individual level:

a. Ability – Ability of the individual is an important fact in determining organizational

behavior. A person of high ability is bound to have a high level of job satisfaction

provided the work is related to his ability. Job satisfaction will positively affect

organizational behavior of the individual.

b. Values and attitudes: Like ability values and attitudes also play a important part in

shaping organizational behavior. High values and a positive attitude will result in

favorable behavior within the organization also.

c. Personality and emotions: This again will vary from individual. An outgoing

personality and emotions will reflect positively on his behavior within an organization.

d. Perception: This refers to how a person views the external environment and people

whom he is associated with. For example, perception that work is worship will result in

a positive behavior.

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e. Motivation: There has been lot of research and studies on this topic, both at individual

and group level. A highly motivated person with regard to his work will exhibit positive

behavior in an organization also.

f. Learning: The learning level of a person and also his ability and willingness to learn

will also have an effect on organizational behavior.

g. Other factors like age, gender, race, culture, nationality etc will also affect

organizational behavior. For example, Japan has a high level of work culture and hence

employees are more sincere to the company when compared to most other countries.

Group level:

a. Group structure: There will be formal and informal groups in any organization. The

form of the group, level of leadership in the group, its size and composition etc are

decisive factors in organizational behavior. For example, an informal group may be

formed on the basis of race and all members of the same race will tend to belong to that

group.

b. Leadership and trust: Groups will have leaders and its behavior will depend on the

ability and perception of the leader. Group behavior will in turn affect organizational

behavior.

c. Communication: The level of communication within the group will be important in

spreading the views of the group and its leaders. A high level of communication will

result in all or most members being aware of group decisions and actions.

d. Group decision making: This again depends on the cohesiveness of the group. A highly

cohesive group will have common views and decisions and can exert a stronger

influence on organizational behavior.

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e. Power and politics: Every group will have varying levels of power and existence of

internal politics. This in turn will affect the organizational behavior of the group and its

members.

f. Conflicts: Conflicts can exist within a group, with other groups or with the organization

itself. A high level of conflicts in any of these areas can result in poor organizational

behavior.

Organizational level:

a. Policies, practices and systems: All organizations will have their own private agenda

that should ideally work in cooperation with the agenda of its employees. A set of

policies, practices and systems would have been developed and put in place. These are

not static, but dynamic and will change as and when the need arises. These factors play

a crucial role in defining organizational behavior.

b. Organizational structure and design: Each organization will follow commonly accepted

structures. Some will be top heavy while others will be more decentralized. Whatever

the form of the structure and design, it will influence organizational behavior in

different ways.

c. Job design and technology: Job design will play an integral part in affecting job

satisfaction. The level of technology available is also a factor here. Both these will have

its impact on the organizational behavior in an organization.

d. Organizational cultures: This will play an important part in organizational behavior. A

strong culture or work ethics and well-being of its employees will have a positive effect

on organizational behavior. The reverse will also be true.

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These are the broad topics that form part of organizational behavior in any organization. The

selected topics will be discussed in relation to DHL Global Forwarding. Also how a manager

can make use of these factors for the betterment of his abilities will also be discussed.

DHL Global Forwarding:

DHL is considered to be one of the leading transportation and logistics companies in the world

with delivery destinations in more than 220 countries. DHL was formed in 1969 as an

innovative concept in shuttling goods between San Francisco and Honolulu. The company was

founded by Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom and Robert Lynn and the name DHL was taken by

taking the first letters from Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn. There were no express delivery

services like the one DHL offered and the company grew rapidly to its present top position of

businesses in its class. The Company with more than 30,000 employees and 4000 offices

worldwide is now a part of the Deutsche Post Group. The company has four main divisions

namely DHL Express, Supply Chain – Corporate Information Solutions, Mail and Global

Forwarding.

DHL Express: DHL Express is a global air and rail based courier and express delivery

company. It offers its services to both organizations and private individuals. The company

markets its services under three names namely Same Day, Time Definite and Day Definite.

Services are offered in more than 220 countries and territories.

Supply Chain – Corporate Information Solutions: As the name indicates, this division is

concerned with providing logistics and corporate information solutions to corporate clients and

not to individuals. Solutions to customers are tailor made to their specifications and include

such services as warehousing, transportation and value added services that cover the entire

supply chain of its clients.

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Its clients include companies from diverse areas such as automobile, fast moving consumer

goods, life sciences, retail, fashion and technology based industries. Services include

digitizing, printing, storing, managing addresses, dispatching, and archiving of documents of

its clients.

Mail: The Company offers mail services to individual and corporate clients in more than 200

countries around the world. It also offers integrated mailing solutions to its corporate clients.

Global Forwarding: This paper will focus on this particular division in applying three topics of

organizational behavior. This division was formed mainly for air and sea transportation of

goods and also includes overland services in its European markets. Goods can be transported at

an agreed price and delivered to its destination at an agreed price and date. Services under this

division also include logistics services and customs assistance in various ports. “This business

unit stands for flexible, individualized solutions: national and international full-container-load

and less-than-container-load services - via road, rail or inter-modal transportation. In addition,

our comprehensive customs brokerage services ensure smooth cross-border shipments.”

(Number one in Express and Logistics. 2008). This division has two subdivisions, one for

airfreight and the other for goods transported by sea. They are called Access DHL Global

Forwarding services (Air) and Access DHL Global Forwarding services (Ocean) respectively.

The former offers a range of services bearing names like Air First, Airfreight Plus, Air

Premium, Se Air and Air Value. It also offers value added services, specialized services, special

handling and transportation facilities for industrial projects. Its ocean transport division offers

partial container load facility, full container load facility, non-containerized loads, value-added

services and transportation facilities for industrial projects. The division also offers customized

supply chain management services.

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It is proposed that out of the many diverse topics that come under the ambit of organizational

behavior, three topics namely cross-cultural management, leadership and motivation be taken

up for discussion. It will be seen how these topics can be useful to a manager in bettering his

managerial abilities and providing maximum value to his employers and the workers

employees who work under him.

Cross cultural management: This topic is gaining momentum across organizations the world

over because of increasing globalization and the proliferation of multi-national companies.

Companies are in the process of expanding internationally due to the fact that many

traditionally orthodox and closed markets have been opening up for investment opportunities.

An example would be India and China which did not encourage presence of foreign goods and

companies on its soil till the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. It is not unusual to find the top

management positions being held by managers belonging to the home country. Moreover

expatriates have been going abroad to more advanced economies for better prospects and

finding employment in those markets. A person from an Asian country working in the western

world or vice-versa would find a vast difference in cultures and belief of their respective

countries. It is a fact that culture has an important role in beliefs and behavior and this will be

reflected inside the workplace also. Cross-cultural organizational behavior can be defined as

“the study of individual behavior and team processes in which national cultural characteristics

play a major role as independent or moderating variables.” (Tsui, Nifadkar and Ou, 2007, ).

Diversity in culture throws a host of problems and challenges for mangers who are in charge of

multi-cultural employee group. One of the major challenges that may arise is the difference in

language. Many Asian countries still have a majority of their population not being able to

understand English.

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For a manager of DHL Global Forwarding in the Asia-Pacific Region will have to deal with

people from nearly forty countries. Their training division is finding it a challenge to produce

training materials in the myriad languages spoken in those countries. A training manual

originally written in English cannot be literally translated to say Japanese or Chinese. Also it

would be a challenge to find trainers who can speak more than one or two languages. All this

entails additional costs and other resources for the company. A training session which

incorporates employees from Japan and India cannot be done because both of them are unable

to understand the language of the other country. There is no easy way out of this and due care

and efforts have to be taken by the HR managers who are in charge of training to see that

proper training in their respective languages is given to people in each country. Training

materials also have to be developed likewise. Language also poses a problem of

communication of lack of it such markets. The manager who is from the host country will have

to see that he makes himself understood by at least learning the basics of the host country

language. A similar problem will arise if the manager has people from many countries working

under him. In such a situation he will have to see to it that the home country language is taught

to the expatriate employees so that proper communication can take place.

Another major challenge that a DHL manager may face is the difference in work culture. The

manger will find that DHL offices in China may have a high employee turnover whereas those

in Japan will not. Managers in the US are extremely performance oriented whereas Indian

employees are more used to a lenient work culture. All this will be affected by the degree of

influence the employee or employee groups have inside the organization. If the influence is

high the manager might find it difficult to bring about a common organizational behavior

among his employees.

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Hence, the DHL manger will have to be trained in studying the different cultures of the markets

he may operate during his stint in foreign markets. Even then he will have to have a lot of

patience and understanding to bring the corporate work culture into each market. An invaluable

tool that the manager can use is the Hofstede Cultural Dimensions Model for having a broad

understanding and comparison of the cultures of different countries. The model differentiates

culture into five dimensions namely Power Distance (PDI), Individualism (IDV), Masculinity

(MAS), Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) and Long-term Orientation LTO). PDI refers to how the

general population views the distribution of power in their country. Certain cultures will have

unequal distribution with some people wielding large powers and a section with low power.

Individualism refers to the tendency of people to stay alone or belong to groups in their daily

lives. High individualism means people live independently (small families or living alone) and

are able to look after themselves. Masculinity refers to the role and authority of women in

society. High masculinity cultures will show men having the dominant role in most walks of

life. Uncertainty Avoidance is the tendency to avoid ambiguity and uncertainty. High UAI

cultures will tend to plan things meticulously. Long Term Orientation (And Short Term

Orientation STO) is given as attributes that are peculiar to each category. LTO cultures will

have persistence, a sense of order, thrift, having sense of shame etc. STO cultures will have

personal steadiness, face saving attitude, respect of traditions, reciprocation (E.g. gifts,

greetings) etc. (Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions).

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Leadership: Leadership quality is an essential factor for any successful manager irrespective of

whether he is working at home or abroad. In fact leadership is important in all areas of human

activity. Leadership can be defined by using the cliché that “it is a process by which one person

influences the thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors of others.” (Mills 2005, P. 11). There are some

common qualities that all leaders should have irrespective of the type of organization they lead.

They include having a vision, commitment to the organization and the people who belong to it,

taking responsibility without hesitation, taking responsibilities for failure and accepting

accolades for success. Leadership can be classified into different styles. There are autocratic

leaders who hold absolute control in all aspects of work, He will not have participation of the

employee in making decisions and his word will be law in the workplace. This type of

leadership is not very visible today especially in a global environment where DHL Global

Forwarding operates. Then there is the participative style of leadership where employee

participation is sought in all aspects of the working of the organization. Employees are

encouraged to give opinions and present new ideas for the betterment of the organization as

well as the employees. This type of leadership would be ideal for a DHL manager because it

will help in understanding cultural and social differences that may exist in the workplace.

Constant interaction with the employees will help in bringing about a closer relationship with

his multi-cultural employees. The third type is where the leader gives a free reign to his

employees in the hope that they will be able to conduct their jobs best in that way. This style

may be suitable in a situation where work culture is highly developed. But it will not be

suitable for a multi-cultural organization like DHL Global Forwarding where different work

cultures and attitudes mix.

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Mangers working there should take a not of this fact and should approach a more participative

style coupled with the exercising of a certain among of control and authority.

When DHL became a part of the Deutsche Post, a program called 360 Online Degree Feedback

framework was adopted to integrate its diversity of operations and regions. The program was

designed to achieve three aims:

Performance management

Talent Review

Senior Leadership development Program

The program was an online one whereby its managers across the globe could participate in all

the three areas mentioned above. “The online nature of the system would provide a streamlined

structure that could be applied cost-effectively throughout the new organization’s massive

network.” (DHL 360 Online - Developing a Global Solution fro Leadership Development:

DHL Identify need for Online Solution with Global Reach. 2005). All multi-national companies

with global divisions such as Freight Forwarding face similar challenges and have to adapt and

learn to be able to stay competent. For a manager in a division like DHL Global Forwarding,

the 360 Degree Feedback Program which is an example of participatory management style,

was useful in understanding the needs, aspirations and views of its many employees across the

globe. They should continue to make use of such programs in future also to cope up with

increased competition from other global and local competitors.

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Motivation:

Like leadership, motivation is another important factor that affects productivity and job

satisfaction among employers. Unless workers are motivated they will not be able to give their

best towards the organization they work for. It is true some that people can be self-motivated

and need no external motivation to perform. But in majority of the cases it is the organization

that has to provide the factors that will motivate employees individually and as a group. It is

the responsibility of the manager to influence these factors and get people motivated to give

their best for their organization. “Motivation is the set of processes that moves a person toward

a goal. Thus, motivated behaviors are voluntary choices controlled by the individual employee.

The supervisor (motivator) wants to influence the factors that motivate employees to higher

levels of productivity.” (Management Modern. 1998). In the case of a group of employees,

there are certain factors that will motivate them collectively. They include characteristics of the

job, policies and work practices of the organization and individual characteristics of the

employee. Individually the factors that motivate people to work harder include personal needs,

individual values, attitude of the employee and interests. Simply put the behavior of a person

happens so that it can satisfy his needs and wants. So the primary reason that will motivate a

person to work is live a secure life. But this is too simplistic to be applied to human beings

especially in this day and age. This was the attitude among managers till modern theories of

management began to recognize the fact that people are motivated by a host of things other

than money and job security. So in the case of an international division like DHL Global

Forwarding, it is up to the manager and the company to see that their employees are kept

motivated. There are certain theories of motivation that such mangers can use for this purpose.

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a. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: This theory formulated by Abraham Maslow says that

employees are motivated by five classes of needs. They are Physiological needs, Safety needs,

Social needs, Esteem needs and Self-actualization needs. Physiological needs are basic like

food, clothing and shelter. Safety refers to security for the worker and his family. Social needs

are the need to have an affiliation with others, and include feelings of friendship and belonging.

Esteem indicates a need for self-respect, recognition and respect from peers and superiors.

Self-actualization is more sophisticated and indicates the need for developing to full potential

which will give him a feeling of self-fulfillment. According to Maslow, the needs are arranged

in priority with physiological needs coming on the strongest. The theory states that once each

need is satisfied the employee will feel the need to satisfy the next need. Once physiological

needs are met, the next need namely safety needs become important and so on. The DHL

manager has to see that the unmet needs are satisfied to keep the employees under him

motivated. In a company like DHL the physiological and safety needs would have already been

met and the manager needs to concentrate on fulfillment of other needs only. A related theory is

Alderfer's ERG theory where ERG stands for existence, relatedness and growth. Maslow’s

Theory has been criticized because he does not consider the individual’s personality differs, but

considers that these motivators are common to all people.

b. McClelland's Learned Needs: McClelland divides motivation into satisfaction of three needs

namely achievement, power and affiliation. There is a classification according to individual

characteristics and not hierarchical as in the case of Maslow’s Theory. The theory states that

some people are achievement oriented and are motivated by attainment of goals. Some are

motivated by the need to dominate others in all situations and circumstances and will be

motivated if that happens.

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Outgoing personalities fall into the third category and are motivated to form or join informal

and formal groups within an organization.

c. Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory: This theory is more sophisticated than the earlier two given

above. Herzberg was one of the pioneers in studying employee motivation. His observation

was that satisfaction and dissatisfaction were not merely opposites in the work place.

Satisfaction is derived from the characteristics of the work itself and was called motivators.

Characteristics include achievement, satisfaction, responsibility, type of work etc.

Dissatisfaction occurs due to factors like working environment, policies, relationship with

colleagues and superiors, security, salary etc and were given the name hygiene factors.

d. Theory X and Theory Y: This theory by Douglas McGregor has already been reviewed in the

first section of this paper. It deals with contrasting perceptions of managers and workers

regarding the latter’s attitude towards work.

e. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory: This theory states that people will behave in a particular way if

it leads to fulfillment of their needs. They are also aware that certain activities can also lead to

unpleasant situations.

f. Contingency Theory: This theory formulated by Fred Luthans states that a particular type of

management practices will work in a particular work environment. Applying the same practices

in another situation may not work out to the benefit of everyone concerned.

These are some of the major motivational theories that have been developed over a period of

time.

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There are many websites that deal with the three topics selected due to its relative importance

in organizational behavior. Several relevant sites are selected for discussion.

Cross-cultural Management:

Itim International: This website is about Geert Hofstede™ Cultural Dimensions.

Web Address: http://www.geert-hofstede.com/

Date accessed: 17 Jul 2008

The site quotes Hofstede on the differences and the difficulties that arise due to cross-cultural

differences. It also gives a short write up about the man. Hofstede also answers questions on

the issue of cross-cultural differences and about the model he has developed. The most

interesting and useful point about the site is the comparisons of actual Hofstede scores between

nearly 56 countries. For example a person can check the score using the five attributes between

USA and Germany. The score will be displayed in the form of a bar graph with the bars of the

two countries shown side by side. The site also has sub-pages to works and books by the

Hofstede and also to works by other authors on the topic. Another subsection shows links

works on international marketing. A link to a book series titled ‘culture smart’ about business

etiquette of many countries is also included. Currently business etiquette information on 55

countries are available. Clicking on the link will take the user to Amazaon.com and he may

purchase the book if he wishes. This is an extremely useful site for managers who work in

different cultures.

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Global Dynamics Incorporated:

Web address: http://www.global-dynamics.com/.

Date accessed: 17 Jul 2008

This is a multi-national training organization in cross-cultural management and was founded in

1984 with its headquarters in the United States. The company provides a host of training

services in this field. It includes knowledge management services, expatriate cross-cultural

training, blended learning, custom interventions, international negotiations, international team

building strategies, global project management etc. This site was selected to show that cross-

cultural training is a subject that is taken seriously across the world. They also have a

Knowledge Resource Centre where clients can avail their expertise in a lot of related fields. It

includes case studies, data available from other countries, information gathered on request

from clients etc. In short the site is a practically covers almost all topics under cross-cultural

training, but at a price. The company also has facilities for online consultation. A host of tools

are available even for kids, but a free registration and login is necessary to access them.

Resources are also available for mentors in the field of cross-cultural relationships. The site is

useful for International Assignees, Seminar Participants, Corporate HR managers, Corporate

Executives, Corporate Mentors, Consultants.

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Leadership:

University of San Francisco – College of Professional Studies:

Website address: http://www.cps.usfca.edu/academics/obl/

Date accessed: 17 Jul 2008

The site is an introduction to the course named Organizational Behavior and Leadership which

is being offered by the University. An academic site was chosen to show the importance of

leadership in organizational behavior. It can be seen that there is a strong relation between the

two as revealed by the course name. The site gives a course overview on the course home page

which is a part of the University home page. It has also links to the complete course modules,

syllabus, and faculty along with their bio-data. The program goals, objectives and learning

outcomes are also clearly defined. The University conducts this course as a twenty three month

program. Other links from the page include what one can expect from a site of this nature.

There is also a link to the University home page and the College of Professional study home

page. Links to university resources like library, book stores etc are also provided. Prospective

students can download a PDF document containing details on how to apply along with an

application form.

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Motivation:

Work and Organizational Psychology Arena:

Website Address: http://www.workpsychologyarena.com/books/Work-Motivation-in-

Organizational-Behavior-2nd-Edition-isbn9780805856040

Date accessed: 18 July 2008

For variety a website that reviews a book on motivation and organizational behavior is

selected. The book title is ‘Work Motivation in Organizational Behavior’ and the name of the

author is Craig C Pinder. The book is in its second edition and is published by the Psychology

Press and is considered to be a bestseller in its class. The book provides a critical analysis of all

relevant scientific theories and also integrates the leading theories, their roots and development

over the years. The author has also given his views on motivation by saying that additional

factors usually not found in theories are also responsible for organizational behavior. The site

gives some examples like violence, power, love, and sex, etc. The site has also some reviews

about the book by eminent academicians. The first is by Lyman Porter of the University of

California. The reviewer says that this book is good enough for the University library. The

book is well organized and gives a comprehensive coverage on the subject. The second review

is by Timothy Judge of the University of Florida. He too gives a favorable review of the book

and states that a book combining motivation and organizational behavior is rare. So this book is

valuable for anyone interested in studying the relationship between organizational behavior and

motivation. A table of contents is also provided. The site also gives a very brief write-up about

the author also. The author is a professor of Organizational Behavior as is a faculty at the

University of Victoria in British Columbia. The site also lists other books related to OB and

leadership, this shows that the subject is being taken very seriously across the academic and

business worlds.

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Organizational behavior and motivation: Psychological and sociological insights:

Website address: http://www.helium.com/items/82955-organizational-behavior-and-

motivation-psychological-and-sociological-insights?page=2

Date accessed: 18 July 2008

This is in fact an article on the topic by William Quisenbury. The article starts off by explaining

and defining the aspects of motivation. The next section deals with different theories of

motivation. They include Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory, Vroom’s Equity Theory and the

Expectancy theory. The author explains the theories in some detail in the later sections. He also

adds that the Equity Theory and the Expectancy theory and minor theories and hence labeled as

process theories. The Equity Theory is very popular in American organizations according to the

author. He adds that many organizations have successfully implemented many of these theories

and have been able to motivate employees for better productivity. Nearing the end he cautions

that each situation will be different and the employees will have to be evaluated carefully

before implementing OB policies. He ends by saying that it is very important to see that

employees are properly rewarded, their participation be encouraged and feedback be offered so

that they will feel a sense of being valued by the company. This will also help to motivate them

even more.

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Conclusion

The manager in the DHL division would do well to be aware of these theories and put them

into practice. What he should do is to take the relevant ideas from each theory and formulate

practices of his own. People are also motivated by other factors which should also be

incorporated.

They include motivational quotes and stories, ice-breaking games, appreciation, empathy,

workshops, physical activity (in an office environment) etc.

The manager in the DHL Global Forwarding Division can also benefit from what is given

about the three topics on organizational behavior. He should incorporate them and develop a

style of his own that is best suited for the current environment that he is faced with.

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Bibliography

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Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions. [online]. Clearly Cultural – Making Sense of Cross Cultural Communication. http://www.clearlycultural.com/geert-hofstede-cultural-dimensions/18 July 2008

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