75. What kinds of authority relationships exist in organizations?

􀁺 Line authority - in which individuals in management positions have the formal power to direct and control immediate subordinates.

􀁺 Staff (Functional) authority - granted to staff specialists in their areas of expertise. Narrrower than line authority and includes the right to advise, recommend, and counsel in the staff specialists' area of expertise. It is a communication relationship with management.

76. How authority is dispersed throughout the organization structure, and what determines the extent of this dispersion?

􀁺 Delegation is the process managers use to transfer authority and responsibility to positions below them in the hierarchy

􀁺 Organisations today tend to encourage delegation from highest to lowest possible levels

􀁺 Delegation can improve flexibility to meet customers needs and adaptation to competitive environments

􀁺 Managers often find delegation difficult

77. What explains the differences in organizing practices between countries? How these differences might be managed?

􀁺 Cultural differences (eg. power distance,

power symbols, informal relations, family role)

􀁺 Local tradition

􀁺 Market turbulence

Fundamentals of international hr management. Leadership and motivation in international context.

78. What are the different approaches to international staffing? Outline their main characteristics.

Ethnocentric Approach. Strategic decisions are made at headquarters, and foreign subsidiaries have little autonomy. Key jobs at both domestic and foreign operations are held by headquarters management personnel and subsidiaries are managed by expatriates from the home country. Head office managers see expatriation as a way to accelerate the progression of their career, since the competence development of expatriates is preferred to that of local managers.

Polycentric Approach. In this case, expatriation is no longer at the center of the international development strategy. The MNC treats each subsidiary as a distinct national entity and empowers it with some decision-making autonomy. Subsidiaries are usually managed by local nationals (HCNs), who are seldom promoted to positions at headquarters. With this approach, the MNC avoids the difficulties associated with expatriation and cross-cultural adjustment. The control exercised by the head office is weak, and the diversity of the situations in which the subsidiaries find themselves complicates the process of integrating the organization’s international activities.

Geocentric Approach. With this approach, the MNC designs its strategy from an international standpoint right from the beginning. The organization favors ability and experience over nationality. Parent country nationals (PCNs), third country nationals (TCNs), and host country nationals (HCNs) are thus equally mobile internationally. In order to be successful, this approach to staffing without regard to nationality must be accompanied by a worldwide, integrated business strategy.

Regiocentric Approach. The MNC that favors a regiocentric approach adopts uniform practices for all managers within the same geographical zone. Like the MNC that functions with a geocentric approach, it utilizes a wider pool of managers but in a limited, regional way. Personnel may move outside of their countries, but only within their particular geographic region. For instance, European managers are mobile solely within Europe. Regional managers may not be promoted to headquarters positions but they enjoy considerable regional autonomy in decision-making