Globalinx Spring 2012 Newsletter

GLOBALINX CORP.International Training Consultants Newsletter - Spring2012

1

◆Corporate Culture and Criminal Liability - Curtis Herron -The globalization of a company's operations and human resources requires the examination of several issues. One such issue is whether the company's values and culture are consistent with the standards of global corporate conduct. In this regard, I sometimes encounter the following issue in my work.Can a company's corporate culture result in corporate criminal liability?The answer is "yes, and increasingly so". Many countries have strengthened their criminal laws to expand the scope of corporate criminal liability. Australia and Spain are two examples. Academics are debating whether corporate conduct should be subject to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. In a related manner, the United Nations Human Rights Council argues that business enterprises have a responsibility to respect human rights. These developments should not be examined as separate and distinct incidents. Rather, they reflect a set of standards against which company conduct is judged. Corporate culture is increasingly becoming a factor in making that judgment and in determining corporate liability.

Traditionally, it has been difficult to hold corporations criminally liable for their conduct. Criminal liability typically requires both a criminal act and criminal intent. Individuals can act with criminal intent. However, can a company -- an organization of thousands of dispersed individuals -- act with criminal intent? In the past, companies argued that the criminal act of an employee reflected that individual's criminal intent, not the company's. As a result, the employee went to jail, the company did not. Now, the counter-argument is that corporate culture encouraged and tolerated the criminal acts of the employee. The employee may still go to jail, but the company will also be punished. This trend toward corporate criminal liability, however, is not merely the result of a new legal argument. Rather,

it reflects the changing nature of the company-society relationship. As companies globalize, they expand in scope, consume more resources, and have a greater impact on society. Governments, the traditional representatives of society, have difficulty responding, especially with respect to company operations beyond their own borders. In the meantime, society continues to suffer from several problems, many worsened by population growth, migration, resource depletion, environmental degradation, etc. The result is an imbalance in the company-society relationship as well as a perception that globalization has unfairly benefited companies to the detriment of society. This imbalance and perception lead society to scrutinize company operations and seek ways to expand the scope of company liability. Increasingly, corporate culture is part of that scrutiny and liability.Obviously, companies should understand and respond to this trend. A company should define its values and culture so that others do not misunderstand and maliciously interpret these values and culture. A company should consistently implement its values and culture through various corporate systems. A company should provide employees at each level of the organization with the competencies needed to conform to these values and culture.Executives should be aware of the standards of global corporate conduct. They should understand the role of company values and culture in satisfying those standards. Executives should possess the skills needed to communicate these values and culture with accuracy and credibility. Ideally, that communication will inspire others and generate goodwill. Furthermore, executives should ensure that corporate systems are aligned to reinforce company values and culture.Managers should possess the skills and confidence needed to apply these values under company systems

and through daily communication. Managers should be aware of the difficulties in applying values and aware of the strategies used to overcome these difficulties.Employees should understand how these values and culture are tied to the future and success of the company. They should believe that management is committed to pursuing these values. Employees should be able to distinguish practices consistent with and inconsistent with these values. Employees should be provided with the tools to manage their conduct accordingly as well as address practices inconsistent with these values.Sadly, the response of many companies is inadequate and counter-productive. Although companies commonly define and publish their values, these values are often merely defined by one department and ignored by others. Corporate culture is often not driven by management, but is the culmination of workplace conduct tolerated by management. Companies still rely excessively on cross-culture training to prepare management for managing a diverse workforce. This training often leads to an "us vs. them" mindset which undermines the dissemination and sharing of values. This mindset also leads to the stereotyping of others based on their culture (i.e. race and nationality). In many cases, that stereotyping constitutes illegal discrimination and a violation of human rights. An outsider may argue that such stereotyping as well as the resulting discrimination and human rights violations were encouraged and tolerated by the company's corporate culture.Managing corporate culture in a global and diverse company is a daunting task. Nevertheless, it is an essential component of globalizing company operations. And, it will be subject to greater scrutiny in the years to come.Curtis Herron is a licensed California Attorney providing training and consulting services to global organizations.

2

International Training Consultants

GLOBALINX CORP.Newsletter - Spring2012

Many businesses consider social networking tools frivolous and have banned their use in the workplace or have not supported them by limiting access. Many companies still frown on the idea of employees spending any part of the workday on Facebook, YouTube, or Tweeting. However, social networks offer significant benefits to corporations if used properly. They can enrich and enhance business processes, and significantly increase employee productivity. By embracing social networking tools and creating standards, policies, procedures, and security measures, corporations can ensure that these tools are used in a manner consistent with the corporation’s strategy and leveraged as business support and learning tools.

■Personal and Business use has benefitsHuman beings are social animals; we build communities through family, school, organizations, work, and personal interests. We create networks of people with whom we have personal contact, and we frequently turn to these contacts when we need advice or information. It’s no different in the work environment; when we make personal contact with someone, that association makes it much

easier to accomplish a business outcome. It makes sense for businesses to encourage employees to get to know one another, even though they might not encounter these individuals during the course of the typical workday. Providing a forum for employees such as a company-only Facebook page or Twitter page will encourage employees to reach out to one other. They might be networking about work-related interests, or about golf or scheduling a drinking party. Such activity, whether work-related or not, builds relationships and it is our relationships that enable us to find appropriate people and work with them more effectively than if we did not know them at all. Somewhere within that random series of connections lies genuine value to the business, as employees exchange information and make contacts outside their “normal” sphere of work acquaintances.

■Business SupportSelecting the appropriate social media tool depends on many factors, including corporate culture, business needs, etc. However, there are a few basic functions that organizations need to leverage when using social media.Collaboration: Tools that allow people to meet and share documents, and give presentations, etc. This can include text, video, audio, and other combinations of functions. This can be accomplished through file sharing sites and communication tools, such as Skype, WebEx, or GoToMeeting, etc.

Information: Wikis and other types of interactive document storage facilities such as Google Docs and various other file sharing services provide workgroups with secure access to project information and documents. The information is updated by the group’s members making the information fresh and relevant. Communication: Blogging and Tweeting has become a favored way for many people to communicate with friends and colleagues and for executives to communicate with employees. YouTube-style videos and Webinars can be used to share information and train dispersed teams and workforces.Access to expertise: Linkedin and Facebook-style platforms allow (and encourage) employees to post information about themselves, their experience, and their skills. Because these are highly interactive, content can be pushed to people who have indicated specific interests.Access to expertise: Linkedin and Facebook-style platforms allow (and encourage) employees to post information about themselves, their experience, and their skills. Because these are highly interactive, content can be pushed to people who have indicated specific interests or needs.

☆Proposals from the consultants☆①Leveraging social media for business development and learning　- Philip Deane

3



■Client OverviewThis client is one of the largest de-sign and construction companies in Japan, with ongoing projects in many regions around the world.

■Project OverviewThis client recruited a group of young, foreign construction engineers and project manag-ers as part of their strategic plan to strengthen their position in foreign markets, and manage overseas projects more effectively. They recognized that the project management methods used in the local market and overseas had significant differences: these new recruits were to become a kind of bridge between the two sides.It was decided to have the senior local staff train the new recruits in the ways of working employed at the head office so that when this group was mobilized overseas they could more easily interface with head office and eliminate confusion, mistakes and expensive rework.

■Globalinx' RoleGlobalinx provided a team of train-ing consultants who worked both on site and virtually on this one-year project. The project included the following work:Needs Analysis: This included the following areas:

•Training objectives and experience•Culture and communication styles•Mentor selection and assess-ment•Mentee readiness assessment and preparation

Train the participants: Globalinx designed pre-mentoring workshops to train both mentors and mentees and thereby prepare them for entering into a produc-tive mentoring relationship.

Tracking tools: Globalinx supplied templates, worksheets, checklists, and guide-lines to make progress easy to track and evaluate.

Monitor and control: Globalinx provided ongoing moni-toring and support of the mentor-ing program by supplying a Men-tor Program Manager (MPM).Lessons learned: The program was evaluated against the original objectives and the lessons learned were docu-mented for future projects.

■ResultsThe participants reported high levels of satisfaction with the program and the new recruits are now performing well in their new roles.A main reason for the success of the project was the inclusion of the consultants from the begin-ning. This level of involvement allowed the consultants to set up the program based on best practices and to establish clear standards of performance both for the mentors and the mentees. As a result, the mentees were able to understand their learning objec-tives and make rapid progress.

②Case Study: Mentoring Program - Mark Beresford

☆Proposals from the consultants☆

4



◆Open Seminar Report ◆ Global Training and Human Resource DevelopmentMonitoring and reacting to business and learning trends is an important part of developing effective training and human resource development program. On 15th February, Globalinx sponsored an open seminar free to all HR professionals and traning specialists actively involved in all aspects of global training, education, development, learning, and performance improvement. The open seminar was a great success attracting over 25 participants representing various industries from telecommunications, electronics, automobile, machinery, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals. There were 4 guest speakers presenting for the session, the

agenda was as follows:

1) Prospecting for project management trends

2) Investing in global talent

3) Global business sense

4) Global communication skills

Mr. Sakata from the PMIJ gave the opening speech and talked about the recent global project

management trends. He offered advice for managing these trends in various working environments. Fumitaka Komatsu then presented his program for assessing and developing global talent. He has kindly summarized the key points of his program in the article on the next page.Sohei Mori then presented a nice concise summary of the fundamental knowlege and sense required for global business.Phil Deane rounded off the afternoon by presenting the key competences that must be developed for a successful overseas assignment.Overall a very successful and enlightening event.

Technology is changing, the workplace is changing, com-petition is changing, customer demand is changing, products and services are changing, inter-national relations are changing, and government regulations are changing. Are you changing? Is your workforce changing? How can you cope with the enormous amount of change taking place in your world and still do your work?

The answer is good time management. Time management is a skill that you can develop to help you maxi-mize your efficiency, allowing you to complete all the needed tasks to be finished within the day and still having some spare time to relax and unwind with your family or friends.Here are a couple of time manage-

ment tips from our seminar that will help you maximize your hours of work in the office.Have a To-Do List:Instead of merely just starting with the load of paperwork that is waiting for you on your desk, take a moment to create a to-do list, which includes all the tasks that you need to finish for today. When making your to-do list, make it a point to prioritize those tasks that would require the most amount of concentration, focus and resources to be accomplished. The least priority should be given to tasks that you consider to be routine and non-challenging.Know Your Highs and Lows:When is your energy level at its highest and lowest? As a rule of thumb, work on complex tasks during those periods when your energy levels are high since this

would allow you to focus and concentrate on these tasks. Set the routine and non-challenging tasks during the times of the day that you feel your energy levels are low.If you want to be more productive and get more done in less time, then become more conscious of your time management skills and learn how to make better use of your time.

Please contact us if you or your employees need help managing time or stress.

③Searching for Balance in a Fast-Paced Changing World -Joseph Hull

☆Proposals from the consultants☆

5



■Series "Think about global talent"

The word -'globalization or global talent', is still widely used in busi-ness everyday. One of the biggest challenges facing companies all over the world is building and sustaining a strong talent pipeline. Not only do businesses need to adjust to shifting demographics and work force preferences, but they must also build new capa-bilities and revitalize their orga-nizations whilst investing in new technologies, globalizing their operations and contending with new competitors. Fumitaka Komatsu shares his insights and describes his experi-ence working overseas. ------------------------------------Let’s first think for a moment about the definition of ‘global talent’. At present most compa-nies reserve the word ‘global’ for region and the range of work. ‘Talent’, we argue, is all around us waiting to be unleashed and should not be seen as a rare qual-ity, but a diverse, multifaceted one that exists in everyone; it is abun-dant. Talent should be seen as all of the individual and collective capaci-ties to generate sustainable value that exists in the workforce. In this sense, talent is not a singular quality existing in an individual at a single time, nor is it the indi-vidual skill required to do a par-ticular task. It is what everyone has contributed towards meeting the company’s goals. The company’s definition of talent will depend on the changing opportunities and challenges it faces. So talent is not an absolute quality. It depends what it’s needed for. We see talent as abundant, not scarce. ‘Global talent ’ is not only

about managing and developing a small leadership group, it’s also about developing the talent that lies in everyone in the company and in its relationships with sup-pliers, customers and others who support the company. If compa-nies agree that talent is abundant, then their major task is to discover it and develop it, internally or externally. An example of this happened in the days following the Great East Japan Earthquake an anonymous former member of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) began making plans to personally express his gratitude to the United States personnel involved in Operation Tomodachi. He named his plan ‘Operation Arigatou.’ The former JGSDF mem-ber created a group on a Japanese social networking site to share the details of his plans and enlist the help of other users in translating a thank you letter into English. He planned to personally thank, and deliver a copy of the letter to, everyone involved in Operation Tomodachi. Before returning home he made his way to a nearby beach and used driftwood to write out the message ‘ARIGATO’ (Thank you) as a final message of thanks. After-wards he wrote on his blog that he wasn’t expecting the message to be noticed: However, some days later he was informed of a letter written by the commanding officer of Operation Tomodachi. It read, “As we flew over the beach I looked down and noticed the Japanese word 'Arigato' spelled out using 20 to 30 foot pine trees that were knocked down by the tsunami. I was deeply moved and can speak for all U.S. forces when

I say it was our honor to help the people of Japan: our hosts, friends and neighbors. “It is very important to remember that everyone can contribute – which makes diversity all the more important. Everybody is talented.

◆Profile of Fumitaka Komatsu◆After graduating from Waseda University Department of Science and Engineering, Mr. Komatsu joined Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. as a sales representative. After studying at International University of Japan in the internal studying abroad program, his position with the company changed to program manager in the joint product development division with Xerox US. He enrolled in finance and corporate strategy courses at UC Berkeley School and Tokyo Metro-politan University. He developed his original training program and established KFS Consulting in 2000.

What is global talent ? - Fumitaka Komatsu

Established in 1968, GLOBALINX now provides consulting, training, coaching and online learning services to a wide range of multinational corporation and government agencies.

Our services are designed to improve and develop communication skills, workplace management, and leadership capabilities of employees working in global business environments.

We develop the true potential of individuals, enhancing their ability to work in multicultural teams, manage global projects, and successfully communicate and implement global business strategies.

GLOBALINX CORP. TEL: 81-3-5297-8243

E-mail: [email protected]: www.globalinx.co.jp

GLOBALINX CORP.International Training Consultants

Consultative Training Approach