Five areas of reflection:
Ethical Issues in My Profession:
Since more United States industries are becoming larger global players, companies need to be wary of the cultural, religious and ethical standards of the country in which they will be located. Some of these standards include housing for employees, which in American seems like an added bonus for the worker considering it is rare to come by. For example, II-VI provides housing right down the road from the factory and a chartered bus for transportation to and from work. However, the conditions of the housing in actuality are not the greatest. They are tiny deplorable single rooms that are smaller than our dorms for an upwards of 6 to 10 people. Even though the rooms are sub par it is still an incentive for the workers to work there because they would have a roof over their heads. It is also beneficial for II-VI because they have staff close by at all times and can call on them if needed. In relation to culture and traditions, many companies plan their manufacturing around holidays such as Tet. Employees are given off work for an entire week. At II-VI, the attrition rate after the holiday is on the high side. Many employees work for a few months up until Tet, save all of the money that they made and then live off of those saved earnings as long as they can. Once they run out of money they look for a new job. Therefore, companies need to make a more attractive business and strategy to keep the skilled workers that they have. The safety concerns are also different in Vietnam. In America, it seems like you have to sign a wavier for any activity that you do that could be dangerous and a liability. In Vietnam we did not experience this. For example, Cu Chi is a complex system of tunnels underground that tourists can travel through in the middle of the jungle. We did not sign any papers saying that Cu Chi would not be responsible for injuries or anything of that nature. This was surprising to me because there is always fine print in America. As far as diversity issues, in my two week stay I did not see any racial or religious discrimination. At Glass Egg Digital Media, the 3 executives were French, Vietnamese and American. Women however, are not really seen as leaders or managers and are inferior to men. But we have been told by UEF students that this view is quickly changing. We did encounter women mangers at VSIP and Navibank which was really nice to see. I think that somethings would have to be changed to the Vietnamese business plan in order to be successful in America. For one thing, the benefits are a lot better, in my opinion, in Vietnam. For example, maternity leave in the U.S. is 6 weeks for the mother and in Vietnam it is 6 MONTHS, paid at that! Also, employees can take off 5 days a month without telling their boss prior to. (Both of these benefits are from II-VI, I do not know if this is the case for other companies). (This would never work in America. You have to fight with companies to pay you while you're on jury duty let alone 6 months of maternity leave!) I think that many American managers would be annoyed by this; thus causing problems in the company. But I do think that the organizational culture of the companies could work in America. Glass Egg was actually very similar to how Google manages their employees with more of a relaxed, fun, open atmosphere.
Educational Breadth as Professional Development
The ability to take textbook knowledge and apply it to the real world is key in order to understand the material and be successful. Since America is expanding companies rapidly and outsourcing is a popular business tactic, it is essential to learn at least the basics of the world commerce and global interactions. It is very important to research and understand the country that you are dealing with prior to negotiations and creation of the business plan in that country. There is not a set heuristic that can solve every problem in one country and then be applied to another in the hopes that it will work in the same exact way. There are a plethora of differences between Vietnam and the United States that I would encourage any student to learn. Vietnam is becoming one of the best places for Americans to do business due to its low labor costs and availability of land and workers. Therefore, I think that we will be hearing a lot more about America conducting business in Vietnam. Some courses of action would be to take a few economic courses both on a local and global scale. Also, traveling to that country will provide you with an immense amount of information that you would not be able to learn from a text book or lecturer.
Lifelong Learning, Continuing Education as Professional Development
As we toured the various companies it seemed like some companies relied more heavily on things previously learned in school and other companies learned information on the job. For example the executives at Glass Egg Digital Media and II-VI did not know one bit of Vietnamese prior to working at the company. Though they are not fluent in the language, they were able to pick it up through daily interactions and now have a basic understanding of the language that enables them to communicate more effectively. However the actual graphic designers, artists and coders are applying what they learned in school and training to creating video games for Glass Egg. At II-VI and Phu My Hung, both presenters mentioned how the advancement of technology has helped them grow. If II-VI did not have the machinery in their warehouse to engineer materials and optoelectronic components, they would not be in business. The increase in technology allows II-VI to be more efficient and productive. Everything you learn in class cannot be directly applied to real life scenarios and need to be altered in order to be successful. Therefore, students must obtain experience in their desired field so when it comes time to apply previous learning, they can have an easier time modifying it to fit the specific situation.
The Social Environment of Professional Life
It seems to me that there is a strong connection between social life and professional life. Most of the shops on the streets seemed to be family owned. You would always see little kids sweeping up the store or rearranging the merchandise. This family atmosphere is also a way to sucker in foreigners to purchase something. For example, while I was at the market, I had numerous children on the street come up to me trying to sell their fans. A few of them almost had me buying things I didn't even want because they flashed their sad puppy dog eyes and pout. It is also free labor to the parents if they use their children which can be beneficial to the vendor. Many workers would also sit outside the shop on their motorbikes talking to the workers at the next shop over and play games. There was also a link between professional life and religion. Almost all of the companies we visited and a majority of the small shops had some sort of Buddhist shine by the front door. I was told that this is very important in Vietnam and it wishes for prosperity. When discussing current events with the UEF students I was very surprised about the amount in which they knew about the United States. They knew everything from President Obama, to professional athletes to music and movies. One of my friends even knew about Obamacare, which I don't even know much about. They could even tell me about the presidents on our currency. I felt so ignorant in their country because I knew absolutely nothing about their current economic condition or pop culture. I felt rude because they know so much about my land and the only thing I can tell them is what their flag looks like. As a marketing major you need to be knowledgeable of other countries' socioeconomic factors in order to market a product on a global scale. What may be an acceptable campaign in one country may be offensive in another. There are so many things that you must consider such as the size of the image, the colors used, the wording etc. Even colors mean different things in different countries. Therefore, marketing executives need to be wary of all of these factors so the product can thrive around the globe instead of being criticized internationally.
Functioning on Multi-Disciplinary Teams
I believe that having a diversified group of individuals that can highlight each other's strengths is key to a successful team. Typically when I am on a team of people with different interests I take on the leadership role and try to direct all of our interests and skill sets into a common goal. Being surrounded by a group that has a plethora of knowledge much different from yours (i.e. business and engineering students together) provides a great discussion and allows you to hear ideas that you wouldn't necessarily think of on your own. I really enjoyed hearing the questions asked at the company visits from the engineering students as well as my fellow business students studying different disciplines. However, both the business and engineering worlds have their own lingo that can be troublesome to understand. For example, when we toured companies that were geared more towards engineering (such as II-VI) I saw the Swanson School students light up light Christmas trees and ask all of these in depth questions about the construction of the materials and machinery used. However when they asked these questions, they used (what it seemed like to me) these complex scientific terms that I was unfamiliar with but was able to catch on to a little while later. Therefore, groups need to be patient and understand that there is a 'language barrier' between the two groups. Instead of competing to be the smartest or best one in the group, members need to put their big vocabularies aside and help others gain a basic understanding through general terms. Once this ground work is laid out, then you can go more in depth and build on this basic understanding if need be.
