Proprietary Standards and Technologies

Many great technologies have failed simply because they were proprietary in nature. This is particularly noticeable when a proprietary technology faces competition from a whole bunch of interrelated technologies; from multiple manufacturers/vendors, that are based around an open standard.

Part of the reason is due to the very competitive nature of economies founded upon open market products and services and part is due to the restrictive nature of monopolistic proprietary technologies.

Compatibility and Interoperability

It is the area of commonality between various technologies that standards provide which ensures that the products and services from one manufacturer/vendor are compatible and interoperable with those of other manufacturers/vendors.

To illustrate the importance of the role provided by standards consider for a moment that you wish to manufacture a network interface card (NIC). Let us assume that you have the option of selecting from only two different specifications for your NIC. One of which is a proprietary and the other is an open standard.

Proprietary Standard - If you wish to rely upon a set of proprietary technologies you will need to enter into negotiations with the owner of that proprietary technology before you can use it or even begin to develop something similar yourself. The owner of the proprietary standard also has the prerogative to deny you out of hand any access to or use of their standard.

Open Standard - On the other hand; if you were to base your product around an open standard, then all you need do is approach the relevant standards authority for that technology and obtain the appropriate documentation regarding the specifications that your product must comply with. While this can sometimes be a little Draconian more often than not it is a boon.

One element of considerable weight here is that if your product is fully compliant with the prescribed standard; you can with considerable confidence, state that it will work (interoperate) with other products or services that are also based upon the same open standard specifications. All you need do is a little testing to verify the fact. This is something that proprietary technologies cannot deliver with any degree of certainty.

Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) Reference Model

A classic example of an interoperable open standard is the OSI Reference Model. Here we have a seven layered network protocol processing stack. All of the functions and requirements for each layer of the protocol processing stack are clearly stated and precisely defined.

As a manufacturer/developer all you need do is to ensure that the implementation you produce complies (abides) with the guidelines and specifications as stated in the OSI Reference model. If so; you will be able to rest assured that your processing stack implementation will be compatible with and interoperable with those produced by other; potentially unknown to you, manufacturers/developers.

The beauty here is that you do not need to know the nitty-gritty of the other manufacturer's processing stacks for both systems (yours and theirs) to reliably function interactively. In the case of the OSI Reference model this would mean that a successful conversation can be conducted between geographically separated end-systems. If this sounds familiar; it should, because this is indeed the way in which the Internet works.

Standards Definition, Documentation and Evangelism

Using the Internet as an example again we note that it (the Internet) is in fact a bunch of open standards-based technologies that the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) among others define and thoroughly document; each in their own areas of specialization.

In addition to the definition of the various standards and the production of the relevant accompanying documentation these organizations also actively pursue an evangelistic policy of ensuring that said documentation is widely known of and readily available and accessible to one and all.

The goal here is to ensure that all past, present, future and would-be hardware and software developers have a pertinent set of basic reference specifications to act as the core foundation upon which to build their products, applications and services.

Standards and Rapid Application Development (RAD)

Developing products compliant with the prevailing established prescribed standards means that new products can be brought to market considerably quicker than would otherwise be the case. Much of the development of today's information technology evolution and initiatives are squarely aligned with a Rapid Application Development (RAD) ethos.

Underpinning the RAD ethos are the principles of modularity, compartmentalization and reusability. The later point of reusability is of particular importance in software engineering as it facilitates a much faster delivery to market of new/improved technologies, products and services.

Metaphorically speaking the RAD ethos can be summed up as follows: if there is no truly good reason to reinvent the wheel; why bother?

IEEE 1394 (FireWire) v Universal Serial Bus (USB)

Let us have a quick look at an open standard and a proprietary standard to see what effects their open or closed inclinations have culminated in to date. The two I have elected to use to demonstrate this are the IEEE 1394 (FireWire) standard and the USB (Universal Serial Bus) standard. Both are directed toward providing a one interface does all for peripheral device connectivity and I/O operations.

With both technologies targeting the same market (peripheral device connectivity and I/O) they were fated to be in direct head-to-head competition with each other.

FireWire - In marked contrast to the open USB standard, the superior performing (in comparison to USB) IEEE 1394 (FireWire) started its life as a proprietary protocol. This meant that royalties had to be paid or some form of cooperation/peering needed to be negotiated in order for a manufacturer could use the technology.

Because FireWire is a bus this fact impacted motherboard and I/O adapter card manufacturers directly. The end result manifested as fewer numbers of more expensive devices being manufactured.

USB - To compound this even further; once the open USB protocol and standards were released, uptake of IEEE 1394 enabled devices dropped dramatically as a diverse array of substantially cheaper USB counterparts began to appear on the market.

Global Considerations and Influences

As with all things involving massively large-scale factors on the global stage, standards can become very loose and modified to reflect local objectives (political and otherwise) by a multiplicity of organizations in numerous countries.

Hence, it becomes necessary to formally develop and implement formal control, development, ratification and wide-spread implementation processes for standards development, documentation and implementation applicable from both generic and singularly specific perspectives.

International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

It was for these reasons along with many others (too many for me to list here) that the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) was formed. Globally speaking ISO is the premier general purpose standards organization today.

Think of ISO as being standards architects. Their mission was; and still is, to define the framework upon which standards applicable to both current and future technologies, protocols, products and services will be built.

Other Standards Organizations

Besides ISO there are a considerable number of other standards bodies and/or organizations throughout the world. As with ISO, some of these organizations have considerable presence and influence on the global scale while others don't.

However; unlike ISO they tend to be more specific, focusing their attentions and coverage to a numerically smaller more specialized range of interrelated (family) technologies. Some of the alternative Information Technology (IT) standards organizations with a global presence include:

• The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• The International Standards Organization (ISO)
• The Internet Society (ISOC)
• The Internet Architecture Board (IAB)
• The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
• The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
• The Electronic Industries Association (EIA)
• The International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
• The Motion Pictures Experts Group (MPEG)
• The Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG)
• The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST)
• The American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
• The Telecommunications Association (TIA)
• Request For Comment - rfc-editor.org.
• The Project Management Institute (PMI)
• Payment Card Industry (PCI)

The Need for Collaboration and Partnerships

Note that many of the above organizations cover a considerable range and diversity of topics and technologies and that there can be a considerable degree of overlap of interest and authority between these organizations in a number of areas. The reasons for this state of affairs are historical, geographical, demographical, technological, fiscal and as a regulatory consequence or convenience.

Importantly; the majority of the larger authoritative organizations were originally founded some time ago in different geographical regions. Originally; each organization bore greater responsibility for its individual primary sphere of influence.

However; over time and with the advent of and continued exponential expansion of publically accessible mass air transport the world became a smaller place. These factors when combined with the arrival of a host of new technologies in the information revolution resulted not only in the formation of new authoritative bodies but existing ones expanded their influence into other areas both within and beyond their original sphere of local influence.

We have since experienced considerable clouding of technological realms to the extent that many of the original standards organizations saw fit to work on various technological standards collaboratively. For example; a transoceanic submarine communications cable required that both ends adopt and implement compatible technologies as well as entering into a mutually agreeable infrastructure costs sharing arrangement.

The settling upon this cooperative collaborative approach was also heavily influenced by the limited jurisdiction and regulatory enforceable control that each partner held or could exert in the others domicile country, state or city.

Goals, Objectives and Ideals

Most of the organizations listed above have as their driving goal the ideals of assisting engineers, manufacturers and business in solving basic production and distribution issues through the development of appropriate technical standards and specifications. Here are a few of the benefits that regulated standards and standardization deliver:

• Development of safer, cleaner, more efficient manufacturing, distribution, and supply of products and services thereby promoting easier and fairer trade practices beneficial to one and all
• To assist governments with a technical basis for health, safety and environmental legislation
• The dissemination and interchange of technology
• Safeguarding the rights and expectations of consumers and end users of existing and emerging technologies, products and services including the delivery of said technologies, products and services with a specific set minimal baseline Quality of Service and Expectancy

Payment Cards Industry (PCI)

In the case of the Payment Cards Industry (PCI), failure to comply with these standards generally results in the merchant/business having their trading rights revoked. This is a serious matter and as a result, merchant/business compliance is in excess of 99%.

The adoption on a global scale of the PCI standards is so universally high primarily because compliance is mandatory and the penalty for non-compliance is so high (removal of merchant privileges). We have also seen a wide adoption of the ISO 9000:2000 family of standards in the areas of quality control, quality management and quality assurance.

International Standards

Here are the highlights delivered through adoption of international standards:

Business Benefits - Local and international trade and business benefit from the "level playing field" that International Standards deliver to all competitors at both the regional and global market levels.

Consumer Benefits - Consumers in general benefit greatly from the adoption of international standards delivered by worldwide technology compliance and/or compatibility. This translates into ensuring the delivery of a greater all-round variety and diversity of products and services. These benefits to the consumer are further compounded by way of greater manufacturer/vendor competition delivering a superior competitive pricing of the products and/or services which they the consumer consumes.

Government Benefits - Governments implementing a consumption-based taxation structure (GST, VAT etc) reap great fiscal benefits as consumers and end-users consumer or use more products and services and business profits increase.

Government policy making is also more streamlined as standards based legislation can be enacted in whole, in part or with amendments by numerous countries. This also helps to create greater legislative uniformity on a global front with a commonality of illegality. What is illegal in one country is also illegal in most other countries. The same standards are being applied to the citizenry globally. This in turn promotes understanding and empathy which helps to increase tolerance and reduce conflict.

An example of consistency in cross-national boundaries legislation can be found in the European Union's privacy laws. It is important to understand that if any country external to the EU does not comply with the EU's requirements in this regard then great difficulty will be experienced by those attempting to conduct business with every EU member nation.

Introduction

In order to improve communication we need to identify information needs and explore the many formats and possibilities available to us in order to facilitate the best way to share information among geographically dispersed individuals. Some common elements to consider include:

Common Formats

Adopting a common data interchange format will contribute greatly to ensuring consistent accessibility and "on call" availability of information for one and all. Using a universally common format and processes also helps to ensure the greatest compatibility between systems.

Consistency

Formalize the communication tools and mechanisms to be used under various specific criteria and circumstances. It is important to ensure that this is done prior to any trigger events requiring specialty plans. When an emergency situation or any other extraordinary event occurs it is time to put a prepared, tested and refined plan immediately into action. This is most definitely not the time to be thinking of what to do next.

User Participation

Although it probably goes without saying that involving all concerned as early as possible in any communications initiatives will greatly assist in establishing communications channels and aide in overcoming problems and inconsistencies before the rapid exchange of information becomes mission critical.

Habit

Remember that we humans are creatures of habit and suspect communications methods must be removed before any team members become entrenched in undesirable and/or incompatible habits in this area.

Face-to-Face Communications

We humans are generally more comfortable with face-to-face communications and so it is that this format is usually the most productive. With this in mind when we are dealing in situations where individual members are geographically separated the possibilities and feasibility of live conferencing (video if possible) should be explored as they do offer some degree of the face-to-face communications processes that we humans feel best at ease with.

Responsibility

All involved should take on a larger share of responsibility for participating in the various communications forums, bulletin boards, online meeting places etc as well as for being heard and understood. No mumbling or speaking with something in your mouth. This is especially important when we are trying to communicate over a distance without the benefit of face-to-face interactivity.

Formal Agreements

It is essential that all future parties to the communications make some sort of formal commitment to how, when, and in what format any given set of communications will take place. Once again this takes on an even greater import when individual parties to the conversation are situated over geographically widely dispersed locations.

Time Zones

Time zones must be carefully considered as they will have no small impact on decisions concerning the scheduling and commitment to when communications are to take place. It is unfair for the same individuals to be getting up at 3:00 AM so that we can all have a 9:00 AM (our time) on-line video conference. We must all share the inconvenience when our colleagues and peers are separated by great distance.

Isolation

With geographically dispersed teams this becomes ever more important as the option to tell so-and-so when I get to the office on Monday just won't be possible because so-and-so may live in another country and you will therefore not be meeting with them in person. It is also important to ensure that nobody feels "left out of it".

Scheduling

Scheduling is always important but when remote end parties (members of a dispersed team) are involved it takes on even more importance. Scheduling must include a plan detailing the format and any other additional details of specific requirements; such as completion of a document or manual, critical to a forth-coming conference or meeting.
If participants to the scheduled conference or meeting need to be conversant with the contents of the documentation/manual prior to commencement of conference/meeting then the appropriate distribution mechanisms will need to be initiated to distribute the documentation to those involved in advance.

Coordination

Coordinated scheduling of meetings and other communications channels and systems becomes even more important when geographically separated teams are concerned. The need to avoid appointment clashes is definitely a priority to implement in order to attain maximum efficiency and effectiveness of scheduled events.

Flexibility

When designing, planning and implementing communications plans the capacity to allow for unforeseen events such as a cyclone preventing some team members from participating in a given scheduled meeting need careful consideration and contingency plans entailing rescheduling need to be prepared for a worst case scenario in order to be ready for deployment should the need arise.

Communications Contingency Plans

Worst case scenarios will require special plans should they eventuate and so the need for these contingency plans to be prepared during the analysis, planning and design phases of your communications contingency planning becomes a mandatory essential rather than an additional luxury. In this way; should a natural disaster or an act of God scenario eventuate, you will be well placed and prepared to deal with it spontaneously and appropriately.

Plasticity

Team members both individually and collectively along with the communications and contingency plans will need to be more adaptable when geographically dispersed entities are involved.

Distance Inhibits Communication

Research conducted by Allen in 1977 and cited by Ginger Levin showed that people sitting 40 meters apart had o¬nly a 5% probability of communicating at least o¬nce a week and that this percentage did not increase until the distance between the parties decreased to eight meters at which point team members were found to be more likely to communicate and collaborate.

With geographically separated teams this needs to be overcome and the best ways to do this are through planning, scheduling, mutual cooperation, video-conferencing if possible, contiguous communication processes. This later point is probably the one that is most effective as we humans tend to chose "the devil we know" rather than the unknown.

Nonverbal Communication

The impact of nonverbal communication clues is something else that needs to be addressed when virtual teams are in effect. Because of reduced personal access and our natural tendency to rely o¬n nonverbal communication clues, which are not readily available in the virtual environment, any communications inadequacies in the virtual team scenario are far more deleterious than one would otherwise expect (Guss, 1977).

Video Conferencing

Meharabian's 1968 study found that words o¬nly comprise 7% of the total impact of a message, while vocal tones represented 38% and facial expressions comprised a massive 55%. These findings clearly illustrate the need for video conferencing to be taken into consideration as a viable option for all communications planning and management.

Regional Idiosyncrasies

Differences in cultural and local language variations between virtual team members will need to be addressed. Here the adoption of a standard of practice would be of great assistance and benefit.

For instance we could all agree upon a primary format such as using the international English vocabulary dictionary; which contains approximately 4,000 words, as the authoritative arbitrator in areas of dispute.

Because a word or phrase might have a colloquial meaning in a given locale and yet another all together when taken in the context of a different local inference (colloquially) the need to eliminate the potential for unintended misunderstanding or misinterpretations becomes apparent.

To overcome this in as impartial manner as possible everyone agrees to use or refer to the same agreed version of the same agreed authoritative source. In this way the idiomatic idiosyncratic nature of localized language variation can be readily clarified and what's more this can be done at a distance.

Feedback

One of the most important facets of human communications is the reinforcing adaptive intuitiveness that the communicating party(s) gain via feedback, much of which under ‘normal` circumstances is nonverbal in nature. It is quite possible that some degree of formal regimentation may be beneficial. For example communications will need to be formally acknowledged in terms of being received.

Feedback can be formally requested using a predefined Reply By plan as this will place a time frame upon the communications to ensure that the flow of traffic is not entirely one way and permanently overdue (at least from some quarters).

Remote Communications Options

Some of the options available for remote communications over large distances include mobile phones, PDAs, text messages, SMS, email, IM, on-line chat, informal bulletin boards, discussion forums, blogs and other social media.

Magnolia groups; for example, work very well as a centralized point by which individuals can independently and/or collectively access and update from this shared on-line service. A point of warning though; if you do not want the rest of the world to be privy to this information then make sure that the group you create is private and not publically accessible (publically accessible is the default option).

VoIP is another cost effective solution worthy of serious consideration.

Make no mistake about it; a thorough understanding of the differences between policies and standards is oh so essential to competitive resiliency, business continuity and the development of applicable, relevant policies for you and your organization.

Standards

From a generic point-of-view, standards usually originate from without an organization.

In areas with no official standards or regulatory requirements organizations are free to choose whether or not to voluntarily adopt the various standards and/or proposed standards (this is known as opt-in). In these cases the degree of compliance can also vary considerably from one organization to the next.

Conversely external factors such as the need to comply with legislation or industry-wide recommendations may conspire to force an organization to adopt specific standards.

Whenever legislation and/or other regulations are applicable failure to comply with their provisions will ultimately result in the imposition of punitive penalties. Depending upon the breach incarceration may result.

Policies

On the other hand and in marked contrast to standards policies generally originate from within an organization. The primary objectives and basic functions distributed and/or detailed/proposed via the policy format are generally intended to deliver positive benefits whilst avoiding negative effects at least from the organization's perspective.

Think of a policy as being a statement of organizational intent with the goal of formulating a deliberate plan of action to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome(s). As such the term may apply to government, private sector organizations and groups, as wells as to individuals.

Policy-Based Decision Making

The term “policy” is also used to refer to the process of making important organizational, management, financial and administrative decisions. This includes the identification of different viable alternatives such as processes, programs, projects or spending priorities. These alternative options are considered to form a pool of possible solutions from which the final selection will come.

One area where adherence to policy has considerable impact is in the making of a selection from this pool of possible solutions particularly when many of the candidates in the range are more-or-less equal prospects. In these situations it is often the case that company policy will act as the “tie-breaker” by influencing or even dictating which option wins by clearly defining and delineating the criteria for selection in each instance.

So it is; that generically speaking, company policy aims to facilitate the rapid attainment of specifically defined explicit goals while preserving organization-wide consistency.

Policy Compliance

Compliance with corporate policy is generally not negotiable and the individual at fault will generally experience some form of penalty. The type of penalty will vary from one organization to the next. The ultimate penalty for non-compliance with organizational policies would be termination of employment.

Policy Goals, Objectives and Targets

The possibilities here are endless so to provide a “big picture” view of policies I will make special note of a couple below. Some of the reasons for developing a policy include:

Exploitation - Policies may created to improve an organization's capacity to exploit the positive benefits (from their perspective) of any given scenario or situation as identified by that organization

Mission Statement - Regardless of the type of policy being implemented a clearly defined policy mission (mission statement) is always instrumental in maximizing a policy's capacity to perform and attain its goals.

Privacy - Privacy policies such as corporate privacy policies are widely used today and will generally include information pertaining to their collection, storage, updating, notification, security and eventual secure disposal.

Distribution Policies - Distribution Policies regulating the distribution and sharing of resources within the organization are another common type of policy to be found around the globe in a multiplicity of guises.

Security - Never forget the many elements of security. Policies will need to be developed and implemented concerning personal well-being, intruders, hackers, accidents, down-time etc.

Monitoring - Monitoring and evaluating the current policy status in order to determine whether or not your policy initiatives have/are effective is critical to the success of your overall plan. You can also learn a lot about what to do and where change will have the most beneficial effects at the best dollar/benefit. Policy adherence issues must be dealt with in real-time as and where they arise.

Policy Management

Adopting a life-cycle approach to business policy management has the advantage of ensuring that all business policy can proactively adapt rapidly in concert with the prevailing yet ever changing business, political, social and regulatory climates now and well into the future. One example of a widely accepted business policy management life-cycle is the Bridgeman/Davis Policy Life Cycle depicted below.

Policy Documentation

One fundamental aspect of policy and policy development that may be overlooked is the task of adequately and appropriately documenting the policy. This is true whether it be an organization specific policy, an opt-in standards-based policy or a regulatory required standards-based policy. Elements that must be included with all documentary policy statements include:

Policy Purpose Statement - Why the policy is being implemented & what it is supposed to achieve

Policy Scope Statement - Who and what the policy affects as well as any express exclusions relating to specific individuals, organizations and/or actions

Policy Time Statement - When the policy takes effect, its intended period of tenure and when it is scheduled for updating and/or termination

Policy Responsibilities and Obligations Statement - identification of who is responsible for what along with clear and unambiguous identification of governance structures

Policy Effect Statements - The specific organizational standards, regulations, requirements, modifications and/or behaviors that the policy is intended to address or create

Policy Change and Change Management Statement - The formal declaration of accepted process and procedure for the instigation of change to or of policy

Policy Background Statement - The origins, reasoning, motivation, and historical perspective for creating the policy in the first place. Any underlying, extenuating or extrapolated process will be clearly identified and stated here.

Policy Milestone Statement - Clearly defined and listed stages at which the policy is deemed to have progressed throughout its life-cycle. Many milestones will therefore be used for the purpose of providing management with the metrics by which they can determine the progress of the development or current life-cycle status of the policy. Milestones will also feature prominently in policy sign-off statements and the policy sign-off pages or policy sign-off documentation (if separate to the remainder of policy documentation).

Policy Definitions and Terminology Statement - Clear and unambiguous definition and explanation of the terminology, concepts, methodologies and processes contained within the policy

Policy Life-Cycle Statement - Detailed presentation of the specific policy life-cycle model applicable to the policy. Clear and unambiguous statement of all terms conditions and processes applicable to the policy during each and every stage of its life-cycle and development.

Policy Sign-Off Statement - Provision for formal signature sign-off as the policy progresses through each of its life-cycle stages. Some of the milestone points where authoritative sign-off will be required will include initiation, identification, design, drafting, revision, re-evaluation, approvals, implementation, maintenance, continuing review redevelopment, redrafting and change implementation and eventual replacement and/or decommissioning.

Policy Milestone Sign-Off Page Statement - Provision of a formal sign-off page(s) intended for use as that section of the policy document where the required signatories must formally apply their signature to indicate currency and formal acceptance.

Contrary, to the common perception, the rules of law in the World Trade Organization ( WTO, Uruguay GATT, 1995), superseding the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT, 1947), are not in principle multilateral but bilateral. This is evident by the way the WTO negotiations are conducted. WTO negotiations can be thought of as an experiment in that WTO members had to conduct the negotiations through a set of controlled conditions explicitly define by the Final Act on the 28 free-trade agreements or FTAs (Uruguay, GATT, 1995). To ensure that the FTAs are meet, WTO is authorize to oversee trade practices and adjudicate trade disputes refereed to it by member states. Ideally, so long as the rules are strictly followed, free trade supervenes but that materializes only if WTO members agree on the procedure of enforcing them. Once agreement is reach as a “single undertaking” (majority of votes of members on all negotiations completed), will WTO members to fully abandon tariff, domestic support and subsidy in agriculture, and other trade-distorting practices.

New FTAs however include new but costly WTO provisions on standardization of customs procedures; sanitary and phytosanitary requirements; government procurement; trade and investment; and trade-related intellectual property rights, etc., (a big IF for developing countries to comply with in the shorter term). It is the expectation that a consensus on enforcing WTO rules would allow WTO members enjoy “equal trading rights” and “greater market access” worldwide and raise annual World GDP by US $ 2.8 trillion by 2015.

That however remains moot as the series of WTO negotiations foundered on reaching a consensus beginning from the “collapse” of the Uruguay Round (1986-1994), followed by the aborted rounds in Seattle USA (1999) and deadlock over farm subsidies in Cancun Mexico (2003), and two years later, the “impasse” of the Doha Round (2005). It seems that getting WTO members agree there should be free trade was a lot easy but agreeing on how the FTAs be enforced was Gordian knot. Suffice to say, what seems simple, credible, and enticing about free trade doest not mean everything is easy. As the cliché rightly puts it “ it is easier said than done.” The temporization of the Doha Round however provide WTO members time to put their talking points in order as they wish to put the Doha Round back on track

WTO-Members Trade Positions

Thus far, WTO members failed to reach a consensus in most of the 28 free-trade agreements and split them into two opposing quarters. Agreement in agriculture remain a disputed issue whereby developing countries were reluctant to the consistent cut in tariff schedule and insisted on special differential treatment and the “aid for trade” commitments by developed countries. Developed countries like the US and the European Union (EU) were reticent upon cuts in domestic support and subsidies in agriculture. Developed countries proposed for a deeper cuts in tariff on their industrial goods while developing countries were not supportive of the proposal as the heavy burden would be shouldered by them. In terms of trade in services, developed countries wanted for far-reaching market access without however equally offering the same access into their own domestic markets. In the area of emergency safeguard mechanism, developing countries favored for such safeguard mechanism against developed countries' imports believed could negatively affect biodiversity and human resources while developed countries questioned the need for such mechanism.

While developed countries insisted on the inclusion of trade facilitation specifically in the improvement of customs and releases of goods but developing countries opposed it as it only add major investments and infrastructures and hailed it as argument for financial assistance by developed countries. On the other, developed countries opposed the concessions on special differential treatment (SDT) and stressed that SDT should not apply equally to “developing countries” and argued that developing countries with higher level of economic development as in the case of China, should not be accorded with the same treatment. On trade and environment, developed countries insisted upon developing countries' commitment in the protection of the environment while developing countries argued on its costly implementation and hailed it as argument for financial assistance by developed countries.

On the Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), developing countries wanted to maintain their biological diversity and traditional knowledge and argued on patent application to include : (a) prior consent by the resource/knowledge owner owning country, (b) disclosure of biological resources and traditional knowledge used in invention, (c) provision for benefit-sharing patent. Albeit, in this area, WTO achieved a major breakthrough in reaching argument in the issue of patent protection and access to affordable medicines by developing countries.

In the case of anti-dumping measures, developing countries felt that the provision is invoked against their imports while developed countries pushed for more stricter criteria for applying anti-dumping measures. On dispute settlement procedure, developing countries insisted on the provision of SDT that allows them longer implementation of their commitments and compensation for legal costs if proven not in violation of the provision. On the other hand, developed countries specially EU wanted further clarification on the implementation of the provision with emphasis in increasing promptness of the process and greater transparency of the procedures.

Legal Confusion on WTO Obligations

The breakdown of the WTO negotiations stems in large part from the legal confusion of the trade obligations of member states that could had been misconstrued as multilateral in nature. There are three underlying features of WTO negotiations on the WTO multilateral trade rules that had been in fact negotiated bilaterally and not multilaterally.. Along this line, distinction between bilateral and multilateral obligations is absolutely necessary. In the first place, WTO rules are different from the Geneva International Treaty on Genocide, Human rights, and Environment whereby the breach of treaty essentially affects all members including non-members.

Breach of this treaty knows no border, hence, for a country to effectively protect its citizens is to cooperate with other countries. Respect for human rights, condemnation of genocide and protection of environment had to be “internationalized” because of the “values” they protect and their causal effects domestically and internationally had to be avoided. On the other hand, the effects breach of the WTO rules are “trade-related” that apply only to two or more states engaged in trade amongst themselves individually and does not necessarily have effects on all the other WTO members collectively. The legal consequences of such breach therefore are bilateral not multilateral.

Albeit, the rights and obligations arising from WTO treaty are aimed at ensuring market access for goods of one country into another, and in effect give similar access to all WTO members through “Most-Favored-Nation Clause (MFN) clause,” and consequently result to an increased economic interdependence such that the effects of breach can might as well spread to all other WTO members. But this is not the same as saying that the breach of WTO rules necessarily affect the rights of all other WTO members, the way for example human rights and certain environmental law does. Albeit trade is inherently international but that does not inherently negate the bilateral nature of trade obligations.

Second, trade is not sought for the achievement of some “ global common” concerns where its benefits equate equally to all individual member countries. Trade is not a matter of “value” but merely an “instrument” to increase welfare which depends exclusively on what member-states decides to do with their welfare, not as a direct consequence of the WTO rules. Unlike the, the Geneva treaty which has all-embracing application domestically and internationally, WTO deals with “trade-related” matters whose damage directly affect only the trading parties involved.

Third, the way WTO obligations are enforced is exclusively for state-to-state relationship (bilateral). This is evident by the fact that WTO's dispute settlement mechanism does not litigate breach per se, but merely on the nullification of benefits accruing to trading nations in-between themselves. That is, if one defendant country does not comply with WTO rules the complainant country on the other end is authorized by WTO to engage in state-to-state countermeasures. This modality of trade negotiations is evidently bilateral

Though trade obligations are inherently bilateral does not make WTO as a forum for multilateral trade negotiations irrelevant. In fact, exclusive of the outcomes of WTO trade negotiations, the new global market is fast becoming more sensitive to global flows of investment, trade in goods and services, and domestic policies. As it has been expected, absence of an effective multilateral trade system could possibly result to adversarial effects such as : shocks in the global financial markets, global unemployment and inflation. These drawbacks could cause substantial losses accruing mostly to developing countries while losses of developed countries are expected to be relatively small.

There are however valid justifications for developing countries' slow-paced commitments to WTO obligations. In the shorter term, market efficiency of developing countries may not be realized because it takes time. The relative underdevelopment of these countries constrain them from competing. But inspite of this, they still commit to liberalize trade but first within their regional blocs say ASEAN as in the case of the Philippines. Why ? These countries know their constraints and by joining free trade within the regional bloc will accelerate their development through closer economic cooperation with other members. In the longer term, these countries will be capable of responding to a broader and deeper integration in the global liberalized trade.

Suffice to say, the conduct of WTO negotiations modus vevindi should refocus on “non-reciprocity” whereby concessions made by developed countries should not demand equal concessions by developing countries. This takes in the form of longer time of commitments, while at the same time allow developing countries to make bilateral or regional trade arrangements for the time being. This kind of trade agenda could set the Doha Round in motion.

Albeit, the benefits of this agenda could be small relatively for developed countries while greater benefits can be expected for developing countries. This is however more constructive than all member-states suffer because of the breakdown of the WTO talks. The agenda for WTO members should begin with the question What can I do to your domestic policy reforms so that I can do mine for both of us to make business ? Certainly this is a bilateral frame of questioning.

 

Contrary to the common perception, the rules of law in the World Trade Organization ( WTO, Uruguay GATT, 1995), superseding the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT, 1947), are not in principle multilateral but bilateral. This is evident by the way the WTO negotiations are conducted. WTO negotiations can be thought of as an experiment in that WTO members had to conduct the negotiations through a set of controlled conditions explicitly define by the Final Act on the 28 free-trade agreements or FTAs (Uruguay, GATT, 1995). To ensure that the FTAs are meet, WTO is authorize to oversee trade practices and adjudicate trade disputes refereed to it by member states. Ideally, so long as the rules are strictly followed, free trade supervenes but that materializes only if WTO members agree on the procedure of enforcing them. Once agreement is reach as a “single undertaking” (majority of votes of members on all negotiations completed), will WTO members to fully abandon tariff, domestic support and subsidy in agriculture, and other trade-distorting practices. New FTAs however include new but costly WTO provisions on standardization of customs procedures; sanitary and phytosanitary requirements; government procurement; trade and investment; and trade-related intellectual property rights, etc., (a big IF for developing countries to comply with in the shorter term). It is the expectation that a consensus on enforcing WTO rules would allow WTO members enjoy “equal trading rights” and “greater market access” worldwide and raise annual World GDP by US $ 2.8 trillion by 2015. That however remains moot as the series of WTO negotiations foundered on reaching a consensus beginning from the “collapse” of the Uruguay Round (1986-1994), followed by the aborted rounds in Seattle USA (1999) and deadlock over farm subsidies in Cancun Mexico (2003), and two years later, the “impasse” of the Doha Round (2005). It seems that getting WTO members agree there should be free trade was a lot easy but agreeing on how the FTAs be enforced was Gordian knot. Suffice to say, what seems simple, credible, and enticing about free trade doest not mean everything is easy. As the cliché rightly puts it “ it is easier said than done.” The temporization of the Doha Round however provide WTO members time to put their talking points in order as they wish to put the Doha Round back on track

WTO-Members Trade Positions

Thus far, WTO members failed to reach a consensus in most of the 28 free-trade agreements and split them into two opposing quarters. Agreement in agriculture remain a disputed issue whereby developing countries were reluctant to the consistent cut in tariff schedule and insisted on special differential treatment and the “aid for trade” commitments by developed countries. Developed countries like the US and the European Union (EU) were reticent upon cuts in domestic support and subsidies in agriculture. Developed countries proposed for a deeper cuts in tariff on their industrial goods while developing countries were not supportive of the proposal as the heavy burden would be shouldered by them. In terms of trade in services, developed countries wanted for far-reaching market access without however equally offering the same access into their own domestic markets. In the area of emergency safeguard mechanism, developing countries favored for such safeguard mechanism against developed countries' imports believed could negatively affect biodiversity and human resources while developed countries questioned the need for such mechanism.

 

While developed countries insisted on the inclusion of trade facilitation specifically in the improvement of customs and releases of goods but developing countries opposed it as it only add major investments and infrastructures and hailed it as argument for financial assistance by developed countries. On the other, developed countries opposed the concessions on special differential treatment (SDT) and stressed that SDT should not apply equally to “developing countries” and argued that developing countries with higher level of economic development as in the case of China, should not be accorded with the same treatment. On trade and environment, developed countries insisted upon developing countries' commitment in the protection of the environment while developing countries argued on its costly implementation and hailed it as argument for financial assistance by developed countries.

On the Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), developing countries wanted to maintain their biological diversity and traditional knowledge and argued on patent application to include : (a) prior consent by the resource/knowledge owner owning country, (b) disclosure of biological resources and traditional knowledge used in invention, (c) provision for benefit-sharing patent. Albeit, in this area, WTO achieved a major breakthrough in reaching argument in the issue of patent protection and access to affordable medicines by developing countries. In the case of anti-dumping measures, developing countries felt that the provision is invoked against their imports while developed countries pushed for more stricter criteria for applying anti-dumping measures. On dispute settlement procedure, developing countries insisted on the provision of SDT that allows them longer implementation of their commitments and compensation for legal costs if proven not in violation of the provision. On the other hand, developed countries specially EU wanted further clarification on the implementation of the provision with emphasis in increasing promptness of the process and greater transparency of the procedures.

Legal Confusion on WTO Obligations

The breakdown of the WTO negotiations stems in large part from the legal confusion of the trade obligations of member states that could had been misconstrued as multilateral in nature. There are three underlying features of WTO negotiations on the WTO multilateral trade rules that had been in fact negotiated bilaterally and not multilaterally.. Along this line, distinction between bilateral and multilateral obligations is absolutely necessary. In the first place, WTO rules are different from the Geneva International Treaty on Genocide, Human rights, and Environment whereby the breach of treaty essentially affects all members including non-members. Breach of this treaty knows no border, hence, for a country to effectively protect its citizens is to cooperate with other countries. Respect for human rights, condemnation of genocide and protection of environment had to be “internationalized” because of the “values” they protect and their causal effects domestically and internationally had to be avoided. On the other hand, the effects breach of the WTO rules are “trade-related” that apply only to two or more states engaged in trade amongst themselves individually and does not necessarily have effects on all the other WTO members collectively. The legal consequences of such breach therefore are bilateral not multilateral. Albeit, the rights and obligations arising from WTO treaty are aimed at ensuring market access for goods of one country into another, and in effect give similar access to all WTO members through “Most-Favored-Nation Clause (MFN) clause,” and consequently result to an increased economic interdependence such that the effects of breach can might as well spread to all other WTO members. But this is not the same as saying that the breach of WTO rules necessarily affect the rights of all other WTO members, the way for example human rights and certain environmental law does. Albeit trade is inherently international but that does not inherently negate the bilateral nature of trade obligations.

Second, trade is not sought for the achievement of some “ global common” concerns where its benefits equate equally to all individual member countries. Trade is not a matter of “value” but merely an “instrument” to increase welfare which depends exclusively on what member-states decides to do with their welfare, not as a direct consequence of the WTO rules. Unlike the, the Geneva treaty which has all-embracing application domestically and internationally, WTO deals with “trade-related” matters whose damage directly affect only the trading parties involved. Third, the way WTO obligations are enforced is exclusively for state-to-state relationship (bilateral). This is evident by the fact that WTO's dispute settlement mechanism does not litigate breach per se, but merely on the nullification of benefits accruing to trading nations in-between themselves. That is, if one defendant country does not comply with WTO rules the complainant country on the other end is authorized by WTO to engage in state-to-state countermeasures. This modality of trade negotiations is evidently bilateral

Though trade obligations are inherently bilateral does not make WTO as a forum for multilateral trade negotiations irrelevant. In fact, exclusive of the outcomes of WTO trade negotiations, the new global market is fast becoming more sensitive to global flows of investment, trade in goods and services, and domestic policies. As it has been expected, absence of an effective multilateral trade system could possibly result to adversarial effects such as : shocks in the global financial markets, global unemployment and inflation. These drawbacks could cause substantial losses accruing mostly to developing countries while losses of developed countries are expected to be relatively small. There are however valid justifications for developing countries' slow-paced commitments to WTO obligations. In the shorter term, market efficiency of developing countries may not be realized because it takes time.

The relative underdevelopment of these countries constrain them from competing. But inspite of this, they still commit to liberalize trade but first within their regional blocs say ASEAN as in the case of the Philippines. Why ? These countries know their constraints and by joining free trade within the regional bloc will accelerate their development through closer economic cooperation with other members. In the longer term, these countries will be capable of responding to a broader and deeper integration in the global liberalized trade.

Suffice it to say, the conduct of WTO negotiations modus vevindi should refocus on “non-reciprocity” whereby concessions made by developed countries should not demand equal concessions by developing countries. This takes in the form of longer time of commitments, while at the same time allow developing countries to make bilateral or regional trade arrangements for the time being. This kind of trade agenda could set the Doha Round in motion. Albeit, the benefits of this agenda could be small relatively for developed countries while greater benefits can be expected for developing countries. This is however more constructive than all member-states suffer because of the breakdown of the WTO talks. The agenda for WTO members should begin with the question What can I do to your domestic policy reforms so that I can do mine for both of us to make business ? Certainly this is a bilateral frame of questioning.

 

Policies

In short policy originates from within an organisation with the objective of delivering positive benefit or avoiding negative effect from the organisation's perspective. The degree of compliance with policy is generally not negotiable and the individual at fault will generally experience some form of penalty being imposed by their organisation. In this case the ultimate penalty would be termination of employment.

Standards

On the other hand standards tend to originate from without and may be voluntarily adopted by the organisation or their compliance may be forced upon an organisation by external forces such as government legislation or industry-wide recommendations. Standards infer compliance or opt-in. The degrees of compliance tend to be rigid in areas of regulatory need as failure to comply will ultimately result in penalties being imposed upon an organisation. Depending upon the breach incarceration may result.

The Importance of Standards

Now let us examine the concept of standards in a little more depth. We will begin by looking at the question “why do we need standards?”

Often the importance of standards goes unnoticed until we are faced with the scenario of a total lack of any standards and the chaos that ensues. Standards and the standards organisations that define them form the basis upon which technologies are developed and eventually delivered to our door.

It is through the roles played by standards and the standardisation that can result from them that we begin to see consistency and improvements in aspects such as: quality, safety, reliability, efficiency, interchangeability, and the provisioning and delivery of these benefits in the most economical (cost effective) manner. It is no good having the world's greatest product if it does not have the in-built capabilities to interact and interoperate with other devices.

Put simply we need standards in order to provide consistency and compatibility across the board for each and every class and type of device and technology. Areas of great complexity that need multitudes of individual components to interoperate in a carefully orchestrated manner; as is the case with most things in our electronic technological world today, are built on foundations based on standards and standardisation.

For example:

The Internet as we know it today has evolved through a number of various stages beginning with a simple transmission of information between a very limited number of geographically diverse systems.

• At first only text was transferred between end-points using a set of standards and protocols known as the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) & the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Or as they are generally to as “the language of the web.”
• The protocol suite that was initially designed to address all of the issues involved in achieving this was defined as TCP/IP and the model that was built as a reference model to overcome the incompatibilities inherent in proprietary systems; the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) was formulated and standardised
• Then over time and as technology built on these foundations the transmission of graphics and other images became feasible. Sound was also transferred via the web.
• The quality of the images and sound transmitted improved. Compression technologies matured and the transfer of digital media such as music in the form of MP3 or photos as JPEG files became ever more popular.
• Building even more on our foundations (the OSI Reference Model and TCP/IP) all manner of digital media became transferable via the Internet. The advent of publically available, accessible and affordable email along with the popularity of e-commerce saw the massive explosion in growth of the Internet in the late 1980s and the .com (dot com) boom of the nineties.
• This explosion was fueled by the massive drop in prices of networking equipment; including PCs, home modems and network adaptors falling below $30 per unit. Added to this we saw the competition between Internet Service Providers (ISPs) become ever more intense and so we witnessed the birth of electronic communications between private individuals on a global scale.
• Eventually fully digital systems became the norm and such capabilities as streaming media, RSS feeds, and digital shopping and commerce became realities
• Today we are seeing this continue to evolve into such forms as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Voice over IP (VoIP) and Unified Communications (UC) at both the corporate and private levels. The capacity for us to “stay in touch” over vast distances still fuels the ever expanding realms of the Internet.

The point is that without standards and standardisation none of this would be possible; at least not now. Email is one of the more pervasive of the Internet technologies as we don't even need to be at any given physical location or at any specific particular device in order to receive or send it. The local library serves the same purpose as your home PC or the one at work and now even your mobile phone is getting in on the act.

Consider for a moment the scenario where vendor X's hardware, software and services were incompatible with those from vendor Y and you would have a world in which only those aligned with vendor X could intercommunicate and the same for vendor Y's customers. But neither would talk between the other.

What is a Standard?

A Standard is a published document which sets out the specifications and procedures that are designed to ensure that a material, product, method or service is fit for its purpose and consistently performs in the way it was intended.

A standard can be: open, proprietary, de facto, de jure, opt-in and even an opt-out standard all of which I will be discussing in the second part of this series. As the series unfolds I will be discussing such topics as:

• What is in a Standard?
• What are the Benefits of Standards?
• What is Standardisation?
• What are Standardisation Processes?
• What is Standards Compliance?
• Why Do We Have Standards Organisations And What Do They Do?
• I will provide a brief discussion of a select group of international standards organisations and the roles that they play in the scheme of things. I say select as most of the organisations that I will be discussing are in some way or another related to IT, networking, the Internet, computer systems, communications, security (especially IT related security SANS) as well as organisations that have a diverse influence across the board such as the Project Management Institute (PMI) and disaster related organisations as the tsunami disaster was very close to home (I reside in Australia as you probably have worked out by now).
• Standards, Conventions and Protocols
• The various forms and formats which different standards can adopt including white papers and Request For Comment (RFC)

So until next time enjoy!!

In addition I will discuss the challenges the company will face in developing a cross-cultural organization based on current cultural issues affecting organization on a theoretical and empirical basis. In addition I will discuss how cultural issues in Thailand will affect the phase of change and how to overcome resistance to change using effective strategies in Thailand in a cross-cultural context and building an organizational culture, which is inclusive of diverse cultural perspectives and accepts diversity and minimize conflict and intolerance.

Pros and cons of different organizational structure and the most suitable organizational structure given the cultural dimensions of Thailand:

The organizational structure is the means to combine tasks, technology and human resources to achieve organizational objectives. There are two opposing forces in designing organizational structure. They are grouping similar tasks together to enable specialization so that people can focus on what they do best and the need to integrate functions so that they work as a system and not optimizing a sectional objectives, which is conflicting with the organizational objectives as different grouping may have different interests and values. That is in all organizations there is a need to balance these opposing forces so that it is suitable given the nature of technology, human resources, and products.

The traditional organizational structure can be a hierarchical functional to be done centrally and line of communication are top down and there is upper level management; middle level management and lower level management and the employees and they may have different functions like marketing, production, human resources, administration, finance, information technology purchasing and stores etc.

As well managers make decisions mostly individually or in a group regarding the operations of the organization and employees mostly do not participate in the decision-making process and they accept formal authority of the management and they like specific instructions in doing their tasks and the company produces less variety of different products.

The advantages of this organizational structure is enhanced co-ordination and control, efficient use of managerial and technical talent, improves organizational perspective within the organization, centralized decision making which enhances control of activities and reduce discretion of middle and lower level and employees to make decisions which is not compatible with organizational objectives as well it enables career paths in specialized areas.

The disadvantages are as there are specialized units they may have different values and interests and pursue short-term goals and also reduce communication and co-ordination. In addition it is difficult to establish uniform performance standards because sub unit objectives may differ and conflict with each other and there fore difficult to establish uniform performance standards.

Another organizational structure also can be a matrix organizational structure where a combination of functional and divisional structures is used where the individuals have to be responsible for project manager and functional manager. The advantages of matrix organizational structure is that it utilized specialized personnel and equipment effectively and also make mangers to have a broader range of experience and responsibility. The disadvantage is that it causes uncertainty and intense power struggle and work relationship becomes more complex as well decision make take longer time than in other organizational structure.

As one can see from traditional organizations they have vertical boundaries, horizontal boundaries external boundaries such as suppliers, customers and regulators and boundaries of location, culture and markets. So an international organization can also have a boundary less organizational structure if there is high trust and have a common shared interests.

These organizations can have flexible organizational boundaries, use of teams, and build mutually beneficial relationship and communication flows with internal and external parties. The advantages of this organizational structure are it uses the talents of all employees, enables co-operations between functions and divisions, faster response to changes in external market conditions, it enables to coordinate key suppliers, customers and other partners as it benefits all parties.

The disadvantages are it is difficult in practice to overcome political boundaries, lack of common vision and leadership, which may cause coordination problems, democratic processes may be time-consuming, trust is not at high level may affect organizational performance.

The cultural dimensions as per Geert Hofstede are power-distance, uncertainty avoidance, Individualism Vs collectivism, masculinity, long-term orientation Vs short-term orientation. Power distance means the inequality in society accepted by the social structure. Thailand is more unequal compared to US.

According to Geert Hofstede rank of 64, which is very high and shows a high level of inequality in wealth and power, which is due to the acceptance of Thai society because of their cultural heritage rather, inequality forced upon the population. Thai society also is a society, which avoids uncertainty by rules, regulations, and religious practices and by laws. They like certainty and they tend to be risk averse. For example the Geert Hofstede ranking for Uncertainty avoidance is very high for Thailand like the power distance ranking.

In US individualism is encouraged compared to Thailand. That is in Thailand relationships are valued than anything else compared to US. Thai values collectivist norms than individualism because of their society encourages strong relationships where everyone take responsibility of the group than every body to themselves and to stand on their own feet like in US.

The masculinity refers to the assertiveness and competitiveness of societal members. According to Geert Hofstede the masculinity ranking is 20, which is very low. This shows the Thai culture is not very masculine and the males and females have traditional roles in society and the society reinforces these roles.

As discussed above as Thai culture more readily accepts authority and like certainty and not like ambiguity and risk averse modern organizational structures like matrix and team organizational structures are not suitable to Thailand because the Thai culture like rules, regulations and safety and like to avoid uncertainty.

In this cultural and religious context the traditional bureaucratic organizational structure with group decision-making is more appropriate to the Plastic company at least in the initial stages to become established in Thailand. However as all cultures are dynamic and after they expose their culture and overcome resistance effectively they can move to a more modern organizational structure with an incremental change process rather than a rapid change process which is not viable in Thailand cultural context.

The challenges the Plastic company faces to build a cross-cultural organization in Thailand:

Challenge of change power dynamics

When the company introduces new employees who are different from the traditional cultural background the existing players will perceive or experience an erosion of power.

This may reduce commitment to the organization. As well they also increase power struggles because they compete for scarce resources and with this the inclusion of new employees and the dynamics of this interact with unstable power structures and can lead to poor performance due to high labor turnover, absenteeism and perceived procedural injustice. At the initial stages of intolerance and tolerance stages the managers must mange the power struggles within bounds by appropriate strategies and inter personnel skills to move the organization where the diversity is valued by all employees and by all levels of management.

Challenge of diversity of opinion

As discussed above the introduction of new employees may increase the diversity of opinion in any issue in the workplace. This increases the possibility of mis interpreting communication and can leas to more conflict in the organization and in some circumstances if the conflict is excessive if not managed well by the managers and leaders in the organization may lead to poor performance. Lack of political skills and conflict resolution skill and real concern for tolerance than lip service may inhibit the use of skills and talents of new employees from different cultures if the diversity opinion and the resulting conflict are not managed effectively.

Challenge of perceived lack of empathy

The diversity of opinion is linked to the lack of empathy. Perception that managers and leaders do not have the capacity for empathy with followers may lead to most disruptive in organizations where it is characterized as intolerant. Many may have a lack of empathy to people from other cultures. This may place the leader or manager in the middle of a political battle between different factions. If managers in deeds and words do not show the followers that all are respected and their needs and concerns are appreciated and manger perceptions and anticipate to misperceptions and situations then this may lead to poor performance and organization and will not move towards a more appreciative of diversity and genuine cultural tolerance within the organization.

Challenge of perceived and real tokenism

If new employees are hired under a quota system to fill vacancies from different cultural background or from different face may be perceived that they are hired not because of their talent but they are from a different background. This may produce mistreatment of the newly recruited member and the employee may become uncomfortable and may become alienated because of mistreatment by the other staff and peers.

There fore quota system must be not a method to increase diversity in the organization. However even if recruited on merit a person from a culturally different background the existing staff may perceive tokenism because they attribute they are recruited because of race, age or gender.

As well if tokenism is perceived the failure is attributed to race, age and gender and if success happens they attribute to the benevolence of the organization or to happenstance. This may affect the self-esteem of the employees and lead to poor performance if these perceived perceptions are not managed effectively.

Challenge of participation

Participation is an essential process in a diverse workforce organization. However at an initial stage participation is difficult to achieve because the voice of different groups are not heard and implemented. If participative processes are not adequate and every one has a voice then he organization will not move from an intolerant organization to a more appreciating organization which value tolerance and diversity of opinion and creativity in an organization and genuinely value the possible benefit of diversity.

Challenge of overcoming inertia

If leaders are familiar with rapid agreement and implementation from a more homogeneous culture and have to spend much time resolving diversity issues in a diverse organization particularly in a tolerant stage where the leader has to resolve all diversity issues and may have problems of inertia as these sap lot of energy. If they don't take steps to address this challenge effectively as diverse organization can become dysfunctional if they loose their vision and their inertia.

Cultural and other issues affecting the phase of change in Thailand and how to overcome resistance to change in Thailand by the plastic company:

As discussed above Thailand's culture avoids risks. That is it needs certainty and likes stability. In addition it's not a masculine society and it lacks assertiveness and competitiveness. These cultural characteristics are not conducive to a dynamic change process and like a planned change with limited disruptions to its social and religious system. As well in Thailand is a Buddhist country and it affects its economic system to a greater degree and most of the people are short-term oriented and not long-term oriented.

These characteristics do not allow for a fast changing business world in Thailand. There fore given the risk averse character of most Thailand people the change process must be slower and the phase of change must be slower. However all societies change and evolve over time. If the Thailand economy grows in the future due to global economic influences the cultural climate also change.

However as Thailand is a strongly a traditional conservative country the changes in culture may take a long time compared to other Asian countries like Malaysia, Korea, Vietnam and Singapore. The US plastic company must understand this in the phase of change and the strategies they adopt to manage change effectively.

As well the challenges to make the organization as a cross-cultural organization as discussed above will take a lot of time and it also retards the phase of change in Thailand. To overcome resistance to change the top management must support a new organizational culture and must re define its vision and values and communicate all levels of management and also enhance the managers cross-cultural knowledge by appropriate training if they require training in this field and also give opportunities to work and pair with Thai employees and also improve their ability to resolve conflict and enhance cooperation.

In addition they also can address the issue of acquiring language skills, which may increase their acceptance in the Thailand work place. By appointing managers who are skilled in resolving conflict and have a tolerant approach to a variety of opinion also may increase the use of talents of all employees including the Thailand employees at all levels. The managers must have good leadership skills and other cultural and political and perceptive skills so that they can anticipate misinterpretation and misperception and situation they can arise and minimize damaging conflict or erosion of self-esteem of Thailand employees at the initial stages when the organization is intolerant to a new organizational culture.

In addition the managers can be a role model for US employees and The Thai employees and must be mentor and facilitator to resolve any work problem and also be a person to resolve inter personal dispute and perceive by the employees that they are objective in all deliberations and show empathy and are not biased to any group. This is vital for the organization to change to become more productive and take acceptable risk in new market opportunities in time as well also increase the organizational performance.

The human resource policies also can be reformed so that its pay structure and other human resource policies help to reinforce diversity and the benefits of diversity and cross-cultural understanding so that it minimizes the damaging conflicts and to forge integration and find common ground other than parochialism or ethnocentrism which may alienate some employees and not enable to use their talents fully to achieve the organizational goals.

Absenteeism and Punctuality Policies

Having an absenteeism and punctuality policy is important for any business with employees. Such policies help keep records on missed work time, encourage employees to attend work, and set a case for dismissal when an employee fails to follow the obligation of his/her work terms. The right kind of policy can save your company tons of money as the years go by.

The first thing an owner has to determine is what status his employees fall into. Salaried and professional employees are typically considered “exempt” while hourly workers are “non-exempt”. Exempt means that the employees are not based upon their time at work but on the function of their job. They can work longer hours without paying overtime. Non-exempt employees are paid for each minute they are at work and are entitled to overtime pay.

Hourly or non-exempt workers can have their pay reduced for anytime they miss from work while salaried or except workers cannot. For example, if a salaried worker misses 4 hours a day but work any part of that day their pay cannot be affected. The only time a salaried worker can have his/her pay adjusted is when on a leave of absence or when an entire day is missed for personal reasons. To punish the lateness of a salaried worker by adjusting pay creates a risk of entitling them to overtime.

Attendance policies vary from company to company and from state to state. However, the best attendance policies usually have a progressive component to them. For example, verbal warning, written warning, suspension and termination would be part of a progressive discipline policy. The other method that could be used is the point system. As the worker receives points for attendance he/she will incur increase discipline. Once he/she has reached the threshold he/she will be terminated.

The use of an absenteeism policy that is progressive ensures that all workers are treated fairly. They are warned each time they are disciplined and cannot claim ignorance. Furthermore, the documentation provided at each level of the discipline gives an appearance of professionalism on behalf of the organization and a sense of fairness to the employee.

Salaried workers can be under the same progressive attendance system as an hourly worker. The difference is that they cannot have their pay deducted. Once must also consider that salaried workers should be given notes-to-file instead of employee counseling reports (discipline) so that their “at-will” status is not in jeopardy.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics a total of 2.8 million workdays a year are lost due to illness or injury. Assuming that the average worker made around 40K per year we would add 35% for benefits to come to a total compensation cost of 54K per year per employee. If we divide this 54K by 2080 worked in a year we come to $25.96/hour labor cost. A single employee absence for a day would cost the average company around $207.68 per day. Thus if you have 10 absences a year your cost would be around $2000. This figure doesn't include the cost of the actual profit you would have lost due to not getting your products or services finished.

Methods of Reducing Absenteeism

• No-fault attendance policy
• Progressive discipline
• Incentives for good attendance.
• Make the workplace more fun.
• Pre-employment physicals and drug tests.
• Conduct employment history investigations before hiring.
• Value the attendance and contribution of each worker.
• Attendance should be included as one of the criteria for raises/promotions.
• Request medical documentation for all unexcused absences.

So, what does expert mean? An expert is a person who specializes in his or her own field. And expertise in conducting an investigation to check if everything is working well. The areas of expertise are varied and this makes me laugh when it comes to consider communities. For instance, in order for a doctor to make a diagnosis he needs the personal history of his patient. I am amazed by the work of the United Nations Experts.

The United Nations try to preserve communities and historical sites. This brings to our minds that there are vulnerable populations who are subject to suicide for example. There are even leaders who have committed suicide. Sometimes the suicide is due to an emotional problem. Others will add something else. So, the United Nations has found a way to preserve local and international communities and this is a lot of work to do. The United Nations preserves historical sites like Venice. What I have to say about this is that Venice in Italy is an important historical site because of the marvelous weather of Italy. Venice is surrounded by water so it has to be protected. The most visible aspect of the effect of sunshine of Italy is the variations of blonde and black hair. Due to the sunlight, you get white highlights in your hair. In Burundi, where one of the Pope John Paul I lived it has been said that white hair is a sign of wealth.

Insurance is also another good area of expertise because you have to know all the hazards that can affect a house, a car or you travel. Loss prevention is important. There are other professionals who prefer research to expertise. It seems like expertise is for a shorter time and you are called to practice, whereas a researcher looks for problems and solutions and helps other respond. Policy makers give grants to make research beczuse they cannot find an answer to some problems. The researchers will help the laws to advance.

Experts are more concerned by resources and often they have limited work because they don’t have technology and there are unfair competition among them. Expertise and experts constitute our major concern in making good decision