Showing posts with label globalization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label globalization. Show all posts

The Ayatollahs' Democracy: An Iranian Challenge Review

The Ayatollahs' Democracy: An Iranian Challenge
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The Ayatollahs' Democracy: An Iranian Challenge ReviewThis book was written by an Iranian-American journalist, who wants to bring to the American public an insider's view of the Iranian people and government. The author takes you through many conversations with men at the very top of the Iranian power structure, and with simple working men on the street, and with all manner of men in between. (As you can tell, I don't really remember him recounting a conversation with a woman.)
One of the first things I noticed is that the author is a man of strong opinions, often making off-the-cuff, often snide little comments on all sorts of things. It gave me the impression that the author forms his opinions quickly, and does not like to change them.
The effects of this being a book based on conversations is that I felt as though the book gave me a very smoky and dim picture of the inside of Iran, but nonetheless one much more informative that the picture given by most mainstream publications of any political stripe.
It is the author's contention (and I think he makes a very good case) that though the Iranian people are unhappy with the present state of their Islamic democracy, they are in fact quite committed to the government, and will support it. He paints a picture of an Iranian people who are very easily slighted, and yet cannot imagine why anyone would be offended by their chanting "death" to them. A people who are deeply committed to their Shia faith and their imams, and who want their imams to set limits on their democracy - their imams, not necessarily the other imams.
Overall, I found this to be a very informative book, giving me an understanding of the Iranian people that no other book has. My only wish with this book is that the author had finished the book with a chapter of hard analysis, to pull all of his thoughts together. Like is said, without it, it paints a picture of Iran that is smoky and dim. But nonetheless, I really enjoyed this book, and am very glad I read it. I guess that now I should go out and read his other book, The Ayatollah Begs to Differ.The Ayatollahs' Democracy: An Iranian Challenge Overview
"One of America's most astute revealers of Iranian culture and identity."-Reza Aslan, The Atlantic
Hailed as one of the year's best foreign policy books, Hooman Majd's latest offers dramatic perspective on a country with global ambitions, an elaborate political culture, and policies with enormous implications for world peace. Drawing on privileged access to the Iranian power elite, Majd "gives a harrowing description of the aftermath of the 2009 presidential elections in Iran" (Haleh Esfandiari). This "nimble take on Iran's fraught political landscape" (Kirkus Reviews) "sounds a dire warning to those in the West who want a democratic Iran. . . . Let us hope the President is listening" (Reza Aslan, The Atlantic).

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Cultures and Organizations: Software for the Mind, Third Edition Review

Cultures and Organizations: Software for the Mind, Third Edition
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Cultures and Organizations: Software for the Mind, Third Edition ReviewHofstede is, of course, the pioneer of culture studies in business and organizations. This book is a simpler and more accessible version of the more comprehensive - but also more difficult, 'Culture's Consequences'.
He begins with an excellent overview of culture and its levels and explains the concept of cultural `dimensions' - aspects of culture that can differentiate and measure differences among different cultural groups. The book then proceeds to present the four dimensions of culture that he identified as a result of a massive survey he conducted on IBM employees in 72 countries in 1968 and again in 1972. Additional data was later collected from other countries and populations, outside IBM, and used to verify and enhance the original results.
However, in this book, Hofstede discusses his four original dimensions of culture: Power Distance; Uncertainty Avoidance; Individualism & Collectivism; and finally Masculinity & Femininity. The fifth dimension which was later added based on results from the Far East and Asia - Long- versus Short-Term Orientation - is not discussed in this book. Despite that, it remains a very valuable and highly readable introduction to the topic from the man who pioneered the field and popularized it among business people, multinationals and business researchers alike.
Hofstede also uses these dimensions of culture to 'classify' organizations to different types according to where they fall on the Power Distance vs. Uncertainty Avoidance grid. The discussion is highly informative and touches on Mintzberg's theories as well typical models of organization in different cultures. In Part Four, he discusses how intercultural encounters are affected by these dimensions and how awareness and acceptance of these differences can yield more effective results.Cultures and Organizations: Software for the Mind, Third Edition Overview
The revolutionary study of how the place where wegrew up shapes the way we think, feel, and act--with new dimensions and perspectives

Based on research conducted in more than seventy countries over a forty-year span,Cultures and Organizations examines what drives people apart—when cooperationis so clearly in everyone's interest. With major new contributions from MichaelMinkov's analysis of data from the World Values Survey, as well as an account ofthe evolution of cultures by Gert Jan Hofstede, this revised and expanded edition:
Reveals the "moral circles" from which national societiesare built and the unexamined rules by which people think,feel, and act
Explores how national cultures differ in the areas of inequality,assertiveness versus modesty, and tolerance for ambiguity
Explains how organizational cultures differ from nationalcultures—and how they can be managed
Analyzes stereotyping, differences in language, cultural rootsof the 2008 economic crisis, and other intercultural dynamics


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