Managing Diversity

The duties of the operational managers develop gradually with the transition in the strong urge to win the market zone and the clear understanding that it has to take part in long term plans for the accomplishment of any company. Companies that do not concentrate on winning and continuing to have potential employees may not be able to make it in the competitive business environment.

Going with the rising number of competing companies, global or local, there is need for the companies to be agile, resilient, customer focused and be able to adapt to any situation for it to succeed.  With the dynamic nature of organizational management, line managers have to be strategic planers (Barrow and Mosley, 2005). The line manger must be driven by business function through perceiving the companys big break through and be able to implement major policies and decisions. The line manager is on strategic talent advancement and employee retention.

Diversity Management
As stated by Glover (2007), the measurable extend of the place of works variety comprise, but are not restricted to gender, physical qualities, age, race, ethnicity, ancestry, academic background, sexual orientation, income, geographical location, marital status, religious belief, military experience and work experience. The variety management involves world wide organizations at the position of strategic resolution making. It is hard to come up with a viewpoint of variety management that is left to be studied in details. Nevertheless, a lot of work on diversity management has been done either in local settings, with less focus on diversity management in world wide relevant circumstance, or from only one level of detailed examination concentrating either on trade union or managerial measurable extend of diversity.
    
Problems of Diversity Management
For the success of any company to be realized in future, the line manager must have the potential of managing a diverse pool of talents that can result in perspectives, view to their work and innovative ideas. The problems and challenges of diversity management can be changed into a strategic asset for the organization only if it is able to take advantage of the diverse talents it has. With the combination of diverse talents of cultural background, gender, age and lifestyle, a company replies to business favorable chance more creatively and rapidly, more so in a world wide arena (Cox, 1993), which has to be among the companys vital goals to be achieved otherwise an organization risks losing talents to competitors if it does not practice diversity.
   
This can be witnessed in multinational organizations that have a method of working on world wide scale and recruit employees of different nations, cultural background and ethical views. The problems of diversity also exist amongst medium and small enterprises. With the total number of four million individuals and the countrys try hard towards great knowledge, economy and technology, unfamiliar talents are enticed to share their skills in this scope of range. Hence, a lot of line managers have to go through cultural based line management training to advance their ability to stimulate the interest of a group of competent individuals who are extremely experienced but culturally diverse. In addition, the line managers must convince the local competent individuals that these unfamiliar talents are not an indication to something undesirable to career development (Barrow and Mosley, 2005).  In a lot of methods, the merits of diversity management in the work place are dependant on the balancing the expertise act of the line management.

How to Overcome Diversity Problems
For an organization to manage diversity effectively, George (2003) points out that the line manager requires to modify from an ethnocentric opinion (our way is the ultimate best style) to a cultural relative perspective (taking the best of the variety style). In philosophy, this shift has to be deeply rooted in the managerial frame work of the line manger in their organizing, leading, planning and controlling of the resources of the organization.     

As proposed by Ng and Burke (2005), there are varieties of better practices that the line manager can choose in securing effective work place management diversity for an organization to achieve its goals. They are as follows
Strategically organizing the talents.
Mentor program planning.
Measure and control result.
Directing the talk.
Motivation approach.
The gain sharing.
The executive-information-system

Strategically Organizing the Talents
A lot of organizations are becoming fully aware of the merits of a divers work place. As many organizations are going world wide in their market enlargement of scale either virtually or physical, there is need to introduce variety of talents in order to perceive the meaning of various profitable corner of the market. With this system in operation, the line manager must organize strategically the diverse talents for the firm. A company that sees the presence of diverse manpower as an asset but not a liability would not directly aid the company to take positively its progress as some of the minimum positive features of manpower diversity.    

Mentor program planning
The better methods of handling diversity of the working place matters are by initiating the program which will involve different distinct departmental managers in program mentoring of training and proving feedback to the workers who are unique from them. For successful running of the program, there is need to provide practical coaching for managers or look for aid from experts in the area.

Measure and Control Result
The line managers have to initiate regular assessment of the organization on matters like benefits, promotional opportunities, payments, management, and work environment to estimate the long term improvement. There is need to bring about the right tool of measuring the impact of variety initiatives in the company by the organizations wide methods and feedback survey.

Directing the Talk
The line managers needs to support a variety of manpower through making diversity manifestation at all levels of organization or else some workers will conclude that they do not have a future in the organization. As the line manager, it is relevant to respect diversity matters and promote positive and clear replies to them. High level of commitment must be shown by the line manager and heshe must have the capacity to solve matters of diversity in the work place in a responsible and ethical manner.

Motivation Approach
This is the influence that makes people be positive about achieving the goals of the organization through the satisfaction of persons needs so that heshe can effectively work on the organizations tasks. The organization must initiate different motivation tools to give courage to the workers to put in the needed effort and rise the capacity of the organization to produce. In the dynamic business and competitive environment of the market, workers who are motivated contribute the required output to the success of the organization.

The Gain Sharing
The gain sharing refers to the initiative plan that is all about workers with the same effort to improve the performance of the organization basing on the general notion that outcome of incremental gain of the economy is shared among the company and its workers (Healy and Schwarz-Woelzl, 2007).

The Executives-Information-System
With the executive-information-system in place, a company can follow up its sales, inventory, and receivables and benchmark the present data with history patterns. It aids in identifying important diversity from normal trends as soon as it begins to exhibit, giving the company the highest possible amount of time to implement the needed changes and make decisions that will put the organization on the right path (Healy and Schwarz-Woelzl, 2007).

The duties of the line manager have to be parallel to the requirements of the dynamic organization. The organizations that are successful are adaptable, customer centered, resilient and are becoming quicker to change direction. Line manager must learn to effectively manage by organizing, planning, controlling, leading the resource of the human and be aware of the coming up system in workers development and coaching.

Diversity management

Diversity management is a tool that has been used by organization to focus on the difference within the organizations workforce. It also focuses on capitalizing the benefits of diversity while minimizing the challenges within the organization (Room,  Flood, 1996). Management of diversity in an organization contributes significantly to the efficiency and productivity of the organization. It acknowledges the fact that people differ in many ways and identify the implications for the workplace that arises as a result of the diversity in the workplace. The other focus is that it suggests the strategies to ensure that these issues and challenges are addressed in the interest of the organization.

Diversity management has been taken as a strategy that is intended to maintain a positive working environment (Brinkman, 1997). It is usually initiated by the human resources professionals and managed by the departmental heads and supervisors. This is done in order to promote good recognition and respect for the individual differences among the workforce in the organization so as to enable the workforce to work together for a common purpose to meet the organizations objectives.  It is therefore imperative for every organization to be able to manage the uniqueness of every individual which includes the different personal attributes, values and organizational roles despite the challenges.

Challenges of diversity management
    It is very important for human resource to manage the diversity of the workforce in every organization. However, there are a number of challenges that are faced by diverse organization in their pursuit of managing the diversity. The process of diversity management has been described by a number of human resource professionals as the mindset and culture of an organization and the varying perspectives that has been brought by the workforce in to the organization as a result of race, workplace styles, disabilities etc.

All this diverse differences posses a major challenge to human resource professionals especially in dealing with the management of diversity within the organization (Room,  Flood, 1996). Therefore managing diversity has not been an easy task among many organizations. These challenges has mostly been attributed to the exclusionary nature of the workforce employment, conditions of work, societal constrains, prejudice and adverse cultures, workforce speaking in different languages, and moreover, the problems arising from the diversity policy of the organization itself. On the other hand, the workforce could be affected by the prejudice in promotion, rewards and compensation, performance and appraisal due to the differences in cultural backgrounds (Plummer, 2003).

Exclusionary nature of workforce employment   
Every organization whether non profit making or profit making requires highly qualified personnel in order to function effectively and efficiently. With regards to hiring the workforce of any organization, some other groups may feel discriminated by the policies of an organization. As a result of the technological innovations and creativity, many organizations have become more exclusionary since a number of personnel like clerks have been made obsolete (Brinkman, 1997). Moreover, most governments have responded to demands for cutbacks and privatization and this has led to downsizing and restricting the opportunities of the unqualified workforce especially with regards to promotions and appraisals. Therefore, greater proffessionalization in an organization and the need for higher technical qualification have led to the exclusion of a larger proposition of the population in hiring and even firing of employees who are not technically qualified (Plummer, 2003). This has led to a huge challenge especially in terms of management among the human resource professionals.

Condition of work 
 Diversification may sometimes be imbedded where the organization contains one preserve group which excludes all others on the grounds of race, ethnicity or gender. In corrupt organizations, either public or private, there may be an opposition to hiring certain groups and openness in both recruitment and advancement as a single group of workforce may have a tight control of office and its rewards (Brinkman, 1997). This pathological scenario may lead to cases where the minorities are unable to gain foothold and therefore may be restricted to lower positions and work categories. In such organizations, equal opportunities exist only in theory but it is basically restricted by narrow job description and barriers to advancement in the organization. The in flexible work facilities may sometimes preclude other groups like women with children or the disabled workforce from the full participation of the organizations  careers development and growth of the workforce (Room,  Flood, 1996).

Societal constrains    
In areas where there is a widespread poverty and illiteracy as a result of a non universal and poorly adapted to producing the workforce with the required skills, ,the organizations surrounding such environment will find it difficult to attain diversity in the workplace (Plummer, 2003). Therefore, in such situations, when diversity arises in the organization, its management will face a lot of challenges especially with regards to gender issues. In such organizations, women will be excluded from taking active roles in the organization and advancement. On the other hand, organizations that are primarily available only in the urban areas and draws its workforce from the cities, the workforce that originates from the rural areas may face prejudice and discrimination from other employees and may not get equal job opportunities in the organization by virtue of their origin (Room,  Flood, 1996). Therefore these posses challenges to the management of diversity within the organization.

Prejudice and adverse cultures
It is well known that every individual in organizations tend to select their own image and looking for their own traits while believing that this will satisfy the demands of the job in the organization. It is in this essence that a dominant group tends to perpetuate its dominance in the organization. With this regard therefore, formal job qualification may be framed in accordance with this image even though the position in question may not really require the skills stipulated (Room,  Flood, 1996).  In this scenario, the unexpressed objective may be to keep out the minorities, women or other groups in the organization. Such formal and informal practices make the management of diversity in the organization very challenging and this has been attributed to the unfriendly diversity culture in many organizations. This could be evident in many organization for example valuing masculine, aggressive and competitive traits against feminine, soft, dependent emotional and intuitive traits of the workforce in the organization (Brinkman, 1997).

Diversity policies
The efforts to implement policies towards greater diversity and integration in the organization may have dysfunctional effects which may defeat their aim (Jones, 2004). Organization may attempts to favour previously under-represented groups or favouring them against past injustices may provoke a backslash from applicants and candidates from the majority groups because they will find themselves  disadvantaged as a result of the policies to address the diverse environmental workplace. In cases where the minorities are promoted or appointed, they may become targets of resentments and isolation (Brinkman, 1997). They may also be subjected to pressures to conform to other unprofessional practices or may be forced to resign. Furthermore, the need to distinguish the protected groups may cause an emphasis on the stereotyping of individuals as belonging to certain race, gender or ethnic groups and therefore may intensify racism and prejudice rather than alleviating it (Room,  Flood, 1996).

The specific challenges to management of diversity has been found to take a number of forms, this usually depends on the nature of the organization and the relationship between the organization and the society. There are other challenges that affect the management of diversity in the organization. These challenges are basically the problem of exclusion, that is who is to be kept outside the organizational employments and the problem of inclusion, who is o be allowed in the organizations employments (Plummer, 2003). The problem of inclusion originates from the historical fact tat governance has largely been confined to certain individuals in the organization because of their connections. In public organizations, governance holds the keys to power, status ands class, in private organizations business may be monopolized by a few wealthy families.

Discrimination in organization has therefore posed a greater challenge to management of diversity (Brinkman, 1997). Women for example are either discriminated or excluded or primarily limited to lower positions in a male dominated organization. However, theoretically, in such organizations, positions are open to all but a few women obtain equal opportunities in a male dominated organization. This therefore leads to greater challenge in diversity management. In public organizations, minorities may be heads of department and in higher level management while the majority of the population or the workforce is excluded. With regime changes, a problem of integrating the majority in to the organization without victimizing anyone from the previous ruling majority may arise and this may lead to problems in managing the diversity in the organization (Room,  Flood, 1996).

In most organizations, there exists a scenario of exclusion of groups that are not classified by either gender or ethnicity. Such groups like the disabled, homosexuals and non-conformists of all kinds tend to have difficulties in acceptance. The paradox of the diversity management is that greater diversity is valued for bringing about a more just and tolerant society as well as a more effective, efficient and productive organization. It is therefore the responsibility of the human resources managers and other managers both in the lower and high level to ascertain that the diversity in the organization is well managed because it may also lead to inefficiencies and poor productivity of both the workforce and the organization (Brinkman, 1997).

Strategies for diversity management
Diversity management in many organizations is a relatively new phenomenon and it is therefore by no means which strategies are likely to succeed in a particular organization. This is because the strategies used to manage diversity depend largely on the circumstances and this differs from organization to organization (Room,  Flood, 1996). Therefore, with regards to the strategies of diversity management, a successful experience in a given organization is unlikely to succeed in other organizations.

On the other hand, the strategies used in organizations to manage diversity differ not only in their means but also in the objective of the organizations. In most cases, each strategy has both advantages ands disadvantages and therefore it is imperative for the organization to combine the strategies depending of the circumstances they face. There are a number of strategies that are used in organizations to manage diversity, these includes, legal strategies, educational strategies structural and societal strategies. All this strategies depend largely on the nature of the organization, the circumstances facing the organization and the objectives of the organization (Golembiewski, 1995).

Legal strategies  
Most organization has come to adopt this kind of strategy. A legal strategy is an effort to use law and regulation to achieve an equal re presentation within the organization (Plummer, 2003). The main objective of this strategy is to enable the underrepresented group of individuals, either the workforce or candidates to have an equal share of the benefits and equal employment and career development including promotions and appraisals in the organization. With this strategy, there is a legal prohibition all the unfair practices like discrimination and prejudice as well as the eradication of all the barriers to equal opportunities to all in the organization (Brinkman, 1997). The only issue with this strategy is the individual merit. It also aims to amplify and redress the past wrongs in order to afford a certain measure of compensation. According to this strategy, there a re two distinct approaches (Room,  Flood, 1996). The first is to provide an equal opportunity to every employee in the organization and eradicate the discrimination as a result of race, disability, gender, religion, ethnicity or age. The second is an affirmative action that requires the workforce of the agencies whose employees does not conform to the characteristics of the organizations in question. This is aimed at making good faith efforts to promote, appraise and recruit individuals of under-represented groups (Brinkman, 1997).

According to this strategy, laws and regulations sends clear signals regarding what is and what is not acceptable in the organizational environment especially with regards to recruiting, training or promoting the staff of an organization. Most of this laws and regulations are reinforced by the commissions empowered to hear cases alleging to discrimination and unfair treatment in the organizational environment. It also provides the victims with the ability to sue in court. This strategy therefore enables the organization to have an equal treatment to its entire workforce while making the management of diversity a less challenging task (Plummer, 2003). This enables the workforce to work together for a common objective.

Educational strategies
This strategy is aimed at replacing an existing organizational culture with a multi-cultural point of view. The aim of this strategy is to amalgamate all the diverse culture in the organization and to sensitize the workforce to learn to appreciate the diverse culture in the organization and to enable them to work together without prejudice and discrimination. According to this strategy, am organization should move from an initial stage of a mono-culture, through a transitional stage as a non discriminatory culture to a multi-cultural perspective (Brinkman, 1997).

This strategy lays more emphasis on the group rather than the individuals in the organization. It also begins with the cultural assessment of the organization and moves towards an increased level of cultural awareness and appreciation of differences that exists among the workforce in an organization.  This could also be done by ensuring that all the employees in the organization undertakes personal training, communication and cultural sensitization where the employees are enlightened and made to realize that change is not a threat or is an imposed subject but rather a unifying factor in the organization where by all the employees are required to participate in the changing process (Plummer, 2003). This strategy enables proper management of the diversity in the organization and enables the workforce to work together as one in order to achieve the objectives and goals of the organization.

Structural strategies
This structural approach to diversity focuses mainly on the way the organization is organized (Jones, 2004). In this strategy, diversity is regarded as a means to and a result of the bureaucratic reforms within the organization. It starts with the preposition that bureaucratic organizations are hostels to diversity and therefore posing greater challenges to diversity management (Brinkman, 1997). Due to the narrow specialization of such organizations, their focus on the process and productivity of the organization is limited to pre-existing and pre-assigned categories of employees. In order to enable proper strategic management ion an organization, it is imperative to change the policies of the organization with regards to the way the workforce carry out their functions.

This will enable the organization to redesign certain jobs and structures so as to encourage diverse recruitment and promotion within the organization (Brinkman, 1997). On the other hand, other actions also need to be taken in order to ensure that diversity is not only in appointments but also in the provision of equal opportunities for all the employees to advance in the organization rather that for certain groups of employees. This strategy is aimed at improving the diversity management in the organization and enabling the workforce to have equal recruitment and promotion opportunities. It is therefore imperative that diversity management is built into strategic planning which will enable the organisation to express commitment to diversity in its mission statement and objective while measuring it performance on a regular basis (Brinkman, 1997).

Suggestions to consider in diversity management
There are other factors and suggestions that an organization may consider in order to manage diversity in an efficient manner. This includes concentrating on the strengths of the employees (Jones, 2004). When a manager discovers the tasks where the employees usually excel in, they should be assigned to them as they are expected to be more productive on those fields of the job.
Understand the abilities and the potential of each employee present in the organization. These potential assets of the employees could as well be used by the company itself in aiming for the goals that it has set up for the future.

Allow communication lines be open at all times. It is very important for managers to be good listeners. The ability of hearing what the employees want form the company as well as to how they could be of bigger help to the organization could be used as a resource of ideas for the company as well.
Make the employees feel that they too have a sense of authority in the company. However, this type of authority should not overstep that of the administrations. It should be clear that this authority could only be exercised at specific times and places when it is permitted. This may often refer to an open door policy that deals with an easier type of agreement between the employees, which could give them a chance to affect how the organization is being managed (Plummer, 2003). They are then allowed to give suggestions however, no suggestions are implemented unless approved by the administration.

Make sure that all employees understand the business goals and objectives. It should always be remembered that a well-informed employee, whether young or old, is a productive employee.

A manager should always remember that heshe is supervising people with feelings who are valuable members of the organization, hence, treating them with great respect at all times no matter what culture they come from is one of the most important virtue any manager could post as an example for hisher colleagues.
Treating everyone fairly and sensitively is the key to creating a fine working environment (Golembiewski, 1995). It should be remembered that because of the different clutters of the people, they all have different preferences they have different personal obligations and other more. Considering the fact that dealing with multicultural workforce also involves dealing with their differences of belief, a manager could as well consider fairness at all times to be able to set a common ground for everyone else in the organization.

Keep everyone else busy and going all the time. Feeling ones worth is usually measured on the things they are able to do for the organization in a day. In this manner, it could be said that regardless of ones difference from the others, being able to do something for the company and being of worth to the organization makes an employee feel that even though there are differences, one still belongs to the organization one is working for.

Keep employees informed of the ins and outs of the organization (Golembiewski, 1995). Keeping employees in the dark when some changes within the organization arise may give them the notion that they are not given importance by the administration of the company.
Acknowledge the employees efforts, years of work, talent, creativity and good job attributes. Doing so would help everyone else strive for the best while they are working in the company.
  
 Diversity management is an important function in every organization. It is therefore imperative for the managers to ensure that the employees in the organization work together as one rather that a divided team. Proper management of diversity ensures that the organization and the employees operates efficiently and productive in order to meet the objectives of the organization (Plummer, 2003). Though there has always been diversity in every organization with its subtle differentiation, discrimination and prejudice, it is imperative for every organization whether public or private to lay down strategies to overcome the challenges of diversity within the organization.

Five-Year Career Development Plan

I am currently the director of information technology services at ABC Company. My job commenced on 1st January 2007. The last three performance reviews and ratings on competencies and targets were four with combined evaluation being four. While undertaking this years performance review, the administration realized that I had a superior performance in various fields including implementation of integration projects that are highly complex across different department within the organization. The systems allowed the company to increase process efficiencies. Some of my major strengths that came up during the evaluation included decisiveness and strategic orientation that I intend to improve during the next five years hence they form the main part of my career development plan for the next five years.

Career goals and objectives
My main career goal is to increase the level of strategic planning responsibility by moving to a position that would enable this. Also, my aim is to be involved during the determination of policies, initiatives and programs direction in the organization. Within the next one year, I am anticipating a promotion to the post of regional director of the information technology department given that the current regional director is due to retire within the next one year.

Education, experience, competencies and skills
I have a bachelors degree in information technology and a masters degree in the same field. I also hold a certificate in project management. I have worked for ABC Company for three years now and I have gained extensive knowledge in project management among other areas. I have various competencies and skills although I feel they need to be improved. Decisiveness and strategic orientation are my main competencies. My objective is to continue developing these competencies as I believe they are essential in achievement of my goals. My skills include project management, resource and time management, facilitation skills and detail orientation. The IT department has initiatives in coming up with HR planning initiatives and I aim to improve my skills in this field and my main focus will be on succession planning.

Action steps
In developing my strategic orientation skills, the first year I will concentrate on leading the companys divisional process of strategic planning aimed at helping the company come up with the long term strategies and plans for vision and mission achievement.
The second year I will also steer a cross departmental committee with an aim of gaining comprehensive knowledge of various issues relating to the IT department. I will also meet on monthly basis with the administration whereby we will discuss various strategic issues. This will give me a chance to discuss my progress with the administration and gain insight on other areas where I need to improve on. This will be an ongoing process for the next five years.
   
To increase my knowledge and skills, I will enroll for an advanced certificate in project management in IT in the third year and this will last for two years. I will also engage in reading professional books including the Hugh Courtneys book 2020 foresight crafting strategy in an uncertain world. Decisiveness is another core competency that I want to improve within the next five years. To improve this, I will read several books on this area including Helg Drummonds book the art of decision making and Joann Keytons book communicating in groups, building relationships for effective decision making this will take me three months of the first year.

By the end of the fifth year, I want to have achieved the advanced certificate in IT, to have successfully completed the strategic planning process and to have fully integrated the functions of human resource with technology within the company. I will also conduct an assessment of the effectiveness of the strategic plan and other projects that we will work on for the past four years.

Possible obstacles 
Getting all individuals involved in the process of strategic management to attend the meeting for process is one of the obstacles I may encounter while leading this exercise. To overcome this, I will work closely with assistant directors and supervisors in the information technology department to help me schedule as well as in meeting logistics. This way, I will be in a position to communicate to all concerned members and to ensure that they are aware of the process.
   
Time is another possible obstacle given the increasing demand of information technology within the organization. At ABC Company, there are few IT managers making it quite a challenge to us. Chairing the cross departmental committee will require more time and this may be strenuous on my part. To overcome this, I will seek total support from the administration. The monthly meeting with the administration may also be constrained with time. The solution to this will be scheduling our meetings during lunch hour. Combining my demanding job with professional course in IT will also be a challenge to me. I will enroll for part time classes to solve this problem. For the books, I will be reading them during the evenings, weekends and any other time when I am free.
   
Training is essential for career development and growth. There are two forms of training, on job training and off job training. On job training enables a person to gain experience and skills necessary for achieving specific goals. Through steering the committees and leading in strategic planning process will give the experience I need in project management. Off job training is training that takes place away from the working environment. This gives a person skills and knowledge required to perform a task. This I will gain through the part time classes as well as the professional books I intend to read. Training also improves persons chances of being promoted.

Organizational Behavior

Dubai Holding Company has been founded by the government of UAE in 2004. This company governs the control of 7 main companies operating in 13 industries of the country. This company has one of the most significant stakes in the business environment of UAE. The company has been strategically designed to boost the economic activity in the UAE region. The profiles of companies which are operated under the umbrella of Dubai Holding Company are as mentioned in the appendix.

Dubai Holding Company is committed to development of the physical and commercial infrastructure of the region so as to create an investment-friendly environment in the Dubai region. The company makes the direct effort to make the Dubai Strategic Plan (2015) possible to achieve for the government. The plan highlights the major economic aims
Sustainable annual GDP growth rate of 11
Improved real GDP per Capita to up to 44,000 by 2015
Improved labor productivity by 4
Enhancement and development of Dubais globally competitive sectors such as trade, transport, tourism, construction, financial and professional services     
These in turn can be considered as the long term objectives for Dubai Holding Company in managing all the companies in the various industrial sectors of Dubai.

For the success of any organization, it is important for the management to be clear upon its vision, values, philosophy and goals. These form the guiding principles for channeling the resources employed in the organization. The most valuable resource for any organization is human capital and human intellect which eventually directs the growth of the organization. The culture of the organization which the people form, and the work ethics they adopt within the organization greatly influences how the organization performs on the whole in achieving its objectives. The aspect of the study of this perspective of behavior of people as an integral part of an organization is encapsulated within the definition of organizational behavior.

Why Study Dubai Holding Company in Context of Organizational Behavior
The Middle Eastern region of Dubai has been one of the most amazing business success stories of the recent past. The secret to this success is the hot topic to be discussed. The outreaching success of the region in the business environment is owed to many big companies which have been playing their roles effectively for the regions prosperity. These companies are operated under the umbrella of Dubai Holding Company. Thus, the reason to study a company like Dubai Holding Company within the context of organizational behavior will add to the overall understanding of how organizations in the Middle Eastern regions are operating from within. Students can draw many lessons from such a study about how to adjust in the business environment of a company operating in the UAE region. As the business is growing in these regions at a very rapid pace, jobs are being created and opportunities are presenting themselves each day for young students of business and environment to make an entry into this region and develop and grow along with the regions own growth. 


Organizational Behavior and Dubai Holding Company
When studying organizational behavior, the culture of the organization plays an important role in determining the type of communication styles, group mechanisms, group roles, and leadership styles. Thus, workers derive quality of work practice from this, and are motivated accordingly. The consequential outcome of these factors is categorized as individual performance, satisfaction, growth and development. 
The important thing to understand is that organizational culture are most commonly influenced directly by the regional cultures, as the organization does not exist independently but is in direct influence by its surroundings. Thus, the organization culture and organization behavior of a Middle Eastern company will be directly influenced by the strong Middle East historical cultural values and social system.

Thus, for a company like Dubai Holding Company it is directly influenced by the Middle Eastern regional cultural heritage.
This is even further evident in the case of Dubai Holding Company, which is a state owned company which is in direct link to the Royal family of the region. Thus the familial culture has an over-riding influence on the organization and the country at large. By far and large, the Royal family has taken up the responsibility to ensure Dubais future prosperity. For the purpose companies are guided in a way to create an environment of security and growth for investors and consequently local businesses may be established and eventually flourish. To create this internationally collaborative society, the realization has been seen to fine tune the internal structuring of local companies to be in-line with multinational organizational cultural values. Thus, enabling ease in adapting to modern management techniques most efficiently employed by the international organizations.

About Dubai Holding Company
Dubai Holding Company is a state company which has a holistic objective of regional development, which is valued much higher than just exploitation of economic opportunities and profit earning. This company is seen by the government as an administrative commercial liaison for the government with the regional business structure. The presence of Dubai Holding Company is by all means unavoidable if one wants to analyze the business environment of Dubai.

The organizational culture at the company has evolved over the years. The company is managed closely by the Royal Family representatives, who have major stakes in Dubais economy. Thus, they command most in control and authority beyond any other stakeholder concerned with the organization.

The Company as an Open System Organization
The open system concept for an organization looks at organization as integral part of their external environment, where they have to negotiate consistently with their environment when looking to arrange for resources, such as raw material, human resources, technology etc. (McShane and Van Gilinow, 2009)
The Dubai Holding Company is actually a very complex business establishment. This company is constant interacting with the external environment and is always directly influenced by extraneous factors. The internal managements of the service-oriented companies such as Dubai Group and Dubai International Capital have to keep track of international fluctuations in economic conditions and similarly the construction business is dependent directly upon metal and commodity prices for forecasting the cost of material and equipment for their high-scale projects undertaken in the Dubai region.

Model of Organizational Behavior
A mix of authoritative and custodial organizational behavior model is the basic model that may be employed to describe the organizational behavior at Dubai Holding Company. This is a likely case as with any other organization operating in the Middle Eastern region.

Dubai Holding Company is a conglomerate of many companies operating in many industries, so it is a highly complex task to categorize any single organization behavior model to Dubai Holding Company. But, across the board, though developing over time in different ways in their particular industries, the companies usually abide to either an authoritative or custodial form of organizational behavior.

The authoritative model is derived by the high level of prevalence of compliance and obedience by the employees to top management. The companys top management under direct coordination with the Royal Familys checks and balance defines goals and the employees are usually expected of to cooperate and trust their judgment, and in most cases they exhibit limited tendency to contradict the boss. Thus, there is more formality and structure in communication. But, in companies where there is more involvement of management attracted from foreign countries there is a tendency for the organization to incline towards a more custodial perspective, where employees are more concerned about security and pay for performance. In this regard the talent is attracted from foreign countries and is only rendering services for the companys performance. Little understanding prevails for the cultural heritage and belongingness for the country.

The Leadership in the Organization
In context to organization behavior, the leadership roles and styles have direct influence on the overall direction of the organizations performance. The leadership roles in the Middle Eastern cultures are far more formalized and distant from participatory than western countries. The team leaders usually place them at the front-end of the team, and then limit the amount of authority delegation from therewith. The team leaders are considered answerable for all aspects of performance of their team members.

At Dubai Holding Company, the cultural and educational background of the Sheikh family representatives in the top management directly influences policies and values across the board throughout the company. More than any other factor, the growth oriented vision of the top management in all the companies that operate under the flagship of Dubai Holding Company is well communicated with all tiers of management. But, at the same time the top management exhibits more authoritative control over resources and team activities. Thus, strict and formal control is considered vital for attainment of organizational goals.

The concept of organizational citizenship can be regarded very important for management at Dubai Holding Company. The organizational members need to relate to the objectives of the top management to make the extra bit of effort to achieve the goals of the organization. In the long term objectives of attainment of the Strategic Plan 2015, the organization culture has to instill an air commitment amongst the employees to the strategic goals of the organization.

Participation Intervention programs are introduced frequently at Dubai Holding Company to allow for better motivation of employees. This is the phase of the organizations growth where it has had the realization that employees need to grow along with the organization, and be more confident about organizational objectives. The company can obviously benefit through such programs employees are allowed to generate more innovative and creative ideas.

Power Distance and Decision Making
Power and control is more centralized in context to the state-controlled organizations in the Middle Eastern companies. This renders the ill-fated effects of limited motivation for employees, and limited predictability of bureaucratic leaders (UNDP- Arab Human Development Report, 2002, 2003). But in a company like Dubai Holding Company this is not easily detected. The situation is such that authority and decision making is mostly centralized, in control of the Royal family members, setting the general directives for the companies under the umbrella of Dubai Holding Company, but the top management has traditionally also been dependent upon foreign experts for guiding activities in business. Thus, the decision making process at a macro-level is directly influenced by these consulting agencies, and international experts.    

Workforce Diversity and Demographic Considerations
The business environment of Dubai has evolved greatly in recent years owed to the demographic changes that have been taking place in recent years. Dubai is mostly considered a trading hub and the businesses and organizations have attracted workforce from all over the world because of their promising growth and development in the Dubai region. Consequently, the organizations that now operate in the Dubai regions have employees coming from multiple nationalities. Thus, management has now started becoming conscious of this important factor that directly influences their style of management, which has to vary according to cultural background and ethnicity of the employees. The spread of immigrants to the region is so wide spread that majority workforce employed, up to eighty percent is non-Emirati. Majority workforce is moving from Asian countries to Dubai, in search for better employment opportunities (Census Statistical Data of UAE, 2005)    

In this regard, it must be mentioned that Asian ethnicity groups tend to rate very highly upon scales adjudged collectivism, responsibility avoidance and increased power distance. This culture of distance from authority and collectivism is further reinforced by Middle Eastern inbound tendency to promote collectivism, and the show of reverence for the leadership and family elites of society. Thus, though there is a difference in overall orientation, the overall impact is that there is increased structure decision making with limited participative efforts from the employees, who are generally guided through directive leadership. (Khalid Al-Yahya, Richard Vengroff, 2005)

The Workforce Related Challenges for Organization
In the spheres of understanding organization behavior one has to pay heed to the ongoing changes in the business environment on a holistic perspective across the globe. The world in many ways is becoming flat, enabled through better communication technology. There is a prevalence of the globalization phenomenon, where businesses are truly operating beyond boundaries. There is also now the employees need for attaining work-life balance, as employees now have more work and less time off, owed to high outreaching growth targets set by hyper-growth oriented companies like Dubai Holding Company.

These factors part of the integral planning process for future growth plans at Dubai Holding Company. It is an important aspect to manage diversity in the organization and so is practiced by Dubai Holding Company. It is important to analyze and realize the benefits of a diverse workforce and so is done by the Dubai Holding Company. The company is not reluctant to hire employees from diverse cultural backgrounds as they believe it is the employee that becomes the backbone of an organization.

Dubai Holding Company is not a very different company from all the other that are operating around the globe and face the challenge of maintaining a healthy workforce that has optimum efficiency and effectiveness. In this scenario the Human Resource Department is actively involved in latest methodologies to bring out the best from the employees and make sure they are satisfied with their work and experience at the organization. In order to identify different needs of the work force regular surveys are conducted to get feedback from employees. Questionnaires are circulated in order to get a response from the employee about his or her experience at the organization. Focus groups are held to make the company a better place for the employees based on their own feedback regarding the current situation.

The field of organizational behavior helps shed some light upon the key internal workings of organizations internal structures. But even more importantly it gives us an insight upon how the human capital of an organization is performing what it is required. In the Middle Eastern region of Dubai organizations have been performing very well in the international business community. The organizational behavior of such companies is greatly influenced by the organizational cultures that have developed over the years. The organizational culture in turn is directly influence by the cultural heritage of the region.

Thus, the local culture of the people of Dubai directly influences how and what people do within the spheres of a business organization. Values and clear communication of future vision is also critical to set the direction and scope of the organizations future growth targets. Amongst the most important factors, leadership directly influences organizational culture. In case of Middle Eastern companies, also the case for Dubai Holding Company, there is prevalence of high power distance and an authoritative style of leadership and organizational behavior model is identified in the region. The fact of decision-making dynamics is that in these regions decision-making is highly centralized and teams are also structured to have hierarchical distances within themselves. Additionally, in case of Middle Eastern companies and especially Dubai Holding Group, workforce diversity is an important concern in managing organizational behavior and goal attainment. There is a large influx of Asian immigrants and management is now being trained to tackle the issues of cultural differences. Accordingly, concerns about the impact of work-life balance and globalization of resource availability are also of concern in managing behavior, performance and satisfaction of members of business organizations.   

The significance of studying Dubai Holding Company for gaining insight about Middle Eastern Organizational Behavior patterns is simply exhibited by the overall presence of the company in the economic development of the region. The sheer size and scope of the organization helps one gain close insight upon complex organizational behavior. Additionally, this company is a model company from the region as it is specifically not an old establishment, and is more forward-looking in its overall direction and strategies for the ultimate appraisal of Dubais status as a business hub of the world. Thus, as a student of organizational behavior this company presents a very good case study upon recent developments in the Middle Eastern region, in the field of business, economics and industry.

Human resource development and its intervention in terms of providing training facilities to remodel their business line is an important aspect for companies in todays work environment. HRD practitioners and managers have realized the immediate requirement to shape their employees by providing them sophistication in various traininglearning methods which are available. This spurt in the training need arise due to increase in the education of practitioners through various educational excellences and professional development systems. HRD practitioners have thus succeeded in sophisticating the facilities required for training and professional development in terms of learning media, learning resources and learning services. This training drive among the HRD managers has made knowledge creation to emerge amongst employees in organizations which has been complemented by technological advancements (Sadler-Smith, E. 2006).
   
Companies adopt several training methods and approaches to train their employees namely training in classroom (discussions, seminars, lectures, experiential techniques, audiovisual methods), on the job training (face-to-face training, coaching, mentoring) and computer-based-training or online training (includes computer-aided instruction, training on intranet and intelligent computer-assisted instruction) (DeSimone, R  Werner, J. 2008).

Scope of the Topic is limited towards understanding the dimensions of online training and face-to-face training approaches adopted by companies.

Research has clearly indicated that there should be an appropriate balance between both online and face-to-face training to extract maximum output from the employee. Both forms of training need to complement each other and not substitute which clearly indicates the necessity of a proper bond between the conduct of online and face-to-face training. At times, classroom training becomes cumbersome and hence companies assign employees with online job training by connecting via web based or computer based applications to enhance their learning. In multi-national organizations, the employee base is scattered at different locations and hence to reach them out on a single platform, companies require implementing online job training instead of arranging for multiple face-to-face training lectures. This eliminates the process of training them individually on occasions where all the employees across the country meet up on official meets and conferences and instead they can have fruitful discussions on the implications of the online training towards their job (McIntyre, E. 2009).

Topic Discussion
Theory and research supports a proper balance of online and face-to-face training methods which indicates that one cannot be done without the other and should not substitute either. For example if any group requires skills to develop their problem solving abilities, then the company can either train them online as well as train them personally face-to-face as a group to develop their group dynamics. Usually, this balancing act is adopted by companies as online training media is required during the initial pre-training processes as part of the preliminary process which later should be followed by a one-to-one interaction session (McIntyre, E. 2009).

Advantages and Disadvantages of Online and Face-to-Face Training
Companies state that a combination of online training and face-to-face training is a must as each one has its own advantages and disadvantages and incorporating the advantages of both would yield efficient results. Research also analyzed the suggestions of both the training methods from participants and instructors as indicated below and strongly supported the fact that it was real tougher to keep the attention level of the participants focused on the online class training. A.Online training program

(Participants have remarked that online media is dedicated through continuous weekly classes, conducts training and learning by reading various study material, training by interacting through online chats and discussion forums, giving space for individual learning process through the use of technology.
(However from the instructors viewpoint, online media would definitely motivate and judge the participants on a continuous and an ongoing process which involves preparation of the course material, coordination within the online chat and forum discussion, inflexible training hours as it is based on web application.

B.Face-to-Face training program
(Participants suggested that face-to-face training is restricted to a one room sitting and learning is through seeing and listening to the trainer, learning is enhanced by conducted small group discussions and getting instant feedback which helps the participants in structuring and realigning their processes.
(Instructors feel that face-to-face learning would involve preparing audio visual learning resources, commitment within a small group, incurring cost and time in traveling to the training spot for the trainer and preparation of the course handouts (McGovern, G. 2004).
   
It is seen that companies are moving away from classroom session training and incorporating much more computer based training programs for their employees which is a result of the information, communication, globalization and moreover the technology age. Thus face-to-face training could be used by companies to initially get the group acquainted to each other by way of interaction which later depending on the objective of the business could opt for online media training. Before incorporating online job training, companies should clearly identify the objective of training, is it that they require a lighter training on a CD or they would require an in-depth rigorous training or is training required on a personal touch (McIntyre, E. 2009).

Best Practices
Some of the best practices that have been known in the field of Human resource are in adopting the concept of humanizing e-learning. This indicates that companies who are combining the web based learning with a bit of personal touch by one on one interaction will be benefited the most as only by posting some learning modules online will not fetch any lasting impression in the minds of the employees. Companies need to organize online training first to make their employees understand the concepts of their organizations businesses and only then proceed towards the conduct of classroom training which will yield satisfactory results.

Thus they study the online courses at their own pace and time which prepares them with the background learning and the basic information required before actually practicing it face-to-face which will be more reward seeking for the company. This approach have been fruitful for participants as they were able to exchange ideas and actively respond and participate in the discussions of the class teaching which was the effect of the virtual training the employees had prior to the class sitting. Virtual classroom has also been initiated by firms to address a huge employee gathering which involves participants chatting online with their other co-employees and seeing each others written work by adopting a technology known as whiteboard software. Facilitators also have the leverage of shuttling between groups at one time and help solve the issues posted by the groups. However companies have learned that even such practices will not yield maximum hands-on practice for their employees if this doesnt result in a face-to-face training session where direct interaction with their mentors is looked at (Noe, R. 2004).

Company Approaches
ChemConnect is a company which states that there is no creativity involved in training unless the feel of e-HRM is provided to the employees. Therefore every employee joining them is first given training online via their intranet which is known asTour de Chem where-in just by a click of the mouse they get connected to the companies business leaders, their services, policies, procedures and their products.
Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a consulting company has also complemented this strategy and commented that e-HRM should make the best use of the internet technology which will be much more then just showing some video clips of the company  Combining online training with face-to-face training serves an important aspect for both the company and the employee. The employee before joining itself can avail the benefit of online training through the use of username and password and email address provided by the firm and the company itself will save on the cost and time for conducting training once they actually join. Subsequently their virtual or online training knowledge is judged in a classroom session by way of personal interactions with their trainer.

The acquaintances with their future company have been built for the employee much before they enter the company which has been possible only because of online services and the age of technology. Virtual touch plus personal touch is the best method for development of the employee as in-depth employee training takes place in a class where by individuals clues are taken further for better learning (Noe, R. 2004).
Online training classrooms facilitate coordination of education across geographical boundaries and within the scope of certain time limitations.  Thus not only the basic company information on the web is offered but advanced training on soft skills, global team building capabilities, leadership skills, mentoring and coaching as well is available on a platter to meet the needs of the employee (Noe, R. 2004).

The Pedagogy
The pedagogy and the cost implications differ widely in both the techniques and hence they cannot substitute each other. Online distance learning pedagogy is restricted towards just online books and availability of online tutorial discussion without many innovative and effective learning methods. The face-to-face training pedagogy has been overwhelming for bringing out efficiency, effectiveness and innovativeness in the training program which has to be combined with technology to bring out higher results. Till date, these training methods should  complement because of the lack of e-pedagogy components available in online training programs such as online awareness, lack of know-how on planning and managing their acts online, comprehending the power of future and potential technological advancements and incorporating it in the training module, providing facility to give and receive feedback, enhancing team building efforts online, using multimedia feature of technology to develop classroom presentation, enhancing the learning and the experiential curve of the trainers, leverage to update and measure the results of the course material has to be made available to re-align employees from traditional methods towards online training programs (Bartley, S  Golek, J. 2004).
   
Online training has gained much importance because it leads to economizing the business process as millions of people require to be trained and re-trained and any mode of cost cutting would be welcomed for companies and online learning have helped to save huge money for the costs. Thus economic cost advantages and time benefit would be the need of the hour in these current economic conditions and therefore more and more companies are opting for this method in collaboration with classroom teaching. In this era of globalization, the entire world has become one market and online learning has helped in reaching newer markets in the national and international fronts thereby encouraging foreign relationships and partnerships to develop stronger business tie-ups (Bartley, S  Golek, J. 2004).

Online training and face-to-face training has thus been instrumental in shaping up employees confidence building capabilities and getting them tuned and aligned towards becoming better managers. Face-to-Face training has been complemented in the entire training methodology by providing a unique experience of enhancing non-verbal communication, body language, eye contacts and other presentation etiquettes which online training per-se would not provide if considered as a substitute.

Development and Training Paper

Creation of training materials comes after Costcos training team has established the overall goals and objectives of the training with an aim of accomplishing activities set in the training plan. The materials creation stage entails doing groundwork on any required facilities, preparing the audio-visuals, art work, handouts, as well as testing the training substance to ascertain whether it is understandable.

It is important that this team starts by evaluating any readily accessible materials to establish the possibility of taking them up or redesigning them into the training agenda. This will accommodate both in-house and outside developed materials. The readily available material should however be evaluated against the training program in order to determine whether it requires any adjustments or is irrelevant. They should also avoid replicating materials, as well as choosing material by the mere reason that it is accessible (Barritt, 1999)
Where training materials are not readily available, Costco must think of ways of acquiring them. Its training personnel may consider attending a training session, being enlightened by an expert, doing research such as reading books, journals conducting surveys, and using any other available means of acquiring the information necessary. They must think about the costs and other resources such as time that are required in order to obtain the training materials. Sometimes this calls for adjustments in the budget of the training plan.

Materials should be created into short stuff that can be repackaged whenever a need arises. This helps the trainees to build a good understanding of the course and also develop the ability to re-use or even re-design this stuff in different training or education platforms. (Clark, 1989).  The training may be made available using a number of methods such as customizing it to suit the companys needs, use of intranet or internet (also called e-learning), use classroom training (instructor -led), or combine e-learning with the classroom methods.

It is imperative that a third party uses the materials in advance, in order to share their views or impressions on the materials created. The third party will also test the ease of understanding the documentation as well as the reviewing expenses incurred. Once training has taken place, an evaluation should be conducted to determine its effectiveness. A questionnaire could be used to determine how the learners view the training, including what they learnt and the delivery process. There is also a need to establish the learnt skills or actions that they apply on their  jobs, as well as change in performance or productivity that has been achieved after training. Materials creation is very important if Costco is to achieve any positive results in training.

Stakeholder Management

One of the initial arguments that Bendell (2000) has espoused in the first chapter of his book was about the concept of globalization in which Bendell critically assessed the meaning and implication of the term. Citing what others were saying about the term globalization, Bendell noted that the term globalization is not new suggesting that the fluidity of the term has led to a debate about what is really true about globalization.
   
Given the above concept, this paper will attempt to shed light about what really are the arguments raised by Bendell, what are his contributions, and the areas the writer has made these contribution. As one could notice upon reading from the first few lines of the first chapter, Bendell himself was raising his own argument regarding the use of the term globalization contending that globalization is simply a deepening of the trend towards internalization which has waxed and waned over the last century (Bendell, p. 32). In view of this, this paper will be a critical review of Bendells work and will try to identify in what areas the author has great contribution. Thus, the paper will also be a critical analysis and at the same a summary of the authors main agenda in his work.

A brief review of the main content   
As mentioned earlier, one of the key issues that the author has discussed in his book is the term globalization. Indeed the idea that Bendell has raised provides a legitimate avenue by which the term globalization should be viewed. Currently, globalization is seen in a more positive outlook. While this paper does not suggest a pessimistic view of the term globalization, yet it appears that it is unavoidable to talk about the negative aspect of globalization given what Bendell has discussed. According to Bendell, the challenges generated by the growth in cross-border economic transactions in trade, production and finance are multiple and operate at the level of international institutions, the state, social movements and the private sector. There is a fear that the imperatives of competing in the global market place force governments to prioritise economic objectives at the expense of environmental protection (p. 32).
   
Another major issue which is part of the main content of this chapter is the environmental concern in an age of globalization. In this issue, Bendell cited the slow progress of the result of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in 1997 on environmental protection. He contended that the cause of the poor implementations of the goals of the UN conference on environmental protection was the inter-state reforms that are geared towards higher direct returns of investments. Bendell pointed out that the transnational national groups (or the TNCs) want to affect world politics in whatever ways they can they are not oriented merely towards influencing statesthey engage in traditional state oriented politics only to the degree and extent necessary to the dilemmas at hand (p. 33).
   
The failure of the NGOs to deliver environmental protection in view of their approach paved the way for the growth of more radical groups which confronted the corporate sector regarding the increasing institutionalization and bureaucratization of certain parts of the environmental movement. Apparently, institutionalization and bureaucratization hinders the speedy response of the environmental movement towards environmental degradation. What Bendell was actually pointing out were the various efforts towards creating or promoting a global solution on the environmental degradations in an effort to create a sustainable environment and sustainable world.
   
Quite obviously however, Bendell blamed on the Transnational companies the failure of the various efforts to create an environment protection amidst the environmental degradation taking place in various parts of the globe. What Bendell was trying to point was that the political impact of these TNCs, under the auspices of the various international trade agreements such as the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Bendell in effect, regarded this moved by the TNCs was manipulation of the states where they operate as the host country are tied and bound by the provisions of such international trade agreements and by the threats of those multinational companies of industry relocation if they imposed restriction on them in view of environmental concern.
   
Likewise, the evaluation made by Peter Newell regarding the emergence of what he called the new politics in the age of globalization gives a broader concept of a new approach towards establishing a more coherent relationship among non-government organizations and transnational corporation. Willey stated, Almost all intergovernmental organizations now accept, as a norm of world politics, that they must have working relationships with NGOs (p. 3). This relationship becomes significant as it allows non-government organization to influence both transnational corporations and governments in such a way that global economic affairs follow new social norms that regulate transnational corporations policy and activities. 

As Bendell (2000) put it, NGOs are actively working to develop international behavioural norms from which companies find it increasingly difficult to escape, wherever they operate (p. 32, 33). The integration of both legal as well as ethical responsibilities being endorsed by non-government organizations to transnational corporations is seen as a powerful tool in the achievement of organizational goals and objectives because of the insistence of social obligation which pertains to the CSR or corporate social responsibility. To explain this, Hearn and Michelson (2006) wrote, Organizations that act in a socially responsible way might enhance their image and reputation among their principal stakeholders in the marketplace, thereby improving financial returns (p. 248).  This only explains how vital the relationship of TNCs and NGOs is towards success in sustainable development goals and objectives as Mintzer put it, As NGOs strengthen their technical and policy capabilities, they are granted greater access, albeit often informally, to the decision-making levels of international processes (p. 272).

Identify the main areas where it makes a contribution
Primarily, Bendells arguments regarding the integration of environmental protection consciousness provides a wider spectrum as it extends its influence from government to transnational corporation. Likewise, NGOs ability to influence is governed by the fact they do not engage in violence as a political tactic nor involve in politically motivated acts thus it is defined as An NGO is any non-profit-making, non-violent, organized group of people who are not seeking government office (Willey, p. 4, 5).
   
Bendell explained that previous attempts to regulate the policies of companies responsible for environmental concerns referring to 21 Agenda and the UNCTC Agenda were a failure however, its replacement  the UNCTAD (the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) provided a binding commitment which in turn produced cooperation and collaboration among industries in the international level. Bendell noted the growth in voluntary agreements, self-monitoring, and the proliferation of sustainability audits of corporations by external consultants (2000, p. 34). In effect, the efforts made by TNCs as Bendell recalled, are simply to affect world politics in whatever ways they can (2000, p. 33). 
   
Started as an advocacy group in the late 19th century and early 20th century aiming at protecting natural areas, it grew further covering other areas of environmental issues such as acid rain and global warming andor climate change.  In this regards, many government and non-government efforts have adhered spearheading sustainable development that influenced the economic sector, primarily the industry which are seen actively participating in this endeavor in recent years. Thus, the relationship that goes on to pursue worldwide sustainable development is a process that begins with the initiatives made by the NGOs which makes efforts directly influencing the United Nations and transnational corporations.  United Nations in response coordinates the matter among states and countries that make regulations on environmental protection. It clearly illustrates that the industry sector possesses the greatest responsibility in the issue of sustainable development because of the pressures coming from non-government organizations and local governments. Dauvergne quoted,  economic factors have come in recent years to be predominant in explaining industry positions on environmental issues (p. 290).
   
The contributions as a result of this collaboration are noted in several achievements made by different sectors considering the fact that government efforts are less compared to the efforts made by TNCs and NGOs.  In the business sector for instance, voluntary guidelines on the environment was endorsed by the International Chamber of Commerce or known as the Business Charter for Sustainable Development. At the same time, the transnational corporations voluntarily involved themselves as part of the solution to environmental problems (Bendell, 2000, p. 34), thus making themselves partners with government and non government in pursuit of sustainable development, which is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs. Some NGOs on the other hand, has derived strategic turn making use of issues of institutionalisation and bureaucratisation (Bendell, p. 34), which is against the concept of globalization that hampers environmental movements.  Bendell noted that NGOs made partnership with UNCED as a strategy in pursuing change in company behavior instead of relying on government regulations and activities (p. 34).  As a result, there is an increase in groups targeting companies in the pursuit of sustainable development.
   
Likewise, Bendells arguments on sustainable development will similarly impact the government sector because of its failure to impose rules that govern environmental issues as a result of globalization.  As he noted in the early part of the chapter that, There is a fear that the imperatives of competing in the global marketplace force governments to prioritise economic objectives at the expense of environmental protection (p. 32).  The outcome of this is that, local governments have less control over institutionalizing sustainable development with non-government organizations and with business sectors.
Evaluate this contribution (argument)
   
The contribution of Bendells argument lies primarily on the understanding of the impact of globalization on the international concern on environmental degradation spearheaded by the NGOs and United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. The issue raised by Bendell on the status of the various international efforts on the environmental protection should be held timely and appropriate given the existing economic and environmental condition.
   
Bendell mentioned about the impact of economic manipulations and exploitation of the TNCs that result to environmental degradation, in view of the companies greater freedom to choose where to base their business (p. 35). He also cited the various efforts of the NGOs and the United Nations towards the promotion of the international environmental protection. However, he failed to point out what was the consequence of this environmental degradation as a result of this economic manipulation and exploitation which are the basic argument for upholding environmental protection. According to Cross (1999), failure to address existing environmental conditions is likely to result in economic and political instability, life-threatening health effects, and possible international conflict (p. 134).
   
Bendell, though, provided another significant contribution in the area of providing solution to the seemingly irreconcilable conflict of interests. Apparently, what Bendell were suggesting in his discussion of the increasing power of the consumer is that everyone has the responsibility towards the future of the environment in particular and the world in general. This could be done by exercising threats of boycotts against companies that contributes to the degradation of the environment. That is, every individual has the duty to protect the environment to makes the world livable. Bendell should therefore be credited for this idea if indeed, he was thinking of the individual efforts to address the issue of sustainable development in terms of the economic concern in view of the impact of globalization.

Consider developments in subsequent years
Finally, Bendell pointed out that the result of governments failure to regulate TNCs has strengthened the cooperation of NGOs and TNCs, which adopts a solutions-oriented approach that often provides reforms rather than orientation on environmental problems.  The globalization therefore has placed NGOs in an important position as they pursue their confrontations, co-operative approaches, which for Bendell produce positive results.  He attributed these results to the credibility, skill and energy of some ENGOs to work alongside business and other partners (p. 37), in order to persuade these TNCs to participate.  As a matter of fact, he noted some of these developments among companies that by integrating business approaches to environmental issues in many cases these companies become more proactive in their approaches. 
Globalization has changed the way TNCs perceive alliance with NGOs. Intentionally, these TNCs see partnership with NGOs has more benefits than compliance with government policies. Bendell had quoted from a source that,  in order to pre-empt government regulations, firms often seek to develop their own framework of commitments and obligations, often with the help of NGOs (p. 37), who are able partners in this endeavor.  This condition is even heightened by the fact that public is generally more trusting of NGOs than business (Bendell, p. 37). 
   
This growing situation clearly explains that local governments begin to lose their influence and control over TNCs which is a negative impact of globalization.  One could expect as a consequence that this partnership with NGOs will play around government policies which are less powerful if international norms are to consider. 

On the other hand, the partnership could be advantageous to both business and NGOs through which they can strengthen each others interest.  TNCs in particular can enhance their reputation and image among their stakeholders which in turns provide financial gains on their part.

Similarly, the rise of globalization as Bendell argued, gives consumers the greater power to choose that put pressures on companies to improve their products and services.  Thus, the impact of international trade and market on companies compels the companies to seek support or engage with NGOs in their programs in order to influence consumer choice. The relationship therefore is seen as give-and-take as they work within the norm and expectations dictated by the game of globalization. Bendell wrote, The challenge for NGOs monitoring the global activities of TNCs is to generate norms and expectations by which multinational companies operating in a number of countries feel bound in each of their operations (p. 37). 

Apparently, many of multinational companies used environmental issues in their promotional campaigns.  The Body Shop for instance trades on its green image, which stated, We challenged the notion that any business can be environmentally friendly (Schmidheiny  Zorraquin, p. 17).  Similarly, Schmidheiny and Zorraquin conducted study on multinational corporations in Europe, South Africa, South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan that sought to find out their level of knowledge about environmental issues.  It is surprising that 82 percent of the respondents claimed that their company has recognized sustainability (p. 18).  Although there are instances that they do not understand fully the real concept of sustainable development, the level of awareness regarding the importance of compliance is high by 86 percent.
Make some concluding remarks.
   
There are many issues that must be taken into consideration in order to observe harmony in the partnership in such a way that both parties may engage more in a more serious proliferation of sustainable development considering the fact that there is already scarcity of resources in the coming years. One problem that Schmidheiny and Zorraquin had noticed as suggested in the survey was the confusion of some multinational companies on how to integrate the environmental issues in their corporate strategies and activities. To address this, both TNCs and NGOs must take the responsibility to heighten public awareness about environmental issues and about sustainable development by means of this, companies can easily derive ways and methodology in their strategy as what other companies do.

In addition, TNCs in their efforts towards globalizing their business must promote social responsibility through which more strategies may be drawn. Bonanno and Constance recognized social responsibility as a strategy is about good citizenship which contains four-component strategies such as corporate governance, community development, health and safety, and environmental concerns (p. 32).  Adopting any of these components, TNCs may be able to promote sustainable development that coincides with their companys primary interest which is profit-making.
   
In the same way, it is important also to acknowledge the role of government in this endeavor.  Government sector must find its place in the globalization of environmental issues. Schmidheiny and Zorraquin suggested that government can propose clear, consistent, tax neutral and common sense targets for environmental performance and then give business the freedom to innovate and deliver the desired performance (p. 19). At the height of globalization, government must maintain their position regarding this issue in order to establish a community that supports environmental protection. This could be achieved by means of compliance with the protocol made during international conferences on sustainable development.
  
 Hence, Bendells arguments have contributed in the enhancement of awareness about sustainable development in the age of globalization, particularly the important role of NGOs and TNCs in actively promoting sustainable development in every state.  This is evident as many large corporations adopt the principles in their promotional scheme and corporate goal.