Cross-cultural Competence

by Magala; Slawomir

• ISBN13: 9780415349666
• ISBN10: 0415349664
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2005-09-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Why are cultural differences significant? How can understanding them contribute to business success? Cross-cultural management is a crucial challenge for the successful development of international business, yet it is often badly understood and poorly implemented. Misunderstandings arise because culture affects both individuals and organizations, yet attempts to understand, explain and interpret these differences have often been hidden between a welter of conflicting theories and paradigms. This book aims to provide much-needed guide to both the theory and practice of cross-cultural management. Using an innovative approach combining theory, tool-kits and applications, this book takes a fresh look at this complex topic. It is about recognizing cross-cultural differences, accounting for them in managerial communications and bridging them in a variety of negotiations. Each section within the book explores its themes within a common framework, comprising an exploration of dominant andalternative theoretical approaches, a research-based tool-kit exploring responses, and finally a real-life case of a multicultural situation of clashing values with a critical description of an attempted solution. At the end of the book, the author has developed an innovative approach to teaching cultural sensitivity via exploration of a number of classic film masterpieces. As a crucial part of the global business environment and as essential aspect of organizational understanding, this book will be welcomed by masters-level students of international business, HRM and organizational behavior, as well as executives and consultants involved in cross-border negotiations and management.

Table of Contents

Introduction: the shadow of the Tower of Babel	1	(5)
The ends, means and meanings of cultures: the language connection	6	(41)
Ends of cultural software	6	(8)
Means -- objective knowledge?	14	(14)
Meanings: learning cultural codes as languages	28	(11)
Ends, means and meanings of culture: a language connection	39	(8)
Professional bureaucracy in action: the case of the BBC	41	(6)
M. Harris
V. Wegg-Prosser
Clashing civilizations: the global connection	47	(50)
Cross-cultural aspects of globalization	47	(9)
Two Cassandras of globalization: Huntington and Ritzer	56	(14)
Cross-cultural compromises and multiculturalism	70	(15)
Shifting cultural identities: the global connection	85	(12)
The case of integrating Kazakh immigrants in Poland	91	(6)
Z. Rejmer
Networking organizations: the management connection	97	(76)
Organizational cultures by design	97	(19)
The police change project case	113	(3)
G. Jacobs
A. Keegan
J. Christe-Zeyse
I. Seeberg
B. Runde
Cultural due diligence in mergers and acquisitions	116	(10)
The case of cross-border Nordic mergers	122	(4)
A.-M. Søderberg
I. Bjorkman
Knowledge, management, criticism	126	(16)
The case of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies	138	(4)
T. Verduijn
From controlling to coaching: democracy beyond the factory (office) door	142	(12)
A case of panoptic control in a public company	150	(4)
C. Hoedemaekers
Manager as narrator: the organizational discourse	154	(19)
The case of managerial discourse in countries divided by common language or practice: Austria versus Germany	165	(8)
F. Bruck)
A. Kainzbauer
Creative communication: the multimedia connection	173	(29)
Media are the message: the shift to digital communication	173	(10)
The uses of extremes or Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence	183	(8)
Power and ideology: Underground	191	(5)
Dynamics of socialization or democracy behind the factory door: Twelve Angry Men	196	(6)
Conclusion: managing cross-cultural competence	202	(9)
Notes	211	(18)
References	229	(9)
Index	238