Managing Across Cultures

by Schneider, Susan C.; Schneider, Susan C.; Barsoux, Jean-Louis

• ISBN13: 9780273646631
• ISBN10: 027364663X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-11-19
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

Managing Across Cultures Susan C. Schneider and Jean-Louis Barsoux As more and more companies have a global reach, managing cultural differences is increasingly a part of every job. This book demonstrates how culture affects management practice, from organizational structure to strategy and human resource management. Drawing upon evidence from the AUTHORs' research, it encourages managers to reconsider, explore and transfer alternative practices across national boundaries. As well as providing an insight into other cultures, it will also provide readers with an increased awareness of their own culture. In the second EDITION of this book, work has been developed on the impact of national culture on effective management and of utilizing differences to create competitive advantage. Using tools of observation, questioning and interpretation, the book challenges assumptions and encourages critical reflection on the influences of culture in business. Key features: bull; bull;New and updated case studies and examples interspersed throughout bull; bull;Strong theoretical foundations are linked to highly practical application bull; bull;Expanded coverage of geographical perspectives and 'virtual teams' bull; bull;Improved design, layout and 'sign-posting' of content Managing Across Cultures will appeal both to managers and executives working in an international business environment, as well as to students on a growing number of MBA and other undergraduate, postgraduate and post-experience courses. Susan C. Schneider is Professor of Human Resource Management at HEC University of Geneva, Switzerland, and Visiting Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD, France. As well as her research into cross-cultural and strategic management, she has actively assisted in the internationalization of many companies.Jean-Louis Barsoux is Senior Research Fellow at INSEAD, France. He is the AUTHOR of several books on culture and diversity in management, and has written for Harvard Business Review and the Financial Times.

Author Biography

Susan C. Schneider is Professor of Human Resource Management at HEC University of Geneva, Switzerland, and Visiting Professor of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD, France.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Acknowledgements	xvi
PART ONE THE MEANING OF CULTURE	1	(80)
The undertow of culture	3	(17)
Converging cultures?	3	(4)
Culture as a source of competitive advantage/disadvantage	7	(4)
Recognizing culture	11	(5)
Discovering cultural advantage	16	(2)
Notes	18	(2)
Exploring culture	20	(31)
The search for meaning	20	(4)
Artifacts and behavior	24	(6)
Beliefs and values	30	(4)
Basic assumptions	34	(12)
Interpreting patterns of culture	46	(3)
Notes	49	(2)
Interacting spheres of culture	51	(30)
Cultural spheres of influence	53	(23)
Creating competitive advantage: interacting spheres	76	(1)
Notes	77	(4)
PART TWO CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICE	81	(102)
Culture and organization	85	(33)
Different schools, different cultures	85	(2)
Culture and structure	87	(15)
Culture and processes	102	(7)
Transferability of best practice? Alternative approaches	109	(5)
Notes	114	(4)
Culture and strategy	118	(30)
The cultural roots of strategy	118	(4)
Cultural models of strategy	122	(5)
The tale of two banks	127	(3)
Interaction effects	130	(3)
Strategic implications of culture	133	(6)
Appendix: Internationalization -- the role of national culture	139	(4)
Notes	143	(5)
Culture and human resource management	148	(35)
The cultural meaning of HRM	149	(2)
Choosing from the HR menu	151	(19)
Making HRM meaningful across cultures	170	(6)
Questions to ask	176	(2)
Notes	178	(5)
PART THREE MANAGING CULTURAL DIFFERENCES	183	(138)
The `international' manager	185	(31)
Lessons from abroad	186	(4)
Competencies for managing internationally	190	(10)
Developing cultural competencies	200	(4)
Personal strategies for managing across cultures	204	(8)
Suggestions for managing differences	212	(1)
Notes	212	(4)
The `multicultural' team	216	(37)
Why multicultural teams?	217	(5)
Task strategies	222	(7)
Process strategies	229	(10)
Reweaving differences: Joseph's coat	239	(2)
Suggestions for managers	241	(1)
Questions to ask	242	(2)
Appendix: Virtual teams	244	(5)
Notes	249	(4)
The `global' organization	253	(37)
Strategies for managing cultural differences	254	(2)
Ignoring cultural differences: business is business	256	(3)
Minimizing cultural differences	259	(7)
Utilizing differences: going global?	266	(5)
Less global than we thought	271	(4)
Creating culturally strategic alliances	275	(2)
Gaining competitive advantage from cultural differences	277	(7)
Suggestions for managing cultural diversity	284	(1)
Questions to ask	285	(1)
Notes	285	(5)
Citizens of the world: business ethics and social responsibility	290	(31)
Taking care of business	291	(1)
Why firms exist	292	(2)
Making economic versus moral sense	294	(3)
The globalization imperative	297	(3)
Are ethics culture-free?	300	(9)
Strategies for managing ethical dilemmas	309	(3)
Global citizens: the role of managers and companies	312	(3)
Towards a global civilization	315	(2)
Notes	317	(4)
Index	321

Excerpts

This is a book about managing across cultures: the threats and opportunities, the problems and possibilities. Rather than experiencing cultural differences as threats to be overcome or as unfortunate remnants of history to be endured, we challenge the reader to experience and enjoy the richness of cultural differences. Rather than creating a cultural melting pot, we need to design organizations as cultural mosaics in which each element preserves its unique value. Those concerned with managing across culturesare no longer just the jet-setting elite, the corporate trouble-shooters, and battle-scarred expatriates. International responsibilities and contacts are increasingly widespread through companies, and need not even imply international travel. The office of today (and even more so of tomorrow) consists of people of many different cultures working together. Appreciating and being able to manage cultural differences at home and abroad is becoming more and more a part of everyone''s job. This book is not only for the novice preparing for the first time to jump into the sea of international business. It is also for those experienced swimmers who have ridden the waves and have battled the force that was trying to pull them under. Often the realization of the power of culture comes only in retrospect. Many of those who survived, and those who did not, can take this opportunity to reflect on their experience, to capture the learning so that it can be passed on to others. This learning can be used not only for helping to develop other international managers but also for helping teams and organizations to navigate better in global waters. Many experienced international managers are often quite frustrated with head office, and particularly Human Resource (HR) departments, in their lack of appreciation of what it takes to be effective in international business endeavors. In this book we draw upon a broad and growing literature on culture and management. Bringing together past observations and research, we discover national differences in management practice, which in fact, have attracted attention at different times in the international business community. For example, ''Japanese'' emphasis on ''corporate culture'' gained popularity in the 1980s as did ''just in time'' and total quality management (TQM) in the 1990s. The ''American'' practices of scientific management at the beginning of the twentieth century and performance management at its end have also been widely diffused. Indeed, in Europe, the current trend to implement performance management practices and to improve shareholder value is often critiqued and rejected as ''Americanization''. Given the dramatic changes in the ways of doing business, the economic and political upheavals, and the greater interdependencies called for in doing business across borders, there is the never-ending search for a ''new'' model of management. Current contenders (in addition to the Japanese and American models described above) are the Chinese family business model for its use of networks, the ''northern European'' model for its concern for employee and social welfare, and the ''Latin'' model for its emphasis on flexibility and resourcefulness. However, rather than to name the winner in this ''best practice'' contest, the book seeks to explore the cultural assumptions underlying these models. By exploring these assumptions we are forced to question to what extent these models cantravel across borders. We have to consider whether these models should be introduced, if and how they have to be adapted, and to what extent they may even be refined and improved by local practice, thus bringing back to headquarters (HQ) something other than a contribution to profits. We need to recognize that these underlying, and often hidden, cultural assumptions give rise to different beliefs and values about the practice of management. These assumptions are also manifest in the behavior of managers and employees, as well as in our everyday working environment, from the design of the buildings we enter, the interior office, to the very design of job descriptions, policies and procedures, structures and strategies. We need to realize that these values and beliefs, behaviors and practices have different meanings making them more or less acceptable in different cultures. Different behavior and artifacts may be needed to produce the desired effect. Two potential traps in managing across cultures are to assume similarities and to assume differences. The first trap is often the case in British/American (US) collaboration, where shared culture tends to be overestimated on the basis of shared language, and perhaps even more so between North Americans: US and Canada. Also, managers who have been successful in ''dealing with the natives'' on previous assignments in one part of the world may assume that the same behavior will be successful elsewhere. The second trap is to overestimate differences.For example, a German manager negotiating in Sao Paulo, Brazil, might assume that the culture will be very different, expecting a carnival atmosphere, having been briefed on Brazilian culture before leaving home. Our intent is not to rank countries on a set of cultural dimensions, nor to provide readers with handy tips for doing business in Paris or Tokyo. Arriving at headquarters in France, we cannot assume that because we are in a French company we can expect, for example, greater emphasis on formality and hierarchy. After all, this company may be atypical, or unique due to the influence of differences in regional (north versus south, Paris versus provinces), industry (cosmetics versus banking), corporate (marketing versus R&D driven), and functional (manufacturing versus finance) cultures. Culture can cut many ways. Rather than knowing what to do in country X, or whether national or functional cultures are more important in multicultural teams, what is necessary is to know how to assess the potential impact of culture, national or otherwise, on performance. With the aim of improving effectiveness in international business, this book focuses on nationalculture. Our purpose is to provide a framework for analyzing culture, a set of key dimensions which can nonetheless be used to diagnose culture in other contexts, as will be discussed in Chapter 3. The proposed framework provides a map, a guide, suggesting where to look, what questions to ask (how and of whom), and how to interpret the pattern of responses and observations. Only then can we x the implications for designing structure, strategy, and human resource management (HRM) and devise strategies to manage cultural differences as managers, as and as companies facing the challenge of globalization. While much has been written comparing management practice in the United States told Japan, we would like to focus mole attention on Europe. This is not just for the sake of Americans and Asians with an interest in Europe, to recognize the diversity within, but also for Europeans themselves, who often recognize these differences, but do not understand the reasons behind them and fail to consider the consequences. Furthermore, we draw upon our own experience of living with cultural differences on a daily basis, through either personal circumstances -- born and raised in one country but now living in another, having lived with parents and partners of different cultural backgrounds, or professional circumstances -- working at INSEAD (European Institute for Business Administration) and at HEC University of Geneva, where multiculturalism is a way of life, interacting with students, managers, and professors from around the world, and where multiculturalism is considered to be a competitive advantage. This experience has forced us to challenge our own assumptions, to consider how our culture influence