intercultural management Essay Example

(finally!): Western management training in Eastern Europe

Snejina Michailova and Graham Hollinshead 10 Intercultural integration in Sino-Brazilian joint ventures Guilherme Azevedo v 1 18 29 41 53 64 77 89 101 112 vi Contents 11 Divorcing globalization from Orientalism: resembling economies and global value added Iris Rittenhofer 12 Culture and negotiated meaning: implications for practitioners Sonja A. Sackmann, Laurence Romani and Henriett Primecz Index 125 139 155 Contributors Guilherme Azevedo recently completed his PhD in Strategy and Organization at McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

Christoph Barmeyer is a Professor of Intercultural Communication at the University of Passau, Germany, and also an Affiliated Professor of Ecole de Management (EM) Strasbourg/University of Strasbourg, France. His research focuses on the concepts of globalization and culture and includes studies on international business, organizational anthropology, anthropological perspectives of globalization, interpretation of cultures, and business development in emerging economies. In addition to his academic work, he has also taught undergraduate and MBA programs in both Brazil and Canada. Christoph Barmeyer is associated with the research center Humans and Management in Society (EA1347).

He obtained his PhD from the University of Saarbrucken, Germany and has authored multiple books and articles in the realm of intercultural management, international transfer, and international human resource management with a particular emphasis on French-German relations. In addition to working as a consultant, he has served as a board member of the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (SIETAR) in Germany, which is a global organization for interculturalists.

Sylvie Chevrier is a Full Professor of Management at Universite d'Evry Val d'Essonne, France and is associated with the Institut de Recherche en Gestion, the research center for management at Universite Paris-Est.

Having obtained a

PhD from the University of Quebec at Montreal in Canada, she specializes in cross-cultural management. Her research centers on ethnographic studies conducted in various cross-cultural work environments including European projects, development cooperation initiatives, and multinational corporations. She has authored numerous books addressing the management of cross-cultural work teams. Currently, she holds the position of director for a Masters degree program focused on International Purchases and Distribution.

Lisbeth Clausen, an Associate Professor at Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, works at the Department of Intercultural Management and Communication. Additionally, she serves as the Vice-Director of the Asian Studies Programme. Clausen collaborates with Danish multinationals on the Cultural Intelligence as a Strategic Resource Project. Her research focuses on Japan, where she has lived and conducted research for ten years. She specializes in media and intercultural communication, Japanese management, business strategy, and corporate communication.

The author has written books such as Global News Production and Intercultural Corporate Communication: Five Corporate Cases in Japan (2007, Copenhagen Business School Press). She has also contributed articles to international journals and encyclopaedia. Eric Davoine is a Professor at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, specializing in Human Resource Management and Intercultural Management. He earned his PhD from the Universities of Freiburg, Germany and Lyon, France. He has authored multiple books and articles on international human resource management and cross-cultural management, with a specific focus on French-German issues. Currently, he serves as Vice-President of the Association Francophone de Gestion des Ressources Humanities (AGRH), an association of French-speaking human resource management researchers. Graham Hollinshead holds the position of Reader in International Human Resource Management at the University of Hertfordshire Business School in the UK. His research interests encompass

international and comparative human resource management, international knowledge transfer, cross-cultural management, and critical international management studies.

The author's academic work has been published in journals such as Human Relations, Journal of World Business, Management Learning, and the European Journal of Education. He has provided consultation services for Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) and the UN Sponsored European Center for Peace and Development (ECPD) to enhance management capabilities in Serbia. He is also the author of various books and book chapters, including International and Comparative Human Resource Management (2009, McGraw-Hill). Jeanette Lemmergaard, an Associate Professor at the University of Southern Denmark, specializes in Strategic Human Resource Management and Internal Communication.

Her research on the influence of organizational norms and values on decision-making has gained her recognition. Esteemed international journals like Employee Relations, Journal of Business Ethics, and Service Industries Journal have published her work. At present, she is dedicating her efforts towards investigating dysfunctional leadership, organizational gossip, and the psychological work environment. Furthermore, she is collaborating with Sara Louise Muhr on a joint project named Critical Perspectives on Leadership: Emotion, Toxicity, and Dysfunction—a forthcoming publication in Edward Elgar's New Horizons in Leadership series.

Jasmin Mahadevan holds a Master's Degree in Languages, Business, and Cultural Studies with a specialization in Southeast Asia from the University of Passau, Germany, as well as a Doctoral degree in Cultural Anthropology and Intercultural Communication from the LudwigMaximilians-University in Munich. She currently works as a Professor of International and Cross-Cultural Management at the School of Engineering, Department of Business Administration and Engineering (BAE), at Pforzheim University, Germany. In addition to her teaching role, she is also the Head of the BAE Programme International Management.

Snejina

Michailova, a Bulgarian national with a PhD from Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, serves as an intercultural trainer and consultant for technical companies. She currently holds the position of Professor of International Business at the University of Auckland Business School, New Zealand. Her research focuses on international management and knowledge management.

Her academic work has been published in various journals including Academy of Management Executive, Business Strategy Review, California Management Review, Employee Relations, European Management Journal, Journal of Knowledge Management, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of World Business, International Management, Management International Review, Long Range Planning, Management Learning and Organizational Dynamics. Additionally,

she has also edited academic books on knowledge governance (Oxford University Press), human resource management in Central and Eastern Europe (Routledge) and research methodologies in non-Western contexts (Palgrave Macmillan).

Sara Louise Muhr has an extensive background in academia and research. From 2001 to 2007, she was the Europe Editor of the Journal of World Business. Currently, Muhr serves as the Associate Editor at Critical Perspectives on International Business. In addition to her editorial roles, she is also a postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer at Lund University in Sweden.

Muhr's research focuses on critical perspectives on managerial identity and business ethics. She specifically explores challenges related to managing differences and expectations in flexible work environments.

Henriett has conducted research in different empirical settings, which include management consultancy, network organizations, and IT companies. Within these settings, she has emphasized various topics such as work-life subjectivity, gender issues, and leadership. Her research findings have been published in journals like Gender Work and Organization, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Management Decision, and Journal of Business Ethics. Additionally, Henriett has recently collaborated with Edward Elgar

to edit a book entitled "Ethics and Organizational Practice – Questioning the Moral Foundations of Management."

Primecz, an Associate Professor at Corvinus University of Budapest, x Contributors Hungary, specializes in cross-cultural management and organizational theory. Henriett obtained her business education at Janus Pannonius University in Pecs, Hungary, the Aarhus School of Business in Denmark, and WU Vienna in Austria. Additionally, she pursued sociology studies at the Central European University in Warsaw, Poland and conducted her doctoral research at the Judge Institute of Management Studies in Cambridge, UK. As a result, Henriett earned her PhD from the University of Pecs.

Since 1995, Henriett has taught Cross-Cultural Management at various schools and in different countries at various levels, including BSc, Master, Postgraduate, MBA, and PhD programs. She has authored multiple papers published in Hungarian and international journals such as the International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, Journal of Asia Business Studies, and Organizational Research Methods. Currently, she is collaborating with Loong Wong and Bettina Gehrke to organize a stream for the 7th Critical Management Studies Conference centered around the theme of ‘Critical View Across Cultures’.

Iris Rittenhofer is an Associate Professor and leads the Cultural Research Unit at ISEK, Aarhus School of Business and Social Sciences, Department of Business Communication, Aarhus University, Denmark. She has studied at six universities in four different countries and writes in three languages. Her work has appeared in various international journals including Forum: Qualitative Social Research, COMPARATIV, HERMES, and NORA. Her research focuses on cultural theories, globalization, market communication, and intercultural communication.

Laurence Romani is a Researcher at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Leadership, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden. She completed her PhD at the

same institution and focuses her research on cross-cultural management from a critical perspective. With over ten years of experience, she has taught Cross-Cultural Management with interpretive and critical perspectives in various European universities. Currently, she is involved in a research project concerning cross-cultural management research and training.

The author explores the potential theoretical contributions of feminist organizational studies to research on cross-cultural management. She takes a bi-paradigm approach in her investigation. Additionally, she is currently working on creating educational tools for cross-cultural management training. One of her recent publications is Relating to the Other (2010, LAP Publishing), and she has also published in the International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, Organizational Research Methods, and various book chapters. Sonja A. Sackmann holds a Chair in Organizational Behaviour at the University Bw Munich, Germany, Department of Economics, Management.

xi Organization Sciences, who is the Director of the Institute Developing Viable Organizations, is a contributor to this work. Their expertise in corporate/organizational culture, leadership, intercultural management, personal development, team development, and organizational development extends to national and multinational contexts.

In addition to their contributions as a contributor, xi Organization Sciences has authored books and published articles in reviewed journals. They have also made contributions to handbooks and edited volumes. Their teaching experiences include positions at various institutions such as the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles; St Gallen in Switzerland; Constance in Germany; Vienna; the European Business School (EBS) in Austria; and Shanghai in China.

She has held various positions at St Gallen Managementzentrum (MZSG), including Head of Research and Development, Partner, and Managing Partner. She obtained a PhD in Management from UCLA's Graduate School of Management, as

well as an MS and BS in Psychology from the University of Heidelberg in Germany. Throughout her academic journey, she was awarded prestigious scholarships such as Fulbright and Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), and received recognition including the Wechsler Fund Award, the Glady’s Byram Fellowship, and the best paper award from the Western Academy of Management.

On the other hand, Sampo Tukiainen currently holds a position as a Project Manager and Researcher at Aalto University School of Economics in Finland. He also completed his PhD at the same institution in 2011.

The writer's PhD thesis centered on examining how Finnish cultural identity is formed in cross-cultural interactions by studying project managers on international engineering projects. Currently, they hold the role of project manager in a European Union-funded research project that aims to establish cross-cultural innovation networks. Furthermore, their research interests encompass exploring the impact of culture on project management, start-up companies, military hierarchies, leadership, management consulting, and mergers and acquisitions.

Hela Yousfi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management and Organization at Paris Dauphine University (DRM), France. She earned her PhD from the University of Nanterre at Paris in 2006. Her expertise lies in the field of sociology of organizations, and she teaches graduate courses on crosscultural management, strategic management, and organization theory. Her research and publications are centered around the transfer of culture and management practices in North Africa and the Middle East, with a specific focus on Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. Moreover, Hela has extensive experience as a trainer in intercultural management.

Her work covers a range of topics such as culture, institutions, economic development, trust, crosscultural cooperation, and culture in critical management

perspectives.

Acknowledgements: We would like to express our gratitude to the numerous individuals and organizations who have made valuable contributions and provided support during the creation and writing of this book.

To start with, we want to thank the contributors for their exceptional input and unwavering dedication in completing this task. They have been by our side every step of the way as we transformed a collection of diverse, captivating, and impactful papers into a cohesive book.

We asked authors to cut their good papers in half, even though we understand the difficulty and pain that may come with it. We did this because we believe that short cases are best for teaching purposes, along with the publisher. This often meant that authors had to rewrite a new summary of the empirical material, analysis, and implications for practitioners. We appreciate the contributors' willingness to receive our editorial comments and their effort in rewriting and finalizing the chapters into a cohesive whole.

Thank you for your contribution and feedback. We received input from various academic audiences while completing this volume. The contributors played a vital role in finalizing the introduction, first chapter, and closing chapter (12th) by offering constructive comments and suggestions. We extend special thanks to Guilherme Azevedo for his detailed feedback. We are also grateful to colleagues who read sections of the book and provided valuable comments to enhance its development. Thank you, Anne-Marie Soderberg, for your thorough review and helpful suggestions.

Thank you Andras Gelei for providing valuable insights on how to effectively summarize interpretive research in a way that is accessible and accurate. We also extend our gratitude to Betina Szkudlarek for her helpful comments and suggestions

on how to tailor the chapters to suit the needs of student readers. Special thanks to Jesper Blomberg, Johan Berglund, Mats Tyrstrup, and Ingela Solvell for their thought-provoking comments and engaging discussions during the review of Chapter 1. Additionally, we would like to express our appreciation to Sara Csillag for her enlightening contributions on structuring the content. We are also thankful for the support received from various institutions throughout the writing process.

Laurence Romani was a visiting researcher at the Department of Organization and Personnel Management, Rotterdam School of Management while completing the majority of the editorial work and drafting three chapters. Thank you to Slawek Magala for enabling this visit and providing warm support. Acknowledgements also go out to Anne-Marie Soderberg for inviting Laurence to the Department of Intercultural Communication and Management, Copenhagen Business School during the finalization of Chapter 1 and for the stimulating conversations that helped enhance the chapter.

The University Bw Munich's Silke Agricola deserves our thanks for her efforts in arranging the chapters and identifying any inconsistent or missing references. This volume is a part of a broader research project focused on cross-cultural management research and education. We are grateful to the Swedish Research Council, known as Vetenskapsradet, for providing financial support to the project named 'The Hidden Side of Cross-Cultural Management' (project number 421-2009-2020). Laurence Romani's contribution to this volume would not have been possible without their assistance. This is the introduction.

This book presents ten real-life cross-cultural cases, discussing the implications for professionals. The cases are based on field research, highlighting the challenges and benefits of working across different countries. These cases offer practical examples and valuable insights on

effectively managing cross-cultural issues. The book covers various topics such as international collaboration across organizations, multinational companies, organizational culture in international joint ventures, and knowledge transfer. What are the purposes and advantages of using this book?

Repeated calls have been made for practice-oriented studies on intercultural interactions. This is because students and practitioners often find predefined constructs or cultural dimensions too abstract, distant from real-world situations, or lacking practical recommendations for addressing and resolving intercultural conflicts and misunderstandings. Notable scholars, including Blasco (2009), Cant (2004), Earley and Peterson (2004), and Burke and Rau (2010) have highlighted this need. Hofstede's (1980) influential framework for cultural dimensions, for instance, primarily focuses on analyzing national cultures.

The practical implications of these models for interactions are not easy to determine. When individuals work together, they must find innovative solutions to address their unique challenges, rather than simply comparing management practices in different countries. Therefore, this volume presents cases that demonstrate how members of organizations collaboratively construct their social reality in order to overcome or enhance their cultural differences.

Furthermore, the final chapter provides an overview of key findings from the cases and suggests nine strategies for effectively managing cultural differences and their associated dynamics in real-world situations. This edited volume brings together the authors' condensed and comprehensible texts, ensuring that both students and practitioners can benefit from them without sacrificing theoretical and methodological rigor.

TEN CASES ILLUSTRATING CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT IN ACTION. These cases are concise and to the point, connecting theory and practice by closely reflecting the real-life experiences of individuals. Through interpretive investigations, they demonstrate how theoretical concepts are implemented in practical situations. The cases explore both successful and unsuccessful instances of

cross-cultural management. These qualitative studies provide detailed insight and offer the participants' personal explanations, making them a valuable source of inspiration.

Despite the existence of academic journal studies, there has been a lack of an edited volume tailored for students and practitioners that includes insightful qualitative case studies since Sackmann's publication in 1997. Brannen and Salk's (2000) exploration of a German-Japanese joint venture provides further evidence supporting the notion that organizational culture is formed and evolved through interactions among individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds, rather than being a mere combination or imposition of one culture onto another.

The text discusses a culture known as 'negotiated culture.' It examines the presence of partners who are actively negotiating agreements and the individuals or groups who reinterpret their environment, thus contributing to cultural changes. A power perspective is proposed for studying cross-cultural interactions, acknowledging that the balance of power between partners influences how culture and differences are discussed and how meanings are negotiated during interactions.

Furthermore, power is frequently present but often not openly acknowledged in intercultural interactions and research. Instead, the focus is on explaining misunderstandings, conflicts, or smooth relations through cultural factors. Power imbalances can occur between headquarters and subsidiaries, among different professional groups within an organization, or in the contrasting perspectives of technical knowledge and client knowledge. The extent to which individuals are open to others and willing to consider their viewpoints is influenced by their power position in the intercultural relationship.

NINE STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE INTERCULTURAL INTERACTIONS

The last chapter of this volume presents a model that condenses the learning from these cases. It consists of nine strategies for effective intercultural interactions. These strategies focus on expectations, understanding, and

actions to be taken when engaging with multiple cultures. The model considers both the individuals involved in the interaction and the surrounding environment. It serves as a guide in intercultural situations that involve negotiating meaning and power imbalances.

OVERVIEW OF THE CHAPTERS

In the initial chapter, the reader is introduced to the philosophical and methodological background of studying culture in an interpretive manner. We emphasize that this approach is distinct from the assumptions and knowledge obtained through the use of cultural dimension constructs. We utilize examples from ten case studies to describe the theoretical framework of this volume. Our first explanation revolves around the idea that meaning is negotiated and that culture is socially constructed and reinterpreted during interaction.

In addition, we introduce the concept of a "meaning system" as a substitute for cultural dimensions, which have been one of the limited options for discussing cultural variations between countries. Lastly, we emphasize the significance of recognizing power imbalances in cross-cultural interactions, as they play a crucial role in the negotiation of meanings. One example detailed in Chapter 2 by Sara Louise Muhr and Jeanette Lemmergaard entails an investigation of a consultant from Northern Europe traveling to developing nations.

The issue faced by frequent travelers is how to handle constantly changing work environments and different cultural influences. While constantly on the move and rarely in familiar surroundings, they must deal with loneliness and constant change in addition to their work. Muhr and Lemmergaard convincingly argue that generic cultural spaces, known as 'non-places,' provide cross-cultural workers with a sense of familiarity and identity. Airports and airplanes are similar worldwide, as they do not impose specific culture, making it easy for individuals

familiar with the generic setting to navigate and understand these places with minimal effort. These non-places are invaluable for cross-cultural workers in managing their work across multiple cultures. In Chapter 3, Sampo Tukiainen explores the collaboration between a Finnish parent company and a Polish subsidiary in two significant infrastructural projects. This case study examines a successful previous collaboration and investigates why conflicts arose in a second project involving the same group of individuals.

This text highlights the clash of individual and organizational strategic interests, despite cultural differences. The Finnish headquarters provided technical expertise, while the Polish partner had the advantage of local market knowledge. Managers had different goals, and both organizations wanted to take charge of the project. This case highlights the challenges of replicating past success in future collaborations. Furthermore, it demonstrates collaboration between a Western country and a post-socialist nation following economic and political changes.

In Chapter 4, a case study explores collaboration between French and Vietnamese partners within a non-governmental organization (NGO). These partners work together on various development projects, such as assisting farmers, combatting malnutrition, and implementing micro-finance initiatives. Sylvie Chevrier highlights the potential for effective cooperation despite the differing perspectives on individual autonomy, empowerment, and work ethics held by the partners.

French workers believed that close supervision indicated a lack of trust, so they granted autonomy to their Vietnamese colleagues and anticipated their initiative. Conversely, the Vietnamese workers perceived their French counterparts as distant, providing limited assistance and insufficient information on project details. Meanwhile, the French partners regarded the Vietnamese as inconsistent due to their adherence to social norms in their communities. The author demonstrates that discrepancies in interpretation systems are

responsible for these misunderstandings and offers guidance on embracing and leveraging cultural diversity.

In Chapter 5, Christoph Barmeyer and Eric Davoine examine the transfer of codes of conduct from American headquarters to French and German subsidiaries. The authors emphasize that the interpretation and adoption of the code are influenced not only by cultural differences and legal frameworks but also by factors like the relationship between headquarters and subsidiaries, and the presence and intentions of unions.

The text highlights the differing ethical and legal significance of the code in France and Germany, as well as the absence of any significance due to the lack of adjustments to local legal frameworks. xviii Introduction In Chapter 6, Hela Yousfi explores the conflict between spreading universal management systems, or best practices, and the necessity of adapting them to local contexts. The case study illustrates the successful implementation of 'American' management techniques in a Tunisian company.

Upon closer analysis, the interviews reveal that the effectiveness of implementing these methods relied on their adaptation to a "Tunisian" system of understanding. The author emphasizes that these techniques were successful in meeting the specific criteria for "good management" established locally and in addressing issues with specific business practices. This case demonstrates the potential consequences of globalization and underscores the significance of local culture and the adjustment of global approaches to fit local circumstances.

The collaboration between a Danish company and its Japanese subsidiary is viewed as a success story following significant changes in the company's market strategy. Lisbeth Clausen examines the communication aspect of this collaboration, highlighting the different levels of communication between the parties involved. The negotiations occurring between the headquarters and the subsidiary are

exposed, along with the influence of various cultural factors (national, professional, etc.) on their interaction.

This case highlights the societal trends in Japan and the crucial role of bicultural individuals who can serve as intermediaries between two cultures. The case described by Jasmin Mahadevan in Chapter 8 demonstrates that cross-cultural work is not limited to the national level, and that the cultural barriers one must bridge are evolving. The case focuses on the collaboration between German and Indian engineers, who chose to overlook and downplay their national cultural disparities, instead emphasizing their common professional culture.

The author discusses the cultural dynamics at different levels: national (Indian versus German) and professional (engineers versus managers and human resources professionals). She demonstrates that these boundaries are shifting depending on the context. For instance, she illustrates how in times of uncertainty, German engineers may alter their discourse and view Indian engineers as distinct and potentially threatening to the future of engineers in German locations.

Chapter 9 of the book discusses a project focused on Eastern Europe during the early 1990s, specifically after political and economic changes took place. Western European countries supported Bulgaria through a program aiming to enhance management education. According to Snejina Michaliova and Graham Hollinshead, the initial phase of the project was conducted without any clear direction. The educators lacked information about the required knowledge for the project and were also unaware of the participants' existing knowledge. Additionally, they had no local expertise.

The case discusses key