Cross-Cultural Management - Science topic

Green Hydrogen and its opportunities for entrepreneurship

To check for a good research topic, I suggest you do the following:

1. Choose a number of peer-reviewed research papers related to, say, cross-cultural management, from Google Scholar or similar credible websites, not from any non-credible source such as Google, etc.

2. Read these research papers and check for the research gaps from within such research. You may find these gaps under the subtitle, Future Research or similar subtitles.

3. Ensure that such gaps are not covered by recent research. That is, for the gap that you want to cover, read to the last current research in this regard to make sure that no other author(s) already conducted such research.

4. Then, go ahead and start preparing for your research, preferably using the Literature Review Matrix where you put a table showing authors, title, objectives, research question(s), problem statement, variables, methodologies used, findings, etc. for each research paper selected. By the way, you may want to keep such relevant research papers to use them as references in your research.

Kindly visit..

Here are some studies that may help guide you to the answer:

J. Stewart Black and Mark Mendenhall, 1990: Cross-Cultural Training Effectiveness: A Review and a Theoretical Framework for Future Research. AMR, 15, 113–136,https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1990.11591834

Daniel J. Kealey, David R. Protheroe, The effectiveness of cross-cultural training for expatriates: An assessment of the literature on the issue, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Volume 20, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 141-165, ISSN 0147-1767, https://doi.org/10.1016/0147-1767(96)00001-6.

From what I've seen, Uncertainty Avoidance and Long-Term Orientation are not independent. However, if you think that one or both predict a phenomenon (your dependent variable), you can put both of them into the regression analysis (as the independent variables) to see which one (or both) is driving the phenomena in your causal model.

Perhaps you know this, but the more contemporary construct "cultural tightness-looseness" is the focus of much of the recent research concerning the phenomena associated with with Uncertainty Avoidance.

Cultural differences can be quite a challenge when choosing a sample from diffent countries. I would recommend reading the following article:

R. Sinkovics, Ruey-Jer “Bryan” Jean and Daekwan Kim, R., Henseler, J., Ringle, C. and Sarstedt, M. (2016), "Testing measurement invariance of composites using partial least squares", International Marketing Review, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 405-431. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMR-09-2014-0304

Another aspect on which it may be interesting to work, which is linked to the acceptance of cultural diversity, communication and cultural humility is the relationship between the local and the global. From the personal point of view, the relationship between you and me (the different from me), expressed in the thought of Martin Buber.

In the experience of coordinating intercultural exchanges of students I have deepened from a theoretical and practical point of view the importance of knowing one's own context, one's roots, and then knowing other contexts. The importance of knowing oneself, of being aware of one's own values, to then meet and get to know others always with "a clear understanding that one's own values, beliefs and practices are not inherently 'right' nor necessarily shared by the person with whom one is communicating" (as suggested by Vivian J.C.).

In addition to the contributions mentioned above, you might consider more constructivist approaches of cultural differences. Eera Vaara (2000, in M@n@gement) has already shown that cultural differences that matter are those that actors actually notice. Christoph Barmeyer also published a book on constructivist intercultural management recently but I think it's in German, but maybe he will publish an English version soon?

Talent management and intellectual capital

Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business (1997) by Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner reproduces the questions the authors used to measure orientation toward achievement or ascription in different cultures, meaning, do we have to prove ourselves to receive status or is it given to us? (The first edition appeared in 1993 and the latest in 2012.) Specifically, they invited 30,000 participants to mark the following on a five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly agree, 5 = strongly disagree):

These can include:

If you have access you can find a lot of good articles ate EBSCO plataform.

I might be able to help. Can you be a bit clearer about what you are looking for when you say "recommend a cross-cultural assessment"?

Denys,

You might get some ideas from my article: "Creative Cross-cultural Project Communication" in which a few cross-cultural communication barriers are mentioned.

Dr. Victor

Few barriers are:

1. Acceptance

2. Experience

3. Professionalism

4. Competition from professional firms

5. Limited exposure, etc.

Yes, I agree with Arun. There are a number of cases of failure of M & A due to lack of cultural integration. A number of such cases can be found at Harvard Business Publishing, beside the sources he has mentioned. You may seek help of your teachers who can access these cases free as teachers. They would be of great help to you.

I worked that question in identity terms, in Portugal,for my PhD thesis in Anthopology (FCSH-UNL, 1986) , constructing an instrument of research and using quantitative methods, influenced by the works od David McClelland (The Achieving Society, 1961) E. Fromm and M. Maccoby (Social Character in a Mexican Village,: a Sociopsychanalytic Study, 1970) and G, Hofstede ( Culture's Consequences. International Differences in Work-related Values, 1984). I found three patterns: Power (viewed as 'masculine' and 'adult', attributed to North Europeans; Pride (viewed as adolescent, almost completely negative / anti-social, and attributed to Spaniards; and Peace (viewed as 'feminine' and 'childish', self-attributed by the Portuguese (N = 1.048, even by the male sample > 500). What is relevant in scientific terms is that the Portuguese represent themselves as being 'peaceful', 'feminine' and 'childish', and almost without defects; and represent the North Europeans with 1/3 of serious defects ("cold", arrogant", "racist", agressive", "exploring other people", etc., what is the contrary of the classic findings of American Social Psychology about stereotypes, said to be constructed by men and imposed on women and by 'WASPs and imposed on 'negroes'. Other relevant finding shows that 'values' are comparative and competitive in narcissistic terms, supported by unconscious family representations (the  post-Oedipal "Culture of the (Strong) Father against Oedipal "Culture of the (Holly) Mother", associated to Protestantism and Catholicism) and doesn't come from 'objective reality', once trying to construct psychic and 'cultural realities', in the Fight of Narcissisms. and in the War of Identity Envies.   Cf, José Gabriel Pereira Bastos, "Portugal in Europe: the International Identity Strategies of the Portuguese", in L. Beltrán, J. Maestro and L. Salo Lee, eds. European Peripheries in Interaction: the Nordic Countries and Iberian Peninsula, Alcalá: Universidad de Alcala, 2002: 223-247; and "Towards an Anthropology of Identity Processes. Criteria, Strategies, First Results (bilingual edition),. Lisbon: Colibri and FCSH, 2013, pp. 87-172. In my perspective, Comparative Strategies need cross-cultural quantitative inquires; and Competitive / narcissistic (Identity) representations need the support of Freudian theory of Human Behaviour.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------   In my study,  'congruence' is guaranteed by associating political representations to family (Oedipal) representations and by constructing /attributing  identity 'cultural  superiority' (to the individual over his group) and 'moral superiority' to his group over main  identity group referents (in Portugal, Spaniards and North Europeans). These 'secret' representations can be affirmed or not in negotiated public relations. ----

I'm interested in colleagues that want to use my inquiry in different countries, with local political referents (North Europeans would be great), not to find 'descriptions' but competitive identity strategies and deliriums.

Some of the similar issues raised in the attached article.  Coming back to the question, past literature mostly critic the theories, models, pedagogies in management education, albeit in a post modernist fashion, just like in any other field. However, the content or the pedagogy are the good or bad fruits. The root of this tree is the worldview that guides the management education:- 6 Qns

1. Etiology :- Where have we come from ? - scarce resourced environment, evolutionary, perpetual upgrade, control systems, industrial paradigms 

2. Explanation:- Who we are ? evolving systems going through rationalization 

3. Futurology:- Where are we heading ? towards a superior ordered system

4. Epistemology:- How do we know the reality ? positivist, symbolic interpretivist, post modernist

5. Axiology:- Whats good , whats bad? rationalization towards larger material good

6. Praxeology:- How should we do things? maximization of larger material good, perpetual upgrade, planned obsolescence

The bird of management education is flying with one wing - materialism. Materialism is not at all bad, but with only that , the flight may not be possible.

_______________________________________________________

The alternative worldview:-  some food for thought for management thinkers to look at creativity from a diffeent perspective

Shukla Krishnakant (2013), "Dialogues with divinity, and their relationship to creativity, in the Hindu tradition", Conference - Beads on one string, Andalusia, Spain. (synopsis and audio recording of the talk - http://bit.ly/1sQ5KKu

Dear Debi,

The trouble is though we can distinct geographically, economically and historically Eastern and Western worlds but the people are much more similar to each other and because of the quasi uniform media effects people's commitments are congruent.

I agree and support the ideas of Prof Vesna K Spasojević-Brkić answers logic and Argumentation. A lot of researchers have argued and shown the importance of adaptation of the excellence models. I have experienced this in my research work to adapt the SCOR model to suit the situation of the developing countries. I have observed that different improvement initiatives need to be adapted to the new cultural and operational situations. I have published a paper to recommend the adaptation of different best practices to different local scenarios. You can refer the following my paper:

1. Industries in Developing Countries, International Journal of u- and e- Service, Science and Technology, Vol. 6, No. 3, 13-26, 2013. Georgise, F. B., Thoben, K.-D., Seifert, M., (2013), Implementing SCOR model Best Practices for Manufacturing

You can refer some of the following in below research papers for example:

1. The research done by Thomas wood Jr and Miguel P. Caldas, Adopting imported masnagerial expertise in developing countries: the Brazilian experience,

2. The research work that published by Abdulrahaman Alsughayir and Mohamed Zairi in title the adoption of excellence models through cultural and social adaptations,

3. The other research work published by Tito Conti, How excellence models should be adapted to take into account local values and cultures,

In the context of managing employees and serving customers, the term ‘diversity’ means all of the significant differences between people, including perceptions of differences, that need to be considered in particular situations and circumstances. There are multiple dimensions of diversity which may be more or less different in significant business functions and relationships. These are:

• Gender

• Age

• Culture

• Ethnicity

• Regional culture

• Sexual orientation

• Mental and physical abilities

• Education

• Religion

• Language

• Literacy

• Work experience

• Functional role and status

• Economic status

• Family status

• Carer roles

• Geographic location

• Work style

• Communication style

• Learning style

• Thinking style

• Management style

• Personality

• Ideology

• Profession

• Industry

• Organisational culture

"Diversity Management" is the ongoing process of incorporating the recognition of workforce and customer differences into all core business management functions, communications, processes and services to create a fair, harmonious, inclusive, creative and effective organisation.

Understanding what motivates and satisfies employees, whatever their backgrounds or circumstances, is an important component of good management. How can Cultural Diversity be ‘Managed’? The aims of managing diversity all sound perfectly sensible and beneficial – but how are they achieved? There are several key points for consideration:

1. Managing and working with diversity is a generic skill.

It is fair to say that managers in any organisation should have always managed diversity in one way or another. Most business owners and managers deal with situations involving cultural differences as they arise or simply avoid or ignore them. But those that actively manage cultural diversity are the ones most likely to be more competitive. Cultural background is one of the most complex of all the many dimensions of diversity that influence a person’s motivations and expectations, along with age, gender, physical and mental ability, education and so on. The presence of people from many different cultures living and working in an organization certainly adds to this complexity.

Essentially, humans are more alike than different. The differences come from the upbringing, and learned ways of seeing the world and ways of doing things. The most important of these differences are often the least visible, the ones expressed in values and attitudes.

2. Diversity management strategies must be linked to organisational and individual performance.

The quality of the people performance depends on the quality of their thinking –which depends on the quality of the information that they posses. When the people lack important information about each other, misperceptions, mistakes and miscommunications can happen. Knowing how differences will affect relationships, decisions and actions in complex workplace and social environments helps managers to improve individual and team performance.

3. Diversity management requires organisations and individuals to acquire new knowledge and skills and to develop cultural competence.

Effectively managing and serving people from different cultures requires a combination of knowledge and skills that can be learned in order to develop ‘Cultural Competence’. Cultural competence is simply defined as the awareness, knowledge, skills, practices and processes needed to function effectively and appropriately in culturally diverse situations in general and in particular interactions with people from different cultures. Firstly, the people need to understand the nature of culture and cultural diversity very well. Secondly, the people need to acquire and work with broad concepts and frameworks that will help them to analyse and manage cultural diversity in practical ways. Without the understanding and concepts that help people make sense of cultural diversity, the people would be constantly working with details and dealing with complex situations on a case by case basis.

4. Working with and managing diversity raises many complex issues.

In the natural desire of groups of individuals to cooperate and work harmoniously, without conflict, it is common to avoid recognising or discussing differences among group members.

There is a job to do and the people must all negotiate and compromise to ensure that their differences don't get in the way. However, diversity management requires an examination and discussion of differences, their impacts and ways of working with them.

In companies that work to expand globally, team performance becomes

vulnerable to cross-cultural interaction problems.

Managing cultural diversity, cultural differences, and cross-cultural conflicts have

surfaced as frequent challenges for cross-cultural teams. Because of their diverse perceptions, managers are more likely to interpret

and respond differently to similar strategic issues or team tasks Cross-cultural communication competence is thus an important component of a manager’s ability to address any performance challenges.

While many researchers have investigated cross-cultural communication

competence and cross-cultural effectiveness, understanding of the

relationship between cross-cultural communication competence and multicultural

team performance is insufficiently developed. Furthermore, past research finds the relationship between ethno-cultural diversity and performance to be highly complex. Combined analyses of multicultural team performance, cross-cultural

communication competence, and national culture orientations of team members could explain how communication competence influences the performance of

multicultural teams.

In the multicultural work environment, obtaining information from a colleague requires a high degree of cross-cultural communication competence. Furthermore, high competence has a direct and positive effect on the decision making and problem-solving abilities of managers. Past research has identified various characteristics that constitute cross-cultural communication competence, including relationship skills, communication skills, and personal traits such as inquisitiveness. Cross-cultural communication competence entails not only knowledge of the culture and language, but also affective and behavioral skills such as empathy, human warmth, charisma, and the ability to manage anxiety and uncertainty.

The Japanese are so ethnocentric that they do not learn even after having paid huge price for their policies without testing their (policies') relevance in the specific cultural milieu. A Japanese MNE's policies led to severe violence and burning of company property by the workers in July 2012 in Gurgaon, India. In this violence, the chief of the HR got burnt alive, so much anguish was there amongst the rank and file workers. Similarly, many Japanese MNEs in the same and other regions in India have witnessed employee violence against the company's policies.

I would also suggest the works by Branko Milanovic, Lead Economist in the World Bank. There is a "Inequality around the World website"

and also some interesting papers explaining the risks of Sala-i-Martin calculations:

Best regards