跨文化情景下组织试错学习机理研究

试错学习是企业全球化经营时应对文化冲突不可缺少的革新过程,已有研究对企业试错学习过程和机理尚缺乏深入探讨和明确阐释,尤其是针对跨文化情景下的研究较少。以美国医药行业著名跨国企业H公司作为研究对象,运用扎根理论方法,借助定性分析软件NVivo 8.0对访谈和二手所得资料进行分析,探究跨文化情景下组织试错学习的影响因素及机理模型。借助开放性编码、主轴编码和选择性编码分析得出试错学习的7个主要影响因素,包括跨文化学习能力、跨文化制度设计、稳定的跨文化经营、团队领导者素质、跨文化试错学习氛围、母公司的支持和跨文化适应性;选用著名跨国制药企业M公司案例进行理论饱和度检验,得到另一个影响因素即企业研发能力;据此构建试错学习过程模型。 研究结果表明,试错学习是一个循环往复的过程,可分为失败分析、试验开展和措施生效3个阶段;通过进一步分析各阶段的主要影响因素,构建跨文化情景下组织试错学习的机理模型。研究结论旨在为跨文化经营的企业有针对性地提升试错学习效率提供理论支持。     

Cultures have consequences: A configural approach to leadership across two cultures

This research compares the influence of country membership and cultural values (power distance and individualism/collectivism) in a model of LMX and organizational change. The results reveal cultural differences in the relationships among LMX, consultation and affective commitment to organizational change, supporting prior studies. However, there are substantial differences in the moderation of the cultural values in the relationships among the research constructs at the individual level. Our results suggest that understanding national culture and its influence on leadership may be incomplete when we focus only on mean differences at the country level to examine cross-cultural differences. To address this concern, we offer a configural approach to examine the role of culture in a leadership model across two cultures (the U.S. and Korea).     

Examining the role of cross-cultural factors in the international market on customer engagement and purchase intention

Customer engagement (CE) refers to an organization's effort to develop relationships with individual customers through personalized interactions using multiple available channels. The goal of such CE is to gain new customer and to retain loyal customers. In the last decade there have been many studies on CE, particularly in the domestic or local market context, which lack generalizability. Also, there is only limited research on CE in the international market context focusing on the cross-cultural aspects of customers. Thus, there is clearly a research gap. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the role of cross-cultural factors in the international market on CE and their influence on customer purchase intention. After reviewing existing theories and literature, a conceptual model was developed. Later, the model was validated using structural equation modeling with a sample of 432 customers of different countries in Asia and Europe. The study found that there is a significant impact of cross-cultural factors in the international market on customer engagement, which in turn impacts customers' purchase intention in the international market. This study also proposes and examines a rival model to determine the efficiency of the proposed model.     

The cross-cultural adjustment process of expatriate families in a multinational organization: a family system theory perspective

This case study examined the relationship between the family flexibility of expatriates in a multinational corporation and their cross-cultural adjustment, as well as the stressors experienced by the expatriate, spouse, and children during the international transition. Family flexibility was negatively correlated with cross-cultural adjustment as perceived by the participating expatriates. All five cross-cultural adjustment dimensions (cultural, psychological, organizational, personal and relational) had a statistically significant relationship with family flexibility. Expatriate families identified cultural, relational, and psychological stressors as having the greatest impact on their cross-cultural adjustment. The components of family flexibility (roles, rules, assertiveness and leadership) played a key role in the cross-cultural adjustment of the expatriate, spouse and children. These findings provide insights to organizations and their human resource development professionals as well as to expatriates and their families on how family flexibility impacts cross-cultural adjustment – insights that could lead to the development of appropriate support and development mechanisms.     

European management and European business schools: Insights from the history of business schools

This article looks at the history of business schools and identifies specific characteristics that are common to European management schools. On the basis of these characteristics, European management is subsequently defined as a cross-cultural, societal management approach based on interdisciplinary principles. In a final step, a closer look is taken at how European business schools should prepare their students for the unique European management context. It is suggested that such schools should provide courses on cross-cultural management and courses explaining the interdependencies between the private and public sector, offer students opportunities to experience other cultures over the course of their studies, and teach management from an interdisciplinary and practically-oriented perspective.     

Violence towards psychiatric staff: a comparison of gender, job and environmental characteristics in England and Sweden

Workplace violence is receiving increasing attention world-wide, and studies suggest that, for example, nurses and women may be more abused at work than psychiatrists and men. However, there is a lack of cross-cultural data on the topic. Further, relatively few studies have addressed the influence of environmental factors in the occurrence of violence and within a cross-cultural context. The present study compares among other things the nature of violence encountered by female/male staff (nurses and psychiatrists) in Sweden and England. Psychiatric personnel from England (301 nurses; 74 psychiatrists) and Sweden (745 nurses; 306 psychiatrists) were assessed cross-sectionally by means of a questionnaire covering various areas (e.g. nature of violence). The univariate analyses showed an association between being abused and male gender, young age, being British and a nurse, physical and psychological strain. The multivariate logistic regression confirmed that British nurses and male nurses were the main risk group for exposure to violence. Further, the multivariate analysis indicated that the odds of being abused increased with increasing age, physical strain and dissatisfaction with quality of care. Interventions thus need to be sensitive to gender differences, societal context, professional roles and interactions between them. Further, clinical supervision and team functioning, organizational and environmentally friendly settings may help to reduce violence in mental health care.     

Violence towards psychiatric staff: a comparison of gender,job and environmental characteristics in England and Sweden

Workplace violence is receiving increasing attention world-wide, and studies suggest that, for example, nurses and women may be more abused at work than psychiatrists and men. However, there is a lack of cross-cultural data on the topic. Further, relatively few studies have addressed the influence of environmental factors in the occurrence of violence and within a cross-cultural context. The present study compares among other things the nature of violence encountered by female/male staff (nurses and psychiatrists) in Sweden and England. Psychiatric personnel from England (301 nurses; 74 psychiatrists) and Sweden (745 nurses; 306 psychiatrists) were assessed cross-sectionally by means of a questionnaire covering various areas (e.g. nature of violence). The univariate analyses showed an association between being abused and male gender, young age, being British and a nurse, physical and psychological strain. The multivariate logistic regression confirmed that British nurses and male nurses were the main risk group for exposure to violence. Further, the multivariate analysis indicated that the odds of being abused increased with increasing age, physical strain and dissatisfaction with quality of care. Interventions thus need to be sensitive to gender differences, societal context, professional roles and interactions between them. Further, clinical supervision and team functioning, organizational and environmentally friendly settings may help to reduce violence in mental health care.     

Cross-cultural influences on organizational learning in MNCS: The case of Japanese companies in China

This paper draws on the social construction perspective and on social learning theory to examine the cross-cultural influences on organizational learning in MNCs. Social learning theory suggests that constructive engagement and member solidarity are key constituents of organization-based collective learning. Literature suggests, however, that cross-cultural differences in assumptions about social participation by organization members may impair organizational learning. The paper also reports a qualitative study, conducted at five Japanese-invested manufacturing companies in the Pearl River Delta, China. The research found that managers perceived Chinese frontline workers as lacking constructive engagement and member solidarity as compared with their Japanese counterparts, thus limiting organizational learning, and attributed these perceived differences to deep-seated cultural values. Attempts in two of the companies to ‘Japanize’ the workforces were reported to have had some impact, but appeared not to have substantially changed this picture. Urging caution regarding cross-cultural stereotyping and home country bias, we consider the implications for organizations with international manufacturing operations.     

The impact of social power and influence on the implementation of innovation strategies: A case study of a UK mega infrastructure construction project

Influence plays a key role in reaching consensus among multiple actors involved in project-based decision-making processes. While prior literature devotes considerable attention to describing influence, little attention has been paid to influence at the individual level of the strategic project manager within the context of megaprojects. This research intended to fill this knowledge gap by identifying and describing the influence strategies that a strategic project manager applies when implementing innovation strategies on megaprojects. A qualitative case study was used to examine the complex social processes involved in a major UK capital investment programme. The findings underline a critical subset of influence strategies, notably higher-management support, inspirational appeal and bargaining. The study proposes a utilitarian structure of social power comprising selective, supportive and executory power bases.     

The impact of life stage and societal culture on subordinate influence ethics: A study of Brazil,China, Germany,and the U.S.

In this paper, we investigate the effects of societal values and life stage on subordinate influence ethics. Based on the evolving crossvergence theory of macro-level predictors of values evolution, we demonstrate the applicability of crossvergence theory in the micro-level context. Furthermore, our study provides the first empirical multi-level analysis of influence ethics utilizing a multiple-country sample. Thus, we illustrate how the breath of crossvergence can be expanded to provide a multi-level theoretical foundation of values and behavior evolution across cultures. Specifically, we integrate micro-level life stage theory and macro-level societal culture theory to concurrently assess the contributions of each theory in explaining subordinate influence ethics across the diverse societies of Brazil, China, Germany and the U.S. Consistent with previous research, we found significant societal differences in influence ethics. However, we also found that life stage theory played a significant role in understanding influence ethics. Thus, our findings expand the crossvergence perspective on societal change, indicating that key micro-level predictors (e.g., life stage) should be included in cross-cultural research.     

The impact of culture on interactions: five lessons learned from the European Commission

Using data collected from 25 interviews with Austrian employees in the European Commission, we explore the conditions under which cultural differences do and do not influence interactions. Previous experience with culturally-determined behaviour and experience working in a foreign language is found to foster norms that reduce conflict based on cross-cultural differences. Time pressure, on the other hand, makes cultural differences, specifically the way that criticism is delivered and the extent of relational-versus-task orientation, more explicit. Our findings have implications for the design of training for multinational teams, as well as the composition of these teams.     

Creating receptivity in cross-cultural coordination: the role of civic virtue

This paper explores receptivity creation in cross-cultural coordination. Qualitative data from an inter-organizational relationship between culturally dissimilar and unequal groups are used to show that, while practices fostering defensiveness inhibit receptivity, those promoting civic virtue create partial receptivity. Partial receptivity falls short of cross-cultural synergy, but is a more achievable outcome.     

A renewed perspective on the measurement of cross-cultural competence: An approach through personality traits and cross-cultural knowledge

The concept of cross-cultural competence (CCC) has generated considerable interest in the area of international business, but research still lacks solid measurement tools for this multidimensional construct. CCC is frequently operationalized with its components such as personality traits, but to what extent are those really linked to another dimension of CCC and therefore indicative of cross-cultural knowledge? This study combines measurement tools for two components of CCC: personality trait scales and critical incident technique. The tools are validated on a multinational sample of a working population. A structural model shows that most of the personality traits generally presented as predictive of CCC, do not significantly determine cross-cultural knowledge.     

Can we have global ethics in a global economy?

With the collapse of the bi-polar world, we live in an increasingly integrated global economy, which includes economic, political, and cultural dimensions. We argue that there is a need for a global ethic commensurate with a global economy, based upon the claims of interdependence, economic insecurity, multiculturalism, and shared problems. The need to identify some common cross-cultural ethical norms is asserted as an important component of a global ethic and various sources and means for such identification are proposed. Finally, we propose reasons why global corporations ought to embrace cross-cultural ethical norms within their own corporate ethics.A version of this paper was first delivered at a joint business faculty seminar co-sponsored by Anadolu University and Baldwin-Wallace College, held at Anadolu University, Eskischir, Turkey, in December 1992. I express deep gratitude to my losts from Aanadolu University and special thanks to Professor Selva Herekman, who painstakingly translated my English text into Turkish.     

Effective leadership in the Mexican maquiladora: challenging common expectations

This article reports a cross-cultural study of Mexican and U.S. leaders in Mexican maquiladoras. The research builds on relational demography to determine if leader ethnicity, regional Mexican culture, and organizational affiliation moderate the impact of leadership behavior on important organizational outcomes. We examined the impacts of specific leader behaviors on follower attitudes and performance. Contrary to expectations from the current cross-cultural leadership literature, managerial leaders from the United States had approximately the same effects on the Mexican workforce as managerial leaders from Mexico. However, regional differences within Mexico and organizational affiliation were significant moderators. We postulate that there are at least two leader prototypes in Mexico: the “transitional” leader and the more “traditional” leader. Additional implications of these findings for leadership in Mexico are discussed.     

Culture and cross-functional coopetition: The interplay of organizational and national culture

Scholars now recognize coopetition—the joint occurrence of cooperation and competition—between functional units as an important factor for a firm's learning and performance. We know little, however, about the drivers of cross-functional coopetition and in particular the roles of organizational culture and national culture. This study introduces cross-functional coopetition to the international management literature by illuminating the cultural antecedents of cross-functional coopetition. Specifically, we develop a cross-cultural model to analyze the influence of organizational and national culture on cross-functional coopetition. Drawing on a dataset of 646 companies from seven countries, we theoretically advance and empirically validate the influence of organizational culture and the moderating role of individualism and uncertainty avoidance on cross-functional coopetition. Organizational cultural dimensions directly enhance cross-functional coopetition. Furthermore, strong social values of individualism and uncertainty avoidance weaken the relationship between organizational culture and cross-functional coopetition. This study provides a novel perspective on how organizational culture can represent a strategic resource by illuminating the cultural mechanisms that influence coopetition within the firm.     

Cross-cultural adjustment in the multinational training programme

This study provides an in-depth understanding of the process of programmeme adjustment that occurred in the case of a US-born multinational training programme in Taiwan. Through observation, interview, and material analysis, this article looks at five essential and practical considerations in cross-cultural programme adjustment – spoken communication, material translation, silent communication, local trainers, and empowerment and localization.     

An empirical inquiry of negotiation effects in cross-cultural joint ventures

This study addresses the negotiation effect in the context of cross-cultural joint ventures (JV) in a volatile environment. We examined how negotiation variables are linked to the subsequent performance of JV operations. Our analysis of 155 JVs suggests that topic inclusiveness and term specificity are positively related to venture performance. Length of negotiations and government involvement in negotiations have no main effect on performance but moderate the link between term specificity or topic inclusiveness and performance. When length of negotiations is longer or if government involvement is weaker, the performance effect of negotiations becomes stronger. Companies with longer cultural distance from the host country tend to arrange higher term specificity and higher topic inclusiveness to neutralize an unfavorable influence of cultural distance on performance.     

Intercultural differences in issue interpretation: Effects of emotions and framing

The interpretation of strategic issues as threats or opportunities influences strategic actions and firm performance. The extant research identifies cultural differences as an important driver of strategic issue interpretation. Specifically, research from a socio-cognitive perspective shows that differences in cognitive styles across cultures lead to differences in the interpretation of strategic issues by East Asian and Western managers. Based on cross-cultural research on emotions and decision-making, we argue that cultural affordances also lead to differences in emotional experiences and behavioral consequences across cultures which affect the strategic issue interpretation of managers from East Asian and Western cultures in different ways. We theorize that Chinese managers are similarly affected by fear and happiness in their strategic issue interpretation, while German managers are only affected by fear. For German managers, this effect is moderated by issue framing, which is not the case for Chinese managers. A vignette-based decision experiment involving 194 German and 174 Chinese executives offers support for our hypotheses. These findings have implications for cross-cultural research on strategic issue interpretation and for cross-cultural research on strategic decision-making in general.