MANAGING ACROSS CULTURES

Managing Across Cultures

Managing Across Cultures

Introduction

International collaboration inevitably involves consideration of cultural differences, which in turn involves the construction of stereotypes. Stereotypes are simplified categorizations and preconceptions of others. They may at best hold some truth about groups of people and nations. However, stereotypes may also be fixed, resulting in ridged perceptions that hamper fruitful communication (Beamer & Varner, 2005). This study investigates how managers employ stereotypes to cope in bicultural encounters. It illustrates how some managers merely use commonly held stereotypes or generalized images, and how others gain a more elaborate understanding of their partners that enable them to even “trump” values in intercultural encounters (Osland & Bird, 2000). Theories of cross-cultural management are still influenced by essentialist and positivist scholars ([Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars, 1993], [Hall, 1959] and [Hofstede, 1980]), who view national culture as an inherent and relatively stable variable. The present study, on the contrary, is rooted within the social constructivist paradigm, in which culture concerns the construction of meaning and its “negotiation” in social encounters ([Brannen and Salk, 2000] and [Clausen, 2007]). Stereotypes, in other words, are viewed as relational and ongoing constructions (Tienari, Søderberg, Holgerson, & Vaara, 2005). Rather than merely looking at national characteristics, which are admittedly important within limits (Zander, 2004) and efficient as first best guesses (Adler, 2002), this project emphasizes contextual influences, cultural dynamics, and change ([Blasco and Gustafsson, 2003], [Lauring, 2008] and [Sackmann and Phillips, 2004]).

It is generally asserted in intercultural studies that people from Western and Asian cultures are at great risk of misunderstanding each other (Samovar & Porter, 1997). Many of these studies have focused on the US and Japan, and thus highlight the differences between two very different countries and cultures (Ito, 2000). The present study presents a Danish view on Japan. It deals with difference, but it is also important to emphasize that there are a great number of similarities in the values and cultures of the two countries (Clausen, 2006).

The Japanese market is known to pose a number of challenges to foreign companies, including complex systems of business networking, demanding and highly quality-conscious consumers, and hierarchical and family-oriented management practices ([Brannen and Salk, 2000], [Matsumoto, 2007] and [Nakane, 1970]). Danish companies face considerable challenges in dealing with Japanese managers. In turn, Japanese managers equally struggle to connect with their Danish counterparts (Clausen, 2006). While “interface” questions are still relatively under-prioritized in comparative studies concerning Asia (White, 2002), this study focuses on the practices of five Danish companies and involves feedback from both Danish and Japanese managers. The research questions are: How do managers perceive and address cultural problems between Danish headquarters and Japanese subsidiaries/alliance partners—and how do they cope? Each company in this study has its own strategic goals, corporate values, and business aims that influence management practices and challenge individuals in intercultural encounters.

Audio-visual company—infusing corporate values across cultures

This case demonstrates how a company made a deliberate effort to diminish cultural conflicts by infusing the corporate culture into local ...