Cross-cultural Management Education Research Articles

The deep roots of cross-cultural differences in organizational behavior: Do human resource management education has to respect them?

This paper delves into the deep-rooted factors causing cross-cultural differences and their subsequent impact on the effectiveness of human resource practices in organizations. Drawing from a thematic review of findings from diverse fields such as developmental economics, anthropology, and linguistics, the study explores how historical events, language, geography, and biology influence individual ethics, preferences, and decision-making styles. Multiple conceptual frameworks are introduced to guide the integration of these deep-rooted factors into cross-cultural management education. The article suggests several research directions to enhance human resource management and cross-cultural management education. The emphasis is placed on the importance for researchers and educators in the field to employ constructs and methodologies from various disciplines to comprehend the origins and enduring nature of cross-cultural organizational behavior differences. Without understanding the underlying reasons for cross-cultural differences, intercultural management cannot be practiced effectively. Despite the insights provided, it's crucial to acknowledge the currently limited research connecting historical, biological, or linguistic factors to modern organizational outcomes. This limitation makes the provided recommendations largely conjectural.

Systematic cross-cultural management education: a quasi-experimental analysis of guided experiential learning during intercultural simulations

PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to test the effects of a classical intercultural simulation on participants' ability to modify their behavior in response to collectivistic and individualistic contexts. Moreover, the paper aims to examine moderating effects based on experiential learning and social identity theory.Design/methodology/approachThe learning effects are evaluated through two separate quasi-experimental studies with 152 master students in business economics at a Danish university and 190 bachelor students in international business at a German university.FindingsThe analysis shows that intercultural simulations with artificial cultures significantly improve participants' ability to modify their behavior depending on cultural context. Participants who identify with an artificial culture that differs radically from their own take greater advantage of the simulation. The overall duration of international experience moderates participants' learning with a U-shaped effect. Culture-specific experience strengthens the positive effect of the simulation. The comparison of the two conducted studies indicates that previous cognitive teaching enhances learning.Practical implicationsThe findings demonstrate the effectiveness of intercultural simulations that guide participants through all phases of the experiential learning cycle. Moreover, they underline the importance of assessing participants' cultural backgrounds before the assignment of training groups.Originality/valuePrior research on intercultural simulations is often based on qualitative methods and mostly limited to affective outcomes, such as motivation and enjoyment of intercultural interactions. By contrast, this paper quantitatively tests to what extent intercultural simulations improve participants' ability to modify behavior depending on culture.

Cross-Cultural Management Education: Core for Business Students in the 21st Century

ABSTRACT The study examines the impact of introducing several cross-cultural management courses in the undergraduate program of a business school on the students’ cultural intelligence level and on their ability to manage conflict more effectively. The experimental method is used where students in the experimental and the control groups respond to the same survey at three different times (240 students); the focus group method is used with a group of nine students from the experimental group to obtain a deeper understanding of the results of the statistical analysis. The findings suggest a positive and significant effect of the cross-cultural management courses on the cultural intelligence level and the conflict management styles of students with obvious differences between male and female students. The findings confirm the importance of these courses and recommend making cross-cultural management courses core for all students to support their future global employability. Furthermore, experiential and blended learning techniques can replace international exposure, which is timely considering the constraints imposed on international travel due to COVID19. The study suggests a helpful insight to international business educators that can support the process of developing their programs through introducing specific courses and complementary teaching techniques that are effective and timely.

Cross-cultural management education rebooted

PurposeGraduates of cross-cultural management (CCM) courses should be capable of both tackling international and cross-cultural situations and creating positive value from the diversity inherent in these situations. Such value creation is challenging because these situations are typically complex due to differences in cultural values, traditions, social practices, and institutions, such as legal rules, coupled with variation in, for example, wealth and civil rights among stakeholders. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachThe authors argue that a scientific mindfulness approach to teaching CCM can help students identify and leverage positive aspects of differences and thereby contribute to positive change in cross-cultural situations.FindingsScientific mindfulness combines mindfulness and scientific thinking with the explicit goal to drive positive change in the world.Originality/valueThe authors explain how the action principles of scientific mindfulness enable learners to build positive value from cultural diversity. The authors then describe how to enact these principles in the context of CCM education.

Reaching across continents: engaging students through virtual collaborations

Business schools have the responsibility of preparing students for work in multicultural organisations and global markets. This paper examines a situated learning experience for undergraduates through a virtual collaboration between a UK university and a Brazilian university. This facilitated remote communication using social media and smart devices, allowing students from both institutions to enhance their cross-cultural management competencies. A qualitative approach was used for the research, drawing on the reflections of the tutors from both institutions and feedback received from students in the UK and Brazil. This paper provides empirical observations regarding the use of this innovative pedagogic approach, generating discussion of the implications for teaching, thus contributing to the literature on international collaborations in cross-cultural management education.

Does international experience count in the cross-cultural management course effectiveness?

The rapid increase in globalisation processes in many aspects of social and work life has pushed educators to develop students with cross-cultural competence to work in culturally diverse settings. We extend the current understanding of the effectiveness of cross-cultural management courses by emphasising multidimensional learning outcomes. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of international experience on the effectiveness of cross-cultural management education. By studying 179 students at two universities, our results showed that students' international experience through international student status was positively associated with their cognitive cultural intelligence, and students' international experience through military affiliation was positively related to their motivational cultural intelligence and cross-cultural adjustment efficacy. We discuss ways to utilise experience for better learning and implications for management education.

Does international experience count in the cross-cultural management course effectiveness?

The rapid increase in globalisation processes in many aspects of social and work life has pushed educators to develop students with cross-cultural competence to work in culturally diverse settings. We extend the current understanding of the effectiveness of cross-cultural management courses by emphasising multidimensional learning outcomes. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of international experience on the effectiveness of cross-cultural management education. By studying 179 students at two universities, our results showed that students' international experience through international student status was positively associated with their cognitive cultural intelligence, and students' international experience through military affiliation was positively related to their motivational cultural intelligence and cross-cultural adjustment efficacy. We discuss ways to utilise experience for better learning and implications for management education.

Global Leadership Practices: A Cross-Cultural Management Perspective

Academy of Management Learning & EducationVol. 14, No. 4 Books & Resource ReviewsGlobal Leadership Practices: A Cross-Cultural Management PerspectiveChristof Miska and Hale ÖnerChristof MiskaWU Vienna and Hale ÖnerKoç UniversityPublished Online:26 Aug 2015https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2015.0238AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsDownload CitationsAdd to favoritesTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail View articleREFERENCESDeetz S. 1996. Describing differences in approaches to organization science: Rethinking Burrell and Morgan and their legacy. Organization Science, 7(2): 191–207. Google ScholarMendenhall M. E.Osland J. S.Bird A.Oddou G. R.Maznevski M. L.Stevens M. J.Stahl G. K. (Eds.). 2013. Global leadership: Research, practice and development (2nd ed.). Routledge. Google ScholarSzkudlarek B., McNett J., Romani L., Lane H. 2013. The past, present and future of cross-cultural management education: The educators’ perspective. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12(3): 477–493.Link , Google ScholarFiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 14, No. 4 Permissions Metrics in the past 12 months History Published online 26 August 2015 Published in print 1 December 2015 Information© Academy of Management Learning & EducationDownload PDF

Responsible Global Humanism as a New Model for Business Schools

This paper examines the elements that make up global humanist learning (GHL) about cross-cultural management education (CCME) for the training of international responsible future managers. The first part of this study shows how business schools can find their way implementing a new curriculum based on transversal humanist studies and global responsibility. The study shows how, besides her/his cross-cultural knowledge, the future executive has to show a great adaptability acquired through a slow training characterised by cultural diversity with a global humanistic (human and social sciences) background coming from different cultures and perspectives. The second part of this paper develops the notion of sustainable education for responsible transcultural managers. Well-being is at the core of this section giving special importance to the notion of sustainable happiness in the workplace, element that replaces the sacro-saint three P concepts in traditional business: productivity, performance and profitability. The paper highlights new values in an emerging responsible green environment such as caring, maternalistic management, integral thinking and love for humanity in playful enjoyable contexts. The third part of this paper underlines the importance of a global humanism which questions Eurocentric and Western thinking as the main ground theory for business education. The paper will put forward the necessity of a post-colonial approach from political, social, economic and cultural thinkers and activists from emerging environments. Finally, this work will propose new challenges for the future: a profile for another kind of responsible business school across the globe.

Exploring the Impact of Cross-Cultural Management Education on Cultural Intelligence, Student Satisfaction, and Commitment

Increasing globalization, workforce mobility, and international assignments are creating demand for culturally adept employees. While developing these employees begins in the classroom, educators a...

Balancing Emic and Etic: Situated Learning and Ethnography of Communication in Cross-Cultural Management Education

We interrogate current approaches to cross-cultural management teaching and learning, which have been criticized for delivering a curriculum modeled on “cultural patterns.” Such approaches could be described as etic or culture-general. We argue for re-centering cross-cultural management teaching and learning around a stronger emic or culture-specific component, balancing the current etic emphasis. This we call the “situated cultural learning approach” (SiCuLA), which focuses on the active role that the learner plays in the specific cultural contexts of learning. First, we propose to look at emic–etic as a continuum, as others have argued, rather than an opposition. Second, we reconceptualize cross-cultural management learning as situated learning and, third, we put forward ethnography of communication (EoC) as a learning epistemology that bridges the gap between situated learning and the classroom and workplace as learning contexts. More important, we propose a novel “situated curriculum” based on practical ideas to train students as culture learners. Last, we discuss some implications for developing an ethnography of communication-based curriculum for future cross-cultural management education.

The Past, Present, and Future of Cross-Cultural Management Education: The Educators' Perspective

In a series of interviews with leading cross-cultural management (CCM) educators, we examine the state of the CCM field within business education. We invited eight prominent scholars and executive educators to consider the following main questions: What is the role of cross-cultural management in business curricula? What challenges do we face teaching this material? How can we create an engaged learning environment with the diverse audiences we encounter in our classrooms, and what theoretical frameworks best support these efforts? Last, what is the future of cross-cultural management education? What changes and challenges can we expect? The learnings that emerged from our interviews are grouped around three main themes: the content of what we teach, our understanding of audiences with whom we work and their evolving expectations of cross-cultural management education, and the role, preparation, background and assumptions of the educators. This series of interviews contributes to highlight current trends in cross-cultural management education: a shift in content from knowledge to conditions of knowledge creation, a transition from monocultural audiences toward biculturals and global cosmopolitans, and finally, educators' changing responsibility from providing knowledge to developing and honing responsible, tolerant, and resilient global citizens.

Developing Intercultural Competencies through Cross-Cultural Management Education

As part of the intense globalization of businesses and societies over the past few decades, millions of people find themselves dealing with colleagues, customers, and other stakeholders who grew up in a culture different from their own and who, in more ways than one, speak a “different language.” Moreover, skills shortages and economic conditions in many parts of the world have elicited mass migration of workers across borders, with some countries experiencing a rapid shift from cultural homogeneity to cultural heterogeneity. As a result, educating managers and employees to deal effectively with cross-cultural management (CCM) issues both domestically and abroad has become a top priority for many organizations. This symposium aims to take stock of and advance CCM teaching and education by exploring how research on cross-cultural management, CCM learning, and expatriate training can assist in the development of approaches to increasing cultural awareness and intercultural competencies; examining the efficacy of current CCM courses offered by academic institutions, training providers, and in-company training units; investigating how learning occurs in CCM contexts; exploring how CCM teaching can be enriched by incorporating international field experiences and other experiential elements into the design of courses and programs; and addressing other important questions related to CCM learning and education.

Facilitating Cross-Cultural Management Education Through Global Faculty Exchanges

According to the AACSB International (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) (AACSB International, 2011), the next big transformational wave to hit business schools is globalization. Globalizing the faculty is one strategy for enhancing the globalization of business schools and using global faculty exchanges is one method to globalize the faculty. AACSB (2011) noted that globalizing faculty is often overlooked. A survey of faculty who have engaged in international teaching opportunities was conducted. The responses from the survey and recommendations for developing global faculty exchanges and increasing their effectiveness are provided.

Combining Multicultural Management and Diversity Into One Course on Cultural Competence

There can be little debate that culture—the multiple characteristics and backgrounds that shape individuals’ and organizations’ identities, perceptions, attitudes, and behavior—strongly influences the success of business enterprises today. Intergroup conflict constantly threatens the ability of both domestic and global firms to operate efficiently, cooperatively, and fairly. Did a merger between a Japanese-owned firm and an American-owned firm fail because of inferior products and inappropriate pricing or because the managers were personally incompatible and the organizations’ operating styles too disparate? Did a company’s efforts to advance women into management fail because the women were not up to the challenge or because the work environment undermined their performance or perceived performance? Business educators cannot simply teach undergraduate and graduate students that cultural differences matter. They must equip students to understand how cultural differences work and thus how to turn cultural competence into a competitive advantage. Unfortunately, undergraduate and graduate courses in multicultural management (also called “cross-cultural management”) tend to fall short of this goal. We identify cultural management skills required for success in today’s business environment, then examine gaps between those target competencies and current teaching in multicultural management, and the source of those gaps in the courses’ conceptual foundations. We suggest improving these courses using concepts from, among other places, “domestic” diversity management courses. In fact, we propose to improve both types of courses by merging them into a unified course designed around the border-erasing concept of cultural competence. WHAT MANAGERS NEED TO KNOW

‘Foreigner Talk’: An Important Element in Cross-Cultural Management Education and Training

‘Foreigner Talk’: An Important Element in Cross-Cultural Management Education and Training

From Tour Guide to Teacher: Deepening Cross-Cultural Competence through International Experience-Based Education

Research suggests that cross-cultural competence can best be developed through face-to-face contact with other cultures. In light of this, many universities seek ways to provide strong, cross-cultural exposure to students. The authors describe an innovative 8-day sojourn to Mexico, in which students and faculty experience cross-cultural immersion through activity-based learning. Design issues and key earnings for educators who seek to develop or enhance cross-cultural management education programs are discussed. Feedback from student and faculty participants is included.