Cordula Barzantny

Psychological Contracts across Cultures

This paper explores the relationship between national culture and individuals’ psychological contracts. Predicted relationships were drawn from prior theory that identified cognitive and motivational mechanisms through which culture manifests its influence. The dominant forms of psychological contracts were evaluated against predictions based on the national-level cultural values of vertical and horizontal individualism and collectivism in four countries. Results of interviews with 57 participants indicated that French interviewees (vertical individualist) described their psychological contracts as primarily exploitive, Canadians (horizontal individualist) as primarily instrumental, Chinese (vertical collectivist) as primarily custodial and Norwegians (horizontal collectivist) as primarily communitarian. Exploration of the conditions under which patterns deviated from those predicted by the theory indicates potential areas for future theoretical development.

The Confluence of Cultural Richness & Global Identity in Intracultural & Intercultural Negotiations

We explore how and when multicultural experience influences negotiation outcomes. From four studies, we found support for our theoretical predictions that negotiatorsi¯ Global and Local identity ty...

Addressing the Lack of Empirical Data on Global Performance Management: Developing a Research Strategy and Assessing Initial Empirical Evidence – A Research Note

This work aspires to improve the methodological way of empirical data collection and to provide data to validate global performance management (GPM) research frameworks. Despite the existing various conceptual and theoretical frameworks for global performance management, the empirical evidence is still in its infancy. We draw detailed implications for the empirical research on GPM based on the challenges already outlined in cross-national and cross-cultural research methodology. Our research in progress focuses at deepening our knowledge for investigating GPM using the interplay between frameworks and secondary data from case studies on global performance management systems in European MNCs.

Managing emotions in mergers and acquisitions

This title addresses the important, but very often overlooked, subject of emotions in mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Verena Kusstatscher and Cary Cooper offer a conceptual as well as practical approach to the theme by dividing their book into three major parts. The first one reads as a theoretical overview and summary of works on emotions and the particular understanding of emotions in M&As. It is a state of the art presentation and core contribution to research on the theme. The first part concludes with a conceptual framework formulated by the authors that will guide their subsequent empirical case studies. The second part presents four different case studies on emotions in international M&As, mainly based on 18 interviews with various managers and non-managers of these organizations as well as in-depth study, observation and secondary data analysis of these companies, who all went through transnational, cross-European M&As in different stages of achievement. The book concludes with a short third part where the empirical case research is discussed and the links with the conceptual framework are recalled. Finally limitations are underlined and implication for research and the practising manager are drawn. This title provides a very useful contribution to research on emotions and is valuable for the researcher as well as for the practitioner. The conceptual framework proposed is furthermore tested in the field and offers precious lessons for research and practice. Perceived management communication and perceived management behaviours constitute the two managerial antecedents influencing employees’ emotions. Kusstatscher and Cooper use social identity theory to theorize the consequences of employees’ emotions during the corporate post-merger integration processes leading to five major consequences in focus: 1) the identification of employees with the new merged organization, 2) their commitment towards the new merged organization, 3) job satisfaction, 4) relationships between employees as well as between employees and superiors and 5) perceived performance of the merged organization. This conceptual model is tested in the field and offers valuable lessons not only in the area of Human Resource Development (HRD), but management research and practice at large. In the four case studies, the difficulties and creative needs of the qualitative management field researcher are highlighted and interesting multiple methods are proposed. The measurement of emotions ex-post the event seems rather complex, but Human Resource Development International, Vol. 10, No. 3, 355 – 359, September 2007

A Three-Country Investigation on Some Organizational Justice Values and Perceptions

This study drew from some classic writings on justice values and conceptualized justice value facets (e.g., distributive justice value, interpersonal justice value, etc.) as formative constructs in...

Book review: Time and management from a cross-cultural perspective

In the last two chapters, she divides practice-based studies into different categories, which she then presents as different streams in a diagram that claims to trace the most important researchers, philosophers and concepts of practice-based studies from the 1960s to the 2000s. It is this claim of completeness that makes absent presences, such as the work of Annemarie Mol, Michel Callon or Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy of becoming, problematic. In these chapters, her narrative also gradually disintegrates as the levels of discussion multiply. Discussing different foci of study, methods, concepts and claims with regard to the historical development of the field all at once, Silvia Gherardi also leaves the so far clear strategy of making examples an integrative part of the narrative. This asks too much of the reader, especially if he or she is new to the field. This book does not introduce anything new but provides a good starting point to understand the basic assumptions, approaches and partial connections that constitute the multiple network of practice-based studies. Gherardi successfully keeps the balance between too abstract and too concrete, which is the main challenge for novices to the world of practice-based studies. The publisher’s claim on this book cover that ‘[t]he distinctive trait of this book is the presentation of the classic studies that gave rise to the practice-based approach ...’, however, should be taken with a grain of salt. Silvia Gherardi’s writing, just like any practice she describes, is situated. One should, therefore, take her representation of the field of practice-based studies as a source of inspiration that triggers curiosity and enthusiasm, while keeping in mind that the answer to the question ‘what are the classic studies that gave rise to the practice-based approach?’ would again be: ‘it depends’.

Mobilitätsverhalten von Fach- und Führungskräften: Mythos und Realität

Das Personalmanagement ist schon seit geraumer Zeit mit Problemstellungen konfrontiert, die sich aus grenzuberschreitenden Wirtschaftsaktivitaten ergeben. Die Europaisierung, als ein spezifischer Fall der Internationalisierung von Fach- und Fuhrungskraften uber europaische Landesgrenzen hinweg, stellt diesen die allgemeine Anforderung mindestens einer internationalen Arbeitserfahrung. Diese Mobilitat mit internationalem Auslandseinsatz des Personals, mit kurzer oder langerer Dauer, erscheint als ein wichtiger Faktor zur Entwicklung des europaischen, bzw. des globalen Managers, als auch der transnationalen1 Unternehmung beizutragen (Pausenberger & Noelle, 1977; Dulfer, 1992; Scherm, 1995; Schreyogg et al., 1995; Gratton et al., 1999; Suutari & Brewster, 1999).

Managing Diversity. Toward a Globally Inclusive Workplace.

A review is presented of the book Managing Diversity: Toward a Globally Inclusive Workplace, by Michalle E. Mor Barak.