Fiona Moore

Work‐life balance: contrasting managers and workers in an MNC

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to compare and contrast the workers and managers of an Anglo‐German MNC, focusing on how each group attempts to maintain an acceptable work‐life balance.Design/methodology/approach – The article is based on a two‐year‐long ethnographic study, including in‐depth interviews, participant‐observation and archival research.Findings – Although the bulk of the companys work‐life balance initiatives focus on the managers, and the managers display greater loyalty to the company, the workers are better able to achieve work‐life balance. Neither group displays a more positive attitude to their work; however, the managers focus more on achieving status and the workers on personal satisfaction.Research limitations/implications – The findings challenge assertions that “flexible” working practices are good for work‐life balance, that managers are better able to maintain a good work‐life balance than workers, and that the development of an appropriate work‐life balance policy ass...

Strategy, power and negotiation: social control and expatriate managers in a German multinational corporation

This paper contributes to the ongoing debates on HRM in head office/subsidiary relationships and the uses of expatriates in corporate strategy, focusing specifically on the literature that argues that expatriates are used by the head offices of multinational corporations primarily for social control. Taking Erving Goffmans theories of strategic self-presentation, I suggest instead, on the basis of a detailed ethnographic study of the expatriate staff of the London office of a German multinational bank, that, in fact, not only do the local managers use the presence of the expatriates to resist head offices practices, but that the expatriates themselves employ their position strategically, to negotiate between both parties according to their own interests. This creates a situation characterized less by domination and resistance than by dynamic negotiation between different groups with different strategies engaging in particular forms of self-presentation, in which no group ultimately prevails. I conclude by arguing for the development of a new way of considering international management in theory and practice, taking into account the influences on the managers and their organization, and the strategies of individuals and groups within the MNC.

Culture Against Cohesion: Global Corporate Strategy and Employee Diversity in the UK Plant of a German MNC

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight employee diversity at the workplace level in a MNC, and consider its impact upon management attempts to promote a global corporate culture.Design/methodology/approach – The investigation took the form of an ethnographic participant‐observation study, which involved interviews and archival research plus a three‐month period when the lead researcher worked on the plants final assembly line. This provided insights into the personal and psychological issues of individuals within the workforce, and an experiential dimension to the study which is difficult to replicate in other ways.Findings – The management approach to cultural and diversity issues worked both for and against the development of cohesion and improved employee relations. Managers sometimes ignored the real impact of local ethnic diversity, focusing instead on inter‐management conflicts, which contributed to employee morale and communication problems. But where diversity was recognised, more su...

Sensemaking and sojourner adjustment among Korean entrepreneurs in London (UK)

This paper takes a new look at the role of narrative construction in sojourner adjustment through a case study of two female Korean entrepreneurs (selected from interviews with 10 Korean sojourners) to best differentiate their cultural adjustment from ‘culture shock’ in the UK. We review the literature on culture shock, beginning with Oberg’s classic modernist/foundational ‘transformational’ model. The limitations of this model are shown in terms of the restricted focus upon individualistic, universal cognitive stages of change experienced by the sojourner. Then the benefits afforded by applying Goffman’s dramaturgy and Weick’s sensemaking approach are discussed. These approaches, informed by relationalist metatheory and metamethods, focus upon persons and interaction. They provide more collective, particularistic, social constructivist lenses that incorporate emotional, symbolic, communicative and linguistic viewpoints to complement cognitive explanations. The narrative methodology employed is that of Barbara Czarniawska whose work is heavily influenced by Goffman and Weick.

Internal Diversity and Culture's Consequences: Branch/Head Office Relations in a German Financial MNC

The different subcultures within the branches of MNCs have as much impact on its functioning as the corporation’s home and host cultures, but are less likely to be considered significant.

Telling it like it is: news websites and online newspapers

This article examines the content and possible uses of four online news providers: , aimed at the potential clients of a major transnational information corporation; , aimed at ‘alternative globalization’ activists; , intended for transnational businesspeople and , directed at both local newspaper readers and members of the Irish diaspora. It suggests that the form, content and multimedia use of each is determined by its target audience and by the use this audience makes of the potential of the Internet for developing cross-border networks. Furthermore, it suggests that it is not necessarily the size, extensity and power of this audience that determines the degree of sophistication and global engagement of the website, nor is it the power and wealth of the individual website’s developers.

Research on women in international business and management: then, now, and next

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address the paradox that represents a shortage of women in management and senior leadership positions around the world, while research has consistently shown that having women in positions of influence leads to noteworthy organizational benefits, as guest editors for this special issue, the authors provide an overview of four key streams of cross-cultural research on gender – women in international management, anthropology and gender, women’s leadership, and women’s entrepreneurship – which have been fairly well-developed but remain underexplored. Design/methodology/approach Each author led the review of the scholarly literature stream that aligned most with personal research areas of expertise, while particularly focusing each literature review on the status of each body of work in relation to the topic of women and gender in international business and management. Findings The authors encourage future work on the role of women and gender (including gay, lesbian, and transgender) in cross-cultural management, and the influence of cross-cultural matters on gender. In addition to new research on obstacles and biases faced by women in management, the authors hope to see more scholarship on the benefits that women bring to their organizations. Practical implications New research could aim to provide specific evidence-based recommendations for: how organizations and individuals can work to develop more gender diversity in management and senior positions around the world, and encourage more women to start and grow bigger businesses. Social implications Scholars can lead progress on important gender issues and contribute to quality information that guides politicians, organizational leaders, new entrants to the workforce. Originality/value This is the first paper to cover these topics and review the body of work on cross-cultural research on women in international business and management. The authors hope it serves as a useful launch pad for scholars conducting new research in this domain.

Shifting Perspectives: Multiple Cultures and Community Embeddedness in an Anglo-German MNC

In management studies, the need is increasingly being felt for a model of culture in organizations that acknowledges the complexity of culture while still being usefully transferable from instance to instance. Using a case study of a British factory in an Anglo-German automobile manufacturing multinational corporation (MNC), and in particular an examination of the relationships that different subgroups in the organization cultivate with one another and with groups both in the surrounding area and at the national and global levels, I propose that firms are best conceived of not as bounded entities or fragmented cultures but as nexuses of internal subgroups with complex links to outside communities.

Research on Women in International Business and Management: Then, Now, and Next

To address the paradox that represents a shortage of women in management and senior leadership positions around the world, while research has consistently shown that having women in positions of influence leads to noteworthy organizational benefits, as guest editors for this special issue, we provide an overview of four key streams of cross cultural research on gender — women in international management, anthropology and gender, women’s leadership, and women’s entrepreneurship — which have been fairly well-developed but remain underexplored.

Concluding Remarks: Organizational Identity in a Transforming World

The writers of this book have set themselves an ambitious task for a work of this size, combining a classic concept in the sociology of organizations with the modern issues of growth and globalization. The concluding remarks briefly attempt to sum up the contributions of the chapters in this volume, the contribution of the volume more generally and, based on these, consider a few directions the study of organizational identity might take in the future.