Harris L. Friedman

A cross-cultural comparison of problem solving beliefs and behaviours: helping managers understand country differences

This research looked at employee beliefs and behaviours about different problem solving approaches and their effectiveness. A large-scale survey was conducted on employees of 26 organisations located in seven countries Australia, Fiji, France, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, and the USA. While significant differences were found among different employee levels in how organisational problems are solved and the quality of those solutions, national culture, or country, appears to be the principal explanatory measure for these differences. The most important findings appear to be that organisations in individualistic nations are moving toward more collectivist approaches to problem solving, employees at all levels in their organisations are involved in problem solving, and problems appear to re-occur most often in US firms and least often in South Korean organisations.

Cultural Dilemmas and Sociocultural Encounters: An Approach for Understanding, Assessing, and Analyzing Culture

Transcultural competence involves more than recognizing and respecting cultural differences. It also involves reconciliation and realization, creating new ways for dealing with cultural dilemmas. We present scientifically based concepts and methods for identifying, analyzing, and reconciling cultural dilemmas, including illustrations from our work with a South Pacific corporate merger and a military mission in Afghanistan.