Terence Jackson

International HRM: a cross-cultural approach

Introduction: Beyond Human Resource Management The Cross-Cultural Organization: The Multicultural Model The Strategic Organization: The Supranational Model The Competent Organization: The American Model The Missionary Organization: The Dutch Model The Motivating Organization: The Japanese Model The Learning Organization: The British Model The Flexible Organization: The European Union Model The Joint Venture Organization: The Chinese Model with Peter Xu Lu The Transitioning Organization: The Post-Soviet Model The Stakeholder Organization: The Post-Colonial Model Conclusion: The Future Organization

Foreign companies and Chinese workers: employee motivation in the People’s Republic of China

With an increasing number of foreign enterprises operating in China, there is a need to focus on the motivation of Chinese workers in such enterprises, and the way that human resource management practices address Chinese work values and motivational factors. Problems of productivity and retention of employees have been reported which reflect on the ways foreign companies attempt to motivate Chinese employees, often relying on practices drawn from concepts which work in the West. This article first looks at such Western practices, explaining why they might not work in a Chinese context. Chinese work values and motivation are compared with these approaches and propositions advanced to indicate how Chinese employees may be motivated. These are then compared with current practices and attitudes within foreign firms and joint ventures in China. For the latter a study of 13 companies in Beijing is reported, and the efficacy of policies and practices is questioned. Recommendations include the need for organisations to affect structural and policy changes in the areas of rules and procedures, reward systems, corporate identity and career planning. The provision of appropriate expatriate manager training is also suggested.

Management Ethics and Corporate Policy: A Cross‐cultural Comparison

This paper reports the results of a cross-cultural empirical study that investigated differences in the clarity of corporate attitudes towards ethical ‘grey areas’ and their influences on managers’ ethical decision making. The study encompassed managers in France, Germany, Britain, Spain and the USA working in over 200 companies operating in these countries. Comparisons are made at both individual manager level and at corporate level. At the former level significant differences are found among nationalities of managers themselves. For the latter, differences are found among companies according to the nationality of their home country rather than the host country. Despite identifying national differences in areas of gift giving and receiving, loyalty to company, loyalty to ones group, and reporting others’ violations of corporate policy, the study presents evidence that clarity of corporate policy has little influence on managers’ reported ethical decision making. The perceived behaviour of managers’ colleagues is far more important in predicting attitudes towards decision making of managers across the nationalities surveyed. This has implications for the efficacy of the growing popularity of corporate codes across Europe. Companies should place more emphasis on intervening in peer dynamics rather than trying to legislate for managers’ ethical conduct.

Editorial: From Cultural Values to Cross Cultural Interfaces

The first aspect that we highlighted in our 2001 editorial was the issue of ‘international’ scholarship, and what that entails. We expressed a desire to expand the boundaries of acceptability of different (cultural) paradigms of thought. Especially, we were mindful of bringing in ‘indigenous’ knowledge that might otherwise be disparaged by the ‘international community of scholars’. We made the point that this community could only be enriched by a wider dissemination of culturally diverse paradigms. The task of encouraging and publishing such diversity has not been easy. Striking a balance between what is ‘acceptable’ to the international community of scholars, and bringing in indigenous scholarship has sometimes been problematic. The criterion that we have tried to employ is that the internal logic of such work and its external validity must be transparent. Firstly, authors from around the world who are looking to publish in an ‘international’ journal may often themselves disparage indigenous knowledge and indigenous logic. For example, we have received a number of submissions that seek to explain cultural phenomenon in a particular country by reference to Hofstede’s cultural value dimensions. Many of the articles published in our Cultural Perspectives section often extend the knowledge and understanding of Editorial

Managing change in South Africa: developing people and organizations

The interaction of Western and non-Western management practices is a growing issue in transitional and emerging economies through the world, not least within the multicultural context of South Africa. This is characterized in this article as an antithesis between instrumental and humanistic views of people in organizations, which is fundamental to the way change is being managed. In order to better understand how the management of people and change may be related to this antithesis, the results of an exploratory study, involving focus-group methods with thirty managers, and of a survey of some 200 employees in participating organizations are presented. Indicative results suggest that, despite best efforts from organizations which may represent best management and development practice, issues concerning the value attached to people in these organizations are still not being properly addressed. It may be only through understanding and reconciling this antithesis that change concerning the development of peo...

From cultural values to cross‐cultural interfaces: Hofstede goes to Africa

Purpose – Hofstedes theory may be problematic from both a methodological/theoretical and practical view when applied to the 80 per cent of the globe we term developing. It is necessary to break out of an epistemic paradigm and a “view from nowhere” in order to focus on multiple layers of cultural interfaces within power dynamics that influence the nature of hybrid organizations and individual cultural identity. The purpose of this paper therefore is to develop a theory of cross‐cultural interfaces.Design/methodology/approach – Cross‐cultural values theory provides a blunt instrument in Africa, does not take into account global dependencies and is not able to analyse local perceptions of reality within a context of these dependencies. A theory of cultural interfaces is developed that incorporates an Aristotelian phronetic approach to social science.Findings – This moves away from the universals of analytical rationality towards practical value‐rationality that considers culture from a context‐dependent vi...

Cross-cultural management and the informal economy in sub-Saharan Africa: implications for organization, employment and skills development

The informal economy has grown in importance within sub-Saharan Africa, yet there are debates about its role within national economies that appear not to take cognizance of the interests and the weak power base of those working within the informal economy. The current article argues that a cross-cultural perspective should be taken in understanding the geopolitical context of informal organizations, the power relationships involved and how the contributions and future of skills development, employment and organization within the informal and wider economies can be better understood and researched. It initially alludes to the informal sector being closer to local communities, and more appropriate to developments in Africa, but draws on postcolonial theory to better understand the nature and role of such organization within an interface of structural and phenomenological influences that question the nature of the ‘indigenous’ as an artefact. Some of the parameters of research in this area are drawn within this work while recognizing that further development is needed in both theory and methods. This article thus attempts to lay the foundations for a cross-cultural conceptual framework leading to a methodology that can inform both practice and policy in this neglected but important area.

Postcolonialism and organizational knowledge in the wake of China’s presence in Africa: interrogating South-South relations

China’s presence in Africa appears to be part of a new geopolitical dynamic that may be affecting the way management and organizational knowledge from the South should be conceptualized and studied. The purpose of this article is to interrogate the adequacy of emerging critical management theories premised on challenging the West’s modernization projects, particularly Postcolonial and Dependency Theories, in the light of a changing geopolitical dynamic. It discusses the need for a new theoretical lens through which to understand and research China’s presence in Africa at organizational and community levels. It points to the lack of empirical knowledge at these levels, and proposes a research agenda based on an interrogation of China’s previous anti-colonial relationship with African countries and the way its present-day motives are played out at organizational level, and with an aim to understanding the extent to which China’s engagement is given voice to African management and organizational knowledge.

China in Sub-Saharan Africa: implications for HRM policy and practice at organizational level

The presence of China in Africa has introduced a new geopolitical dynamic that should be incorporated into the way international human resource management (HRM) is studied cross-culturally. Despite a growing literature on Chinas international relations with and investment in Africa, little previous study has been undertaken at organizational level. We review relevant literature, together with that on management and organization in Africa and China, to develop a conceptual framework that incorporates critiques of North–South interactions including Dependency Theories that posit First World development is based on Third World underdevelopment, and Postcolonial Theory that posits the Souths knowledge dependency on the North. We consider how a growing South–South dynamic may be integrated into a consideration of power dynamics and cultural crossvergence, and construct organizational and management ‘ideal types’ to enable us to frame a research agenda in this area. This is important, as it is difficult to sustain cross-cultural scholarship merely on cultural comparisons. By providing a way of studying cultural hybrid forms of organization, or cultural ‘third spaces’, it is hoped this will contribute to understanding the implications to people management practice in South–South partnerships, not only in Chinese organizations in Africa, and contribute theoretically to the development of cross-cultural management studies and its application to international HRM.

Management Studies from Africa: A Cross-cultural Critique

This article presents a critical cross-cultural appraisal of management scholarship concerning Africa, considering differences between scholarship on Africa, scholarship for Africa, and scholarship from Africa. It looks at how Africa has been conceptualized and portrayed in the management literature from an outsiders pejorative perspective, how solutions for Africa, underlined by modernization theory, have been sought for Africa by management scholars, and the imperative for research that reflects indigenous approaches and the difficulties with this. It then goes on to look at two major aspects that affect the way we research, and should be researching Africa: the changing geopolitical context, specifically China in Africa, that provides a different perspective of scholarship for Africa; and, the political nature of concepts of indigenous African management and how this should be integrated into management scholarship.