Culture and Management Practice Guide

Abstract

The purpose of this guide is to assist students and faculty in making connections between culture and management practices. In other words to demonstrate culture’s impact on certain concepts of management "ceteris paribus".

This guide on culture and management was made possible through a grant awarded by the U.S. Department ofEducation under Title VI-A, the Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program.

In developing this guide, I have attempted to synthesize the work of many researchers whose works I have consulted and are listed in the references in the back. These individuals deserve all of the credit for the ideas presented herein.

In addition I have benefited from discussions and resources provided by Dr. Richard W. Brislin and his colleagues at the University of Hawaii-Manoa as a participant in their Summer Workshop for the Development of Intercultural Coursework at Colleges and Universities and Dr. David Ricks and his colleagues at the American Graduate School for International Management (Thunderbird) as a participant in the Faculty Development Seminar in International Business on International Management. Others who have shared their ideas on culture with me include Dr. Paul Marer at the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University who conducts a doctoral seminar on culture and business and Professor Diane Gerber of Miami University in Ohio who teaches an interdisciplinary culture course at the undergraduate level.

Despite all of this assistance, I accept full responsibility for the interpretation and representation of cultural concepts and their relationships to management as described in this manual.

I hope this helps you understand why management practices may not be universal in their application as one crosses international borders.