The complexity of global organizations highlights the importance of members' ability to span diverse boundaries that may be defined by organization structures, national borders, and/or a variety of cultures associated with organization, nation-based societal and work cultures, industries, and/or professions. Based on ethnographic research in a Japan-US binational firm, the paper describes and analyzes the boundary role performance of the firm's Japanese members. It contributes toward theory on boundary spanning by introducing a "cultural identity negotiation" conceptual framework. We show boundary spanning as a process shaped through the interplay of the contextual issues that make a boundary problematic; an individual's multiple repertoires of cultural knowledge; and the individual boundary spanner's "negotiation", through interaction with others, of his/her cultural identities -the sense of "who I am" as a cultural being that is fundamental to an individual's self-concept. At the same time, we make transparent the epistemological and methodological foundations of an interpretive ethnographic approach, demonstrating its value for understanding complex organizational processes. Research findings have practical implications for the selection and training of an organization's employees, particularly of persons who may be considered "bicultural".

We examined the effect of daily consumption of dietary diacylglycerol (DG) oil on serum lipid concentrations in patients with diabetes whose serum triacylglycerol (TG) levels were persistently increased despite continuous nutritional counseling at the outpatient clinic. Patients (n = 16) were divided into DG and control groups (n = 8 each). DG was incorporated (target dose 10 g/d) by substituting DG oil (80 g DG/100 g oil) for the ordinary TG cooking oil used at home for 12 wk. The control group continued consuming ordinary TG cooking oil. Dietary records indicated that there were no differences between groups in total energy intake or percentage of energy from fat. In the DG group, TG intake decreased from 26.8 +/- 9.3 to 15.7 +/- 8.9 g/d, whereas DG intake increased from 0.3 +/- 0.1 to 10.6 +/- 3.9 g/d. No differences between groups were observed in body weight, total fat intake or total oil consumption throughout the study period. In the DG group, serum TG levels decreased 39.4% from 2.51 +/- 0.75 mmol/L to 1.52 +/- 0.28 mmol/L. Serum glycohemoglobin A(1c) (HbA(1c)) concentration also decreased 9.7%. In contrast, there were no changes in these variables in the control group. Serum total and HDL cholesterol were not affected in either group. These results indicate that DG oil may be useful as an adjunct to the standard diet therapy of fat restriction in the management of diabetics with hypertriglyceridemia.

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