The sharing principle: A way of managing multicultural organisations

Abstract

Although much has been said in academia on the importance of multiculturalism, cultural clashes in business and the workplace continue to be an issue of growing concern as the world moves toward an interlinked, global economy. Now more than ever, learning to draw on the richness of a kaleidoscopic workforce and to assist all team members in delivering their best efforts is a critical managerial task. This article provides a synopsis of the background to the problem of managing culturally diverse organisations, discusses the influences of cultural diversity on management, and proposes a conceptual framework for managing multicultural organisations through the ‘sharing principle’. The challenge for a multicultural learning organisation is to increase the potential benefits of cultural diversity by creating a willingness-to-share attitude – sharing success, sharing mental models, sharing vision, and sharing competence. A real commitment to the sharing principle is essential to effective management in culturally diverse organisations.

Global Information System Implementation: A Study of Strategic and Cultural Challenges and Enablers in a DMNC

“…The findings reveal a close interconnectivity between the strategic (Begley and Boyd, ) and the cultural dimensions (Gertsen, ; Rijamampianina and Maxwell, ; Friday and Friday, ; Matveev and Milter, ; Levy et al ., ). The implementation in Canada, for instance, embodied leading practice for the strategic and cultural perspective at the same time, whereas the US implementation was found to be lagging with respect to both.…”

“…The framework presented may provide managers with a tool to identify challenges and structure their approach to the implementation of GIS. The work highlighted the challenge for GIS implementations in the development of a global mindset that requires an integrative approach to strategic perspective of global consistency and local responsiveness (Begley and Boyd, ) and cultural perspectives related to the development of intercultural competence (Perlmutter, ; Gertsen, ; Rijamampianina and Maxwell, ; Friday and Friday, ; Matveev and Milter, ). There were divergent perceptions across and within the countries investigated.…”

“…The German employees attributed the dramatic improvement in cooperation with the UK to face‐to‐face contact with the UK employees and to competency‐based trust that could be developed in the course of the project. This opened communication and helped reduce misunderstanding (Rijamampianina and Maxwell, ). Due to the time and cost in overcoming geographical distance, face‐to‐face contact between the UK headquarters and the USA had been limited.…”

“…This extra effort has, in the view of the project director, fully embedded the ‘trust’ relationship with the USA and the rest of the global team. The time difference between the USA and the UK, and the associated reduction in support from headquarters that the US employees reported, driven by the shortened overlap in working day, might also have contributed to the low satisfaction of US staff with regard to the communicative dimension (Rijamampianina and Maxwell, ). However, the conclusion that the communicative dimension was at the core of the issue in the USA is difficult to accept, as the impact should be the same in Canada.…”

“…The Communicative Dimension relates to cultural differences that can often be the root of communication and trust problems (Bird and Osland, ). Intercultural communication requires a shared mental model and set of meanings (Rijamampianina and Maxwell, ). The Affective Dimension focuses on identifying personality traits and attitudes that characterize interculturally competent individuals.…”