Oxford Handbook of Human Resource Management

(Steven Felgate) #1

approaches of dealing with cultural diversity have included eVorts to conform to
‘best-practice’ (usually Western management practice), and ‘force-Wtting stand-
ardized practices and techniques in an eVort to homogenize people and cultures in
oYces and factories around the world’ (Wong-Mingji and Mir 1997 : 359 ). While
this tendency for universality may have been understandable, examination of HR
practices and structures in transnationalWrms has brought issues of cultural
diversity to the fore and a reconsideration of the assumption of universality is
required. As Wright and Brewster ( 2003 : 1303 ) point out:


While one cannot help but recognize some universal values (e.g. people should be com
pensated for their work) or truths with regard to HR practices (e.g. people need training to
perform eVectively, etc), it is in the diversity of practices where individuals, groups and
organizations maximize their outcomes.


Cross-cultural theory and research have provided numerous important contri-
butions to knowledge of work attitudes, employee behaviors, and management
practices in transnationalWrms. However, there remain many areas for future
investigation. Leung et al. ( 2005 ) have identiWed four themes that they suggest
should be addressed in research on culture and international business; these also
have implications for the development of theory and practice related to cultural
diversity.
First, much of the extant research has utilized a simplistic view of culture that
tends to assume stability rather than recognizing the dynamism of culture. Leung
et al. ( 2005 : 374 ) propose instead ‘multi-layer, multi-facet, contextual, and systems
views of culture.’ Similarly, Huang and Van de Vliert ( 2003 ) suggest that multilevel
modeling will provide a useful theoretical perspective for researchers exploring
cross-national diversity of organizational behavior.
Second, it is suggested that there needs to be better understanding of the
complex eVects of culture (Gerhart and Fang 2005 ; Leung et al. 2005 ). While
research has shown that national culture is a predictor of numerous individual-
level outcomes, such as perceptions and behaviors, it has also been found that
culture does not explain a large amount of variance in such outcomes; other
variables are also important predictors. Culture alone does not have suYcient
power to explain individual behaviors. Leung et al. ( 2005 : 368 ) suggest that ‘it is
more useful to address the issues ofhowandwhen[culture] makes a diVerence.’
These authors identify three moderators of cultural impacts, social identiWcation,
stage of group development, and technological uncertainty, suggesting that a better
understanding of such moderators will help managers to develop more eVective
HRM practices and management programs. In sum, research is needed that
explores how and when culture and cultural diversity make a diVerence to indi-
viduals and to organizational performance.


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