ABSTRACT - Cross Cultural Management Issues in the Contemporary World

The recognition of differences among cultures in a business setting is paramount to being a successful manager of a multi-national corporation. There has been extensive study in this field which suggests there are five dimensions of cultural values. These five dimensions are: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/feminity, and short/long-term orientation. Together these five dimensions can collectively determine the characteristics that an employee in a certain country will most likely share. The importance being that a manager will then be able to make certain assumptions in order to efficienty manage that employee.
Using these dimensions, further study is examined into different types of subcultures that have aspects of the above dimensions. Power culture, achievement culture, support culture, and role culture are examined and discussed and the connection is made to the five dimensions. China is used frequently throughout the discussions to give examples of how this culture differs from our own.

Internet usage

Hey all,

Quick survey:

How many of you are currently limited to what sites you can get to at work?
When I originally began my job at my current place of employment, there was no limitation to what sites we could visit. However, currently we are very limited to which sites we can visit with use of a program called Web Sense. Often, I find myself asking IT to unblock a site which I need to access for work related reasons. The folks who had frequently abused the sites before then chose to walk around the office and have loud chat sessions with others that always seem disruptive.
This ofcourse begs the question, does Web Sense actually do what it sets out to do and increase overall productivity by limiting what folks can do online? You can judge by the above that I certainly do not think so. I'd like to hear some other opinions.

Hug the Devil?

Hello all, I will be in Brazil next week on business. While in Brazil last year, I learned an expression that I thought was very interesting. The expression was, "when in hell, hug the devil." Obviously, this expression refers to having to make a decision that conflicts with your own personal feelings by embracing someone's decision that you don't agree with or by embracing a person that you don't agree with.

Have any of you encountered a situation in which you've had to make a decision that you weren't too happy about that conflicted with your own personal standards? If you don't mind sharing, I'd love to hear a story or two where you've had to capitulate with someone or something in order to get the job done.