Essential Concepts of Cross-Cultural Management: Building On What We All Share

In the modern era of globalization managers venturing forth to engage alien societies must be armed with cross cultural skill sets least they travel on feet of clay. Most academic texts and encased individual chapters targeting business students are awash with a confusing maze of intersecting theoretical based value determinants to define and characterize cultural differences. This book offers a concise, simple and practical approach to cross cultural management.

The book is divided into three sections. The first offers the novice, while reminding those acquainted with the subject, how culture acts as the prime driver of our life - the filter of our senses and the guide of our values hence the measurement barometer upon which all our decisions and behavior is constructed. The use of culture in a commercial setting is introduced with research generated guidelines to complete the introduction for managers.

The next section examines how cross cultural determinants should function as a worthwhile tool in cross cultural engagement proposing a two-step concentration. Firstly if we are different, what is the degree of separation, a step to getting people to recognize that diverse societies are not necessarily polar opposites, black and white programmed absolutes, as there exists a grey space of shared common ground. The second step directs one to take notice of similarities as opposed to focusing attention on differences, and use such areas of commonality to build bridges across the cultural divide.

The final section offers the practical application of techniques to navigate the cross cultural milieu; become a cultural detective. Concluding comments are then offered on collateral issues to strengthen the skill sets of managers.

About the Author

Lawrence A. Beer is a professor, attorney and accountant. Besides such professional venues his senior executive experience includes president of an international division, global regional vice president and export director as well as legal counsel to global corporations. This extensive managerial background has brought him into firsthand contact with ethical decision making in the diversified cultural, political and economic environments of the business world. His international consulting practice, ranging from strategic planning to everyday activity issues, has helped assist numerous consumer product companies in the development and expansion of their global operations. He has taught MBA, undergraduate students and executive managerial seminars around the world including universities and firms in Italy, Peru and Vietnam. His tenure includes instruction at Long Island University, Western International University and he has just retired as senior lecturer after 12 years at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

Professor Beer's article "The Gas Petal and the Brake...Towards a Balance of Diverging Cultural Determinants in Managerial Mindsets" appeared in the Thunderbird International Business Review while his paper "Incorporating Yin and Yang in the Cross-Cultural Dimensional Matrix - The Duality Factor" was chosen for presentation at the 2008 Global Business & International Conference. His case studies on global business issues include "Textron Ltd." published by the Richard Ivey School of Business, The University of Western Ontario (2001) and "Advertising or Free Speech?, The Case of Nike and Human Rights" published by McGraw-Hill Irwin in International Management, 6th and 7th Eds.,Hodgetts, Luthans and Doe (2007, 2009). He is an article reviewer for the Journal of International Business Studies and a member of the Academy of International Business, as well as an editorial reviewer and book contributor for numerous publishers of international business textbooks.

Mr. Beer's professional and executive functions have taken him all over the world allowing him to personally witness the process of globalization, its success and failures. He is also developing articles and papers on a new dimensional paradigm for business managers as they encounter and navigate the specter of cross-cultural evolvements in the globalized world.