Understanding Cross-Cultural Management

Given the global nature of business today and the increasing diversity within the workforce of so many industries and organisations, a cross-cultural component in management education and training has become essential. This is the case for every type of business education, whether it be for aspiring graduates at the start of their careers or senior managers wishing to increase their effectiveness or employability in the international market. The 4th edition of Understanding Cross-Cultural Management has been adapted in line with the feedback from our many readers, and boasts new case study material based on recent research, as well as a stronger focus on Asian cultures, thereby providing more non-Western examples.

Understanding Cross-Cultural Management offers a selective but broad view of classic and contemporary thinking on cultural management and encourages you to apply theories and ideas to practice - and to relate them to your own experience - through various examples and cases from the business world as well as through a range of practical activities, including:

• Cross-cultural concepts, which explain key ideas from leading theorists, thinkers and practitioners.
• Case studies (many of them based on articles from the Financial Times), dilemmas and points for reflection, which enable you to judge internally and interact externally.
• Spotlights in every chapter, which briefly illustrate the concepts being described.
• Mini-cases with questions and points for discussion, which encourage consistent application of theory to practice.
• Activities at the end of each chapter, as well as at the end of each of the book’s three parts, which provide a broader and more integrated perspective on the material in each section. These encourage you to develop both your cross-cultural management skills and a critical view of research done in this area.

This book has been written for undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as practising managers and professionals, who are studying cross-cultural and international management as part of either specialist international business programmes or general business-related qualifications. This book is also a valuable resource for self-study, enabling readers to extend and to deepen their cross-cultural awareness.