Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business

A common and justified complaint of many in academia and elsewhere concerns the poverty of substance of much of what passes for management “literature”. The banality of the subject matter is typically matched by a prose style verging on that of the propagandist. This is particularly true at a time when economic difficulties in Eastern Asia are prompting some in the West to adopt a noticeably triumphalist stance. Metaphorical index fingers are wagging, and heads shaking, in reproof at the “cronyism” of other cultures; these other cultures are said to be demonstrably unsuccessful as a result of such “cronyism”. By contrast, the meritocratic, functionalist and transparent contract culture of the Anglo‐American sphere is held to be superior.

While one expects politicians to capitalise on jingoistic sentiment and broadcast suitable slogans to that effect, the extent to which writers and commentators on economic affairs are following suit is disturbing. For a supposedly globalized economy, the provincialism of some is quite conspicuous. All this may render the task of this book somewhat harder, albeit more necessary. A visibly successful Japan or South Korea would underline the undoubted good sense which comprises much of its contents. But has Anglo‐American capitalism finally triumphed? Or have we really reached the end of history again?

The authors are aiming this book at a readership consisting mainly of those gainfully employed as “managers”. Nowhere is any attempt made to clarify what might be meant by such a designation; implicit is the assumption that it describes “white collar” workers serving the administrative function within a corporation (large business enterprise) which either trades globally, or is itself multinational. This is itself a curious omission, since the concepts of “management” and “the manager” are themselves culturally conditioned, reflecting an Anglo‐American assumption that there is a set of skills applicable to all people, tasks and organizations. While the authors admit that “we are stuck with the structure of language” (p. 205), no effort is made to address what might be regarded as fundamental evidence of cultural differentiation in business.

Nevertheless, readers of this journal should not find objectionable the basic premise of this book, which is that “Rather than there being ‘one best way of organising’ there are several ways, some very much more culturally appropriate and effective than others” (p. 19). Copious examples are provided to demonstrate the validity of this assertion. The best approach to international business is argued to be that which attempts to combine what are taken to be complementary, as opposed to opposite or opposing, cultural attributes. The end result is a firm but ultimately reassuring exercise in reconciliation, which will be the hallmark of the successful manager. Success here is defined as “transcultural competence” (p. 195).

The first three chapters serve as an introduction to the concepts addressed in the book. To illuminate some of the issues arising in the clash of cultures which characterize the global economy, the following seven chapters each focus on a single aspect of culture which can be conceived as distinct from the others. Most often the analysis takes the form of establishing dichotomies such as specificity and diffusion, achievement and ascription, or universal and particular. Thereafter, examples are provided of both unsuccessful and successful attempts at reconciling the opposites. Readers are then invited to consider their own cultural preferences, and urged to pursue a more integrative or flexible approach to cultural difference. Empirical data are used to place national cultures along the dichotomous spectra.

The final five chapters seek to integrate the themes discussed previously, addressing in turn the relationship between corporate and national culture, the distinction between “international” and “transnational” management, the reconciliation of cultural differences, South Africa as a case study in cultural diversity, and how gender and ethnicity affects business attitudes in the USA.

The style adopted by the authors is one which will equally enthuse and infuriate. Most non‐business school academics will not be impressed with the rather diluted nature of the subject matter. As with their previous collaboration, The Seven Cultures of Capitalism, Trompenaars and Hampden‐Turner have eschewed the universalism of neoclassical economics, arguing instead for a more appreciative treatment of culture. As such, their work is unlikely to garner the appreciation of mainstream economists, who will most likely decry the lack of “rigour” as evidence of their fundamentally flawed reasoning. Institutional economists, on the other hand, will be encouraged by the attention to details most often ignored by their mainstream colleagues. Nevertheless, they will not be so impressed by the final two chapters, which lay bare the weaknesses of the authors′ approach. In particular, the chapter discussing the cultural heterogeneity of South Africa fleetingly covers so much ground that it borders on the inconsequential. The optimistic treatment of the prospects for Nelson Mandela′s reconciliation strategy ignores the concerns of others, like John Pilger, that too much of what is treated as reconciliation is in fact the capitulation of the majority to the demands of international capital. This has, to all intents and purposes, forced the African National Congress to renege on its egalitarian commitments and instead pursue an economic policy which does little to erode the stark inequalities which are the legacy of apartheid.

More successful is the discussion of gender and ethnic differences in American business culture. Perhaps surprisingly, the authors find little difference in attitudes between males and females. Indeed, where they exist, the differences reflect the efforts of women to be more masculine in order to succeed in a male‐dominated culture. This is attributed to the predominance of female individualism: “Female ‘liberation’ has been defined in the USA as making it in a male competitive arena” (p. 227). This is a characteristic which has not escaped the critical attention of those concerned that women should be able to define the success they achieve, and not simply replicate it according to male‐defined criteria.

In aiming for a business audience, however, the authors do not make the demands of the reader that an academic treatise would normally. Those with a social science orientation are unlikely to find much of value here. The works of others such as Michael E. Porter, Ronald Dore and William Lazonick would be more appropriate in this respect, being both more critical as well as more rigorous analytically. Those teaching in business management courses, however, may find this book very useful in imparting a sense of an important yet neglected aspect of business education. Riding the Waves of Culture therefore fills a gap between the analytically‐inclined social sciences and the alarming vacuity of much business management literature. The book may even be seen as a reconciliation of these two opposite cultural traits.

Much of the empirical material used in the book originates from the “Trompenaars database”, “one of the largest and richest sources of social constructs” (p. 254). Given the authors′ reluctance to be overly prescriptive, or to make sweeping generalizations arising from their research, it is nevertheless noteworthy that they should spend a significant amount of time generating results using its contents. Their reluctance to make definitive pronouncements is understandable given the undoubted controversy which would attend their statistical methodology.

The primary purpose of the Trompenaars database is to help managers structure their cross‐cultural experiences in order to develop their competence for doing business and managing across cultures. In seeking to enhance the estimates of the average characteristics of managers in a given national culture, considerable efforts have been made to extend the size of the samples, reduce measurement errors and maintain homogeneity (p. 245).

Readers might detect a certain irony in the statistical necessity of maintaining homogeneity in a book devoted to the exposition of cultural diversity. Despite the technical sophistication required for the analysis of this data, the results themselves are not conclusive. There is no continental pattern of cultural preference, for example. To classify managers according to their country of origin might also be seen to be somewhat arbitrary, given the cultural diversity that can exist within political boundaries. It also ignores the size of the corporation, the nature of the business, the extent of internationalization, the legal and social environments in which managers must work, to name only a few exogenized factors. The authors themselves do not make extravagant claims for their empirical results. “There are no universal answers but there are universal questions or dilemmas, and that is where we all need to start” (p. 194).

This is the second edition of a book previously written solely by Trompenaars. The input of Hampden‐Turner this time around adds greater academic substance to the content without tilting the balance of the book too far from its intended readership. In fact, it should be seen as an attempt to increase the otherwise “scarce commodity of intelligent managers” (p. 189). As such, its aim is quite laudable, and given the poverty of intellect evident in most other publications of this genre, it ought to go some way towards its accomplishment. Those seeking a more critical slant should look elsewhere.