Cross-Cultural Management

September 2021

Instructor: Dr Shimin Liu

Office: 419 Ningyuan Building
Phone: 64494681
Email: shimin.liu@uibe.edu.cn
Office hours: 4.30pm~5.30pm Thursday (by appointment)

Course description
This is an advanced PhD course aiming to introduce students to the role of culture in
international business and management in a global context. It will begin with an introduction to
the realities of management in the context of globalization before moving onto a critical
examination of various analytical approaches to understanding national culture and its impact
on behavior in organizations. We will then focus on a number of substantive areas (e.g. global
talent, global teams, knowledge management across cultures, global corporate language, etc.)
using both theory and examples.

Intended Learning outcomes

By the end of this unit, the students should be able to:
l display a systematic understanding of cross-cultural management;
l critically appraise a range of different theories and evidence on cross-cultural
management;
l apply relevant theoretical frameworks to reflect on and explain real-world cross-cultural
management problems and situations;
l go beyond the existing work and generating new knowledge

Readings
There is no set textbook for this course. Although selected references will be provided, students
should take their own responsibility selecting relevant readings in their chosen area of study.
Students should define the boundaries of the relevant literature and use it appropriately, i.e.
only related to their chosen topic. The following journals are highly relevant to this course:

Academic Journals:
Academy of Management Journal
Academy of Management Review
Journal of Management
Human Relations
Journal of Applied Psychology
International Journal of Human Resource Management

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Journal of International Business Studies
Journal of Management Studies
Journal of World Business
Organization Studies
Human Resource Management

Practitioner Journals:
California Management Review
Harvard Business Review
MIT Sloan Management Review
Organizational Dynamics
To access books and journals, use the library catalogue.

Students are also encouraged to routinely consult the books listed below.
Ronen, S., and Shenkar, O. (2017) Navigating Global Business: A Cultural Compass. Cambridge
University Press
Adler, N. & Gundersen, A. (2008). International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior. Mason,
OH: Thomson-South-Western.
Barsoux, J.-L. & Schneider, S. (2002). Managing across Cultures. Prentice Hall.
Hofstete, G. (2002). Culture’s Consequences. 2nd Ed. London: Sage.
Trompenaars, F. & Hampden-Turner, C. (2004). Managing people across cultures. Chichester:
Capstone Publishing Ltd
Schwartz, S.H. Beyond individualism/collectivism: New cultural dimensions of values. In
U. Kim, H.C. Triandis, C. Kagitcibasi, S-C. Choi, and G. Yoon (Eds), Individualism and
collectivism: Theory, methods and applications. London: Sage, 1994, pp. 85–119.

Teaching methods
This course will be delivered in online/distant learning format, therefore it means that students
will have to take an active role for their own learning. Students will be required to read a set of
papers on a specific topic for each session and write weekly reading summary. Your instructor
will also post discussion questions online for you to engage in active discussion.

Assessment
The course assessment consists of two pieces of work:
1. Participation of online discussion (30%). Students should take an active role in online
discussion, presenting new ideas creatively, as well as taking the lead in developing a
theory-driven topic within the context of international business and management.
2. Weekly reading summary (20%). Students are required to submit weekly reading summary
(2-3 pages double spaced) relating to readings of that week the day before class to
mob_uibe@126.com. Of all the readings, you are required to submit 4 pieces of work. You

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 may choose which weeks to skip. Each summary is worth 5% of a total 20% of your final
results.
3. Essay writing (50%). Each student will select a topic related to cross-cultural management
on which s/he will work on and submit a written review paper of 5000 words by 19 May
2021. You should select 20 scholarly journal articles related to your topic from the journals
recommended in this syllabus, among which 5 articles should be published in the last 5
years. The essay should be sent to mob_uibe@126.com and MUST be submitted by the
stated deadline. Failure to submit by the stated deadline will result in a late penalty being
applied (Less of 10 points of your essay marks).
The word count for the review paper is inclusive of endnotes/in-text references, but
exclusive of bibliography/references. A margin of 5% either way is permissible before a
penalty is applied (Less of 1 point of your essay marks for 5%, 2 points if exceed 10%)

Class Schedule

Session 1: Course Introduction

Understanding culture from a personal perspective
Session 2: Approaches to cross-cultural management (part 1)
Hofstede, G. (1993). Cultural Constraints in Management Theories, Academy of Management
Executive. 7.1: 81-94
McSweeney, B. (2002). Hofstede’s model of national cultural differences and their
consequences. Human Relations, 55: 89–118.
Javidan, et al. (2006) Conceptualizing and measuring cultures and their consequences: a
comparative review of Globe’s and Hofstede’s approaches. Journal of International Business
Studies, 37 (6):897-914
Session 3: Approaches to cross-cultural management (part 2)
Shimoni, B. & Bergman, H. (2006). Managing in a changing world: from multiculturalism to
hybridization. Academy of Management Perspectives, 20: 76-89.
Reading:
Barinaga, E. (2007) ‘Cultural diversity’ at work. Human Relations, 60(2): 315–340
Fang, T. (2012) Yin Yang: A new perspective on culture. Management and Organization Review,
8 (1):25-50.
Session 4: HRM across cultures
Ferner, A, Quintanilla, J. and Varul, M. (2001). Country-of-origin effects, host-country effects,
and the management of HR in multinationals: German companies in Britain and Spain. Journal
of World Business, 36(2): 107-127.
Pudelko, M.; Harzing, A.W. (2007) Country-of-Origin, Localization or Dominance Effect? An
empirical investigation of HRM practices in foreign subsidiaries, Human Resource Management,
vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 535-559.

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Yahiaoui, D. (2014). Hybridization: striking a balance between adoption and adaptation of
human resource management practices in French multinational corporations and their Tunisian
subsidiaries. International Journal of Human Resource Management.
Session 5: Managing knowledge across cultures
Kostova, T. et al. (2002) Adoption of an organizational practice by subsidiaries of multinational
corporations: institutional and relational effects. The Academy of Management Journal, 45 (1):
215-233.

Ferner, A. et al. (2012) Power, institutions and the cross-national transfer of employment
practices in multinationals. Human Relations, 65 (2): 163-187.

Ferner, A., Almond, P. and Colling, T. (2005) Institutional theory and the cross-national transfer
of employment policy: the case of ‘workforce diversity’’ in US multinationals, Journal of
International Business Studies, 36(3), 304-321.

Session 6: Ethics and CSR across cultures

Hamilton, J. B. & Knouse, S. B. (2001). Multinational enterprise decision principles for dealing
with cross cultural ethical conflicts. Journal of Business Ethics, 31: 77-94.
Handy, C. (2002). What's a business for? Harvard Business Review.
Husted, B.W. & Allen, DB. (2006). Corporate social responsibility in the multinational enterprise:
Strategic and institutional approaches. Journal of International Business Studies, 37(6): 838-49.
Oltra. V., Bonache, J. and Brewster, C. (2013) A new framework for understanding inequalities
between expatriates and host country nationals. Journal of Business Ethics, 115 (2) 291-310

Session 7: Global corporate language

Neeley, Tsedal, and Tracy Dumas (2016). "Unearned Status Gain: Evidence from a Global
Language Mandate." Academy of Management Journal 59 (1): 14–43.
Hinds, P.J., Neeley, T. and Cramton, C.D. (2013) "Language as a Lightning Rod: Power Contests,
Emotion Regulation, and Subgroup Dynamics in Global Teams." Journal of International
Business Studies 45 (5): 536–561.
Neeley, T.(2013) "Language Matters: Status Loss & Achieved Status Distinctions in Global
Organizations." Organization Science 24(2): 476–497.

Session 8: Discussion of proposed review topics and reflection on cross-cultural

management, course wrap up