Business Across Cultures (Culture for Business Series)

Rating:
Summary: Immensely helpful for the practitioner
Review: Last year, when I first heard about this book -- Business Across Cultures -- I couldn't wait for its availability. My copy arrived in the post and I am not disappointed. The authors - Fons Trompenaars and Peter Woolliams - along with Charles Hampden-Turner have been the leading proponents that value is not added but rather value is created by reconciling values of contrasts and conflict. This is commonly referred to as dilemma theory, was first argued in Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 1998) and expanded in Building Cross-Cultural Competence (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 2000). In 21 Leaders for the 21st Century (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 2001), in which Woolliams was a major contributor, it was shown that dilemma theory could also be extended to corporate-wide, strategic business units (SBU), divisional, departmental, team and other organizational levels. This book also provided a new definition of leadership -- the recognizing and reconciling of dilemmas among contrasting cultural values.

Business Across Cultures thus builds upon an impressive and extensive body of literature. It is grounded in the research that underpins a unique database of cross-cultural profiles derived from the input of over 60,000 managers working in more than 60 countries.

As business becomes more global and diverse, culture becomes the defining issue for leaders and managers. Ever thought provoking, Business Across Cultures provides a new framework for dealing with the business implications of culture. It is the first -- the keystone -- in a four book series that will deal with marketing and managing people across cultures, as well as corporate culture.

The authors refer to culture as an onion consisting of layers that can be peeled off. Using this illustration, I suggest that in this book the authors reconstitute an onion of their own, providing additional practical layers to the established core of dilemma theory. Two of the strengths of dilemma theory are its simplicity and robustness. It's easy to comprehend, makes sense and is practical. This simplicity can be seen in the sketching of contrasting values in a virtuous circle throughout this book. In Business Across Cultures, Trompenaars' and Woolliams' use of stories and accounts of global leaders and companies is illustrative and their concept of leadership is validated by the many examples of dilemma reconciling by real leaders. This evidence is convincing. The implications for leaders and strategy are substantial.

In this book, the authors provide executives and managers with a new toolkit to help in developing a new mindset - recognize, respect, and reconcile -- in working in diverse cultures, not only across nations but also within an organization. Building upon their extensive body of literature, the authors present chapters dealing with corporate cultures and managing change and continuity, marketing, and HR dilemmas across cultures. Even finance and accounting dilemmas across cultures are addressed, as are the quest for a new paradigm of international leadership and the need for reconciling organizations. For those familiar with dilemma theory, Business Across Cultures provides a welcome 'how to' practical side of dilemma reconciliation. This book will be immensely helpful for the practitioner, providing the next level of understanding.

Business Across Cultures is outstanding!! The book truly does raise one to the next level of competency. I recommend it for business leaders, strategists, marketers, HR professionals, and managers of all stripes as it provides a valuable resource on the navigating the challenges and opportunities they face. If you fall into this category, this insightful book deserves a place on your bookshelf. Moreover, it needs to be read and put into practice. I look forward to the rest of the series.

Rating:
Summary: An Admirable Primer for Understanding Business & Culture
Review: Trompenaars, Fons and Peter Woolliams Business Across Cultures. Capstone Publishing Ltd. Chichester, England, UK: 2003.363 pages soft bound.

I think that we should consider this book to be a primer for the Business Culture Series coming out from Capstone Publishing by the Trompenaars/Hampden-Turner Group. It truly sets the framework for their Marketing Across Cultures, Managing People Across Cultures, and Corporate Cultures texts.

Additionally, it demonstrates the evolutionary growth and development of the T/H-T authors from their earlier innovative and insightful Riding the Waves of Culture, The Seven Cultures of Capitalism and 21 Leaders for the 21st Century books.

Trompenaars and Woolliams have set a new framework from which to look at the dimensions of culture in organizations. They see culture as the contextual environment defining much of the essence of the relationships between an organization and the environment in which it operates. This new thinking removes culture as a topic per se and allows companies and organizations to place dilemmas within their contextual configuration.

Such dilemmas relate to values which are expressed in behavior, communication, attitudes, and key decision making. Reconciliation of dilemmas seeks to restore the harmony which is requisite for synergistic solutions to enhance the effectiveness of the organization. However, as the authors state, before reconciliation there must come the recognition of the dilemma and the respect for the opposing views.

As a primer for the Business Culture Series, the authors address the organization as a cultural construct and look at the organization of meaning and its integral role in the development of the key value dimensions that are essential elements of Trompenaars research. We also get insights into the authors' perception of corporate culture and the techniques for managing change and continuity across cultures.

Three chapters provide us with the tip of the iceberg for their subsequent books on marketing across cultures, managing HR dilemmas across cultures, and finance and accounting across cultures.

The penultimate chapter presents the integration theory, an approach that allows us to determine the propensity for the individual to reconcile dilemmas which they see as a direct measurement of leadership. They call this "trans-cultural competence". They see managers as working to accomplish specific objectives with leaders dealing with dilemmas of seemingly opposed objectives which they continually seek to reconcile.

The final chapter is a documented "proof of the pudding" chapter with examples of how the reconciling process actually works in practice. It provides both techniques or reconciliation as well as insights to its practicality.

While reading this book is not a prerequisite for reading the rest of the books in the series, it is an extremely valuable and helpful overview of the thought processes of the THT group and is an excellent guide to the paths that they are following.

David C. Wigglesworth, Ph.D., an interculturalist, is an international management and organization development consultant with D.C.W. Research Associates International, 2606 Parkdale Drive, Kingwood, Texas 77339-2476 USA. Tel: [phone]; Email: [e-mail]