The impact of cultural value orientations on individual HRM preferences in developing countries: lessons from Kenyan organizations

The intention of the study is to examine the impact that individual national culture value orientations have on the preference for the design of HR policies and practices. The value orientation structure and preferences for thirty-four HR design choices are studied in a sample of 274 Kenyan employees from eight multinational, state and private domestic firms operating in the manufacturing and processing sector. The study shows that the HR design choices of Kenyan employees reflect the following picture across four factors: high HR involvement/participation: high predictability of rewards; performance rather than loyalty-based policies; and moderate levels of HR empowerment. Kenyan employee value orientations reflect: activity thinking over activity doing; individual over collective relationships; relationship to nature mastery over relationship to nature harmony; low subjugation to nature; and human nature evil (manipulative). More importantly, three out of the four HR preference factors are valuesrelated, i.e. the individual's value orientation is highly predictive of their preference for the design of HR policies and practices. From 9 per cent to 19 per cent of the variance in preferences for involvement, empowerment and predictability of rewards is accounted for by national culture value orientations. HR involvement preferences are related to activity thinking values. Predictability of rewards is related to high activity doing. Empowerment HR is related to low relationships hierarchical values. Preferences for performance versus loyalty-based HRM are intriguingly values-free judgements, although ethnic factors play a role here.     

Women Managers’ Careers in China: Theorizing the Influence of Gender and Collectivism

This article is concerned with developing an understanding of the careers of women managers in China. Existing literature suggests that while women in China are comparatively well represented in management roles, they face distinctive pressures and barriers to their progress arising from entrenched patriarchal and collectivist aspects of the Chinese cultural tradition. However, little is known about how these aspects impact on women's orientations towards their careers and to what extent influential Western career theories are adequate in interpreting their experience. Drawing on interviews with 20 women managers in China, the article interprets women's orientations towards their careers in relation to their adherence to traditional gender roles and collectivist values. Using this framework, a fourfold taxonomy is developed which identifies “conformist,” “revolutionary,” “soloist,” and “dissident” orientations. The article suggests that Western career theories fail to capture the collective dimension, and thus do not account fully for the range of experience and orientations of Chinese women managers that are captured in the taxonomy. Implications, both practical and theoretical, are discussed. Recommendations are also made as to how management and career development policies might be developed in organizations in China in order to address the diverse needs and preferences of women managers. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The relationship between attitudes toward diversity management in the Southwest USA and the GLOBE study cultural preferences

This study investigates the importance of diversity management as it relates to the GLOBE study cultural preferences. A survey of 225 students in undergraduate and graduate programs at a private Texas University concluded that collectivism was a strong predictor of how positively participants rated their organizations support for diversity, diversity recruitment efforts, diversity training for mentors, and employees with disabilities. The participants were nontraditional students who were also employed in a wide array of organizations. Collectivism and assertiveness were both strong predictors with regard to participant's ratings of chief executive officer (CEO) support of diversity and the organization's overall diversity training. With regard to leadership dimensions, humane-oriented leadership was a positive predictor of preference for a collective culture, which predicts diversity management ratings. Team-oriented leadership also predicted ratings of diversity management. The results of the study indicate that promoting a more collectivist rather than individualistic culture is associated with the increased rating of organizational diversity practices. Furthermore, it strengthens the argument that with the increase in globalization, organizations must be prepared to re-evaluate their policies and know when to adapt to changes in organizational culture.     

Work-related acculturation: change in individual work-related cultural values following immigration

The effects of culture in the workplace have been well documented. Because cultures vary across countries, business practices that are effective in some regions may not be effective in others. While cross-country cultural differences have been explored in depth, little is known about cultural variations and dynamics in the context of immigration. On the basis of a multilevel study of 2163 immigrants and locals residing in Canada, we investigate (1) patterns of immigrant acculturation; (2) the relationship between acculturation of visible elements of culture, such as language proficiency or cuisine and music tastes, and acculturation of tacit cultural values and (3) individual- and group-level predictors and moderators of acculturation. The results are discussed with a focus on implications for practitioner managers and immigration policy makers.     

The impact of national culture on systemic risk

We investigate the effects of national culture on systemic risk using a comprehensive dataset from global banks in 58 countries over the period 2003–2016. Our results reveal that systemic risk measures are associated with cultural values. In particular, our results show that individualism and masculinity are the main drivers of banks' contribution to systemic risk. In addition, the impact of cultural variables on the systemic risk measures is nonlinear. This variation may be driven by both information in the national cultural measures and the skewness of the systemic risk measures. The findings have implications for prudential policies: designing uniform prudential and regulatory policies in banking to avoid financial distress for countries with heterogeneous cultures might not have the desire impact; rather, they might be more effective if the type of culture in each individual country is considered.     

Supporting the free and competitive market in China and India: Differences and evolution over time

This paper analyzes the support to market competition by Indian and Chinese citizens. In particular, I study the individual preferences with respect to some characteristics of a free and competitive market. The paper aims at establishing whether preferences in these countries are different and their evolution over the time. This is an important issue, as the economic literature shows that people's preferences and policies tend to go hand in hand. This means that the analysis of today's preferences and their evolution over time can be useful to forecast tomorrow's policies. The main findings of this paper are that Indians and Chinese are different in supporting competition. The Chinese express preferences that are more in line with a free and competitive market than Indians do. The detected time path reveals that this support has been decreasing over time during the last two decades. The two populations appear to be in favour of a capitalistic, but strictly regulated market. This can mean that the future economic policies of these Asian giants will tend to this direction. Apparently there are no risks for some form of capitalism, but it is likely the two countries will not adopt completely free and competitive market institutions.     

Operationalization of Social Science Concepts by Intuition

Much has been written about the effects of the wording of survey questions onresponses, whereas, relatively little attention has been given to the content of thequestions or the translation of theoretical concepts into related questions in surveyresearch.In this paper we concentrate on the link between a set of basic concepts for socialscience research and questions that can be formulated to measure these concepts.These basic concepts are: evaluations, cognitive judgments, relations, evaluativebeliefs, feelings, preferences, rights, norms , policies, action tendencies, expectations,behavior, events, knowledge, demographic characteristics and information about place,time and procedures.In order to clarify the link between the concepts and their verbal expressions(assertions) we analyze structures of sentences presenting the different concepts.Eight principally different assertion structures have been found which describemost of the survey concepts.These findings can be used in two ways: one can use them to specify an assertionfor a certain type of concept or alternatively one can also use the system to classifyexisting questions.     

论现代企业管理的人性化建设

本文提出了我国企业人性化管理存在的主要问题:包括人性化管理理念的缺失,个人利益的忽略,企业文化的缺失等等。同时也提出了解决措施:确立符合人性化的管理理念,建立现代企业激励制度,以情服人提高管理效率,塑造企业文化,利用文化规范行为等。     

Political Rescaling and Municipal Cultural Public Policies: A Comparison of France and Québec

Do territories change public policies? This would appear to be a rather unusual research orientation. It is even a reversal of the most commonly accepted approaches to the study of territorial public action, which tend to look at this issue from the opposite perspective, that is, in examining how public policies affect territories. The municipal reforms that have simultaneously occurred in Québec and France since the late 1990s afford an excellent opportunity to consider this inversion of the issues. To do so, we take as our theme culture and municipal cultural policies. We try to define and understand to what extent there exist in Québec and France retroactive links between municipal restructuring and municipal decisions about cultural facilities and activities and, more generally, municipal cultural intervention in the urban milieu. This comparative analysis of the cases of France and Québec focuses on discourse as well as achievements. First, we look at the changes arising from institutional reforms in the supply of cultural activities, budgets devoted to culture, and cultural policies. We then consider culture as a vector in the construction of a new municipal institution and a new municipal territory.     

基于伦理视野下企业并购中的人力资源整合框架

并购后人力资源的整合是企业并购成功不可缺少的重要环节。由于存在诸多影响并购成功的HRM因素,以及人力资源管理者在遵守多元化的伦理原则的同时需要承担一些特定的角色,使得在并购前后、在人力资源管理中出现伦理困境。因此,可以从价值、文化两个层面来分解HRM整合的实现框架。HRM价值整合需要综合考虑HRM伦理动因、冲突、风险。HRM文化整合则需要在企业文化冲突的背景下,从员工选拔、培训、绩效、薪酬等方面进行文化整合,并在HRM战略下建立统一的社会责任文化。两个层面的整合都需要进行HRM伦理实践。     

Institutions and preferences in settings of causal complexity: foreign institutional investors and corporate restructuring practices in France

In this article, we illustrate how the interaction between institutional arrangements and the presence of different categories of firm stakeholders with specific preferences provides important insights to understand the conditions under which corporate restructuring practices are introduced. Institutions shape the range of actors' strategic options and mediate the translation of the preferences of firm stakeholders into corporate policies. Nonetheless, strategic choice remains possible since firm stakeholders constitute subgroups with different interests and incentives that influence how they operate in an institutional framework. In particular, we examine under what conditions UK/US-based institutional investors and equity-based compensation incentives are associated with the implementation of asset divestitures and employee layoffs in France. We uncover three key findings. First, the presence of hedge funds and equity-based pay influence the likelihood of French companies undertaking asset divestitures. Second, the impact of hedge funds on employee layoffs is contingent on the ownership structure of firms. Third, layoffs in France are driven by inferior performance – a result that contrasts with the American experience whereby employee layoffs are also used as a strategic mechanism to deal with institutional investors in good times. Our findings demonstrate the importance of the institutional constraints of (national level) employment protection and the moderating effects of ownership structure (firm level) on the strategic and employment policies of French companies.     

To dissent or not to dissent? Informative dissent and parliamentary governance

Legislative dissent has detrimental effects for both party and legislator, i.e., legislators depend on their party label for re-election, which value in turn depends in part on the party’s reputation of cohesiveness. Commonly dissent has been attributed to “extreme” preferences. I provide an informational rationale for dissent. Costly dissent allows the legislator to credibly signal information about his constituency’s preferences to the Cabinet. As a result the Cabinet can better calibrate its policies with the electorate’s preferences. Dissent is shown to depend on policy preferences as well a the legislators’ electoral strength, electoral volatility, and the cost of dissent. Finally, the results suggests that parties may sometimes benefit from tolerating some level of dissent. I am grateful to Christopher Kam, Randall Calvert, John Duggan, Mark Fey, Eduardo Leoni, Sona Golder, and the anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions. I also wish to thank the Political Institutions and Public Choice Program at Michigan State University for its support. All remaining errors are mine.     

A Conceptual Regulatory Framework for the Design and Evaluation of Complex,Participative Cultural Planning Strategies

The current hype about culture‐led local development models is causing an increasing interest in cultural policies in the broader context of urban policy. This is not necessarily a transitory situation bound to fade once the hype is over. Under certain conditions, there is room to believe that culture may indeed become a main development driver of urban systems. For this to happen, however, it is necessary to abandon simple mono‐causal developmental schemes (such as the ‘creative class’ model) and look for more articulated approaches. This calls in turn for a complex systems‐based conceptual framework that is at the same time rich enough to capture the complexity of the interdependences among policy and state variables, and manageable enough to be of practical use, not only for policy design professionals but also for local stakeholders who want to take part in collective decision‐making processes. Inclusiveness and collective decision making are almost unavoidable in the case of cultural planning strategies, as the social sustainability of culture‐based value creation processes crucially depends on boosting the level of access to cultural opportunities by local residents. In this article we present an approach that may be a tentative first step in this direction.     

基于校企一体化模式下高职院校体育文化建设的思考

当今高职院校的办学模式更趋于校企一体化形式,校园文化中融合了诸多企业文化,一些新的办学理念也在影响着高职院校体育文化的建设,亟需对高职院校体育文化进行新的构建。本文通过对高职院校体育文化现状的分析,指出存在的问题和不足,并提出了构建高职院校体育文化的建议,以期为高职院校体育文化的发展提供参考。     

High performance work systems,organisational culture and firm effectiveness

The HRM literature emphasises the importance of people in enhancing firm performance or even creating competitive advantage. This study provides further evidence on the link between so‐called high performance work systems and firm performance and relates these to organisational culture. In total 175 organisations from different sectors in the Netherlands participated. Senior HR managers were questioned on HRM practices and chief executives on organisational culture. Three different groups of personnel are distinguished in the measures: core employees, managers and specialist professional staff. One high performance work system could be distinguished, consisting of a combination of practices with an emphasis on employee development, strict selection and providing an overarching goal or direction. Results of regression analyses controlling for sector, firm size and age show a significant impact of this system on several performance outcomes (perceived economic outcomes, beyond contract and absenteeism), as well as positive relationships with three organisational culture orientations. Practices that are not part of this combination also show some positive (but limited) links with culture and outcomes.     

新形势下陕西文化产业的发展策略

转变文化产业发展方式、扩大公众消费需求、推动中国文化资本全球化,是陕西文化产业应该抓住的历史机遇。"十二五"期间我们应该提高文化创意产业融合其他产业的能力,推进产业融合进程;与现代国际文化创意产业接轨,既能把国外文化"引进来"又能使陕西文化"走出去";提升城市传媒整合能力,促进市民消费,争取把陕西文化产业做大做强。     

组织变革中互惠性偏好对领导团队协同的影响研究——基于隐性知识转移的视角

团队间管理技能的学习通过隐性知识转移实现,组织变革中管理团队合作效果受文化的制约,直接影响着团队技能的提升,基于互惠性偏好的管理团队隐性知识转移的内在机理是解决这一困境的有效方式。文章分析管理团队隐性知识转移过程,变革过程中互惠性偏好对管理团队隐性知识转移的影响,构建变革过程中互惠性偏好影响管理团队隐性知识转移的基本模型,并对变革管理团队进行现实分析。     

文化产业政策与城市发展:欧洲的经验与启示

全球经济的变动趋势导致了城市经济的重构 ,欧洲文化经济政策的兴起正是应对这种趋势的地方响应。本文首先概述了文化产业的概念及其主要特点 ,并简要描述了欧洲城市文化经济政策的类型及其发展进程 ,最后总结出文化产业在欧洲城市发展中所起的促进作用 ,以及在政策实施中存在的各种问题。     

Gender‐Specific Preferences in Global Performance Management: An Empirical Study of Male and Female Managers in a Multinational Context

This study investigates gender‐specific preferences in one important human resource management (HRM) practice—namely, global performance management (GPM). GPM has major consequences for the career advancement of women and can therefore also represent a barrier if it is rooted in traditional male corporate cultures. As prior research suggests that the underrepresentation of women in top management positions is a worldwide phenomenon with only minor national variations, empirical data were collected in five countries belonging to various cultural clusters: China, France, Germany, South Africa, and the United States. For all countries, the results show that preferences vary significantly between male and female managers for crucial parts of the GPM system (actors’ roles, evaluation methods, feedback procedures, and GPM purposes). This study confirms that the preferences of female managers do not match more male‐oriented GPM practices, indicating that female managers are less satisfied with existing GPM procedures. It was particularly surprising to find that these gender differences do not vary according to cultural background, but rather display the same pattern in all investigated countries. These findings not only have the potential to explain the often‐limited career advancement of women, but also have major implications for multinational companies aiming to retain talented women. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.