Case Studies of Technological Change and Organisational Culture

Abstract

This paper focuses on technology as a central force in shaping cultural and environmental conditions as well as their interrelationships within an organisation. The research was carried out in Systems India Ltd., a subsidiary of Systems Corporation of USA, which is one of the oldest multinational corporations in the world. The two case studies from Systems India Ltd. bring out the ‘role of strategy in technological changes’ and the ‘role of leadership in technological changes.’ The findings of these two case studies when compared with three partner companies in similar industry indicated similar relationship between culture and technological change and organisational culture in Systems India Ltd.     

International mergers and acquisitions in the UK 1985-94: a comparison of national HRM practices

The paper investigates HRM practices adopted by companies from the USA, Japan, Germany and France in UK companies that they have acquired. UK/UK acquisitions are used as a control. The research is based on a survey instrument applied to 201 companies and interviews with forty. It notes that there is some convergence of HRM practices, in that, for example, all countries researched employ performance-related pay and increase the amount of training in their new subsidiaries. It finds, however, that there is a distinct difference in the HRM practices employed by companies from each of the countries, influenced by the characteristic HR practices common to companies in the country of origin of the parent.     

海外商会组织与企业公共关系外交

伴随着全球经济一体化进程,各主要国家的商会力量与企业发展紧密结合,成为国际关系、区域与国别研究、跨文化管理活动中的一种组织形态.新世纪以来,在中国企业走出去成为常态的情况下,中国原生的以地缘关系、亲缘关系为特色和纽带的商业文化也随之展现在世界面前.在广泛意义上的企业公共外交中,商会的作用是不能忽视的环节.大中华区德国工商大会(AHK Greater China)是德国工商大会全球系统的组成部分,是大中华区所有德国企业的商会组织,甚至在以DIHK法为主的德国法律框架下,兼有对大中华区德企的部分行政管理职能.本文以大中华区德国工商大会为案例,探讨和比较德式“商会文化”与中式“商帮文化”的异同,在此基础上,对公共外交与商会文化的关系提出三个假设.     

Work goals among male and female business students in Canada and China: the effects of culture and gender

The work goals of 374 male and female business students in Canada and China were compared along six dimensions: simplicity/routine, extrinsic rewards, organizational influence, intrinsic rewards, balanced life and moral congruence. Compared with Canadians, the Chinese exhibited a weaker concern for balanced life, an equal attention to extrinsic rewards and organizational influence, and a stronger interest in intrinsic rewards, simplicity/routine and moral congruence. The young educated women in the two countries appear to face similar challenges of balancing their career and family interests. Canadian and Chinese women, while giving higher priority to the goals of balanced life and simplicity/routine than their male counterparts, were as concerned about their career success as the latter, in terms of both materialistic and intrinsic rewards. The pattern of sex differences in work goals was, however, not entirely identical between the two countries. While no sex difference existed with respect to organizational influence in Canada and moral congruence in China, Chinese women assigned less importance to organizational influence than their male counterparts and Canadian women focused more on moral congruence than their male counterparts. For Western multinational firms in China, the results of this study suggest that, even though the Chinese male and female professionals give very high priority to career success, the special needs of the Chinese women should not be overlooked. To compete effectively for the talents of professional women in China, these firms need to consider providing their Chinese employees some of the 'family-friendly' organizational initiatives, such as flextime and part-time work, which are already made available for many of their North American employees.     

An investigation of cultural cohesion in a community bank

This study examines the culture of a medium-sized community bank based in the Western United States. The study aims to identify the organization's culture and then measure the level of cultural cohesion that exists three years after a major cultural campaign was launched. The cultural characteristics the organization valued most highly were integrity, willingness to serve the customer and teamwork - all components of the official bank document on culture. Interestingly, the analysis uncovered some significant value differences among different employee groups and also employees and management; differences which can affect firm performance levels. The analysis also revealed that changing the culture in an organization does not necessarily lead to cultural cohesion.     

Antecedents and consequences of the perceived adjustment of Japanese expatriates in the USA

The present study was designed to better understand the antecedents and consequences of expatriate adjustment in an international assignment. The researchers surveyed Japanese expatriates assigned to the United States. Structural equation modeling was utilized to test our hypotheses and model. The results indicated that previous knowledge of the host country, language proficiency, willingness to communicate and perception of the novelty of the host culture were differentially related to expatriates' adjustment to the host country. General and work adjustments were negatively related to expatriates' intent to return early. In addition, interrelationships among the adjustment dimensions were examined and the results indicated that general adjustment leads to work adjustment, which, in turn, influences interactional adjustment. Implications for future research are presented.     

文化固本与开新：舜文化研究的意义与任务

舜帝是我国最具影响力的人文始祖,也是最有研究价值的史前人物。“舜文化”作为一个“文化代号”,有着极为丰富的内涵,是中华民族早期智慧的集中体现。舜文化中的一些精神和价值观念在历史长河中发扬光大,哺育了一代代华夏儿女,积淀为一种民族心理,构成了生生不息、薪火相传的中华民族最基本的文化精神,至今仍在产生着广泛的影响。对舜文化的研究,既是文化固本的需要,也是文化开新的需要。作为一项具有重大意义而又十分浩大的研究任务,需要热心此事的全体同仁团结协作,共同努力,从多角度、多层面展开研究。     

Culture,financial crisis and the demand for property,accident and health insurance in the OECD countries

Culture has been known to play an important role in explaining differences in consumption behaviour across countries. Yet, we know very little how it affects spending on non-life insurance products. This paper attempts to shed some light on how cultural characteristics impact the demand for property, accident and health insurance, focusing on the OECD countries in the period 2000–2017. We find, via the system generalized method of moment estimations, that cultural characteristics such as individualism, long-term orientation, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance were the drivers of the expenditure on property insurance, whereas long-term orientation, uncertainty avoidance and hypometropia explained accident and health insurance spending across the OECD countries. In the presence of the global financial crisis, cultural effects on property insurance spending turned out to be relatively minor, with the exception of individualism. These findings provide valuable information for non-life insurance companies, consumers and policy makers in the OECD countries.     

重商文化、腐败与企业创新投资

目前,关于企业创新投资决策的研究对正式制度关注较多,对非正式制度研究较少。检验了作为非正式制度的重商文化如何影响企业创新投入水平,以及重商文化与地区腐败在影响企业创新投入方面的相互关系。研究发现：相对于受重商文化影响较弱地区的上市公司,受重商文化影响较强地区的上市公司创新投入水平更高,且这一影响主要发生在非国有企业。同时,受腐败挤出效应和替代效应的影响,重商文化对企业创新投入的促进作用在腐败程度较低的地区更显著。     

论经济与文化的耦合与发展

精神层面的文化对一国经济社会的发展特别重要。本文从经济学角度论述了精神层面的文化对于经济社会发展的重要意义,文化的特征,与市场经济相适应的文化、我国传统文化的特点等问题。论文认为对传统文化必须通过改造使之与社会主义市场经济相适应,而不是囫囵吞枣地接受。