Cultural diversity and human resources management in Europe

The increase in the international dimensions of human resources management and the extension of European Union represents important premises regarding the harmonization of human resources practices at the level of the European countries. Despite this, the main characteristic of the European model of management is diversity. During the last decade, the human resource function registered profound changes, determined especially by the economic, social, cultural and political context registered at Europe level. Thus, nowadays the human resource function integrates more and more a strategic vision. The human resource managers take part at the process of elaborating the strategies and policies at organizational level. The extension of the European Union contributes at the realization of a social, economic, political, legislative climate at the level of the entire continent, but despite these, the cultural differences among countries can be eliminated, that means that from the point of view of human resources practices, the European countries will be characterized by a series of differentiation elements.cultural diversity; regional differences; Hofstede’s approach; management style.

Cultural Intelligence as a Prism between Workforce Diversity and Performance in a Modern Organization

In today’s globalizing world it is of importance for managers to manage the constantly growing workforce diversity. Besides the generally promoted idea of diversity management, often limited to fair employment, less attention has been paid to the advantages and hidden potentials of diversity. Previous research that has emphasized the link between diversity and organizational performance has indicated very different results. However it highlights mainly only the easily detectable level of diversity. In the present article a theoretical background is created proposing cultural intelligence as a tool linking different levels of workforce diversity and performance in organizations.workforce diversity; values; cultural intelligence; multicultural organizations.

Understanding Diversity Management in Cyprus' Organizational Context

Andri Georgiadou, ‘Understanding Diversity Management in Cyprus' Organizational Context’, paper presented at the 2nd Global Conference on International Human Resource Management State College, Pennsylvania, USA, 14-15 May, 2015.The purpose of this research is to examine the business case for cultural diversity in an organization in Cyprus. It seeks to contextualize issues around diversity within the current peculiar politico-economic environment, and identify the drivers as well as barriers to diversity in the company. The business case has been argued as rationalization for introducing diversity management initiatives (Jones, Jones, Latreille, & Sloane, 2009); here the research examines the situation within the specific organization and attempts to link diversity policies to the perceptions of employees on organizational culture and effective diversity management. The focus for the research was as follows: What does the literature say about the management of cultural diversity? What are the drivers towards the management of cultural diversity at the organization? What are the barriers and resisting forces to the management of cultural diversity at the organization? How can upper echelons in the organization achieve effective cultural diversity management? More specifically, I focus on the connection between diversity, employees’ perceptions of their organization, and their sense of organizational culture and leadership.Peer reviewe

Implementing diversity management in retailing: exploring the role of organisational context

Diversity management is a means of managing customer and employee differences for the benefit of the organisation. This qualitative study considers how contextual factors influence diversity management implementation in different retailing environments. Exploratory research was conducted in three SBUs of a UK retailing group: the UK high street SBU, the US operations and the online SBU. Despite different cultural, legal and historical differences between the UK and US, these factors did not lead to significantly different ways of dealing with diversity in the UK high street and US businesses. Instead the extent to which individual differences were recognised was influenced by the selling environment and the retailer’s size and structure. The paper recommends that retailer’s need to develop a ‘home-grown’ approach to diversity management that acknowledges their organisational context

CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES

Sustainability tends to become in the new millennium the most important characteristic of economic and social development. The possibility to ensure economic development in the context of a reasonable use of raw materials, energy and natural resources in general and to decrease the impact of all human activities on the environment makes the essence of the sustainable development of these activities.sustainable development, globalization, natural resources, decentralization, environment, efficiency

Cultural Orientations of sport managers

Various interpretations of sport management are cultural constructs underpinned by core assumptions and values held by members of professional communities. Sport managers world wide share common problems, but differ in how they resolve them. These universal differences emerge from the relationships they form with other people, and their attitude to time, activities and the natural environment. This paper examines the role of sport managers’ cultural orientations in the interpretation and practice of sport management. Using a multiple dimension model (Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars, 2000) it sketches the cultural profiles of fifteen sport managers from seven countries. A combination of methods was employed including questionnaires, interviews and participant observation. It is contended that the culture of sport management concerns a social process by which managers get involved in reconciling seven fundamental cultural dilemmas in order to perform tasks and achieve certain ends. Thus, a knowledge of the cultural meaning of sport management in a particular country would equip sport managers with a valuable tool in managing both the cultural diversity of their own work forces and in developing appropriate cross-cultural skills needed for running international events, marketing campaigns, sponsorship deals and joint ventures

Towards international cultural diversity management of public relations: viewpoints of chairmen/CEOs

This paper aims to promote a better understanding of how cultural diversity is practised in multinational corporations in Malaysia. Cultural diversity considers a complex element of management facets within the corporate culture. Managing cultural diversity requires a holistic approach especially from top management personnel in terms of cultural sensitivity and ‘local focused’. A qualitative research method, in-depth interviews was employed. The findings revealed that localisation is a hallmark of Asian strategy in winning competitive advantages in the global marketplace. All management personnel stressed the importance of cultural sensitivity in practising business strategy in multinational corporations. Surprisingly, cultural diversity is not a barrier to the management of business strategy, instead it is seen as huge opportunities for Malaysian corporations to create their own corporate identity to compete with global competitors

Management Control Systems and the National Culture

The relation between an organization, economic, social and cultural contexts leads to ask the question whether those organizations, not only big companies but also SMEs, can transfer their domestic Management Control Systems (henceforth MCSs) overseas or they need to redesign them according to cultural imperatives of other nation (Graeme et al., 1999). The rise of internationalization versus localization emphasizes the significance of this question. The study of differences in MCSs has been discussed in the literature according to different approaches, namely: the cultural approach, societal effects, new institutionalism and historical approach (Bhimani, 1999). One of management diversity causes which was highlighted by the most of the approaches is the culture. This paper aims to sketch an embryonic conceptual framework to understand the relationship between national culture and MCSs. In doing so, the case of the Italy-Morocco is considered adopting a combination of historical analyses, new institutionalism and cultural approach. Culture is not stable and evolves over the time (Morin, 1984), it is learned and not inherited. With the adoption of an historical approach, we attempt to study the origins of MCSs and to understand the circumstances under which they were born, spread and institutionalized. New institutionalism helps us to understand how organizational ideals become common and how they are shared in languages and symbols. Cultural approach instead explains how cultural values may affect the management, this approach was developed with the apparition of Hofstede study about culture and management.management control; national culture; management diversity

Managing cultural diversity in the classroom

INTRODUCTION: This article focuses on the cultural issues challenging health professional academics in this era of transformation in South Africa. OBJECTIVES: The objective is to discuss various concepts of cultural diversity and the management thereof. METHODS: Review of literature on the management of cultural diversity. CCONCLUSION: The education and training programs for health professionals should lead to affirmation of cultural diversity and promote respect for the person while leading to tolerance of different views and ideas