Cross-cultural management education rebooted: creating positive value through scientific mindfulness

Graduates of cross-cultural management (CCM) courses should be capable of both tackling international and cross-cultural situations and creating positive value from the diversity inherent in these situations. Such value creation is challenging because these situations are typically complex due to differences in cultural values, traditions, social practices and institutions, such as legal rules, coupled with variation in, for example, wealth and civil rights among stakeholders. We argue that a scientific mindfulness approach to teaching CCM can help students identify and leverage positive aspects of differences and thereby contribute to positive change in crosscultural situations. This new approach combines mindfulness and scientific thinking with the explicit goal to drive positive change in the world. We explain how the action principles of scientific mindfulness enable learners to build positive value from cultural diversity. We then describe the enactment of these principles in the context of CCM educatio

Sustainable change: long-term efforts toward developing a learning organization

Globalization and intensified competition require organizations to change and adapt to dynamic environments in order to stay competitive. This article describes a longitudinal action research study supporting the strategic change of a trading company. The strategic change was accompanied by planned changes in organizational structures and processes, management systems, emerging changes in leadership, and organization members’ attitudes and behaviors, and it was supported by management development activities. Longitudinal data over a 4-year period including participant observation and interviews reveal that a systemic approach, a learning and becoming perspective toward change, trust, an appropriate role perception, and the specific use of management instruments contribute to sustained change that resulted in performance improvements and a move toward a learning organization. We conclude with implications for strategic change and suggestions for further research in this area

Unternehmenskultur im Krankenhaus : Ansatzpunkt für ein Betriebliches Gesundheitsmanagement

Aufgrund veränderter Rahmenbedingungen und Organisationsstrukturen sind die Mitarbeiter im Krankenhaus zunehmend hohen körperlichen und psychischen Belastungen ausgesetzt. Gesunde Mitarbeiter stellen jedoch eine Grundvoraussetzung für die Leistungserstellung im Krankenhaus dar. Mit der Einführung eines Betrieblichen Gesundheitsmanagements wird das Ziel verfolgt, die Gesundheit der Mitarbeiter zu fördern und zu erhalten. Dies kann jedoch nur gelingen in einer Unternehmenskultur, die das Kulturelement der Gesundheit tief in seinem Wertesystem verankert hat. Der folgende Beitrag liefert Grundlagen zur Unternehmenskultur und erläutert die diesbezüglichen Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten des Krankenhausmanagements

Knowledge sharing in new organizational entities: the impact of hierarchy, organizational context, micro-politics and suspicion

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the dynamics involved in knowledge sharing in knowledge intensive heterogeneous teams of the German Federal Armed Forces with a specific focus on new organizational entities. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on qualitative research. The data were gathered through interviews with members of so-called concept development and experimentation (CD&E) projects. These projects constitute a novelty for the whole organization and a cultural challenge for effective knowledge sharing, through its cross-disciplinary, cross-functional and cross-hierarchical design. Hence, these projects are a good venue to study cultural dynamics in new organizational entities. Findings – The analysis reveals that despite the structural separation of the new organizational entity, cultural imprint and cultural re-import from the existing organization affected knowledge sharing. More specifically, four major influencing factors are identified in regard to knowledge sharing within the CD&E project team and between the team and the line organization; hierarchy, organizational context, micro-politics and suspicion. The data suggest that these factors are precipitated by cultural imprint of the line organization. Research limitations/implications – The qualitative research design is one limitation rendering only descriptions and propositions that need further testing in other settings. Another one is the research venue which allows only limited access for data collection. Practical implications – The paper shows that the dynamics in CD&E projects require culturally sensitive project management, starting in the planning phase of the project. Originality/value – The study investigates knowledge sharing in new organizational entities in knowledge intensive teams of a military organization. Both aspects, new organizational entities and non-private organizations, have been neglected in research on knowledge sharing