Management in a Global Context, MN7264

Spring 2017
The following questions are example exam questions.
These will notbe the actual exam questions. They are structured to help you
prepare for the type of questions that will be asked.
Some questions in the exam might have multiple parts, like the example
questionsbelow. Balance your answer, so that you are addressing all parts of the
question.
Please note that the example questions below are quite detailed, because they also
include advice about some points to consider.

Please review details about the exam from your Course Outline, and from our
discussions in previous Lectures, with accompanying details on Lecture Slides.
Please remember that in order to pass the exam, you must refer to material from this
module MN7264, Spring 2017. This material includes the articles on the Reading
List, Lectures, Blackboard Folders including news articles, and guest lectures.

Example Questions:
1. What have you learned from this module? Specifically what have you
learned about lived experiences of managing/working/organising, in a global
context?
You can discuss details of lived experiences from any of the readings of the
Reading List, which focus on a range of lived experiences, and explain what
we can learn from them.
To demonstrate what you have learned, you may also consider the following:

What are the major themes and points that emerge from these lived
experiences?

The term lived experience is used to describe the first-hand accounts and
impressions of living as a member of a minority or oppressed group.

Rana Plaza was an eight-storey building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which housed five
different garment factories and was used by many well known high street names
suchas Primark, Matalan, Mango and Bon Marche. It is said that the day before the
collapse, the building had been evacuated due to cracks appearing in the walls.
However, workers were then told to return by the factory owners and seemingly
nothing was done to solve the issues with the cracks in the walls.
A quote from one of the articles states, Its a sign of what critics say is a boom gone
too far, in the desperation to feed the Wests appetite for bargain clothes (BBC
News, 2013). Our greed and increasing need for cheap clothing is meaning an
increase in factories such as those which were located in Rana Plaza, which in turn
is leading to an increase in incidents and deaths caused by unsafe premises.

The incident at Rana Plaza is certainly not the first. In 2005 in the exact same town,
a similar building collapsed which left 64 workers dead. Since this incident, there
have been fires and stampedes, etc, which have also resulted in hundreds of deaths.

These incidents all usually occur due to the poor working conditions that the factory
workers are subjected too. A lot of the deaths could have been prevented, if the
buildings had been made safer.

The senior government official Mainuddin Khondker, who headed a task force to
inspect garments factories, following a fire at Tazreen Fashions, said In my view,
50% of garment factories are located on premises which are not safe. (BBC News,
2013) This is quite shocking when you think about just how many hundreds and
thousands of garment factories there are, all to support our need in the Western
world for cheap clothing.

The industry of clothing production in Bangladesh has become a key industry and
important to their economy. What began on a small scale in the 1980s, has now
grown into a business worth $20bn and accounts for nearly 80% of the countries
export earnings. The industry has also created jobs for four million workers, and four-
fifths of these workers are women. In a way, this is a positive impact of these
factories, as it is taking people out of poverty and giving them the means to earn
money. However, the shocking state of working conditions and poor pay still remain
a concerning factor.

Personally, I dont think many people actually realise to what extent the contents of
our wardrobes are produced in these sweatshops, and ultimately it does not tend to
stop us from continuing to buy garments which have been mass produced, purely
because of how cheap they are (such is the allure of Primark, etc). In my own
opinion, I strongly feel that something has to change about this industry, such as
stronger regulations of working conditions, to prevent incidents, such as the Rana
Plaza collapse. Our greed for cheaper clothes should not come before the safety of
those producing them.

Researching into the issue of sweatshops has really influenced my opinion and
opened my eyes to the shocking conditions in which our clothes are produced. This
in turn has led me to think on how we in the Western world are richer, and more
affluent, in comparison to the garment workers of Bangladesh who produce these
clothes to try to escape their poverty, yet they earn far below what is considered a
living wage. We are much wealthier, and yet they are producing these garments so
we can dress ourselves cheaply. Then, once the clothing is out of fashion or
damaged, we throw it away without a second thought. I want to show this
contradiction of examples of cheaply produced and cheaply bought clothes which
have been produced in sweatshops, against something which is a symbol of our
affluence and wealth in comparison to those who have produced them.

What theories help to explain these experiences in global context?

Theories of Globalization in Garment Systems

Feminist theories of globalization call attention to the intersection of gender lenses
andthe processes of globalization. Globalization, in the broadest understanding, is
the integration ofpeople and places through increasing economic, political, social,
and cultural relations. Nagar etal (2002) point out that globalization is not new.
Political and economic relations at theglobal scale have long histories, rooted in
colonialism, imperialism and practice of thedevelopment industry. (Nagar et al 2002,
258) They go on to specify that the majority ofglobalization research prioritizes the
current discursive and material application of the term.
This application tends to concern the neoliberal ideologies of free trade flows of
capital andgoods, as well as the modern institutions governing and directing such
flows, such astransnational corporations and supranational governance bodies like
the World TradeOrganization. (Nagar et al 2002). It is from this point I will explore
theories of globalizationfrom a feminist perspective with the aim of understanding
how the increased interdependence ofpeople and places reshapes the lived
experiences of women, specifically women workers in theglobalized garment
industry.
Nagar et al (2002) are careful to point out the pluralism of knowledges from the
feminist perspective. By engaging withfeminist theories of globalization, I wish to
acknowledge this pluralism as well, noting the multiple and sometimes incongruent
meanings and applications of feminism. My presentation of feminist theories of
globalization is a reproduction of my singularperspective at a specific moment in
time, shaped by my identities and experiences, and not at all meant to be interpreted
asdefinitive or comprehensive of all the vast feminist theories of globalization.
Nagar et al (2002) argue that the overarching body of globalization research, and its
tendency to focus on public and formal spheres of globalization (such as
corporations andgovernance institutions),
...is fundamentally masculinist in its exclusion of the economic, cultural, andpolitical
spheres (often casual or informal) that operate in households and communities;in
daily practices of caring, consumption, and religion; and in networks of
alternativepolitics where womens contributions to globalization are often located.
(Nagar et al2002, 260). Their argument maintains that the quotidian realms
enumerated in the quote above, oftenthe domain of women, are the backbone of
modern society, and to ignore the interaction ofglobalization on these less-
researched realms serves to further marginalize and devalue the roleof women. This
devaluation may help to understand why, despite the seemingly infinitescholarly
critiques of globalization and its consequences, tragedies are numerous and women
arestill disproportionately vulnerable to the deadly in the case of Rana Plaza
effects ofglobalization.
Research and critiques of globalization from the top-down point of view of major
actorsserve to reinforce the hegemony of neoliberal capitalism, as it posits powerful
economicinstitutions as the central narrative of globalization.
In their book, Threads of Labour (2005), Hale and Wills work from a ground-
upperspective as they investigate the processes of globalization in modern garment
systems. Haleand Wills incorporate primary research with women workers in the
globalized garment systemwith explanations of the political economic processes
framing the modern garment trade. Theirwork draws from garment supply chain
scholars to explore and unravel the very complexnetwork of actors along global
garment supply chains. I refer and return to her work, and thesame body of
scholarship, throughout the remaining chapters of my research to guide
myunderstanding of the political economic framework of globalized garment
systems.

Feminist Political Economy

The case study analysis of the Rana Plaza factory collapse is guided by feminist
politicaleconomy theory. Feminist political economy examines the processes and
forms of globalizationthrough the lens of gender. Such examination often rejects
heterodoxical constructions inconventional political economy, which tend to ignore
subjective experiences of globalization.(Bergeron 2001) It also emphasizes the
formal or public economic sector, which tends to bedominated by men (especially in
developing countries) and devalues the work of women, moreoften participating in
private or informal labor. (Sarma 2009) Feminist political economy, incontrast, offers
critical insight into the social conditions reproduced in households andcommunities
across generations which culminate in a marginalized and nimble-fingered
laborforce of women. Understanding this social reproduction from a political feminist
economyperspective enhances my case study analysis of Bangladeshi women
garment factory workersbefore and after the Rana Plaza factory collapse. In doing
so, feminist political economydiscourse approaches an understanding of the complex
realities of globalization on the livedexperiences of women. In my subsequent
analysis of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, I willdemonstrate how the proliferation of
garment factories in Bangladesh has been at once anaccelerator of womens
economic liberation as well as a potential threat to womens health andwellbeing.
Additionally, feminist political economy provides a useful framework for examining
theRana Plaza factory collapse as much of it focuses on the emergence of a female
paid labor forcein the developing world. (Fernndez-Kelly 1983; Safa 1981) This
emphasis on the nimblefingers(Elson and Pearson 1981, from Bergeron 2001) of a
women-based workforce capitalizeson the social exclusion of women, and banks on
the unlikeliness of women to protest unsafeworking conditions, form labor unions, or
demand fair wage standards. (Bergeron 2001).Bergerons work is especially
important to my argument, and I draw upon her alternativetheories of globalization
through a feminist lens to suggest ways forward in the globalizedgarment system.
Bergeron discusses organizing at the national level to effect change withinmodern
globalization paradigms. She suggests change may be affected by working within
theeconomic framework, for globalization and its processes and forms are social
constructs, and notpart of an essential natural order. According to feminist lens,
women may retain their ownagency and a mode of resistance by viewing their fates
as not predetermined within the script ofglobalization.
Using the human-enacted (and therefore mutable) policies which direct and drive the
processes of globalization, women can be empowered to demand changes in the
current statusquo. Such theories of feminist political economy also will become the
analytical lens throughwhich I view the domestic and international responses to the
globalized garment crisis. I nowturn to an examination of neo-liberal economic
policies as they pertain to globalization and thetransnational garment industry. These
policies will frame an analysis of the situation of womenworkers in the Bangladeshi
RMG industry, touching also on the dissolution of the MultifiberArrangement.
Neoliberal Capitalism and the Globalized Garment Trade
The second half of the twentieth century saw increasing global economic integration
andcompetition under the auspices of neoliberal capitalism. The theoretic impulse of
economicneoliberalism is the removal of barriers to trade, and allowance for the freer
flow of goods,services, and capital investments among nations. Further, there is an
ideology that the marketwill self-regulate with an equilibrium arrived at via the
interplay between the mechanisms ofconsumer demand and resource allocation and
reallocation by global firms. Neoliberalcapitalism propels and requires economic
competition. For global apparel brands, this requiresmaximizing profits and reducing
production costs. This model of capitalism promotes areorganization of functions for
US apparel firms.
During the late twentieth century, US apparel firms converted their primary roles from
manufacturers to branded marketers. (Gereffi 2002; Hale and Wills 2005) US Firms
shiftedproduction from in-house to complex- and spatially-diffuse networks of
subcontractors. Thepurpose for such shifts was pursuit of lowest production costs.
Such rampant profiteeringpromoted an emigration of textile mills and garment
factories to countries where cheap, nonunionizedlabor was plentiful and
environmental output regulations were few.
The athletic shoe and apparel titan Nike led a geographic apparel production exodus
andother US brands followed. Nike is often presented as the herald of garment
system globalization,as it was among the first brands born global (Gereffi 2002,
10), having engaged in overseassourcing from the outset of its creation. Central
America and Asia offered attractive landscapesfor subcontracting, as the political
economies of countries like Mexico and Indonesia ensuredtremendous profitability
compared to that which was possible in Beaverton Oregon, Nikesheadquarters.
Between 1983 and 2005, over one-third of US apparel manufacturing jobs were lost
(Bureau of Labor). To address job losses and protect domestic industry, the
MultifiberArrangement (MFA) was instituted. The Multifiber Arrangement was one of
the first tradeagreements governing international trade in textiles and garments. I
explain the MFA below, aswell as subsequent trade agreements governing
international trade in textiles and garments.
The Multifiber Arrangement
From 1974 to 1994, global trade in textiles and apparel was regulated by the
MultifiberArrangement (MFA), a program of quotas according to bilateral agreements
among tradingnations and managed by the Generalized Agreement of Tariffs and
Trade (GATT), the precursorto the World Trade Organization (WTO). The MFA was
originally conceived to protectdomestic textile and garment industries in developed
nations from the absolute advantage of lessdeveloped and newly industrializing
countries. Such countries offered a necessary laborintensiveand low-skill workforce.
The MFA was not proven to affect textile and garmentindustry job retention in
developed countries. However, the MFA was successful in the globaldispersion of
garment industry production activities. The quota system encouraged retail
firms,largely located in the US and European Union (EU) and with technological and
capitaladvantages, to shift production from one less-developed nation to the next
once a quota was nearfulfillment. This system enabled firms to develop the
technology needed to fill large orderswhile spanning national and political boundaries
and to sustain the perpetual pursuit of lowestcost means of production. (Appelbaum
et al 2005).
Provisions of the Multifiber Arrangement offered a major exception to
overarchingGATT regulations, most notably that of non-discrimination among trading
nations. GATT, andnow WTO, rules state that tariffs and other restrictions such as
quotas are to be applieduniformly to all member countries. The MFA allowed for
textile and garment trade to benegotiated bilaterally and exclusively among trading
partners. Appelbaum et al (2005, 3) give asan example specifying the number of
womens wool sweaters the United States could importfrom Hong Kong in a given
year. Gereffi (2001) points out that less-developed countriesbenefitted from the MFA
because it allowed them to compete with low-cost manufacturingpowerhouses such
as China. As such, it served to protect budding textile and garment industriesin
countries like Bangladesh. The MFA expired in 1994, and was replaced by the
Agreement onTextiles and Clothing (ATC). The ten-year ATC was a strategy to phase
out the MFA quotasystem, with total elimination of quotas by January 1, 2005. With
the conclusion of the MFAand ATC after 2005, global trade in apparel and textiles
came under the governance of WTOsneoliberal paradigm and policies.
Increased competition in fashion markets has led to consolidation of firms
andconcentration of capital. As Appelbaum et al (2005) point out, hyper-powerful
transnationalcorporations such as Wal-Mart exert enormous leverage over
manufacturers via buying power.
Fernandez-Stark et al (2011) exemplify this as the power to determine what is to
beproduced, where, by whom, and at what price. (Fernandez-Stark et al 2011, 7)
Firms enjoyingpower asymmetries tend to be based in affluent economies such as
the US, Europe, and Japan.Just as the processes of globalization dispersed garment
system activities, internationaldivisions of labor tend to follow certain patterns. The
most valuable segments of the garmentsupply chain such as marketing and retail are
retained by highly developed countries, andmanufacturing activities are the domain
of developing and newly industrialized countries (Fernandez-Stark et al 2011). It is
relevant here to examine the organization of activities within the globalized
garmentsystem. Five principal activities comprise the garment supply chain. As
Gereffi (2002)discusses, these five interconnected and overlapping networks are:
raw materials, garmentcomponents, production, export, and marketing. These five
activities are usually conducted indisparate spaces, and places, and often each
mode will be further subdivided into individualtasks. For instance, raw cotton fiber
grown in India and Turkey may be imported to China whereit is distributed to mills in
five regions.
This cotton would be processed in a series of steps such as combing, carding, and
spinning, with each task located in a different factory. The yarn finishing processes,
such asdyeing, may be conducted at the factories where it is spun, or at an entirely
new location. Theyarns are distributed to an export coordinator, who manages
logistics and compliance with exportregulations, as well as transportation to the next
juncture of textile manufacturing. The yarn maybe shipped back to India, as well as
Pakistan, to be knit or woven into textiles. Again, dyeingmay or may not happen at
this stage. The textiles are then exported to factories, for instance inBangladesh,
Vietnam, Mexico, and Lesotho where they are cut into garment component
pieceslike sleeves, pockets, and collars. Garment components are then shipped to
yet anotherinternational network of factories to be assembled. Garment finishing and
embellishing happensat yet another locus, adding imported inputs such as buttons,
rivets, and trims. Completedgarments are then packaged for export to major markets
in the US, Europe, and Japan, wherethey are distributed to retail outlets such as
branded manufacturer stores (such as The Gap), ordepartment stores (such as JC
Penney) or more increasingly, logistics centers for e-commercefirms.
The incredibly complex production and distribution scheme described above
ischaracteristic of the subcontracting system of manufacturing endemic to the
globalized textileand apparel industry. (Gereffi 2002; Hale and Wills 2005) Spatial
diffusion and decentralizationof factories are hallmarks of the subcontracting system.
These independently owned and managed factories operate in a highly competitive
market, in that they may be manufacturing theexact same textiles or garments at the
exact same moment for the same transnational apparelcorporation. (Gereffi 2001;
Gereffi 2002; Hale and Wills 2005) In this system, workers areseparated from each
other by geographic and political boundaries, and may not even know whichfirms
they are producing for at any given moment. (Hale and Wills 2005) This separation
andinformation deficit restricts potential for worker organization into unions.
The retailing and marketing segment of global garment systems is the provenance of
advanced economies; of the top ten global apparel brands, six are US based, (Gap,
LimitedBrands, PVH (Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger), Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie &
Fitch, AmericanEagle Outfitters), three EU based (Inditex {Zara}, Hennes&Mauritz,
NEXT), and one in Japan (Uniqlo). This market segment is responsible for research
and design, consumercommunication, and marketing to drive demand. Retailers are
the capital-holders in the garmentsupply chain, with modern technology being a
critical component to brand growth and thereforesurvival. Sophisticated technologies
allow transnational retail corporations to respond quickly tobuyer demand, design
and promote new styles, and replenish store inventories quickly. Thistechnology and
emphasis on speed is explained later as fast fashion. It is at these nodes alongthe
supply chain that the greatest value is added to textiles and garments. Transnational
retailcorporations, headquartered mostly in affluent economies, retain this
value.Taken from data compiled and presented by Fast Retailing (2015) at:
http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/ir/direction/position.html
The production segment of the textile and garment industry is highly geographically
dispersed, with concentrations in Central America, the Caribbean, China, and
Southeast Asia.As mentioned above, retail brands exert tremendous leverage over
sourcing locations and prices.Transnational corporations aim to search out
manufacturers offering greatest value, oftenmeaning lowest labor costs and fewest
industry regulations. (Hale and Wills 2005) Theeconomic scale of retailers such as
Inditex/Zara, H&M, Gap and Wal-Mart wields enormouspressure on wholesale
pricing, which Appelbaum et al (2005) characterize as a downwardsqueeze. Pricing
pressure is exerted from retailers to manufacturers to subcontractors, withdegrees of
labor force agency erased at each step as factories are reduced to powerless
ordertakersinstead of partnership dealmakers. (Appelbaum et al 2005).
Figure 3.1 illustrates the nodes of production along the global garment supply chain,
aswell as calls attention to the often less-considered inputs and outputs of water,
energy, andpollution.The complex subcontracting system of garment and apparel
production handily distancesretailers from garment factories, and potential Public
Relations crises, when ethicallyobjectionable conditions are exposed, or deadly
disasters occur.

Figure 3.1 Diagram of the Global Garment Supply Chain

Illustration Credit: Ryan Davis Adapted From:
http://www.textiletoday.com.bd/oldsite/magazine/22
Fast Fashion
It is important here to further examine the interaction of neoliberal market forces with
themodern garment industry under the auspices of fast fashion before moving on to
enumerate theculpability of western firms in the Rana Plaza disaster. The offspring of
neoliberal trade policy
and the global garment system is fast fashion. Fast fashion is a phenomenon of
modern times.
In The Guardian article Rana Plaza: One Year on from the Bangladesh Factory
Disaster, JasonBurke (2014) describes fast fashion as at once a mode of
production, a strategy, and a style. The retail segment of globalized garment
systems, dominated by transnationalcorporations from affluent economies, competes
in a highly saturated market to rapidly producetrends and styles. New styles are
designed by transnational brands and marketed via fashion show catwalks,
magazine editorials, and the blogosphere. Consumer response data are
recorded,and production orders are sent to the international networks described
above. The speed ofdesign to both brick-and-mortar and ever increasingly online
retail is a distinctive characteristicof the fast fashion system. (Bhardwaj and Fairhurst
2010).The flexibility of capital afforded to affluent apparel firms through the neoliberal
marketeconomy is also a critical element to fast fashion production schemes.
Apparel firms indeveloped economies hold the technology to move money instantly
and place orders around theglobe. Retail firms, using technologies to gather
consumer preference data from affluent retail markets, demand narrow turnaround
times for production orders. The speed is breakneck,especially when considering the
piecemeal methodology of garment production and themagnitude of coordination.
Textile and garment manufacturing, especially under the fast fashion system, does
notreadily lend itself to mechanization. The materials are too soft, the patterns too
complex, and thechanges in design too rapid. The nature of garment production
requires humans to perform thebulk of manufacturing activities. With the rapid shifts
in consumer tastes and demands whichhave come to characterize the fast fashion
industry, and capital accumulation and flexibilitywrought by neoliberal globalization,
retail firms can rapidly relocate sourcing factories with eachnew trend. To remain
competitive, subcontracted factories, in turn, drive wages ever downward,while
laboring under oppressive order deadlines. This downward squeeze translates to
morework and less pay for factory workers. The downward squeeze of profit margins
is acceleratedby the contradictions between US consumer expectation and
expenditures.
Fast fashion is characterized by the ideology of cheap. (Bhardwaj and Fairhurst
2010).Consumers expect cheap prices for clothing, and this cheapness often
translates into low wagesand poor working conditions along the supply chain.
Factories operate on very narrow economicmargins, and lost profits are
compensated for by the labor of the low-cost workers.
The US Bureau of Labor shows a decline in consumer garment price indexes from
theapproximate onset of the contemporary era of fast fashion, beginning in the mid
1990s. Thisdecline in consumer prices is unmatched by any other industry except
communication. Evenmore recent US Bureau of Labor data show a 7.6 percent
decline in consumer expenditure onapparel and related services from 2012-2013,
accounting for approximately only 2.8 percent oftotal household income. This is a
sharp decline from 1950 when apparel purchases accounted for12% of US
household income. (Burke 2014, taken from US Bureau of Labor data).
Purchasing clothing was once considered a long-term investment. Contemporary
demand evolves in an instant, driven by ever-changing trends and the allure of low
prices. The fast fashion system has a very strategic retail approach, offering
garments as ephemera in the American imagination. As prices decline, transnational
apparel firms insist upon growth. There is little available savings potential in textile
input purchasing. The necessary price difference is extracted from labor budgets.
Instead of human beings with the rights afforded them under United Nations
International Labour Organization (ILO) Decent Work Agenda conventions, human
labor is managed by retail firms as a budgetary line item, a variable of production
from which to force more profit. As the retail sector demands more-cheaper-faster
garment production, factory owners have little budget surplus for safety standard
implementation. Further, governments, intent on attracting and keeping
manufacturing jobs, fail to enact or enforce worker safety standards. The confluence
of these forces results in a tragedy scaled to Rana Plaza proportions.
How can the learning from this module relate to your current or future
experience of organising/managing/working in global context?
Thinking about working as a manager in a premium clothing market, for instance, it is
necessary to understand the lived experiences of people who were affected by the
Rana Plaza incident. So if I were to outsource from a cheaper source, I would
ensure that I will prefer to outsource from a country/factory where there is no
possibility of exploitation of the circumstances of the people living in that area.

2. What have you learned from this module about

overlooked/marginalised/stigmatised/misunderstood experiences?

For instance, mainstream perspectives often overlook, or mis-represent, a

number of lived experiences of workers- such as refugee workers, non-
managerial employees, stigmatised occupations, and similar. Mainstream
global theories often focus on a very small section of global workers elite
managers. Instead, in this module, we have focussed on the experiences of
individuals often ignored or erased, but most seriously affected by global
practices.

For this question, provide specific details about these experiences (from any
of the module resources), and explain what they can teach us about our
theories of global management, such as:
-Theories of leadership
-Theories of culture.

*Review point remember the theory that addresses issues of

representation / mis-representation and what this theory can offer to our
global studies. This theory is detailed in one of our early lectures*

The main idea that is discussed here is that incidents like the Rana Plaza disaster
will die down very soon. The mainstream media would play down on its intensity and
people like Rahima will soon be forgotten. Also, the sweatshops of Nike in countries
like Indonesia became very popular and were discussed widely; but only for a very
short period of time. The plight of the affected people is soon forgotten as media
focuses on those very few, minimal good experiences of globalisation. Hence
globalisation is portrayed as a very good phenomenon on the basis of the very few
positive areas but the majority of the negative sides and issues of globalisation get
sidelined and are not given importance they need to attract the attention of the world
towards them.

One of the leadership theories that I would like to discuss in the context of global
leadership is Fiedlers Contingency Theory. Fiedlers contingency theory places
emphasis on matching the best leader to specific situations (Northouse, 2013).
Within the contingency theory there are two leader styles depicted; task motivated
and relationship motivated (Northouse, 2013). The styles are pretty self explanatory
in that task motivated leaders aim for a goal and relationship orientated leaders
place importance on building relationships (Northouse, 2013). Along with the two
leader styles, contingency theory illustrates three situational variables; leader-
member relations, task structure and position power. The ideal situation for an
organization would be to have decent relations, set tasks and strong leader
power (Northouse, 2013). Overall the key to this theory is to find the right leader for
specific situations. A football coach would probably not very effective in leading a
ballet class. The football coach needs to have the right situation for his style to lead
in order to be effective. In any area of business, organization and even in everyday
life, having an effective leader impacts productivity and communication.

The right leader can be instrumental or detrimental to the success of the

organizations. For example, commanding officers (CO) in the Navy have the vital
and arduous task of selecting the right individual as tactical action officer
(TAO) (Earnhardt, 2007). Individuals selected for TAO need to have self-assurance
in making split second decisions that can affect the United States military actions.
The CO needs to make careful assessments of an individual before handing the TAO
title over. The CO can implement the contingency theory in the process of proper
TAO selection (Earnhardt, 2007).

Leadership on a global scale poses a bit of a quandary. One cannot assume basing
personal leadership will be effective when dealing globally. The world includes
multiple cultural dimensions which can result in lacking effective leadership.
Executives from Fortune 500 companies have reported that 85% of their firms lack
leaders with the ability to globally lead (Muczyk & Holt, 2008). We can no longer live
in a selective view if we want to be effective leaders. Because organizational
cultures are influenced by national cultures, leadership approaches might be
effectively tailored to align with national cultures (Muczyk & Holt, 2008). There has
been research supporting acknowledgement that different cultures value different
traits within a leader (Muczyk & Holt, 2008). Global organizations need to select
proper leaders in which they have the capability to acknowledge differences in
cultural situations. Executives will benefit from selecting leaders with a specific
disposition and assign them to the culture they will be most effective in
managing (Muczyk & Holt, 2008). Applying a global contingency model to global
leadership will benefit organizations like the Fortune 500 companies. These
companies might see an increase in effective leadership and production if they put
the right leaders in place with the right culture.

The contingency theory being applied globally to include cultures of all kinds
becomes a very complex study. It would be impossible to incorporate every possible
culture within the global model. The need for more research is still needed to verify
effective leaders to match cultures (Muczyk & Holt, 2008)

3. What is essentialism? Why does it matter in the study of global

management?
 You may consider why essentialist approaches have been popular in
mainstream teaching, and have been attractive to use in cross-cultural
trainings (for example why might Hofstedes model be so popular?).
Consider the risks and problems of essentialist approaches. You might
consider how models, such as the culture models of Venaik and
Brewer (2016) or Nathan (2015), help to illustrate these problems, and
help to propose alternative approaches.
You might also consider how social constructionist approaches (for
instance, in relation to gender), are different from essentialist
approaches.
Think of a specific organisational example, where misunderstanding or
negative outcomes at work may occur, because of essentialist ideas.
[This is one of the reasons that understanding theories and models is
important models which reinforce essentialist ideas may lead to
practical consequences in working/organising globally.]
How do overlooked / stigmatised work experiences help to challenge
essentialist ideas about cultural identities, nations, and so on? This
question connects to the above learning from
overlooked/misunderstood experiences, to enrich our understanding of
global work and management.

Essentialism Defined
Essentialism is the idea that people and things have 'natural' characteristics that are
inherent and unchanging. Essentialism allows people to categorize, or put into
groups, which is an important function of our brains. While essentialism is a simple
way for individual people to categorize, it can be a serious problem for societies.
Cultural essentialism is the practice of categorizing groups of people within a culture,
or from other cultures, according to essential qualities. Let's look at some examples
of individual and cultural essentialism.
The study of essentialism is important in global management because every country
has its own deep-rooted and inherent characteristics and so do their people. While
doing global business, it therefore becomes necessary for organisations to
understand the basic cultures of the countries in which they want to expand. It is
here that Hofstedes theory of culture becomes relevant and gains a lot of
significance. Hofstede, based on his extensive research, was able to classify
countries into various cultural types based on different dimensions like masculinity-
feminity, uncertainty avoidance, individualism vs collectivism, short vs long term
orientation, and power distance.
A cautionary note on the use of essentialist cultural theories Despite its popularity,
Hofstedes theory of cultural dimensions is not without criticism. Smith and Schwartz
(1997), McSweeney (2002), and Gooderham and Nordhaug (2003) disagree with
Hofstedes research methodology and also argue that nations are not ideal units of
cultural comparison and that five dimensions of culture are not enough. Such
criticisms were recently addressed (and discounted) by Hofstede (2002) (see
Appendix 1 for common criticisms of Hofstedes work, plus his response to each
criticism). Others, like Hewling (2005) and Macfadyen (2005), are critical of Hofstede
(2001) because they do not believe that an individuals national culture or identity
can be used to either predict or determine their behaviour or values. The
fundamental oversight made by both Hewling (2005) and Macfadyen (2005),
however, is that Hofstede (2001), himself, clearly points out that an individuals
values and behaviour cannot and should not be predicted from national cultural
norms (see the following section for more on this). There are good reasons to use
caution when using an essentialist or, indeed, any type of cultural theory to better
understand the differences and similarities between individuals from various cultures
and countries. This is the case whether one uses Hofstedes work or other
essentialist cultural theories, such as those put forward by E. Hall (1959, 1966), E.
Hall and M. Hall (1990), and Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars (2000). A case in
point is the following observation made by an Australian academic about students
from Malaysia who choose to further their education in Australia, where he suggests
that Im not convinced that Hofstedes cultural profiles are useful. Even if they are
accurate averages for the Malaysian population, Malaysian international students in
Australia are not typical Malaysians. Only around one per cent of the tertiary age
population in Malaysia studies overseas and compared with the Malaysian norm,
they are younger, richer, more Chinese, more urban, more likely to have parents who
have studied overseas, etc. Also, these are people who are seeking an education
which is different to the Malaysian educational norm, indicating that they may not
share the same values as are ascribed to the Malaysian norm (C. Ziguras, personal
communication, March 24 2006) The message in the statement above is similar in
sentiment to Hewlings (2005) comment that although the Sudan comprises the Arab
Muslims in the north to Black African Christian or animist in the south, an
essentialist view of Sudanese nationality masks the distinctly different cultural norms
and practices of the two groups. This, too, is precisely the view of Cope and
Kalantzis (1997) who believe that generalisations about national cultures create
oversimplified images of national sameness (p. 254). Given the sound reasoning in
objections such as these, lecturers who prefer to use essentialist cultural theories to
help them understand cultural difference should also remain open to the distinct
probability that the values and behaviours of individual students may not conform to
what is predicted of their national group (again, see the following section for more on
this.) At this point it is also important to note that the use of Hofstedes model of
cultural dimensions as a theoretical approach for the Profile is far from prescriptive.
The Profile can accommodate other cultural models (indeed, even a mix of models)
that correspond to a lecturers preferences. For example, it could be supported by
Stuart Halls (1992, 1997a, 1997b) work on cultural representation, Foucaults (1980)
deliberations on power and knowledge, or Spivaks (1988, 1999) engagement with
postcolonial theory. The difficulty with using theories such as these, however, is that
they are usually dense in their discipline-specific terminology and argumentation
and, therefore, less likely to be embraced by busy lecturers who might want to
understand more about cultural difference, yet may not have the time or interest to
study culture-related concepts more thoroughly. For this reason, the essentialist
cultural theories are more likely to be utilised by lecturers despite their limitations.
For instance, in the case of Hofstedes work, Dahl (nd) notes the following as an
explanation of why it might appeal to those seeking to better understand everyday
intercultural encounters. He observes that the work of Hofstede is probably the most
popular work in the arena of culture research. Although the work provides a relatively
general framework for analysis, the framework can be applied easily to many
everyday intercultural encounters. It is particularly useful, as it reduces the
complexities of culture and its interactions into five relatively easily understood
cultural dimensions (Dahl nd) The danger of stereotyping Whilst Hofstedes model of
cultural dimensions throws light on differences between cultures by comparing and
contrasting their national characteristics, the Profile rightly cautions lecturers to try to
avoid thinking in stereotypes, and to behave and express opinions without resorting
to such generalizations (Teekens 2000, p. 30). Hofstede (2001) himself says that
what is unfounded in any case is the application of stereotype information about a
group to any individual member of that group. The valid part of a stereotype is a
statistical statement about a group, not a prediction of the properties of particular
individuals. Stereotypes are at best half-truths (Hofstede 2001, p. 14) The literature
related to teaching and learning and culture supports both the Profile and Hofstede
(2001) in this regard. Cranton (2001) cautions against generalising from ourselves to
others and vice versa (p. 2). She says that it is important to distinguish the individual
student with their unique and complex characteristics from the social construct of the
typical student (p. 74). Reynolds and Skilbeck (1976) suggest that although cultural
stereotypes are useful for interpreting experience, this is a fairly superficial way of
understanding difference, and it goes little deeper than simply noting what is typical
of one group (p. 2), for example, all Chinese look alike; all Dutch are stingy
(Hofstede 2001, p. 424). Of stereotypes, Said (1995) puts the question Who are the
Arabs? and then provides a common Western assessment of Arabs as lecherous,
bloodthirsty, dishonest, oversexed degenerates, capable, it is true, of cleverly
devious intrigues, but essentially sadistic, treacherous, low. Slave trader, camel
driver, moneychanger, colourful scoundrel (pp. 286-287). Indeed, there is also the
outsiders stereotype of the typical Australian male as the ocker Aussie in a singlet,
stubby and thongs, beer can in hand (Kenyon & Amrapala 1991, p. 3) (see Figure
2). Of course, it is not suggested that the ocker Aussie shown in Figure 2 would in
any way be a stereotype of the Australian male lecturer. The image most likely to be
held of them by international students, according to Ballard and Clanchy (1997), is
that they simply smell of beer, beef and cheese (p. 6) and never wants us to get
better marks than their own students (p. 6).
Conversely, in the case of stereotyping Asian students, a lecturer might subscribe to
the view, for example, that they are very quiet and shy, or particularly demanding, or
that they do not critique anything (Nichols 2003). Cannon and Newble (2000)
describe the stereotypical view of students from Confucian heritage cultures in
Eastern and Southeast Asia as rote learners (p. 5). Biggs (2003), too, outlines some
stereotypes of international students from Asia. He says they are often perceived as
rote learners, do not think critically, are passive and will not communicate in class, do
not respond to progressive Western teaching methods, focus excessively on
assessment, do not understand what plagiarism is, form ethnic enclaves, do not
adjust to Australian academe easily, and consider lecturers to be gods (pp. 125-131).
Biggs (2003) suggests that whilst some of these stereotypes are supported by
evidence, others are also features of the local students and others, still, are simply
wrong (p. 125). students) needed to recognise that each is an individual within a
different cultural setting (p. 6). Khalidi (1997) says that general descriptions of a
culture cannot account for the diversity of individuals within that culture, due to the
way that factors such as age, education, socio-economic class, religion, gender and
personal experiences would influence a persons values and behaviour (p. i).
Kenyon and Amrapala (1991) suggest that international students prefer to be treated
as unique individuals in their own right, with their own personalities, interests, and
abilities (p. 4). Race (2001) encourages lecturers to avoid making assumptions
based on gender, age, ethnic group, and perceived social status (p. 167). Mezger
(1992) states that using stereotypes increases the likelihood of going back to the
square one (sic) of misunderstanding, resentment, frustration, or retreat and further
stereotyping (p. 23). International students, she suggests, have their own
personalities, past experiences, needs, and desires. In addition, they also might well
be operating outside their own cultural framework (Mezger 1992, p. 23). This last
point is particularly important and relates to the caveat clause suggested in the
previous section should a lecturer choose to use an essentialist cultural theory to
better understand the behaviour of particular international students. Another danger
associated with stereotypical views based on the key differences between countries
is that intentionally or not, some Australian lecturers may take the descriptions of
educational approaches in high PDI and low Individualistic countries (for example,
Malaysia) to suggest that these cultures are coming into Western academe from an
educational background that is not only different, but somehow deficient and perhaps
even inferior. This negative (p. 53) view, according to Doherty and Singh (2005), is
prevalent in higher education in Western countries. As put by Nandy (2000), in
general, being non-Western is synonymous with being economically, culturally, and
educationally underdeveloped (p. 115). Regarding culture and education, McInerney
and McInerney (2002) say that the commonly-held view in Australia and New
Zealand is that students from cultures which are more collectivist or group-oriented
are poorly suited to Western-style education (p. 297). Clearly, however, the view of
Asian students and education in Asian countries as substandard is unsupported in
the teaching and learning literature, particularly through the ground-breaking, Asian-
situated work of Biggs (1996) and Watkins (1996, 1998). Their view is best summed
up as follows: although the approach is different, the educational outcomes are
sound. This reverse of the stereotype also holds true of the Australian setting.
Whilst it might be thought that Australian higher education follows the student-
centred educational approach that is said to be characteristically found in low PDI
and high Individualistic countries, Watkins (1998) and Biggs (2003) note that
research has established that, in practice, much of the teaching at university in
countries such as Australia and the United States is more about lecturers being
knowledgeable about their subject and imparting this knowledge to their students in
a teacher-directed fashion. It is ironic that this teacher-centred approach remains a
feature of Western education, despite its tendency, according to Kember (1998), to
depress the use of a deep approach to learning (p. 18). The commonly-held view is
that teaching at Western universities proceeds in an altogether different way, as
suggested by the Hofstedian essentialist framework. The strong message in this
section is that whilst cultural theory may be useful for helping lecturers to better
understand how culture broadly impacts on the workings of the international
classroom, it is perhaps just as (or even more) important for lecturers to adopt an
attitude of acceptance of cultural difference and develop the knowledge and skills to
respond appropriately to the surprising conundrums that intercultural opportunities
frequently provide. This is expressed well by Cope and Kalantzis (1997) who state
that instead of working according to neat formulas or stereotypical visions of the
norm, we need to be open to unpredictability. We need to have the skills to read the
complexity of the differences we encounter as the product of life history this
persons culture as the accumulated and interrelated experience of a number of
particular contexts. Then we will discover that the amount and significance of internal
difference within countries will be greater than the average differences between
countries. We will also discover that culture is dynamic. It is not a relatively fixed set
of country attributes. Culture is a complex set of alternatives. It is a matter of change,
creation, hybrid recreation, and responsibility (Cope & Kalantzis 1997, p. 258)

4. What are some contributions of postcolonial theory? You may consider the
following specific points to help you revise about postcolonial theory:
How does postcolonial theory challenge mainstream international
management, and why does this matter for practical reasons of daily
working and management?
Discuss the meaning of specific concepts from postcolonial theory
such as Othering - and give examples. You may use hypothetical
examples, actual examples from your work experience, or any module
materials.
Connect to the transcript / video of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies talk,
the
The Danger of a Single Story
https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_sing
le_story/transcript?language=en
(This link provides the video to the left, and also has a written transcript
of the talk).

How does The Danger of a Single Story illustrate key points of

postcolonial theory (such as: representation, and production of
knowledge)?
 What are some specific practical consequences in global management
of The Danger of a Single Story?

What are some stigmatised or overlooked experiences, from module

readings, which challenge A Single Story about a place / a group of
people?

Post colonialism: Broadly a study of of the effects of colonialism on

cultures and societies. It is concerned with both how European nations
conquered and controlled "Third World" cultures and how these groups
have since responded to and resisted those encroachments. Post-
colonialism, as both a body of theory and a study of political and
cultural change, has gone and continues to go through three broad
stages:
1. an initial awareness of the social, psychological, and cultural inferiority
enforced by being in a colonized state
2. the struggle for ethnic, cultural, and political autonomy
3. a growing awareness of cultural overlap and hybridity

Othering: the social and/or psychological ways in which one group excludes or
marginalises another group. By declaring someone as other, persons tend to
stress what makes them dissimilar from or opposite of another, and this carries over
into the way they represent others, especially through stereotypical images.

Othering is the process of casting a group, an individual or an object into the role of
the other and establishing ones own identity through opposition to and, frequently,
vilification of this Other. The Greeks use of the word barbarian to describe non-
Greeks is a typical example of othering and an instance of nationalism avant la lttre.
The ease with which the adjective other generated the verb to other in the last
twenty years or so is indicative of the usefulness, power and currency of a term that
now occupies an important position in feminist, postcolonial, civil rights and sexual
minority discourses.

Othering is a process that goes beyond mere scapegoating and denigration it

denies the Other those defining characteristics of the Same, reason, dignity, love,
pride, heroism, nobility, and ultimately any entitlement to human rights. Whether the
Other is a racial or a religious group, a gender group, a sexual minority or a nation, it
is made rife for exploitation, oppression and indeed genocide by denying its essential
humanity, because, as the philosopher Richard Rorty put it, everything turns on who
counts as a fellow human being, as a rational agent in the only relevant sense the
sense in which rational agency is synonymous with membership of our moral
community (Rorty, 1993, p. 124).
The process of othering may be initiated by an encounter between civilizations that
have no previous tradition of contact or understanding. Within a few years of
Columbuss landing in the New World, its indigenous inhabitants were enslaved,
tortured and killed, their immense civilizations despoiled, desecrated and destroyed
for ever. Their conquerors questioned whether native Americans belonged to the
same species as themselves. But othering can also take place between groups that
know each other well and have lived in close proximity for centuries, as the genocide
of Rwanda and the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia remind us. In these situations,
othering is prompted by what Freud (Freud, 1921c; 1930a) referred to as narcissism
of minor differences the person or group that othered is the one in closest
physical and symbolic proximity, as it is seen to present a major threat to ones
identity and pride precisely what was to happened to Freud and hundred of
thousands Jews in Germany and Europe. The consequences of this narcissism of
minor differences can range from the petty but serious antagonism of supporters of
neighbouring football clubs or neighbouring towns, to ethnic cleansing and genocide
(Blok, 2001).

Theorizing the Other has drawn extensively on the work of three theorists who
influenced each other psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, ethnographer Claude Lvi-
Strauss and philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. Lacan (Lacan, 1988) examined how
the ego is formed during the early stage of infancy as the child comes to contemplate
its own face in a mirror. The child first encounters him/herself as an Other and
misrecognizes himself as a subject, thereafter sustaining this recognition in the gaze
of the other. There is thus an interesting link between theory of the Other and
alienation. Othering is a process that may be applied to oneself, whereby one
experiences oneself as a stranger, indeed Lacanian theory views this self-othering
as the process whereby the symbolic order is established the unconscious is the
stranger within ourselves. A man, for example, has no choice but to silence or even
kill the woman in him.

Lvi-Strauss (Lvi-Strauss, 1955/1992) proposed that throughout human history,

people have employed two strategies in dealing with the Other, the foreign, the
deviant or the stranger one is to incorporate them, as in the case of cannibalism,
eliminating any boundaries between the same and the other; the second strategy it
to expel them and exclude them (spit them out) by erecting strong boundaries and
special institutions in which they are kept in isolation. These strategies can be
observed in many contemporary situations. Finally, Levinas (Levinas, 1969) based
his moral philosophy on the face-to-face encounter with another human being,
viewing the moment of this encounter as the one irreducible and concrete way of
establishing a relation with the Other, as against relying on abstract and impersonal
rules of ethics to do so.
Many current discourses on the Other are taking an extremely pessimistic and bleak
view of relations among human beings, returning to the Hobbesian view of homo
homini lupus (a human is a wolf to a fellow-human). Some authors (notably Said,
1985, 1994) have argued that Western identity and culture are fundamentally forged
by an othering logic, one that dehumanizes or devalues other people, such as
primitives, uncivilized, orientals, blacks, non-believers, women and so forth. An
essential feature of othering is denying the Other his/her own voice, denying him/her
the opportunity to speak for him/herself and instead attributing qualities, opinions and
views that refer to ones own identity and culture.

Whether one can speak on behalf of another whose voice has been silenced has
become a hotly debated issue. Another debated issue is whether it is possible to
transcend othering and establish a genuine understanding with the Other, through
the use of reason (for example, by appealing to a common humanity, as Kant did) or
through empathy (for example, by appealing to compassion and feeling for the
sufferings of others, as Hume and Schopenhauer did). It is maybe time, that along
with the many fragmentations brought about by postmodernist discourses, the Other
should be recognized as a diverse and complex entity an object of love and desire,
a potential enemy and victim, a model for emulation and identification, an object of
care and hospitality, a subject of his or her own destiny. We may still come to
recognize that the Other, like the Self, has many faces.

(Listen to the full video of Danger of a Single Story its actually very interesting.
Take the important points from there like how Ngozis hostel mate thought she would
know nothing because she came from Africa and other examples of how those who
colonised others still think that those coming from the post colonial countries do not
have education, have no culture, etc. etc.). Then add all those texts here to show
how colonialism has affected cultures and societies and the way people think about
these groups of people. Listen to this video carefully as it will also enable you to
write Q. No. 8.

5. What are some examples of learning from creative arts to study key aspects
of global management and working?
For instance, how can dance teach us about alternative approaches to
understanding leadership? How can alternative approaches bring out
overlooked / ignored work experiences?
How could dance / music help to challenge our ideas of the Other?
How can poetry provide a window into learning about experiences that
are often overlooked in mainstream outlets? (there are examples of
poetry posted on Blackboard)
How can dance / music challenge understanding of gender? Why does
the study of gender matter in global management?
 6. Why are embodiment and intersectionality important in studying global
working?
You may consider how working in a global context is gendered,
racialized, and so on.
How do embodied aspects of identitiesintersect(such as: age and
gender?) What is the value of intersectionality theory for
understanding the complexities of global working?
How can intersectionality theory help to challenge stereotypes of the
Other?
How can these approaches to understanding lived experiences such
as embodiment of globalization, intersectionality theory inform the
practice of management and work in a global context?

Intersectionality is a tool for analysis, advocacy and policy development that

addresses multiple discriminations and helps us understand how different sets of
identities impact on access to rights and opportunities. This primer explains what
intersectionality is, including its critical role in work for human rights and
development, and suggests some different ways in which gender equality advocates
can use it. language, ancestry, sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic class,
ability, culture, geographic location, and status as a migrant, indigenous person,
refugee, internally displaced person, child, or a person living with HIV/AIDS, in a
conflict zone or under foreign occupation, combine to determine ones social
location. Intersectionality is an analytical tool for studying, understanding and
responding to the ways in which gender intersects with other identities and how
these intersections contribute to unique experiences of oppression and privilege. It is
therefore an indispensable methodology for development and human rights work.
What is Intersectionality?
Intersectionality is a feminist theory, a methodology for research, and a springboard
for a social justice action agenda. It starts from the premise that people live multiple,
layered identities derived from social relations, history and the operation of structures
of power. People are members of more than one community at the same time, and
can simultaneously experience oppression and privilege (e.g. a woman may be a
respected medical professional yet suffer domestic violence in her home).
Intersectional analysis aims to reveal multiple identities, exposing the different types
of discrimination and disadvantage that occur as a consequence of the combination
of identities. It aims to address the manner in which racism, patriarchy, class
oppression and other systems of discrimination create inequalities that structure the
relative positions of women. It takes account of historical, social and political
contexts and also recognizes unique individual experiences resulting from the
coming together of different types of identity. For example, the experience of a black
woman in Cape Town is qualitatively different than that of a white or indigenous
woman in that same location. Similarly, the experience of being lesbian, old,
disabled, poor, Northern-based, and/or any number of other identities, are unique
and distinct identities and experiences. Intersectional analysis posits that we should
not understand the combining of identities as additively increasing ones burden but
instead as producing substantively distinct experiences. In other words, the aim is
not to show that one group is more victimized or privileged than another, but to
reveal meaningful distinctions and similarities in order to overcome discriminations
and put the conditions in place for all people to fully enjoy their human rights. As a
consequence of their multiple identities, some women are pushed to the extreme
margins and experience profound discriminations while others benefit from more
privileged positions. Intersectional analysis helps us to visualize the convergence of
different types of discrimination as points of intersection or overlap. Moreover, it
helps us to understand and assess the impact of these converging identities on
opportunities and access to rights, and to see how policies, programs, services and
laws that impact on one aspect of our lives are inextricably linked to others. For
example, many female domestic workers experience sexual assault and abuse at
the hands of their employers. It is the intersection of the workers identities (e.g.
female, poor, foreign citizen) that put her in the position of vulnerability. It is the
intersection of the policies, programs and laws (e.g. employment policies, citizenship
laws, shelters for abused women) that support and maintain the vulnerability.
Because the policies do not respond to the specific identities of domestic workers,
they do not allow the women to enjoy their right to be free from violence. As a
theoretical paradigm, intersectionality allows us to understand oppression, privilege
and human rights globally. It helps us to build arguments for substantive equality
from womens histories and community case studies (that is, women
writing/speaking from their experiences of specific, intersecting identities) by
extracting theoretical statements and overarching principles. This allows us to see
that the claims women are making for their equal rights are not merely an instance of
a self-interested group promoting its own interests, but instead fundamental to
achieving the promise of human rights for all. Intersectionality, therefore, is a tool for
building a global culture of human rights from the grassroots to the global level.
Intersectional analysis is characterized by an analytical shift away from the
dichotomous, binary thinking about power that is so common. Too often our
frameworks conceptualize one persons rights as coming at the expense of another
persons; development becomes about establishing and maintaining competitive
advantage. In contrast, thinking about development from the perspective of
intersectionality focuses attention on specific contexts, distinct experiences and the
qualitative aspects of equality, discrimination and justice, permitting us to
simultaneously work on behalf of ourselves and others. Just as there are no human
rights without womens rights, there are no human rights without indigenous peoples
rights, the rights of the disabled, of people of colour, and of gays and lesbians, just to
name a few. While intersectionality differs from some more prominent gender and
development and diversity approaches, it is not new. As a formal theoretical
framework, intersectionality has been used for well over a decade; it emerged out of
attempts to understand experiences of women of colour in the United States. More
recently it has been taken up by feminists in the global South. As a fact of life,
intersectionality has been there all along, in the ways that we live, interact and
understand discrimination and equality. We are now, however, more often discussing
intersectionality explicitly in the fields of development and human rights, using it as a
tool for advocacy, program planning, and research. Why Intersectionality? Most
gender analysis frameworks used by development actors focus solely on gender
relations. While assertions that women are not a homogenous group are common,
the implications of this observation seem to get quickly lost in the application. The
tendency is to merely note that poor women are especially impacted and racialized
women have different experiences. As a result, certain experiences and issues are
obscured or rendered invisible. Problems that are unique to particular groups of
women or disproportionately affect some women may not receive appropriate or
adequate redress. Similarly, many legal approaches conceptualize each component
of discrimination based on multiple grounds as compounding on the others,
additively increasing the overall burden of inequality. Such approaches do not
recognize that something unique is produced at the intersection point of different
types of discrimination. Claims fall through the cracks when the full context and
quality of the experience of discrimination are not considered. We need tools such as
intersectionality to counteract these trends and lay bare the full complexity and
specificity of womens rights and development issues, including the structural and
dynamic dimensions of the interplay of different policies and institutions. 4
Furthermore, we need such a theoretical framework to identify practices that fit into
patterns of discrimination and distinguish these from things that are idiosyncratic
about the actor or community (e.g. as the opening example shows, the challenges
faced by single black women in finding housing result from systematic discrimination
by Canadian landlords). Intersectionality also has particular value in terms of
overcoming historically based conceptual gaps. For example, within the United
Nations system, race and gender-based discrimination have thus far been
considered under discrete mechanisms developed along separate but parallel tracks
(i.e. mechanisms of the Conventions on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial
Discrimination and all Forms of Discrimination Against Women). Similar splits are
evident in national-level mechanisms and NGO programming. Such single category
descriptions, however, do not reflect the reality that we all have multiple identities
and therefore may face intersectional discrimination. An intersectional approach, in
contrast, does not require a person to slot themselves into a rigid category in order to
seek redress. Although many current laws and human rights conventions have been
interpreted narrowly to only capture a single form of discrimination at one time, these
interpretations contravene the explicit intentions of instruments intended to protect
against discrimination.1 Building a truly effective human rights system requires
addressing the shortcomings of past frameworks and developing more
contextualized interpretations of equality provisions. Furthermore, the effectiveness
of our work depends on analyses that can capture complex, interwoven issues. If our
baseline analysis and project planning do not begin with a complete picture of the
economic, social, political and cultural situation, then our interventions and programs
cannot possibly achieve their full potential. Moreover, what works to advance the
rights of some women may not be effectual for more marginalized women.
Intersectional subordination is by its nature obscured; it occurs at the margins in
complex circumstances. If our analytical methodologies are categorical and top-
down, they are unlikely to discover the full-range of vulnerabilities, activities and
experiences of diverse women. Consider this Trafficking of women and girls is
often viewed too narrowly. Women and girls enter trafficking networks because of
racial, social and economic marginalization which renders them more vulnerable to
racial, sexual and descent-based discriminatory treatment. Racial discrimination may
also determine the treatment that trafficked women experience in destination
countries. Traffickers target specific groups of women; gender considerations alone
do not accurately describe the problem or lead to effective responses. Sex workers
in Amsterdam, for example, have organized and won many rights of protection. In
reality however, these rights are primarily enjoyed by white, native-Dutch sex
workers. Women are sometimes excluded from jobs deemed more appropriate for
men because of their sex, and women may be excluded from jobs considered
womens jobs because of their race. As a result, women of ethnic minorities are
specifically excluded from employment opportunities. They may have few avenues to
challenge this discrimination because they could not necessarily bring a claim on the
basis of either sex discrimination or racial discrimination. African-American women
are subjected to racial discrimination in the U.S.A. A middle class AfricanAmerican
university professor, however, does not experience the same discrimination as a
poor African-American woman who works as a cleaner in a nonunionized hotel. A
young Dalit girl is assaulted at a bus stop on her way to school in India. The initial
reaction is to demand that the Womens Rights and Economic Change
Intersectionality: A Tool for Gender and Economic Justice it is not about making
sure that every oppression is named; it is actually about making sure every person is
accounted for. Youmna Chlala, WILD for Human Rights 5 Finally, intersectionality is
a useful strategy for linking the grounds of discrimination (e.g. race, gender, etc.) to
the social, economic, political and legal environment that contributes to
discrimination and structures experiences of oppression and privilege. The rich
descriptions produced through intersectional analyses illuminate the actors,
institutions, policies and norms that intertwine to create a given situation. Such
textured analyses are critical to our ability to effect progressive change in the face of
the fundamentalist forces, neoliberal economic policies, militarization, new
technologies, entrenched patriarchy and colonialism, and new imperialism that
threaten womens rights and sustainable development today. How to 'do'
Intersectionality How we think determines what we do and how we do it. First and
foremost, using intersectionality in our work requires that we think differently about
identity, equality and power. It requires that we focus on points of intersection,
complexity, dynamic processes, and the structures that define our access to rights
and opportunities, rather than on defined categories or isolated issue areas.
Analytically, it requires that we see the eradication of discrimination and the
celebration of diversity as fundamental to development and the enjoyment of human
rights. It requires a substantial investment in the analytical stages of the work; the
intellectual demands of intersectional analysis are indeed higher than many other
approaches to gender. Secondly, using intersectionality entails valuing a bottom-up
approach to research, analysis and planning. Information gathering should begin by
asking questions about how women and men actually live their lives. The picture can
then be built upwards, accounting for the various influences that shape womens
lives. Specific inquiries need to be made about the experiences of women living at
the margins, the poorest of the poor, and women suffering from different types of
oppression.2 We need both personal accounts and testimonies, and also data
disaggregated according to race, sex, ethnicity, caste, age, citizenship status and
other identities. The analysis should aim to reveal how practices and policies shape
the lives of those impacted, as compared to the lives of those not subject to similar
influences. Why is it that for us, gender is the only construct that we can understand
and accept in our work yet we expect everyone else to incorporate gender into
theirs? Mallika Dutt, AWID Forum Reinventing Globalization Guadalajara, Mexico,
October 2002 facts & issues police provide better security on the road. Community
consultations in combination with statistical and contextual analysis reveal that more
than a security issue, this is an issue of discrimination against Dalit girls and women.
The range of remedies could therefore range from reserved places in schools and
with employers for Dalit women and girls, to public awareness campaigns on the
prohibition on untouchability, public condemnation of those who promote caste-
based violence, and official recognition of Dalit women as a discriminated-against
group in need of special protection. In circumstances where immigrants constitute a
large percentage of the poor or where indigenous populations have
disproportionately high levels of unemployment, the mainstream media, policy
makers and the general public may accuse immigrants and indigenous people of
being less capable or personally deficient. They disregard the fact that social
structures and policies prevent them from accessing rights and resources to the
same extent that others in the society can and that they are discriminated against. In
designing programs for refugee camp residents displaced by war, a gender specific
approach alone would never suffice. We would want to understand needs,
vulnerabilities and priorities of many identities for example, of the young and old,
persecuted ethnic groups, families with multiple dependents, and those who have
experienced personal or psychological trauma. We would want to understand how
gender intersects with these other identities to structure the experiences of the
residents of the camp in order to design effective programs for them. * These
examples are adapted from the sources listed at the end of this publication. 6 So for
example, an analysis of poverty would not stop at finding that women are
disproportionately poor in a given region, but would explore which groups of women
are poorest, which policies and practices contribute to their poverty, how the
historical and political situation contributes, and whether development projects and
policy initiatives are addressing the specific problems faced by different groups of
women. For an intersectional analysis to be useful in the field of development, it
must be informed by the experiences and views of women of the full diversity of
identities, including women in the global South and also women of colour and
immigrant women in the global North. The subjects of development work should be
at the table (not the foreign experts) and involved in developing the analysis and the
interventions. Similarly, the voices of theorists and analysts from the global South
need to be amplified and respected. Using Intersectionality to Advance Womens
Rights and Gender Equality Eradicating poverty is not purely an economic struggle.
Likewise, ending human rights violations and bringing about sustainable
development requires ideological and An intersectional analysis tells us that it is not
enough to belong to a rich country that alone does not protect you from
vulnerability to HIV infection, nor does it guarantee treatment. Where you sit in
relation to the State as a woman, a poor woman, a black woman, an educated
woman, as a lesbian, as a woman with a disability who is therefore assumed not to
be having sex, as an immigrant who is not entitled to many of the social security
benefits of citizens, all of these factors determine your vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.
Sisonke Msimang, AWID Forum Reinventing Globalization Guadalajara, Mexico,
October 2002 cultural shifts as much as technically sound programming and stable
financing. The complexity of the challenges posed by trade liberalization,
deregulation, privatization, and intensified imperialism demand analyses that
simultaneously provide detailed, nuanced information and inspire activism and
advocacy for equality and justice. Intersectionality is one such tool. As with all
approaches and tools, the usefulness and impact of intersectionality will depend on
how it is used. If institutionalized and simplified, its value could be lost as has
happened with many other progressive gender analysis tools. Moreover, if the
analysis is misapplied, it could produce an ineffective postmodern rubric of
individuality. If used within a social justice paradigm however, intersectionality can be
extremely useful and empowering. How one uses intersectionality necessarily
depends upon ones positions, objectives and needs. Here are a few possibilities:
In compiling data sets and statistics about the impacts of economic policies on
women, ask specifically about the experiences of those from different ethnic groups,
migrants, poor women, and women of other identified groups. Today our challenge
to ourselves and the womens movement must be to render the complexities of
intersecting discriminations plain enough to see and intervene in so that
marginalized women are included not only in how we talk about effecting change but
are also involved as participants in the actions to which we commit ourselves in
future directions of the womens movement. Marsha Darling, AWID Forum
Reinventing Globalization Guadalajara, Mexico, October 2002 7 facts & issues
When setting priorities for projects, allocate resources to those who are most
marginalized as revealed by analyzing intersecting discriminations. Empowering
those who have the least access to rights and resources and focusing on processes
that lead to poverty and exclusion (e.g. by providing basic medical services and
educational opportunities, protecting their livelihood security, or supplying
appropriate agricultural technologies and inputs) may effect the greatest tangible
advances in terms of womens rights and gender equality. To do this, start and carry
on your work by asking these key questions: What forms of identity are critical
organizing principles for this community/region (beyond gender, consider race,
ethnicity, religion, citizenship, age, caste, ability)? Who are the most marginalized
women, girls, men and boys in the community and why? What social and economic
programs are available to different groups in the community? Who does and does
not have access or control over productive resources and why? Which groups have
the lowest and the highest levels of public representation and why? What laws,
policies and organizational practices limit opportunities of different groups? What
opportunities facilitate the advancement of different groups? What initiatives would
address the needs of the most marginalized or discriminated groups in society?
Endnotes: 1 K. Crenshaw, The Intersectionality of Race and Gender Discrimination,
(unpublished, November 2002), page 13. [An earlier version of this paper was
presented as the background paper for the Expert Group Meeting on Gender and
Race discrimination held in Zagreb, Croatia November 21-24, 2000]. 2 Ibid., page
14. 3 J. Kerr, From Opposing to Proposing: Finding Proactive Global Strategies for
Feminist Futures in J. Kerr, E. Sprenger and A. Symington (eds.), The Future of
Womens Rights: Global Visions and Strategies (London: Zed Books), forthcoming in
2004. The Association for Womens Rights in Development is an international
membership organization connecting, informing and mobilizing people and
organizations committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and
womens human rights. A dynamic network of women and men, AWID members are
researchers, academics, students, educators, activists, business people, policy-
makers, development practitioners, funders and others, half of whom are located in
the global South and Eastern Europe. AWIDs goal is to cause policy, institutional
and individual change that will improve the lives of women and girls everywhere.
Since 1982, AWID has been doing this by facilitating on-going debates on
fundamental and provocative issues as well as by building the individual and
organizational capacities of those working for womens empowerment. 215 Spadina
Ave., Suite 150, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5T 2C7 T: +1 (416) 594-3773 F: +1 (416)
594-0330 E-mail: awid@awid.org Web: www.awid.org Written by: Alison Symington
Copy-edit: Carly Zwarenstein Design: Lina Gomez 215 Spadina Avenue, Suite 150
Toronto, Ontario CANADA, M5T 2C7 T: (+1) 416-594-3773 F: (+1) 416-594-0330 E:
awid@awid.org http://www.awid.org Association for Womens Rights in Development
L'Association pour les droits de la femme et le dveloppement Asociacin para los
Derechos de la Mujer y el Desarrollo Sources and Resources Sources and
Resources Ontario Human Rights Commission, An Intersectional Approach to
Discrimination: Addressing Multiple Grounds in Human Rights Claims, Discussion
Paper, Policy and Education Branch. (2001) [Available on-line:
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/English/publications ] Ching Louie, M. and L. Burnham.
WEDGE: Womens Education in the Global Economy. Women of Color Resource
Centre, 2000. Crenshaw, Kimberley. Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity
Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color, in The Public Nature of Private
Violence, M. Fineman and R. Mykitiuk (eds.), (Routledge: New York, 1994) pp. 93-
118. [also available on-line at:
http:/www.hsph.harvard.edu/Organizations/healthnet/WoC/feminisms/crenshaw.html]
Gender and Development. Diversity, Vol. 12:1 (May 2004). Gender and Racial
Discrimination, Report of the Expert Group Meeting, 21-24 November 2000, Zagreb,
Croatia. [Available online at:
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/genrac/report.htm] Human Rights for All:
Understanding and Applying Intersectionality to Confront Globalization, Day 3
Plenary Presentations, AWIDs 9th International Forum on Womens Rights in
Development: Re-inventing Globalization. [Available online at:
http://www.awid.org/go.php?pg=forum9_plenaries] Raj, Rita (ed.), in collaboration
with Charlotte Bunch and Elmira Nazombe. Women at the Intersection: Indivisible
Rights, Identities, and Oppression. Centre for Womens Global Leadership, Rutgers,
the State University of New Jersey, 2002. [video and study guide also available.]
Riley, J. GAD and Intersectionality in the Region: Forging the Future, Working
Paper No. 8 Gender and Development Dialogue. Melbourne University Private
Working Paper Series, August 2003. WICEJ. How Women are Using the United
Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related
Intolerance (WCAR) to Advance Womens Human Rights, Tools for Womens
Advocacy #2. March 2003. WILD for Human Rights, a San Francisco-based NGO,
offers training and resources on processes for applying intersectional human rights
frameworks. Contact them at info@wildforhumanrights.org or by telephone at (+1)
(415) 355-4744 for more information. Advocate for multiple grounds of
discrimination clauses in national constitutions and in United Nations treaty
mechanisms in order to open up space for courts and committees to fully address
the unique discrimination faced by women living at the intersection of several
identities. Remedying the discrimination requires understanding its origins.
Respecting our diverse identities and privileges as women allows us to build our
power as a movement based on our strengths and diversity. This entails ensuring
that women of all identities have a space and voice to determine our agendas.
Similarly, it suggests that we can use our privilege in strategic ways. Identity is a
relative concept; at any given time we are operating from some position of power,
whether it is our experience, ability, class, race, age or sexuality. We can work
towards holistic and powerful solutions from the places were our relative privileges
intersect.3 * My sincere appreciation to Marsha Darling, Youmna Chlala, Carol
Barton and Tania Principle for sharing their insights and helping me to develop these
ideas.

https://lgbtq.unc.edu/sites/lgbtq.unc.edu/files/documents/intersectionality_en.pdf

7. What is context? Why is consideration of context important for global

management?
How can context challenge stereotypes in global management?
What are some strengths and weaknesses of Scheins model of culture
for understanding organisational context?

Stereotyping is the generalising of people belonging to a particular community,

country, race, religion etc. Culture is always embedded in the context and cannot be
fully understood without taking the context into consideration. In order to decipher
cultural paradoxes, it is necessary to have a model of cultural sensemaking, linking
schemas to contexts.

What is culture ? This is the definition Schein gives :

A pattern of shared basic assumptions learned by a group as it solved its
problems of external adaptation and internal integration () A product of joint
learning.

According to Schein, there are 4 categories of culture : Macrocultures (nations,

occupations that exists globally, ), Organizational Cultures, subcultures (groups
within organizations, and microcultures (microsystems with or within organizations).

Schein identifies 3 levels of culture : artifacts (visible), espoused beliefs and

values (may appear through surveys) and basic underlying
assumptions (unconscious taken for granted beliefs and values : these are not
visible). The latest being the more important since as Schein puts it Human minds
needs cognitive stability and any challenge of a basic assumption will release
anxiety and defensiveness. Many change programs fails for that very reason.

According to the Emeritus professor, Leadership is the source of the beliefs and
values and the most central issue for leaders is to understand the deeper levels of a
culture () and to deal with the anxiety that is unleashed when those assumptions
are challenged.

Aligning Subculture
Inside organizations, there may be different subcultures. Schein identifies three of
them : operators (based on human interaction, high levels of communication, trust
and teamwork), engineers (elegant solution, abstract solutions to problems,
automation and systems) and executives (financial focus, lone hero, sense of
rightness and omniscience).

Schein is adamant that in any organization, the alignment between these three
subcultures is critical : Many problems that are attributed to bureaucracy,
environmental factors or personality conflicts among managers are in fact the result
of the lack of alignment between these subcultures.

For more information check out #hypertextual blog post dedicated on this topic : 21st
century management and the virtues of operator subculture

External adaptation and Internal Integration

This are the core problems groups and organizations are faced with : survival in and
adaptation to the external environment and integration of the internal processes to

ensure the capacity to continue to survive and adapt.

Ultimately, all organizations are socio-technical systems in which the manner of

external adaptation and the solution of internal integration problems are
interdependent

For long range growth, the author shows that the key is to keep the needs of the
major stakeholders of the organization : investors, suppliers, managers and
employees, the community and government and the customers.

For external adaptation, the main challenge companies face is to obtain a shared
understanding and consensus on 1/Mission and Strategy, 2/Goals, 3/Means,
4/Measurement and 5/ Correction (repair strategies).
For internal integration the main problems according to the author are : 1/ Creating a
common language, 2/ Defining group boundaries and criteria for inclusion and
exclusion 3/ Distributing power authority and status 4/ Developing norms of trust,
intimacy, friendship and love 5/ defining awards and punishment and 6/ explaining
the unexplainable. All groups develop norms around these categories and if these
norms get external tasks done while leaving the group reasonably free of anxiety,
the norms become critical genetic elements of the culture DNA.

Reality and Truth

All kinds of society are based on deeper assumptions on general

abstract issues.This is how people relates to reality and truth, time and space,
human nature and how people should relate to each other. Reaching consensus for
instance is a process of building a shared social reality. There are many different
criteria for determining truth, from belief and morality (pure dogma and right / wrong
dichotomy) to pragmatism (scientific method).

This does not only relate to how truth is defined but also to uncertainty avoidance
(refer to Geert Hoftede Work). The ability to embrace uncertainty is a genuine
advantage as, how Schein puts it, Organizational Cultures that can embrace
uncertainty more easily will be inherently more adaptive. A key advantage in todays
economy.

Time and Space

This is the second axis along which the structure of a culture is built. Anthropologists
have noted that every culture make assumption about time. Schein identifies three
types of organization depending on their time orientation : past, present and future.
Hofstede again has found that economic development was correlated with
a future orientation.

A second dimension for how we relate to time is the notion of monochronic and
polychronic. Monochronic is a view of linear time that ca be split, wasted, spent etc
This is typical of the western rational cultures. Some culture in Southern Europe
or Middle East view time as polychronic, a kind of medium defined more by what is
accomplished than by a clock, within which several things can be done
simultaneously. In polychronic cultures, relationships are viewed as more important
than short-run efficiency and may leave monochronic managers frustrated and
impatient.

Besides, there may be different relation to time depending on the organisation

subcultures. For instance, operators time frame is the present, while Engineering
subculture (R&D) has a much longer and different time horizon.

Space has both a physical and a social meaning and feeling about distance have
biological roots. This ends up in different levels of distance (intimacy, personal,
social, public) whose length may differ depending on the culture. Also space includes
a symbolic value through different allocations (executives at the top of the building,
managers with dedicated office etc ). This is one of the reason why the
introduction of new communication technologies (email, collaborative spaces, social
networks) causes anxiety : it forces to the surface assumptions that have been
taken for granted in terms of relation to space.

Human nature, activity and relationships

This set of issues and dimensions reviewed constitute a kind of grid against which to
map a given organizational culture.

Douglas Mc Gregor has a well-known framework on this subject known as Theory

X (managers believe people are lazy and must be motivated and controlled)
and Theory Y (people are basically self-motivated and need to be channelled and
challenged). The latter assume it is possible to design organizations that enable
employee needs to be congruent with organizational needs. This is the dimension of
organizations seeking to grow and to dominate their market.

A second useful framework is the one about orientation. There is

the Doing orientation whereby nature can be controlled and manipulated, there is a
pragmatic orientation toward the nature of reality and a belief in human perfectibility.
On the other hand, the Being orientation where nature is powerful and human is
subservient to it, an orientation that implies fatalism and enjoying what we have, here
and now. This is the orientation of organizations looking for a niche, trying to adapt to
external realities rather than creating markets.

In between both there is the Being-In-Becoming organization where the focus is on

development rather than on a static condition. It is more on what the person is and
can become rather than what the person can accomplish.

This human related dimension is critical in making the organization safe for all.

Culture Typologies

Typologies are abstract construct that are derived from factor analyzing perceptual
data. These construct help in providing some order out of observed phenomena and
predicting some new phenomena that may arise. These are abstract and therefore
do not reflect adequately the reality. Yet they help in comparing different
organizations.

Gathering data on an organization can be achieved by asking employees how they

perceive their organisation in terms of purpose, strategy or mission.

There are different types of organizations : coercive (prisons, military camp

), utilitarians (private companies), and normative (political parties, non profit ).
 Some type of organizations fit the culture and in Asian or Latin countries for
instance, Business cannot be effective unless they are coercive.

Another axis of culture typology is the variation of authority. It can range either be :
autocratic, paternalistic, consultative, participative, delegative and abdicative. The
search for the universally correct leadership is doomed to failure because of cultural
variation, organization history and the actual task to be performed.

There are four types of organisation depending on their orientation : power

(autocratic founders), achievement (results), roles (bureaucracies) and support.

Another typology can be carried out along 2 dimensions : solidarity (like-minded)

and sociability (friendly). Low on both is Fragmented, High on solidarity alone is
Mercenary, High on Sociability alone is Communal and High on both is Networked.

Leadership and culture

Cultures basically spring from three sources : 1/ beliefs, values and assumptions of
founders 2/learning experience of group members and 3/new beliefs brought in by
new members/leaders. The first one is by far the most important. Leadership is
highly sought by group members to reduce the groups anxiety.

Again, if the way to do things allow to get task completed while keeping group
anxiety at a low level, this will become organizational culture. But if the environment
changes and those assumptions become dysfunctional, the organization must find a
way to change its culture. This is the role of the leader as John Kotter reported in his
book What Leaders Do.

There are embedding mechanisms a leader defines that will define the culture.
What leaders measures, how he reacts to critical incidents, how he allocates
resources, how he allocates rewards and status, how he recruits, promotes and
excommuniates. Then there are the structural mechanisms (organization structure,
procedures, rituals, physical spaces, stories, statements. Through the way leaders
handle these mechanisms (embedded and structural) they communicate both
explicitly and implicitly on their assumptions. If they are conflicted, these conflicts
become part of the culture.

Deciphering and assessing cultures

Before acting on a culture it is strongly recommended to decipher it to define the

change strategy and/or to understand what is wrong. Deciphering a culture can be
carried out using the following pattern :

1. Visit and observe

2. identify artifacts and processes that puzzle you
3. Ask insiders why are things done that way
4. identify espoused values tha appeal to you and ask how they are
implemented
5. Look for inconsistencies and ask about them
6. Figure out from the above the deeper assumptions that determine the
observed behavior.

However, deciphering a culture requires the analyst to understand the potential

consequences of an investigation and clearly communicates this to executives : the
members of the organization may not want to know or may not be able to handle the
insights into their own culture.

Schein also proposes a framework for a company to assess its own culture rapidly.
This is one day workshop, bringing together one or more representative groups (with
an external consultant to manage the workshop) : culture is a group phenomenon so
its best assessed in a group context. Here are the steps :

1. obtaining leadership commitment : leader should also emphasizes that

openness and candor are needed and that culture is not good or bad).
2. Selecting groups for self assessment
3. explaining the purpose of the workshop
4. selecting an appropriate setting for the workshop
5. a short lecture on how to think about culture (with the 3 levels of culture)
6. identifying artifacts (what is going on here)
7. identify espoused values (why are we doing things our way ?)
8. identify shared underlying assumptions (do the espoused values explain the
artifacts or is there anything more ?) this is the most important step : once
assumptions are made conscious, it triggers a whole new set of insights and begins
to make sense of things that werent making any sense before.
9. identify cultural aids or hindrance (within artifacts, values and assumptions
which are the ones that help / hinder the goal). It is much easier to draw on the
strengths of the culture than to overcome the constraints by changing the culture.
10. decide on next step

Managing Culture Change

Edgar Schein proposes a conceptual model for culture change (chapter 17). The
most important takeaway is this : change creates learning anxiety (leaving what we
know to something we dont). This learning anxiety can be fueled by any of the
following (valid) reasons : fear of loss of power/position, fear of temporary
incompetence, fear of subsequent punishment, fear of loss of personal identity and
fear of loss of group membership. The higher the learning anxiety, the stronger the
resistance and the defensiveness.

Change agents must draw on Survival Anxiety (what will happen if we dont do
anything) to unfreeze the situation and make sure that Survival Anxiety is greater
than Learning Anxiety. This is similar to the Burning Platform of Darryl Conner or
the Sense of Urgency of John Kotter. In order to achieve this, it is strongly
recommended to lower Learning Anxiety in a view to create psychological safety,
doing the following : communicating a compelling vision, formal training,
involvement of the learner, informal training of groups, practice fields coaches and
feedback, positive role model, support groups in which learning problems are
discussed and consistent systems and structures with the new way of thinking and
working. The only way to overcome resistance is to reduce the learning anxiety by
making the learner feel psychologically safe.

The change goal must be defined concretely in terms of the specific problem you are
trying to fix, not as culture change. The change may not be possible without
cognitive redefinition whereby people will have to unlearn the former way of working
to learn the new one. This unlearning period is psychologically painful. These new
cultural elements can only be learned if the new behavior leads to success and
satisfaction.

8. Consider the videos that were shared in the Lectures (video links available on
the Lecture Slides.)

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies talk/transcript, The Danger of a Single

Story

Momondo, The DNA Journey

What happens when we stop putting people in boxes? Tv2Denmark

Kimberl Crenshaw: The Urgency of Intersectionality. [continuedon

next page]

Explain the purpose of the videos, the specific themes, and specific
ways that the videos illustrate key theories and experiences in global working,
managing, and organising.
For instance how do these videos illustrate key concepts from
postcolonial theory and/or intersectionality theory? What do these videos
offer for reflecting on our future practices?

Again use the Danger of a single story video thoroughly to illustrate the role played
by post colonialism theory in global management. When a company from western
world goes into a third world country, they seem to assume a lot of things negatively
about these countries. You can relate the video to both postcolonial theory and
intersectionality theory.