Strategic Partnership

Project management in multicultural teams/project

What are the benefits and drawbacks of multicultural teams? How can organizations manage diversity for the best results? During this seminar students will become familiar with the particular challenges that are faced by multicultural teams, with particular attention on phases of work in which such teams are more and less effective. Levels of diversity in teams and their impact on performance is discussed and experienced. Feedback from students’ previous and recent experience on this issue applied throughout an exercise.

Pre-reading: Heidrich, B.: Expectations and Reality About the Effectiveness of Multicultural Teams in Business and Educational Settings. Proceedings of Budapest Business School. 2010, pp. 37-49.

Static and dynamic approach to cultures

A non-universalistic approach and methods to cultures is introduced in this seminar. Cultural standard or as originally named Kulturstandard modell builds on bicultural interaction, which allows more detailed understanding of culture to culture differences in daily interactions than those of the universalistic models. To be able to apply the model, the critical incident technique is applied and introduced on class in small groups. The local (ie.Hungarian) vs. expatriate (ie.French ) culture is analyzed on social and corporate level.

· Pre-reading: Topcu K. – Romani, L. - Primecz H. (2007): Kulturstandard research in two paradigms: The possible application of the method in the functionalist and interpretive paradigms. Journal of Cross-Cultural Competence and Management 5, 161-202.

Recent developments in Cultural Models related to organizational and leadership cultures (GLOBE, European Value Survey)

In this seminar we turn to more recent models of cultural differences ( i.e GLOBE, EVS) and analyze the differences in approach and results compared to the manistream models of the last decades ( Hofstede, Trompenaars etc.). Regional differences will be applied for business practice. Participants would then discover how these new results should change the stereotypical thinkong of global managers.

· Pre-reading: Brodbeck, F. C., Frese, M. et al. (2000): Cultural variation of leadership prototypes across 22 European countries Journal of Occupational Psychology, Vol. 73, pp. 1-29.

Organisational culture

The aim of the seminar is to demonstrate how individual values are integrated to a larger context, ie organizational culture. We turn our attention on how different cultural types can fit to individual value systems, therefore being the key to carrier success. The ongoing change in organizational cultures is a constant leadership challenge. This seminar touches upon the organizational and individual aspects of cultural change.

Pre-reading: Heidrich, B.- Primecz, H. : Cross-Cultural Management Skills (ESSCA Budapest, 2006)

Session 13 Cultural Perspectives of M&A and Strategic alliences

In this seminar we discuss and analyze the international experiences of M&As. Then participants try to identify possible reasons of failures and success stories. The notion of corporate ethnocentrism is discussed as a barrier. The process of acculturation (contact, conflict, adaptation) is introduced as a strategic managerial cultural tool of M&As.

The different types of acculturation as a strategic perspective are discussed in detail (assimilation, integration, separation, deculturation). At the end of the seminar a simulation game on mergers of different cultural teams is played and analyzed.

Pre-reading: Business as Unusual. The Role of National Cultural Background in Corporate Life. http://www.kakanien.ac.at//beitr/theorie/BHeidrich1.pdf 2002