A New Approach to Cross-Cultural People Management

When managing cross-culturally in a polarized world, recognizing similarities between people and establishing common ground can be key to success. This book argues that despite differences in language, political systems, income levels, and other factors, people are people. There is no doubt that cultural differences should be understood and appreciated, not only because this is the right thing to do in a multicultural world, but because failure to understand these differences when doing business can result in costly mistakes. But when managing people, what matters most is showing respect and interest - because what motivates (and de-motivates) is the same regardless of cultural background. This book explains and illustrates eight themes in which people are very similar across cultures, including trust, fairness, integrity, and, though often overlooked in an organizational context, the reasons why people work. Business leaders, human resource professionals, organizational consultants, and students in these fields will appreciate this fresh perspective on people management, and the mini-cases and interviews with senior executives provide inspiring real-world examples.

Robert Grosse is Professor of International Business and Director for Latin America at Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University in Phoenix, Arizona. He joined Thunderbird in August 1994, and rejoined in 2016. He was Director of Leadership Development at Standard Bank in South Africa during 2006-9, Dean of the graduate business school, EGADE, at Monterrey Tec in Mexico after that, and then Dean of the business school at American University of Sharjah in the UAE before returning to Thunderbird. He holds a B.A. degree from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, both in international economics. He has taught international finance and global strategy as a full-time faculty member in the MBA programs at Thunderbird, the University of Miami, the University of Michigan, and at the Instituto de Empresa (Madrid, Spain). He has also taught in many universities throughout Latin America. Professor Grosse is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business and of the Business Association for Latin American Studies. He was President of the Business Association of Latin American Studies in 2005-6 and President of the Academy of International Business during 2012-14.

1 - People really are people 2 - What motivates people? 3 - What de-motivates people? 4 - Trust 5 - Respect and self-esteem 6 - Fairness 7 - How important is integrity in business? 8 - Planning, looking forward 9 - Why do people work? 10 - Conclusions 11 Index