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Abstract
Organization Development (OD), in many cases, is associated with transforming organizations; however, OD is increasingly challenged when practicing in cross-cultural and/or multicultural settings. It is becoming increasingly important that OD professionals consider cross cultural differences and influences when conducting organizational transformation. Since change is a big part of this work, it is important to know the different models of how change is best practiced in different countries. By researching over 15 (fifteen) journal articles and cases, including Gerald Glover's and Harris Friedman's work on transcultural competence and Fons Trompenaar's work on culture for business, I will draw some conclusions on change models and cross-cultural competencies needed today. These change models and cross-cultural competencies will not only assist OD professionals, but all professionals who conduct business on the global stage. I will also examine how one can demonstrate these results, so the quality is fully realized by everyone involved in the process.
Keywords: Cross-Cultural Competence, cross-cultural influences, cross-cultural differences, business, business on the global stage, organization development, change, organization development & change, culture, values, cultural values dimensions, culture for business, dilemmas, Fons Trompenaars, Gerald Glover, Kimberley Barker, Verna Myers, inclusion
While Organization Development's past has its roots in Western culture, its expansion internationally has continued. Organization Development (OD) comes from five major backgrounds or stems: 1) The National Training Labs (NTL) and T-groups, 2) Lewin's theory of change, which is the classic "unfreeze, change, and refreeze" theory (plus a few other classic theories), 3) Rensis Likert and participative management, 4) the quality of work life and productivity, and 5) most recently, strategic change and organizational transformation (Cummings & Worley, 2014). While OD has at its core, intervention, the goal is to maximize how the individual and the social systems interact. Today, these approaches are needed more and more globally. This is the reason that OD has continued to spread throughout the world. By sharing Trompenaars 7 Dimensions of Culture and looking at the cultural values of these dimensions, we will see how they are exhibited, based upon predominant norms. These 7 Dimensions are part of a dynamic process of solving human problems or dilemmas that are exhibited in the areas of human relationships, time, and nature. When doing this analysis, it became apparent that...