Maximizing Human Intelligence Deployment in Asian Business
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Maximizing Human Intelligence Deployment in Asian Business John B. Kidd, Xue Li, and Frank-Jurgen Richter (eds.) Palgrave, Basingstoke, 2001, 245pp. ISBN: 0-333-94814-9. Asian Business & Management (2003) 2, 285–287. doi:10.1057/palgrave.abm.9200049
Business deals are known to have failed and friendships damaged through a lack of understanding of the non-verbal and cultural elements of communication that are so important in many Asian economies, and for anyone working with people from any Asian country, this book may prove of great value in interpersonal and organizational communication, whether in a business or social setting. Part I of this three-part work puts into perspective the issues of globalization, strategic management, and international human resource (HR) deployment. As businesses cross borders, there is no escaping the need to tackle deeply rooted cultural HR issues in getting the best out of one’s employees. What are the implications? The editors point out that multinational companies need to adopt holistic approaches to HR overseas assignments, to consider social, technological, and cultural factors. Restrictive stereotypes need to be abandoned; instead an understanding of the dynamic assimilations taking place in Asian businesses is required. Their introduction is followed up by John Bratton discussing how approaches to cross-cultural strategic management need to differ when taking place at corporate, business, and functional levels, and by Ronald Jacobs, who has previously developed a hierarchical model of employee development, from novice in stages to master. This model is discussed in terms of building up expertise at lower levels of the hierarchy in the guest country, as opposed to having higher-level expertise in the host country. Part II contains five chapters, generally case study accounts of American businesses in Asian countries. The focus is on understanding how the different cultures, rituals, and behaviours impinge on one another. William Czander and Dong Hwan Lee note that employee commitment has completely different meanings in some Asian countries compared to America. In many Asian economies, employee commitment is collective- and family-oriented, as opposed to individualistic, and takes place at a societal as well as an organizational level. Oliver Tzeng follows with his psychosemantic process model, extended to modelling social–economic behaviour in international business dealings. The author also discusses his concepts for ‘ideal business behaviours’ in a range of areas from plant operations to conflict resolution. As an example, he argues that traits that are critical for American businesses to operate successfully in China include: (i) having a comprehensive knowledge of both cultures, (ii) the format-
Asian Business & Management 2003 2
Book Reviews
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ion of an ideal conjoint culture for operational use (taking the best from both cultures), and (iii) assisting employees to harmonize themselves with the ideal culture. Cherlyn Granrose contributes a lengthy discussion
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