Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]

skip to main content
10.1145/1841853.1841857acmconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PagesicicConference Proceedingsconference-collections
research-article

Intercultural encounters in off shoring: liaison roles of host country nationals in a danish MNC in Malaysia

Published: 19 August 2010 Publication History

Abstract

This paper broadens the conceptualization of MNC knowledge management to include the importance of active involvement in a liaison role by host country nationals (HCNs), particularly those working directly to with expatriates. Based on our field research and work experience in international settings as well as current research literature, we identify and consider several beneficial components of this liaison role in local knowledge management, including cultural interpreter, communication facilitator, information resource broker, talent developer, and change partner. In addition we try to look into some of these roles in a specific contextual situation, Malaysia.

References

[1]
Bird, A., & Dunbar, R. (1991). Getting the job done over there: Improving expatriate productivity. National Productivity Review, Spring, 145--156.
[2]
Boyacigiller, N. (1990). The role of expatriates in the management of interdependence, complexity and risk in multinational corporations. Journal of International Business Studies, 21(3), 357--381.
[3]
Davy, C. (2006). Recipients: The key to information transfer. Knowledge Management Research and Practice, 4(1), 17--25.
[4]
Dixon, N.M. (2000). Common knowledge: how companies thrive by sharing what they know, Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
[5]
Downes, M., & Thomas, A.S. (2002). Knowledge transfer through expatriation: The U-curve approach to overseas staffing. Journal of Managerial Issues, 12, 131--149.
[6]
Downes, M., & Thomas, A.S. (1999). Managing overseas assignments to build organizational knowledge. Human Resource Planning Journal, 22, 33--48.
[7]
Doz, Y.L., Santos, J., & Williamson, P. (2001). From global to metanational: How companies win in the knowledge economy, Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
[8]
Dunning, J.H. (2003). Relational assets, networks and international business activity, in Dunning, J.H. and Boyd, G. (Eds.), Alliance Capitalism and Corporate Management: Entrepreneurial Cooperation in Knowledge Based Economies (pp. 1--23). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
[9]
Elenkov, D., & Fileva, T. (2006). Anatomy of a business failure: Accepting the "bad luck" explanation vs. proactively learning in international business. Cross Cultural Management, 13(2), 132--141.
[10]
Feldman, D.C., & Bolino, M.C. (1999). The impact of on-site mentoring on expatriate socialization: A structural equation modeling approach. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 10, 54--71.
[11]
Gupta, A.K., & Govindarajan, V. (2000). Knowledge flows within multinational corporations. Strategic Management Journal, 21, 473--496.
[12]
Harzing, A. (2001). An analysis of the functions of international transfer of managers in MNCs. Employee Relations, 23(6), 581--598.
[13]
Hocking, J.B., Brown, M., & Harzing, A. (2007). Balancing global and local strategic contexts: Expatriate knowledge transfer, applications, and learning within a transnational organization. Human Resource Management, 46(4), 513--533.
[14]
Hocking, J.B., Brown, M., & Harzing, A. (2004). A knowledge transfer perspective of strategic assignment purposes and their path-dependent outcomes. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 15(3), 565--586.
[15]
House, R., Javidan, M., Hanges, P., & Dorfman, P. (2002). Understanding cultures and implicit leadership theories across the globe: An introduction to project GLOBE. Journal of World Business, 37, 3--10.
[16]
Johnson, E.C., Kristof-Brown, A.L.,Van Vianen, A.E.M., De Pater, I.E., & Rigsby, M.M. (2003). Expatriate social ties: Antecedents and consequences of relationships with comparable others and host country nationals. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 11, 277--288.
[17]
Krumbholz, M., & Maiden, N. (2001). The implementation of enterprise resource planning packages in different organisational and national cultures. Information Systems, 26(3),185--204.
[18]
Li, S., & Scullion, H. (2006). Bridging the distance: Managing cross-border knowledge holders. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23(1), 71--92.
[19]
Magee, D. (2003). Turnaround: How Carlos Ghosn Rescued Nissan. NY: Collins Business.
[20]
Minbaeva, D.B. (2007). Knowledge transfer in multinational corporations. Management International Review, 47(4), 567--593.
[21]
Moorman, C., & Miner, A.S. (1998). Organizational improvisation and organizational memory. Academy of Management Review, 23, 698--723.
[22]
Napier, N.K. (2005). Knowledge transfer in Vietnam: Starts, stops, and loops. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 20(7), 621--636.
[23]
Osland, J. and A. Osland (2006). Expatriate paradoxes and cultural involvement. International Studies of Management & Organization, vol. 35, no. 4, Winther, pp. 91--114.
[24]
Paik, Y. & Choi, D.Y.(2005). The shortcomings of a standardized global knowledge management system: The case study of Accenture. Academy of Management Executive, 19(2), 81--84.
[25]
Pyöriä, P. (2007). Informal organizational culture: the foundation of knowledge workers' performance. Journal of Knowledge Management, 11(3), 16--30.
[26]
Riusala, K., & Suutari, V. (2004). International knowledge transfers through expatriates. Thunderbird International Business Review, 46(6), 743--770.
[27]
Sharkie, R. (2003). Knowledge creation and its place in the development of sustainable competitive advantage. Journal of Knowledge Management, 7(1), 20--31.
[28]
Stein, E.W. (1995). Organizational memory: review of concepts and recommendations for management. International Journal of Information Management. 15(2), 17--32.
[29]
Takeuchi, H., & Nonaka, I. (Eds.) (2004). Hitotsubashi on Knowledge Management, Singapore: John Wiley & Sons.
[30]
Tarique, I., Schuler, R., & Gong, Y. (2006). A model of multinational enterprise subsidiary staffing composition. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 17(2), 207--224.
[31]
Thurow, L. C. (2000). Building wealth: The new rules for individuals, companies, and nations in a knowledge-based economy. New York: Harper Information.
[32]
Toh, S. M., & DeNisi, A. S. (2005). A local perspective to expatriate success. Academy of Management Executive, 19(1), 132--146.
[33]
Toh, S.M., & DeNisi, A.S. (2003). Host country national reactions to expatriate pay policies: A model and implications. Academy of Management Review, 28(4), 606--621.
[34]
Vance, C.M. (2006). Strategic upstream and downstream considerations for effective global performance management. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 6(1) 37--56.
[35]
Vance, C.M., & Paik, Y. (2005). Forms of host-country national learning for enhanced MNC absorptive capacity. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 20(7), 590--606.
[36]
Vance, C.M., & Ensher, E.A. (2002). The voice of the host country workforce: A key source for improving the effectiveness of expatriate training and performance. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 26, 447--461.
[37]
Wang, X., & Chan, C.C.A. (2006). The multiplier effect of investment in training in China. International Journal of Management, 23(2), 234--243.
[38]
Zhang, A.Y., Tsui, A.S., Song, L.J., Li, C., & Jia, L. (2008). How do I trust thee? The employee-organization relationship, supervisory support, and middle manager trust in the organization. Human Resource Management, 47(1), 111--132.

Index Terms

  1. Intercultural encounters in off shoring: liaison roles of host country nationals in a danish MNC in Malaysia

    Recommendations

    Comments

    Please enable JavaScript to view thecomments powered by Disqus.

    Information & Contributors

    Information

    Published In

    cover image ACM Conferences
    ICIC '10: Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Intercultural collaboration
    August 2010
    300 pages
    ISBN:9781450301084
    DOI:10.1145/1841853
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

    Sponsors

    Publisher

    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 19 August 2010

    Permissions

    Request permissions for this article.

    Check for updates

    Author Tags

    1. host country nationals
    2. knowledge management
    3. liaison role
    4. malaysia

    Qualifiers

    • Research-article

    Conference

    ICIC '10
    Sponsor:

    Acceptance Rates

    ICIC '10 Paper Acceptance Rate 47 of 77 submissions, 61%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 47 of 77 submissions, 61%

    Contributors

    Other Metrics

    Bibliometrics & Citations

    Bibliometrics

    Article Metrics

    • 0
      Total Citations
    • 188
      Total Downloads
    • Downloads (Last 12 months)4
    • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)2
    Reflects downloads up to 25 Nov 2024

    Other Metrics

    Citations

    View Options

    Login options

    View options

    PDF

    View or Download as a PDF file.

    PDF

    eReader

    View online with eReader.

    eReader

    Media

    Figures

    Other

    Tables

    Share

    Share

    Share this Publication link

    Share on social media