Review the section describing the international aspects of organizational change and development. Discuss the constraints different cultures put on an organizational development consultant. What opportunities also might exist because of culture differences?

INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT

The intellectual roots of organizational development are mainly in the United States, with some branches coming from the UK, northern Europe, and Scandinavia. Many organizational development assumptions and values reflect the values of those cultures. These assumptions and values are highly different from the assumptions and values found in other nations.

Latin American countries often have less egalitarian social values than the United States. Workers have strong loyalty to their superior and see a directive management style as both correct and appropriate. Social class distinctions are also strong in Latin American countries, as is the belief that superiors are more competent than subordinates.

French, Italian, and Russian managers view organizations as hierarchically oriented systems of authority relations. Swedish and U.S. managers usually do not see organizations as strongly hierarchical. French and Italian managers often view organizations as political systems in which they try to gain power for themselves. The French also have a manipulative perspective about organizational change. Russian managers prefer having a clear plan to which everyone can commit. They do not share the Western view that a plan describes a starting point and can have different courses of action. Russian workers expect clear top-down direction. Any organizational change comes from centralized direction, and workers do not expect their involvement in the change process.

Countries vary in the degree of uncertainty they find tolerable and in their approaches to conflict. People in southern European and Latin American countries prefer to avoid uncertainty. Those in the Scandinavian countries can tolerate more uncertainty. People in Latin American countries also use nonconfrontational approaches to managing conflict.