Dissertation Research Summary.pdfVIP

Vas Taras Dissertation Research Summary Work-Related Acculturation: Change in Individual Work-Related Cultural Values Following Immigration Progress Report Proposal defended Feb, 2006. Data collected (N=2,550). About 200 pages of the dissertation written. Final draft expected July, 2007. Defence scheduled Oct, 2007. Working draft available at http://ucalgary.ca/~taras/_private/Dissertation.pdf Summary Thousands of studies have demonstrated the need for culture-sensitive approaches when managing people in different countries. It is now relative ly well-known how cultures vary across countries and what management practices are more effective in different parts of the world. But how about managing immigrants who constitute an immense part of the modern workplace? Should one who grew up in China but immigrated and has lived in Canada for the last ten years be assumed to still have Chinese cultural values, or should it be expected that the person has been acculturated? Our research explores the acculturation patterns of work- related cultural values. Problem Statement Thousands of studies have effectively demonstrated that culture-sensitive HR management practices are needed to improve performance in the modern diverse workplace. Multiple studies have shown that cultural background greatly affects perception of justice, work and life satisfaction, preferences for conflict resolution style, organizational and team commitment, and ultimately behaviour in the workplace. In other words, HR management methods that work well, for example, in North America may not, and probably will not, be as effective in Asia. Based on several large-scale projects [1-4] countries have been clustered in cultural