Towards a New Departure in Cross-cultural Management Theory: Why China's presence in Africa Makes a Difference

Extant cross-cultural management studies for some time has appeared inappropriate to the growing interest in management and organization in Africa and other developing regions, providing only blunt tools in contexts that are complex in the levels of cultural interaction, and the nature of the dynamic aspects of power relations at these different levels. Similarly, cross-cultural management studies have failed to learn from Africa and other developing regions as it has largely ignored them. Yet just as this important sub-discipline has started to wake up to some of the discussion in critical management studies, and has begun to consider the importance of Postcolonial Theory in understanding the geopolitical context of cross-cultural interaction and management, this context appears to be changing, with important consequences for future theory building.

Short CV:

Terence Jackson is Professor of Cross Cultural Management at Middlesex University Business School, London. He is editor in chief of the International Journal of Cross Cultural Management (Sage Publications). He has published in the areas of cross-cultural and international management of people and change, comparative management ethics and management in Africa in such journals as Human Resource Management (USA), Human Relations, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of World Business, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Asia Pacific Journal of Management and Journal of Business Ethics. He has published seven books, including International HRM: A Cross-cultural Approach (2002: Sage) and Management and Change in Africa: A Cross-cultural Perspective (2004: Routledge). His eighth book, International Management Ethics: A Critical, Cross-cultural Perspective will be published in February 2011 by Cambridge University Press.