Page 266 - DMGT548_GLOBAL_HRM

Unit 14: Indian HRM

3. Abstract conceptualisation: because people from different cultures have different cognitive Notes
frameworks, this may lead them to focus on irrelevant information or misinterpretations
in a particular situation, thus drawing wrong conclusions and theories in a different
cultural situation from their own.
4. Active experimentation: behavioural differences between cultures may lead to
misinterpretations and misattributions of the meaning of such behaviour outside their
own cultures, leading to confusion and frustration.

Notes A cross-cultural differences between British, Indian and East African managers in
two broad learning styles shows: an ‘analysis’ orientation and an ‘action’ orientation.
The experiential model largely reflects approaches to management educational and training
accepted in the Anglo-Saxon world which is based heavily on the concept of the independent
learner, the instructor as facilitator and the value of interactive and experiential methods of
education.

In order to partly overcome the problems of simply transposing the experiential model onto
other cultures, Jackson reformulated the Kolb model. He proposes four learning modalities as
follows.
1. Receptivity: learners are predominantly receptive to practical stimuli or theoretical stimuli
for learning depending on their cultural backgrounds and their experiences in national
educational systems.
2. Perception: learners are more intuitive about sorting and judging information, or are
rational in a step-by-step approach in judging the quality of information that is the basis
for making decisions.
3. Cognitive: learners are more subjective in the way that they make decisions and solve
problems based on personal judgement, or base their decision making more on logic and
scientific approaches.

4. Control (labelled ‘behaviour’): learners prefer to rely on their own initiative, or on the
direction of an instructor.
Results from surveying management ‘learners’ across the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Taiwan
and Lithuania are discussed as follows:
Receptivity Modality: In the practical-theoretical dimension the main difference exists between
the Polish and French groups, with the Polish management learners having an overriding
preference for practical educational stimuli, whilst the French have a comparatively theoretical
preference. The learners from Taiwan are the most socially oriented, expressing a preference for
learning with others. The Lithuanian learners are somewhat different to the Polish on this
dimension, in that they have a comparatively greater preference for learning from reading text,
but prefer to explore how to do things rather than looking at underlying concepts. The British
too are social learners with a preference for practical activity and learning by doing. The German
learners express a preference for learning by doing and learning from simulations in the
classroom.
Perceptual Modality: Again, on the intuitive-rational dimension, the Polish learners account
for the major differences. They express an overriding preference for dealing with information
and ideas in a rational way. British learners express this preference most strongly. Both
Lithuanian learners and those from Taiwan express a preference more strongly for practicality
over ingenuity.

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