- Title
- Global Migration and Cross-Cultural Management: Understanding the Past, Moving Towards the Future
- Creator
- Lee, Eun Su; Nguyen, Duc Cuong; Szkudlarek, Betina
- Relation
- The SAGE Handbook of Contemporary Cross-Cultural Management p. 408-423
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781529714340.n30
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Resource Type
- book chapter
- Date
- 2020
- Description
- The world continues to experience an ever expanding flow of migration that contributes to the changing nature of global population and increased diversification of workforce. According to United Nations (2017), from 2000 to 2015, migration contributed to 42% of the population growth in North America, and 31% in the Oceania region. Today, there are approximately 150 million migrant workers of the estimated 258 million international migrants (International Organization for Migration, 2018a). While it is tempting to imagine past migration flows as stable in comparison to today’s migration trends, international migration itself has always been a dynamic and fluctuating phenomenon. A historical examination reveals a consistent propensity towards geographic migration with abundant examples of cross-cultural exchanges and complex networks of trade consistently present (Jack & Westwood, 2009). In this regard, a closer look at the (past) migration trends offers several timeless insights that are helpful for understanding the interplay between the movement of people and the societal attitudes towards migration. Understanding of these attitudes is critical for making sense of how individuals and groups interact in both work and non-work context. As such, the ambition of this chapter is to situate cross-cultural management (CCM), as an academic discipline, in the larger historical and politico-economic environment in which migration flows happened, and to point towards contemporary socio-political trends for further advancements of the field. Global migration is a dynamic phenomenon that is ever present throughout human history. It can be conceptualized as a dynamic process resulting in cultural, social, political and economic interactions (see Castles, 2010). Research on global migration is multi-disciplinary, covering diverse fields, such as political science, economics, international relations, management and organizational studies. While diverse, the consensus in these various streams of literature is that global migration triggers economic, social and cultural shifts (Bommes & Morawska, 2017; Smith & Favell, 2017). It also produces a multiplicity of views and attitudes towards migration-induced diversity. To help make sense of those shifts and attitudes, along with their consequences for the workplace, CCM scholarship has contributed a vast amount of knowledge. In this chapter, we contextualize attitudes towards migration along three major themes: domination, (forced) assimilation and fostering dialogue. We adopt a critical perspective on assessing the interplay between CCM knowledge, and the ever-evolving attitudes. This perspective enables us to reflect how CCM knowledge interacts with a multiplicity of perceptions towards diversity resulting from migration. It also aids us in illustrating how CCM theory interplays with wider socio-political, economic and cultural contexts. In doing so, we highlight the importance of considering global migration trends in the study of CCM. Finally, we reflect on the evolution and impact of migration on modern societies, and argue that the notion of hybridization is increasingly important for the CCM field as it moves forward. Understating global migration requires reflection on why people move and how the motivation for international relocation impacts the transition process. Therefore, we start the chapter by a proposing a brief classification of types of migration. We then move to presenting a brief historical overview of global migration trends, drawing parallels with the recurring themes of the CCM field. We then explore the notion of hybridization and discuss its increasing importance for CCM scholarship by suggesting ways in which it can guide the development of the field. Finally, we conclude with future research directions inspired by the emerging perspective. We need to note early on that ours is not an impartial account of migration trends or that of CCM research developments. Rather, our chapter is an interpretative journey in which we take a critical lens to illustrate our argument of the interplay between global migration and CCM research. We also recognize that our account is skewed towards a Western perspective. This is perhaps not surprising given the influence and spread of Western theory, managerial practices and ideologies throughout history.
- Subject
- asylum seekers; attitudes; cross-cultural management; foreign students; global migration; international organizations
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1438119
- Identifier
- uon:40544
- Identifier
- ISBN:9781526441324
- Language
- eng
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