Center for Comparative Management Studies

Center for Comparative Management Studies Website and Blog

Welcome to the website of the Center for Comparative Management Studies, which is part of the GL&B Institute for Management Training and Studies.  The CCMS was founded in 2009 to aid in the progress and growth of the discipline of comparative management studies with a particular interest in identifying research findings that could be practically applied by managers around the world and provide them with the tools, in the form of best practices used by their colleagues, to survive and prosper in a global business environment.  The various pages on our site provide further information on the mission of the CCMS, the leadership of the CCMS and specific activities of the CCMS including working papers, articles and training programs.  The website also includes periodic blog entries on topics related to comparative management studies that will be divided into categories to facilitate easy access.  For further information on the CCMS please contact us by following the instructions provided in Contact Information and request to be placed on our e-mail list to receive periodic announcements of CCMS news and activities.

Template for Cross-Border Comparison of Management Styles and Lessons from the US, Japan and China

This report describes a useful and relatively straight-forward template for cross-border comparison of management styles that was offered by Weihrich in 1990 when he compared management practices in the US, Japan and China across five dimensions based on key managerial functions: planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling.

German Management Style

While US and Japanese management styles have attracted a good deal of attention, notice should also be taken of management styles in other successful countries such as Germany, a nation often touted as Europe’s “economic giant” based on its impressive manufacturing output and a per capita export trading volume.  This month's report explains that German managers concentrate intensely on product quality and product service and that the main elements of German management culture, as well as the preferred styles of German managers, all evolve around the desire to design and manufacture high quality products and provide customers with extraordinary responsiveness and dedication.  German firms tend to draw on engineers and technicians for fill management positions and these persons necessarily bring a strong background in manufacturing, design and service to their managerial duties.  In addition, German managers tend to remain with one firm throughout their careers, which means that those managers build an intense loyalty to their firm and make decisions based on what will be best for the long-term prospects of the firm.

A "Cultural Contingency" Model of Leadership

This report summarizes some of the ideas of Muczyk and Holt, who prescribed that global leaders should adapt to changing economic conditions, particularly the growing intensity of globalization, by aligning their leadership styles and processes with cultural demands.  They suggested a “global framework of leadership” based on four “leadership dimensions”—consideration, concern for production, incentive for performance and democracy-autonomy—and then went on to prescribe recommendations for effective leadership styles in various regions of the world based on the predominant cultural characteristics in those regions identified by various researchers.

Structuralist and Reconstructionist Strategies

The traditional process for identifying and executing strategy calls for companies to take their external environment as a “given” and analyze that environment to determine the best way care out a competitive advantage in that environment by following either a “differentiation” or “low cost” strategy.  In this report, however, we examine a different approach that argues that organizational strategies can and should vary based on structural conditions, the resources and capabilities of the organization and the organization’s “strategic mind-set” and that companies can develop and implement strategies that actually reshape their external environment in a way that is most favorable to them.

Steps for Identifying the Elements of Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is a popular and important topic among researchers working in the area of comparative management studies.  In order for comparisons and theories to be meaningful, however, there must be a model of dimensions of organizational culture that can be referred to in collecting and analyzing information and spotting variations and differences between organizations.  This report briefly summarizes a series of steps suggested by the writings of Edgar Schein, which include identifying the problems that an organization has with “external adaptation” and “internal integration”, collecting and synthesizing evidence as to how the organization has elected to attempt to “solve” those problems and, finally, investigating the solutions to find common threads that ultimately paint a picture of how organizational members “view their world”.  This “world view”, of course, is tied not only to the business environment in which the organization operates but to other important factors that have been studied and compared in great deal over the years, such as the societal culture in which the organization operates.

Leadership Dimensions as a Function of Cultural Imperatives

This report explores the efforts of two researchers, Muczyk and Holt, to suggest how leaders might select between “democratic” and “autocratic” styles in different cultural contexts.  In general, Muczyk and Holt observed that “democratic” leadership with respect to making decisions and setting goals may be suited for cultures that are low on power distance, high on individualism and femininity, low on uncertainty avoidance and characterized by internal environmental orientation and might also be suitable in societies whose members have a low regard for hierarchy and an inclination to bypass the chain of command.  On the other hand, Muczyk and Holt speculated that “autocratic” leadership might be more appropriate in societies that are high in power distance, collectivism, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance and that are characterized by external environmental orientation and in societies whose members have a high regard for hierarchy and are reluctant to bypass the chain of command.  The observations made by Muczyk and Holt were similar to those made by Hofstede, who argued that large power distance and collectivism were closely related and typically associated with developing countries while small power distance and high individualism were closely related and typically associated with industrialized countries.

Evolution of Human Resources Management Systems in Japan

This month's report traces the evolution of human resources management systems in Japan from the early 1960s to recent times.  An interesting picture is painted of the path from "people oriented" HRM systems, which were supportable due to the tremendous economic successes enjoyed by Japanese firms from the early 1960s to the 1980s, to reengineering of HRM systems over the last two decades due to the significant downturn suffered by many Japanese industries following the burst of Japan's "economic bubble".

Role of the State in Korean Economic Development

While Japan has probably been the major focus of research and commentary regarding the role of the state in economic development, Korea’s experience as a “developmental state” is also an important illustration of the role that governments sometimes choose to play in directing the public and private sectors toward specific economic and social goals.  This report provides a brief introduction to the role of the state in Korean economic development.  Beginning with this post, we are shifting to a new monthly publication schedule that will transition to a newsletter format, although special posts will still be made as necessary for development that we believe merit the immediate attention of our visitors.

2009 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report on Korea

This report summarizes the key results of the 2009 national entrepreneurship assessment for Korea conducted as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) project, Korea was placed in a group of 20 higher-income innovation-driven economies for comparison purposes and ranked eighth in the total entrepreneurial activity level, which includes both nascent and new entrepreneurs, in that group.

External Environment, Not Just Culture, Impacts Managerial Styles and Effectiveness

Comparative management studies focuses on gaining a better understanding of management styles, attitudes and practices in different countries.  There is substantial evidence to support the proposition that “culture” has often provided the most popular reference point for comparative studies of management and organization; however, this report introduces another important factor that needs to be considered: the particular external business environment in which managers and their firms are operating.