Cross-cultural management, difference, and mediaton in transnational corporations

Abstract

This article investigates the concept of “interculturality as it is being constructed by transnational companies through everyday management practices. Based on analysis of intercultural training materials produced in three countries – United States, Germany, and Brazil – the article is part of a broader research project on mechanisms of difference construction and cultural mediation. The goal is to identify the different ways through which cultural difference, cultural communication, and cultural mediation are constructed in the examples analyzed here, which we take as “models” only for purposes of analytical precision. We suggest that, while the “North American model” still employs a notion of culture that is mainly homogeneous, inclusive and excluding, the “German model” considers difference from a political perspective founded on morality and ethics. At the same time, it is in the (still incipient) “Brazilian model” – still under construction – that one notices the greater potential for the production of consensus and mediation, both of which we take as key aspects of “interculturality.” This is because, since it is founded on the perception that difference is but another piece of data intrinsic to Brazilian society itself, this “model” does not pose the issue of difference as a problem to be solved, but as a fundamental step towards cultural mediation.