Page 65 - Crossing Cultural Boundaries - Cees den Teuling

interconnected elements of a socially mediated process and do not function separately. This approach to learning is helpful as it suggests that post-command-control managerial mind-sets have been strongly influenced by the surrounding political and cultural climate. In the management sphere of the command-control economy, risk taking was viewed as irrational and unwelcome. In seeking to comprehend the western tendency to discount the value of existing managerial skills and attributes in Eastern Europe, it is necessary to locate economic and political forms of rationality within rather ideological regimes. For the Westerner, looking into the post-socialist mentality, perceptions must not be conditioned by the grounded position of the observer, within western economic systems of logic. In-depth awareness and insight of historical developments can be seen as a “condition sine qua non” for a successful transfer of managerial knowledge in trans-boundary environments, e.g. the transfer process between actors, originated from the former “command-control economies” and their counterparts, educated and practicing in the “market-oriented” economies.
The results and effectiveness of the researched cross-border transfer of business knowledge depend on and are facilitated by the capacity of the transmitters and the recipient organisations. In addition, it is important for the recipient to have a qualitative ACAP to exploit and to internalise the presented knowledge. Whereof the lack of ACAP among the transferees has been theoretically argued by Siggel (1986) and empirically shown by Niosi, Hanel, and Fiset (1995) to be the largest transfer costs.
Organisational climate and organisational structures also have an influence on the effectiveness of KT, especially when the organisational structure is less formalised, more decentralised and integrated (Chen & Huang, 2007). OC can be described as a set of beliefs, values, and assumptions, which are shared by members of an organisation (Schein, 1985). The mentioned basic values have influence on the behaviour of the organisational members, as people rely on these values to guide their decisions and behaviours. A useful theory to this is presented by Neuijen (1992), who distinguishes three patterns of individual involvement in OC. First is the pattern of internalisation, which involves employees seeking a steady, perhaps even lifelong workplace with no separation between work and private life. This pattern is suitable for knowledge sharing. Danger of rigidity and the inward orientation may generate barriers for knowledge sharing. Second is the pattern of confirmation. Employees obey the rules without questioning the underlying standards and values. The organisation does not consider itself responsible for the wellbeing of employees. Knowledge sharing can be problematic here because mutual relationships are not based primarily on deep-rooted
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