Page 80 - Crossing Cultural Boundaries - Cees den Teuling

for decisions of managers, under uncertain circumstances. For the underlying research, it is initiated to secure the renemnants of the previous learning and gained experiences to show the results of the learning and training undergone and the extent of the impact of the traineeship in foreign organisations on the experiences acquired.
The upcoming section is devoted to the description of Action Learning, Action Research and other processes that affect the KT and OL for the implementation of SVC.
2.7.2. Contrasts in Knowledge Transfer and Organisational Learning: Russian and Western perspectives
The most widespread theory on KT and OL in Russian organisations among theorists
and managers is the Socialisation, Externalisation, Combination and Internationalisation (SECI) framework presented by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995). However, Andreeva and Ikhilchik (2011) describe the (limited) applicability of SECI in the Russian OC and management practice. They analysed societal and organisational conditions, as inherent to the SECI model, in comparison to the existing context in Russia. Nonaka & Takeuchi’s assumption that “individuals want to share knowledge”, internally and externally, cannot usually be found in Russian organisations. Even more extreme, they are known by their hostility to knowledge sharing as a result of a deeply rooted belief that knowledge is power, which should not be shared, unless sufficient rewards are received. Another of Nonaka’s and Takeuchi’s assumptions is employee’s high commitment to the organisation. Typically, Russian employees show average to low commitment to their organisations. This is the result of decades of negligence of employees’ rights and expectations and a poor (or absent) human resource policy. Another SECI related assumption is the “dominance of cooperation” as seen between Japanese employees, both on the individual and interdepartmental level. This may be different among employees in Russian organisations, since they typically show a strong competitive attitude on departmental level. Low commitment to their organisation and a lack of cooperation between employees are prevailing inside the units of Russian organisations. The “intensive networking with external partners” is not common in Russia as well. It differs by industry, but appears to be not very strong in general. Obsessed with secrecy of information, many Russian companies prevent themselves from connecting with external partners. Russian organisations show a tendency to differ much from their Japanese counterparts in the prevailing “attitude towards mistakes” dominated by a fear to be accused for a failure and to be punished. This is a reason why “delegation of responsibilities” does not work properly in Russian organisations. An
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