Page 96 - Crossing Cultural Boundaries - Cees den Teuling

that includes (i) accepting, (ii) understanding, (iii) communicating, and (iv) utilizing new knowledge”.
Accepting
In a majority of cases (May et al. 2005) it is reported that conflicting values and cultural issues can act as blocking elements in the transfer of knowledge and cause a limitation of the ACAP of the recipients. Primarily educated and “formed” in the previous Soviet system or the period of transition in the 1990’s, the recipients have to go through a process of unfreezing, to “melt” the blocking elements that inhibit a recipient stance to learn the new free-market practices. The presentation of management practices (e.g. strategic planning) with a connection to linear processes, as close to explicit knowledge, data and specific information for adaptation is supportive for acceptance by Russian recipients. Shared experiences between the transmitters and recipients (bi-directional) is also a prerequisite that simplify and facilitate the transfer of tacit knowledge, more beneficial to a pro-active implementation of both tacit and explicit management knowledge. Objectively, to combine and utilize the recipient’s traditional and emerging attitudes and values, the processes and contents of the transfer of knowledge are argued by May et al. (2005).
The intention of managerial KT is to affect the values and cultural underpinnings, the behaviours and attitudes inevitable to be understood, internalised and incorporated in KT process. Assuming, that (i) the behaviour of Russian executives are influenced by conflicting attitudes and values, in particular with the most seasoned executives with previous experiences in the (FSU) command-control economy and (ii) the newly established values emerging as a result of the KT process, have the potential to approve and to absorb, free-market oriented management knowledge that should be implemented (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman & Gupta, 2004) and known as the “GLOBE” study.
In conclusion it can be said, that it is essential for the foreign transmitters to understand the recipients of the transferred skills and managerial knowledge. At the same time, the Russian managers should be inclined to accept a learner’s perspective and to realise that processes successful in the past are possibly not appropriate anymore in the free-market environment (Hill, Frimston & Sitco-Lutek, 2003).
Understanding
94