ABSTRACT

This chapter expands on the earlier critiques by pointing to the role of Cross-Cultural Management (CCM) knowledge itself – especially as it is being translated into popular writing and cross-cultural training (CCT) – in shaping intercultural everyday encounters in multinational firms and international joint ventures. It demonstrates how workers’ conceptualization of their own cultures and that of the other, as well as their expectations of themselves and of the other, are shaped by their underlying assumption that both Israelis and Koreans are representatives of their own national-cultural environments. The importance of the framing provided by CCM and CCT literatures in shaping the everyday intercultural encounters is further enhanced when we analyze Israeli managers’ references to the East–West divide. The idea of cultural difference justifies the role of the consultants; their expertise in cross-cultural training is required if indeed there are cultural differences that require such bridging.