ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that cross-cultural transference in educational management is both necessary and complex, that it takes research, sensitivity and emotional intelligence, but that perseverance with the research base pays dividends, and eventually develops a way of seeing things through different lenses. It contextualises educational consultancy by briefly examining the relationship between funding agencies and the recipients of 'aid'. The chapter examines how serious misunderstandings can arise when training and consultancy do not pay sufficient attention to inherent cultural assumptions – on both sides. An analytical framework is provided by cross-cultural theory, and a well-known leadership model is deconstructed in order to demonstrate not only how culture-centric theory is but also how the cultural assumptions built into theory can misfire when recklessly introduced into another culture. Finally, the chapter describes a model designed to interrogate theory from a culture-neutral perspective, and then applies illustratively to a few other well-known theories.
