Culture and Identity in Organisations

Overview

Culture is an all-pervasive concept and phenomenon that exerts influence on our social lives in many different ways, not least in business and working life. Taking a discursive - and practice-related - approach to culture and intercultural collaboration, this book offers insight into a number of situations and incidents from the world of business and public organizations in which ways of talking about culture play a salient role in the development of collaboration and the shaping of identities and social roles. Thus, through the highlighting and discussion of cases from various professional contexts, the book provides an understanding of the mechanisms at play when we meet, talk, and work with people from other cultures, while suggesting how opportunities may be seized and challenges met. The book is comprised of ten case studies which provide theoretical, methodological, and practical perspectives on the interplay between discourse, culture, and collaboration, and the effect of this on identity formation and the construction of social roles. This involves the presentation and discussion of these concepts in various organizational settings, such as large cross-border and multinational businesses, the public health sector, and education. The contributors are scholars from universities and business schools who have contributed substantially to the development of the field through the publication and dissemination of research in international journals and with international publishers. The book is for scholars, students, and professionals alike who take an interest in cultural issues and the way they are constructed in professional settings.