Cross-cultural research in New Zealand organisations: what we know and what needs to be addressed

Business in New Zealand is increasingly global in nature. Additionally, the domestic workforce reflects a unique blend of cultural groups. These factors highlight the need for managers to understand the cross-cultural nature of their task. In this article we review the research on cross-cultural management that has been conducted in New Zealand. Findings in seven topic areas of management (job satisfaction, motivation and performance, absenteeism and turnover, leadership, communication, group behaviour and employee adaptation) are discussed. We then identify areas that might benefit most from research attention. This research was supported in part by the Carnegie Bosch Institute for Applied Studies in International Management. The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments of Kerr Inkson and John Deeks on earlier versions of this manuscript The increasingly multicultural nature of the business environment has become widely recognised as a management issue (Adler and Ghadar 1990). New Zealand is neither a large target market (population under 3.5 million) nor is it the headquarters of a large number of multinational corporations. However, because of its geography, it is dependent on international business for its quality of life. Additionally, its unique domestic cultural environment provides a dramatic back drop for cross-cultural management. These two dimensions make cross-cultural management a particularly salient issue in New Zealand.