What We Are Reading Today: ‘Riding the Waves of Culture’

Authors Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner offer a guide for international organizations and managers seeking to understand the impact cultural differences can have in a business setting.
“Riding the Waves of Culture” uses case studies, research findings and examples to show how different cultures respond differently to similar situations, and how organizations can manage cultural differences to create a positive outcome.
The book explains how managers have mediated difficult situations while conducting business in different countries.
The authors have studied the effects of cultural differences in a business setting, and emphasize that a person must first understand his or her own culture in order to understand cultural diversity.
Cultural differences are explored through three aspects: The relationships we have with people, the attitude we have toward time, and the relationship we have with our environment.
The authors explain how the approach to those three relationships differs among cultures, and how it plays a role in the structure of an organization and in conducting business across cultures.