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In the Kingdom of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is King

King's College, London and the University of London, UK, sid.lowe{at}kcl.ac.uk

This article argues that cross cultural management is dominated by the objectivist paradigm of functionalism which is itself embedded in an ethnocentric western culture characterized by amoral rationalism, affective neutrality and orientation to Truth. The discussion uses research into Chinese culture and Chinese management to contextualize the debate. Western culture, it is argued, is an inadequate vehicle for understanding Chinese culture and management. The scientific sub-culture of functionalism is hegemonic within western social scientific paradigms. The paradigm hermeticism and paradigm `wars' characterizing this contested domain prevent integrative and synthetic views. The approaches of Hofstede and Schwartz exacerbate the problem, resulting in avoidance of an agenda to understand the complexities of culture beyond a western mechanistic, quantitative parochialism. The problem is summarized as attributable to the structural obsession of western social science that results in the denigration of understanding of process. Two possible solutions to this problem are outlined; namely `reform' and `radical change'.

Key Words: Chinese culture • Chinese management • paradigms and methods

International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, Vol. 1, No. 3, 313-332 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/147059580113004


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