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Challenges of Intercultural Management: Change implementation in the context of national culture
Prof. Taina Savolainen
School of Business, Management and Leadership, University of Joensuu, Finland taina.savolainen@joensuu.fi ABSTRACT This keynote address considers change implementation in the globalizing business environment in the context of culture. Organizations seek ways to cope with new situations in order to survive and be competitive. The primary strategic challenge in multicultural change processes is managing and implementing change successfully. The paper discusses the means of creating readiness for change and challenges they present to intercultural management. Keywords: Change, coping, culture, intercultural, implementation, middle management, readiness

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Introduction

Sustaining competitiveness force business organizations to adapt major changes and seek strategies that may be realized in varying, different cultural environments. This presents challenges to multicultural management, in general, and change implementation processes, specifically. Change implementation does no more concern organizational culture only. It is also dependent on understanding different national cultures and having behavioural skills accordingly. Organizations face, thus, constant challenge of change in management (Ascari, Rock & Dutta, 1995). Economic and social forces create a necessity for internal changes in organizations. Globalizing marketplace and fast technological changes force organizations to be superior and be proactive in identifying and evaluating impacts of change (Paton & McCalman 2003). In today’s turbulent work environment, change is a means to keep in competition, to renew continuously organizational structures, directions, and

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