This study evolved out of an ethnographic approach to teaching, learning, and
researching the different ways that business and cultural frames of reference can
affect decision making in groups consisting of Austrian, Finnish, and Swedish
business students. The data is based on videotaped and audio taped recordings,
post-exercise debriefings and discussions, and post-exercise written reflections on
two decision-making exercises. The business-related Carter Racing exercise, which
imitates the developments leading to the space shuttle Challenger catastrophe, pro
duced conclusion-driven groupthink in every multicultural group of students. The
students' shared "business-is-taking-risks" frame of reference was salient, with few
cultural differences within the groups. In contrast, an exercise requiring the same
students to decide the appropriate degree of subordinate participation in decision-
making when a nuclear power plant needed repair produced only one example of
conclusion-driven discourse. Analyses of three groups illustrates (a) an example of
groupthink (Austrians and Swedes) in both exercises, (b) an example of national
culture interference (Austrians and Swedes) that paralyzed group decision-making
and (c) an example of national culture interference (Austrians and Finns) that
demonstrated the importance of a "cultural negotiator" in finding common ground
for different national assumptions about social relationships and preferences for
communication styles.
Aaltonen, M., & Berry, M. (under review). A synthetic and cultural approach to the effectiveness of leadership and communication.
2.
Auer-Rizzi, W. (1998). Entscheidungsprozesse in gruppen: kognitive und soziale verzerrungstendenzen [Decision processes in groups: Cognitive and social biases]. Wiesbaden, Germany: Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag.
3.
Balwin, J., & Hetch, M. (1995). The layer perspective of cultural (in)tolerance(s): The roots of a multidisciplinary approach. International and Intercultural Communication Annual, 19, 59-91.
4.
Berry, M. (1997). Speaking culturally about personhood, motherhood and career. In I. Aaltio- Marjosola & G. Sevon (Eds.), Gendering organization topics. [Special issue] Hallinnon tutkimus [Administrative Studies], 4, 304-325
5.
Berry, M. (1998a). Reflections on learning from exchange students in Finland and Austria. In K. Häkkinen (Ed.), Multicultural education: Reflection on theory and practice (pp. 172-181). Jyväskylä, Finland: University of Jyväskylä Press.
6.
Berry, M. (1998b). Reflections on learning from students in a Multicultural Learning Environment. In D. Killick & M. Parry (Eds.), Proceedings of the cross-cultural capability conference (pp. 56-63). Leeds , UK: Leeds Metropolitan University.
7.
Berry, M. (1999a). Reflections on reflections. Integrating pedagogical and research agendas to meet the intercultural challenge. In K. Knapp, B. Kappel, K. Eubel-Kasper, & L. Salo-Lee (Eds.), Meeting the intercultural challenge: Effective approaches in research, education, training, and business (pp. 312-318). Berlin: Verlag Wissenschaft und Praxis.
8.
Berry, M. (1999b) Discovering and interpreting cultural meaning . Keynote presentation in D. Killick and M. Parry (Eds.), Proceedings of the cross-cultural capability conference (pp. 2-18). Leeds , UK: Leeds Metropolitan University.
9.
Berry, M., & Nurmikari-Berry, M. (1997, August 17) Kielestä ja kulttuurista osattava olla ylpeitä. [Pride in (and awareness of) one's language and culture is important]. Turun Sanomat. Turku.
10.
Berry, M., & Nurmikari-Berry, M. (1999, November 3-6). Developing intercultural communication competence via discovery of cultural conversations "rules." Paper presented at the 64th Annual Converstion of ABC: Cultivating Business Communication for the New Millennium. Los Angeles.
11.
Brittain, J., & Sitkin, S. (1989). Facts, figures, and organizational decisions: Carter Racing and quantitative analysis in the organizational behavior classroom . Organizational Behavior Teaching Review, 14, 62-81.
12.
Carbaugh, D.A. (1988). Comments on culture in communication inquiry. Communication Reports, 1(1), 38-41.
13.
Carbaugh, D.A. (1993). Competence as cultural pragmatics: Reflections on some Soviet and American encounters. International and Intercultural Communication Annual, 17, 168-183.
14.
Carbaugh, D.A. (1995). "Are Americans really superficial?" Notes on Finnish and American cultures in linguistic action. In L. Salo-Lee (Ed.), Kieli & kulttuuri. Oppimisessa ja opettamisessa [Language & culture in learning and teaching] (pp. 53-60). Jyväskylä , Finland: University of Jyväskylä Press.
15.
Carbaugh, D.A. (1996). Situating selves: The communication of social identities in American scenes. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
16.
Chapman, M. (1997). Preface: Social anthropology, business studies, and cultural issues. International Studies of Management & Organization, 26, 3-29.
17.
Collier, M., & Thomas, M. (1988). Cultural identity in intercultural communication: An interpretive perspective. International and Intercultural Communication Annual, 12, 94-120.
18.
Goodwin, C., & Duranti, A. (1992). Rethinking context: An introduction. In A. Duranti & C. Goodwin (Eds.), Rethinking context: Language as a phenomenon (pp. 1-42). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
19.
Gumperz, J. (1982). Discourse strategies. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
20.
Gumperz, J. (1992). Contextualization and understanding. In a. Duranti & C. Goodwin (Eds.), Rethinking context: Language as a phenomenon (pp. 229-252). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
21.
Hakulinen, A. (1987). Avoiding personal reference in Finnish. In J. Verschueren & M. Bertuchelli-Papi (Eds.), The pragmatic perspective: Selected papers from the 1985 International Pragmatics Conference (pp. 141-153). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
22.
Hakulinen, A. (1989). Suomalaisen keskustelun keinoja I. Kieli 4. Helsinki: Helsingin Yliopiston suomen kielen laitos .
23.
Hastie, R., Penrod, S.D., & Pennington, N. (1983). Inside the jury. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
24.
Hetch, M., Collier, M., & Ribeau, S. (1993). An African-American perspective on interethnic communication: Ethnic identity and cultural interpretations. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
25.
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's consequences. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
26.
Hymes, D. (1979). On communicative competence. In J. Pride & J. Holmes (Eds.), Sociolingistics (pp. 269-293). New York: Penguin Education.
27.
Jago, A., Reber, G., Böhnisch, W., Maczynski, J., Zavrel, J., & Pudorkin, J. (1993). Culture's consequence?: A seven nation study of participation. Proceedings, Decision Science Institute, Annual Meeting (pp. 451-455).
28.
Janis, I.L. (1972). Victims of groupthink: A Psychological study of foreign-policy decisions and fiascoes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
29.
Kameda, T. (1991). Procedural influence in small-group decision making: Deliberation style and assigned decision rule. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 245-256.
30.
Katriel, T. (1995). From "context" to "contexts" in intercultural communication research. International and Intercultural Communication Annual, 19, 271-284.
31.
Lehtonen, J., & Sajavaara, K. (1985). The silent Finn. In D. Tannen & M. Saville Troike (Eds.), Perspectives on silence (pp. 193-201). Norwood, NJ : Ablex.
32.
Nurmikari-Berry, M., & Berry, M. (1999). Discovering cultural meaning as the first step towards developing intercultural communication competence. In K. Häkkinen (Ed.), Innovative approaches to intercultural education (pp. 109-119). Jyväskylä, Finland: University of Jyväskylä Press.
33.
Panning, W.H. (1986). Information pooling and group decisions in nonexperimental settings. In B. Grofman & G. Owen (Eds.), Information pooling and group decision making: Proceedings of the SecondUniversity of California, Irvine, Conference on Political Economy (pp. 159-166). Greenwich: JAI Press.
34.
Park, W. (1990). A Review of research on groupthink. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 3, 229-245.
35.
Philipsen, G. (1992). Speaking culturally: Explorations in social communication . Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
36.
Reber, G., & Berry, M. (1999). A role for social and intercultural communication competence in international human resource development. In S. Lähteenmäki, L. Holden , & I. Roberts (Eds.), HRM and the learning organization (pp. 313-343). Publications of the Turku School of Economics and Business Administration. Series A-2.
37.
Reber, G., Jago, A., & Böhnisch, W. (1994). Intercultural groupthink demonstrated in the area of leadership behavior. In S. Urban (Ed.), Europe's economic future, aspirations and realities (pp. 211-238). Wiesbaden: Gabler.
38.
Tjosvold, D. (1986). Working together to get things done: Managing for organizational productivity. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
39.
Turner, M.E., Probasco, P., Pratkanis, A.R., & Leve, C. (1992). Threat, cohesion, and group effectiveness: Testing a social identity maintenance perspective on groupthink. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 781-796.
40.
Ulijn, J.M., & Li, X. (1995). Is interrupting polite? Some temporal aspects of turn taking in Chinese-Western and other intercultural business encounters . Text: An Interdisciplinary Journal in the Study of Discourse , 15, 589-627.
41.
Varner, I. (2000). The theoretical foundation for intercultural communication: A conceptual model. The Journal of Business Communication , 37, 39-57.
42.
Vinokur, A., & Burnstein, E. (1978). Depolarization of attitudes in groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 872-885.
43.
Vroom, V., & Yetton, P.W. (1973). Leadership and decision making. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
44.
Whyte, G. (1998). Recasting Janis's groupthink model: The key role of collective efficacy in decision fiascoes. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 73, 185-209.
45.
Yli-Jokipii, H. (1994). Requests in professional discourse: A cross-cultural study of British, American and Finnish business writingHelsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.
46.
Yli-Vakkuri, V. (1986). Suomen kieliopillisten muotojen toissijainen käyttö [The secondary use of Finnish grammatical forms]. Publications of the Department of Finnish and General Linguistics of the University of Turku.
