"Work Motivation in the Context of a Globalizing Economy" evolved from a work motivation conference held in Israel, attended by a group of internationally renowned scholars. These scholars were given the charge of creating a vision of motivation research for the 21st century. Coming from different parts of the world, the scholars represent a wide range of perspectives from the very micro focus on the individual level of motivation, through the meso level of groups and organizations, and up to the macro level of culture. The authors provide an entry to the book by summarizing several mega-trends manifest across all of the chapters and identifying several emerging trends that are left for future research.

This series considers theoretical, methodological and research issues relevant to organizational sociology. It is specifically concerned with trying to specify the unique contributions of broad sociological theories and research techniques to the analysis of organizations. Both micro and macro sociological approaches are emphasized. From a micro perspective an effort is made to bring to the forefront such perspectives as phenomenology, ethnomethodology and symbolic interaction. The macro analysis also places an emphasis on the institutional, historical and cultural examination of organizations. An effort is made to use this series as a forum for the presentation of theories and research which challenge conventional views of organizational sociology. This volume presents an examination of organizations which is cross-cultural, covering all areas of cultural diversity and spanning countries, generations and identities.

With the passage of NAFTA and GATT, the steady integration of the European Community, and the emergence of promising new markets in Eastern Europe and the Pacific Rim, businesses around the world are globalizing their operations with unprecedented speed. But as executives working in foreign countries have discovered, organizational cultures can differ dramatically from country to country, and management practices effective back home can fail miserably abroad. The Transplanted Executive provides a comprehensive resource for managers of any nationality striving to understand the diversity of workplace values and traditions - and how they can be used to maximize employee efficiency, morale, and the bottom line.

The authors demonstrate, for example, why effective incentive systems in Japan might decrease productivity in United States, and why successful efforts to create team-based co-operation in Russia could alienate rather than motivate workers in England. Each chapter focuses on a different management problem - effective communication, motivation of workers, turning groups into teams, leadership skills, and quality management production - and following each chapter are quick reference charts that neatly summarize the text.

The focus of this book is the development and application of a middle-range theory of culture, self-identity and work behaviour. According to the authors' self-representative theory, three components are relevant to an individual's work behaviour: cultural and situational characteristics, cognitive representation of the self, and managerial practices and techniques used in an organization. Culture is viewed as a shared knowledge structure that results in decreased variability in individual interpretation of stimuli. The self is viewed as a dynamic interpretive structure that shapes an individual's interpretation of social milieu. Managerial practices influence work behaviour, and in this book the focus is on how these practices relate to the components of culture and the self. A final chapter provides a number of specific recommendations for how organizations might consider structuring their environment and managerial practices in order to match culture-self interaction.