Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical Journeys Through 34 Nations, Clusters of Nations, Continents, and Diversity

About Martin J. GannonRajnandini K. Pillai

Martin J. Gannon (Ph.D. Graduate School of Business Columbia University) is Professor Emeritus of Strategy and International Management at both the Smith School of Business University of Maryland at College Park and the College of Business Administration California State University San Marcos.  He is a three-time recipient of the Fulbright Professorship Award (West Germany 1981-82; Thailand 1987; and Austria 2017-18).  His other awards include: 1) The Outstanding Educator Award International Division 2014 Academy of Management the largest and best known management and teaching organization in the world; 2) the University of Marylands International Landmark Award for his contributions in the global area 2003; and 3) the Lifetime Achievement Award Whos Who in America 2018.  See below for additional awards. Professor Gannon has been a Senior Research Fulbright Fellow in West Germany; the John F. Kennedy Foundation/Fulbright Professor at Thammasat University Bangkok Thailand; and the Fulbright Professor Johannes Kepler University Austria.  He has also been a visiting professor at the London Business School Bocconi University (Italy) University College - Dublin the University of Lodz (Poland) Wuhan University Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok) and the University of Kassel and Tubingen University in Germany and has lectured at many other universities in the world.    At the Smith School of Business he served as the Acting Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Founding Director of the Center for Global Business Chairperson of the Faculty of Management and Organization Co-founder and Co-director of the Small Business Development Center and the Founding Director of the College Park Scholars Program in Business Society and the Economy (an undergraduate living-learning community).  He is the author of over 100 articles and papers as well as 13 books some in multiple editions and translations (Korean Spanish and Italian).  He recently completed a draft of his 20th book.  See below.   Professor Gannon has emphasized three overlapping areas of programmatic or in-depth research: International management and behavior; business strategy; and the contingent workforce particularly studies of temporary help employment. Much of his work in international management and behavior is described in depth in the book Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical Journeys Through 31Nations Clusters of Nations Continents and Diversity 5th Edition (Sage May 2012 c. 2013 639 pages; Korean translation Myung In Publishers 2013). Rajnandini Pillai joined him as co-author after the 3rd edition. The 6th edition was published in 2016 and includes 34 national cultures and their corresponding 34 cultural metaphors.  Although the publisher wanted a 7th edition Professor Gannon decided to pursue other writing opportunities.   In this book Gannon introduced the concept of the cultural metaphor to describe the culture of a specific nation.  He defines a cultural metaphor as any institution phenomenon or activity with which a nations citizens identify emotionally and/or cognitively for example the Swedish stuga or unadorned summer and weekend home. He then uses these metaphors and their distinctive features as frameworks to describe in depth the values and the associated business activities in each nation. The 6th and latest edition is divided into a fourteen-part framework to classify these 34 nations and their respective cultural metaphors clusters of nations continents and diversity within nations into different types e.g. authority ranking and market pricing national cultures as separate parts.    In 2018 he was the senior author of a unique study of 28 cross-cultural experts.  The goal was the analysis of the relative advantages and disadvantages of the three most popular methods of comparing and contrasting national cultures: The dimensional perspective as represented by Geert Hofstede and other cross-cultural analysts; the cultural metaphor; and the cultural paradoxical approach.  See the publications below for this and other references.    He recently completed a draft of his 20th book A Memoir of Management Insights: The Strategic Realistic Method for Life and Career Success.  It combines three separate perspectives: A memoir; the management insights that the author has achieved through his many and varied activities; and a career or self-help book.  As in the case of his other books this one is unique.  It is currently with an agent who plans to submit it to 12 major publishers.   In the area of contingent employment he has written many articles that have appeared in such journals as The Academy of Management Review the Journal of Applied Psychology and Industrial Relations.  He is also the senior co-author of  Managing Without A Complete Full-Time Workforce that appeared in Flood Gannon Pauuwe and Associates Managing Without Traditional Methods: International Innovations in Human Resource Management (Addison-Wesley 1996).    In the area of business strategy he is the co-author of the  Dynamics of Competitive Strategy (Sage 1992) in which the authors develop a unique communication-information model of competitive interaction among firms in an industry describe new methods for analyzing competitive moves and responses and test hypotheses about such competitive interactions in four major industries.  Mr. Gannon is also the co-author of Strategic Management Skills (Addison-Wesley 1986) which was a pioneering effort to train MBA students and managers in strategic case analysis and written and oral presentation skills.  In 2008 Ofer Meilich and Martin Gannon published an article Redefining Value: Comparative Video Case Studies of Charles Shaw Winery and Thomas Kincade in the Journal of Strategic Management Education.   As indicated above Mr. Gannons research and writing have appeared in over 100 articles and papers.  Journals in which he has published include the Academy of Management Journal The Academy of Management Review Journal of Applied Psychology Personnel Psychology Industrial Relations Monthly Labor Review California Management Review Business Horizons Journal of Business Research Journal of Business Venturing International Journal of Management International Journal of Intercultural Relations Business & the Contemporary World and the Journal of Accountancy.   Further Professor Gannon has published several textbooks including Management: Managing for Results (Allyn and Bacon 1988 Spanish translation 1996); Management: an Organizational Framework (Little Brown and Co. 1977 and reprinted in a special edition of 10000 copies by the Life Insurance Institute of America; second edition of this book 1982); and Organizational Behavior (Little Brown and Co. 1979).  His organizational framework of management was incorporated into the Introduction to Management course at the Army War College for many years.   Professor Gannon has taught a range of courses over a 50-year period for managers MBA students EMBA students undergraduates and doctoral students.  Currently he enjoys teaching Managing in Different Cultures; Cross-Cultural Negotiations; and Strategic Management.    Professor Gannon has served as a consultant and trainer to a large number of organizations including Chemical Bank of New York the U.S. General Accounting Office U.S. Office of Personnel Management the Upjohn Company the American Federation of Government Employees ARINC Northrop-Grumman and GEICO Insurance.  At GEICO he was the only external consultant on the design and presentation of the annual week-long Senior Management Training Program for ten years from which those promoted to Director and above were selected.. At Northrop-Grumman he served as the University of Maryland Academic Director of the IMPACT Training Program (International Management Program and Compliance Training) an internal certificate program required for advancement to international management positions. In 2008 he received a Career Contribution Award from GEICO.   Professor Gannon has served on and chaired numerous committees in universities and professional/academic associations.  He has lived and lectured in over 30 nations for various periods of time extending from one week to a year or more. Rajnandini Pillai (PhD State University of New York at Buffalo 1994) is Professor of Management at the College of Business California State University San Marcos (CSUSM). She is also Executive Director and founding member of the Center for Leadership Innovation and Mentorship Building (CLIMB) at the university. Her areas of research interest are leadership and cross-cultural management. She has published her work on charismatic and transformational leadership leadership and voting behavior and cross-cultural differences in organizational justice in some of the leading journals in her field such as The Leadership Quarterly Journal of Management and the Journal of International Business Studies. She has also co-edited two books Teaching Leadership: Innovative Approaches for the 21st Century (2003) and Follower Perspectives on Leadership (2007). She serves on the editorial boards of The Leadership Quarterly and Group and Organization Management. Rajnandini Pillai has held mid-level management positions in the banking industry in India consulted with organizations in the United States on leadership effectiveness and conducted workshops on leadership and global issues. She has received awards for excellence in teaching and research including the College of Business Outstanding Professor Award the Western Academy of Management Ascendant Scholar Award the CSUSM Presidents Award for Scholarship and Creative Activity and the Harry E. Brakebill Distinguished Professor Award.