Week 5: Describing Culture

Martin Gannon

This week’s class was centered on cultural metaphors as a way for describing cultures. The two most relevant elements, for me, were:

Firstly, metaphors are not objective; they come from the author’s interpretation of experiences and observations rather than findings through a scientific method. In fact, it is possible to find elements in other studies as Hofstede’s or Meyer’s which are not coherent with what the metaphor of a country tells us. And that is why one of the main critics made to metaphors, and recognized by professor Gannon, is that metaphors incorporate part of the stereotypes commonly held about a culture, and that can distort the real cultural profile of a country (however, Gannon argues stereotypes can be value-adding [1]). So, one of the questions I made myself was: then which study (Hofstede’s, Meyer’s, Gannon’s, etc) should I choose? Finally, I came up with the conclusion that they are not mutually exclusive but complimentary, and then it is important to contrast them in order to find differences and similarities, getting a wider panorama of the country studied.

Secondly, and since Spain is part of Latin Europe that is one of the clusters my team will be presenting in class soon, I found that Gannon presents  for both Spain and Portugal the same metaphor, but amazingly they are very opposite in their meaning. Whereas in Spain the bullfight represents a tragic and solemn ritual, in Portugal the bullfight is a party. The Spanish bullfight celebrates death; the torero shows its domain over the bull which finally dies. The Portuguese bullfight highlights the courage and pride of men who face the bull, but the bull’s killing is prohibited. Then, we can evidence how subjective a metaphor can be, and that it is a very graphical and exemplifying tool for understanding cultures but can also lose objectivity.

From my viewpoint, the type of study one chooses to get information and build a mental picture about another country’s culture is crucial for negotiating or just to interact with natives from that culture. Therefore, I consider there should be an appropriate mix of objective and quantitative information with qualitative and not-very objective information when looking for information. Metaphors are an example of not-very objective information on culture that contributes with very valuable elements of the country’s culture. However, we must be careful in order not to fall in adopting stereotypes that might be reflected in a metaphor. Then a good judge and criteria are necessary when choosing information sources on cultures and contrasting them. This is how I think these topics can become relevant in an international scenario.

Research Question: Who is professor Martin Gannon?

Despite of being a question easy to answer, I decided to look for more information about him because I wanted to know how did he come up with the metaphors for so many countries.

Martin J. Gannon (Ph.D., Graduate School of Business, Columbia University) is Professor of Strategy and International Management. Professor Gannon has been a Senior Research Fulbright Fellow in West Germany, Thailand, London Business School, Italy, Dublin, Poland and has lectured at many other universities in the world. Professor Gannon has emphasized three overlapping areas of programmatic 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 29 Nations, Clusters of Nations, Continents, and Diversity. His research and writing have appeared in over 90 articles and papers. Currently Professor Gannon teaches three courses at California State University: Managing in Different Cultures; Cross-Cultural Negotiations; and Strategic Management in a Global World.

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. Professor Gannon has served on and chaired numerous committees in universities and professional/academic associations. He has lived and lectured in over 25 nations for various periods of time extending from one week to a year or more [2].

References

[1] Professor Heiko Schmidt’s Slides. Describing Culture: The Case of Spain

[2] California State University San Marcos webpage. Retrieved from: https://www.csusm.edu/coba/about/meet-our-faculty/gannon.html