| This research explores transformative dialogue, an organized practice specifically focused on crossing boundaries and an adaptation of appreciative inquiry (AI), as a means of bridging cross-cultural values in a multi-national Fortune 500 organization.; Efforts by multinational organizations to successfully implement change continue to have mixed results; experts in transformational change and reengineering report failure rates of over 70% (Nolan, Stoddard, Davenport, & Jarvenpaa, 1995). This study proposes the dialogue dynamics of AI as potentially bridging highly divergent cultures and contributes to existing research on the applicability of OD in highly different cultures.; A central premise of this work is that in divergent cultures, highly similar factors emerge as contributors to "peak" experience. Peak experience that results from positive organizational change establishes a structure and an approach for defining and replicating critical success factors in global management teams.; Based on responses to the Organizational Culture InventoryRTM , middle managers in the United States, England, Brazil and Thailand similarly described the organization's culture as Constructive at the time of the peak experience. Content analysis of the "peak" experience stories suggests content highly correlated with task accomplishment and characterized by three common dimensions: Valence, Salience, and Personal Satisfaction. These dimensions scored high from middle managers located in both Western and non-Western countries.; Based on Hofstede's four dimensions of culture, this research supports the relationship of transformative dialogue to successful cross-cultural change. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of performance outcomes related to the implementation of lean manufacturing processes clearly distinguish the countries where AI was implemented.; Qualitative and quantitative findings from this cross-cultural study provide another framework for identifying cross-cultural perspectives within multi-national organizations, and support the previous work of Sorensen, Yaeger, Keogh, and Bengtsson (2003). |
