Gannon’s Cultural Metaphors Essay ⋆ Business Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Within the field of cross-cultural organization and management studies, Martin J. Gannon uses cultural metaphors to describe, compare, and analyze national cultures worldwide. In order to explore in-depth the unique cultural characteristics of a nation, Gannon adopts an emic approach, focusing on the qualitative examination of cultural symbols, practices, and institutions within their local context.

In an increasingly globalizing world, sensitivity toward, insight into and knowledge of cultural differences has to engage the attention of business, academics and everyone interested in working and living in another culture. Notably, Gannon’s work about cultural metaphors makes a significant contribution to the fields of international business and international management because not only are the target audiences, i.e., the consumers, not similar across cultures, but business managers around the world are shaped by their own individual cultures as well. Thus Gannon’s metaphorical study provides an in-depth analysis of “what makes us different and unique.”

Martin J. Gannon’s study of cultural metaphors is about identifying, describing, and comparing cultural metaphors in their respective contextual relevance. Gannon describes cultural metaphors as “common activities, phenomena or institutions with which people of [a given nation] … cognitively or emotionally identify.” He suggests that cultural metaphors can be used to describe the national culture. Furthermore, his applying of cultural dimensions to local traditions and practices enables him to scrutinize and extract some of these cultural-specific metaphors of a nation.

Dimensions or variables can include concepts of religion, educational systems, and perceptions of and attitudes toward time and space. As such, Gannon’s analysis of cultural metaphors synthesizes Hofstadter’s dimension (e.g., power distance, uncertainty avoidance) to profile national cultures and cultural differences. His analysis of cultural dimensions of a nation encompasses both cultural-specific (emic) and cultural-general (etic) dimensions. However, Gannon’s cultural metaphor approach intends in the main to explore in-depth emic dimensions; that is, the somewhat “unique” dimensions of a culture. So, while some of these dimensions can be similar or even identical across nations, other dimensions may occur or become relevant as cultural metaphor to one nation alone.

In a metaphorical journey through 17 countries (in a later edition he expands this number to 28), Gannon makes “culture” an accessible concept by identifying a number of “typical” and “unique” national metaphors. For example, he looks at cultural metaphors such as the Dance of Shiva within the dimension of cyclical Hindu philosophy, or American football, referring to the dimensions of individualism and competitive specialization. Other cultural metaphors analyzed by Gannon include the Italian opera; focus is on the voice and the implication is that messages, irrespective of whether they are private or business, should be communicated in a beautiful manner. It also implies that thoughts and ideas cannot be kept hidden: They have to be discussed with family and others.

Gannon selected French wine as the symbol for French culture, the British house to symbolize British culture, and the Chinese family altar as a unique metaphor for Chinese culture. Given the high number of overseas Chinese, certain cultural metaphors, for example emphasis on family relationships and ancestry, are transcending borders and being disseminated transnationally. While this highlights the important distinction between nation and culture, that is, that culture is not confined to one nation alone, it also points to the fact that specific cultural metaphors are not necessarily relevant to each individual in one nation.

In the second edition of Understanding Global Cultures, Gannon categorizes selected nations according to “authority ranking cultures” (e.g., Thai Kingdom, Japanese Garden, India Dance of Shiva, Polish Village Church), “equality matching cultures” (German symphony, Swedish stuga, Irish conversations), “market pricing cultures” (American football, traditional British house), “cleft national cultures” (e.g., Nigerian marketplace, Italian opera, Belgian lace) and “torn national cultures” (Mexican fiesta, Russian ballet). In another book section, Gannon looks at “same metaphor, different meanings” nations (Spanish bullfight, Portuguese bullfight). He provides further an example of a “beyond national borders” nation (the Chinese family altar).

Relevance

While globalization often pretends that cultures are becoming more homogenous, it is now more important than ever to scrutinize and analyze such statements and perceptions as they may irrevocably result in imprecise and untrue market predictions and business decisions. With the increasing globalization of business, the academic and business world has become more and more interested in analyzing the relevance of culture in organizational and management contexts. In addition to the previous research into cultural differences, Gannon’s cultural analysis attempts to adopt a content-rich approach to his inquiry into the emic characteristics of national cultures. Gannon advocates the non-use of an etic questionnaire, that is, one standard set of questions for all cultures; rather, by employing the concept of cultural metaphors, i.e., culturally unique metaphors, the iniquity of cultural stereotyping can be eluded and a more culturally rich interpretation provided.

Other studies in cross-cultural management include Geert Hofstede’s 1980 study, the GLOBE study, and the World Values Survey. Hofstede’s landmark examination of cultural differences across nations resulted in the identification of a number of cultural dimensions such as individualism, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance. The Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) cross-cultural research study examines worldwide business leadership. The World Values Survey, first conducted in 1981, investigates the nature of changing public values, especially in regard to the relevance of—and attitudes toward—democracy. However, one of the earliest studies to empirically test the validity of cultural metaphor is that of Clifford Geertz (1973), who studied Balinese cockfights as symbols of Balinese culture.

Martin J. Gannon is a professor of strategy and cross-cultural management at California State University San Marcos and a professor emeritus at the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland at College Park. In 2002 he received the University of Maryland’s International Landmark Award for exceptional contributions to the global area.

Bibliography:

Martin J. Gannon, Cultural Metaphors: Readings, Research Translations, and Commentary (Sage, 2000);
Martin J. Gannon, Paradoxes of Culture and Globalization (Sage, 2007);
Martin J. Gannon, Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical Journeys Through 28 Nations, Clusters of Nations, and Continents, 3rd ed. (Sage, 2003);
Martin J. Gannon, Working Across Cultures: Applications and Exercises (Sage, 2001);
Martin J. Gannon et al., “Cultural Metaphors as Frames of Reference for Nations. A Six-Country Study,” International Studies of Management and Organization (35/4, 2005–6);
Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations, 2nd ed. (Sage, 2003);
Robert J. House et al., Culture, Leadership, and Organizations. The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies (Sage, 2004);
Ronald F. Inglehart et al., Human Beliefs and Values: A Cross-Cultural Sourcebook Based on the 1999–2002 Value Surveys (Siglo XXI Editores, 2004);
Christine S. Nielsen and Martin J. Gannon, “Preface. Cultural Metaphors, Paradoxes, and Cross-Cultural Dimensions,” International Studies of Management and Organization (35/4, 2005–6).

This example Gannon’s Cultural Metaphors Essay is published for educational and informational purposes only. If you need a custom essay or research paper on this topic please use our writing services. EssayEmpire.com offers reliable custom essay writing services that can help you to receive high grades and impress your professors with the quality of each essay or research paper you hand in.