The task of attending to cultural difference amongst women while also ‘bridging’ these differences is deeply contested in feminism. This concern arose in response to criticisms that ‘hegemonic’ feminism is indeed part of the colonial project. These critiques demonstrated that the notion of feminism as a universal movement for all women is deeply problematic and founded on the exclusion of sex, race, and class differences. Subsequently, the aim to recuperate a notion of the universal that refuses these exclusions is of central concern to contemporary feminism. As feminism comes to grip with the impact of globalization on women in different parts of the world, this impetus to engender understanding and alliances across cultural difference is more salient than ever. This thesis explores one response to the dilemma which I term the ‘feminist decolonizing impulse’. Only recently emerging from the field of contemporary feminist theory, this impulse and the key authors which inform it has not be examined in any substantial way. This is where the original contribution of this thesis lies. My main focus is to explore the central aim of this emerging set of ideas and to identify their strengths and weaknesses. I argue that the central aim of the decolonizing impulse is to build feminist alliances and coalitions that are premised, first and foremost, on women’s heterogeneity. It thus purports to offer a re-constructed vision of the ‘universal’. This is a universalism where differences and particularities are privileged in advance of any announcement of the ‘universal’. To do this, I first establish how the ‘feminist decolonizing impulse’ emerged from different fields of scholarship, including postcolonial studies, indigenous political thought, Third World, postcolonial and poststructuralist feminisms. I then map the major features of the ‘feminist decolonizing impulse’ by examining the work of important authors who have given shape to this impulse. To discover the strengths and weaknesses of the decolonizing impulse, I engage with the work of two prominent contemporary feminist theorists, Chandra Talpade Mohanty and Martha C. Nussbaum. Both Mohanty and Nussbaum aim to advance a model of cross-cultural feminism, though go about this in vastly different ways.

The task of attending to cultural difference amongst women while also ‘bridging’ these differences is deeply contested in feminism. This concern arose in response to criticisms that ‘hegemonic’ feminism is indeed part of the colonial project. These critiques demonstrated that the notion of feminism as a universal movement for all women is deeply problematic and founded on the exclusion of sex, race, and class differences. Subsequently, the aim to recuperate a notion of the universal that refuses these exclusions is of central concern to contemporary feminism. As feminism comes to grip with the impact of globalization on women in different parts of the world, this impetus to engender understanding and alliances across cultural difference is more salient than ever. This thesis explores one response to the dilemma which I term the ‘feminist decolonizing impulse’. Only recently emerging from the field of contemporary feminist theory, this impulse and the key authors which inform it has not be examined in any substantial way. This is where the original contribution of this thesis lies. My main focus is to explore the central aim of this emerging set of ideas and to identify their strengths and weaknesses. I argue that the central aim of the decolonizing impulse is to build feminist alliances and coalitions that are premised, first and foremost, on women’s heterogeneity. It thus purports to offer a re-constructed vision of the ‘universal’. This is a universalism where differences and particularities are privileged in advance of any announcement of the ‘universal’. To do this, I first establish how the ‘feminist decolonizing impulse’ emerged from different fields of scholarship, including postcolonial studies, indigenous political thought, Third World, postcolonial and poststructuralist feminisms. I then map the major features of the ‘feminist decolonizing impulse’ by examining the work of important authors who have given shape to this impulse. To discover the strengths and weaknesses of the decolonizing impulse, I engage with the work of two prominent contemporary feminist theorists, Chandra Talpade Mohanty and Martha C. Nussbaum. Both Mohanty and Nussbaum aim to advance a model of cross-cultural feminism, though go about this in vastly different ways.

Class of 2017 Abstract / Objectives: To explore and describe the attitudes of pharmacy preceptors regarding the instruction of international student pharmacists. Methods: Two focus groups were held, involving a total a ten pharmacy preceptors associated with the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, the majority of whom had prior experience working with international pharmacy scholars. Results: Preceptors reported a number of both benefits and challenges associated with instructing international scholars. They benefited from the students’ contribution to the pharmacy team, and from the exposure to different cultures. The challenges they encountered primarily involved the language barrier, cultural differences, and differences in knowledge and training compared to local students. Conclusions: Preceptors reported overall positive experiences in working with international pharmacy scholars, and also faced a number of challenges.

Much of the research in project management focuses on developing better scheduling techniques in order to generate successful engineering and construction projects. However, with the advent of globalisation, project management is not only a domestic endeavour. Better scheduling techniques are not necessarily sufficient to ensure the successful completion of projects. Working with people with different cultural backgrounds and managing in foreign cultural areas is very common today. Cultural differences can actually affect project success and specifically the success of projects of a technological nature. Five typical Chinese cultural behaviours are identified and discussed in terms of philosophy of life, the "face" issue, personal relationships, communication and conflict solving. The effects of these cultural behaviours on communication, negotiation, conflict resolution, contract process and project team-building are researched through a designed survey questionnaire. Although the questionnaire is designed based on the Chinese culture, South African project managers have also been asked to participate in order to illustrate the cultural differences, where applicable. Researchers and practitioners still find it difficult to define what constitutes cultural differences and how to mitigate the influence of cultural differences on engineering projects. Data analysis and survey results for cultural effects on international engineering team performance are presented in this thesis and a method to mitigate the effect of cultural difference is conceptualised. This thesis contributes to the knowledge of managing engineering and construction projects in multicultural environments specifically in the international context. Moreover, a conceptual model has been developed and evaluated to indicate and explore the relationships between cultural differences, Chinese behaviours, project activities, project management processes and mitigation methods, from the South African and Chinese perspectives. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM) / unrestricted

The Internet has gained increasing popularity in the recent twenty years, and numerous services and products are provided online. However, the inevitable digital divide has differentiated people living in the same society into IT rich and poor. As world population is irreversibly aging, the elderly will be the largest IT inability group because of the digital divide. One information inability is their lack of access and capability to use internet. In China, despite many elderly-aimed ICT projects are carried out, internet prevalence rate among the elderly is lower than in Sweden. Successful online applications or services in western society finally proved total failure in another, which gives the designer and developer a good lesson to learn: to design or provide a kind of application to users across cultures or nations is more than simply interface language translation. Studies on cultural differences provide scholars in ICT field a good reference on how to take cultural issues into product design and applications, to make the applications and services more culture-friendly. Therefore, the research is carried out on elderly internet usage in China in comparison with the situation in Sweden: by comparing the elderly people‟s experiences, perceptions and expectations for the internet in these two countries, differences are analyzed from the perspective of cultural differences and an in-depth analysis of unique problems of Chinese elderly people internet use is given. By comparing China and Sweden, which are defined as countries under absolutely different cultural systems, implications on Chinese elderly people‟s expectations and requirements for internet are proposed.

With the economic and technology development, International Corporation amongcountries becomes increasingly popular. All countries become an entire unit, thereforeunderstanding among different cultures is important. Different cultural backgroundleads to different management style. The cultural diversity is needed to cooperateglobally. Chinese management style and Swedish management style has its owncharacteristics. Study the differences between these two different management stylescan offer an opportunity for understanding each other.The purpose of this thesis is to compare and analyze the differences between Chinesemanagement style and Swedish management style. Empirical data is collected fromindividual interviews with five Chinese employees who work in Sweden and underSwedish manager.The result of the study reveals that Swedish management style is people-oriented,empowerment and small hierarchy. Swedish manager achieve their goal by “loose”management while Chinese manager is more in control and focus on relationshipbuilding between manager and employees.

This study explores the role perceived cultural difference and cultural priming have to play in influencing the home acculturation orientation of third culture individuals (individuals who have temporarily lived outside their home culture during their childhood years, or TCIs). Participants aged 19-74 years (N = 301) with a third culture background were surveyed using Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants were randomly assigned to read a cultural priming scenario that oriented them either toward their home or host country, or to a third control group. All participants completed measures assessing their level of perceived cultural difference between home and host countries, and their level of home-country acculturation orientation. Results of this study supported hypotheses that perceived cultural difference was statistically significant in influencing TCIs’ home acculturation orientation but did not support hypotheses regarding cultural priming and an interaction between cultural priming and perceived cultural difference on acculturation orientation. Findings present implications for how the need for a cultural match between host and home countries can play a large role in influencing the third culture acculturative experience, and also provide further insight into a previously understudied population.

Academics and social commentators have emphasised the importance of religion and specific cultural characteristics in influencing or explaining the perceptions, values and behaviours of cultural groups. The quantitative empirical research into ethical perceptions, intentions and behaviours has used culture and religion to define cultural groups, or compare and contrast two national cultural groups. Little focus has been placed on intra-cultural differences. While there has been some quantitative empirical research into the role of Thai Buddhist religiosity in ethical decision making, there has been no such research that deals with the unique Thai cultural characteristics of greng jai and patron-client relationships or differences between urban and provincial Thai managers and professionals. In the research conducted for this thesis, I explore the relationship between Thai Buddhist religiosity, patron-client relationships and greng jai, and ethical intentions, expectations of other’s behaviour and the nature of ethical dilemmas (ethical or unethical). In addition, intra-cultural differences between ‘Thai managers and professionals in Bangkok and ‘less developed’ provinces on these items are investigated. Survey responses from 522 Thai managers and professionals from Bangkok and provincial Thailand were obtained in the research conducted for this thesis. The instrument used includes five scenarios from previous research, two new scenarios that address greng jai and patron-client relationship dilemmas, demographic and cultural measures, and measures of ethical intentions, behaviour of others, and the nature of the ethical problem. Neither patron-client relationships nor greng jai were found to influence ethical intentions, perception of other’s behaviour or perception of the nature of ethical problems. This suggests that importance of these cultural characteristics has been exaggerated in previous qualitative research, that these previously important characteristics are no longer important, or that Thai managers and professionals insulate their ethical perceptions in business settings from Thai cultural influences. The latter explanation would indicate convergence of Thai business culture with a more modern globalised perception of business ethics. Thai Buddhist religiosity did not consistently play a role in perceptions of ethical intention, behaviour of others or the nature of the problems. In scenarios in which it did play a role, the effect was small. Again, this suggests that the importance of religiosity may have been exaggerated in the past, was once important but is no longer so, or that Thai managers and professionals compartmentalise the role of religion in business and non-business settings. No differences were found between Thai managers and professionals in Bangkok and provincial Thailand. Again, this suggests a convergence with a modern globalised perception of business ethics.

<p>Continuous improvement (CI) is a well-known approach within total quality management. Based on it, Continuous Improvement Behavior Model (CIBM) is a model that put behavioral patterns in work practice in focus, and is associated with learning process and routines across the whole organization. The purposes of this thesis are twofold: firstly, to analyse the differences in CI behavior between firms in Sweden and Hong Kong (HK); secondly, to analyse the reasons for these differences by using Hofstede’s culture theory. This study was based on data from the 2nd international CINet survey and IBM questionnaire survey, limited to the culture in Hong Kong (HK) and Sweden. The finding of this comparative study showed that there are significant differences in CI behavior in the following aspects:</p><p> The view in HK is that the interest of the group should prevail over the individual’s, because there has a proverb”unity is power” in Chinese culture. Firms in Sweden are more concerned with the interests of individual’s.</p><p> Employees in Hong Kong would like to use organizational formal tools and techniques to deal with a problem, although it is a society characterized by weak uncertainly avoidance. But firms in Swedish believe that problems can be solved without formal rules.</p><p> Employees in HK emphasizes cooperation and relationship in the process of working, while it is influenced by the culture of”guanxi” and collectivism. In comparison, Swedish employees care less about relationship.</p><p> People in HK pay much attention to the personal development, due to a competitive environment and a long-term orientated culture manifested as:”it is never too old to learn”. Swedes, however, want to study when it is necessary.</p><p> Managers in HK are willing to support CI activities by provide sufficient resources and self-discipline influenced by the Chinese culture of ”set an example”. Correspondingly, Swedish firms don't have the regulation about what manager necessary should do.</p><p>This is the first study that tries to explain the difference on CI behavior by using Hofstede’s culture theory in HK and Sweden, using a statistical method to test 34 behaviors in CI Behavior Model. It has to mention that there have 17 behaviors in the total behaviors which have been proved to be different, and 11 of these behaviors can be explained by Hofstede’s model in this thesis. There are also some other factors that can explain the differences in CI behaviors.</p><p>In this thesis, it is shown that size of company matters. Possible explanations provided by other cultural theories are also presented.</p>

Continuous improvement (CI) is a well-known approach within total quality management. Based on it, Continuous Improvement Behavior Model (CIBM) is a model that put behavioral patterns in work practice in focus, and is associated with learning process and routines across the whole organization. The purposes of this thesis are twofold: firstly, to analyse the differences in CI behavior between firms in Sweden and Hong Kong (HK); secondly, to analyse the reasons for these differences by using Hofstede’s culture theory. This study was based on data from the 2nd international CINet survey and IBM questionnaire survey, limited to the culture in Hong Kong (HK) and Sweden. The finding of this comparative study showed that there are significant differences in CI behavior in the following aspects:  The view in HK is that the interest of the group should prevail over the individual’s, because there has a proverb”unity is power” in Chinese culture. Firms in Sweden are more concerned with the interests of individual’s.  Employees in Hong Kong would like to use organizational formal tools and techniques to deal with a problem, although it is a society characterized by weak uncertainly avoidance. But firms in Swedish believe that problems can be solved without formal rules.  Employees in HK emphasizes cooperation and relationship in the process of working, while it is influenced by the culture of”guanxi” and collectivism. In comparison, Swedish employees care less about relationship.  People in HK pay much attention to the personal development, due to a competitive environment and a long-term orientated culture manifested as:”it is never too old to learn”. Swedes, however, want to study when it is necessary.  Managers in HK are willing to support CI activities by provide sufficient resources and self-discipline influenced by the Chinese culture of ”set an example”. Correspondingly, Swedish firms don't have the regulation about what manager necessary should do. This is the first study that tries to explain the difference on CI behavior by using Hofstede’s culture theory in HK and Sweden, using a statistical method to test 34 behaviors in CI Behavior Model. It has to mention that there have 17 behaviors in the total behaviors which have been proved to be different, and 11 of these behaviors can be explained by Hofstede’s model in this thesis. There are also some other factors that can explain the differences in CI behaviors. In this thesis, it is shown that size of company matters. Possible explanations provided by other cultural theories are also presented.