In recent years the important of leadership in the organization has become an area of interest. Leadership has been noted to impact corporate culture, employee commitment and response and the overall performance of the organization. Given the fact that leadership is such an important part of organizational development and discourse, effective methods for developing effective leadership in the organization are needed. Without definitive methods for leadership development, organizations will not be able to optimize the outcomes of leadership in the organization. Thus, there is a clear impetus to delineate what works best in the context of leadership development. This study used concurrent qualitative and quantitative research to understand better the effect of cross-cultural influences on the leadership development programmes and leadership practices development in a study population consisting of managers and supervisors in the Kuwaiti banking industry. Although Kuwaiti organisations employ many international employees and operate foreign subsidiaries, they have not created leadership development programmes to improve cross-cultural leadership skills for managers. As a result, Kuwaiti managers often rely on traditional transactional methods and an authoritarian style of leadership that may be less effective with employees from different nations and cultural backgrounds. The qualitative phase of the research collected data from Kuwaiti bank managers through interviews while the quantitative phase of the research collected data with survey instrument. The quantitative phase of the study also tested the validity of a conceptual model and hypotheses using structural equation modelling and regression analysis. The research was guided by distributed leadership theory, which considers leadership as a series of interactions between leader and follower with the follower sometimes adopting an informal role as temporary leader. The theory also considers the context in which the leader operates as a critical factor for motivating leadership practise. The testing and validation of the theoretical model in the study led to the acceptance of a new 'Effective Cross Cultural Leadership' (ECL) model. This model describes the relationship between the exogenous or independent variables of cultural differences, training and development in traditional Kuwaiti leadership, cross cultural leadership development programmes and international leadership practises with the endogenous or dependent variables of leadership development programmes and leadership practises development. The testing of the hypotheses of the study showed a statistically significant relationship between the four independent variables and the two dependent variables with exception of the relationship between the independent variable of international leadership practises and the dependant variable of leadership programmes development. The quantitative findings also indicated that demographic variables do not have a moderating effect on the model. The qualitative findings of the study determined that cultural differences between employees and managers influence the managers' leadership behaviours and their understanding of the type of leadership development programmes to improve their cross-cultural leadership skills. Managers with greater experience or knowledge of foreign cultures adopt more flexible leadership practises when leading international teams. The qualitative findings also determined that front office managers are more willing to use participative leadership styles in leadership practises, while back office managers rely on authoritarian leadership styles focusing on tasks in their leadership practises, indicating that the context influences leadership styles and practise. The findings of the study including the development and validation of the Effective Cross-Cultural Leadership (ECL) model contribute to the theoretical and practical knowledge of cross-cultural leadership in Kuwait that can be extended to other Middle Eastern nations. In addition, the study finding extends cross-cultural theory by indicating that international influences both internal and external to the organisation affect leadership styles despite national norms and preferences. These findings implied that Kuwaiti organisations experience significant pressure to adopt some international leadership practises and styles to accommodate the expectations and needs of the many international workers employed in Kuwait. The practical implication of these findings showed that Kuwaiti managers would benefit from leadership training emphasising that no standard or correct approach to leadership exists and that it can be acceptable for leaders to use participative styles when warranted by the situation.

Globalūs pasauliniai pokyčiai skatina visuomenės domėjimąsi ne tik tarpkultūriniais skirtumais, bet ir skirtingų kultūrų tarpusavio sąveikos klausimais. Šio darbo aktualumą lėmė vis didėjantis Lietuvos gyventojų domėjimasis ispanų kultūra. Svarbu ištirti, kaip ispanai adaptuojasi lietuvių kultūroje ir jos visuomeniniame gyvenime, atskleidžiant jų adaptacijos Lietuvoje ypatumus. Išanalizavus mokslinę literatūrą, prieita prie išvados, kad adaptacijos sėkmingumą lemia tokie vidiniai veiksniai kaip individualūs ir asmeniniai individo skirtumai, ir tokie išoriniai veiksniai kaip individo gyvenimo patirtis ir pasirengimas. Atskleidžiant vienos ar kitos strategijos pasireiškimą (Kasatkina), pažymima, kad pagrindiniai veiksniai, nulemiantys vienos ar kitos strategijos pasirinkimą yra etninio tapatumo išlaikymas ir pasitenkinimas pasiektu statusu. Lyginant ispanų ir lietuvių kultūras remiantis Hofstede, Inglehart ir Lewis kultūrų lyginimo dimensijomis, paaiškėjo, kad ispanai yra panašūs į lietuvius šeimos svarbumo kriterijumi: abi kultūros šeimą nurodo kaip vertybę. Padaryta analizė leidžia atskleisti dviejų kultūrų skirtumus. Esminiai skirtumai yra bendravimo būdas, laiko ir erdvės suvokimas, kalbų struktūros. Atlikus kokybinį tyrimą, analizuojant interviu metu surinktą medžiagą, prieita prie išvados, kad ispanų kultūrinės adaptacijos sėkmingumas nepriklauso nuo jų gyvenimo trukmės Lietuvoje. Manytina, kad adaptacijos sėkmingumą veikiau nulemia vidiniai ispanų kultūros atstovų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Due to increased interest of Spanish language and culture in Lithuania over the last few years, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the Spanish sojourners adaptation in Lithuania. Furthermore, it is important to find out the main obstacles of Spanish culture representatives while communicating with locals, exploring the influence on their adaptation process. On a basis of qualitative research (9 semi – structured interviews) study concerning Spanish Cultural Adaptation in Lithuania has been carried out. The main assumption is that Spanish cultural adaptation is influenced by such internal factors as individual motivation to adapt in a host society, aim of arrival, motivation to learn Lithuanian language and communicate with Lithuanians. The external factors which influence Spanish Adaptation in Lithuania are the difference between climate, acceptance of the host society and barriers of communications with Lithuanians. The research has shown that firstly, Spanish are satisfied with the current reached status in Lithuania. The main reason of that is their fulfilment with occupied positions in a new country. Secondly, all of them maintain their personal identity. Thirdly, Spanish who live more than 10 years in Lithuania are more likely to associate themselves with Lithuanians depending on a place of their living, in Spain they consider to be Spanish and in Lithuania they are Lithuanians. Taking into account, that successful adaptation is defined as the individual... [to full text]

Senast den 17 juni 2016 ska Sverige ha implementerat regleringar kring obliga- torisk byrårotation i nationell rätt vilket då kommer kräva att noterade bolag och finansiella företag roterar revisionsbyrå i huvudregel var 10:e år. Målet från EU:s sida med att införa obligatorisk byrårotation i dess medlemsländer är att regleringen ska ha positiva effekter på revisorns oberoende, revisionskvali- teten och konkurrenssituationen på revisionsmarknaden. Syftet med vår studie är att ge ökad förståelse om hur revisionskvaliteten och revisorns oberoende påverkas av ett införande av obligatorisk byrårotation utifrån den forskning som finns internationellt. Eftersom studier kring obliga- torisk byrårotation ännu har kunnat genomföras i Sverige vill vi också bidra med kunskap om hur väl dessa internationella studier kan appliceras i ett svenskt sammanhang. Studien är baserad på inhämtning av sekundärdata där vi utgått från existe- rande forskning kring obligatorisk byrårotation. Val av vårt tillvägagångssätt kan motiveras med att en stor mängd forskning redan existerar och vi har velat samla in data som är så neutral som möjligt. Vår studie visar att resultaten från internationellt genomförda studier tyder på att revisionskvaliteten sjunker vid ett införande av obligatorisk byrårotation. Forskningen visar även att regleringen kan få en motsatt effekt på marknads- dynamiken än vad som önskas. Majoriteten av forskningen visar också att revi- sorns oberoende inte påverkas vid ett införande av obligatorisk byrårotation. I den del av vår studie som behandlade hur väl internationell forskning skulle kunna tillämpas i Sverige fann vi inga belägg på att skillnaderna mellan de un- dersökta länderna och Sverige skulle vara tillräckligt stora för att kunna ifråga- sätta dess applicerbarhet i ett svenskt sammanhang. / June 17, 2016, is the final date for Sweden to implement the new rules regard- ing mandatory audit firm rotation which will require listed and financial com- panies to change their current audit firm every 10 years. The aim of the intro- duction of mandatory audit firm rotation is that the regulation should have positive effects on the independence of auditors, audit quality and the compet- itive situation within the audit market. The aim of this study is to provide a better understanding of how auditor in- dependence and audit quality is affected by the introduction of the regulation on the basis of the available international research. Since there isn’t any Swe- dish research on the subject, we want to contribute knowledge about how well these international studies can be applied in a Swedish context. The study is based on secondary data which is collected from already existing research on mandatory audit firm rotation. The choice of approach in the study can be justified by the fact that much research already exists on the sub- ject and we wanted the data to be as neutral as possible. Our study shows that the results from international research suggest that audit quality will decrease with the introduction of such regulation and that the regu- lation may have an adverse effect on the dynamic of the audit market. A ma- jority of the research suggests that auditor independence is not affected by the introduction of mandatory audit firm rotation. In the part of our study, which dealt with how well international research is applicable in Sweden, we found no evidence that the difference between the examined countries and Sweden would be large enough to allow us to question the research applicability in a Swedish context.

This thesis explores cultural differences on interactive design features used in websites of South Korea and the United Kingdom from the perspective of both: professional website designers and end-users. It also investigates how the use of interactive design features from different cultures change over time. Four interaction types on websites; User to Interface (U2I), User to Content (U2C), User to Provider (U2P), and User to User (U2U) interactivity, and three interaction types on blogs; Blogger to Interface (B2I), Blogger to Content (B2C) and Blogger to Blogger (B2B) interactivity have been identified. Four cultural dimensions were used for the theoretical base of this study based on which four hypotheses were proposed in relation to the interaction types identified above; (a) High versus Low Context cultures for U2I, (b) High versus Low Uncertainty Avoidance for U2C, (c) High versus Low Power Distance for U2P and (d) Individualism versus Collectivism for U2U interactivity, in order to discover the effects of national cultures on interactivity in websites. We derived our own interactivity dimensions and mapped them to the four interaction types for websites and three for blogs. Interactive design features were derived from interactivity dimensions and examined in our studies. The findings revealed that there have been some changes towards homogeneity in the use of interactive design features on charity websites between South Korea and United Kingdom although there is still evidence of some cultural differences. With regard to end-users’ perspective, the result show that the use of interactive design features of blogs may be influenced by culture but this is only within a certain context. The findings also provide a valuable indication that users interacting within the same blog service can be considered as being shared concerns rather than shared national location, thus create a particular type of community in which bloggers are affected by social influence so they adopt a shared set of value, preferences and style that would indicate almost a common social culture. As a result, the cultural differences derived from their country of origin do not have that much impact.

This study examines interrelationships between Chinese students' associations with each other, with American friends, and their identification with American society. Fifty-three randomly-selected Chinese students at North Texas State University were interviewed in May, 1974. The resulting data was tested by Chi-square and Gamma tests. The finding are an follows In the United States, Chinese students are in a dynamic adjustment process. In their early stay, Chinese students with high scores of a affiliation with Americans have low scores of identification with American society. However, affiliation with other Chinese brings satisfaction and further identification. Therefore, Chinese students with high scores of affiliation with each other have high scores of identification with Americans.

The importance of corporate communication is even more highlighted nowadays than it has been couple years ago. The reason behind is that companies are constantly growing and effective employee communication within such companies is becoming more difficult. This Diploma thesis aimed to find out how to improve internal communication in selected company. For this purpose a solid communication theory has been presented and a real company chosen to be examined in the analytical part. The analytical part examined and wraped up outcomes from questionnaire and interviews. The outcome of the thesis offers an answer to a research question How can multinational company improve its employee communication and revealed opportunities for improvement. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The thesis overviews a variety of approaches to understanding of dreams, covering the historical perspectives as well as the perspectives of modern psychologists and psychological schools. It presents information on quantitative analysis of dream content and possibilities of the use of statistical methods in dream research. It introduces the results of the research into the dream content in 100 Czech female psychology students, using the method developed by Hall and Van de Castle. The comparison of these results with a similar group of US female students revealed several differences: The Czech students reported slightly more Aggresion/Friendliness Percent, significantly more unknown environments and moderately more dreams containing aggression and efforts. Compliance with the American sample was shown mainly by percentages regarding the type of characters, negative emotions ratio and the percentage of physical aggression compared to non-physical. Correlation analysis applied to data revealed a moderate relationship between variables suggesting possible explanations of dream content. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The principal objective of the master thesis is to analyze how Czech businesses operating in the travel industry consider the specific needs and meet the expectations of tourists from the People's Republic of China. In the theoretical part of the thesis, the author explains the fundamental terms relating to tourism and the theory of culture. Then, the author characterizes the People's Republic of China from the historical, political and socio-cultural perspective, and further from the perspective of demography and economy. The practical part identifies the specific needs of Chinese tourists and their expectations that are based on a questionnaire research. Following personal interviews and filling-in short questionnaires, an assessment is made subsequently of the knowledge of such specific needs by Czech businesses operating in the travel industry. The assessment also evaluates how these entities are ready to face the growing number of Chinese tourists. In conclusion, the author proposes some possible solutions how to rectify some of the shortcomings on the part of service providers.

A modelagem estocástica sociocultural introduzida por Robert Axelrod é tradicionalmente referida à manutenção das diferenças, pois gera o efeito contra-intuitivo do aparecimento de heterogeneidades ao ser atingido o estado de equilíbrio, apesar de sua interação fundamental homogenizar os interagentes. Devido à sua simplicidade, inúmeras releituras do Modelo de Axelrod foram propostas, como também adendos e pequenas modificações. Um campo externo constante homogenizador, interpretado como a mídia, é um exemplo de uma possível alterações no modelo. Já um exemplo de releitura vem com a alteração funcional da interação bipolar do modelo de Axelrod por uma assimilação cultural, usando o mecanismo de Viés de Frequência. Nesta dissertação analisaremos as simulações propostas por Axelrod, sem e com a mídia externa. Para simularmos a mídia externa usaremos o artifício de adicionar um um vizinho fictício à cada elemento da rede. Além disso, analisaremos o mecanismo de assimilação via Viés de Frequência, mostrando sua relação com o modelo do voto da Maioria da Mecânica Estatística. / The sociocultural stochastic modeling introduced by Robert Axelrod is traditionally referred to as the maintenance of cultural diversity. Since it generates the appearance of heterogeneities on a steady state, even the primordial interaction tends to gauge the interactors. Due to its simplicity, numerous interpretations of this model were studied, as well as additions and minor modifications. One example of a possible change in the model can be a constant external field, interpreted as the media. Another example of a reinterpretation could be changing the Axelrod Model bipolar interaction by a cultural assimilation, using the mechanism of frequency bias. This dissertation aims to study the Axelrod simulation with and without the external media. In order to simulate the external media we will add a virtual neighbor to all elements. Furthermore, we analyze the mechanism of assimilation via Bias frequency, showing its relationship with the model of majority voting in Statistical Mechanics.

O principal objetivo do trabalho foi comparar brincadeiras, conflitos e provocações de meninos e meninas de quatro a cinco anos de idade, pertencentes a dois grupos culturais: um de uma grande metrópole (São Paulo) e outro de uma pequena comunidade praiana no litoral norte de Estado de São Paulo (Ubatuba). As crianças foram observadas em atividade livre no pátio escolar. Em relação ao brincar, os principais resultados encontrados foram: as crianças de São Paulo se envolveram mais em brincadeiras simbólicas do que as ubatubanas e essas, mais em jogos de regras e em brincadeiras de contingência social do que as paulistanas; os meninos participaram mais de brincadeiras de contingência física do que as meninas e elas se envolveram mais em atividades de contingência social do que seus colegas. Predominaram as provocações de caráter não verbal entre as crianças ubatubanas. Os episódios de zombaria tenderam a ter conseqüências interacionais positivas em ambos os grupos, apesar de terem gerado também algumas reações negativas. As crianças de ambos os grupos apresentaram número equivalente de episódios de conflito, embora sua duração tenha sido maior entre as meninas de São Paulo. A principal causa de conflitos nos dois grupos culturais foi a disputa por brinquedos e a maior parte dos desenlaces teve caráter afiliativo. As crianças ubatubanas apresentaram táticas mais simples e diretas e as paulistanas, estratégias mais diversificadas e verbais de enfrentamento das situações conflituosas. Na discussão dos resultados, destaca-se a importância da configuração dos grupos de brincadeira e de dimensões culturais mais amplas como estilos de criação e códigos de comunicação , evidenciando-se a relevância de estudos interculturais para o avanço na compreensão do comportamento infantil / The major goal of the study was to compare play, conflicts and teasing in four to fiveyears- old children of two cultural groups: one from a big city (São Paulo), and another from a small seashore community (Ubatuba, São Paulo State). Children were observed in free play periods at school yard. The main findings concerning play were: São Paulos children engaged in more pretend play than seashores children, and these ones showed greater participation in games with rules and in social contingency play; boys engaged in more physical contingency activities than girls, while girls participated in more social contingency play than their male peers. Non-verbal teasing prevailed in seashore children, and teasing episodes had more frequent positive interational outcomes, although negative consequences were also found in the two groups. Children from both cultural groups presented equivalent number of conflicts and engaged in more same-sex disagreements, but the number of conflict turns was greater among São Paulos girls. Possession of objects and toys was the main conflict reason. Seashore children presented more simple and direct conflict strategies, and São Paulos children, more diversified and verbal tactics of conflict management. Contend resolutions had a predominantly affiliative character in both groups. In the discussion of data, play group configuration, as well as broader cultural dimensions such as rearing styles and communication codes , are emphasized, showing the importance of cross-cultural studies for advances in understanding childhood behavior