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The term Sustainable Development has been used in many different contexts and consequently has come to represent many different ideas. The purpose of this paper was to explore the underlying meaning of the term Sustainable Development, and to assess the dominant ethic behind such meaning. Through this exploration, we uncovered a change in the semantic meaning of the term, and described what that meaning entails. The term Sustainable Development had the potential, we argue, to stimulate discursive engagement with respect to the future development of society within an ethical framework based around the values of inclusivity, diversity, and integration. The importance of philosophical context within which the term is used influences the definitional process of meaning, and has been simulated into the language of the dominant scientific-economic paradigm. We go on to explore how this meaning change has come about. In doing so we looked to the Enlightenment period and the resulting philosophies to explore the foundations of meaning, and then to the work of Jürgen Habermas to explain how the scientific-economic paradigm came to dominate the meaning of Sustainable Development.

Five schools of Chinese cultural traditions that implicitly influence current management thought in China are used to create a four‐factor Structure of Chinese Cultural Traditions (SCCT) model. A sample of 2658 people in businesses in Beijing was used to develop the dimensions that were then cross‐validated in a nation‐wide sample of 718 business employees. The four dimensions show plausible patterns of convergent and discriminant validity with generic domains of values represented by the Schwartz Value Survey (SVS). We suggest that the Structure of Chinese Cultural Traditions provides a unique model of Chinese culture that complements other generic measures, thereby allowing a deep understanding of Chinese culture.

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Abstract:The effects of culture in the workplace have been well documented. Because cultures vary across countries, business practices that are effective in some regions may not be effective in others. While cross-country cultural differences have been explored in depth, little is known about cultural variations and dynamics in the context of immigration. On the basis of a multilevel study of 2163 immigrants and locals residing in Canada, we investigate (1) patterns of immigrant acculturation; (2) the relationship between acculturation of visible elements of culture, such as language proficiency or cuisine and music tastes, and acculturation of tacit cultural values and (3) individual-and group-level predictors and moderators of acculturation. The results are discussed with a focus on implications for practitioner managers and immigration policy makers.Keywords: acculturation | cross-cultural management | culture | culture change | immigration Article:(Everything flows). HeraclitusRecent decades were signified by unprecedented cross-national migration around the world. For example, according to national census reports, annual immigrant influx approaches a million in the USA, half a million in the EU and a quarter million in Canada. While immigration creates great opportunities, it also poses challenges, not the least of which is cultural. Research has effectively demonstrated that culture greatly affects most aspects of business. Perceptions, attitudes, preferences and behaviors of employees and customers are, to a large extent, shaped by culture (Taras, Kirkman and Steel 2010a). As a result, managerial practices may not be transferable across national borders and culture must be taken into account to maximize organizational performance (Tayeb 1998).Several large-scale projects (Hofstede 1980; Schwartz 1992; House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman and Gupta 2004) explored cultural value differences around the world and clustered countries into cultural regions. A substantial body of research allows for predicting and adjusting management systems to match the local culture. However, can these results be generalized to management of immigrants? By definition, immigrants have ties to two or more countries. Should immigrants be assumed to retain the values of their country of origin or should they be assumed to internalize values of their host countries? What is the culture of an employee, customer or business partner who, for example, grew up in China but has lived in the USA for the past 10 years? Would the approach that works best in China work best for Chinese immigrants in the USA, or should it be assumed that their values have Americanized?Hundreds of publications have addressed issues of acculturation, and it may appear that the topic has been well explored. However, acculturation research has traditionally focused on changes in cultural artifacts, such as language proficiency, preferences for music, cuisine, media and clothing style (Rudmin 2009). While artifacts and rituals are important attributes of culture, they...