Customer Reviews

International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have had the pleasure of using Adler's book for several years now. Simply put, it is far more enjoyable to read than the average textbook and is packed with useful information for those wanting to learn.

Adler does a superb job of addressing the various dimensions of culture. She explains culture quite clearly and makes many connections to management practice. But maybe what I like best is that Adler goes beyond explaining. Each chapter contains vignettes discussing different cultural experiences. The short descriptions are interesting and lively. I have also noticed that the quantity and quality of vignettes has improved in the fourth edition.

Overall, the scope of this book seems quite thorough. National culture, workplace behavior across cultures, communication differences across cultures, creating synergy, multicultural teamwork and negotiation, global leadership, and the expat experience are all discussed. My favorite chapters tend to be early in the book (culture, teamwork, and synergy). It appears that these areas represent the author's greatest strength. The research informing each chapter is thorough and quite up-to-date. Maybe the weakest chapter, in my view, is chapter three which deals with communication. I suspect that maybe the author steps a bit beyond her expertise and is not able to touch on the deeper issues of cross-cultural communication (as she touches on the deeper issues in teamwork or other chapters). The result is a good chapter and sound discussion that maybe lacks the richness found in other parts of the book. She sets the standard so high in other chapters and I was hoping for the same here.

I have used this text for several years in intercultural management courses for undergraduate business students. The students seem to enjoy the book and encourage me to keep using it. I guess that is the highest praise we can give any text--students like it.

As a cross-cultural trainer based in the United States, I needed to find a pragmatic book that both students and sophisticated business people would find helpful. At the same time, it had to provide a lot of solid information in an easy-to-read format. Dr. Adler's book is it at ERUdyne! Actually, we have had to replace our copies many times as they keep disappearing after positive reviews from our clients!

My copy is dog-eared. I recommend it to anyone who needs to understand how culture impacts global business organizations today. It contains excellent questions for reflection, charts, summaries and references.

Dr. Adler's book makes a positive difference in one's perception and understanding of the real challenges facing global businesses. It also provides good case studies with a step-by-step guide for addressing global organizational behavior issues. I couldn't ask for more in one text.

Nancy Adler presents a good overview on the topics in international HR Management. It is great as a textbook for class and a perfect starting point for novices who want to get into inter. HRM. The book is not overwhelmingly deep, but it is concise and has an efficient way of conveying the main concepts of culture and communication, synergy, teams, leadership, negotiations. Adler writes well making it easy to understand what she means and a fast read. She uses small cases to illustrate each problem she addresses, which are sometimes a little bit too simplistic for non-students. For me, a great advantage of the book is the comprehensive lists of references per chapter. This makes it easy to go further in topics I am especially interested in. The critique a have with almost all "international version" textbooks is, that it explicitly addresses Americans.

For any of you interested in the multicultural aspects of business decisions, I would reccommend this book. It is easy to read, has lots of good information, and covers all the necessary heavy-hitters in the field of international cultural awareness. I was quite pleased with the way the author related various cultural teachings to short stories in order to grasp a mental picture. Not many books destined to be used in a classroom setting accomplish this very well. In today's business world, one would be committing suicide by not having at least a basic understanding in the differences between various cultures of the world, if not an in-depth understanding.

I had the privilege of working closely with Dr. Adler in the early 1970's, when she was a young Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz and I was an undergraduate majoring in psychology. Dr. Adler was brilliant and is one of the most influential teachers I ever had. It was obvious she had an extraordinary and successful career ahead of her. After getting my B.A., I deserted psychology for the Yale Law School, and lost contact with Dr. Adler, but I never forgot her. Earlier this year, I discovered a box of my old college papers in storage, including my work with Dr. Adler, and googled her to see what she'd ended up doing with her career. I found this extraordinary book, among many other things. Although essentially a "lay" person not working in this area, I found the book very accessible and fascinating--hardly a surprise. I strongly recommend it.

Arrive in expected amount of time and book was damaged but that was expected because I brought a used book.....

I have nothing to complain about this product. It was sent in a timely manner and met the description given of it.

Adler has done a good job of creating an international focus for her topic. I highly recommend it. I'm assigning it at the MBA level. You can save a lot if you order the fourth edition - I don't find enough difference to necessarily justify buying the fifth.

My book started on page 33, and not page 1. I am completely missing Chapter 1.

The book was received in a timely manner and was in good shape, as stated.