CHAPTER 4
MOTIVATING EMPLOYEES ACROSS CULTURES
AND BORDERS
CHAPTER ACTIVITIES
DEVELOPING YOUR INTERNATIONAL CAREER – How Are Your Cross-Cultural
Motivation Skills?
Purpose and Instructions
The purpose of this exercise is to learn more about the challenge of motivating people from
different cultures. Six short situations are presented about Egyptian, Chinese, Japanese, and
American subordinates, along with alternative possibilities for motivating them.
Motivation Situations
1) You would like to have a Saudi Arabian colleague’s help so that you can finish a
major assignment. You are most likely to get that help if you say:
a. “In the name of God, please help me.”
2) You are a department manager in China. Which of the following would probably
work best to motivate your production supervisor to improve performance?
b. “I’m planning to reorganize the department and I’m thinking of promoting
you if production increases.”
3) You are a manager about to conduct a series of performance appraisals on your
American subordinates. To motivate them, you will probably want to focus on
recognizing the Americans’…
a. promptness
4) Last month your Japanese team hit all production targets. Which of the following
would be the best way to acknowledge their achievement?
a. Treat them to a dinner where you give special recognition to the team leader.
5) You are managing a factory in Egypt. One supervisor’s group is not meeting your
production expectations. Which of the following might be the best way for you to
draw the supervisor’s attention to this problem?
a. “Increase your group’s productivity or you’re fired.”
b. “Do you need any help with your group?”
6) You are a manager in a large international company and are about to begin an
important project. Mr. Hiro has been assigned to work for you on this project.
Because Mr. Hiro is Japanese, which of the following is likely to motivate him?
a. Being part of a strong, leading international firm.
International Organizational Behavior2e Chapter 4 Activities Page 3
MAKING THE CASE FOR INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING – Firing Up the Bear: How
Should Western Firms Motivate Russian Employees?
Since the 1990s, Russia has been transforming itself economically. And while there have
been ups and downs in the process, Russia has changed in many ways in the last 20 years.
Indeed, today the trappings of Western consumerism are ubiquitous in Russian cities, with
shopping malls, supermarkets, car dealerships, fast food restaurants, and movie theaters
that would not be out of place in New York, London, or Munich. You would not have to look
There is little doubt that most Western firms operating in Russia would agree with this
assessment, especially since many of them have faced serious challenges in motivating
Russian employees. Those challenges have increased in recent years as more foreign
companies set up shop in Russia, hiring locals to staff their operations instead of relying on
planeloads of expensive expatriates.
• Program 1 was based on the reinforcement concept of providing contingent
rewards. It involved giving Russian employees extrinsic rewards (e.g., valued
consumer goods, bonuses) in exchange for improvements in performance.
• Program 3 used a job enrichment approach that relied on employee participation.
Here employees were asked for suggestions about how their jobs might be changed
International Organizational Behavior2e Chapter 4 Activities Page 4
Overall, we want you to think about which of these programs would work best to improve
the motivation and performance of Russian employees. Why? Do some research on how
Russian history and culture might affect work motivation. Your instructor may lead a
discussion centering about the research team’s findings and the conclusions you all reach
in your research on this topic.
Assignment Questions
1) Which of these motivational programs is the most compatible with Russian
norms? Why do you believe this is the case?
4) Taking everything into consideration, how likely is it that any of these programs
will work in the Russian culture (as you understand it)? Given your knowledge
of Russian cultural values, describe any methods you might think would work
better than those described here.