Management of corporate culture through local managers' training in foreign companies in China: a qualitative analysis

摘要

Corporate culture is a complex phenomenon in foreign companies located in the People's Republic of China. For the management team of an international enterprise, it is a challenging task to manage cultural differences. Education and training provided to local managers might be one of the important solutions. Therefore, this study explores the effects of local managers education and training on corporate culture in foreign companies in China. Using qualitative research, this paper presents different training forms existing in foreign companies. Furthermore, the training in general in terms of establishment of corporate culture was evaluated. General training is classified as formal and informal training or coaching in accordance with training purposes. Formal training refers to training that is indispensable to the survival and development of the corporation, while informal training is concerned with the training that happens without deliberate design or purposes. The two kinds of training can develop local managers in a complementary way. It is argued that these elements exert a complementary influence on the corporate culture with an emphasis on values and rituals.