In a global economy, success depends on accurately reading and responding to environmental complexity and competition (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1989, 2000). Organizational learning would appear to be a prerequisite for surviving in the global context (de Geus, 1988: 7; Hamel and Prahalad, 1994). Moreover, the diversity of peoples and environments in which multinational corporations (MNCs) operate should increase the potential number and sources of innovations and learning. As Cohen and Levinthal note, ‘interactions across individuals who each possess diverse and different knowledge structures will augment the organization’s capacity for making novel linkages and associations—innovating—beyond what any one individual can achieve’ (1990: 133). The MNC can thus be seen as a set of networked repositories of knowledge and capabilities (Leonard-Barton, 1995; Kogut and Zander, 1992; Gupta and Govindarajan, 1991; Zander and Zander, 2010). Makino and Inkpen’s chapter in this Handbook focuses attention on the fact that potential for learning—what they term exploration—can in fact lead MNCs to invest in other countries. While there has been some research into how MNCs can tap the knowledge potential of their global networks of people and units (e.g. Nohria and Ghoshal, 1997), the exploration of the processes that enhance global knowledge transfer is still growing (e.g. Brannen and Peterson, 2009; Reiche et al., 2009).
The need to understand the processes of global knowledge transfer is especially important because there is some evidence to suggest that many MNCs fail to tap the knowledge or leverage the learning that occurs within them (Nohria and Ghoshal, 1997; Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1989). For example, expatriates and repatriates are potential conduits of organizational learning (e.g. Antal, 2001; Fink, Meirewert, and Rohr, 2005). Few firms, however, formally harvest their knowledge (Oddou, Osland, and Blakeney, 2009). Many expatriates find that the knowledge they have gained during their sojourns abroad concerning the foreign environment is ignored once they return to HQ, with little or no attempt to archive and distribute the learning that has occurred (Osland, 1995; Kamoche, 1996). One of the major challenges facing global firms is to develop processes and policies that will more effectively integrate the knowledge and experience of repatriates (Bernhut, 2001; Birkinshaw, 2001). Another challenge is knowing when and how to utilize expatriates in the knowledge transfer process. Fang et al. (2010) found that the type of knowledge and timing determined the impact of knowledge transfer by expatriates on the performance of foreign subsidiaries.
Given the limited success of MNCs in transferring knowledge, and the paucity of research on global organizational learning, this chapter will introduce one of the key barriers to global organizational learning: intercultural communication. Intercultural communication is defined as a ‘symbolic process in which people from different cultures create shared meanings’ (Lustig and Koester, 1999: 52). The basic research question posed in this chapter is: What factors in the intercultural communication process affect organizational learning and prevent global organizations from sharing and transferring the information and knowledge at both the individual and group level?
There are very few studies that deal with the link between intercultural communication and organizational learning (e.g. Heavens and Child, 1999). Therefore, this chapter is a conceptual piece based on a review of both literatures and our own experience with global organizations. The chapter begins by first examining the role of communication in global organizational learning. Next, we introduce the basic concepts of intercultural communication and identify the aspects that most directly affect knowledge transfer. We explore the relationship between stages of intercultural sensitivity, which we examine through the lens of cultural intelligence (Ang and Van Dyne, 2008; Early and Ang, 2003) and the readiness to learn. We focus on the trigger events (Osland, Bird, and Gundersen, 2008) or ‘aha’ moments (Napier, 2010; Napier and Taylor, 2010) that can move people and organizations to higher levels of sensitivity. Finally, we discuss the practical implications that an understanding of intercultural communication has for organizational learning in global organizations and examine how overcoming barriers to intercultural communication can imbue organization members with capabilities that enhance knowledge creation and transfer. Finally, we offer directions future research can follow in addressing this aspect of global organizational learning.