A Contrastive Study on Learning Mechanism of Sino-

Norwegian Bi-cultural Teleworking Teams

Lili Li, Bin He, Baozhen Liu, Jing Sun
School of Management, Guangdong University of Technology,
Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China
[email protected]

Abstract—In this paper, we make a contrastive study on the relating to learning behavior. It also refers to the companies’
learning mechanism between Chinese-led bi-cultural teleworking institutional structure and procedural arrangements when the
teams and Norwegian-led bi-cultural teleworking teams from related information is systematically processed [2].
basic learning mechanism and remote learning mechanism. And
then, we analyze the impact of cultural differences on learning The learning mechanism of BCT team contains various
mechanism, which is further verified through a typical case feature dimensions, which we sum up as shown in TableΣ.
analysis. Finally, we give several suggestions and strategies on
how to carry out study effectively for bi-cultural teleworking A. Goal Feature of Learning
teams.
Cultural difference is an important source of leading to
Keywords-bi-cultures; teleworking; learning mechanism; different learning goals. In Chinese culture, people respect
cultural differences group consciousness and collective values, emphasizing the
unity and identity of social groups [3], emphasizing teamwork.
“Modest and comity”, “keeping low profile” and “no showing
I. INTRODUCTION off” have always been the style of doing things by Chinese.
Bi-cultural teleworking teams (short for BTC teams) were
divided into balanced and unbalanced BCT teams. Balanced On the contrary, there is more emphasis on individual
BCT team is based on two different cultures, in which the differences in Norwegian culture. They take themselves as the
numbers of employees from the two cultures are equal. center in their world and like developing their own personality.
Unbalanced BCT team contains symbolic and non-symbolic They worship the spirit of personal struggle and independence.
BCT team. The symbolic BCT team means the proportion of
employees from one culture (for example less than 20%) is B. Content Feature of Learning
smaller than the other. Generally, in the symbolic BCT team, The cultural differences of knowledge and ability-
the major culture is the team’s dominant culture while in the orientation determine the focus of learning content between
balanced BCT team, the culture with mighty power (such as Norwegian and China is different. China is still primarily a
decision-making power or leadership) is the dominant culture. knowledge-oriented country, focusing on the inculcation of
theoretical knowledge. In Norway, the capacity is oriented,
In a BCT team, establishing a good learning mechanism is
they valued capacity-building in practice. Norwegians enjoy
very important. Since Peter Senge proposed the concept of
the nature, and are good at “learning from nature”.
Learning Organization, the organizational learning has been
gradually appreciated by executives. Meanwhile,
Organizational Learning and Learning Organization have C. Innovative Feature of Learning
become hot issues in management research field. However, few Highly affected by collectivism and uncertainty avoidance,
research involving BCT team’s learning was found so far[1]. Chinese used to learn directly from their predecessors’
empirical knowledge which they thought are completely
In this paper, aiming at Chinese-led bi-cultural teleworking correct, leaving little space for independent thinking, and
team and Norwegian-led bi-cultural teleworking team, we tending to “reception learning”. By contrast, with individualism
make a comparative study on their learning mechanisms and and the low level of uncertainty avoidance, innovative learning
analyze their cultural roots. What’s more, we also seek to find a such as “to break the routine,” are highly respected by
kind of learning mechanism which is fit for BCT team in order Norwegian culture [4].
to build learning BCT teams and improve the innovative
capability and competitiveness of the company further.
D. Participative Feature of Learning
Participative learning feature can be divided into
II. COMPARISON OF BASIC LEARNING MECHANISMS
independent learning and interactive learning according to the
BETWEEN CHINA AND NORWAY
amount of the two-way communication opportunities between
Learning mechanism can be defined as the inherent teachers and students.
mechanism of organizational learning and the operational mode
by which companies can coordinate the various elements Independent learning, by definition, refers to a kind of
learning process, in which students’ learning and the teacher's
Supported by National Natural Science Fund (No.70671029) and Natural
Science Found of Guangdong Province (No.9151009001000054).

978-1-4244-7161-4/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE

teaching is relatively independent processes. Interactive technology. It realizes the interaction among members of the
learning insists that students are the body and teachers are the network team and achieves real flow of resources. It more
guiders and focuses on two-way communication between stresses the dynamic learning [7] and in-depth study.
teachers and students. It emphasizes inquiry learning by mutual
cooperation. B. Means of Teleworking Learning
In Chinese-led BCT teams, the teleworking learning still
E. Inductive Feature of Learning has the passive feature and shows out the orientation of
Chinese prefer to study with logical thought or convergent “answer demands”. Team members (especially the Chinese
thought, which can be comprehended that starting from the players) find information online just for solving the problem of
overall and then one by one careful in-depth. They all follow teachers, and directly summarize the information as their
the sequence from whole to parts[5]. answer. They more concern with learning results instead of
learning process.
However, Norwegian is contrary to Chinese in terms of
time, space, or in the name arrangements. They get used to In Norwegian-led BCT teams, team members
study firstly from specific examples, and then analyze the comparatively tend to be more proactive, more communicative,
essence step by step. more inclined to "consult and discuss" on learning. The
member usually set their own “study community”, In short,
F. Shared Feature of Learning more emphasis is put on the learning process rather than
Learning shared feature different from learning results.
participation feature, can be divided into closed learning and
open learning from the level of information sharing among IV. CASE STUDY
colleagues.
A. Case Introduction
Closed learning is a kind of learning in which learners carry
their study activities by themselves and access the achievement Company M is a famous enterprise with high brand
independently, avoiding other people’s intervention or to share awareness. The company is headquartered in Norway, and the
their learning outcomes. Open learning is another kind of corporate culture to a large extent is a reflection of the
learning, in which the learners collaborate with each other Norwegian culture: equality, low-key, simple, and modern. To
through discussion, exchange and other means to conduct enter the Chinese market, the Norwegian branch headquarter
learning activities, share learning outcomes. deployed many management and technical personnel, and
employed a large Chinese staff familiar with the Chinese
market. The company established intranet within headquarters
III. COMPARISON OF LEARNING MECHANISMS IN BCT TEAM and branch offices, which was convenient for employees to
BETWEEN NORWEGIAN AND CHINESE send an e-mail at any time. The remote video conferences are
Teleworking learning is closely related to computer regularly held, aiming at grasping operating condition of
network, so it is called network learning as well. By means of branches with Chinese manager. Facing Chinese huge potential
information network, it crosses the time and geographical consumer market, the staff is looking forward to a good
constraints, and helps people to complete their study task development in China.
within or outside the organization, or in different regions, even The opening of company was relatively smooth, but a few
from different countries [6]. The main tools of teleworking months later, problems began to appear. In fact, there is a high
learning include electronic means (such as instant messaging, turnover rate of local staff. This puzzled the headquarters: we
online chat, e-mail, voice mail, real-time video conference and supplied a higher salary than other company, but failed to keep
non-real-time video conferencing), telephone (such as mobile the staff, why is it? Upon investigation, it was found that the
phone and cable telephone) and fax. Teleworking learning has management and technical staffs, brought from Norway,
many advantages as shown in TableĊ. occupy the company's key positions. When managing the
subordinates, they followed the task practice as that in Norway,
A. The Content of Teleworking Learning that is, let Chinese employees complete tasks freely without
The content of teleworking learning is the use of any specific job description. However, this way confused
information technology, to achieve synchronization and Chinese employees and they did not know what to do as they
interaction of remote teaching and learning, to realize the real have already gotten used to the clear task assignment.
exchange and sharing of resources. In a Chinese-led BCT team, Considering the cultural differences, the company began to set
"distance learning" just realize delivering learning information up specific task requirements for Chinese employees. After the
by the internet and video technology to remote team members. adjustment, the problem was solved gradually
It is more concerned about the technical aspects of learning Since Norwegian managers and Chinese employees
approaches and methods, emphasizing the importance of misunderstood each other, the company has gradually formed
"Network”. To some extent, it neglects the both sides and some different "small group", Chinese group and Norwegian
interactive of study, so it is surface learning. However, in the groups separately. Loud noises are often heard in the office of
Norwegian-led BCT group, teleworking learning achieve the Norwegian manager while the Chinese managers keep silent at
purpose of connecting learners, learners and teachers, learning most time. Language and cultural barriers led to the
communities and learning resources through using information contradictions of the management level. Apparently, staffs
accept direct orders from their superiors, but in fact, they are “cultural similarities” to the mind of both staff and form
controlled by their "small group". Meanwhile, the huge gap of harmonious coexistence, cultural differences will not be
salary between Norwegian and Chinese staff aggravated the excluded in the subconscious of employees. Even if the cultural
conflict, a large number of front-line employees worked conflict occur, it is not difficult to alleviate.
inefficiently, which led to a big obstacle on company's daily
operations. Facing the badly situation which we sum up as b) Send Local Staff to Visit Overseas
shown in Table ċ , the headquarters decided to send some Culture is formed in the long-term accumulation, for a
senior leaders to China to handle those problems. After further thorough understanding of a culture, experience is the best
efforts to increase cultural training and have personnel changes, way. Sending staff abroad and letting them experience the
internal conflicts have solved gradually. foreign culture can reduce subjective bias, broaden horizons
and increase communication skills, thereby improve their
B. Case Analysis cross-cultural management skills.
1) Impact of Cultural Differences on Learning c) Cross-cultural Training of Norwegian Managers
Mechanism Generally, the employees assigned to the Chinese
The cultural differences create different ideas, behavior, subsidiary have been working for some years with good
communication, decision-making and other aspects, such experience. These staffs are more or less ethnocentric. Affected
differences are reflected in learning behaviors as well. In our by Norwegian culture, they often operate the Chinese company
case, Chinese workers were used to self-learning without any using Norwegian experience and manage Chinese employees
interaction with others, and this learning behavior was with Norwegian rules. In our case, as Norwegian manager did
misunderstood as “lack of sincerity” by Norwegian. not pay enough attention to cultural differences, the high
Norwegians paid more attention to equality, and often hold turnover rate of Chinese staff occurred consequentially.
different views while Chinese people thought it would lead to Therefore, cross-cultural training of Norwegian managers
“disharmony”. Figure 1 summarizes the performance of should not be ignored.
conflict behavior in our case.
d) Guide Staffs Develop Independent Learning Needs.
2) Underlying Causes of Conflict in Learning Behavior As interest is the best teacher, a team should inspire
Learning behavior conflict exists in every growing stage of employees to self-study rather than force them (especially the
BCT team with differences in strength. From the perspective of Chinese members) to learn. For example, both taking
cultural integration, the cultural development of BCT team is appropriate incentives and eliminating learning obstacle are
divided into four phases: exploration, collision, integration and good ways to reach this purpose.
innovation phase. In the exploration phase, BCT team members
e) The Establishment of Anonymous Online Community
began to identify their own cultural background and understand
the cultural differences and conflicts by their own way. When Norwegian culture is a typical dialogue culture,
entering collision phase, these two cultures will fight against Norwegians speak bluntly and often have "war of words" when
each other directly. To the integration phase, the cultural discussing. Even when blaming someone, they do not like
interaction, mutual adjustments and the gradual integration will beating around the bush. Chinese culture is a typical listening
rise. Innovation phase is to create new culture belong to BTC one, Chinese employees seldom initiate discussions or
team. Learning behavior conflict often happens in collision and conversations. They like to listen carefully. Then respond to
integration phase as in Figure 2. these arguments and form their own point of view and express
their views after careful consideration. For this reason, it is
3) Recommendations for Effective Learning difficult for Chinese employees to grab the “voice” in the face
Due to the direct contact of different cultures, the learning to face meeting. Such differences often lead to
behavior conflict is inevitable. As the implementation phase of misunderstandings of Norwegian staffs. Norwegian may think
cultural integration, monitoring "obstacle focus" is the most that Chinese are selfish and afraid to share knowledge with
important thing during collision period. "Obstacles Focus" is others while Chinese members think that Norway staffs are too
the key obstacles in the process of cultural integration. In our arrogant. Within the company, "an anonymous online
case, the solution is to help enterprise to grasp cultural community" is one way to resolve this contradiction.
differences, improve the quality and cross-cultural competence "Anonymous Internet community" can provide Chinese
of managers, to establish suitable learning mechanism, carry employee a space to fully express their views to managers and
out effective learning activities (focusing on effective culture other team members (especially Norwegian staff) and share
training), and eventually establish the core values which their views with careful consideration.
employees share each other. Specific recommendations and
measures are listed as follows: V. CONCLUSION
This paper conducts a comparative analysis on the learning
a) Search for Common Cultural Points.
mechanism of Sino-Norwegian teleworking teams from the
In this case, as both sides saw just the cultural differences cross-cultural perspective. And we give some suggestions to
instead of the common point, there were lack of mutual respect carry out effective learning for Sino-Norwegian teleworking
and understanding for cultural differences, leading to the teams. For the time being, we have designed and developed
separation within the company. If the manager can infiltrate relevant management experimental system of bi-cultural
teleworking teams, and finished part of the hypothesis-testing [3] Tan Xihua, Differences of thinking Mode and Value orientation in
for the above learning mechanism. As the space is limited here, Cross-cultural Communication. Hubei Social Sciences, vol. 7, 2006.
we will discuss the experimental system and experimental [4] He Bin, Sun Jing, Hans Olav Omland.Cross-cultural Teleworking
Virtual Team and Its Management.The 5th International Symposium For
results further in an additional paper. Corporate Governance, Nov. 2009, pp. 689-695.
[5] Cai Jiansheng, Cross-Cultural Survival—The success in foreign
companies. Nanfang Daily Press, 2005.
[6] Li Zheying, Management experiment research on telework team.
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[7] Huang Ronghuai, Zahng Zhenhong, Chen Geng, Xu Zheng, Online
[1] Dai Wanwen, Zhao Shuming, The cross-cultural impact on Learning: Learning really happened yet? - Cross-cultural context in the
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TABLE I. COMPARISON OF LEARNING MECHANISM OF BI-CULTURAL TELEWORKING TEAMS BETWEEN CHINA AND NORWAY
Dimensions Chinese-led BCT team Norwegian-led BCT team Relevant Cultural Dimensions

Catch up with others Surpass the others

Goal feature of Learning Uncertainty Avoidance Knowledge-
Tendency to identify Seek differences
oriented /
Focus on the inculcation of Value capacity-building in Capacity-oriented
Content Feature of Learning theoretical knowledge practice Listening Culture /
Reception Learning Innovative Learning Dialogue Culture
Innovative feature of Learning
Collectivism /
Participative feature of Learning Independent Learning Interactive Learning
Individualism
Inductive feature of Learning Deductive learning Inductive Learning
Shared feature of Learning Closed learning Open learning

TABLE II. COMPARISON OF TELEWORK LEARNING MECHANISM OF BI-CULTURAL TELEWORKING TEAMS BETWEEN
CHINA AND NORWAY
Dimensions Relevant Cultural
Chinese-led BCT team Norwegian-led BCT team
Dimensions
Teleworking learning Concern about the technical Concern about the learning level Power distance
content aspects (surface learning) (in-depth study) Individualism/collectivism
Teleworking learning the type of answer demands The type of consultation and 
ways discussion

TABLE III. PROBLEMS IN CULTURAL TRAINING

Chinese employees Norwegian employees

Classroom performance Indifference and speak no too much Full of curiosity and love to ask questions
Examination results Unexpected (excellent) Unsatisfactory (poor)
Cultural Norwegian colleagues often make a fuss and have Chinese colleagues are not very friendly, and lack
Misunderstanding endless questions. genuine interaction.

Accustomed to Active Learning

no specific job
obey˄Passive Unadapted Adapted ˄Unwilling to be
description;
learning˅ controlled˅ Collision
period

Learning is their
Norwegian is too Learning is a
own business
Misunderstanding curious, and Chinese is Misunderstanding common thing
˄Closed
not too sincere; ˄Open learning˅
learning˅ Exploration
period Innovation
Integration Period
Little opposition, Norwegian is not too period
For things, but not
focusing on face friendly to others and
Misunderstanding Misunderstanding for people, Speak
and behave Chinese is not too
out freely
moderately enthusiastic about work;
Time

Figure 2. Culture integration process in BTC team [8]

Figure 1. The performance of learning behavior conflict