“Editing this special issue of IJCCM was lots of fun for us. Reading our authors’ insights on the Caribbean was fascinating for us (and we thought we knew the Caribbean!). We hope you will enjoy these metaphors that help understand management in the Caribbean. Please visit us in the Caribbean and help further research in the region – we are here to help anytime – contact BJ at eureka@caribsurf.com.”
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| Nyzinga Onifa (Joint Special Editor) |
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| Betty Jane Punnett, left & Akhentoolove Corbin, right (Philmore Alleyne, middle) at book launch of Management: A Developing Country Perspective (Routledge, 2012) |
IJCCM is a journal that intrigues many
people because of its innovative approaches that have practical consequences.
The articles in the journal are clearly organized, easy to read and provide
fresh, illuminating powerful, thought-provoking and informative ideas. The
Special Issue on Cultural Metaphors in the Caribbean is a good example of
IJCCM’s approach.
Many social scientists have devoted
themselves to the study of culture. In
this special issue there is a thought –provoking and informative set of articles
on “using cultural metaphors to understand management in the Caribbean”. The papers
are based on exploring Caribbean cultural metaphors and how they relate to
management. There is a lack of management research on the Caribbean and this
special issue begins to fill this gap.
Cultural metaphors, based on Gannon’s
(1994, 2001, 2004, 2008, 2010) seminal work in the field, offer an approach
that encourages probing into a society’s culture, while anchoring national
characteristics within dimensional frameworks where possible. This approach is useful for providing broad,
cross-cultural comparisons of value systems, attitudes and behaviours among
cultures.
It is our hope to spark enthusiastic
discussion, self introspection and awareness and change of management styles of
our own cultural roots and to deepen cross-cultural understanding. Cross-national managers and leaders in the
world and throughout the Caribbean can utilize this information to come to a
more profound understanding as to what motivates their business partners and
how best to forge effective leadership and personal ties with them.
The aim here is to encourage managers to
have a “geo-centric” perspective of how he or she will search for the best
approaches, management styles, motivational techniques, strategies and
solutions independent of where these ideas originate. Whether we are talking about No ball –
ethical management and social capital in the West Indian society, Calypso in
the Caribbean – a musical metaphor for Barbados, Caribbean liming a metaphor
for building social capital, Carry mi ackee go a Jamaican market – using ackee
as metaphor for the organization and environment of Jamaican business or Yoruba
proverbs as cultural metaphor for understanding management in the Caribbean, our
purpose is to show how international managers can work with employees and
managers from other cultures to help them understand why in a particular case,
doing things with a new approach and a different way makes sense.
We hope you will enjoy reading IJCCM
and our special issue with its unique insights into the Caribbean. BJ Punnett, University of the West Indies, Barbados
The Special Issues: Using Cultural Metaphors to Understand
Management in the Caribbean - IJCCM
12(3) December 2012
Special Editors: Akhentoolove Corbin, Betty Jane Punnett,
Nyzinga Onifa
- Editorial : Akhentoolove Corbin, Betty Jane Punnett, Nyzinga Onifa
- Carry mi ackee go a Jamaican market: Ackee as a metaphor for the organization and environment of Jamaican business, Margaret E Phillips, Andrea D Scott, Claire E Sutherland, Marisa P Gerla and Annette M Gilzene
- Caribbean Liming: A Metaphor for Building Social Capital, Reccia N. Charles & Ruth Clarke
- Calypso in the Caribbean: A musical metaphor for Barbados, Asha Rao and Yvonne Sedlaczek
- Yoruba proverbs as cultural metaphor for understanding management in the Caribbean, April Bernard and Adonis Diaz Fernandez
- No ball! Ethical management and social capital in West Indian society, Hercules Grant
