Abstract
The general Western view of life under socialist regimes was not merely distorted by prevailing images of the ubiquity of the secret police, but by a failure of imagination to grasp that ordinary people in the countries concerned led lives that kept the intrusions of the state at bay. It is major thesis of this chapter that the workplace was paradoxically the locale of this rarely recognized form of subtle dissent. This conviction raises important issues about what we can regard as normal behavior in socialist regimes and the cultural standards that are associated with it. One feature of this normal behavior is that people for reasons of survival and self-protection exchanged a considerable amount of tacit knowledge with each other.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Baecker, D. (2002), Lenin’s Twist, or the R-Factor of Communication, in: Soziale Systeme, Vol.8, 1, 2002, pp.88–100.
Baecker, D. (2000), Ernste Kommunikation, in: Bohrer, K. H. (ed.), Sprachen der Ironie, Sprachen des Ernstes, Frankfurt a. M. 2000, pp.389–403.
Best, H. (2005), Cadres into Managers. Structural Changes of East German Economic Elites Before and After Reunification, in: Historical Social Research, Vol.30,2, 2005, pp.6–24.
Brunner, O. (1980), Das “ganze Haus” und die alteuropäische “Ökonomik”, in: Brunner, O. (ed.), Neue Wege der Verfassungs-und Sozialgeschichte, 3rd ed., Göttingen 1980, pp.103–127.
Fink, G., Feichtinger, C. (1998), The Collective Culture Shock in Transition Countries. Theoretical and Empirical Implications, in: Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol.19,6, 1998, pp.302–309.
Fink, G., Holden, N. (2005a), Introduction. The Global Transfer of Management Knowledge, in: The Academy of Management Executive, Vol.19,2, 2005, pp.5–8. 7. Fink, G., Holden, N. (2005b), Guest Editorial. Absorption and Application of Management Knowledge, in: Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol.20, 7, 2005, pp.560-565.
Fink, G., Holden N. (2002), Collective Culture Shock. Contrastive Reactions to Radical Systemic Change, IEF Working Paper 45, October 2002.
Fink, G., Lehmann, M. (2006), People’s Twist. The Cultural Standard of “Loyalty” and Performance in Former “Socialist Economies”, in: Pauleen, D. (ed.), Crosscultural Perspectives on Knowledge Management, Westport, Connecticut 2006.
Friel, D. (2005), Transferring a Lean Production Concept from Germany to the United States. The Impact of Labor Laws and Training systems, in: The Academy of Management Executive, Vol.19,2, 2005, pp.50–58.
Glisby, M., Holden, N. (2005), Applying Knowledge Management Concepts to the Supply Chain. How a Danish Firm Achieved a Remarkable Breakthrough in Japan, in: The Academy of Management Executive, Vol.19,2, 2005, pp.85–89.
Hahn, A. (2004), Wohl dem, der eine Narbe hat. Identitäten und ihre soziale Konstruktion, in: Moos, P. v. (ed.), Unverwechselbarkeit. Persönliche Identität und Identifikation in der vormodernen Gesellschaft, Köln, Weimar, Wien 2004, pp.43–62.
Hurt, M., Hurt, S. (2005), Transfer of Managerial Practices by French Food Retailers to Operations in Poland, in: The Academy of Management Executive, Vol.19,2, pp.36–49.
Javidan, M. et al. (2005), Cross-border Transfer of Knowledge. Cultural Lessons from Project GLOBE, in: The Academy of Management Executive, Vol.19,2, 2005, pp.59–76.
Kayes, D. C., Kayes, A. B., Yamazaki, Y. (2005), Essential Competencies for Crosscultural Knowledge Absorption, in: Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol.20,7, 2005, pp.578–589.
Kittsteiner, H. D. (2000), Erkenne die Lage. Über den Einbruch des Ernstfalls in das Geschichtsdenken, in: Bohrer, K. H. (ed.), Sprachen der Ironie, Sprachen des Ernstes, Frankfurt a. M. 2000, pp.233–252.
Koivisto, J. V. (1999), The Concept of Cultural Crossing as a Tool for Analysing Cross-cultural Organisations, Department of Intercultural Communication and Management, Copenhagen Business School, CBS Occasional Paper, February 1999.
Kuznetsov, A., Yakavenka, H. (2005), Barriers to the Absorption of Management Knowledge, in: Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol.20,7, 2005, pp.566–577.
Lunnan, R. et al. (2005), Cultural Counterpoints, Global Transfer of Management Practices Across Nations and MNC Subcultures, in: The Academy of Management Executive, Vol.19,2, 2005, pp.77–80.
May, R. C., Puffer, S. M., McCarthy, D. J. (2005), Transferring Management Knowledge to Russia. A Culturally Based Approach, in: The Academy of Management Executive,Vol. 19,2, 2005, pp.24–35.
Napier, N. K. (2005), Knowledge Transfer in Vietnam. Starts, Stops, and Loops, in: Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol.20,7, 2005, pp.621–636.
Nonaka, I., Takeuchi, H. (1995), The Knowledge-creating Company, New York 1995.
Paik, Y., Choi, D. Y. (2005), The Shortcomings of a Standardized Global Knowledge Management System. The Case Study of Accenture, in: The Academy of Management Executive, Vol.19,2, 2005, pp.81–84.
Paríková, M. (2004), Ehre der Arbeit! Disziplinierung durch Arbeit. Marxistische Konzepte und Realität in der Slowakei, in: Roth, K. (ed.), Arbeit im Sozialismus. Arbeit im Postsozialismus, Münster 2004, pp.49–58.
Rorty, R. (1989), Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity, Cambridge, Massassuchetts 1989.
Thomas, A. (1993), Kulturvergleichende Psychologie. Eine Einführung, Göttingen et al. 1993.
Vance, C. M., Paik, Y. (2005), Forms of Host-country National Learning for Enhanced MNC Absorptive Capacity, in: Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol.20,7, 2005, pp.590–606.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag | GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fink, G., Holden, N., Lehmann, M. (2007). Survival by Subversion in Former Socialist Economies: Tacit Knowledge Exchange at the Workplace*. In: Oesterle, MJ. (eds) Internationales Management im Umbruch. Deutscher Universitätsverlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-8350-9378-2_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-8350-9378-2_12
Publisher Name: Deutscher Universitätsverlag
Print ISBN: 978-3-8350-0542-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-8350-9378-2
eBook Packages: Business and Economics (German Language)