Why Managers Should Not Treat Nationality as ‘Software of the Mind’

Managers encounter problems in their decision making when they treat ‘culture’ in the same way that they treat hard and comparable data. When they do, they would probably see culture as ‘software of the mind’, a set of characteristics shared by compatriots that instil certain unchangeable values. Managers expect this software inevitably leads to specific behaviour. But I believe that managers are better off treating culture as a repertoire of actions from which people can choose depending on the situation in which they find themselves.