Managing with cultural differences

Rethinking Political Correctness. By: Ely, Robin J., Meyerson, Debra E., Davidson, Martin N., Harvard Business Review, 00178012, Sep2006, Vol. 84, Issue 9

When people treat their cultural differences - and the conflicts and tensions that arise from them - as opportunities to seek a more accurate view of themselves, each other, and the situation, trust builds and relationships become stronger.


Robin J. Ely (rely@hbs.edu) is an associate professor of organizational behavior at Harvard Business School in Boston; she coauthored "Making Differences Matter: A New Paradigm for Managing Diversity" (HBR September-October 1996). Debra E. Meyerson (debram@stanford.edu) is an associate professor of education and organizational behavior at Stanford University's School of Education and (by courtesy) Graduate School of Business in California and the author of Tempered Radicals: How People Use Difference to Inspire Change at Work (Harvard Business School Press, 2001). Martin N. Davidson (mdav@virginia.edu) is an associate professor of leadership and organizational behavior at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.