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Does Cultural Synergy Exist?
Chinese, German and Indonesian Management Behaviors in Complex Dynamic Situations

International mobility and co-operation in multicultural and multidisciplinary teams are an ever more frequent necessity in the realm of globalization. The word „Synergy“ has a magic appeal. Culturally determined differences may either act as obstacles to productive co-operation in multicultural teams or become a source of creativity and higher achievement (Adler, 1986).

This study focused to investigate systematically the influence of culture and the effect of performance in the management behaviors of Chinese, German and Indonesian workgroup in dealing with complex dynamic situations (Doerner, 1996).

Seventeen Chinese, fifteen German and seventeen Indonesian workgroups @ three persons were studied in laboratory settings using business simulation SYNTEX. SYNTEX is a computer simulated dynamic system where participants have to manage a textile company in a fictive country. An enhanced cross-cultural analysis techniques proposed by Tjitra (2001) was used to elaborate if the differences of the management behaviors in Chinese, German and Indonesian workgroups are influenced by their culture or are the effects of their performance. The results showed the existence of different ways to achieve similar goal in Chinese, German and Indonesian management behavior (Equifinality) as well as that the one best way for one culture is not necessarily the same for others (Cultural Contingency).

The Complex Structure of the SYNTEX-Software variable

Complex Dynamic Situations

SYNTEX Simulation
Process Approach
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