HYBRID HRM AS A FRAMEWORK FOR HANDLING CULTURAL DOMINANCE ISSUES AT WORK

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of cultural dominance, which is overlooked in Human Resources Management (HRM) and in management studies. Foreign call-center agents are required to assimilate into their Western clients’ culture and have therefore developed response strategies in an effort to limit the contradictions between the target culture and their culture of origin. Can one impose a Western cultural identity on Tunisian employees? Can one make Muslim workers adopt the French principle of ‘laïcité’ (secularism) or Judeo-Christian traditions? Based on a study of 55 teleoperators and managers of two Tunisian call centers subcontracting for French multinationals, our findings reveal that the implementation of hybridized HRM practices that consider both local and global requirements can result in workers accepting foreign cultural dominance. The study points out the potential consequences of cultural dominance on workers and their companies, and it identifies a set of HRM and managerial practices that can be mobilized to handle this issue. The article also highlights the interest of both the ambidextrous and the organizational hypocrisy models in decrypting complex cross-cultural situations.