Negotiating Organizational Communication Cultures in American Subsidiaries Doing Business in Thailand

Abstract

The goal of this project was to study organizational communication cultures in U.S.-Thai parent-subsidiary organizations doing business in Thailand and to then ascertain to what degree employees at the subsidiary locations participated in the creation of their organizational communication cultures. To understand the extent to which Thai employees perceived and negotiated aspects of organizational life, the idea of negotiated cultures was developed. Negotiated cultures characterize local employee participation and negotiation as a struggle about the legitimacy of whose norms/style (those of the parent or the subsidiary) would be used in the subsidiary location.