Latin Americans are culturally different from North Americans in ways that so far have been inaccurately portrayed in the management literature. This book argues that these differences merit a substantial overhaul of management theory and practice to make the best of the significantly untapped Latin American potential for creativity, innovation, and teamwork. This applies in organizations with North American ownership and management, whether they are based in the U.S. or Latin America. The book explains why the use of traditional North American research methods to capture cultural traits in th ... More

Latin Americans are culturally different from North Americans in ways that so far have been inaccurately portrayed in the management literature. This book argues that these differences merit a substantial overhaul of management theory and practice to make the best of the significantly untapped Latin American potential for creativity, innovation, and teamwork. This applies in organizations with North American ownership and management, whether they are based in the U.S. or Latin America. The book explains why the use of traditional North American research methods to capture cultural traits in the multi-cultural workforce is inappropriate. This practice produces a false picture of the cultural attributes and capabilities of Latin American managers and key staff. And this, in turn, leads to serious shortcomings in the development of appropriate motivation and leadership strategies and of appraisal and control instruments. Rather than relying on standardized surveys for measuring cultural attributes to underpin and develop such strategies and tools, the book suggests that managers look to the arts—particularly literature and cinema—for a richer and more useful alternative. It illustrates its points by reference to literary icons such as Argentina's Martin Fierro, Brazil's Macunaima, and America's Captain Ahab. The book uses a variety of case studies to demonstrate what we can learn from these iconographic characters and what we can expect of each other when we apply these lessons—whether we are leading, following, or working in self-directed teams.