1.1 Introduction

Having lived and navigated through various cultures around the world, we came to the decision to write a text book on the fundamentals of international organizational behavior. Between the two of us, we have worked in South East Asia, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Canada, the US, South America, and even conducted workshops in Africa. In this book, we have made conscious effort to include case studies or vignettes that are based on our experiences or experiences of others that we know or came into contact with in our work across different cultures.

The inspiration to write this book came when both of us met at ESADE Business School and were teaching courses on Organizational Behavior to students that came from different parts of the globe and raised many issues that required us to relate our experiences in the global environment in the classroom. We also ensured that this book covered influential theories such as Experiential Learning Theory that would help faculty and students focus on engaging in the process of learning. As such, this book has been written and designed for college students who are taking their first course in organizational behavior and who are interested in international business or management. We have also designed this book to provide historical and fundamental aspects or organizational behavior so as to cater to the diversity of knowledge and related experience in the fields of psychology, sociology or business.