Activity Theory as a lens for considering culture: A descriptive case study of a multinational company developing and supporting training around the world

Abstract

Activity Theory has often been used in the literature as a way to examine human activity, but the bulk of that work has been done in educational settings. Where it has been used in workplace environments, it has typically been used to enhance theoretical understandings of work and the humans who engage in work. It has not typically been used with an eye to advancing the business causes of the companies it has been used with. In addition, it has not been used internationally with multi-national companies. This is a shame, for with its Elements of Activity and its idea of contradiction, Activity Theory does seem to hold much promise for being able to shed light on cultural issues encountered by companies operating across national boundaries.

This research presents a descriptive case study of a company using Activity Theory to shed light on the potential cultural conflicts the company faced as it designed and developed training interventions for use in its affiliates around the globe. The research focused on being practical--on creating tools the company could use, and on detailing the methodology sufficiently that other instructional designers could employ Activity Theory in a similar way in other situations which they felt were relevant.

Although Activity Theory was not completely internalized by the company, with the assistance of a facilitator coaching them in its use the company was able to use the theory to avoid cultural conflicts, enhance understandings about cultural conflicts which did occur, debrief cross-cultural training interventions, identify improvements for future training interventions, and publicly share internally held cultural knowledge and beliefs.