The good and the bad: The impact of cultural diversity on cooperative relationships

This paper aims at understanding what the consequences are of cultural diversity on co-operative relationships. Co-operation is considered through two different modes: the first one, called community based co-operation, is based on the need for belonging and the second mode, called complementary co-operation, is based on the search for strategic resources. The case of the team in charge of the integration process between France Telecom Mobiles and Orange UK is analysed through a cross-analysis framework combining the two modes of co-operation and six dimensions of intercultural diversity. Counter-intuitively, results suggest that cultural diversity has little influence on identity issues of co-operation, whereas it is mostly linked to strategic behaviours based on calculation. These findings imply that cultural diversity must not be seen as a difference between stable set of values and norms , but more as a way to explain inter-individual difficulties. We propose then factors that are likely to influence the impact of cultural diversity.