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Dancing on a Tightrope: Globalization, Deterritorialization, and Standardization in Multicultural Environment

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Abstract

The article introduces a new perspective on the impact of globalization on identity formation, which marks a shift from traditional understandings of fixed territorial (cultural) identities. It uses Deleuze and Guattari’s theoretical terms of Deterritorialization and Reterritorialization and establishes these as the essence of Globalization Scholte (Globalization: A Critical Introduction, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2005), rejecting the pessimism and fear of cultural imperialism as a by-product of globalization or a fear of standardization in multicultural work environments. It presents globalization as a positive force creating new assemblages and a renewed understanding of ourselves in the contemporary society. The approach contributes to leadership and management literature, specifically in International Business and cross-cultural communication contexts, by presenting a new lens through which leaders and decision makers can view the subtle shifts brought about by the dissemination of global modernity and its impact on identity formation, allowing them to better lead a culturally diverse work force.

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Notes

  1. Deterritorialization is defined as the movement or process by which something escapes or departs from a given territory, where a territory can be a system of any kind and reterritorialization refers to the ways in which deterritorialized elements recombine and enter into new relations in the constitution of a new assemblage or the modification of the old. For a better understanding, see Deleuze and Guattari’s A Thousand Plateaus, pp. 508–10.

  2. The figure of the nomad stands for the power of the virtual, or the war machine. The nomad is a tendency toward deterritorialization, Deleuze and Guattari argue, that can be found to some degree in all phenomena.

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  1. Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, 130, Chintan, Prabandh Nagar, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, 226013, India

    Medha Bakhshi

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Bakhshi, M. Dancing on a Tightrope: Globalization, Deterritorialization, and Standardization in Multicultural Environment. Philosophy of Management (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40926-024-00248-9

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