cultural differences in romania

7/28/2019 Cultural Differences in Romania

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Cultural Differences Effects on

Complex Cognition & Operations22 October 007Innovative Organizations and Complex Systems

Ottawa, Canada

Rik Warren, PhD

Human Effectiveness Directorate

Air Force Research Laboratory


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Overview

Some example incidents Fundamental differences

Complex cognition & culture in general

Complexity in data

Complexity in theory & modeling

Complexity in methodology

Dimensions: Multiplicity & complexity in

Cultural dimensions

Perceptual & cognitive dimensions

Implications: more complexity and some simplicity


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ROSETTA PROJECT

INTERACTION

National Culture

Culture Acquired

Values, attitudes, influencesbehavior

Values

Basic convictions: what is right &wrong, good & bad, important &unimportant

Relatively stable: not subject tosudden shifts or impulses of themoment

Standard for judging behavior

KNOWN

UNKNOWN

Surface behaviors influenced by beneath-the-surface values andassumptions.

By knowing peoples values and beliefs, you can come to expect andpredict their behavior.


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Incidents

This is Wing Commander Jones

Right away, Sir!

This is Group Captain Jones

Please hold ... This is Dean Smith ...

Triandis in Individualism and collectivism:American manager in Greece

Why should we do his work!


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From a German officer

In my country, you speak up only if you have somethingimportant to add; silence is okay. In the U.S., however, peopleseem to feel its bad to be silent, and they will speak up, in ameeting for example, just to let others know that they are there.

Example of Culturally Based Behaviour


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In my country, you speak up only if you have somethingimportant to add; silence is okay. In the U.S., however, peopleseem to feel its bad to be silent, and they will speak up, in ameeting for example, just to let others know that they are there.Many of us interpret this behavior of the Americans as eitherstupidity or arrogance

From a British officer

Why dont the Americans down the hall just come and talk tome! They often leave me a voicemail instead of walking 10seconds to my desk or calling to speak to me directly, even whenthey know that Im hereThis seems very cold and impersonal tome.



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In my country, you speak up only if you have something

important to add; silence is okay. In the U.S., however, peopleseem to feel its bad to be silent, and they will speak up, in ameeting for example, just to let others know that they are there.Many of us interpret this behavior of the Americans as eitherstupidity or arrogance

From a British officer

Why dont the Americans down the hall just come and talk tome! They often leave me a voicemail instead of walking 10seconds to my desk or calling to speak to me directly, even whenthey know that Im hereThis seems very cold and impersonal tome.

From the American officer

I know Ive been accused by my colleagues of leaving them toomany voicemails, but from my perspective its simply a way ofnot interrupting them and giving them a message that they canlisten to when they have time to deal with it.



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Country Profiles


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Situations & Correct Action - 1

Ethics 101: Boat in trouble: Who to cast overboard?

Parents or children?

Why?

Why your answer is wrong.


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Situations & Correct Action - 2

Parable (Matt. 21): Father asks sons to work in field:

One says yes, but doesnt go

Other says no, but does go

? Who did the will of the father?

Collectivist cultures & harmony

Hofstede (1997, p. 58 re missionaries in Indonesia):

Action of secondary importance

Saying No caused father to loose face

Yes doesnt always mean yes in some cultures

Importance of saving own & others face

Duties of co-pilots


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Culture & Decision Making:

Air Accident Rates by Region

Western-built transport hull loss accidents, by accident site, 1991 through 2000*

1Insufficient fleet experienceto generate reliable rate.

*Departure Data used is Preliminary

Accidents permilliondepartures

United Statesand Canada

0.4

Latin America

and Caribbean

3.7

Europe

0.7

China2.5

Middle East

2.3

Africa

10.2

Asia

2.6

World

1.3

Oceania

0.5

(Excluding

China)

JAA - 0.5Non JAA - 5.5

C.I.S.1

Regional Perspective


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1 World Many Cultures

Different cultures view the world differently

Different cultures (re-)act differently to same information

Military: Distributed Operations, multinational coalitions


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Challenges

Appreciate utility of understanding culture

Others & ourselves

Magnitude of effects

Learn cultural etiquette & practices

Use of left hand, etc.

Understand Cultural Dimensions:

Perceptual, cognitive, decisional

Predict potential cooperation & conflicts Computable models of cultural interaction


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na y c v. o s cReasoning

Who: Westerners East Asians

World is made of : Discrete,independentobjects

Continuous &interactingelements

Perceptual: Field independentignore background

Field dependentinclude back- &foreground

Cognitive causalattribution: Simpleexplanationsinvolving fewelements

Complexexplanationsinvolving manyfactors

P t l & C iti


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Perceptual & CognitiveDimensions

Attribution:

Situational vs. Dispositional

Locus of Control

Intrinsic-Extrinsic Motivation

Field /Object Orientation Analytic vs. Holistic Reasoning

1 fish, 2 fish, red fish,

Dialectical Reasoning

Counterfactual Thinking

Categorization - similarity andrules


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Methodological Complexity

Previous slide: Apparent main effect of country

BUT: CAUTION: Different countries use ratingscales differently:

Mediterranean & Middle East: Important to

appear honest If you are asked a question, surely you know your own mind

Therefore, use extreme ends of a rating scale

East Asia: Important to appear modest If asked a question, surely you dont know everything especially

since everything is related to everything else

Therefore, use middle of a rating scale


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Simplicity vs. Complexity

If you look at things from the right angle ...


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Cultural Factors vs. Interaction How devise prediction equations? Predict what?

Lists of factors: Not predict interactions But interaction what we really want to know!

Nave: 50 factors -> 2,500 interaction terms

Better: directly observe interacting people

Tasks: decision making & resource allocation

Finesse 50x50 interaction terms & factors

Key: data chosen for analyses

Focus on predicting cooperation v conflict

Develop models of the interactions

Develop data collection tools & method


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Mathematics of Marriage

Gottman et al. (2002)

Couple discusses problem

Data: positivity, negativity of each spouse

If youd keep your trap shut and let me finish

Predict: Divorce, married-happy, -unhappy

Dynamic nonlinear (process) model

Discover explanatory parameters

Improve marriage therapy by targeting key parameters

Malcolm Gladwell - Blink


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Mathematics of Marriage


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Complexity Introduced by Culture can Affect:

Information Exchange

Coordination

Assigning Roles & Responsibilities

Support (error-checking)

imperfect situation awareness

inaccurate situation assessment, and

flawed or delayed decision making

Inability to Adapt


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Analytic vs Holistic Fish

cultural differences in romania

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