Prentice Hall 2003 Chapter 3 1

Understanding the Role of Culture

Chapter 3

Prentice Hall 2003 Chapter 3 2

Chapter 3 - Overview

Culture and its effects on organizations Cultural variables Cultural value dimensions The Internet and culture Developing cultural profiles Culture and management styles around the world

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Environmental Variables Affecting Management Functions

(Exhibit 3-1) National Variables

Economic system Physical situationLegal system TechnologicalPolitical system know-how

Sociocultural VariablesReligion

EducationLanguage

Cultural VariablesValuesNormsBeliefs

AttitudesWorkTimeMaterialism

IndividualismChange

Individual and Group Employee Job BehaviorMotivation CommitmentProductivity Ethics

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Common Cultural Terms

Cultural savvy is a working knowledge of the cultural variables affecting management decisions.

Cultural sensitivity or cultural empathy is an awareness and an honest caring about another individual’s culture.

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What is Culture?

The culture of a society comprises the shared values, understandings, assumptions, and goals that are learned from earlier generations, imposed by present members of a society, and passed on to succeeding generations.

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Definitions of Cultural Terms

Self-reference criterion refers to the unconscious reference point of one’s own cultural values.

Parochialism occurs when a Frenchman, for example, expects those from or in another country to automatically fall into patterns of behavior common in France.

Ethnocentrism describes the attitude of those who operate from the assumption that their ways of doing things are best – no matter where or under what conditions they are applied.

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Subcultures

Many countries comprise diverse subcultures whose constituents conform only in varying degrees to the national character.

In Canada, for example, distinct subcultures include anglophones and francophones (English-speaking and French-speaking people) and indigenous Canadians.

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Cultural Variables(Identified by Harris and Moran)

Kinship: A kinship system is the system adopted by a given society to guide family relationships.

Education: The formal or informal education of workers in a foreign firm, received from whatever source, greatly affects the expectations placed on those workers in the workplace.

Economy: Whatever the economic system, the means of production and distribution (and the resulting effects on individuals and groups) has a powerful influence on such organizational processes as sourcing, distribution, incentives, and repatriation of capital.

Politics: The system of government in a society, whether democratic, Communist, or dictatorial, imposes varying constraints on an organization and its freedom to do business.

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Cultural Variables(contd.)

Religion: The spiritual beliefs of a society are often so powerful that they transcend other cultural aspects.

Associations: many and various types of associations arise out of the formal and informal groups that make up a society.

Health: The system of health care in a country affects employee productivity, expectations, and attitudes toward physical fitness and its role in the workplace.

Recreation: Closely related with other cultural factors, recreation includes the way in which people use their leisure time, as well as their attitudes toward leisure and their choice of whom to socialize with.

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What are Values?

Values are a society’s ideas about what is good or bad, right or wrong – such as the widespread belief that stealing is immoral and unfair. Values determine how individuals will probably respond in any given circumstance.

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Project GLOBE Cultural Dimensions

Assertiveness: refers to how much people in a society are expected to be tough, confrontational and competitive versus modest and tender.

Future Orientation: refers to the level of importance a society attaches to future-oriented behaviors such as planning and investing in the future.

Performance Orientation: measures how important performance improvement and excellence is in a society.

Humane Orientation: refers to the extent to which a society encourages and rewards people for being fair, altruistic, generous, caring, and kind.

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GLOBE Research ProjectSelected Findings

(Example of countries for each factor)

Factor Least Medium Most

Assertiveness Sweden Egypt Spain

PerformanceOrientation Russia Sweden USA

FutureOrientation Russia Slovenia Denmark

Humane Orientation Germany (West) Hong Kong Indonesia

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Hofstede’s Value Dimensions

Power distance is the level of acceptance by a society of the unequal distribution of power in institutions.

Uncertainty avoidance refers to the extent to which people in a society feel threatened by ambiguous situations.

Individualism refers to the tendency of people to look after themselves and their immediate family only and neglect the needs of society.

Masculinity refers to the degree of traditionally “masculine” values that prevail in a society.

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Power Distance(Selected Countries)

High Orientation Toward Authority Low

MAL FRA JPN US AUT

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Uncertainty Avoidance(Selected Countries)

High Desire for Stability Low

GRE FRA GER US SIN

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Individualism(Selected Countries)

High Low

Individualism Collectivism

AUL US FRA MEX SIN

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Masculinity(Selected Countries)

HighLow

Assertive/Materialistic Relational

JPN US FRA CHC SWE

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Country Clusters

Ronen and Shenkar (synthesizing Hofstede’s research and other cluster studies) developed eight country clusters based on the following factors:– the importance of work goals– need fulfillment and job satisfaction– managerial and organizational variables– work role and interpersonal orientation

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Trompenaar’s Value Dimensions

The Universalistic approach applies rules and systems objectively, without consideration for individual circumstances; whereas the Particularistic approach puts the obligation toward relationships first and is more subjective.

In the Neutral versus Affective dimension, the focus is on the emotional orientation of relationships.

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Trompenaar’s Value Dimensions(contd.)

Managers in Specific-oriented cultures separate work and personal issues and relationships. In Diffuse-oriented cultures there is spill-over from the work into the personal relationship and vice-versa.

In an Achievement society the source of status and influence is based on individual achievement. In an Ascription-oriented society, people ascribe status on the basis of class, age, gender, etc.

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Critical Operational Value Differences

Time: differences in temporal values“the clock is always running” vs. “mañana” which

means “tomorrow” in Latin America or “bukra” which

means “tomorrow” or “some time in the future” in

Arabic.

Change: based largely on long-standing religious beliefs, values regarding the acceptance of change and the pace of change can vary immensely among cultures.

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Critical Operational Value Differences(contd.)

Material factors: Americans’ attitude toward nature – that it is there to be used for their benefit – differs from the attitudes of Indians or Koreans, for example, whose worship of nature is part of their religious belief.

Individualism: Americans tend to value individual achievement over group goals; for others, conformity and cooperation takes precedence over individual achievement.

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The American-Japanese Cultural Divide(Exhibit 3-10)

Japanese American

Patience

Man within nature Man controlling natureCaution Risk-takingIncremental improvement Bold initiativeDeliberation SpontaneityAdherence to form ImprovisationSilence OutspokennessMemorization Critical thinkingEmotional sensitivity Logical reasoningIndirectness Clarity and franknessAssuaging ConfrontingAvoiding ThreateningConsensus building Decisiveness

Action

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The American-Japanese Cultural Divide(contd.)

Japanese American

Harmony

Conformity IndividualityGroup convention Personal principleTrusted relationships Legal safeguardsCollective strength Individual independenceMaintain the group Protect the individualModest resignation Righteous indignationSaving face Being heardOppressive unanimity Chaotic anarchyHumble cooperation Proving oneself

Freedom

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The American-Japanese Cultural Divide(contd.)

Japanese American

Hierarchy

Rewarding seniority Rewarding performanceLoyalty Track recordGeneralists SpecialistsObligations OpportunitiesUntiring effort Fair effortShame GuiltDependency AutonomyDutiful relationships Level playing fieldIndustrial groups Industrial competitionStrict ranking Ambiguous/informal rankingRacial differentiation Racial equalityGender differentiation Gender equality

Equality