CULTURAL DIMENSIONS Examine the role of two cultural dimensions on behavior.

Cultural dimensions Geert Hofstede (1980) had the idea of culture as “mental programming.” His famous IBM research study (1973): Asked IBM employees to fill out a survey asking people how they perceived their work environment. Asked 40 other countries (other cultures) to fill out the same survey used content-analysis of questionnaires He found cultural differences in mental programming. He called these differences cultural dimensions.

CULTURAL DIMENSIONS Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory is a framework for cross-cultural communication. describes the effects of a society's culture on the values of its members how these values relate to behavior, using a structure derived from factor analysis.

Hofstede’s Cultural dimensions Power distance: How individuals relate to power and authority. Collectivism vs. Individualism: Whether individuals see themselves as independent or dependent of a social group. Uncertainty avoidance: whether individuals see unknown situations as threatening or challenging. Femininity vs. Masculinity: whether cultures are based on feminine values (equality, cooperation and good relationships with people) or masculine values (competition).

Evaluation of Hofstede’s dimensions: Strengths Pioneering research at the time Rigorous research paradigm Replicated several times

Evaluation of Hofstede’s dimensions: Limitations Methodological considerations Cultural considerations

KEY TRAITS INDIVIDUALISTIC Uniqueness Achievement Freedom COLLECTIVISTIC Relationships Honor Heritage

1 “She’s got a style all of her own”US 2 “You, only better”US 3 “A more exhilarating way to provide for your family”Korea 4 “We have a way of bringing people closer together”Korea 5 “Celebrating a half-century of partnership”Korea 6 “How to protect the most personal part of the environment, your skin” US 7 “Our family agrees with this selection of home furnishings”Korea 8 “A leader among leaders”US 9 “Make your way through the crowd”US 10 “Your business success: Harmonising with (company name)”Korea Answers – how many did you get right? INDIVIDUALISTIC VS COLLECTIVISTIC

IS ROMANTIC LOVE UNIQUE TO INDIVIDUALISTIC CULTURES? LOVE Individualistic Collectivistic

LEVINE ET AL AIM METHOD FINDINGS CONCLUSION

LEVINE ET AL. 1995

ABSTRACT

LEVINE ET AL. 1995

Individualism vs Collectiivism

LEVINE ET AL All factors

CONCLUSION 1 – Love is more important for Western cultures than Eastern

CONCLUSION 2 – Same is true for maintenance of relationship Love is more important for Western cultures than Eastern

CONCLUSION 3 – Collectivism put less importance on Love than individualistic

CONCLUSION 4 – The more money made the more importance was put on Love

POWER DISTANCE Power distance: How individuals relate to power and authority. PDI – Power Distance Index extent to which power hierarchies are rigidly observed within a culture. the perception that power is unequally distributed within a society.

Power distance Smith (2010) Used a survey to compare France, Denmark and the USA. He wanted to determine the influence of power distance, masculinity vs. femininity, and uncertainty-avoidance on management styles France High on power distance → hierarchical management structure; High on uncertainty avoidance → need for regulations and structure; Feminine values – but power distance high so preference is ’authoritative management style’ Denmark Socialization encourages independence in ideas and beliefs. Critical towards authorities - low power distance. Comfortable with uncertainty; no need for many rules – prefer to discuss how to deal with issues. Feminine values, e.g. Janteloven: ”Don’t think you are anything special” Management style: subordinate management style where managers consult employees. USA Socialization encourages independence in ideas and beliefs but also respect for strong leaders; Society some hierarchy but not very steep – middle range in power distance. Americans want some rules and regulations but not that they interfere too much in their lives – so middle in uncertainty avoidance Masculine values (competition) but also feminine values (cooperation) Management style: a mix of subordinate and authoritative and managers which encourages individual initiate as well as team work.

EDWARD T. HALL THE INVISIBLE DIMENSION

Hall wrote a book in 1966 called The Hidden Dimension. After his experiences serving around the world in WW2 he noticed cultural differences in personal space, since we are more or less genetically the same he said that perceptions of personal space must be shaped by culture. HALL 1966

HALL PROXEMIC THEORY TIME CONSCIOUSNESS

Experimenters you will be measuring the personal space between the P’s in 3 scenarios. Intimate Space Social Space Public Space e.g. Between you and a stranger in public, such as waiting in the doctor surgery e.g. Between everyday encounters with friends and acquaintances in public e.g. Between best friends or lovers in private EXPERIMENT

Distance in trial 1 Distance in trial 2 Distance in trial 3 Intimate Space Social Space Public Space You should copy down your results on a table similar to this one. RESULTS

Public Zone ( cm) Social Zone ( cm) Intimate Zone (0 -45cm) You How do these compare to your results? Hall’s results

Hall’s main finding was that American’s engaged in conversation will assume a social distance of around cm, Where as in Europe the distance is around half that. This explains why Americans may feel uncomfortable engaging in conversations with Europeans. CROSS-CULTURAL FINDINGS

You have been queuing for a busy lift in a hotel. It is your turn to get into the lift with around 13 other strangers. Where do you look? Which way do you face? Do you talk to anyone? Hall said that when we are faced with compromises on our personal space we use tactics to protect ourselves e.g. Avoiding eye contact and conversation. This stops us feeling even more uncomfortable. SCENARIO

TIME CONSCIOUSNESS Monochronic cultures Only focus on one thing at a time High degree of scheduling Punctuality and meeting deadlines are highly valued Polychronic cultures Many things happen at once Focus is more on relationships and interactions Interruptions are expected (part of life) Little frustration when things are postponed or late

TIME CONSCIOUS Time conscious cultures: People focus on time commitments. They tend to develop plans with firm deadlines; Tend to be “future oriented;" People follow privacy rules about disturbing others; Time is a commodity that “can be wasted.” Tend to be work-oriented; People emphasize punctuality as a positive personal characteristic; People tend to be more literal; Focus more on verbal than non-verbal language use.

TIME CONSCIOUS HEALTH Stratham found that future- oriented individuals were more likely to have preventative medical check-ups and avoid risky health behaviors Cole et al (2001) found that a sense of time urgency is linked to increased risk of cardial infarction (heart attack). TASK PERFORMANCE Burnam (1975) found that those who are highly time conscious worked on a task with more effort - even if there was no deadline - than those who were low time-conscious. Glass (1974) found that under time pressure, the time- conscious individuals were more stressed, perhaps because they were more focused on the remaining time than the task itself.

How would Hall’s findings affect doing business cross-culturally? CRITICAL THINKING

CULTURAL DIMENSIONS EVALUATION Much of the research is correlational and does not establish a cause-and-effect relationship. Avoid ecological fallacy - cannot attribute these characteristics to individuals, but use them to describe the general behaviour of the group. There is some concern that the dimensions are simply a stereotypical view of culture. Triandis argues that these labels may be more helpful at an individual level than at a cultural level (Triandis) There is a need for prospective studies with regard to time-orientation. The difficulty with studying the effect of time- orientation on our health is that our health is multi- factorial, and it is difficult to isolate the effects of time consciousness. This if further complicated because time orientation in individuals can change over the life-span. Inductive content analysis depends on the trends that are identified by the researcher. Researcher bias can play a significant role in which trends are noticed. Hoefsted & Hoefstede (2001) have cited over 400 correlations of the IBM dimension scores with other studies results obtained in the 1970’s are consistent with scores obtained 30 years later. However, Hoefstede’s study was originally meant to describe organizational cultures and not national cultures.

CULTURAL DIMENSIONS EVALUATION Much of the research is correlational and does not establish a cause-and-effect relationship. Avoid ecological fallacy - cannot attribute these characteristics to individuals, but use them to describe the general behaviour of the group. There is some concern that the dimensions are simply a stereotypical view of culture. Triandis argues that these labels may be more helpful at an individual level than at a cultural level (Triandis) There is a need for prospective studies with regard to time-orientation. The difficulty with studying the effect of time- orientation on our health is that our health is multi- factorial, and it is difficult to isolate the effects of time consciousness. This if further complicated because time orientation in individuals can change over the life-span. Inductive content analysis depends on the trends that are identified by the researcher. Researcher bias can play a significant role in which trends are noticed.

CULTURAL DIMENSIONS EVALUATION Much of the research is correlational and does not establish a cause-and-effect relationship. Avoid ecological fallacy - cannot attribute these characteristics to individuals, but use them to describe the general behaviour of the group. There is some concern that the dimensions are simply a stereotypical view of culture. Triandis argues that these labels may be more helpful at an individual level than at a cultural level (Triandis) There is a need for prospective studies with regard to time-orientation. The difficulty with studying the effect of time- orientation on our health is that our health is multi- factorial, and it is difficult to isolate the effects of time consciousness. This if further complicated because time orientation in individuals can change over the life-span.

CULTURAL DIMENSIONS EVALUATION Much of the research is correlational and does not establish a cause-and-effect relationship. Avoid ecological fallacy - cannot attribute these characteristics to individuals, but use them to describe the general behaviour of the group. There is some concern that the dimensions are simply a stereotypical view of culture. Triandis argues that these labels may be more helpful at an individual level than at a cultural level (Triandis)

CULTURAL DIMENSIONS EVALUATION Much of the research is correlational and does not establish a cause-and-effect relationship.