Chapter 3 Understanding the Role of Culture © 2006 Prentice Hall

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 © 2006 Prentice Hall

Key Terms Culture Savvy Cultural Sensitivity or Cultural Empathy Culture of a society Self reference criterion Parochialism Ethnocentrism © 2006 Prentice Hall

Culture Savvy A working knowledge of the cultural variables affecting management decisions Return © 2006 Prentice Hall

Cultural Sensitivity or Cultural Empathy An awareness and an honest caring about another individual’s culture. Return © 2006 Prentice Hall

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. Return © 2006 Prentice Hall

Self reference criterion The unconscious reference point of one’s own cultural values Return © 2006 Prentice Hall

Parochialism Occurs when a Frenchman, for example, expects those from or in another country to automatically fall into patterns of behavior common in France. Return © 2006 Prentice Hall

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 Return © 2006 Prentice Hall

Culture and Its Effects on Organizations A manager assigned to a foreign subsidiary, for example, must expect to find large and small differences in the behavior of individuals and groups within that organization. As depicted on this slide, these differences result from the societal, or sociocultural, variables of the culture, such as religion and language, in addition to prevailing national variables, such as economic, legal, and political factors. National and sociocultural variables thus provide the context for the development and perpetuation of cultural variables. These cultural variables, in turn, determine basic attitudes toward work, time, materialism, individualism, and change. Such attitudes affect an individual’s motivation and expectations regarding work and group relations, and they ultimately affect the outcomes that can be expected from that individual © 2006 Prentice Hall

Culture and Its Effects on Organizations Once upon a time there was a great flood, and involved in this flood were two creatures, a monkey and a fish. The monkey, being agile and experienced, was lucky enough to scramble up a tree and escape the raging waters. As he looked down from his safe perch, he saw the poor fish struggling against the swift current. With the best of intentions, he reached down and lifted the fish from the water. The result was inevitable. © 2006 Prentice Hall

Cultural Variables Never assume that a manager can transplant American, or Japanese, or any other country’s styles, practices, expectations, and processes Managers need to develop a cultural profile that identifies the specific differences found in each country Given the great variety of cultures and subcultures around the world, how can a student of cross-cultural management, or a manager wishing to be culturally savvy, develop an understanding of the specific nature of a certain people? With such an understanding, how can a manager anticipate the probable effects of an unfamiliar culture within an organizational setting and thereby manage human resources productively and control outcomes? © 2006 Prentice Hall

Subcultures Residents of the country only conform to the national character to a certain degree Could be from ethnic, geographic, or other variables Good managers treat people as individuals and they avoid any form of stereotyping Managers should recognize, of course, that generalizations in cultural profiles will produce only an approximation, or stereotype, of national character. Many countries comprise diverse subcultures whose constituents conform only in varying degrees to the national character. © 2006 Prentice Hall

Influences on National Culture Kinship – guides family relationships Education – formal or informal education of workers affects workplace expectations Economy – means of production and distribution in a society influences all aspects of the resource allocation Politics – system of government imposes varying constraints on an organization To develop cultural profiles we first need to be familiar with the kinds of universal cultural variables found in most societies that make up unique clusters and provide a snapshot of the overall character of a specific group. Although there are countless individual variables, one approach to categorizing interdependent variables is given by Harris and Moran, who have identified eight categories that form the subsystems in any society. © 2006 Prentice Hall

Influences on National Culture Religion – spiritual beliefs of a society are so powerful that they overpower all other cultural aspects Associations – the formal and informal groups that make up a society Health – system of health care affects employee productivity Recreation – the use, attitude, and choice of how to use leisure time © 2006 Prentice Hall

Cultural Value Dimensions 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. © 2006 Prentice Hall

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. © 2006 Prentice Hall

GLOBE Research Project Selected Findings (Example of countries for each factor) Factor Least Medium Most Assertiveness Sweden Egypt Spain Performance Orientation Russia Sweden USA Future Orientation Russia Slovenia Denmark Humane Orientation Germany (West) Hong Kong Indonesia © 2006 Prentice Hall

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. © 2006 Prentice Hall

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 © 2006 Prentice Hall

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. © 2006 Prentice Hall

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. © 2006 Prentice Hall

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. © 2006 Prentice Hall

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. © 2006 Prentice Hall