Culture Issues in Global IT Management What is Culture “culture provides members with images of their basic concerns, principles, ethics, and bodies of manners, rituals, ideologies, strategies, and tactics of self-survival including certain notions of good deeds and bad, various form of folklore and legends… The way we give logic to world begins at birth with gestures, words, tone of voice, noises, color, smells, and body contact we experience… Our culture is what is familiar, recognizable, habitual, It is ‘what goes without saying’”. Van maanen, J. and Laurent, A. The flow of cultures: some notes on globalization and the multinational corporations, New York, NY, St. martin’s Press 1993.

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Global Village Is there a universal Business Culture that is independent of surrounding culture? Cultural differences explain everything Business is business all over the world The computer subculture is the same all over the world Cultural differences explain everything The continuum of “does culture matter”

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Stereotype Normal distribution cluster around a hypothesis. American stereotypes Indian stereotypes British stereotypes Finnish stereotypes German African Cultural experts claim that most successful managers are those that use these cultural mental files as starting points and continuously update them with new information Less successful managers are those who deny having any stereotypes and those who rely strictly on stereotypes.

Culture Some notions about culture The idea that culture can be managed is “itself cultural” American managers understand culture as something an organization has Europeans understand culture as something as organization is Americans believe in controlling their destiny and their ability to change corporate cultures, even in relatively short time spans. Corporate cultural change is something not highly stressed in Europe compare to America

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Do Cultural Differences Affect Global Software Development and Management

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Different Types of Culture Within a national boundary (Canada or India or even US) Across boundaries (Arab or Arabic) Organizational culture (corporate culture) IBM, Microsoft, Toyota, Ford, etc Professional culture Lawyers, military, academic, programmers etc. Team Culture emerges from bonding through common work experiences, disaster and success, from cliquish jokes, team symbols or icon. Individual Multiple caps “I’m more American now than Indian” Which of these cultural norms is the strongest? What is the future of a true corporate culture?

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Managing Cultural Differences Awareness Knowledgeable Understand fundamental differences There is no general theory of cultural difference so what can we do?

People who speak: 3 languages: trilingual 2 languages: bilingual 1 language: American

In Heaven, The Police are British, The Cooks are French, The Lovers are Italian, and It’s all Organized by the Germans In Hell, The Police are French, The Cooks are British, The Lovers are German, and It’s all Organized by the Italians.

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Key Cultural Dimensions Data for these research was collected between 1967-1978 By Geert Hofstede, a Dutch scholar, an industrial psychologist at IBM. Survey of IBM personnel in 40 countries Sample size was over 100,000 Good data resource for our purpose but not perfect for social scientist in general because of the data was from a control group (IT professionals).

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Result Revering Hierarchy (or Power distance) Individual versus Collectivism Taking Care of Business Risk Avoidance Long term orientation.

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Revering Hierarchy (Power Distance) How people think about equality and relationship with supervisors and subordinates In some culture Large gaps between levels of organizational hierarchy Individuals are careful about expressing their opinion to superiors Show proper respect to their boss Superior issue directives and expect subordinates to speak only when allowed and unpleasantly surprised when subordinates freely air their opinions Vice-versa Implication

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Revering Hierarch. How unequal between rank and class is normal? Low scores represent little reverence of hierarchy. Israel 13 Rank and class are less important Germany 35 Netherlands 38 USA 40 Japan 54 France 68 Hong Kong India 77 West Africa Indonesia 78 China 80 Russia 95 Rank and class are very important

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Individualism vs. Collectivism The extent to which a person sees herself as an individual rather than part of a group In individual culture people are: Expected to have there own opinion Concern with personal achievement Individual right Independence In collectivism culture people are: Opinions are determined by group members People see themselves first as part of the group and are concern with the welfare of the group Implication

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Individual-Collectivism. The degree to which individuals prefer to act as individual rather than members of groups (I.e. collectivistic). High score indicate high individualism and low scores imply high degree of collectivism. USA 91 Highly individualistic Netherlands 80 France 71 Germany 67 Israel 54 Russia 50 India 48 Japan 46 Hong Kong 25 China 20 West Africa Indonesia 14 Rank and class are very important

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Taking Care of Business (masculinity/femininity) “Toughness” needed in taking care of business (“masculine”) “Softer values” of taking care of people and being concerned with quality of life (“femininity”)

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Taking care of Business. To what degree are tough values such as assertiveness valued against paternalistic values such as relationships and quality of life. Japan 95 Tough values Germany 66 USA 62 Hong Kong 57 India 56 China 50 Israel 47 West Africa 46 Indonesia France 43 Russia 40 Netherlands 14 Paternalistic value

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Risk Avoidance Attitude towards risky situations, ambiguous behaviors, predictability and control High risk avoidance culture places greater emphasis on Stability rather than innovation or change Resistance to outsiders or starting a company Low risk avoidance culture Embrace change more easily Tend to be more entrepreneurial More likely to break rules and Accepts new ideas faster Implication

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Risk Avoidance. To what degree do people prefer structured, low risk situation versus ambiguous, higher risk. Japan 92 Avoid risk Russia 90 France 86 Israel 81 Germany 65 China 60 West Africa 54 Netherlands 53 Indonesia 48 USA 46 India 40 Hong Kong 29

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Long Term Orientation (Confucianism dynamism) Relative importance of here-and–now versus the future – long-term. Confucian – is a type of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. Persistence Diligence Patience The Confucian tradition, also implies strong patriarchal authority, which is family centered, and it is also close to the “taking care of business” dimension

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Long-term orientation. Based on values of Confucianism. To what degree do people value the future (e.g., in persistence and thrift) versus the past or present China 118 Future orientation Hong Kong 96 Japan 80 India 61 Netherlands 44 Germany 31 France 30 USA 29 Indonesia 25 West Africa 16 Russia 10 Past and/or present orientation Israel N/A

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Do Cultural Differences Affect Global Software Development and Management No, there are essentially no cultural differences amongst software professionals Scientific culture dominates national culture I.e. Programmers in Moscow is more similar to his American peers than to other Russians. Engineering or Scientist stereotypes Is there a computer professional sub-culture that overpowers national culture? E.g Low social needs and high achievement Software development tools internationally Technical language and jargons

Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Do Cultural Differences Affect Global Software Development and Management Yes, there certainly are cultural differences amongst software professionals Different development method are used in different countries French are better in OO Japan are better in metrics American code first and then design later Contract and requirement interpretations