1. Culture’s impact: Multi-level thinking and Perspective taking
Dr. Nathalie van Meurs
The Open University

2. OUTLINE Person-Organisation Fit Your Fitness Complexity of Levels
Culture’s Impact
OUTLINE
Person-Organisation Fit
Your Fitness
Complexity of Levels
Values and fitting in
E-Congress Negotiating Identities
IdentityResearch.org
Questions/Discussion

3. PERSON–ENVIRONMENT FIT
Culture’s Impact
PERSON–ENVIRONMENT FIT
P E
BEHAVIOUR

4. P E A FRAGMENTED FIELD Values Jobs Personality Groups Goals Similarity
Culture’s Impact
A FRAGMENTED FIELD
P E
Values
Personality
Goals
Motivation
Skills
Energy
Jobs
Groups
Organisations
Vocations
People
Cultures
Similarity
Difference
Complementarities
Needs–Supplies
Demands–Abilities
Congruence

5. Culture’s Impact
DEFINITION
P-E Fit “the compatibility between an individual and a work environment that occurs when their characteristics are well matched” (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, and Johnson, 2005, p. 281)
P-O Fit “Judgement of congruence between an employee’s personal values and an organization’s culture” (Cable & DeRue, 2000, p. 875)

6. WHAT OUTCOMES? Job Satisfaction Organisational Commitment Stress Exit
Culture’s Impact
WHAT OUTCOMES?
Job Satisfaction
Organisational Commitment
Stress
Exit
Performance
Creativity + & -

7. YOUR FIT Mental Mapping Form a group What is fit for you?
Culture’s Impact
YOUR FIT
Mental Mapping
Form a group
What is fit for you?
Put it on a post-it
Connect it
Discuss it

8. OUR FINDINGS Fit is a construct, as well as a methodology
Culture’s Impact
OUR FINDINGS
Fit is a construct, as well as a methodology
Employees’ sense of fit is a categorical state: I can be a fit in terms of my work-life balance, but a misfit in terms of my relationship with colleagues
16 domains influence fit

9. Culture’s Impact
16 DOMAINS

10. DEBATE The only way we can measure ‘fit’ is through values BUT…
Fit is fickle
It is unethical to clone
However,…
Values are an important currency to evaluate people’s priorities

11. COMPLEXITY of LEVELS

12. EVALUATING LEVELS Exploring perspectives
Nation-level construct: most people in my country…
Organization-level: this organization…
Team-level: my supervisor…
Individual-level: I do… I am…

13. What makes a person British?

14. HEADLINES: VALUES and IDENTITY

15. PERSON-NATION FIT Is there such a thing as Person-Nation Fit?
If people within an organisation are the same but people from different nations differ – what happens in intercultural business?
At which levels are intercultural consultants functioning?
Individual, organisational, national?

16. THE FUTURE OF VALUES Cultures change over time
Economic changes (globalisation, oil)
Political changes (replacement of traditional authorities)
Socio-cultural changes (education, religion, mass communication, urbanisation, diversity in occupation)
Despite modernity still variation in values
Is westernisation the same as modernisation?
Hong Kong: reject sexual promiscuity but embrace modern competitiveness; reject fatalism but maintain respect for authority

17. NEGOTIATING IDENTITIES
E-Congress 15-16th May at
9 papers by 9 scholars
‘The Library’ for links
‘The Cafe’ for chats and networking
To help people negotiate their identities successfully

18. Questions? Contact: Nathalie@identityresearch.org
Culture’s Impact
Questions? Contact: