1. EDEXCEL BTEC HND IN BUSINESS ORGANISATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CULTURE
OLC EUROPE
EDEXCEL BTEC HND IN BUSINESS
UNIT 3: ORGANISATIONS AND BEHAVIOUR
ORGANISATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CULTURE

2. Culture is
“A pattern of basic assumptions—invented, discovered or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration—that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems .”
- Edgar Schein

3. Culture is multilayered
“ Culture come in layers, like an onion. To understand it you have to unpeel it layer by layer. On the outer layer are the products of culture, like soaring skyscrapers of Manhattan, pillars of private power, with congested public streets between them. These are expressions of deeper values and norms, in a society, that are not directly visible (values such as upward mobility, ‘the more the better’, status and material success). The layers of values and norms are deeper within the ‘onion’ and are more difficult to identify.”
(Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner)

4. A model of Cuture (F. Trompenaars)

5. Culture is a subtle but pervasive force
Culture generally remains below the threshold of concious awareness because it involves taken-for-granted assumptions about how one should perceive, think, act and feel.
“Since much of culture operates outside our awareness, frequently we don’t even know what we know. We pick [expectations and assumptions] up in the craddle. We unconciously learn what to notice and what not to notice, how to divide time and space, how to walk and talk and use our bodies, how to behave as men and women, how to relate to other people, how to handle responsibility, whether experience is seen as whole or fragmented. This applies to all people. The Chinese, Japanese or Arabs are each as unaware of their assumptions as we are of our own. We each assume they’re part of human nature, What we think of as ‘mind’ is really internalised culture”.
Edward T Hall (Cultural Anthropologist)
In sum ‘you are your culture and your culture is you’.

6. Societal and Organisational Cultures
Culture influences organisational behaviour in two ways.
Employees bring their societal culture to work with them in the form of customs and languages
Organisational culture, a by-product of societal culture in turn affects the individual’s values and ethics, attitudes, assumptions and and expectations
The term Societal culture is preferred to ‘national culture’ because the boundaries of modern nation states were not drawn along cultural lines.
Once inside the organisation’s sphere of influence, the individual is further affected by the organisation’s culture.

7. Cultural Influences on Organisational Behaviour

8. Foundations of Organisational Culture
Organisational Culture is ‘the set of shared, taken-for-granted implicit assuptions that a group holds and that determines how it perceives, thinks about and reacts to its variuos environments’ (E H Schein)
This definition highlights three important characteristics of organisational culture:
Organisational culture is passed on to new employees through the process of socialisation
Organisational cuture influences our behaviour at work
Organisational Culture operates at two different levels which vary in terms outward visibility and resistance to change:
At the more visible level, culture is represented by artifacts (easier to change)
At the less visible level, culture reflects the values and beliefs shared by organisational members (persist over time and more resistant to change)

9. Foundations of Organisational Culture
Organisational culture = shared values and beliefs that underlie a company’s identity
Two organisational values (espoused & enacted)
Espoused = the stated values and norms preferred by an organisation
Enacted = the values and the norms that are exhibited by employees

10. A Typology of Organisational Values

11. Interpreting Organisational Culture

12. Functions of Organisational Culture

13. Embedding Culture through
Formal statements of organisational philosophy, mission, vision, values, and materials used for recruiting, selection and socialisation
The design of physical space, work environments, and buildings
Slogans, language, acronyms, and sayings
Deliberate role modeling, training programs, teaching and coaching by managers and supervisors
Explicit rewards, status symbols (e.g., titles), and promotion criteria
Stories, legends, and myths about key people and events

14. Types of Organisatioanal Culture
Change and Flexibility
Stability
and Direction
External
Focus
(differentiation)
Adaptability
External control
Internal
focus (integration)
Development
Internal Consistency

15. Embedding Organisational Culture
The organisational activities, processes, or outcomes that leaders pay attention to, measure, and control
Leader reactions to critical incidents and organisational crises
The workflow and organisational structure
Organisational systems and procedures
Organisational goals and the associated criteria used for recruitment, selection, development, promotion, layoffs, and retirement of people

16. Organisational Socialisaton

17. High- and Low-Context Cultures
High-Context Culture
Low-Context Culture
Establish social trust first
Get down to business first
Value personal relations and good will
Value expertise and performance
Agreement by general trust
Agreement by specific, legalistic contract
Negotiations slow and ritualistic
Negotiations as efficient as possible

18. Contrasting High- and Low-Context

19. Key cultural dimensions
Power distance: how much do people expect inequality in social institutions?
Individualism-Collectivism: how loose or tight is the bond between individuals and societal groups?
Masculinity-Feminity: to what extent do people embrace competitive masculine traits or nurturing feminine traits?

20. Key cultural dimensions
Uncertainty avoidance: to what extent do people prefer structured and unstructured situations?
Long-term versus Short-term orientation: to what extentare people oriented toward the future by saving and being persistent versus being oriented toward the present and the past by respecting tradition and meeting social obligations?

21. Relating to Other People
Universalism
Particularism
Focus on rules
Focus on relationship
Legal contracts are readily drawn up
Legal contracts are readily modified
Trustworhty = honoring his/her word or contract
Trustworhty = honouring changing circumstances
Truth or reality = agreement
Reality = several perspectives
A deal is a deal
Relationship evolves

22. Relating to Other People
Individualism
Collectivism
Frequent use “I” and “me”
Frequent use of “we”
Decision made by representative
Decision referred back by delegates
Personal achievement and responsibility
Group achievement and responsibility
Holidays taken in pairs or alone
Holidays taken in groups

23. Relating to Other People
Emotional
Neutral
Show reactions (non) verbally
Opaque emtional state
Express face & body signals
Don’t readily express what they think or feel
At ease with public displays of emotions
Embarrassed at public display of emotions
At ease with physical contact
Discomfort with physical contact
Raise voice readily
Subtle in (non) verbal expressions

24. Relating to Other People
Specific
Diffuse
More open publicspace, more closed private space
Appears direct, open and extravert
To the point and abrasive highly mobile
Separate work and private life
Several approach to fit circumtances (eg. Use of titles)
More closed public space but, once in, more open private space
Appears indirect, closed and introvert
Often evades issues and ‘beats about the bush’
Low mobility
Consistent approach between work and private life (eg. Use of titles)

25. Cultural Perception of Time
Monochronic time: preference for doing one thing at a time because time is limited, precisely segmented and schedule driven.
Polychronic time: preference for doing more than one thing at a time because time is flexible and multidimensional.

26. Successful Intercultural Dealing
Time Concept
Advice for Successful Intercultural Dealing.
Punctuality
Find the basic unit of time: Is it 5 minutes, 15 or 30?
Polychronic/monochronic time
In some cultures, the business lunch is devoted to socialising with business partners. It may be hard to figure out what activities can be combined and what cannot.
Fast and slow paces of life
A fast pace can lead to stress-related health problems. Social support can lessen these problems.
Time as symbol
Time is not money in some cultures and treating it in monetary terms may be considered as vulgar.
Time efficiency
Speed is not always a virtue. Multicultural teams need more time to achieve their peak performance level; however, they may be more effective after they become comfortable working with each other for some time.

27. Interpersonal distance zones

28. Foreign assignment cycle