1. Cross-cultural models Working Internationally
Messiah College
Jan Lok
January 10th 2014

2. Culture
The system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artefacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning

3. Culture
"Culture is the way in which a group of people solves problems and resolves dilemmas",
Hofstede, "Culture's Consequences", Sage, 1980.
Cultural differences, according to Trompenaars, can be factorised down to differing attitudes to people, environment and time.
"Culture works to justify its own initial suppositions"
Trompenaars, Riding the Waves of Culture

5. Main elements of culture / civilization:
1. Religion
 e.g. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Confucianism
2. History, shared past
 Western history, Arab history, Russian etc.
3. Language, the language families
 e.g. Indo-European, Turkic, Semitic, etc.   
4. Ethnicity
 e.g. Bantu, Chinese, Caucasian, etc.
+ Self-identification
 `us'  `them', ingroup  outgroup

6. Dutch artefacts

8. Dutch symbols and heroes
The real Hansje Brinker

9. Values
In order to understand cultural differences in your profession, you need to know the differences in values. Those values are determined by history, religion, language, upbringing etc.

10. Dutch values and others
European Values Study
Morality
Politics
Education

11. Morality 1 = never ; 10 = always Permissiveness: Acceptance of:
Homosexuality
Abortion
Divorce
euthanasia
1 = never; 10 = always
Civic morality: Non-acceptance of:
claiming state benefits illegally
cheating on tax
joy riding
accepting a bribe
1 = never ; 10 = always

13. Politics Confidence in institutions: Interpersonal trust:
How much confidence do you have in:
Church, armed forces, education system, Press, trade unions, police, parliament, civil service
Interpersonal trust:
Would you say that most people can be trusted or that you can’t be too careful in dealing with people?
Most people can be trusted  %
Can’t be too careful

15. Education Important qualities to teach children:
‘Classic’ : good manners, hard work, imagination, thrift, religious faith, obedience
‘Liberal’: independence, imagination, tolerance, determination

17. Cross-cultural models
Hofstede & Trompenaars
These models do not explain the cultural differences, but they try to classify them

18. “Culture is always a collective phenomenon, because it is at least partly shared with people who live or lived within the same social environment, which is where it was learned. It is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.”
Geert Hofstede, Culture and Organizations: Software of the Mind.
New York, McGraw-Hill, 1991

19. 1. Collectivism versus Individualism
In individualistic countries (UK, Germany, South Africa, Canada, etc.), people are expected to look out for themselves. Typical values are personal time, freedom, and challenge.
In collectivist cultures (Mexico, Korea, Greece) individuals are bounded through strong personal and protective ties based on loyalty to the group. Values include group recognition, family honour etc.

20. Individualism vs collectivism
small group
independence
personality
‘ Western ’ (still a lot of differences between USA & Holland)
Collectivism we
extended family, group
interdependence
harmony
Portugal, Greece, Spain, Africa, Asia, Latin America

21. 2. Power distance
Small power distance (e.g. Denmark, New Zealand) expect and accept power relations that are more consultative or democratic. People relate to one another more as equals regardless of formal positions. Subordinates are more comfortable with and demand the right to contribute to and critique the decision making of those in power.
Large power distance countries (e.g. Spain, Latin America, Asian countries) accept power relations that are more autocratic and paternalistic. Subordinates acknowledge the power of others simply based on where they are situated in certain formal, hierarchical positions.
Strong correlation with religion!

22. Power distance
To what extent do we accept that some people have more power than others?
High Low
hierarchical egalitarian
top-down top-down / bottom-up
Latin / USA Germanic / Dutch???

23. 3. Femininity versus Masculinity (Quality of life versus Achievement)
Masculine cultures value competitiveness, ambition, assertiveness and the accumulation of wealth and material possessions (e.g. Slovakia, Japan)
Feminine cultures place more value on positive relationships among people, cooperation and quality of life (e.g. The Netherlands, Sweden).

24. Masculinity vs femininity
be the best
ambition, competition
money, performance
success, technology
Italy, Germany, UK, Belgium, USA
Femininity
don’t be different
sympathy for the weak
solidarity, caring
environment
Scandinavian countries, Holland

25. 4. Uncertainty avoidance
When uncertainty avoidance is strong, a culture tends to perceive unknown situations as threatening so that people tend to avoid them (e.g. South Korea, Japan, and Latin America).
In countries where uncertainty avoidance is weak (e.g. the US; the Netherlands; Singapore; Hong Kong, Britain) people feel less threatened by unknown situations. Therefore, they tend to be more open to innovations, risk, have more nonconformist behaviour etc.

27. 5. Long-term versus short-term orientation
New dimension: describes a society's attachment to the future versus the past and present.
In long term oriented societies, values include persistence (perseverance), ordering relationships by status, thrift, and having a sense of shame. (E.g. China, Japan)
In short term oriented societies, values include normative statements, personal steadiness and stability, protecting ones face, respect for tradition, favors, and gifts (Western world).

30. Introduction Trompenaars

31. Trompenaars

32. 1. Universalism vs. Particularism
What is more important: rules or relationships?
For example: the rule that you should bear thruthful witness in a court of law, or give your honest judgment to the insurance company concerning a payment it is about to make to you, is more important here than particular ties of friendship or family. But the universal truth, the law, is considered logically more significant than these relationships.

33. U: consistent, rules, uniform procedures etc
U: consistent, rules, uniform procedures etc. P: flexible, pragmatic, exceptions are possible Friend would not help:

34. Other six dimensions Individualism vs. Communitarianism
Do we function in a group or as an individual?
Specific vs. Diffuse
How far do we get involved?
Affective vs. Neutral
Do we display our emotions?
Achievement vs. Ascription
Do we have to prove ourselves to receive status or is it given to us?
Perception of Time
Future oriented or past oriented?
Internal vs. External control
Do we control our environment or work with it ?

35. Ad. Specific vs. Diffuse A boss asking to paint his house
The colleague argues:
You don’t have to paint the house if you don’t feel like it. He is your boss in the company. Outside the company, he has little authority
The subordinate argues:
Despite the fact that I don’t feel like it, I will paint the house anyway. He is my boss and you cannot ignore it outside your work either.

36. Would not paint the house

37. Specific Diffuse Many components in one’s personal life
Interactions between people are well defined
Large public sphere
Standards, contracts
Diffuse
All elements in one’s personal life are related
Large private sphere
A friend is a friend in all respects of life
Various roles are not seperated

38. Ad. Achievement vs. Ascription
What you do
STATUS
Who you are

39. Ad. Time Past oriented cultures (e.g. Ireland)
Present oriented cultures (e.g. Spain)
Future oriented cultures (e.g. USA)

40. Some consequences … USA Business Culture Shareholder Value
Limitless Growth
“Winner takes all!”
Use power
Result driven
Many hours of work
Dutch Business Culture
Stakeholder Value
Sustainable Growth
Social Responsibility
First: talk
Process is important
Working fast

41. How to explain this?