Scribd
Upload
146 views31 pages

Cultural Dimension of Management

This document provides an overview of cultural dimensions in comparative management. It discusses culture operating at three levels - observable behaviors and artifacts, underlying beliefs and values, and deep assumptions. Culture is shaped by various institutions at the national level like family, religion, education, and media. Organizational culture is influenced by national culture as well as corporate culture. Cross-cultural management aims to understand and improve interactions between individuals from different cultures. Hofstede's model of cultural dimensions including power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism vs collectivism, masculinity vs femininity, and long-term orientation is also summarized.

Uploaded by

surangauor
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
146 views31 pages

Cultural Dimension of Management

This document provides an overview of cultural dimensions in comparative management. It discusses culture operating at three levels - observable behaviors and artifacts, underlying beliefs and values, and deep assumptions. Culture is shaped by various institutions at the national level like family, religion, education, and media. Organizational culture is influenced by national culture as well as corporate culture. Cross-cultural management aims to understand and improve interactions between individuals from different cultures. Hofstede's model of cultural dimensions including power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism vs collectivism, masculinity vs femininity, and long-term orientation is also summarized.

Uploaded by

surangauor
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 31

Cultural

Dimension of
Comparative
Management
Presented by
Professor Richard Wickramaratne
Department of Human Resource
Management
After reading this chapter, you will gain an understanding of:

● The concept of culture and the role of norms and values in determining culture.

● The relationship between culture, organizations and management.

Learning ● The concept of culture at various levels, both national and organizational

outcomes
. Understand the concept of cultural dimensions.

● Be familiar, in particular, with the five-dimensional model developed by


Hofstede as well as the culture construct definitions of more recent research by
the GLOBE project.

● Have some insight into the relationship between societal values and practices
and the culture of organizations working within society.
The concept of culture
• Each culture can be seen as having
Culture operates in three layers.
three levels
Level-1:
Observable and tangible level
(Behavioural or Explicit Level)
• Here, artifacts/objects and attitudes can
be observed in terms of architecture,
rituals, dress codes, making contact,
contracts, language, eating, and so on.
• It is what you notice immediately when
you go abroad for the first time: the
language, the food, the architecture,
the houses, the buildings, and so on.
But it is also the communication style.
• Norms and values level
Beliefs (or norms) are statements of fact
about the way things are. These are the
cultural rules, as it were, which explain what is
happening at level one and determine what is
right or wrong. Values are to do with general
Level-2 preferences as to what is good or bad, how
things should be.

Together, these form the national


characteristics of a culture and act as its
framework of reference
Norms are the rules of a society, determining
what is good or bad with regard to behavior.
People are allowed, however, a certain
individual freedom of choice between what
‘you should always do’ and what ‘you should
never do’. Norms are the written and
unwritten rules of a society.

Values are what is considered important or


unimportant, beautiful or not beautiful, right
or wrong. A value is something experienced
inwardly and which is not up for discussion.
The preference or aversion it contains is
taken for granted by its bearers.
Level-3

• The level of interpretation of what is happening at the other levels i.e., trying
to explain why we act according to particular rules or in line with particular
values.
• The third and innermost layer, which lies at the core of ‘culture’ contains its
assumptions and beliefs. These are difficult to describe or explain. When you
are asked to justify why you do this or say that, the answer is often: ‘I don’t
know. Why, for example, do people eat with a knife and fork or with
chopsticks? Well, that’s the way people eat.
Three Levels
Culture is a set of basic assumptions – shared
solutions to universal problems of external
adaptation (how to survive) and internal
integration (how to stay together) – which have
Cultural evolved over time and are handed down from
one generation to the next-Schein, 2004: 14
assumptions in Schein (2004) claims that the cultural
management assumptions of organizations imply that
management in an international context has not
only to take account of the norms and values of
the specific culture of a company but also of its
cultural assumptions.
National
culture
Tayeb (2003) gives a list of elements
and considers their effect at both
micro and macro level. She starts with
two elements that contribute to the
building of a nation and the creation of
national culture:
● the physical environment
● the history the nation has
undergone.
Tayeb (2003)
then refers to
Family. The basic social unit where ‘acculturation’
‘institutions’ takes place, where the culture of a particular
that environment is instilled in a human from infancy.
contribute to
the
establishment
of national
culture: Religion. Religious beliefs can have a significant
effect on a person’s view of the world. This does
not mean that people need to ‘believe’, but religion
has helped in all sorts of direct and indirect ways to
shape the environment in which people live.
Education. The value system on which education is based and the choices it makes in
terms of the curriculum both help in the formation of a culture, particularly where
educational institutions are well developed. The teaching approach used and the
manner of learning can also affect future learning. this, in turn, can determine the
quality and versatility of human resources in the labor market.

Mass communication media. Tayeb pays particular attention to the effect of recent
advances in communication on the development of culture. The ever increasing
presence of mass media has given a new meaning to shared experience: newspapers,
magazines, television and radio, ‘bring people closer together irrespective of their
geographical locations, but also in terms of spreading values, attitudes, tastes,
meanings and vocabulary – in short, culture’ (Tayeb, 2003: 20).

The multinational company. Th is a powerful culture-building institution, whose


products and services can influence the way people live, whose operations can affect
how and where they work. However, the multinational is also influenced by the
preferences at the national level with regard to product taste and form and the
promotion of its goods and services.
Organizational Culture
Edgar Schein (1999) refers to the power of culture on
account of the extent to which it determines our
behaviour individually and collectively.

In organisational terms, he remarks on how cultural


elements affect the way strategy is determined, goals
are established and how the organisation operates.

Furthermore, the key personnel involved are influenced


by their own cultural backgrounds and shared
experience since these have helped shape their own
values and perceptions.
Corporate Culture

• The term ‘corporate culture’ takes the question


of organizational culture a step further. As
Meschi and Roger (1994) point out, if an
organization develops into a multinational
conglomerate, the culture at headquarters may
influence that of subsidiaries abroad.
• At the basis of all the cultures mentioned lies the
individual’s culture. It is individuals who ultimately
form the culture of an organization. The values they
embody as members of an organization are formed
partially through the family, social and national
environment, and partially through the
professional, organisational and corporate culture.
Culture and
Management • It is up to management to take into account the
diversity of people in an organization and to
manage their cultural differences. In an
international context, however, what does cross-
cultural management mean?
Nancy Adler (2002: 11) gives a definition of what
cross-cultural management is about:
• Cross-cultural management explains the
behavior of people in organizations around the
world and shows people how to work in
organizations with employees and client
Continued…. populations from many different cultures.
Culture and • Cross-cultural management describes
organizational behavior within countries and
Management cultures; compares organizational behavior
across countries and cultures; and, perhaps
most important, seeks to understand and
improve the interaction of co-workers,
managers, executives, clients, suppliers, and
alliance partners from countries and cultures
around the world.
• The core task of cross-cultural
Cross cultural management is to facilitate and direct
synergistic action and learning at
management interfaces where knowledge, values and
experience are transferred into
defined as… multicultural domains of implementation.
(Holden, 2002: 59)
Geert Hofstede’s research in the area of
culture and management is known worldwide.
His theories are not only frequently quoted
Hofstede’s and applied in cross-cultural research, but also
used (oft en indiscriminately) in prescriptive
national works on dealing with other cultures.

cultural Hofstede developed a dimensional approach


dimensions to cross-cultural comparisons through his
pioneering studies into how management is aff
ected by diff erences between cultural
groupings.
● Power distance (high/low) : attitudes to authority, the distance
between individuals in a hierarchy.

Hofstede used the results ● Uncertainty avoidance (high/low) : the degree of tolerance for
of his research to uncertainty or instability.
produce a comparison
between cultures on four
and eventually five ● Individual versus group orientation : independence and
dimensions: interdependence, the loyalty towards oneself and towards a group.

● Masculine versus feminine orientation : importance of work goals


(earnings, advancement) compared with personal goals (co-
operation, relationships).

● Short-term versus long-term orientation : fostering virtues related


to the past and present or virtues related to the future.
‘Power distance’ refers to the extent to which members of a culture expect
and accept that power is unequally distributed in society.

Low/high
power In high power distance cultures, eff ective managers are essentially
benevolent autocrats who are focused on the task. Th ey are inaccessible

distance and enjoy privileges their power gives them. If things go wrong, the
subordinates – who are dependent on their superiors – are usually to
blame. In low power distance cultures, on the other hand, eff ective
managers are more oriented towards the people in an organisation and
allow them to participate more in making decisions. Th e relations between
subordinates and superiors are more horizontal than vertical: superiors are
accessible and try to make out they are less powerful than they are. If
anything goes wrong, the system is more to blame rather than the
individuals involved.
Individualism/collectivism

• This dimension concerns itself with the relationship between the individual
and the group. To what extent are individuals in society autonomous and to
what extent are they embedded in the group? Th is particular construct,
apparent in ancient civilizations and to be found at the heart of much
philosophical thought about the nature of the state and the individual,
continues to be given much attention in many disciplines, particularly
sociology, anthropology, and psychology. It was Hofstede who subjected this
construct to empirical investigation on a large scale and eventually
produced a ranking of societies in individualistic/collectivistic terms. The
extremes of this dimension are characterized in Table 2.3 .
Masculinity/femininity

• From his initial studies at IBM, Hofstede developed a dimension


whereby certain societies could be characterised as being either
assertive and competitive (masculine in nature), or more caring and
therefore more feminine. Hofstede does stress rather traditional roles
of the sexes: masculine values such as achievement and exercise of
power are used to characterise cultures along this dimension as are
feminine values: caring for others, being less self-centred.
Nevertheless, when a culture is examined in terms of the work
environment, this dimension allows clear distinctions to be made
between cultures in terms of their attitude to work. Th e
characterisation of the two extremes of this dimension show how
dramatic these distinctions can be ( Table 2.4 ).
Uncertainty avoidance

• Th is fourth dimension measures the extent to which people in a


certain culture avoid uncertainty. To what extent do they feel
threatened by ambiguous, risky situations? To what extent do they
prefer predictability in their lives, clearly prescribed rules and
procedures in their work? Uncertainty-avoiding cultures perceive life
as a battle against anxiety and stress. Th ey may be willing to accept
familiar risks but not the danger of the unknown. To that end they
tend to resist innovation or anything that deviates from the known
• Th fifth dimension outlined below in Table
The fifth 2.6 supplemented the other dimensions
already given. It is based on the results of
dimension: the Chinese Value Survey developed by
Michael Bond and associates (The Chinese
short-term Culture Connection, 1987). They originally
versus long- labeled it Confucian work dynamism since it
reflected values upheld by Confucius and his
term followers.
orientation • These values permeate those of a number of
countries in Asia.
Look at a corporate website of a multinational company and
discover the company’s purpose and values. Then, answer
the question, ‘Which elements of the corporate culture relate
to national culture (subsidiaries) and organizational culture?’

Follow the web link given below and compare the national
cultures of Sri Lanka and the USA.
Class Activity
Compare countries - Hofstede Insights (hofstede-
insights.com)

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy