Transcript Chap01.ppt

Part One: Culture and Management
CHAPTER 1
DETERMINANTS OF CULTURE
• Concept 1.1: Facets of culture
• Concept 2.2: Levels of cultures
Slide 1.1
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
The concept of culture
What culture is?/is not?
• Culture is a code of attitudes, norms and
values, the way of thinking...
• The culture determines:
– How we see ourselves
– How we see the world
• Culture is not right or wrong, inherited, about
individual behaviour ...
Slide 1.2
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
Three layers
The concept of culture has three layers:
• Artifacts and attitudes
– Behavioural or explicit level
• Norms (rules) and values
– Every culture has its own system
• Basic assumptions
– Difficult to describe or explain
Slide 1.3
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
How can we explore culture?
Figure 1.1
Navigating the seas of international business
Source: Adapted from Schneider and Barsoux (2003: 21)
Slide 1.4
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
Cultural assumptions in management
Edgar Schein defines culture as:
‘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 evolved over time and are
handed down from one generation to the next’
(Schein, 2004: 14)
Slide 1.5
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
Comparison value systems of societies
Four categories (Ruano-Borbalan, 2002: 339)
• Traditional society (Arab countries)
– religion plays an important role
• Rational society (Germany)
– interests of the individual come first
• Society where materialism is predominant
(ex-communist countries)
• Post-modern society (Scandinavia)
– tolerant and democratic
Slide 1.6
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
European Culture
What is important in the forming process of
an European culture?
• Meeting of diversity
• Complementarity of ideas
• Interaction and interference within opposite
values :
- religion/rationality
- mythical thought/critical thought
- humanism/science
(Morin,1987)
Slide 1.7
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
Levels of cultures in a business context
•
•
•
•
•
•
Slide 1.8
Cultures can develop at different levels:
Culture and nation
National culture
Organizational culture
Corporate culture
Professional culture
Culture and management
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
Culture and nation
Influence of culture on organizations
• Macro level
– laws and economic institutions
– the nation must be considered by organizations
going about their business.
• Micro level
– the organization is influenced through a number
of cultural elements relating to:
– employer-employee relationships
– behaviour among employees
Slide 1.9
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
National culture
• Elements that contribute to the creation of a
national culture:
- Physical environment
- History of the nation
• Institutions that contribute to the
establishment of a national culture
- Family/Religion/Education
- Mass communication media
- The multinational company
(Tayeb, 2003: 13)
Slide 1.10
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
Organizational culture
• In organization, culture affects the way:
- strategy is determined
- goals are established
- how the organization operates
• The personnel of the organization:
- influenced by their cultural backgrounds
- shared their own values and perceptions
(Schein, 1999)
Slide 1.11
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
Corporate culture
• Corporate culture is a combination of:
- Organizational culture
- National/regional culture
• Two meanings on the influence of corporate
culture:
Key to success if:
1) Clearly defined corporate culture
2) Flexible culture
• Role of the company culture
- internal cultural factors
Slide 1.12
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
Professional culture
• Three professional cultures in management:
• Operators
- involved in production (goods/services)
• Engineers
- design and monitor the technology
• Executives
- senior managers
(Schein, 1996)
• The question remains: how these professional
cultures co-exist?
Slide 1.13
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
Culture and management
Cross-cultural management
• explains the behaviour of people in
organizations around the world
• describes and compares organizational
behaviour across countries and cultures
• seeks to understand and improve the
interaction of :
– co-workers, managers, executives, clients,
suppliers, and alliance partners
(Adler, 2002: 11)
Slide 1.14
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
Conclusion Chapter 1
• Chapter shows how difficult it is to give a
definition of the word ‘culture’.
• Chapter also shows that the individuals in a
group form a culture that can be national,
organizational or professional.
Slide 1.15
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009