Transcript Chap05.ppt

Part One: Culture and Management
CHAPTER 5
CULTURAL DIMENSIONS AND DILEMMAS
• Concept 5.1: Value orientations and dimensions
• Concept 5.2: Reconciling cultural dilemmas
Slide 5.1
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Societal Culture and Organizations
Slide 5.2
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Culture
• Culture is the shared values, understandings,
assumptions and goals that are learned from earlier
generations, imposed by present members of a society
and passed on to succeeding generations. It often results
in shared attitudes, codes of conduct, and expectations
that subconsciously guide and control certain norms of
behavior.
• As shown in this figure, national and sociocultural
variables provide the context for cultural variables, which
in turn determine attitudes toward work, time, materialism,
individualism, and change. Attitudes affect behavior and,
thus, individual’s motivation and expectations regarding
work and workplace relations.
Slide 5.3
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The value-orientation concept
Kluckholn & Strodtbeck define value
orientations as
• being complex principles
• resulting of interaction between 3 elements:
- Cognitive, affective, directive
Three assumptions:
• Universal nature of value orientations
• Many ways of solving problems
• Preferences in choosing solutions
Slide 5.4
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Five orientations
Five problems common to all human
groupings
• Human nature orientation (goodness or badness
of human nature)
• Man-nature orientation (harmony-withnature/mastery-over-nature)
• Time orientation (past/present/future)
• Activity orientation (being, being-in-becoming
and doing)
• Relational orientation (Man’s relation to other men)
Slide 5.5
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How does culture affect organizational
processes? Exhibit 5.1
U.S. Culture
Individual
influences future
Alternative
Life is
preordained
The environment People adjust to
is changeable
the environment
Slide 5.6
Function
Affected
Planning,
scheduling
Morale,
productivity
Hark work leads
to success
Wisdom and luck Motivation,
are also needed rewards
Employment can
be ended
Employment is
for a lifetime
Promotions,
recruitment
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
Culture & Organizational Processes
• The extent to which culture affects
organizational processes is a subject of
debate. Some say that convergence is leading
management styles to become more similar to
one another due to issues such as
industrialization and worldwide coordination.
This slide is a condensed version of the
information in Exhibit 5.1, and suggests ways
that differences between US and other
cultures might influence organizational
functions.
Slide 5.7
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Trompenaars’dimensions
• Trompenaars goes beyond the framework of
anthropology/ sociology
• He shows how the following dimensions affect
the process of managing cultures:
- relations with other people
- relations with time
- relations with nature
Trompenaars standpoint:
- Each culture has its own specific solutions for
universal problems
Slide 5.8
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Seven dimensions
• Relations to the others
–
–
–
–
–
Universalism vs Particularism
Individualism vs collectivism
Neutral vs affective relationships
Specific vs diffuse relationships
Achievement versus ascription
• Relation to time: Sequential/Synchronic
• Relation to the environment: Inner vs outer
directed.
Slide 5.9
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Relations to time and the environment
Table 5.2
Relations to time and the environment
Source: Trompenaars (1993: 8–11) and his other publications
Slide 5.10
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Relations to the others
• Universalism/Particularism: societal versus
personal obligation
• Individualism/Collectivism (Communitarianism):
personal versus group goals
• Neutral/Affective relationships: emotional
orientation
• Specific/Diffuse relationships: contract versus
contact
• Achievement/Ascription: legitimating power
and status
Slide 5.11
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Management dilemmas & dimensions
In practice dilemmas are typically between:
1. Universalism-Particularism
• Legal contracts and loose interpretations
• Low cost strategies or premium strategy
• Extending rules or discovering exceptions
2. Individualism- Collectivism
(Communitarianism)
• Profit or market share strategy
• Originating ideas or refining useful products
Slide 5.12
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Management’s dilemmas & dimensions
(Continued)
3. Neutral or Affectivity
• Long pauses or frequent interruptions
• Being professional or engaged
4. Specific-Diffuse
• Data and codification or concepts and models
• Being results-oriented or process- oriented
5. Achieved or ascribed status
• Pay for performance or vindication for worth
• Head-hunting or developing in-house
Slide 5.13
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Management’s dilemmas & dimensions
(Continued)
6. Sequential or synchronic time
• Highly rational, standardized production or Justin-time production
• Keeping to schedule or being easily distracted
7. Inner or outer directed
• Strategically oriented or fusion oriented
• Dauntless entrepreneur or public benefactor
Slide 5.14
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Trompenaars versus Hofstede dimensions
• The nature of Trompenaars’ dimensions and
Hofstede dimensions is very different in
approach:
• Trompenaars:
- cultures are more like circles with ‘preferred arcs
joined together’
- seen as a ‘model-to-learn-with’
• Hofstede:
- linear forms where cultures are positioned high
or low or in the middle.
- seeking ‘the perfect model’
Slide 5.15
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Reconciling cultural dilemmas
• The dilemmas in each of the seven
dimensions require some kind of resolution.
• Trompenaars’ methodology aims to reconcile
what appear to be opposing values within the
dimensions.
• Cultures are seen as ‘dancing’ from one
preferred end of a dimension to another.
Slide 5.16
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Hofstede’s Dimensions
• Power distance
– Low: Denmark, Israel, Austria
– High: Malaysia, Arab countries, Mexico
• Uncertainty avoidance
– Low: India, Denmark, Singapore
– High: Greece, Japan, France
Slide 5.17
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Hofstede’s Dimensions
• Individualism vs. collectivism
– Individual: Australia, US, UK
– Collective: Italy, Korea, Singapore
Individualism is the tendency for people to look after
themselves and their immediate families only and to
neglect the needs of society. Democracy, individual
initiative, and achievement are valued. Collectivism
entails tight social frameworks, emotional dependence
on the organization, and strong belief in group
decisions. Countries scoring higher on individualism
tend to have higher GNPs and freer political systems.
Social loafing is more common in individual than in
collective cultures.
Slide 5.18
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Hofstede’s Dimensions
• Masculinity vs. femininity
– Masculine: Japan, Mexico, Germany
– Feminine: Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand
• Masculinity refers to the degree to which traditionally
masculine values (e.g., assertiveness, materialism, and
lack of concern for others) prevail. Femininity emphasizes
the traditionally feminine values of concern for others,
relationships, and quality of life. In more feminine cultures
one tends to find less work-family conflict, less job stress,
more women in high-level jobs, and a reduced need for
assertiveness.
Slide 5.19
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Hofstede’s Dimensions
• Long-term/short-term orientation
– Long-term: China, Japan, Taiwan
– Short-term: US, Canada, UK
Long-term orientation is the extent to which people accept
delayed gratification of material, social, and emotional
needs. These cultures focus on long-term goals,
investment in the future, and are prepared to sacrifice
short-term profit.
It is important to note that Hofstede’s value dimensions are
interdependent and interactive.
Slide 5.20
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Trompenaar’s Dimensions
• Universalism vs. particularism
– Universal: USA, Germany, Sweden
– Particular: Japan, Spain, China
Universalistic cultures apply rules and systems objectively,
without consideration of individual circumstances. Particularistic
cultures
tend to put more emphasis on relationships and apply rules more
subjectively.
• Neutral vs. affective
– Neutral: Japan, UK, Germany
– Affective: Spain, Italy, China
Affective cultures tend to express emotions openly, whereas
neutral cultures do not.
Slide 5.21
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Trompenaar’s Dimensions
• Specific vs. diffuse
– Specific: UK, US, France
– Diffuse: Sweden, Spain, China
People in specific cultures compartmentalize their work and
private lives, and they are more open and direct. In diffuse
cultures work spills over into personal relationships and vice
versa
• Achievement vs. ascription
– Achievement: US, UK, Sweden
– Ascription: Spain, Japan, China
In achievement-oriented cultures individual achievement is the source
of status and influence. In ascription-oriented cultures status and
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1 Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
Slide 5.22
influence come from class, age, gender, etc.
st
How does reconciliation work?
• The process of reconciliation leads to a dynamic
equilibrium between seemingly opposed values,
which make up a dilemma.
• There are different alternatives:
1. processing: a dilemma is made into two
processes.
2. contextualising: what is text and what is context.
3. sequencing: every process of reconciliation is a
sequence.
4. synergizing: adding the word through between the
two opposite alternative orientations.
Slide 5.23
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
Conclusion Chapter 5
• The Trompenaars’ dimensions reflect the valueorientation concept proposed by Kluckholn and
Strodtbeck.
• The cross-cultural manager has to face universal
dilemmas, but the way they are resolved is
culturally determined.
• Rather than the dimensions themselves, it is the
concept of reconciliation which distinguishes the
work of Trompenaars (and Hampden-Turner)
from that of Hofstede.
Slide 5.24
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009