Switzerland: Team IV
Darian Sargent, Frank Jones, Joshua Pavlik, Chase Wilder,
Jarrett Etheredge, Desi Hart, Phillip Mesch, David
Gonzalez, Lindsey Garrett, Mikey Via
What to Expect
 Chapter 5
 “Crossing Cultures”
 Four Issues
 Paradox’s of culture-based ethical systems
 Paradox’s specific to long-term visitors
 Three stage and Four stage Model
 Reverse culture shock
 11 Paradox’s total
Crossing Cultures
 Culture Shock
 “Natural response that an individual manifests when
attempting to react to and control the many new
stimuli, perceptions, and feelings a visitor experiences.”
 Who suffers more?
 Expatriate or their significant other
Crossing Cultures
 U-shaped pattern
 Gullahorn & Gullahorn,
1963
Culture Based Ethics:
 Relativism
 Universalism
 Relative Standards
 One situation differs
with another
 Collectivistic cultures
 Universal Standards
 Ethical standards that
apply to all
 Individualistic cultures
 Divergence among
cultures
Paradox 5.1
 Are ethical norms and standards universal or relative
to the situation?
 Ethics (Ethos)
 “Character and sentiment of the community”
 Ethical Behavior
 “Degree to which individuals conform to norms and
standards”
5.1
 Globalization
 Individualism and universal standards
 Donaldson (1989)

10 Fundamental Rights
 Countermovement
 Russia and Columbia


Unilateral contract termination
Corruption
5.1
 Ethical Algorithm
 Difference solely economic conditions
 Conflict of home vs. host culture


Successful business in host culture
Doesn’t violate fundamental international right
5.1
 Integrative Social Contracts Theory
 Hyper-norms- fundamental universal norms


Human rights
Basic prescriptions of major religions
 High-order norms to Low-order norms
 High used to judge low
5.1
 Cultures History
 Influence universal or relative standards
 Switzerland
 French Revolution
 China
 Mao
Paradox 5.2
 Are there universal ethics across generic cultures, or do
ethics vary by generic culture?
Fiske’s generic cultures:
1. HC- horizontal collectivism: low degree of power distance and a high
degree of collectivism
•Community-sharing cultures
2. VC- vertical collectivism: high degree of power distance and
collectivism
•Authority-ranking cultures
3. HI- horizontal individualism: low degree of power distance and a high
degree of individualism
•Equality-matching cultures
4. VI- vertical individualism: high degree of both power distance and
individualism
•Market-pricing cultures
Relating generic cultures to
statistical scales:
• Nominal = Community Sharing
•Ordinal = Authority Ranking
•Interval = Equality Matching
•Ratio = Market Pricing
Community Sharing represents
nominal scaling:
• Names only given to entities
•Norms for in-group members vs. out-group members
•In-groups treatment to out-group members
Authority- ranking is ordinal in
nature:
• Importance of individuals
•Higher-status positions
• ex. Japan and Korea
Equality-matching is interval:
• Unit of measurement for individuals
•No true zero point
•Found in Scandinavian countries
Market-pricing on ratio scaling:
• Common unit of measurement
• Compares dimensions on a monetary basis
• e.g. pay for performance
Paradox 5.3 & 5.4
 Oslands Research
 Four Independent areas of dimensions in which their
nine paradoxes fall:
 Cultural Intelligence
 Self-Identity
 Mediation
 Cautious Optimism
5.3
 Is the general stereotype of the host culture valid?

It is hard to pinpoint a single stereotype on an entire culture.

Example: Switzerland is seen as a very reserved and private
culture.

“as globalization brings us closer together, these exceptions
will increase in number.”
5.4
 How can the expat manager be simultaneously
powerful and powerless?
 Powerful:

have a mass amount of power due to the fact that they have
their home country backing their decisions and being able to
confide in them.
 Powerless:

The locals around you have the knowledge and contacts that
they need to be successful and the expatriate manager does
not.
5.5
 How can the expat manager be simultaneously free of
home-country norms and restrained by host-country
norms?
 Conforming to the norms and expectations of host
culture.

Aly example
 Authority ranking cultures
 Joyce Osland
Paradox 5.6
 How can the expat manager simultaneously accept the
ideal cultural values of the home culture and realize
that they do not exist in the home culture or exist only
in attenuated form?
 Culture Values
 Attenuated
 Weak or slim form
5.6
 What does this really mean?
 This paradox represents the tension between the ideal
and actual values of the home culture
 Representative of ideal portrayed in social media
 Films
 Television
 Books
5.6
 Pressure to act a good ambassadors conflict
 Study abroad experiences
 Hire competence or connections?
 Goal accomplishment
 Nepotism
5.6
 Playing favorites and prestigious connections
 Osland Survey(2006)
 54.3% of the expats identified this paradox in their work
and life abroad
Paradox 5.7
 How can the expat manager resolve the conflict
between contradictory demands of the home office
and the host-culture subsidiary?
• Tension
 Home-culture vs Host-culture
Infringes upon values and expectation.
 Ideals of fairness.

• Completion of Goals
 Home-culture (United States)

Demand of short completion time
 Host-culture

Longer time frames, lack of resources available, and regulating
laws.
• Demand
 The completion of specific task and goals.


Differing cultural expectations.
51.4%
 Resolution
 Education of Host-Culture.
Expectations
 Values
 Resources available

Paradox 5.8
 How can the expat manager simultaneously give up
some home-country values and strengthen other
home country values?
When visiting a host country..
 Expats gain knowledge of the host country's values and
cultural norms


Out of necessity
Out of interest
 Expats also begin to gain even more insight into their
home culture that they have grown accustomed to

This includes norms that are both consciously and
unconsciously accepted
As a result
 As a result from being submersed in a different
culture, many expats tend to give up some values of
the home culture
 This could include




Diet
Style of Dress
Ways of conducting business
Social interaction
As a result
 In extreme cases the expat will give up the home
culture entirely and completely convert to the host
culture
 In this case they will adopt everything about the
culture including religion and language
However
 Such an extreme case is uncommon
 What usually happens is that the expat will give up
noncore values
 After giving up noncore values, the expat will then
strengthen the core values
Generally speaking
 Expats tend to become more indentified with the
home culture after being sent abroad
 Among expats surveyed, 60% said that they had
experienced this when they went abroad
Paradox 5.9
 Is it possible for the expat manager to become more
cosmopolitan and more idiosyncratic simultaneously?
Definitions
 Cosmopolitan: belonging to the entire world; not
limited to just one part of the world
 Idiosyncrasy: a structural or behavioral trait peculiar to
an individual or group
Examples
 Thai food
 Swiss grocery stores
 “48.6 % of expats…. Described it as the most
important paradox”
Summary
 Quote from textbook:
“ We work to live” rather than “We live to work”
Paradox 5.10
How can the expat manager simultaneously think well of
the host culture and avoid being taken advantage of?

The Oslands studied four independent dimensions
of which their nine paradoxes for expat managers
would fall.

This paradox deals with their dimension of cautious
optimism
5.10
 Cautious Optimism
 Awareness of the expat of the new host country’s culture
and to what extent they get taken advantage of.
 Expat must have a positive regard for the host country
 Must be able to do this while not being taken advantage
of
 Becoming knowledgeable about the host country’s
culture is key to earning the locals respect
Examples regarding cautious optimism
 Having trust in the ethics of another culture
 Example: American in a foreign country being overcharged
for a cab ride.




US citizens are used to fixed, no haggle prices.
Other cultures prefer to bargain prices.
Cab drivers could charge 5-10 times more to foreigners than what
is expected in the host culture.
Thinking too well of the host culture could put you at a
disadvantage that you aren’t even aware of.
Examples regarding cautious optimism
 Most common issue facing expat managers in new
cultures according to the Osland study: major bribes
 Example: A US company Senior executive wanting to
operate in Russia.
 Expat assumed optimistically that like in the US, major
bribing is not allowed in business transactions.
Examples regarding cautious optimism
 In reality:
 US manager witnesses Russian top officials openly
accepting bribes at a formal dinner
 US managers are at a disadvantage with European and
Asian Countries who are legally free to bribe
 US expats have been sentenced to long jail times for
accepting bribes
Paradox 5.11
 How can the expat manager be simultaneously at
home anywhere in the world and fit in comfortably
nowhere?
 The expatriate Manager
 Some remain as permanent residents
 The cosmopolitan expat
 Most return home
5.11
 Global Firms
 5-10 yrs experience outside home culture for senior or
top management positions
 Stability and community
 45.7% had difficulty
5.11
 Understanding Cross-Cultural Interactions via
Cultural Sensemaking
 Three-Stage Model
 Framing the Situation

Employ schemas and script
 Making Attributions



Analyze culture profile
Identify communication style
Engage in sophisticates stereotyping
 Select a Script
5.11
 Four-Stage Model
 Indentify the degree to which process must be
emphasized
 Framing the situation
 Employ Hofstede’s various dimensions of national
cultures
 Employ cultural metaphors
5.11
 Reentry Into the Home Culture
 Pro’s




Became more cosmopolitan
Improved work skills
Increased knowledge
Strengthened core values
 Con’s



Reverse culture shock
Return to lower position or changes authority
Gave up some values
Conclusion
 “Crossing Cultures”
 Four Issues
 Paradox’s of culture-based ethical systems
 Paradox’s specific to long-term visitors
 Three stage and Four stage Model
 Reverse culture shock
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