5-1
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5-2
International Management,
5th ed.
Part Two:
The Role of Culture
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
© 2003 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.,All Rights Reserved.
5-3
Hodgetts
and Luthans
International
Management,
5th ed.
Chapter Five
The Meanings and Dimensions
of Culture
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Objectives of the Chapter
5-4
 DEFINE the term “culture,” and discuss some of
the comparative ways of differentiating cultures
 DESCRIBE the concept of cultural values, and
relate some of the international differences,
similarities, and changes occurring in terms of
both work and managerial values
 IDENTIFY the major dimensions of culture
relevant to work settings, and discuss their effect
on behavior in an international environment
 DISCUSS the value of country cluster analysis
and relational orientations in developing effective
international management practices
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The Nature of Culture
5-5
 Culture
 The acquired knowledge that people use to interpret
experience and generate social behavior
 Cultural knowledge forms values, creates attitudes, and
influences behavior
 Characteristics of culture include:






McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Learned
Shared
Transgenerational
Symbolic
Patterned
Adaptive
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5-6
United States
1. Freedom
2. Independence
3. Self-reliance
4. Equality
5. Individualism
6. Competition
7. Efficiency
8. Time
9. Directness
10. Openness
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Table 5-1
Priorities of Cultural Values
Japan
1. Belonging
2. Group harmony
3. Collectiveness
4. Age/seniority
5. Group consensus
6. Cooperation
7. Quality
8. Patience
9. Indirectness
10. Go-between
Arab Countries
1. Family security
2. Family harmony
3. Parental guidance
4. Age
5. Authority
6. Compromise
7. Devotion
8. Patience
9. Indirectness
10. Hospitality
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Management Approaches Affected
by Cultural Diversity
5-7
Centralized vs.
Decentralized
decision making
Cultural
Diversity
Informal vs.
formal procedures
Safety vs. risk
Individual vs.
group rewards
Sort-term vs.
long-term horizons
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High vs. low
organizational
loyalty
Cooperation vs.
competition
Stability vs.
innovation
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5-8
Figure 5-1
A Model of Culture
Explicit artifacts and
products of the society
Norms and values
that guide the society
Implicit, basic
assumptions that guide
people’s behavior
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The Nature of Culture (cont.)
5-9
 Values in Culture
 Values
 Basic convictions that people have regarding what is right and
wrong, good and bad, important and unimportant
 Research has identified both differences and similarities
in values of different cultural groups
 Values in transition
 Changes taking place in managerial values as a result of both
culture and technology
 Research on Japanese managers
 Individualism on the rise in Japan
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Figure 5-2
Comparing Cultures as Overlapping Normal Distribution
5-10
French Culture
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
U.S. Culture
© 2003 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.,All Rights Reserved.
Figure 5-3
Stereotyping from the Cultural Extremes
5-11
How Americans see the French
• arrogant
•flamboyant
•hierarchical
•emotional
French Culture
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How French see Americans
• naive
•aggressive
•unprincipled
•workaholic
U.S. Culture
© 2003 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.,All Rights Reserved.
Cultural Dimensions
5-12
 Geert Hofstede
 Power distance - extent to which less powerful members of
organizations accept the unequal power distribution
 Uncertainty avoidance - extent to which people feel
threatened by ambiguous situations and have created
beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these
 Individualism - tendency of people to look after
themselves and their immediate family only
 Collectivism - tendency of people to belong to groups or
collectives and to look after each other in exchange for loyalty
 Masculinity - culture in which the dominant values are
success, money, and things
 Femininity - dominant values are caring for others and quality of
life
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5-13
Attitudinal Dimensions of Culture
 Work Value and Attitude Similarities
 Research has revealed many similarities in both work
values and attitudes
 Ronen and Kraut
 Smallest space analysis (SSA) - maps the relationship among
countries by showing the distance between each on various
cultural dimensions
 Can identify country clusters
 Ronen and Shenkar
 Examined variables in four categories
 Importance of work goals
 Need deficiency, fulfillment, and job satisfaction
 Managerial and organizational variables
 Work role and interpersonal orientation
 Identified eight country clusters and four independent countries
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5-14
Figure 5-8
A Synthesis of Country Cultures
NEAR
EASTERN
ARAB
NORDIC
Finland
Turkey
Denmark
Iran
Bahrain Greece Sweden
Austria
Germany
Switzerland
Abu-Dhabi
Oman
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
FAR
EASTERN
Malaysia
Hong
Kong
United States
Canada ANGLO
Philippines Argentina
Chile
Indonesia
Mexico
Taiwan
LATIN
AMERICAN
Peru
GERMANIC
United Kingdom
Ireland
Belgium
South Africa
France
LATIN
EUROPEAN
Italy Spain
Brazil
Israel
Japan
India
INDEPENDENT
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Trompenaars’ Cultural Dimensions
5-15
 Research produced five cultural dimensions that
are based on relationship orientations and attitudes
toward both time and the environment
 Universalism vs. Particularism
 Universalism - belief that ideas and practices can be
applied everywhere in the world without modification
 Focus on formal rules and rely on business contacts
 Particularism - belief that circumstances dictate how
ideas and practices should be applied and something
cannot be done the same everywhere
 Focus on relationships, working things out to suit the parties
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Trompenaars’ Cultural Dimensions
(cont.)
5-16
 Individualism vs. Communitarianism
 Individualism - people regard themselves as individuals
 Rely on individuals to make decisions
 Communitarianism - people regard themselves as part
of a group
 Seek consultation and mutual consent before making decisions
 Neutral vs. Emotional
 Neutral - culture in which emotions are held in check
 People try not to show their feelings
 Emotional - culture in which emotions are expressed
openly and naturally
 People smile, talk loudly, greet each other with enthusiasm
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Trompenaars’ Cultural Dimensions
(cont.)
5-17
 Specific vs. Diffuse
 Specific - culture in which individuals have a large
public space they readily share with others and a small
private space they guard closely and share with only
close friends and associates
 People often are open and extroverted
 Work and private life are separate
 Diffuse - culture in which both public and private space
are similar in size and individuals guard their public
space carefully, because entry into public space affords
entry into private space as well
 People often appear indirect and introverted, and work and
private life often are closely linked
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Trompenaars’ Cultural Dimensions
(cont.)
5-18
 Achievement vs. Ascription
 Achievement - culture in which people are accorded
status based on how well they perform their functions
 Ascription - culture in which status is attributed based
on who or what a person is
 For example, status may be accorded on the basis of age,
gender, or social connections
 Time
 Sequential approach to time - people do one thing at a
time, keep appointments strictly, follow plans to the
letter
 Synchronous approach - people do more than one thing
at a time, appointments are approximate
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Trompenaars’ Cultural Dimensions
(cont.)
5-19
 Environment
 Inner-directed
 People believe in controlling environmental outcomes
 Outer-directed
 People believe in allowing things to take their natural course
 Cultural Patterns or Clusters
 Defined groups of countries that are similar to each
other in terms of the five dimensions and the
orientations toward time and the environment
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5-20
Table 5-5
Trompenaars’ Cultural Groups
Anglo cluster
Relationship
Individualism
United States
United Kingdom
x
x
x
x
x
x
Communitarianism
Specific relationship
Diffuse relationship
Universalism
Particularism
Neutral relationship
x
Emotional relationship
x
Achievement
x
x
Ascription
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5-21
Table 5-5
Trompenaars’ Cultural Groups
Asian cluster
Relationship
Japan China Indonesia Hong Kong Singapore
Individualism
Communitarianism
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Particularism
x
x
x
x
x
Neutral relationship
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Specific relationship
Diffuse relationship
Universalism
Emotional relationship
x
Achievement
Ascription
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
x
x
© 2003 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.,All Rights Reserved.
5-22
Table 5-5
Trompenaars’ Cultural Groups
Latin American cluster
Relationship
Individualism
Argentina
Mexico
Venezuela
Brazil
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Particularism
x
x
x
x
Neutral relationship
x
x
x
Communitarianism
Specific relationship
Diffuse relationship
Universalism
Emotional relationship
Achievement
Ascription
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
x
x
x
x
x
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5-23
Table 5-5
Trompenaars’ Cultural Groups
Latin-European cluster
Relationship
France
Belgium
Individualism
x
x
Specific relationship
x
x
Diffuse relationship
x
x
x
x
x
Neutral relationship
x
x
x
Achievement
Ascription
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
x
x
Particularism
Emotional relationship
Italy
x
Communitarianism
Universalism
Spain
x
x
x
x
x
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5-24
Table 5-5
Trompenaars’ Cultural Groups
Germanic cluster
Relationship
Austria Germany Switzerland Czechoslovakia
Individualism
x
Communitarianism
Specific relationship
x
x
Diffuse relationship
Universalism
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Particularism
Neutral relationship
x
Emotional relationship
Achievement
Ascription
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
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