Cross-cultural models
Working Internationally
Messiah College
Jan Lok
January 10th 2014
Culture
The system of shared beliefs, values,
customs, behaviors, and artefacts that the
members of society use to cope with their
world and with one another, and that are
transmitted from generation to generation
through learning
Culture
"Culture is the way in which a group of people solves
problems and resolves dilemmas",
Hofstede, "Culture's Consequences", Sage, 1980.
Cultural differences, according to Trompenaars, can be
factorised down to differing attitudes to people,
environment and time.
"Culture works to justify its own initial suppositions"
Trompenaars, Riding the Waves of Culture
Manifestations of culture
Main elements of culture / civilization:
1.
Religion

e.g. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Confucianism
2.
History, shared past

Western history, Arab history, Russian etc.
3.
Language, the language families

e.g. Indo-European, Turkic, Semitic, etc.
4.
Ethnicity

e.g. Bantu, Chinese, Caucasian, etc.
+
Self-identification

`us'  `them', ingroup  outgroup
Dutch artefacts
Dutch symbols and heroes
The real Hansje Brinker
Values
In order to understand cultural
differences in your profession, you
need to know the differences in values.
Those values are determined by
history, religion, language, upbringing
etc.
Dutch values and others

European Values Study
Morality
 Politics
 Education

Morality

Permissiveness:




Acceptance of:
Homosexuality
Abortion
Divorce
euthanasia
1 = never; 10 = always

Civic morality:




Non-acceptance of:
claiming state benefits illegally
cheating on tax
joy riding
accepting a bribe
1 = never ; 10 = always
8.8
dk
8.6
c i v i c m o r a l i ty
8.4
ro
hu
8.2
pl
ir
cr bg
ni
pt
it
is
at
w g eg
uk sp
ru
nl
fi
cz
sw
8
be
lv ltua gr
7.8
sl
ee
lu
fr
7.6
7.4
sk
7.2
by
7
3
4
5
6
permissiveness
7
8
Politics

Confidence in institutions:
How much confidence do you have in:
Church, armed forces, education system, Press, trade
unions, police, parliament, civil service

Interpersonal trust:
Would you say that most people can be trusted or that you
can’t be too careful in dealing with people?
Most people can be trusted  %
Can’t be too careful
70
dk
sw
In te r p e r s o n a l tr u s t
60
nl
gr
fi
50
eg
by
40
it
30
cz
ru
hu eecr
20
wg
ir
at
uk
ua
be
bg
is
ni
sp
lt
lu
fr
sl
lv
sk
ro
10
mt
pl
pt
0
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
Confidence in institutions
2.6
2.7
2.8
Education
Important qualities to teach children:
 ‘Classic’ : good manners, hard work,
imagination, thrift, religious faith, obedience
 ‘Liberal’: independence, imagination, tolerance,
determination
3
'c l a s s i c ' q u a l i t i e s
mt
ro
pl
2.5
sk
ru
pt
ua
ee
ni
by
lv
hu ie
bg
gr
cz
it
2
lu
uk
be
sp
fr lt
sl
at
is
nl
1.5
fi
eg
wg
se
dk
1
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
liberal qualities
2
2.2
2.4
Cross-cultural models


Hofstede & Trompenaars
These models do not explain the cultural
differences, but they try to classify them
“Culture is always a collective phenomenon,
because it is at least partly shared with
people who live or lived within the same
social environment, which is where it was
learned. It is the collective programming of
the mind which distinguishes the members of
one group or category of people from
another.”
Geert Hofstede, Culture and Organizations: Software of the Mind.
New York, McGraw-Hill, 1991
1. Collectivism versus Individualism

In individualistic countries (UK, Germany, South
Africa, Canada, etc.), people are expected to
look out for themselves. Typical values are
personal time, freedom, and challenge.

In collectivist cultures (Mexico, Korea, Greece)
individuals are bounded through strong personal
and protective ties based on loyalty to the
group. Values include group recognition, family
honour etc.
Individualism vs collectivism

Individualism





I
small group
independence
personality
‘ Western ’ (still a lot of
differences between USA
& Holland)

Collectivism





we
extended family, group
interdependence
harmony
Portugal, Greece, Spain,
Africa, Asia, Latin
America
2. Power distance

Small power distance (e.g. Denmark, New Zealand)
expect and accept power relations that are more
consultative or democratic. People relate to one another
more as equals regardless of formal positions. Subordinates are
more comfortable with and demand the right to contribute to and
critique the decision making of those in power.

Large power distance countries (e.g. Spain, Latin
America, Asian countries) accept power relations that
are more autocratic and paternalistic. Subordinates
acknowledge the power of others simply based on where they are
situated in certain formal, hierarchical positions.

Strong correlation with religion!
Power distance
•
•
To what extent do we accept that some people have
more power than others?
High
Low
–
–
–
hierarchical
top-down
Latin / USA
egalitarian
top-down / bottom-up
Germanic / Dutch???
3. Femininity versus Masculinity
(Quality of life versus Achievement)

Masculine cultures value competitiveness,
ambition, assertiveness and the accumulation
of wealth and material possessions (e.g.
Slovakia, Japan)

Feminine cultures place more value on positive
relationships among people, cooperation and
quality of life (e.g. The Netherlands, Sweden).
Masculinity vs femininity

Masculinity





be the best
ambition, competition
money, performance
success, technology
Italy, Germany, UK,
Belgium, USA

Femininity





don’t be different
sympathy for the weak
solidarity, caring
environment
Scandinavian countries,
Holland
4. Uncertainty avoidance

When uncertainty avoidance is strong, a culture tends
to perceive unknown situations as threatening so that
people tend to avoid them (e.g. South Korea, Japan,
and Latin America).

In countries where uncertainty avoidance is weak (e.g.
the US; the Netherlands; Singapore; Hong Kong, Britain)
people feel less threatened by unknown situations.
Therefore, they tend to be more open to innovations,
risk, have more nonconformist behaviour etc.
5. Long-term versus short-term
orientation



New dimension: describes a society's attachment to the
future versus the past and present.
In long term oriented societies, values include
persistence (perseverance), ordering relationships by
status, thrift, and having a sense of shame. (E.g. China,
Japan)
In short term oriented societies, values include
normative statements, personal steadiness and
stability, protecting ones face, respect for tradition,
favors, and gifts (Western world).
Power
Distance
Uncertainty
Avoidance
Individualism
Masculinity
Argentina
49
86
46
56
Brazil
69
76
38
49
France
68
86
71
43
India
77
40
48
56
Japan
54
92
46
95
Mexico
81
82
30
69
Netherlands
38
53
80
14
U.S.A.
40
46
91
62
Implications of dimensions Significant statistical relationships
•
•
•
•
•
Examples (out of 400)
Power Distance large: more perceived corruption
Uncertainty Avoidance strong: stress on law and
order
Individualist, not collectivist: higher Human Rights
rating
Feminine, not masculine: higher welfare budgets
Long term, not short term orientation: higher
savings rates
Introduction Trompenaars

http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Riding-thewaves-of-cultureFon;search%3Atag%3A%22netherlands%22
Trompenaars
1. Universalism vs. Particularism

What is more important: rules or relationships?
For example: the rule that you should bear
thruthful witness in a court of law, or give your
honest judgment to the insurance company
concerning a payment it is about to make to
you, is more important here than particular ties
of friendship or family. But the universal truth,
the law, is considered logically more significant
than these relationships.
U: consistent, rules, uniform procedures etc.
P: flexible, pragmatic, exceptions are possible
Friend would not help:
Switzerland
Canada
USA
Sweden
United Kingdom
Australia
Netherlands
Germany
Estonia
Czech Rep
France
Singapore
Japan
India
China
Russia
Korea
Venezuela
97
93
93
92
91
91
90
87
85
83
73
69
68
54
47
44
37
32
0
20
40
60
80
100
Other six dimensions

Individualism vs. Communitarianism


Specific vs. Diffuse


Do we have to prove ourselves to receive status or is it given to us?
Perception of Time


Do we display our emotions?
Achievement vs. Ascription


How far do we get involved?
Affective vs. Neutral


Do we function in a group or as an individual?
Future oriented or past oriented?
Internal vs. External control

Do we control our environment or work with it ?
Ad. Specific vs. Diffuse
A boss asking to paint his house
The colleague argues:
You don’t have to paint the house if you don’t feel like it.
He is your boss in the company. Outside the company,
he has little authority
The subordinate argues:
Despite the fact that I don’t feel like it, I will paint the
house anyway. He is my boss and you cannot ignore it
outside your work either.
Would not paint the house
Sweden
Netherlands
Denmark
UK
Canada
USA
Australia
Japan
Mexico
Thailand
Greece
Belgium
Estonia
Singapore
Venezuela
Kuwait
Nigeria
China
91
91
89
88
87
82
78
71
70
69
67
66
65
58
52
47
46
32
0
20
40
60
80
100
Specific




Many components in
one’s personal life
Interactions between
people are well
defined
Large public sphere
Standards, contracts
Diffuse




All elements in one’s
personal life are
related
Large private sphere
A friend is a friend in
all respects of life
Various roles are not
seperated
Ad. Achievement vs. Ascription
What you do
STATUS
Who you are
Ad. Time

Past oriented cultures (e.g. Ireland)

Present oriented cultures (e.g. Spain)

Future oriented cultures (e.g. USA)
Some consequences …
USA Business Culture
 Shareholder Value
 Limitless Growth
 “Winner takes all!”
 Use power
 Result driven
 Many hours of work
Dutch Business Culture
 Stakeholder Value
 Sustainable Growth
 Social Responsibility
 First: talk
 Process is important
 Working fast
How to explain this?