© 2013 Cengage Learning
Outline

Cultural Differences in Work-Related Values:
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

Power Distance
 Uncertainty Avoidance
 Individualism-Collectivism
 Masculinity-Femininity
 Long- versus Short-Term Orientation
Outline (cont’d.)

Organizational Culture and Organizational
Climate


Cultural Differences in Organizational Culture
Culture and Person-Organization Fit

Culture and Attitudes About Work and
Organizations
 Culture, Motivation, and Productivity
 Culture, Leadership, and Management Styles


Cultural and the Meaning of Leadership
Culture and Leadership Behaviors
Outline (cont’d.)

Culture and Decision-Making Processes



Organizational Decisions
Organizational Fairness
Consumer Decisions

Culture and Negotiation
 Intercultural Issues Regarding Business and
Work


Overseas Assignments
Working with an Increasingly Diverse Workforce
Population
Outline (cont’d.)

Culture and Sexual Harassment
 Conclusion
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN
WORK-RELATED VALUES:
HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL
DIMENSIONS
Power Distance

Diversity of people according to roles, functions,
and positions is vital to successful operation of
organization
 Power Distance: degree to which different
cultures encourage or maintain power and
status differences between interactants
 Cultures high on Power Distance: develop rules
to maintain and strengthen status relationships
 Cultures low on Power Distance: minimize those
rules and customs
Uncertainty Avoidance

Uncertainty Avoidance: degree to which different
cultures develop ways to deal with anxiety and
stress of uncertainty
 Cultures high on Uncertainty Avoidance:
develop highly refined rules and rituals that are
mandated and become part of a rubric and
normal way of operating
 Cultures low on Uncertainty Avoidance: less
concerned with rules and rituals to deal with
stress and anxiety of uncertainty
Individualism-Collectivism

Individualism-Collectivism: degree to which
individuals sacrifice personal goals for sake of
ingroup
 Individualistic cultures foster less sacrifice for
group and focus on individual goals, wishes, and
desires
 Collectivistic cultures foster more compliance
with company policies and exhibit more
conformity in group, section, or unit behavior
Masculinity-Femininity

Masculinity-Femininity: degree to which cultures
foster or maintain differences between sexes in
work-related values
 Cultures high on Masculinity-Femininity—Japan,
Austria, Venezuela, and Italy—greatest degree
of sex differences in work-related values
 Cultures low on Masculinity-Femininity—
Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and
Sweden—fewest differences between sexes
Long- versus Short-Term Orientation

Long- versus short-term orientation: degree to
which cultures encourage delayed gratification
of material, social, and emotional needs
 Cultures with long-term orientations based on
two principles:


Unequal status relationships leads to stable society
Family is typical of all social organizations
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
AND ORGANIZATIONAL
CLIMATE
Cultural Differences in
Organizational Culture

Organizational culture: information system
shared within organization and transmitted
across successive generations
 Organizational climate: perception of
organizational policies, practices, procedures
 Low Power Distance cultures: less fear of
disagreeing with boss; more cooperativeness
 High Power Distance cultures: greater fear of
disagreeing with boss; more reluctant to trust
each other
Culture and Person-Organization Fit

Appropriate match between employees and
organizational culture of company is important



Do ‘‘mismatches’’ create conflicts?
Do successful ‘‘matches’’ lead to more productive
companies?
Organizations struggle with cultural match
between employee and company
 New ways of assimilating newcomers into
organizations are being developed from cultural
perspective
CULTURE AND ATTITUDES
ABOUT WORK AND
ORGANIZATIONS
Culture and Attitudes About Work
and Organizations

Different cultures differ in levels of organizational
commitment
 Normative and affective commitment are
predictive of organizational commitment, but to
different degrees across cultures



In collectivistic cultures, work, colleagues, and
organization become synonymous with self
In individualistic cultures, people have an easier time
separating themselves from their work
There are cultural differences in psychological
contracts
CULTURE, MOTIVATION, AND
PRODUCTIVITY
Culture, Motivation, and Productivity

What type of settings influence productivity?
 Social loafing: when individual productivity tends
to decline in larger groups


True of Americans
Social striving: when group work enhances
individual performance


Characteristic of Asians
Many American companies are adopting practices,
including increasing teamwork in daily work
behaviors, to enhance social striving
CULTURE, LEADERSHIP, AND
MANAGEMENT STYLES
Culture and the Meaning of
Leadership

Leadership: "process of influence between a
leader and followers to attain group,
organizational, or societal goals"
 In American culture, leaders are decision
makers: "movers and shakers" of organizations
 In other cultures, leaders are not necessarily
seen as dynamic or action-oriented
 Leadership and managerial styles also differ
across cultures in boundaries of leadership
Culture and Leadership Behaviors

Leaders in high Power Distance cultures are
autocratic or paternalistic in decision making and
interactional style
 Leaders in low Power Distance cultures are
more participative and consensual
 Managers in high Uncertainty Avoidance
Cultures are selected on basis of seniority
 Low Uncertainty Avoidance cultures tend to
select managers on criteria, such as merit
CULTURE AND DECISIONMAKING PROCESSES
Organizational Decisions

Oligarchy: organizational structure where ruleor decision-making power is held by a few
 Decision-making is different in different cultures
 Groupthink: underlies social loafing and general
apathy toward work and productivity; plagues
decision-making
 Teamthink: constructive; involves
encouragement of divergent views, open
expression, awareness of limitations, recognition
of uniqueness, discussion of collective doubts
Organizational Fairness

Cultures differ on definitions of fairness and
procedures by which to achieve it
 Equity: are one’s contributions and efforts
considered in making organizational decisions?
 Equality: are demographic characteristics of
individuals considered primarily?
 People of different cultures apply different
criteria in making allocation decisions, and
these criteria are based on situational cues
Consumer Decisions

Cultural differences in status maintenance and
expressing emotions affects consumer decisions
 Endowment effect: tendency for owners and
potential sellers of goods and products to value
those products more than potential buyers


East Asians show smaller endowment effect
compared to Americans and Canadians
Differences attributed to idea that ownership of
product enhances self more in individualistic contexts
CULTURE AND NEGOTIATION
Culture and Negotiation

In U.S., objective of negotiation is to get job
done: requires problem solving and bargaining
 Negotiation processes in other cultures
challenge American assumptions
 In international negotiation, negotiators come as
representatives not only of companies but of
cultures as well
 Factors playing role in international negotiating
sessions: space between people; greetings;
what to call each other; kinds of expectations
INTERCULTURAL ISSUES
REGARDING BUSINESS AND
WORK
Intercultural Issues Regarding
Business and Work

Multinational and international corporations:
work organizations having subsidiaries, satellite
offices, and work units in more than one country
 Increasingly, companies need to deal with
people of diverse and varied backgrounds
 Internationalization of business brings with it
more intercultural issues and challenges
 As companies become increasingly dependent
on other companies in other countries, they face
ever-larger number of intercultural issues
Overseas Assignments

Many corporations with subsidiaries and
business partners in other countries find it
increasingly necessary to send workers abroad
 Overseas assignments can give rise to myriad of
problems because of cultural differences and
limited language skills and differing expectations
of person on assignment and hosts
Working with an Increasingly
Diverse Workforce Population

Organizations around world are dealing with an
increasingly diverse workforce population with
those coming from overseas
 American companies dealing with increasing
diversity solely on basis of increasing diversity in
America
 Problems that occur when two cultures clash are
magnified when people from multiple cultures
are thrust together to interact and work toward
common goal
CULTURE AND SEXUAL
HARASSMENT
Culture and Sexual Harassment

Complex issues concerning gender and sex are
commonplace in organizations working crossculturally
 Sexual harassment: verbal or physical conduct
of sexual nature in which submission to such
behavior is condition to employment and
interferes with work environment
 Sex- and gender-based discriminatory actions—
both in terms of behaviors and words—may be
tolerated more across different cultures
CONCLUSION
Conclusion

Cultural differences that people bring with them
to organization present challenges
unprecedented in modern industrialized period
 To meet challenges, business, government, and
private organizations look to research and
education about cultural diversity as it relates to
work
 Major growth in organizational consulting
regarding managing diversity, intercultural
communication, and competence training