Culture
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Learning Objectives
To define and demonstrate the effect
culture’s various dimensions on business.
of
To examine ways in which cultural knowledge
can
be
acquired
and
individuals
and
organizations
prepared
for
cross-cultural
interaction.
To illustrate ways in which cultural risk poses a
challenge to the effective conduct of business
communications and transactions.
To suggest ways in which businesses act as change
agents in the diverse cultural environments in which
they operate.
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Imagine you are meeting a stranger from your own
culture in a business context for the first time...
1. How close will you stand?
2. Will you make eye contact with them?
3. How long will you maintain that eye contact for?
4. What physical contact will you make with them?
5. How much involvement and emotion will your voice convey?
6. What will be the words that you use in greeting?
7. What is your first neutral topic of conversation likely to be once you
have made your greeting?
8. Now think about a stranger from another very different culture,
perhaps on the other side of the world from your own.
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Managing cultural differences
Two distinct tasks emerge:
to
understand
cultural
differences and the ways they
manifest themselves
to determine similarities across
cultures and exploit them in
strategy formulation
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Culture Defined
1.
The system of shared actions,
values, and beliefs that develops
within an organization and
guides the behavior of its
members.
2.
Called corporate culture in the
business setting.
3.
No two organizational cultures
are identical.
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Definitions of Organisational
Culture
The way we do things around here
Deal & Kennedy (1982)
The pattern of values, norms, beliefs, attitudes,
assumptions, signs and symbols that may or may not have
been articulated but which shape the ways in which people
behave and get things done in an organisation.
Hendry (1995)
Culture is a pattern of shared assumptions, invented,
discovered or developed within an organisation as it learns
to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal
integration. That has worked well enough to be considered
valid and, therefore, is taught to new members as the
correct way to think, perceive and feel.
Schein (1992)
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Influences on the development of
Organisational Culture
Values
Internal
Factors
External
Factors
Norms
Core
Beliefs
Attitudes
Assumptions
Experiences of
Employees
Signs & Symbols
Behaviour
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A Culture:
Anchor
Identity
Codes of Conduct
The collective
programming of mind.
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Henry Mintzberg on Culture
“Culture is the soul of the organization
— the beliefs and values, and how they
are manifested. I think of the structure
as the skeleton, and as the flesh and
blood. And culture is the soul that holds
the thing together and gives it life force.”
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Characteristics of Culture
1.
Culture is learned, shared, and transmitted from one
generation to the next.
2.
Culture can be passed from parents to children, by social
organizations, special interest groups, the government,
schools, and churches.
3.
Culture is multidimensional, consisting of a number of
common elements that are interdependent.
4.
Culture helps members solve problems.
5.
Culture is taught to newcomers
6.
Culture strongly influences behavior
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Dominant Culture,
Subculture and
counterculture
Smaller firms often have a single
dominant culture with a unitary set of
shared actions, values, and beliefs.
Most larger organizations contain several
subcultures as well as one or more
counter cultures.
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 Subculture.
A group of individuals with a unique
pattern of values and philosophy that are
not inconsistent with the organization’s
dominant values and philosophy.
 Counterculture.
A group of individuals with a pattern of
values and philosophy that outwardly
reject the surrounding culture.
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High- versus Low-Context
Cultures
High context refers to societies or groups where people have
close connections over a long period of time. Many aspects of
cultural behavior are not made explicit because most members
know what to do and what to think from years of interaction
with each other. Your family is probably an example of a high
context environment.
Low context refers to societies where people tend to have many
connections but of shorter duration or for some specific reason.
In these societies, cultural behavior and beliefs may need to be
spelled out explicitly so that those coming into the cultural
environment know how to behave.
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Some contributors of culture
 Sagas.
Heroic accounts of organizational accomplishments.
 Rites.
Standardized and recurring activities that are used at
special times to influence organizational members.
 Rituals.
Systems of rites.
 Cultural symbols.
Any object, act, or event that serves to transmit cultural
meaning.
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Study Question 2: How do you understand
an organizational culture?
 Culture often specifies rules and roles.
Rules.
• The various types of actions that are
appropriate.
Roles.
• Where individual members stand in the social
system.
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Study Question 2: How do you understand
an organizational culture?
 Shared values.
Help turn routine activities into valuable
and important actions.
Tie the organization to the important
values of society.
May provide a very distinctive source of
competitive advantage.
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Elements of Culture
Language (verbal
and nonverbal)
Religion
Values and
Attitudes
Manners and
Customs
Material Elements
Social Institutions
Education
Aesthetics
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Cultural Proxemics
Americans use a firm,
solid grip;
HAND SHAKE
Middle Easterners and
Asians prefer a gentle
grip a firm grip to them
suggests
unnecessary
aggressiveness
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EYE
CONTACT
Americans are taught to look
directly
Japanese and Koreans are
taught to avoid direct eye
contact, direct eye contact to
them is considered a weakness,
and
may
indicate
sexual
overtones
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O.K. GESTURE
For Americans, forming a circle
with thumb and forefinger to
signal O.K.
Means "zero" or worthless in
France
Means money in Japan
Means calling someone a very
bad name in Germany.
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NODDING YES OR NO
For Americans, up and down means
yes, side to side means no
in Bulgaria, the nods are reversed in
meaning.
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PUTTING FEET ON TABLE
An American gesture is found to be
offensive to nearly every other country
around the globe
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Cultural differences amongst genders
Women
Personal Space
Tend to surrender
more quickly
May feel vaguely
uncomfortable about
having done so.
Men
Tend to surrender
less quickly
interrupt men less
often they do other
women.
interrupt both sexes
Tend to use more
Tend to use less
Patience
More
Less
Use of Humor
Less
More
Tend to be better
Tend to be worse
Interruptions
Networking
questioning and
listening
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Dominant Religions
Christianity
Islam
Hinduism
Buddhism
Confucianism
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Gift Giving
Preparation is needed as it’s a sensitive area.
Important part of relationship management
during visits.
Wrapping
Both hands
http://www.1worldglobalgifts.com/giftgivingetique
tteandcustoms.htm
http://www.etabletop.com/giftcontent_global.html
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Dimensions of Culture
Differences in cultural lifestyle can be
explained by:
Individualism vs Collectivisim
power distance
uncertainty avoidance
Masculinity vs. Feminist
Asian countries tend to have high uncertainty
avoidance and low masculinity.
Western countries tend to have low
uncertainty avoidance and high masculinity.
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Hofstede’s Framework for
Assessing Cultures
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Masculinity vs. Femininity
Masculinity focuses on the degree the society reinforces, or
does not reinforce, the traditional masculine work role model of
male achievement, control, and power.
A High Masculinity ranking indicates the country experiences
a high degree of gender differentiation. In these cultures, males
dominate a significant portion of the society and power
structure, with females being controlled by male domination.
A Feminine culture indicates the country has a low level of
differentiation and discrimination between genders. In these
cultures, females are treated equally to males in all aspects of
the society.
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Cultural Dimension Scores for 12 countries
100
Japan
U.S.A
France
100
Netherlands
Great Britain
Mexico
Brazil
Uncertainty
Avoidance
Germany
Netherlands
West Africa
50
U.S.A
Great Britain
Germany
Arab Countries
Individualism
France
Japan
Brazil
Arab Countries
Indonesia
50
Mexico
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
West Africa
Indonesia
0
50
Power Distance
100
50
Masculinity
0
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Recent Culture Research
Trompenaars (1994) has compared culture to an onion:
the outer layer is visible cultural differences, such as the clothes
people wear, the food they eat and so on.
Going deeper are the actions that individuals perform, for
example in greeting, to bow or shake hands.
At the centre of the onion are the key beliefs and motivating
factors that are not so visible, but have the effect of
determining behaviour on the more superficial layers of the
onion.
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Self Reference Criterion
Self reference criterion is the unconscious
reference to one’s own cultural values and is
the root of most international business
problems.
Suggestions to reduce cultural bias include:
Define the problem or goal in terms of
domestic cultural traits, habits, or norms.
Define the problem or goal in terms of the
foreign cultural traits, habits, or norms.
Isolate
the
self-reference
criterion
influence in the problem, and examine it to
see how it complicates the problem.
Redefine the problem without the selfreference criterion influence, and solve for
the optimum-goal situation
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Cross-Cultural Training
Cultural training programs
should include:
culture-specific information
general cultural information on
values,
practices,
and
assumptions
self-specific
information
that
identifies one’s own cultural
paradigm
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Tips for Making Culture Work
for Business Success
Embrace local culture
Build relationships
Employ locals to gain cultural
knowledge
Help employees understand
you
Adapt products and practices
to local markets
Coordinate by region
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