The survival of mankind will depend to a
large extent on the ability of people who
think differently to work together
(Hofstede 2001)
Cultural patterns and
taxonomies
Nataliya Berbyuk Lindström
VT 2007
2000-01-31
• Cultural patterns
• Taxonomies
Hall, Hofstede, Bond, Lewis,
Trompenaars
Patterns
” Shared beliefs, values and norms that
are stable over time and that lead to
roughly similar behaviors across similar
situations are known as cultural
patterns” (L & K, s. 85)
Made up of people’s beliefs, values,
and norms, they provide the way of
thinking about the world and orienting
oneself to it (ibid)
Three components: belief (tro), value
(värdering), norm (norm)
Beliefs
”An idea that people assume to be true about
the world” (a set of learned interpretations
that form the basis for cultural members to
decide what is and what is not logical and
correct)
Central vs. peripheral
•
E.g. ”muti” (a term for traditional medicine in Southern Africa; derived from the Zulu word for
tree, of which the root is -thi. African Traditional Medicine makes use of various natural
products, many of which are derived from trees. For this reason, medicine generally is
known as Muti. In Southern Africa, the word Muti is in widespread use in most indigenous
African languages, as well as in South African English and Afrikaans where it is sometimes
used as a slang word for medicine in general) see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muti
•
Medicine murder (ritual murder or muti murder)
Values
“What a culture regards as good or bad, right or
wrong, fair or unfair, just or unjust, beautiful or
ugly, clean or dirty, valuable or worthless,
appropriate or inappropriate, and kind or cruel. V.
are desired characteristics or goals of a culture,
and they do not necessarily describe the actual
behaviors and characteristics”
“ a broad tendency to prefer certain states of
affairs over others”
Valence & intensity
e.g. money
Norms
Expectations of appropriate
behaviors…
The outward manifestations of beliefs
and values are norms, which are
socially shared expectations of
appropriate behaviors.
 importance and intensity, changeable
 e.g. manners (good/bad), social routines
Taxonomy
• “från kaos till ICA”
• e.g. Hall, Hofstede, Bond, Lewis,
Trompenaars
Taxonomy # 1. Hall’s taxonomy
(1976)
importance of context, way of
communicating
” amount of information implied by the
setting or context of the communication
itself, regardless of the specific words
that are spoken”
High context vs Low
context cultures
a high context culture (HC) where background
information is implicit; most of the information is
either in the physical context or internalized in the
person, very little is coded, explicit, transmitted
part of the message, e.g. Japanese, African
American, Mexican...
a low context culture (LC) where much of the
background information must be made explicit
in an interaction; the opposite to HC, e.g.
German, Swedish, English...
”MIXTURE”
HC cultures
• Restricted code systems (communication is not general across
individuals in content, but is specific to particular people, places
and times)- the interactant will look to the physical, sociorelational and perceptual environment for information; STATUS is
important
• clear who is a member of the group or not (many HC c are
collectivistic)
• Strong commitment in high context cultures
• High-context communication tends to be more indirect. Flowery
language, humility, and elaborate apologies are typical
• Silence
• High-context business people may even distrust contracts and be
offended by the lack of trust they suggest
“There is an unspoken belief among the Japanese in
general that putting deep feelings into words somehow
lowers or spoils their value and that understanding
attained without words is more precious than that attained
through precise articulation” (Sumiko Iwao)
Japanese manager explains his culture’s
communication style to an American:
” We are a homogeneous people and don’t have to speak as
much as you do here. When we say one word, we understand
ten, but here you have to say ten to understand one.”
LC cultures
•LC c people are logical, linear, individualistic, and actionoriented = logic, facts, and directness
•Solving a problem means lining up the facts and
evaluating one after another
• Decisions are based on fact rather than intuition + end
with actions
•Communicators are expected to be straightforward,
concise, and efficient in telling what action is expected
•Silence is uncomfortable
LC cultures
• To be absolutely clear, they strive to use
precise words and intend them to be taken
literally
• Explicit contracts conclude negotiations,
different from communicators in highcontext cultures who depend less on
language precision and legal documents
• OBS! in HC- the doer and the deed are the same;
gifts are fine; in LC: hate the deed but love the
doer”- “Ta det inte personligt”
#2. Hofstede’s taxonomy (1966)
• Geert Hofstede Cultures and
Organizations: Software of
the Mind” (first 1966)
• Mental programs”component of national culture
• survey- differences in thinking
and social action
• About 100 000 pers from IBM
• First 40 countries; 50
countries (2001)
• Human behavior is not random, but to
some extent predictable
 e.g. taxi driver, lecturer
 person’s mental programming: partly
unique, partly shared with others
Three levels of human mental programming
(Hofstede 2001:3)
individual
collective
universal
• inherited vs learned from birth
• the middle (collective)- > learned
Culture is
• The collective programming of the
mind that distinguishes the members of
one group or category of people from
another
• Mental programs are developed in
childhood and shaped by culture; they
contain ideas of culture expressed by
dominant values
Manifestation of culture
at different levels of
depth
symbols: words, gestures,
pictures, objects
heroes- possess
characteristics highly prized
by people of particular culture
rituals- collective activities that are
technically unnecessary to the
achievement of desired ends, but
that within a culture are considered
socially essential, keeping the
individual bound within the norms
of the collectivity
Dominant patterns of culture can be ordered
along the following dimensions:
•1. Power distance
•2. Uncertainty avoidance
•3. Individualism-collectivism
•4. Masculinity-femininity
•Relatively new! 5. Long term vs short
term orientation (1991)
1. Power distance
•
Q uickTim e och en
TI FF ( okom pr im er at ) - dekom pr im er ar e
kr ävs f ör at t kunna se bilden.
Inequality can occur:
 Physical and mental characteristics
(basic fact of human existence)
 Social status and prestige
 Wealth
 Power
 Laws, rights, and rules
• The power distance between a boss B and
a subordinate S in a hierarchy is the
difference between the extent to which B
can determine the behavior of S and the
extent to which S can determine the
behavior of B (Hofstede 2001: 83)
Beroendeförhållandena i ett land
Maktdistans är i hur hög grad de mindre
kraftfulla medlemmarna av institutioner och
företag inom ett land förväntar sig eller
accepterar att makt fördelas ojämlikt
PDI (MDI) index OH
Some implications of country power distance
differences
inequality
hierarchy
Low PDI
High PDI
minimized
convenience
needed- rightful place
existential inequality
subordinates/superior like me
s
of different kind
rights
equal
power holders entitled
to privileges
powerful people
try to look less
powerful
e.g. in order to
try to look as powerful
exercise power in
as possible
Sweden you have not
to look powerful
older people
neither respected nor respected and feared
feared