THE MEANINGS AND DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE

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Chapter 5 THE MEANINGS AND DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE
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Nature of Culture
Learned Culture is acquired by learning and
experience Shared People as a member of a group,
organization ,or society share culture Transgenera
tional Culture is cumulative, passed down from
generation to generation Symbolic Culture is
based on the human capacity to symbolize Patterned
Culture has structure and is integrated Adaptive
Culture is based on the human capacity to change
or adapt
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How Cultures Affect Management Approaches

• Centralized Decision Making
• Risk Averse
• Individual Rewards
• Informal Procedures
• High Organizational Loyalty
• Co-operation Encouraged

• Decentralized Decision Making
• Risk Seeking
• Group Rewards
• Low Organizational Loyalty
• Competition Encouraged

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Value Priorities
United States Japan
Arab Countries
1. Freedom 1. Belonging 1. Family
Security 2. Independence 2. Group Harmony
2. Family Harmony 3. Self-Reliance 3.
Collectiveness 3. Parternalism 4.
Equality 4. Age/Seniority 4. Age 5.
Individualism 5. Group Consensus 5.
Authority 6. Competition 6. Cooperation
6. Compromise 7. Efficiency 7.
Quality 7. Devotion 8. Time
8. Patience 8. Patience 9. Directness
9. Indirectness 9. Indirectness 10.
Openness 10. Go-between 10. Hospitality
Values- basic convictions that people have
regarding what is right and wrong, good and
bad, important or unimportant
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Value Differences and Similarities Across Cultures

• Differences
• U.S. managers value tactful acquisition of
  influence
• Japanese managers value deference to superiors
• Korean managers value forcefulness and
  aggressiveness
• Indian managers value nonaggressive pursuit of
  objectives
• Australian managers value low-key approach with
  high concern for others

• Similarities
• Strong relationship between managerial success
  and personal values
• Value patterns predict managerial success
• Successful managers favor pragmatic,
  achievement-oriented values while less successful
  managers
• prefer static and
• passive values

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Hofstedes Dimensions of Culture

• Power Distance (Large or Small)
• The extent to which less powerful members of
  institutions accept that power is distributed
  unequally
• Large (Mexico, South Korea, India)
• blindly obey order of superiors
• hierarchical organizational structure
• Small (U.S., Denmark, Canada)
• decentralized decision making
• flat organizational structures

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• Uncertainty Avoidance (High or Low)
• The extent to which people feel threatened by
  ambiguous situations
• High( Germany, Japan, Spain)
• high need for security
• strong beliefs in experts
• Low (Denmark, UK)
• willing to accept risks
• less structuring of activities

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• Individualism (vs. Collectivism)
• The tendency of people to look after themselves
  and their immediate family only
• strong work ethic
• promotions based on merit
• U.S., Canada, Australia
• Collectivism
• The tendency of people to belong to groups and to
  look after each other in exchange for loyalty
• weaker work ethic
• promotions based on seniority
• China, South American cultures

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• Masculinity (Vs. Femininity)
• the dominant values in society are success, money
  and things
• emphasis on earning and recognition
• high stress workplace
• Japan
• Femininity
• the dominant values in society are caring for
  others and the quality of life
• employment security
• employee freedom
• Scandinavian cultures

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Cultural Dimensions by Trompenaars

• Universalism vs. Particularism
• Universalism the belief that ideas and
  practices can be applied everywhere without
  modification
• U. S., Germany, and Sweden
• Particularism the belief that circumstances
  dictate how ideas and practices should be
  applied.
• Spain and Japan

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• Individualism Vs. Collectivism
• Individualism refers to people regarding
  themselves as individuals
• U.S., UK, and Sweden
• Collectivism refers to people regarding
  themselves as part of a group
• Japan and France

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• Neutral Vs. Affective
• Neutral emotions are held in check
• Japan and the U.S.
• Affective emotions are openly and naturally
  expressed
• Mexico, Netherlands, and Switzerland
• Specific Vs. Diffuse
• Specific individuals have a large public space
  and a small private space
• UK, U. S., and Switzerland
• Diffuse both public and private space are
  similar in size
• Venezuela, China, and Spain

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• Achievement Vs. Ascription
• Achievement people are accorded status based on
  how well they perform their functions
• U.S., Switzerland, and UK
• Ascription status is attributed based on who or
  what a person is
• Venezuela and China

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Time

• Past or Present-Oriented Vs. Future-Oriented
• Past or present-oriented emphasize the history
  and tradition of the culture
• Venezuela, Indonesia, and Spain
• Future-oriented emphasize the opportunities and
  limitless scope
• that any agreement can have
• U. S., Italy, and Germany

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• Sequential Vs. Synchronous Time
• Sequential time is prevalent, people tend to
  do only one activity at a time, keep appointments
  strictly, and prefer to follow plans
• U.S.
• Synchronous time is prevalent, people tend
  to do more than one activity at a time,
  appointments are approximate, and schedules are
  not important
• Mexico and France

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Environment

• Inner Directed
• Believe in controlling outcomes
• U.S.
• Outer Directed
• Believe in letting things take their own course
• Asian Cultures