cross cultural management theory- ccm-3

Cross Cultural Management

Theoretical Perspective

Cross Cultural Management

• CCM covers a broad range of scientific disciplines:– Sociology – Psychology – Anthropology– Political Science– Economics– Management Sciences et. al.

Differences• Sociology & Anthropology :

– It detects cultural variances using value based approach.• Psychology:

– It attempts to explain cultural variance with perceptual differences (cognition).

• Management Sciences:– CCM studies the behavior of people around the world &

trains them to work in organizations with employees & Client population from several culture.

– It describes organizational behavior with countries & cultures.

– It seeks to understand & improve the interactions of co workers, clients, suppliers & alliance partners from different countries & cultures.

Culture

• It is a useful tool describe, the luggage of know how, attitudes, knowledge & beliefs societies use to hold a grip over their environment & organized human interactions.

• When consideration is given to its normative & religious components, & to its role to building its identities, it gives insights into the way sets of uncoordinated attitudes & techniques are transformed into systems, with their own dynamics.

Levels (layers) of culture

• Adler proposes a model of culture that focuses on reciprocal influences of three levels of culture: values, attitudes and behavior.


• Schein defines three levels of group culture: basic underlying assumptions, espoused values and artifacts.


• In Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s model of culture, four layers of culture are positioned in concentric circles.

Organizational Culture

• Organizational culture is not assumed to be homogenous, but may rather include other distinct cultural constructs termed organizational subcultures, alternatively sub organizational cultures. Organizational subcultures are both influenced by organizational and societal cultures.

Organizational Culture

Elements of Organizational Culture, as per Deal & Kennedy

Hofstede’s Mental images of society

Interdisciplinary approaches to CCM

GLOBE Conceptual Framework

Detailed conceptual CCM Framework

Stereotyping

• The phenomena of categorization by cognition and stimuli perceived by individuals & groups, which targets the national & ethnic group, and is not referred to as an individual behavior is commonly known as stereotyping.

Example of Stereotyping involving Switzerland’s language regions

Acculturation

• It is a phenomena which results when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first hand contact with subsequent changes in original culture patterns in both groups.

• Acculturation (assimilation or integration) requires some degree of cross cultural knowledge which may be acquired over time.

Hofstead’s Acculturation Process

Cultural Frameworks1. The Kluckhohn-Strodtbeck framework• As anthropologists their analysis of culture focuses on the

societal level. • Their framework includes five universal dimensions, which, they

assert, can be observed in every culture: -Relationship to the environment -Time orientation -Nature of people -Activity orientation -Focus of responsibility

Relationship to the Environment To what extent do people, in a given culture, feel that they are

subjugated to their environment, in harmony with it, or able to dominate it? This dimension answers this question and puts the focus on how people perceive their relation to their surrounding environment, and less on what that relationship actually is.

Cultural Framework (contd..)Time Orientation• In many Western societies, time is viewed as a scarce

resource. The focus lies on the present and on the near future:

• Employees are, for example, evaluated on a yearly basis. By contrast, the Japanese tend to take a longer view and this is reflected in their methods of performance appraisal. Japanese executives are often given years to prove their worth. Buddhist cultures tend to take a cyclical view of time.

• We also commonly assume that time orientation varies within Europe: while for Swiss or Northern European people it is quite normal to be on time for an appointment, for Italians or Spaniards a small delay would be perfectly acceptable.

Cultural Framework (contd..)

Activity Orientation• Some cultures emphasize doing, others emphasize

being. • Cultures that emphasize the former aspect, believe that

the locus of meaning for self-expression is external to the individual: they emphasize activity that is valued by both the self and sanctioned by others in the group.

• Cultures that emphasize the being aspect think that the locus of meaning for self-expression is internal to the individual, and emphasize activity valued by the self but not necessarily others in the group.

• Understanding the activity orientation of a culture can give you insights into how people approach work and leisure and the relationship between these.


• Social Relations Orientation• A universal aspect that is present in every culture is the

need to make decisions. • The question is whether there is a systematic difference in

how these decisions are taken and, more specifically, who takes responsibility for the decision. This dimension of the Kluckhohn-Strodtbeck framework foresees three possible answers to the above question: collaterality, linearity and individualism.

• In the collaterality scenario, laterally extended groups base their decision on consensus.

• In case of a linear decision, authority is deferred to higher instances within a group (hierarchical approach).

• Lastly, in the individual scenario, decisions are made by individuals, or individual families, independently.


2. Hall’s frameworkHall proposed three cultural dimensions: • Time• Space • ContextTime "Time is one of the fundamental bases on which all

cultures rest and around which all activities revolve". Hall differentiates between monochronic and polychronic time orientation: people with monochronic time orientation (northern/western hemisphere) deal with time in a sequential way, polychronic-oriented people (southern/eastern hemisphere) in a simultaneous way.

Cultural Framework (contd..)Space Hall researched body-space, called proxemics. This

is a further area that reveals important cultural differences among societies. Latin countries such as Spain or Italy are accustomed to half the body distance one would find acceptable in the U.K. or U.S. Arabs also seem to prefer a closer stance to their discussion partners, in order to discern the discussion partner’s breath. In my experience, Northern Europeans would not enjoy such closeness and possibly try to avoid it. This difference could give rise to misunderstandings.

Cultural Framework (contd..)Context High and low context refers to the amount of information that

a person can comfortably manage. This can vary from a high context culture where background information is implicit to low context culture where much of the background information must be made explicit in an interaction, for example by the use of language.


3. Hofstede’s framework His goals were to understand the influence of national

culture on an organization, on how to use this cultural knowledge to manage more effectively, and how to define culture more accurately. His analysis focused on the levels of basic assumptions and values and aimed at comparing different nations on the national cultural level. Factor analysis of attitude data at the country level yielded four distinct factors around which Hofstede constructed four dimensions:

• Power Distance• Uncertainty Avoidance• Individualism & Collectivism• Masculinity & Femininity

Cultural Framework (contd..)Power Distance It deals with how human inequality is handled in societies. 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.

Uncertainty Avoidance It refers to how comfortable people feel towards uncertainty. Cultures that ranked lower than others feel

much more comfortable with the unknown. As a result, high Uncertainty Avoidance cultures prefer formal rules, and any uncertainty leads to higher anxiety than among low Uncertainty Avoidance cultures. This dimension, unlike the previous one, does not correlate with occupational categories or gender. It does however correlate with age: the higher the age, the lower the resulting Uncertainty Avoidance.


Individualism and Collectivism It refers to the extent that cultures prefer acknowledgement

for and association with individual or group achievements. Individualist cultures prefer recognition for individual accomplishments whereas collectivistic cultures prefer recognition for the accomplishments of the group. Hofstede also found that there is no correlation between Individualism/Collectivism and other dimension such as gender, occupation and age.

The six most individualist countries, according to Hofstede’s empirical results, are the United States, Australia, Great Britain, Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand. The least individualistic (and the most collectivistic) countries are Guatemala, Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Costa Rica.


Masculinity-Femininity• This dimension refers to expected gender roles in a

culture. Cultures that are "masculine" tend to have very distinct expectations of male and female roles in society.

• More "feminine" cultures allow a greater ambiguity in terms of what is expected of each gender.

• Further, masculine cultures tend to embrace competitiveness, strength, and the "each man for himself" mentality.

• Hofstede’s empirical results show that the top five countries in terms of masculinity are Japan, Austria, Venezuela, Italy and Switzerland. The countries with the lowest masculinity index are Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Costa Rica and Yugoslavia.

Cultural Framework (contd..)Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation• One of the limitations of Hofstede’s four previously identified

dimensions was that they were based on a questionnaire developed in the Western hemisphere, based on a western value bias. This limitation was partly removed with the addition of this fifth dimension.

• This dimension consists of two poles: a short- and a long-term Time Orientation pole. The values contributing to the long-term pole are – a) perseverance,– b) ordering relationships by status and observing this order, – c) thrift and, – d) having a sense of shame.

• The short-term pole, in contrast, is characterized by:– a) personal steadiness and stability,– b) saving face, – c) respecting the tradition, and– d) the reciprocation of greetings, favors, and gifts

Cultural Framework (contd..)4. Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars’ framework• The six dimensions formulated by Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars are:

– Universalism vs. Particularism: The dilemma in this dimension is whether a culture focuses on

differences (Particularism) or on similarities (Universalism). Highest universalistic tendencies are Northern European countries such

as Norway, Switzerland, and Finland, and Australia. The most particularistic countries are Eastern (European) countries such as Yugoslavia, Russia and Bulgaria.

– Individualism vs. CommunitarianismThis dimension is about the extent to which a society

bases achievement and success on individual vs. group level. The most individualistic countries are Canada and the U.S., whereas the

most Communitarian countries are Japan, Singapore, China and, interestingly, France. Switzerland is among the most individualistic countries.

Cultural Framework (contd..)Specificity vs. Diffuseness

This dimension is about the dilemma between the specific, positivist, analytic and rational, and the diffuse, holistic, integrated orientation.The U.S. and the U.K. are relatively specific whereas South Korea, Japanand France are relatively diffuse.

Achieved vs. Ascribed Status This dimension can be described as how status is accorded. More

specifically, is one's position in life determined by ascription (or status), i.e. by family or wealth, or by achievement, i.e. by how successful one is in her/his life, skill, intelligence, and hard work.U.S. and the U.K. are the only countries to prefer Achievement over

Ascription. The rest of the world, lead by Korea Japan, and again, France, prefer Ascription to Achievement.

Cultural Framework (contd..)Inner vs. Outer Direction

The source of virtue is the question surrounding this dimension: is virtue located inside each of us (“triumph of conscious purpose”), or is it located outside of us, i.e. in nature? An illustration of this dilemma is the difference between two famous generals: Alexander the Great and Sun Tzu. While the former was a brilliant general because of his thorough strategic planning and confidence in their resources and methods, the latter “thought through the whole situation”, sought harmony between leaders and those being led, and used natural resources to trap the enemy.

Sequential vs. Synchronous TimeThis dimension gives insight into how cultures perceive and administer time. It specifically shows whether a culture views time as sequential or synchronic.U.S., Turkey and India show a more sequential orientation whereas China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Israel are more synchronous. France, Switzerland and Sweden are the only European countries in the lower tier (synchronous time orientation).


5. Schwartz’ framework• Schwartz’ cultural dimensions by which cultures

can be compared are called value types. Value types are based on three fundamental issues all societies face: – a) the nature of the relation between individual and

group (Conservatism vs. Intellectual Autonomy vs. Affective Autonomy);

– b) the guarantee of responsible behavior to ensure preservation of “social fabric”- Hierarchy vs. Egalitarianism; and

– c) the relation of humankind to the natural and social world - Master vs. Harmony

Cultural Framework (contd..) Seven bipolar value types corresponding

to the three issues are graphically represented by Schwartz as follows:

Cultural Framework (contd..)6. Osland and Bird’s framework Osland and Bird’s model of cultural sense making recognizes limitations of

bipolar cultural dimensions and tries to “convey a holistic understanding of culture”

The authors base their model on the basic mechanisms of sense making. Individuals notice events and interpret or assign meaning to what they notice. Based on the sense they make of the situation they construct a response. “The sense making is encoded into cognitive structures that are referred to as schemas, and the behavioral responses are called scripts”

Osland and Bird’s Cultural Sense Making Model


7. The GLOBE FrameworkProject GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) was conceived around 1991 and launched in 1993 with the purpose of analyzing leadership and organizational practices around the globe. The project is defined as a “multi-phase, multi-method project in which investigators spanning the world are examining the inter-relationships between societal culture, organizational culture, and organizational leadership.”

Cultural Framework (contd..)Cultural dimensions

Some of the constructs investigated in the GLOBE research program are nine cultural dimensions. These dimensions were selected on the basis of a literature review of previous large-sample cross-cultural quantitative studies and on the basis of existing cross-cultural research. They are:-

• Power Distance• Uncertainty avoidance • Institutional Collectivism • Family Collectivism• Gender Egalitarianism • Assertiveness• Future Orientation• Performance Orientation• Human Orientation

Cross Cultural Team

• It is defined as a moderately heterogeneous team with a condition in which team members perceive differences among themselves that are based on a few salient features that distinguish sub groups.

• Management teams in transnational companies sometimes face the additional obstacle of virtuality, subordinates and their teams are geographically distributed.

Team, goals and requirements

Identity and group membership in cultural teams

• Triandis’s hypotheses - The greater the cultural distance, the less the perceived similarity- Knowledge of the other culture may lead to greater perceived similarity, but also to greater dissimilarity- The greater the language competency in the other person’s language,

the greater the perceived similarity- The greater the network overlap, the greater the perceived similarity- The more equal status contact, the greater the perceived similarity- The more common goals, the greater the perceived similarity- The greater the perceived similarity and the opportunity for contact, the

more rewards are experienced- More rewards lead to more contacts and thus to more intimacy, leading to more perceived similarity.

Cross Cultural Team Roles

• It is defined as a position occupied by a person in a social relationship, and can be viewed as a tripartite “ A position, behaviors associated with the position, and set of personality characteristics associated with those behaviors.

• According to Belbin, Team Role Behavior is influenced by six factors. – Personality– Role Learning– Experience – Field constraints – Value and motivation– Mental Abilities

cross cultural management theory- ccm-3

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