culture and organizations software of the mind intercultural cooperation and its importance for...
TRANSCRIPT
Culture and Organizations
Software of the mind
Intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival
Culture and Organizations
“The objective of this book is to help in dealing with the differences in thinking, feeling and acting of people around the
globe.”
Culture and Organizations
Hofstede: Culture is the collective programming of the mind which
distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another
Culture and Organizations
Hofstede’s work provides quantitative comparisons in over fifty countries on the influence of culture
in the workplace
The dimensions represent a kind of cultural map of the world
A dimension groups together a number of phenomena in a society which were empirically
found to occur in combination.
Culture and Organizations
Hofstede describes in part II five dimensions of cultural behavior:
- Power Distance- Individualism vs. collectivism- Masculinity vs. femininity- Uncertainty avoidance
- Long term thinking vs. short term thinking
Culture and OrganizationsDimension: Power Distance
“More equal than others”
Story:
Once upon a time little Melchior went to the bakers shop to buy a bread for his mother. He queued up in line, when suddenly…..
Culture and OrganizationsDimension: Power Distance
Not all people are equal. Physical or intellectual differences between people are obvious. How do
people handle the inequality in power?
PD informs us about dependence relationships in a country. The distance between bosses and
subordinates can be small or large.
Culture and OrganizationsDimension: Power Distance
PD: The extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. (family, school, community, workplace)
Small PD: limited dependence relationships of subordinates on bosses, a preference for consultation, a small emotional distance.
Large PD: dependence of subordinates on bosses, emotional distance between subordinates and bosses is large.
Culture and OrganizationsDimension: Power Distance
Malaysia 104
Netherlands 38
Finland 33
Austria 11
Culture and OrganizationsDim.:
Individualism/Collectivism“I, we and they”
Story:Once upon a time a young boy with an Arab
background was a very promising Football player. His trainer selected him to play an important match in the first team. The boy
was very happy, but ……
Culture and OrganizationsDim.:
Individualism/Collectivism
When a child is born it already is part of a group: a family. In some countries that is just the parents and other children in the family. In other countries the family is a
big group with grandparents, uncles, aunts, all members of one group.
Culture and OrganizationsDim.:
Individualism/CollectivismIndividualism: Societies in which ties between
individuals are loose, everyone is expected to look after himself and his immediate family.
Collectivism: societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive ingroups, which throughout people’s lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.
The richer a country is or gets, the more individualistic.
Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Individualism/Collectivism
Usa 91
Netherlands 80
Finland 63
Guatemala 6
Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Masculinity/Femininity
“He, she an (s)he”
Story:Once upon a time there was little country in
which unions and government sat together to resolve their problems and
find compromises for conflicts. They even gave this system a name……
Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Masculinity/Femininity
In one country modesty is a desired behaviour, in another you are supposed to be assertive.
Human societies consist of men and women, the differences between the sexes are the same everywhere, gender behaviour differs.
Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Masculinity/Femininity
Men are supposed to be assertive, competitive and tough.
Women are supposed to take care of home, children and people in general, the tender roles.
Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Masculinity/Femininity
Japan 95
Finland 26
Netherlands 14
Sweden 5
Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Uncertainty avoidance
“What is different is dangerous”
Story:
Lots of people are afraid of flying. These people prefer to stay at home, but…….
Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Uncertainty avoidance
The future is uncertain but we have to live with it anyway. Uncertainty is an subjective experience, a feeling.
Uncertainty avoidance is the extend to which members of a culture feel
threatened by uncertain and unknown situations.
Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Uncertainty avoidance
Strong avoidance: people busy, emotional, aggressive, active.
Weak avoidance: quiet, easy-going, indolent, controlled, lazy.
Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Uncertainty avoidance
Greece 112
Finland 59
Netherlands 53
Singapore 8
Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Long term vs. Short term
This dimension is added later by Hofstede.
LT: Large savings, perseverance to slow results, sparing with resources
ST: Small savings, quick results expected, pressure to keep up with
Culture and Organizations
Differences between cultures have a big influence on organizational structures.
The same case was solved in three totally different way by French, German and British students.
Globalization and merging companies (take KLM) are increasing.
Culture and Organizations
Parts of a new merged organization have to function in harmony, they all use windows software. Technically there is no problem.
The mental programming, the software of the mind however differs from one cultural background to another!
Culture and Organizations
Thank you for your attention!