c
 
Culture and its effects on organizationsCultural variablesCultural value dimensions

The Internet and cultureDeveloping cultural profilesCulture and management styles around
the world

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3 That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other
capabilities and habit acquired by a man as a member of society

Pervasive and shared beliefs, norms and values that guide the everyday life of a group

Basic assumptions of a group

Beliefs - tell us what is true

Norms - affects behavior, what to do and not to do

Values - tell us what is good, beautiful, holy, reasonable goals

   

 





  


1) Individual Qualities Good vs. Evil

2) Relation to Environment Domination vs. Harmony

3) Relationship to People Individual vs. Collective

4) Mode of Activity Doing vs. Being

5) Space Public vs. Private

6) Temporal Orientation Past vs. Future


 
  
3 A part of the earth͛s surface on which
more or less related groups of people over many millennia worked out a variety of adaptive mechanism
for survival beginning with common heritage, similar ecological conditions, similar economic, social,
ideological, and related languages

 
  
 
 



 
  
  c   Once upon a time there was a great flood, and involved in this
flood were two creatures, a monkey and a fish. The monkey, being agile and experienced, was lucky
enough to scramble up a tree and escape the raging waters. As he looked down from his safe perch, he
saw the poor fish struggling against the swift current. With the best of intentions, he reached down and
lifted the fish from the water. The result was inevitable.

  !
Never assume that a manager can transplant American, or Japanese, or any other
country͛s styles, practices, expectations, and processes

Managers need to develop a cultural profile that identifies the specific differences found in each country

! 
Residents of the country only conform to the national character to a certain degree

Could be from ethnic, geographic, or other variables

Good managers treat people as individuals and they avoid any form of stereotyping

 

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Kinship ʹ guides family relationships

Education ʹ formal or informal education of workers affects workplace expectations

Economy ʹ means of production and distribution in a society influences all aspects of the resource
allocation

Politics ʹ system of government imposes varying constraints on an organization

Religion ʹ spiritual beliefs of a society are so powerful that they overpower all other cultural aspects

Associations ʹ the formal and informal groups that make up a society

Health ʹ system of health care affects employee productivity

Recreation ʹ the use, attitude, and choice of how to use leisure time

  

 Values are a society͛s ideas about what is good or bad, right or wrong

#
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: refers to how much people in a society are
expected to be tough, confrontational and competitive versus modest and tender.' 
c
  :
refers to the level of importance a society attaches to future-oriented behaviors such as planning and
investing in the future.
 
c
  : measures how important performance improvement
and excellence is in a society.(
c
  : refers to the extent to which a society encourages
and rewards people for being fair, altruistic, generous, caring, and kind.

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) 

  Early research that developed a framework for understanding how basic
values underlie organizational behavior Power Distance ʹ Level of acceptance by a society of the
unequal distribution of power Uncertainty Avoidance ʹ Extent to which people in a society feel
threatened by ambiguous situations Individualism ʹ Tendency of people to look after themselves
and their immediate families only and to neglect the needs of society Masculinity ʹ Degree of
traditionally ͚masculine͛ values of assertiveness, materialism, and a lack of concern for others

 

     An awareness and an honest caring about another
individual͛s culture

 

Comprises the shared values, understandings, assumptions, and goals that are
learned from earlier generations, imposed by present members of a society, and passed on to
succeeding generations

À     
The unconscious reference point of one͛s own cultural values

î  Occurs when a Frenchman, for example, expects those from or in another country to
automatically fall into patterns of behavior common in France.





 
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1. Introduction 2. Time 3. Power distances 4. Business environment 5. cross cultural
management skills 6. problems in management due to the global change 7. Discussion

+   National culture influences how managers and employees make decisions and interprete
their roles

Differences between national cultures create important opportunities for growth and development, but
also can cause serios problems if they are not understood

After WWII, the American multinational corporation became the prime mover in world business

In the 1980s the ͣJapanese miracle3 was being closely studied

Now Europe is prospering and China is becoming the world͚s new workshop




     

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(employee of a company from North America)

'Y Polychronic and monochronic behaviours

(ways of defining different attitudes towards dealing with time)

UY monochronic attitude: only one task at a time

UY polychronic attitude: time as a naturally recurring phenomenon that can be used for many
purposes at once.

American culture seems to more and more think of time as a commodity-there is never enough of it
(when time is "wasted" a person misses out on an opportunity that may never present itself again)

other cultures think of time as being circular, without a beginning or an end

Did you know???The Hopi language is seen to contain no words, grammatical forms, construction or
expressions or that refer directly to what we call 3time
, or to past, present, or future

u
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!
  
(

.

/
  
 3 different types: Small ʹ no powerful superior, high self organization
medium ʹ high participation in processes, initiative by managers

large power distance ʹ powerful superior, work strongly influenced by superior

Examples:
- Sweden, Norway, Germany, Israel0
- America %
- Latin &
Mediterranean countries

u
  What is more effective in your opinion ʹ a large, medium or small power distance and why
ÿ&

 
Companies are influenced by internal and external factors: Internal:
strategy, goals, scope of operations, management systems/ organizational cultureExternal: see the
following chart

1  

2 Managers need to have cross cultural skills: Understand the
nature of culture Learn about the culture Recognize differences Recognize influences
Implement structures Recognize how far structures can be implemented

3!
  


  
! 

Cultural transposition:





 





 







  
  







 
 





Definitions:Multinational organizations: active in several countries, one ͣdominant home3 influencing

the decisions of that organization (WalMart)

International organizations: active in several countries, no ͣdominant home3 (UNO, UNESCO)

X  What type of organization, multinational or international, is, in your opinion, easier to
run?