Summary: Management Across Cultures

This summary was written in the year 2012-2013.

Topic 1 - Introduction: The Concept of Culture

Chapter 1 - The undertow of culture

The ‘cross-cultural management reader’ is about the impact of culture on management. Culture is the most neglected influence on management. Part of it, is due to the problem of recognizing the presence and the force of culture. This recognition is therefore the first step in managing across cultures. The first chapter is about the power of culture in the practice of management and the dangers associated with ignoring its impact.

Converging cultures?

Convergence myth #1: the world is getting smaller…

While it may be true that on the surface we appear to be converging in our dress and eating habits, the pull of culture runs deep and cannot be easily detected.

The same observation can be made about the melting pots (large cities). Rather than a cultural melt-down, we discover distinct cultural fragments so clearly that it seems each ethnic group and race develops a competitive language and culture. Throughout Europe, the promise of global products, uniform standards and equal access to jobs or markets remain more theory than practice.

Indeed, it seems that the pressure for convergence or integration may in fact create an equal if not stronger pressure for divergence or fragmentation.

Convergence myth #2: management is management

The belief in the convergence of management practice and the creation of a global corporate village is strongly held among many mangers and management scholars. Management practice is often considered to be scientifically engineered and therefore able to transcend national boundaries.

However, the economic, technological and managerial development has not necessarily led to a warm embrace of Western-style (or Asian-style) management but can in fact trigger a forceful reassertion of local values and beliefs. Given the history of foreign occupation and of forced ideology, there is a heightened sensitivity, if not ambivalence, towards the invasion of foreign companies and their business ideologies and practices. In addition, national pride and the desire to develop their own style of management, one that is more congruent with cultural values, are a natural outcome of knowledge transfer and an increasing sense of self-confidence and efficacy.

A massive survey conducted by Harvard Business Review concluded that ‘the idea of a corporate global village where a common culture of management unifies the practice of business around the world is more dream than reality’. Despite technological and economic forces for integration, there are equal or perhaps greater forces for fragmentations, one of them being culture.

Culture as a source of competitive advantage/disadvantage

Michael Porter has argued that nations derive competitive advantage from a set of country-level factors such as the availability of resources, the size and sophistication of the market, the nature of government intervention and the type of strategic linkages or networks. These types of unique institutional arrangements were responsible e.g. for the success of the ‘Japanese management’. Although difficult to separate out, culture is deeply embedded in these institutional arrangements.

Culture and institutional configurations work interactively to create potential competitive advantage, which however can become a liability when the environment changes. Managers therefore need to evaluate the extent to which national culture can interfere with their company’s efforts to respond to strategic requirements, now and in the future.

When cultures clash

There is no shortage of evidence of cross-cultural friction between businesses. A major survey found that cultural differences are the biggest source of difficulty in integrating European acquisitions. The problem is that cultural malaise may go unrecognized, which can have far-reaching impact. Not only behaviour, values and beliefs are different across cultures, but also their importance to those cultures should not be underestimated.
To capture the potential benefits while limiting the potential misunderstanding, managers must be prepared to articulate how they see their own culture and to recognize how others my experience it.

Recognizing Culture

To explore and understand our own values and behavior we need to be outside of our environment. Another way to perceive our own culture is the introduction of a stranger without any preconceptions.

Culture distorts how we see the world as it serves as a reference point to evaluate each other and other cultures. Often the cultures we see as the closest can have the greatest perceived distance.

Recognizing cultural differences is the first step to anticipate potential threats and opportunities. Besides recognizing them it is essential to open them for discussion. Johari’s window provides an adequate overview of the different perspectives to discuss or negotiate. The goal is self-disclosure.

Reasons to avoid discussing cultural differences:

• Differences may be seen as a potential source of conflict

• There might be fear of stereotyping

Stereotypes

Negative stereotypes: ignorant, promoting prejudice, politically incorrect

Positive stereotypes: ‘buzzing confusion’ (William James) - mental files used to process new information (by comparing it with the past)  simplification of reality

Ineffective managers: deny having stereotypes, get stuck in stereotypes

Effective managers: admit to have stereotypes but continually revise them (by checking, rechecking, and updating them)

This requires: observation, suspending judgment, looking for explanations (reasons that make sense from ‘native’ perspective)

To be effective, do not act out the stereotypes but be aware of the cultural differences and adjust to them mutually.

Getting beyond stereotypes

• recognize and accept existence of stereotypes in order to consciously go beyond them

• call up file and be ready to modify it

Normal curves regarding a population:

• Mean stays the same but there are always variations (e.g. expressive Swede, reserved Italian)

• If there is a high homogeneity, the normal curve is steeper which indicates less variation

Low homogeneity results in a flatter curve and more variation

We can learn about implications of national culture on competitiveness by naming aspects of one’s own culture and assigning them a ‘plus’

National identity: how we see us

National image: how they see us

The aim is to alert managers of potential risk, missed opportunities, and ignorance of the impact of culture

Conclusion:

• Allow cultural differences to be open for discussion

• Appreciate other’s culture

• Understand one’s culture  anticipate the impact of culture

Topic 2 Exploring Culture

Chapter 2 - „Exploring culture“

This chapter will provide a framework to guide readers in discovering the meaning of culture. Exploring cultures can be compared to exploring the ocean. On the surface, riding the waves, we can observe artifacts, rituals, and behavior. These provide clues as to what lies underneath. But to verify this, one has to look below. That means asking questions to discover the reasons: the values and beliefs which are given to explain that behavior. But further down rest the underlying assumptions which are difficult to access and need to be inferred, through interpretation.

The search for meaning

Part of the problem in recognizing the impact of culture on management stems from the proliferation of definitions and from the nature of the tools and equipment used in exploration. Culture has been defined in many ways, for instance as “shared patterns of behavior” as proposed by anthropologist Margaret Mead or as “systems of shared meaning or understanding” as proposed by Claude Lévi-Strauss and Clifford Greets.

Management scholar Ed Schein defines culture as “a set of basic assumptions – shared solutions to universal problems of external adaptation (how to survive) and internal integration (how to stay together) – which have evolved over time and are handed down from one generation to the next.” The appeal of this definition is that it directly addresses the key challenges facing managers: finding solutions to problems of external adaption – developing strategies; and of internal integration – designing organizations and determining HR practices.

Method of discovery

When exploring culture the search for meaning calls for an interpretive approach. This approach involves extensive observation and interviewing to provide “thick” description. From the patterns and themes that emerge, “grounded theories” are developed. Further exploration involves digging up evidence to support or modify the theory. Discovering the meaning of culture calls for a problem-solving and action-oriented approach and requires learning how to build theories as well as test them.

Providing a map

There can be concrete expressions or embodiments of culture but the meanings are often not obvious. Meaning has to be derived by questioning, and by again questioning the responses given. Thus culture can be detected at multiple levels which require different approaches: observation, interviews and questionnaires, and interpretation.

Culture is founded upon basic assumptions which give rise to different beliefs and values, and manifest themselves in different behaviors and artifacts. What is crucial is to understand the underlying reasons for artifacts and behavior and its potential impact on daily business life.

Artifacts and behavior

Cultural assumptions can be observed in artifacts and behavior such as architecture and interior design, greeting rituals, dress and codes of address, and contracts. So to discover the meaning of culture, we need to start with observation.

Architecture and design

Architecture and design hint at the underlying assumptions regarding internal integration – bringing people together or keeping them apart; and external adaptation – harmonizing with or dominating nature. They indicate the importance of hierarchy, of collective rather than individual effort, the preferred type of activity and interaction between people.

Greeting rituals

Greeting rituals and the degree of body contact expected in greeting varies greatly between different countries and the importance of these rituals should not be overlooked. For instance, a general wave of the hand to say hello to everyone when arriving at the office, as in the United States, is considered insulting to French co-workers who expect to be greeted individually by name, shaking hands and making eye contact.

Forms of address

The degree of formality in addressing business relations sends important signals that may not be intended, anything from respect, to friendliness, to disdain. Formality is expressed in the use of last (family) names, the formal version of “you”, and titles and, like with the greeting rituals, varies greatly between countries.

Making contact

The amount of physical space considered necessary to be comfortable also varies between countries whereas the idea of intrusion is not just physical but it is also psychological. Thus, what many North Americans consider a perfectly friendly line of questioning may be deemed impertinent or overly familiar by non-Americans. This difference is particularly likely to manifest itself at the “getting to know each other” stage of an international negotiation or prospective collaboration. Observations of how people get to know each other, the degree of formality and personal contact preferred, reveal underlying assumptions about what is considered to be public versus private space.

Dress codes

Another cultural artifact, the prevailing dress code, also differs in degree of formality and can serve as a subtle signaling mechanism. Some companies engage in “dressing down days” and some other encourage workers to dress in ways to match the customers. However, efforts to encourage a particular dress code, at work or otherwise, may be rejected, particularly in France and Italy, where the style of dress is an expression of the individual.

Written versus verbal contracts

There are different expectations of what is more binding, a written contract or one’s word. These different expectations may well be reflected in the estimated numbers of lawyers per capita.

Beliefs and values

When questioned about their behavior, managers respond stating their beliefs and values. Beliefs are statements of fact, about the way things are. Values are preferred states about the way things should be, about ideals. In this part, the focus is more on beliefs and values regarding what make for success, both for the organization and the manager, which represent cultural solutions to problems of external adaptation and internal integration.

Criteria for success

National cultures differ in their perception of for whom the firm exists: the shareholders, customers, or employees. Different stakeholders mean different criteria success. Therefore beliefs and values differ in terms of what is considered to be important: product integrity, technological leadership, market share, customer satisfaction, or shareholder value. Although all these factors are relevant to corporate success, cultural preferences come into play.

Product quality

The importance of product quality differs among countries. For instance, in Germany product quality is often considered more important than customer satisfaction or meeting deadlines.

Technological leadership

The premium placed on engineering and science degrees encourages emphasis on technology, innovation, and grand design in France, sometimes at the expense of commercial relevance.

Market share

Japanese firms are more willing to invest time and money in understanding customers overseas due to their limited domestic market.

What is management?

Trying to define the meaning of management also shows up differences in beliefs and values. Some cultures place more emphasis on task orientation whereas others might put more emphasis on developing people.

The right person for the job

The beliefs and values regarding the right person for the job can be inferred from artifacts such as the executive job advertisement. Beliefs about who is the right manager, what is management, and what constitutes success are ultimately linked to values which indicate what is considered to be important, and thus deserving of attention. These values in turn influence the degree to which organizations are seen as task- or people-oriented. It will also indicate the types of behavior, values, and beliefs expected of the people it seeks to hire. But what is perhaps more interesting is to try to get a glimpse of the underlying world-view, in order to better understand the rationale for what is valued and what is believed to be true. Digging deeper leads one to the basic assumptions.

Basic assumptions

The relationship between the various dimensions can be more readily grasped if one returns to the definition of culture as shared solutions to problems of external adaptation and internal integration. This distinction provides a useful framework for organizing the relevant cultural assumptions. In the following discussion, each assumption will briefly be described and illustrated. The purpose is to provide an idea of the core assumptions or basic foundations of culture in order to be properly equipped to diagnose culture, and to discover coherence and meaning.

External adaptation

Relationship with nature

Whereas in some cultures nature may be seen as controllable, in others it is accepted as a given and events cannot be controlled. In some cultures and countries, like China, it is very important to be in harmony with nature even when designing buildings and offices. Closely linked with a desire for control over nature is the notion of “uncertainty avoidance” which refers to a society’s discomfort with uncertainty, preference for predictability and control, and avoidance of risk.

Nature of human activity

The assumption of control over nature versus fatalism is connected to the desirability of taking action. Some countries tend to prefer to take action than to reflect or think things through up front. Often, when managers assume that they have control over nature, they are more likely to take action. In turn greater importance is placed upon doing versus being. When managers assume that they have little control over nature, they are more likely to take time to reflect and plan, to watch how events evolve, and to adapt to the emerging situation. Thus the quality of thinking (of education), and of personal character (who you are) is more important than what you do. This difference is also referred to as achievement versus ascription.

Whether managers are valued for what (and who) they know or what they are able to accomplish depends on assumptions regarding the relationship with nature. Nevertheless, it also influences assumptions regarding relationships among people.

Nature of truth and reality

How truth is determined varies between cultures. It might be seen in numbers and facts or in anything else like interpretation and reasoning or in astrological signs. The solutions to problems of external adaptation are revealed in assumptions regarding control over nature, human activity, and how truth is established. Moreover, assumptions regarding human nature and how relationships are managed provide the solutions to problems of internal integration.

Internal integration

Human nature

Are people basically good or bad? In management this question translates into theory X which assumes that workers are lazy and need constant direction and supervision and theory Y which assumes that workers are self-directed, willing to take initiative and to do what has to be done without external control. Assumptions about human nature determine the willingness to delegate and the nature of control systems. Assumption about whether people can be trusted or not, are often found in artifacts such as time punch clocks or the nature of reporting systems. Assumptions regarding human nature influence assumptions regarding the nature of relationships, how important they are, and how they are structured.

Relationships with people

Importance of task versus relationships

Cultures and countries differ substantially in this aspect. For instance, for the Anglo culture, objective “reality”, the truth about what really happened, is more important than personal ties. In Latin cultures, reality must be considered in the context of the nature of the relationship and circumstances. This dimension is referred to as universalism versus particularize. In Universalist cultures people believe that the rules and regulations should apply to everybody and not just your enemies.

Masculinity/ femininity

In masculine cultures, importance is placed on assertiveness, competitiveness, and materialism in the form of earnings and advancement whereas in feminist cultures, importance is more placed on work life, nurturing, and social well-being.

Hierarchy: the role of the boss

The way hierarchy, power, and status are enforced differs among countries.

Peer relations or individualism/collectivism

In individualist societies people are supposed to take care of themselves and remain emotionally independent from the group. Self-interest is the dominant motivation. In collective societies, the concern is for the group rather than for the individual. In individualist societies, the sense of self is independent (“being true to oneself”) rather than interdependent (defined by relationships) like it is common in collectivist societies.

Linking assumptions: space, language, time

These assumptions relate to both issues of external adaptation and internal integration.

Space

Assumptions about space are expressed in many ways, both physical and personal, and at many different levels, from what can be observed to what must be inferred. Solutions to problems of the availability of space determine our use of space, both physical and personal. Assumptions regarding personal space determine the nature and degree of involvement with others, what is expected from friendships and family and from colleagues: relationship building versus getting down to business.

Language

The use of language may represent the most visible yet the least understood influence on our world-view. Our language is a reflection of our experience, but it also shapes what we experience. Hall makes the distinction between high-context and low-context cultures. In low-context cultures, communications are expected to be clear and direct, or explicit. The person and the situation are not particularly relevant to the discourse. In other cultures (high-context), communication is highly dependent upon the person and the situation. Information is shared among people, and some people have more privileged access than others. Ambiguity and subtlety are expected and highly valued. You are not supposed to come right out and say it. Assumptions regarding language also determine what is said and how it is said. This can be observed in artifacts, such as appropriate subjects of discussion and the degree of expressiveness.

Time

Hall makes the distinction between monochromic and polychromic. In Anglo-Saxon and northern European cultures, time tends to be seen as limited, as a finite resource which is spent. Time is seen as “monochromic”, structured in a sequential and linear fashion. In Latin European and Middle Eastern cultures, time is experienced as unlimited and simultaneous, or “polychromic”. Since time can be seen as either limited or expandable, these results in differences in the importance attached to being “on time”. Cultural attitudes to time also differ in the relative importance accorded to past, present, and future. Moreover, time orientation influences attitudes to change.

Interpreting patterns of culture

The basic assumptions outlined above are interrelated. For instance, in cultures where there is perceived control over the environment, time is likely to be seen as monochromic: time can be controlled by schedules and agendas. Perceived control over nature encourages doing and achievement. On the other hand, cultures, where there is little perceived control over nature do not believe that time can be actively managed, or put into boxes. Both scenarios can greatly be extended to form patterns. Richard Lewis has identified three dimensions which may represent such patterns: linear active, multiactive, and reactive. Linear active people tend to be more task-oriented, rely on facts and figures, prefer analytic and logical thinking, to be direct and to the point, individualist, and not very emotionally expressive. Most northern European, Nordic and Anglo-Saxon countries cluster here. Multiactive people tend to be more relationship-oriented, more intuitive in their decision-making approaches, and more direct and emotionally expressive as may be found in Latin and Arabic cultures. Reactive people value harmony and adapting are highly sensitive to the needs and concerns of others, less direct in communication avoiding confrontation and displays of emotions. This is often the case in Asian cultures.

These patterns are not mutually exclusive or exhaustive and can be taken to represent extremes along which different cultures can be placed. The key dimensions described in this chapter can be also used to measure culture, whether national or otherwise, arriving at what Andre Laurent refers to as “Blue” and “Green” cultures to designate the mentioned interrelationships. This encourages a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses, competencies and pathologies, of these cultural prototypes without getting distracted by country-specific stereotypes. By focusing on the dimensions themselves, it also allows for the discussion and appreciation of cultural differences among the industries, companies, and functions within as well as between countries. The exercise of placing the person, the country and the company along these dimensions also helps to identify potential clashes and potential synergies between company and country culture, as well as between the individuals and their respective companies. The potential cultural clashes and synergies will be the subject of discussion in the next chapter.

Topic 2 - Chapter 6 Oral and Nonverbal Communication Patterns

Nonverbal communication=non-word messages such as

• Gestures

• Silence

• Facial expressions

• Smell

• Interpersonal

• Distance

• Eye contact

• Touch

Thought patterns

Deductive method= from broad categories to specific example to determine the facts and then the solutions to a problem (US approach)

Inductive method= start with facts and go to generalizations (Asian approach)

Thought patterns also include pace or speed with which problems are solved or decisions made.

Paralanguage

Paralanguage= related to oral communication, it refers to rate, pitch and volume qualities of the voice that interrupt or temporarily take the place of speech and affect the meaning of a message.

E.g.:

• Intensity (loud/soft)

• Pitch (high/low)

• Extent (drawls/ accents)

• Vocal characteristics (cry/laugh)

• Vocal segregates (“uh”, “uh-huh”)

Important characteristics of paralanguage

Emotion

e.g.:

• Increased rate of speech: anger/ impatience

• Decrease in rate could suggest lack of interest or reflexive attitude

• Accent

Chronemics

• Chronemics= attitudes toward time, they vary from culture to culture

• Monochromic time= perform one major activity at a time (US, ENG, SWISS, GERMANY)

• Time is tangible

• Wasting time/ losing time

• Time seen as lineal and manageable

• Rude to do two things at once

• Schedules and keeping appointments

• Polychromic time= perform several tasks simultaneously (Latin America, Mediterranean, Arabian countries)

• Well adapted to doing several things at once and do not mind interruptions

• People are more important than schedules

• More unstructured lifestyle

• For summary of generalizations related to monochromic and polychromic time systems see table 6.1 p 55

• Phenomenon’s that send a message

• Punctuality is considered a positive attribute that conveys the nonverbal message of being respectful of other persons.

• Tardiness is interpreted as rudeness, a lack of consideration for others.

• Length of time someone has to way to see another person. If a person has high status and is seen immediately it implies that he is important and so his time is valuable.

Proxemics

• Proxemics= communicate through use of space. The physical distance between people when they are interacting, as well as territorial space, is strongly influenced by culture.

4 zones through which US people interact

• 1. Intimate zone=<18 inches, for very close friends

  2. Personal zone=18inch- 4ft: give instructions to others or work closely with others

  3. Social zone= 4-12 ft: most business situations in which people interact more formally and impersonally

  4. Public distance= >12 ft: most formal zone, fewer interactions occur because of distance

Others characteristics of use of space

- Arrangement of desks and chairs

In US, nonverbal messages are sent by other aspects of the office environment, such as office size and degree of territory protected, office location.

Oculesics

Oculesics= gaze and eye contact

Eye contact is considered a sign of respect and attentiveness in US, Canada, Great Britain and Eastern Europe. People who avoid eye contact may be considered insecure, untrustworthy, unfriendly, disrespectful, or inattentive.

However, in other countries there is little direct eye contact.

Very direct eye contact

• Middle Easterners

• Some Latin American Groups

• The French

Moderate eye contact

• Mainstream Americans

• Northern Europeans

• The British

Minimal eye contact

• East Asians

• Southeast Asians

• East Indians

• Native Americans

Very direct eye contact could be misinterpreted as hostility, aggressiveness or intrusiveness when intended meaning was just appeared interested.

Minimal eye contact may be misinterpreted as lack of interest or understanding, dishonesty, fear or shyness when intended meaning was to show respect or to avoid appearing intrusive.

Olfactics

Olfactics= smell.

A person’s smell can have a positive or negative effect on the oral message.

US: bad odour is turnoff, because they place importance on personal hygiene and find bathing normal.

Other cultures: Natural odours are normal (Arabs, Japanese, Samoans

Haptics

Haptics= touch=communicate through use of bodily contact.

Considerations

When used properly, touch can create feelings of warmth and trust.

When used improperly, touch can betray trust and cause annoyance.

Hierarchy: People of higher rank may touch people of lower rank but not vice versa.

Location of touch (e.g.: In Thailand and India it is offensive to touch the head)

In touch-oriented cultures, (Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal), both males and females may be seen walking along the street holding arms.

Cultural variations in extent of touching between persons of same gender.

Kinesics

Kinesics=communicate through body movement

Facial expressions

The face and eyes convey the most expressive types of body language.

In some countries such as China, people rarely show emotion.

In Japan, a smile may cover a range of emotions.

In US, a smile means happiness.

Gestures: used to add emphasis or clarity to an oral message

Symbols – illustrators – regulators – displays

For the following gestures, see page 63 and 64 for figures:

V for victory gesture

Used in US

In England and New Zealand it ha a crude connotation when used with the palm in.

Vertical horns gesture has insulting connotation in Italy, but in Brazil and Venezuela it is a sign for good luck, so use it only when you are sure other person understands intended meaning.

Thumbs up gesture means ‘everything is ok’ or ‘good going’. Used in North America and most of Europe, rude in Australia and West Africa.

C. posture and stance

Posture= way someone stands, sits, walks

Can signal (dis)agreement

Can convey self-confidence, status and interest

Posture of persons of higher status is usually more relaxed than that of their subordinates.

Posture when seated varies with the culture. E.g.: in U people cross their legs while seated while in Arab world, you should not show the sole of your shoe or point foot at someone.

Chromatics

Chromatics= colour

Certain colours have both negative and positive connotations.

Cultural differences associated with colours are:

Black: colour of mourning to many Europeans and US, but white is worn to funeral in Japan. Red has funeral connotations in Africa

White: In US, white is worn by brides, although in India, red or yellow is worn

Purple is sometimes associated with royalty, but is colour of death in many Latin American countries

Red is associated with romance in some cultures, but is not an appropriate colour for wrapping gifts in Japan.

Green is not used for wrapping packages in Egypt. Men should avoid wearing a green had in China.

In many countries, blue is masculine colour, but to France and UK, red is more masculine. Blue in Iran is undesirable colour.

In US people think pink is feminine colour, but in other countries yellow is most feminine.

Silence

Silence is form of nonverbal communication that may be interpreted in many ways, depending on situation, duration and culture.

Other aspect of silence:

• Duration

• Appropriateness

• Relationship between people who are conversing

Summary of guidelines related to various aspects of nonverbal communication for 10 countries with which US conducts most of international business:

Canada

Punctuality is important, for business functions being on time is expected.

Little touching

Eye contact important

China

Punctuality important and arrive early when invited to dinner

Touching is uncommon

Direct eye contact limited

Public displays of affection is not acceptable

England

Punctuality is important

Personal space appreciated

Touching is avoided

France

Punctuality is important

Avoid speaking loudly in public, chewing gym, and converse with hands in pockets

Germany

Punctuality very important

Posture is important

Japan

Punctuality is valid

Do not touch culture: avoid standing close, patting a person on the back

Chewing gum or yawning are impolite

• seated posture: both feet on floor, arms placed on chair armrests or in lap

• crossing legs at knees/ ankles acceptable, placing ankle over knee improper

Mexico

Punctuality not important, but for business meetings foreigners are expected to be on time

People stand closer while conversing, touching is positive

Thumbs- down gesture is vulgar

Hands on hips is angry

Hands in pocket is rude

NL

Punctuality is important

No use of nonverbal communication

Chewing gum in public and standing with hands in pocket is rude

South Korea

Punctuality is important

Touch on arm is not done

laugh when funny/embarrassed/ frustrated

direct eye contact appreciated

stand close in public because of space limitations

preferable to sit with legs uncrossed, cross legs at knees still acceptable

passing things with both hands or right hand customary

Taiwan

punctuality appreciated

eye contact to minimum

not display emotions

large space in between people is needed

Topic 3 – Cross-Cultural Management: Methodological Approaches

Chapter 3 – Design and Implementation of Cross Cultural Research in Management

Choices concerning complexity of research design

The researcher should define the precise unit(s) of comparison across which the final contrasts of cultures will be made. Likewise, he should be aware not to equate culture directly with the nation-state or country as some countries are multicultural or because of colonization borders are sometimes straight lines on a map with little respect for cultural realities.

A researcher has the choice to compare across groups / cultures or to compare across individuals. Hofstede (1991) mentioned that samples of cultures should not be confused with samples of individuals, because this could result in abusive stereotyping. It is also possible to compare across organizations by using a multiple culture perspective in order to identify corporate cultures. However, in this kind of research as well, it can be difficult to attribute the observed variance to a definite level (individual, organization, industry, culture, nation). Finally you can compare across studies to look at for example motivation or pay systems. Whit this kind of meta-analytic venture one can look at existing literature and compare different concepts and theories, however, this kind of comparison research is still rare.

Research design dimensions:

The figure below shows the different dimensions a researcher can choice from when designing his research. Choosing too many levels will result in a too complex analysis.

Usunier (1998) 3-dimensions graph

Depth choices:

This dimension is about explaining the variables of different levels. These explanations may be more deep-seated and therefore relatively far away from the behavior or practices they are supposed to explain. Additionally, deep explanations rarely produce findings applicable nowadays and therefore, are difficult to implement. A researcher should decide whether she looks only at what differs, or whether she addresses also the issue of how it differs and, possibly why it differs. These choices result in increased complexity and when looking at the ‘why and how’ the researcher must in any way find a specific explanatory framework with an ad hoc conceptualization. This may help to avoid going to deep and therefore not been able to find convincing rationales for linking explanations to the behavioral level.

Width choices:

Width choices are concerned with the empirical settings across possible units of analysis, ranging from individuals, organizations and industries to mega groups such as nations or regions. Width has a lot to do with the complexity of conceptualization and data collection and therefore, with the implementability of the research. Research projects can be concerned with large-scale surveys such as Hofstede’s or with small scale, two country designs or studies of a single organization in several countries. Researchers favoring the Etic approach consider that only studies of several cultures give a better and deeper understanding of the effects of culture on behavior, which Hofstede called ‘ecological correlation’, correlations related to observed mean scores of different national or cultural groups. Choices of parsimony must be made to keep control over the different variables and the relevance of the units examined must be carefully assessed.

Height choices:

This dimension refers to the level of aggregation or disaggregation in the whole management process of the research. This is important because imitation and cultural borrowing at top management level may be contradicted at the implementation levels by actual behavior inspired by local cultural patterns.

A reasonable design strategy could be to posit the design at only one level on each of the three dimensions and attempt to control the variables intervening at other levels.

Ideal types in cross-cultural research designs:

Max Weber introduced a basis of simplification for cross cultural designs. Ideal types of research are systematically composed forms which allow one to draw clear conceptual borders between aspects of reality, which allow for the optimal contrast across cultures. Individualism and collectivism are the strongest polar ideal types used in cross-cultural research. Although, ideal types allow simplification of the conceptualization process, they also border on stereotypes, eg. supposing that Japanese organizations are always typical J models, and likewise, the width of the design is reduced. De-stereotyping helps to avoid broad generalizations about the management style of a large group of countries (eg. generalizing Japanese, Chinese and Korean management styles in Asian management styles).

Constraints related to applying theories and collecting data internationally

Theories: the case for national contingency

Very often theories are typically taken from a toolkit based on existing literature, mostly generated from western contexts. The (too) broad question of whether a theory makes sense when transposed into another context cannot receive in fact a clear-cut answer.

Research instruments/data collection techniques

Although the real world of cross-cultural data collection and research instruments is more complex than the graphic shows, it still gives a good impression of the various research instruments.

Observation is the most susceptible to allow cross-cultural discovery but also the most dangerous because it needs both familiarity with the research context and an ability to distance oneself from the observed phenomenon. Experiments are most likely to be adopted when universality is assumed. Respondents are considered as subjects of the experiment and the test is (supposed) to be culture free, which may result in largely crashing down the cross-national differences. Questionnaires are typical for the search of cross-cultural equivalence. They are widely used for the search of common conceptual dimensions valid across culture differences, with differences only in degree. Their main disadvantage is that partly they tend to hide conceptual differences across cultures. Interviews are probably not as popular in cross-cultural research as they are in domestic research settings because the language barrier renders them quite difficult. Researchers quite often use research instruments taken from two adjacent half-quadrants over an axis line. They combine, for instance, overt observation and non-directive, in-depth interviews or an in vivo laboratory experiment (among the quasi-experimental research instruments, the in vivo category tries to reproduce real life situations while the in vitro category is nearer to a scientific experiment). However, it is much more difficult to combine data collection techniques which are in opposed half-quadrants because they may imply quite different underlying research philosophies.

Implementation of cross-cultural research in management by international networking

Forms of cross-border research collaboration and problems involved

There are three basic situations according to the basic research motive. Whether it is to develop culture-free theories (by replicating), culture-specific theories (single culture studies with a certain degree of cross-national collaboration) or to develop contextual theories which integrate input from a variety of different cultural settings. In the first case, the primary research task is simply to replicate an earlier study in a new cultural setting, in fact the most frequent case in cross-national collaborations. The second case is more rare, but still exists in practice. It may quite largely improve the understanding of the phenomenon under study, since the researchers may be able to confront their interpretations. The third case assumes that there is equality between the research partners, source(s) and targets, which is obviously not the case in the replication case. Responsibility is shared and the research process itself is a true cross-cultural challenge because the researchers, coming from diverse cultures, must in some way discuss and calibrate their views and interpretations of the phenomenon under study in order to generate new insights, valid across the various national/cultural contexts.

Topic 4 – Overview of Cross-Cultural Management Research

Section 5.1: Managerial Values: the business of international business in culture (Geert Hofstede)

Culture defined

Understanding people means understanding their background, from which present and future behavior can be predicted. The word culture is used here in the sense of the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another. The ‘category of people’ can be:

• A nation, region

• Ethnic group (national culture)

• Women versus men (gender culture)

• Old versus young (age group and generation culture)

• Social class

• Profession or occupation (occupational culture)

• A type of business, a work organization (organizational culture)

• A family

• National culture differences

In three different research projects (IBA, two among students), five dimensions of national culture differences were identified:

• 1. Power distance:

This is the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions accept and expect that power is distributed unequally (inequality defined from below). All societies are unequal, but some are more unequal than others.

Distances according to power distance

• 2. Individualism versus collectivism:

This is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. On the individualist side, everyone is expected to look after himself. On the collectivist side, people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups which protecting them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.

Difference according to collectivism-individualism

• 3. Masculinity versus femininity

Masculinity versus femininity, refers to the distribution of roles between the sexes. The IBM studies revealed that:

Women’s values differ less among societies than men’s values

Men’s values from one country to another contain a dimension from very assertive and competitive and maximally different from women’s values on the one side, to modest and caring and similar to women’s values on the other.

In feminine countries the women have the same modest, caring values as the men.

Difference according to feminity masculinity

• 4. Uncertainty avoidance

It deals with a society’s tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. It indicates to what extent a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations. Uncertainty avoiding cultures try to minimize the possibility of such situations by strict laws and rules, safety and security measures and on the philosophical and religious level by a belief in absolute truth. They are more emotional, and motivated by inner nervous energy.

Difference according to uncertainty avoidance

• 1. Long term versus short term orientation

Values associated with long term orientation are thrift and perseverance. Values associated with short term orientation are respect for tradition, fulfilling social obligations and protecting one’s face.

The cultural limits of management theories

Management practices in a country are culturally dependent and what works in one country does not necessarily work in another. However, management teachers are also human and constrained by the cultural environment in which they grew up. Such theories and concepts cannot be applied in another country without further proof. Examples:

Performance appraisal systems

Recommended in the Western management literature, they assume that employee’s performance will be improved if they receive direct feedback about what their superior thinks of them. However in collectivist countries such direct feedback destroys the harmony which is expected to govern interpersonal relationships. In such counties, feedback should be given indirectly, e.g. through the withdrawing of a favor via an intermediary person.

Management by objectives

Developed in the USA, subordinates have to negotiate about their objectives with their superiors. This system assumes a medium to low power distance and a not too high uncertainty avoidance.

Strategic management

Developed in the USA, it assumes a weak uncertainty avoidance environment, in which deviant strategic ideas are encouraged.

Humanization of work

In the USA (masculine and individualist society), the prevailing form of humanization of work has been ‘job enrichment. In Sweden (feminine and less individualist), the prevailing form has been semi-autonomous work groups in which members exchange tasks and help each other. In German speaking counties (small power distance, large uncertainty avoidance), flexible working hours has been a very popular way of adaption the job to the worker.

Eastern versus Western categories of thinking

A Chinese Value Survey (CVS) produced a similar study but did not identify a dimension like uncertainty avoidance. As this ‘search for truth’ is not an essential issue for them, the questions necessary were not included in their questionnaire. In the East, a qualification does not exclude its opposite, which is an essential element of Western logic. Thus in the East the search for truth is irrelevant because there is no need for a single and absolute truth and the assumption that a person can possess an objective truth is absent.

These findings show that not only practices, values and theories but even the categories available to build theories from are products of culture. Not only our tools, but even the categories in which we think may be unfit for the other environment.

Organizational cultures

Organizational cultures are a phenomenon of a different order from national cultures, if only because membership of an organization is usually partial and voluntary. National cultures differ mostly at the level of basic values while organizational cultures differ mostly at the level of the more superficial practices: symbols, heroes and rituals.

Founders and leaders create the symbols, the heroes and the rituals that constitute the daily practices of the members. Because organizational cultures are composed of practices rather than values they are somewhat manageable – by changing the practices.

Dimensions of organizational cultures

Similar to the IBM studies, the Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation (IRIC), found large differences in values, beyond nationality, education, gender and age group, in organizations. Six independent dimensions can be used as a framework to describe organizational cultures:

Process-oriented versus results-oriented cultures

The former are dominated by technical and bureaucratic routines, the latter by a common concern for outcomes. This dimension was associated with the cultures degree of homogeneity (degree is a measure of the cultures strength): in results-oriented units (strong), everybody perceived their practices in the same way; in process-oriented units (weak), there ware vast differences.

Job-oriented versus employee-oriented cultures

The former assume responsibility for the employees’ job performance only and nothing more, the latter assumes a broad responsibility for their members’ well being.

Professional versus parochial cultures

In the former, the usually highly educated members identify primarily with their profession; in the later the members derive their identity from the organization for which they work.

Open system versus closed system cultures

This dimension refers to the common style of internal and external communication and to the ease with which outsiders and newcomers are admitted.

Tightly versus loosely controlled cultures

This dimension deals with the degree of formality and punctuality within the organization (partly a function of the unit’s technology).

Pragmatic versus normative cultures

The last dimension describes the prevailing way (flexible or rigid) of dealing with the environment, in particular with customers.

Managing organizational cultures

In spite of their relatively superficial natures organizational cultures are hard to change because they have developed into collective habits. Changing them is a top management task which cannot be delegated. Different subcultures need different approaches. Turning around an organizational culture demands visible leadership which appeals to the employees’ feelings as much as to their intellect. The leader needs sufficient support from key persons at different levels in the organization. Subsequently, they can change the practices by adapting the organization’s structure. After the structure the controls and certain personnel policies related to recruitment, training and promotion may have to be changed. Finally, it takes sustained attention (several years) and usually a second culture assessment to see whether the intended changes have been attained.

Managing culture differences in multinationals

Strong cross-national organizational cultures within a division, by offering common practices, can bridge national differences in values among members and keep multinationals together. Structure should follow culture:

Matrix structures are a possible solution but they are costly and their actual functioning may raise more problems than they resolve. Joint ventures further complicate the structuring problem. The optimal solution is nearly always a patchwork structure that in some cases follows business and in others geographical lines, in order to comply with the needs of markets and business unit cultures. Optimal solutions will also change over time.

The best structure at a given moment depends primarily on the availability of suitable people, which is the main task of multinational personnel management. Two roles are crucial:

Country business unit managers who form the link between the culture of the unit and the corporate culture.

Corporate diplomats, as liaison persons in the various head offices or as temporary managers for new ventures

Too much uniformity s unwarranted as it leads to corporate wide policies being imposed on subsidiaries where they will not work. On the other side, everybody being different is unwarranted, too.

Intercultural management skills can be improved by specific training, with the goal to recognize one’s own cultural programs and where these may differ from these of people in other counties.

Topic 4 Chapter 2 People in global organizations: Culture, Personality, and Social Dynamics

Interdependence between people of all layers of management  characteristics of key organizational culture can shape organization’s culture and vice versa. However, accomplishing anything requires understanding one’s self and one’s associates.

How to develop understanding of people: Most of understanding comes from intuition developed from lifetime or relationships (high potential to fail if life experiences differ from colleagues people become disoriented when confronted with a unfamiliar environment)

Toward a working understanding of culture

Culture is a combination of interdependent, gradually changing elements- including assumptions, beliefs, values, practices, and institutions- that is distinctive to a particular society.

Assumptions are aspects of culture that are taken for granted (Approval of Supreme Court in U.S. elections)

Beliefs are understandings about cause and effect relationships.

Values are preferences for certain states of affairs either in one’s own life, in one’s society, or in the world in general (freedom and equality  Western countries; family dependence  Asia).

Practices are patterns of behavior typical of a society (rely on chain of command  make decisions in participative way).

Institutions include both emergent explicitly created social structures (national governments; professions.

Cultures are loosely bounded by a society. A society consists of a set of people who interact more with one another than they do with others, and who share some sort of identity.

Characteristics of culture:

• Culture is learned. It is a group’s response to basic societal problem (e.g. how they view nature or how to deal with a specific problem). Transmission of assumptions and norms to the younger generation

• Culture is shared. Values and norms are shared. Elements are cultural if they belong to the social realm (interaction), if they are socially transmitted, and transmitted through generations

• Culture links individuals to groups, but allows for individual variability.

• Cultures have many boundaries. National, regional, ethnic, religions

Goal for managers: Identify patterns in culture to address its complexity.

Mapping the content of culture: What is culture about?

Map: simplified picture of the reality of a particular space. A good map highlights right features and the distance between two points and information about how to get from A to B.

Cross cultural scientists map features of culture that most influence important international practices, and give some estimates about the social distance between two cultures. Combined with effective communication, these maps serve as a strong foundation for connecting people across cultures.

Three major approaches to mapping the content of culture in international management:

All societies face a common set of problems that are associated with inevitable physical and psychological characteristics of human beings: the physical world, and the social world. (e.g. different societies with different problem solving techniques; distribution of resources). But: different beliefs and assumptions

Nature of the individual:

• ‘people are evil’  close monitoring and supervision

• ‘people are good’  less supervision

• ‘people are a mix of both’  choose the right person for the job

Relationship to nature:

Relationships with other human beings:

• Collateral  goals and welfare of groups

• Individualistic  individual

• Lineal  ordered position within groups

Primary mode of activity: is our basic orientation one of being, doing, or reflecting

How do we view time: focus on past, present, future

Advantages of culture as societal problems:

• Direct attention to characteristics of cultures that affect the thoughts and actions of people in a society, but of which a society’s members may not be consciously aware

• Certain appealing logic (it seems obvious)

• Comprehensive, but not overly specified

• Limitations of culture as societal problems

High flexibility in application makes it difficult to specify which society shows a particular kind of response

Keep in mind the basis of culture in assumptions and beliefs, but classify particular societies

Cultures vary in the values that their members tend to express. (e.g. value accorded to wealth and resources differ- some cultures have the most wealthy persons in leadership positions, some not)

Each society has at least some qualitatively distinctive problems or values that are at most only vaguely comparable to problems or values that other societies face. (e.g. how are resources viewed in different cultures)

Culture as values: expressed in both the personal values and goals that members of the culture emphasize and in the way social institutions like families, schools, organizations, and political systems operate and function.

Approach to values: ‘value-survey’  detecting importance of various work goals.

Hofstede’s value survey: individualism vs. collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity vs. femininity

Schwartz’s value survey: seven cultural value dimensions that can be conceptually organized around 3 problems that all societies face

Problem 1: How does a society regulate relations between humans and nature

mastery: master/exploit the environment for one’s own goals  dynamic, competitive organizations

harmony: understand environment  understand social implications of actions

Problem 2: To what extent are people autonomous?

Embeddedness: embedded in a group, collectivism  organizations as extended families

Intellectual autonomy: individuals are encouraged to follow their own ideas

Affective autonomy: people are encouraged to find positive experiences

Autonomy: individuality  organizations treat members as independent actors

Problem 3: How to guarantee responsible behavior among members?

Hierarchy: unequal distribution of power; authority; defined roles

Egalitarism: moral equality; voluntary commitment towards others; motivation by welfare of all

Trompenaars’ value survey: grouping of value distinctions into 3 categories:

1. Relationship:

Universalism/particularism: same standards for all vs. different standards

Individualism/communitarianism: individualism vs. collectivism

Achievement/ascription: people have the ability to achieve a status in society vs. people are born in their position in society

Neutral/emotional: degree to which expressing emotions is accepted

Specific/diffuse: degree of separation of life

Achievement/ascription and universalism/particularism, and individualism/communitarianism are highly correlated to Hofstede’s model

2. Time and Environment:

Sequential vs. synchronic: clear start and end of actions vs. several things simultaneously

4^th category- Locus of control: degree to which people believe they can control their own destiny

Limitation of dimensions: Over applying can result in sophisticated stereo-typing: ignorance of nuances of a culture or the specifics of the context in which cultural values occur

Psychological contracts

An international group of scholars collaborated to provide descriptions of the distinctive ways in which psychological contracts tended to be formulated in each oth their countries.

Psychological contracts have a relational element (non-articulated understandings between people) and a contractual element (specify what each party is to contribute and what each will receive in exchange)

The analyises of 14 nations indicate that much of the world has seen cultural shift toward transactional contracts in recent years.

3. Culture process theories

Schein: culture is progressively established- beginning with a problem, transforming into beliefs and values; never ending

Negotiated culture: merger of two or more cultures, ongoing, emergent, arrangement of imperfectly shared rules and routines

Influences on negotiated culture:

Individual: actor’s culture of origin, other individual characteristics  provide basic set of meanings and behaviors

Structural: organizational structure (M&A, JV…)  influence extent to which different aspects need to be negotiated

Contextual: historical, institutional

Continuous “recontextualization” of events and actions  new meanings evolve  culture is created

Individuals

Traits distinguish one individual from another  form the personality

Five major personality factors:

1. Extroversion: comfort level with new relationships, interaction with other people.

Sociable, talkative, assertive, active vs. shy, reserved

2. Agreeableness: ability to deal with others.

Trusting, compliant, modest, gentle vs. irritable, ruthless, suspicious, inflexible

3. Conscientiousness: series of goals a person aims at

Careful, thorough, responsible (few goals) vs. irresponsible, disorganized (wide range of goals)

4. Neuroticism: level of emotional stability (‘high’ neuroticism  low level of e. stability)

Anxious, depressed, angry, insecure vs. calm, poised, secure

5. Openness to experience: degree of rigidity in beliefs and interests

Intellectual, imaginative, creative, artistic vs. curious, sensitive, open-minded

Do these traits apply to people throughout the world?

The first four traits (all except openness to experience) seem to travel well and are useful for understanding people in most nations that have been studied. Yet, some traits seem to be particularly important in distinguishing among people in particular societies and not in others.

Another stable characteristic is individual differences in skills and abilities. Skills refer to techniques that people need to perform to carry out work functions and roles. Ability refers to a person’s capacity to quickly learn the skills needed.

Intellectual ability: IQ, number aptitude, verbal comprehension

Physical ability: aspects of strength and dexterity

Emotional Intelligence (EQ): abilities to delay gratification, control emotions, deal constructively with anger, and read other people’s feelings

Additionally, people have different identities that fit to different environments.

A person may even have different identities with a variety of social categories or groups. The sasme person may or may not have a strong identity with a particular family, a religious group, an employer, an industry, a nation, a political party, a gender group, a nation, or a national subculture. These various groups each have nroms about appropriate ways of thinking and behaving that shape the thoughts and actions of those who identify with that group.

Our identity influences with whom one will want to associate, and how we think and behave

Other characteristics of people: values, attitudes, choices, and behavior

Another way of understanding individuals is to consider their values and assumptions.

But individuals within cultures differ in their values as well. Other ways ways of thinking about people are by using ideas like perceptions, attitudes, choices, and behaviours.

Countries and their different conditions:

• Political conditions: nature of the regime

• Jurisprudence: covers various legal constraints

• Economic development level

• Educational system

• Type of industry

• Organization’s technology

Significant relationship between a nation’s GNP and its level of individualism

Topic 5: The Forces of Globalization

Chapter 2 - Classing civilizations: the global connection

Cross-cultural aspects of globalization:

Culture can be viewed as practical, useful ‘software’ which generates blueprints for individual and collective action. Broad and intensive contacts between individuals with different cultural software in their heads can lead to co-operation, but also impede co-operation and lead to its breakdown. Our cultural software is compatible and flexible in adjusting to our changing needs. We use stereotypes to label strangers and others. These stereotypes aid to explain, function as energy saving devices and are shared group beliefs. Because transnational and transcontinental networking accelerates rapidly, cross-cultural competences become more crucial.

Globalization, sometimes referred as Westernization or Americanization, is described as a natural process about filling the world with safe markets and sound democracies. However, critics state that globalization depends on a huge number of choices and decisions, which together shape an unpredictable course of collective history. Cross-cultural studies cannot be based on an assumption that a single kind of cultural ‘software’ developed on a single continent should be granted the unique status of ‘universal applicability’. States are still by far the most important interface between global markets and local political constituencies. Even multinational, apparently ‘footloose’ corporations are still linked to nation-states. Corporations have to obey the laws enforced by state bureaucracies, the courts, the police, the tax office, and the armies. Their power is therefore far less legitimate than that of nation states. Governance is a trial-and-error process of piecemeal social engineering negotiated between national governments, business corporations and civil society. The emerging global civil society is referred to as ‘globalization from below’ which is a sphere of relationships among heterogeneous actors who share civil values and concern for global issues, communication and advocacy action. Those globalists ‘from below’ have become more reluctant to accept any set of institutional and organizational solutions as superior to all others. They criticize the Westerns politics that they have tried to enforce their institutional forms to other parts of the world.

Authors of academically respectable theories, which ‘hit us’ where the patterns of thinking are shaped, providers of cultural ‘content’, including theoretical interpretations of cross-cultural encounters say that the concept of the inevitable clash of values cannot be reconciled and secondly, that there is a inevitable loss of quality in secular, market-driven modernization. This is the result of a prefabricated quasi-experience of standardized shopping malls, fast food restaurants, the 24/7 economy, and employees enacting scripted roles instead of engaging in real exchange. A similar critique is regularly voiced against the excessive focus of individual and social life on market transactions and warnings of a decline of ‘the West’ are subject for debate.

Two Cassandras of globalization Huntington and Ritzer:

Huntington warns for the clash of civilizations’ (a violent clash) and Ritzer warns for the excessive rationalization of the whole social life patterned as a consequence of ‘McDonaldization’ in which local flavor and feeling of place and community are lost (distinct core values melt down and converge). Ritzer states that everything what gets standardized and disseminated is ‘nothing’ (and empty script and a standard product). Grobalization is a term used by Ritzer and which is a combination of globalization and economic growth.

Originally, globalization was perceived as an economic networking of multinational corporations, which were accompanied by nation-states and which emerged as one of the ways of securing global flows of capital, commodities, information and labor. The expansion of global brands and infrastructure has lead to a parallel increase in local awareness of global influences, resulting in global responses and a degree of ‘creolization’ of cultural forms (eg. Latin pop music, Japanese cartoons). This all has resulted in increased interconnectedness and awareness, which has generated new knowledge and possibilities for more complex interactions in the future.

Warnings of the forthcoming clash of values between religious movements form a political threat as some fundamental values can never be adjusted and compromises are not possible. Only a strong ‘core’ state can shape policies and command the respect of an entire region and if such a state is missing populations are forced into the arms of terrorists. Observations show that the world’s nation-states are divided into ‘civilizational blocks’ which are predominantly promoted by religious ‘sacred values’. Huntington’s clash of civilization consequently is based on the reason that: at the core of cultural ‘software’ are the basic values, which have been expressed in religious doctrines and translated into political norms. Huntington calls for unity of a single Westerns civilization, but ignores the views of the Arab world. Attempts to remake a new world order or to form a united religion have failed as they were all were cross-culturally managed, but within a single political entity. This, and other examples illustrate the profoundly fundamentalist conviction about the superiority of one’s own cultural values as a product of one’s own unique culture.

Huntington warns that there may be no compromise between nations and cultures, Ritzer warns that everything may become too compromised and values will disappear into a standard content of conspicuous and ubiquitous globalized consumption, in which there are no real alternatives. Instead, Ritzer argues that we are continually recycling and rejuvenating our stereotypes and trying to compensate for negative consequences of using them.

When values are removed out of the cultural software, it is not a ‘one size fits all’ type of software that remains, but it could be a more easily conveyable, communicable and disseminated software in which the authentic, local, community is embedded and where re-engineering from below is still possible to impose changes.

Cross-cultural compromises and respect for multiculturalism of societies are needed to form opinions and put new light on the issues discussed by Huntington and Ritzer. This will happened with a major accelerated change of cultural values and of the configurations of our cultural software.

Cross-cultural compromises and multiculturalism:

Immigrants and the development of the electronic mass media and satellite links have resulted in a ‘global village’. Although it was not always the case, multicultural has been an ideological label designed to appeal to public authorities and citizens to respect differences and to mobilize for fairness in housing, job hunting, educational chances and political representation.

Identities, which individuals design, assemble and employ in their various activities, are composed of elements acquired during their socialization. Differences in those identities are not visible, but need to be investigated and can be plotted in a model of national culture, designed by Hofstede with four dimensions: (individualism/collectivism), (femininity/masculinity), (uncertainty avoidance/unavoidance), (long-term/short-term orientation). A fifth dimension introduced by Hofstede is the logic of contract vs. the logic of honor. Hofstede operationalized the dimensions in a survey, which he distributed among different IBM offices worldwide. The individual behaviors and statements were linked to reconstructed values and beliefs so that different organizational designs and organizational behavior could be measured, by catching the different organizational cultures in a scientific net of the five-dimensional space. Hofstede noted that the main cultural differences among nations lie in values about the different dimensions used in his model. The results of the model can be used to better understand other cultures and consequently better negotiate and form compromises with them.

Criticism on Hofstede’s theoretical framework include the following:

1. In-built Western bias:

The selection of the dimensions and the validation was entirely done by Western researchers. Dimensions apparent in other local cultures, but not in the West would not have been included in the study. However, Hofstedes purpose with his research was also to overcome those biases.

2. In-built static and conservative nature of the dimensional model:

The model presupposes relative stability of core values and beliefs in national culture, which makes it hard to trace and report any changes. Through integration and institutional harmonization on regional and global sales and a rapid development of communication technologies have made national frames to only hold for shorter periods of time. For example the walkman resulted in a more individualized family life which has changed the interaction patterns of cultures.

3. In-built methodological bias:

Critics state that an attitude-survey questionnaire as the basic source of date is not appropriate for a culture study as dimensions are ‘unzipped’, in other words that different themes, perspectives and levels of reality and desirability are clustered together.

Despite the criticism, Hofstede’s theoretical framework is still the most widely used and referred framework in managing cross-cultural differences. Although national and organizational identities still form the core frame of our personalities and identizing, we experiment with other identities in changing configurations and varying proportions.

Shifting cultural identities: the global connection:

The global connection inherent in cross cultural competence ( a collective phenomenon emerging out of inter-subjective processes and interactions) enables us to co-operate across cultural and other borders. This cross-cultural competence is need to navigate our personal and organizational projects through the increased complex and interconnected world of individuals and groups. Anti-globalist movements are trying to convince Western organizations with the use of cross-cultural competences to not impose Western ideology on eg. Islamic countries.

As people that are born during a different period have different attitudes (eg. baby boomers were less focused on walking the career ladder, as they were often confronted with takeovers, acquisitions and mergers after WOII) new theories evolved after Hofstede. Leinberger and Tucker made an empirical research based on 175 in-depth interviews in which a clear cultural shift was visible to a more individualistic identizing. Understanding the shifting context of identizing shifts values along dimensions from generation to generation without necessarily changing the very conceptual definition of a value together with understanding these new, volatile cultural identities and their empirical testing in everyday social interaction is at the core of global cross-cultural competence.

The case of integrating Kazakh immigrants in Poland:

A Polish study by Z. Rejmer, 2004, based on 53 ethnic Poles who immigrated from Kazakhstan to Poland examined the structure of national cultural identity and the possible influence on personal psychic well-being. This influence turned out to be very significant, however, it turned out that there was also a complex interplay of two different national identities. Many Polish minorities were deported to Kazakhstan during the early stages of WOII, and whom returned after the war. However, they were not familiar with the legal rules and anonymous bureaucracies and therefore not totally accepted and seen as immigrants.

The questionnaire on cultural values accounted for the following cultural dimensions: collectivism, humanism, materialism, liberalism and ‘sarmatism’. The participants were shown different symbols and it turned out that the Polish ‘immigrants’ showed more familiarity with the Kazakh cultural symbols and they were not ‘happy’ during their first month after returning to Poland. However, after some time they became more satisfied with the quality of live, but women were more pessimistic about this and didn’t want to identify with a real inhabitant of Poland in the first place, which could have been the result of the traditional life-style they had in Kazakhstan. These results should be used when dealing with immigrants or third-generation immigrants and when designing acculturation trainings and forming a more equal society for al ethnic groups.

Chapter 3 Networking organizations: The management connection

1 Organizational cultures by design

Apart from the language connection (culture as in the context of ends, means and meanings) and the global connection (culture as in the context of clashing civilizations), culture is also looked at from the perspective of increasingly networked and coordinated, organized and planned, cooperation and interaction among individuals and groups (the management connection).

In designing organizational cultures, the three perspectives of connection can be associated with some certain characteristics as follows:

The language connection: understanding and communication

The global connection: networking and co-operating

The management connection: motivating and leading

To make sense of the world from the perspective of organizing and managing requires a certain skill in balancing the ambiguities between an instrumental view of culture (individual mental software enabling one to cooperate) and a non-instrumental, ethical view of core cultural values (a collective hierarchy of values guiding individual choices and generating positives emotions, thus shaping preferences).

An instrumental view of culture leads managers to design organizational cultures in the hope of increased commitment of employees to the strategic goals of the organization, whereas a non-instrumental view of culture leads managers to design corporate codes of conduct they hope will provide regular monitoring of commitment to the core values of the culture into which employees have been socialized (in this case, the strategic goals of the organization are viewed with respect to their compatibility with values). Both organizational cultures by design and corporate codes of conduct belong to standard managerial constructs documented in organizational communications at the turn of the 20^th and 21^st centuries. These two perspectives of culture are different facets of ‘managerialism’ yet it is not unusual to find them assigned to different roles of the same manager.

Difference between a manager and a leader: A manager plans, organizes and controls functions within an organization, whereas a leader has vision and inspires others to grasp that vision, establishes corporate values, emphasizes corporate ethics, and does not fear change.

Which leadership style is best: There is no one best leadership style as the leadership style is contingent to the people to be led and the situation. The challenge of the future will be to empower self-managed teams to manage themselves, which is a move away from the autocratic leadership.

Creating cross-cultural competence depends crucially on being able to understand ethical choices and ways in which values do make a difference in individual and groups behavior.

Making sense of the world from a managerial perspective is influenced by the cultural software of individuals and groups in a number of complex ways. We are constantly deciphering and constructing (or reconstructing, deconstructing or destroying) meanings in our communications, and continually redraw ‘reality maps’ for ourselves and for others. We do so by also recognizing our duties and meeting our obligations, that is, by drawing conclusions from our commitment to values and norms or by renegotiating them.

A renegotiation of one of the core values takes place if we either reinterpret a core value or shift the relative position of the core value with respect to others, such as equality between men and women. Renegotiations of values, norms and hierarchies are also going on in organizational context, which facilitate some ways of making sense of things while ‘discouraging’ others.

Empowerment means giving the authority and responsibility to respond quickly to customer requests, whereas enabling describes giving workers the education and tools they need to assume their new decision-making powers.

Organic leadership has many characteristics.

The more complex organizations become and the more flexibly networked they are with other, often equally complex organizations, the more difficult to manage they become. Managers need to pay attention to different cultural backgrounds and local subcultures, whereas employees need to pay attention to unexpected developments and poor structure problems, which have to be solved, often immediately and at a specific location. The focus on many differences in individual cultural backgrounds in management has been changed: where in the past there used to be standardization of organizational roles within formal industrial bureaucracies, now there is much attention paid to these differences in individual behavior. Although managers are paid to oversee, monitor, plan, guide and run routine administration of large formal bureaucracies, they tend to base their professional identity on a much more idealized self-image of themselves as entrepreneurial and autonomous person who motivates the employees.

The ‘Globe’ project is a comparative study of 62 societies from the perspective of the culturally endorsed leadership dimensions, led by Robert J. House. The project is based upon the cultural framework of Hofstede and includes these factors:

• Future Orientation

• Gender Equality

• Assertiveness

• Humane Orientation

• In-Group Collectivism

• Institutional Collectivism

• Performance Orientation

• Power Distance

• Uncertainty Avoidance

The main finding of House is that there is a negative correlation between cultural values in seven out of nine cultural dimensions. Consequently, he argues that we had all been wrong assuming tacitly that if individuals espouse some values, then their behavior will reflect them. This simplifying assumption has to go. House also found that attributes of societal success are strongly related to cultural practices, but the attributes of outstanding leadership are strongly related to cultural values. In other words, successful leaders would be those who could design organizational culture and manage cultural practices that would reinforce cultural values or stimulate the reduction of the gap between values and practices.

2 The police change project case

This project is on change and is conducted by a multidisciplinary group of social psychologists, politic scientist and management researchers. The research is conducted among ‘high flyers’, who are people expected to rise in the ranks to the level of a police captain or higher, making use of their concentration in the German Police Leadership Academy in Munster. They researchers interviewed circa 100 policemen and asked them to describe and analyze the successful and unsuccessful change projects in which they had participated so far. Moreover, the researchers tried to understand how the policemen ‘made sense’ of change projects, to which factors they had attributed the success or failure of a given project. It turned out that goal achievement, commitment and satisfaction were the most frequently mentioned criteria of success (or failure).

3 Cultural due diligence in mergers and acquisitions

A merger is a process whereby two companies go together and become one company, whereas an acquisition is a process whereby one company takes over the other one. In reality, a merger means that the employees of one company have to work together wit h others who do not share their routines, their intuitive grasp of ‘the way we do things around here’. Although a merger seems to be interesting, at least 60-70 per cent of mergers (and acquisitions) ultimately fail. We also know that entire groups of employees resist change, often conducting their struggle as a ‘clash of cultures’. Therefore, the managerial teams responsible for accomplishing a successful post-merger integration are looking for methodological instruments and better design the integration process. Now, they have found such an instrument in the concept and method of cultural due diligence, applied to the analysis of company cultures and subcultures of relevant merging organizations. Cultural due diligence is a concept that promised to ‘deliver’ by offering a manager or a consultant an instrument to recognize local ‘frames’ in organizations. Sometimes, other more detailed instruments have been developed, such as the OCAI (Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument).

4 The case of cross-border Nordic mergers

The cross-border merger of 4 Nordic financial institutions, each from a different country--- Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark--- resulted in the creation of Nordea in 2000. Nordea is the leading financial services group in the Nordic and Baltic Sea region with its business in 3 business areas: retail banking, corporate and institutional banking and asset management and life. This merger is not one without any difficulties. The difficulty in kinking the values of a designed company culture to the daily routines and social practices of employees were also recognized, although the focus was mostly on the difficulties that perceived national cultural differences might produce in multi-national management teams within the merged organization. In order to resolve these difficulties and make a merger successful with respect to culture, the merging companies should not differ in their organizational cultures.

5 Knowledge, management and criticism

Researchers found that only by paying due attention to the sense-making practices of employees were they able to understand the socio-cultural processes that corporate designers wanted to influence and guide, thus contributing to the overall post-merger integration. The prevailing view of the evolution of organizational forms is that we are moving away from lofty pyramids of hierarchic bureaucracies and towards flexible, loosely coupled networks of modular organizational clusters and individual professionals.

6 The case of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

The provision of humanitarian aid to a civilian population deprived of usual resources by a natural or man-made disaster is a very difficult and complex undertaking. Organizations dealing with it, such as Red Cross, must be highly knowledge-intensive if they are to respond quickly and appropriately to such complicated challenges. Two elements of the emergency response process require particular attention from the perspective of knowledge management: the pre-arranged frame agreements with suppliers for the main relief items and the co-operation. We are here dealing with a knowledge-intensive organization that is flexible, globally networked, continuously learning, and staffed by highly qualified experts. However, the limits of this organization’s learning are not linked to the restraint of top managers, but to the conditions imposed by some stakeholders and to competition with other, similar relief organizations. These are linked to critical power factors both inside their organization and outside of it.

7 From controlling to coaching: democracy beyond the factory (office) door

It is essential to understand the power factor in both learning how organizations work and in getting them to accomplish their tasks. The paradox of power in contemporary organizations is linked to the power of learning – to the question that learns more quickly and reaps the temporary benefits from relatively rapid learning. There is much more toe be learned about power struggles from a study of the difference between the highest and the lowest salaries in a business company in the 1980s and 1990s than from a study of empowerment techniques.

A case of panoptic control

Panopticon-like system of managerial surveillance: constant presence of the security cameras and other methods of control

Internalization of the rules imposed

Leads to circumventing the rules and of modifying them

Employees devise own rules of the game: e.g. establish more social contact instead of purely working

Distraction from daily routine

Feel appreciated

Increases overall commitment

Manager as narrator; the organizational discourse

Coaching: show ‘how things are done’, breaking employees into organizational culture by socializing them into accepted practices; communicating with members of the manager’s organization and external stakeholders (occupy up to 90% of work time)

Managers have to know how to ‘tell stories’

Discourse analysis (Critical discourse analysis, CAD): attempt to understand new developments in organizational communications, and in communications to newly mapped stakeholders

Organizations are not any more fixed and solid in space and time ( virtual office)

Emergence of new focus of organizational studies

On language, the use of symbolic media, and on the role of corporate values

‘Objectives (bureaucratically implemented corporate plan) do not get you there, values (internalized core values) do’ (Welch)

Cultural turn: communicating is managing

Habermas: monitor discourses to detect constraints: market and states both invade privacy and ‘colonize’ the world of our personal experience

Guiding ideal: unconstrained linguistic communication in politics and society

‘Measure distance to ideal and remove constraints: justification for parliamentary democracy

New developments: mass media

Consumer culture

Reproduce conformity, decreases reflectivity

Keep in check those industries

One-way authoritarian indoctrination (Marcuse)

Individual as a pure receiver, only hearing the ‘master’s voice’, not being able to talk back

Discourse is totally dominated by those who own the markets and rule the states

Ruler’s monologue

Social reality becomes one-dimensional

Habermas sees development of European societies as an unfinished project of modernity formulated explicitly for the first time by the thinkers of the Enlightment and politicians of the French revolution. The project is unfinished because we cannot be satisfied with parliamentary representation and market allocation of resources. Openness of the organization is required to compensate inequalities!

To avoid ‘pidgin’ in academic environment  knowledge should be produce by researches with ‘pluri-vocal’ inputs.

Three different views on the role of organizational discourse in management:

1. Moderate constructionist: Discourse is about the social construction of reality within an organization by its members

‘words matter, but when everything is said, there is still much to be done, since there is a material world’

consideration of material and political constraints

2. Extreme social constructionist: organizations only exist as they are constituted by an continuous linguistic discourse, because social reality does not exist except as socially organized sense-making, socially constructed shared meaning and identities

there is no ‘there’ out there as everything has to be discussed

linguistic communication as the process that constitutes, maintains, and changes social reality

3. Critical realist: respects the ontological primacy of the ‘organizational world out there’

individuals behave as autonomous agents but not as freely as in the aforementioned views

Interplay between social structure and discursive innovation must be analyzed dialectically; empirical analysis before a judgment can be made

‘you first have to make a career, gain power, and only then do you adopt a language expressing this power’

balanced view on reality- calling for discourse analysis but within the framework of other, non-linguistic constraints

‘polyphonic’ story-telling leads to reconstruction of microstories which help the researcher assess and qualify the actual influence of the ‘grand narratives’ and assess the extent of resistance to this ideological hegemony

Imposed hegemony by crafting the narrative plot in complex organizations; ‘to be hegemonic is to exercise power without notice in the taken-for-granted subterrain of socialization and preparing stories that are ready to hand over to consumptive appetites’ (Boje)

Boje distinguishes deconstruction as an analytical method to detect the instability, complexity, processes, and heterogeneity below the surface of ‘official’ communications that try to create an impression of stability, hierarchical order, well-structured, functional coherence.

Simple black-and white distinction is not adequate in today’s environment:

• Managers’ ranks become more distinctive and specialized

• Weakening of trade unions, strengthening of professional associations  more complexity

• Critical discourse analysis can guide the reconstruction

Hofstede:

• Early socialization is mainly based on subconscious shaping of the core value system within a given culture or subculture

• Later, socializing influences (higher education…) are more linked to the procedures with which an individual becomes acquainted

• The organizational socialization of an individual is about ‘how we do things around here’

• The case of managerial discourse in counties divided by common language or practice:

Austria versus Germany

There are six Austrian cultural standards that directly contrast with German ones:

1. Conflict avoidance and indirect communication: both are opposed to the German cultural standard of straightforwardness. The Austrians perceive the German straightforward responses as impolite and rude. Such indirect communication, in which one pays due respect to the partner and only secondarily conducts business goes very well with importance attached to academic titles and hierarchies. Titles are in common use and they make up for the gaps left by indirect communication. Using them in daily discourse makes social ranks and differences in power and influence visible.

2. Austrian social orientation in contrast to the German achievement orientation: In social orientation personal acknowledgement and respect are also paid on the workplace floor and an engineer’s title is not easily shed. In the achievement orientation, efficiency is much more important to Germans and they rank rewarding achievement above preserving social and personal equilibrium. Germans want to get things done and the result matters. Austrians want to get things done in the proper way and the manners matter.

3. Austrian neglect of rules and regulations: Germans see it as dangerous and irrational, whereas Austrians cannot understand it if breaking them would cause no visible damage.

4. Supplier-focused service: made them less customer friendly than their German counterparts because they insisted on making clients adapt to the way their service was delivered rather than trying to build the service around clients and their needs and wishes.

Germany versus Great Britain

There are four main families of differences:

1. A theoretical orientation of Germans s opposed to British practical orientation

2. An explicit communication style of Germans as opposed to an implicit one preferred by the British

3. German task-orientation as opposed to British person-orientation

4. German ambiguity-avoidance as opposed to British ambiguity-tolerance

Topic 6 Global Leadership

Section 10 Leading in a Global Context: Vision in Complexity

Many different stakeholders from vastly different backgrounds play a role in the global arena. Ambiguity is common because words, intentions and behaviors may be interpreted differently by different groups and because conflicting interests may exist. Dealing with such high levels of complexity requires that leaders have an overarching and appealing vision that allows for the integration of different perspectives. Leaders are also faced with the difficult challenge of convincingly presenting their vision to a multicultural and highly diverse workforce and implementing it in an uncertain environment. This requires the ability to decide, communicate and interact in a culturally sensitive and appropriate manner.

Central to this chapter is the importance of the leader’s vision.

Visionary Leadership

Through formulating a vision, a leader interprets reality for listeners and gives meaning to events. Thus, for followers, the ideas expressed in the vision can act as a compass guiding them in the daily decisions they make. The sense of purpose that an attractive vision of the future inspires acts as a powerful motivating force for those who share the vision. In order to achieve goals following from the vision, different leader behaviors are needed, depending on the context.

Vision and global strategies

For most businesses the question is no longer whether to do business abroad but to determine the desired degree of international involvement. There are three separate processes for developing a ‘total global strategy’:

• Developing the core strategy, the basis of a sustainable strategic advantage. It includes elements such as types of products, services, investments and customers.

• Internationalizing the core strategy through international expansion of activities and adaptation of the core strategy.

• Globalizing the international strategy occurs through integrating the strategy across counties

Many factors however complicate the relations between strategy, structure and the degree of international involvement. Strategies e.g. are often emergent and reactive rather than planned well in advance.

Based on their kind and degree of international involvement, different types of firms can be distinguished, namely: the multinational, global, international and transnational firm.

The transnational is not so much a specific strategic posture or a particular organizational form; rather it describes a mode of management or management mentality in which flexibility and shared organizational purpose play key roles. The large potential for fragmentation and dissipation, which inevitably comes with increased flexibility, is the greatest problem of this type of organization. A strong attractive and shared corporate vision may provide such a force. The role of top management in crafting and propagating this vision is crucial.

There are three different management attitudes toward internationalization:

• ethnocentric (home country oriented): believing there is one best way to manage and do things

• polycentric (host country oriented): the company holds there are many good ways, leading to local responsiveness dependent on the nation involved.

• geocentric (world oriented): combines local responsiveness with global integration and fits the ideas of a transnational corporation

Visions that work: What are they about?

By articulating a vision, leaders instill pride, gain respect and trust and increase a sense of optimism and hope for the future in followers. A leader’s personal examples serves as a model of the kind of behavior required for attaining the vision (role models). Through self-sacrifice, the leader may demonstrate loyalty, model their dedication to the cause and help build trust.

A strategic vision can have an:

• External orientation (product/service innovation) or Internal orientation (organizational transformation)

• Broad (contribution to society) or narrow focus (contribution to the workforce)

A vision should be attractive, flexible and describe what could be achieved. It should also indicate WHY it is relevant to achieve that ideal and give a first indication of HOW it can be done. Few organizations have well-developed visions.

There are four general design criteria for crafting a vision:

1. Possibility: The innovative features of the vision. They should be unique, vibrant and inspirational

2. Desirability: Draw on the organization’s values and culture and connect the future possibilities with these values

3. Actionability: Describing activities that people can undertake to move toward the desirable future possibilities that are envisioned

4. Articulation: Getting the message across to followers. It is the key aspect of visionary leadership

The preferred style to articulate a vision varies between cultures (use of language, style of communication and typical nonverbal cues). The three key content dimensions underlying effective visions are: dealing with change, ideal goals and people working together.

Some general guidelines that can be kept in mind when developing a vision are:

1. Involve key stakeholders in the process

2. Identify strategic objectives with a wide appeal that may serve as a basis for the vision

3. Identify relevant elements in the old ideology that should be preserved and link the vision to core competencies to ensure the relevant elements remain.

4. Evaluate the credibility of the vision and continually assess and refine the vision

5. Implementing the ideas from a new vision involves strategic planning and resourcing but also abilities in other areas such as timing, creating a sense of urgency and social and political skills.

Three aspects of strategic leadership are important:

1. Absorptive capacity: The ability to learn

2. Adaptive Capacity: The ability to change

3. Managerial wisdom: Take the right action at the critical moment & Discernment, the ability to perceive variations and patterns in the environment and to build an understanding of others and their relationships.

Executing the vision: Other key leader behaviors

Depending on their hierarchical level, leaders also have an important role in diverse activities such as translating vision into strategic directives and task requirements, monitoring progress and performance, deciding on the use of resources and budgets, adapting strategies and objectives, supporting and individually developing followers, maintaining high quality relationships within the group and stimulating critical thinking and innovation.

Transformational leadership is seen when leaders have visions, inspire and motivate followers to perform beyond expectation; when they stimulate followers intellectually to see problems in new ways, use individualized consideration and mentoring to help individual subordinates develop to their full potential

Iindividualized consideration implies treating each individual as valuable and unique, not just as member of group. It involves confidence building and expressing trust in followers’ abilities

Some guidelines for transformational leadership are:

• Articulate a clear and attractive vision and explain how it can be attained

• Lead by example and show optimism and confidence

• Use dramatic symbolic actions to emphasize core values and reward desired behavior

• Express confidence in followers’ abilities to achieve goals and provide support for them where needed

• Empower others to achieve the vision

• Create an intellectually stimulating environment in which criticism and ideas for improvement are expressed and seen as opportunities to learn

Team leadership

Team leaders are expected to create motivated, cohesive teams, even when working with people from diverse cultural backgrounds, even virtually and across time zones. There are four leader performance functions that help team leaders perform these tasks:

1. Information search and structuring: acquiring information, organizing and evaluating information and feedback and control

2. Information use in problem solving: identifying needs and requirements, planning and coordinating and communicating information.

3. Managing personnel: obtaining and allocating personnel resources, utilizing and monitoring employees and developing and motivating employees.

4. Managing material resources: obtaining and allocating material resources, maintaining, utilizing and monitoring material resources

Leaders can have a decisive impact on team effectiveness through cognitive, behavioral, emotional, coordination and motivational processes. Teams with leaders who encouraged reflexive processes outperform teams whose leaders do not.

Effective team leader behavior

Vision development and attainment

Facilitating high quality relationships and social integration

Organizing and coordinating work

Ensuring the environment is monitored

Images of leadership around the world

In all counties involved in the GLOBA study, an outstanding leader is expected to be encouraging, positive, motivational, a confidence builder, dynamic and to have foresight. Such a leader is excellence-oriented, decisive and intelligent. Outstanding leaders need to be good at team building, communicating and coordinating. They have to be trustworthy, just and honest. As ineffective was seen, being non-cooperative, ruthless, non-explicit, l loner, irritable and dictatorial.

However, although images of outstanding leaders around the world share some characteristics, there are also vast differences in what is seen as desirable for leaders.

Enacting leader attributes

When attributes are universally values, this does not mean such attributes will necessarily be enacted in the same way across cultures. Visionary is seen as a positive attribute in most cultures but what one needs to do to be seen as visionary may still vary strongly.

Vision versus empowerment across cultures

Visions are often developed and communicated in a relatively leader centered and directive manner which may not always be the most effective style. In egalitarian societies, processes emphasizing the collective development of shared ideals may prove most effective. In contrast, in high power-distance counties such an emphasis on acceptance and consultation of subordinates in developing a vision may be less important. Transformational leadership can take either a more directive or participative form.

Empowerment involves managers giving employees more responsibilities, letting them work more autonomously and sharing information with them while at the same time encouraging and expressing trust in their abilities in a non-defensive manner. However, individuals from high power-distance cultures did not perform as well when empowered as when disempowered. They may need some more time and guidance in initial phases to get a clear understanding of expectations, processes and performance criteria that characterize the new way of working.

Current challenges for organizations

Dealing with unanticipated consequences

One danger of visionary leadership lies in its possible misuse to work toward immoral ends. Such leader behavior may result in exploitation and oppression rather than the empowerment of others. The effects of visionary and charismatic leadership can increase followers’ dependency on the leader rather than empower them. The sense of urgency and strong dedication can create a strong pressure to keep performing at the highest possible level and thus in increased levels of stress and burnout, which decreases creativity and productivity and may even cause health problems. Another problem may be that the vision may be overly dependent on one person. Furthermore, leaders can become overconfident, no longer seeing the flaws in their plans or adapting to changing circumstances.

Developing global leaders

Companies have different approaches to address the challenge of developing their mangers and these differences in traditions and preferences are found between counties. Global leaders must adapt their minds at the high pace of global environment and need to be experts at managing relationships in an intercultural context. This requires cultural awareness and high levels of sophistication in adapting to different styles with different people.

Leadership development is not only individual human capital development (leader development) but also the development of leadership capacity within the organization in a broader sense (social capital development).

Diversity in the boardroom

Corporate boards of directors will become more diverse in nationality and gender over the next years. However, still precious few women actually reach higher management levels around the globe. There are still sex-trait stereotypes with women being more socially responsive, passive and submissive and men more assertive, achieving and dominant. Instead, masculine characteristics were related to individuals’ perceived power and position in the organizational hierarchy. Both men and women in upper levels were reported to be more masculine than people at lower levels.

Leadership in tomorrow’s organizations

Among the fundamental changes in organizations is the increased importance of teams and other lateral organizing mechanisms. As they need to become more flexible, organizations often comprise temporary systems whose elements (people/technology) are assembled and disassembled according to the shifting needs of specific projects. The content of the work is changing as well. Software such as groupware have made non co-located work a more realistic option.

Three leadership scenarios:

1. Leadership may also become a temporary arrangement.

Idea of shared, distributed, collective leadership and reduced importance of singe-person leadership

2. Teleleadership: The increasing use of new technologies and group decision-support systems may enhance the importance of leadership functions that relate to the transmission of information between leader and group members. The role of the leader may then be reduced to more cognitive elements (such as managing information flow) rather than the more social, human and emotional elements of leadership

3. The intellective, complex, non-routine tasks of the future will require problem solving, individual initiative and innovative behavior as well as a willingness to take on personal responsibility for getting the task done on the part of employees.

Topic 7 – Organizational Culture

Chapter 2 - The Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI)

The OCAI is used to diagnose ones organization’s culture. The instrument is in the form of a questionnaire that requires individuals to respond to just six items. This instrument has been used in more than a thousand organizations and has been found to predict organizational performance. There are two main steps involved. The first is to help identify the organization’s current culture. The second step is to help identify the culture organization members think should be developed to match the future demands of the environment and the challenges to be faced by the company.

Instructions for Diagnosing Organizational Culture

The purpose of the OCAI is to assess six key dimensions of organizational culture. In completing the instrument, you will be providing a picture of how your organization operates and the values that characterize it. Every organization will most likely produce a different set of responses. Because the instrument is most helpful for determining ways to change the culture, you will want to focus on the cultural unit that is the target for change (e.g. the strategic business unit to which you belong, or the organizational unit in which you are a member that has clearly identifiable boundaries). You have to divide 100 points according to the extent to which alternative is similar to your organization in the current state (labeled ‘now’) and how it should be in five years in order to be highly successful (labeled ‘preferred’).

Topic 8 – Negotiation and Conflict Across Cultures

Chapter 10 Intercultural Negotiation Process

Intercultural negotiation= involves discussions of common and conflicting interests between persons of different cultural backgrounds who work to reach an agreement of mutual benefit.

Reasons why global joint ventures and strategic alliance are on the increase:

• economic deregulation

• rapid technological changes

• large capital requirements

• government-supporter industries

• economic maturation

• improved communication

Most important differences in negotiating internationally rather than domestically is culture.

Steps in negotiation process

preparation and site selection

preparation: if negotiate with other culture, study language, etiquette, beliefs

negotiation site: usually unimportant to US negotiators

Team selection

• number of people on team

• age*

• gender*

• rank*

• expertise

• personalities

• expertise in language

• Negotiation selection is an important aspect of conflict resolution. It is important to find a negotiation whose qualifications most closely fit the requirements for the negotiation that will take place.

*=important considerations in most Asian countries, as well as in Africa and Middle East.

relationship building

In some parts of the world ( Latin America, Arab countries, Argentina, Central and Eastern Europe) relationship building is important for conducting business.

opening talks

In some countries opening talks are necessary

discussions

a variety of behaviours may be seen s the norm in certain countries.

Concessions: should be thought out ahead of time and handled skilfully

timing and amount of concession: should vary with country

agreement

closing negotiation is important

To be successful in distributor agreements, Axtell suggests points that should be covered and agreed upon to assure success

Mistakes commonly made during negotiation

Mistakes are commonly made that have a negative impact on outcome

During negotiations the negotiator should always try to emphasize areas of agreement. Furthermore it is important to consider long-term consequences of the agreements

If concessions are made too soon or very large, the opponent is not as likely to see the concession as much of a gain.

Topic 5 – The Forces of Globalization

Intercultural negotiation models

depends on people and personal biases

people tend to negotiate interculturally as they do intraculturally unless they realize they need to adapt to another culture

protocol helps maintain the cultural values of a country

2 main styles used:

problem solving approach= need to consider national cultural characteristics differences and/ or organisational cultural differences that lead to differences in communication.

- leads to adaptation by the negotiator’s counterpart through info exchange of needs ( by gaining info of opposition’s people)

Competitive approach= looks at solution that is best for negotiator’s own side versus a win win style of negotiation.

More individualistic and persuasion oriented.

 problem solving approach and competitive approach= affected by protocol of both sides

Other styles used:

Compromising= seeks a middle ground between two parties.

Although it distributes the outcomes equally, not leads to joint maximum gain.

Compromise agreement= two parties find a common ground between their individual goals that results in lower joint benefit.

Integrative agreement= two parties reconcile their interests to yield a high joint benefit.

More stable than compromise agreement and more mutually rewarding and benefit broader community of both parties.

5 methods to reach integrative agreements

1. expand pie = receiving additional resources

2. Nonspecific compensation=repaying the party who does not receive what he requests in some unrelated way.

3. logrolling= as variant of nonspecific compensation, both parties, rather than only one, being compensated for making concession requested by the other party. Each party makes concession on low-priority issues in exchange for concession on high-priority issues.

4. cost-cutting solution=reduction of one person’s costs while other person gets what he wants.

5. bridging= devising a new option for situations in which neither person gets his demands.

2 other styles used:

forcing= used to make the other party comply and is closer to competitive approach.

legalism= uses legal documentation to force the other partner to comply, it is closer to competitive approach.

Kozicki’s 4 stage negotiation model

investigate = preparation about other side

presentation

bargaining stage= depends on cultural differences and ability to stay disciplined.

agreement= finalize deal

3 categories of negotiators who negotiate the high-net-value integrative and distributive deals

1. pragmatic individualist

- sets high targets

- search for info

- make trade-off

-avoid distraction concerning power

downside: time, because partner feels no long-term relationship is established

may take advantage of the cooperative pragmatist( see below) because of cooperative’s need to trust.

2. cooperative pragmatist:

- concerned with outcome for all parties

- power dealt with indirectly

- as long as trust is genuine, few problems

- negotiate integrative deals and realize distributive outcomes

3. indirect strategist

- not sure about power situation and search info indirectly

- uses cues that may be too subtle for many cultures

Negotiation strategies

Negotiation strategies= plans organized to achieve a desired objective.

predicting opponent’s response is essential to strategic planning

intercultural negotiation strategies differ for intracultural styles.

Differing cultural arrive at truth in negotiations in one of three ways: faith, fact, feeling

Faith: persons care that your religious or political ideology matches theirs.

Fact: people are often predictable; they give the contract to the lowers bidder.

Feeling: they believe in building a relationship over time and will not buy from someone else just because they can get a lower price.

Negotiation strategies also include preparation details, tactics, conflict resolution and mediation, and observations, analysis and evaluation.

Preparation

Selection location

Determine protocol

Gather info from other team

Tactics

Tactics= manoeuvres used for gaining advantage or success in verbal, nonverbal or situational tactics.

Distracting tactics can be detrimental to negotiation process.

If negotiators are perceived (rightly or wrongly) as defensive or supportive, the other team will respond according to its perception and not according to what was intended. Thus the climate is a very important area to research in order to read your opponents correctly. By asking questions and learning what your opponent is thinking, you can avoid to being perceived as defensive.

Conflict resolution and mediation

For conflict resolution

Be conscious of rank

Understand thought patterns

Know how to establish trust

Mediation= use of a third party to settle differences between negotiating teams to bring them to common agreement.

Step 1: stabilize setting

Step 2: let parties communicate

Step 3: Summarize, asks participants for agreement

Step 4: help solve disagreement

Step 5: clarifying the agreement

4. Observation, analysis, evaluation

For negotiations to be successful, they must allow both parties to gain something, although they may not gain equally.

Analysis= defining the problem by separating and subjectively assessing probabilities, values, risk attitudes etc.

Detailed outlines of items in negotiation process that need to be constantly observed, analyzed, evaluated include:  see list P 338 table.

Intercultural negotiation assumes that parties are from different cultures and may not share the same values, beliefs, needs and thought patterns.  Could lead to problems during negotiation  the negotiator must become adept – through continual observation, analysis, evaluation – at catching the problems and adapting the negotiation strategy accordingly.

Trade agreements

Trade agreement= laws under which US businesses must function when exporting.

2 types of trade agreement licences:

General licence

Validated licence= allows a specific exporter to export specific products to specific places.

Free trade zone/trade blocks= zones of international commerce where foreign or domestics merchandise may enter without formal customs entry or custom duties.

For a list of trade agreements, see page 340.

Negotiation styles

US

• Standing in personal space leads to discomfort

• Not concerned with saving face

• Focus on interest strategies

Canada

• Open and friendly, yet reserved, conservative and very formal

China

• Protocol: give small, inexpensive present

• High degree of interpersonal interaction and high level of character

• Personal connections are key to success in China

England

• Very formal and polite

• Place great importance on proper protocol

France

• Individuality, sense of pried

Germany

• Individualistic

• Detail oriented

• Be punctual

India

• Build relationships

• Show no emotion

Japan

• Keiretsu system= a company group formed by the principal company and the partner companies that supply parts, equipment, financial support, distribution of the final products.

  • Every firm in keiretsu works to provide the customer the best product for the lowest price while maintaining acceptable return on investment.

• Long term commitment

• Japanese are complex to communicate with

• Read between lines to interpret what has been said and use more silence and les eye contact than is considered normal in US

• Status and power in negotiations

• Interest strategies and regulation arguments

Latin America

• Truest is needed

• Negotiators chosen on basis of their family connections, political influence, education, gender

• Group oriented concerning family

• Nonverbal aspects

NL

• Punctuality

• Keep promises

Nigeria

• Are skilful negations

• Gender, cultural background, education are important

Russia

• Age, rank, protocol

South Korea

• Build relationship

• Not direct

Taiwan

• Trust and respect

• Delays

Topic 9 – Diversity Management and Multicultural Teams

Chapter 9 - Feminist Qualitative Research and Workplace Diversity

Broadly defined, qualitative research is designed to illicit insights into the meanings and understandings that people associate with social relationships and events. A qualitative research strategy is employed as it can be vital in identifying the deep-rooted factors that shape and solidify discriminatory notions of organizational reality. Although feminists differ in their ontological and epistemological perspectives, they still share a common goal of working towards the political, economic, spiritual, sexual, and social equality of women. Feminism is an appropriate approach to the study of workplace diversity given its historical preoccupation with gender, difference and otherness.

The Feminist Project

Feminist research, in contrast to mainstream research, is consciously informed by a wider project (e.g. women’s liberation) that precedes any research activity. As such the feminist project influences the type of research activity that is undertaken, the questions asked and the desired outcomes. On the surface this seems to suggest that feminist research differs from other research in terms of political agenda but this is only partly true as, although feminist researchers do share a broad political agenda of change, feminist research is not the only approach that is informed by preconceived notions, not the only approach that engages in/with organizational politics. Schein captures the profound differences between mainstream and feminist research. In contrast to a lot of other research, feminist research assumes neither that groups are willing to participate as subjects nor that the researcher is merely intellectually curious and thus disinterested as in an ethnographic perspective. In any number of feminist studies of workplace diversity the way people are studied is seen as part of the broader problem of addressing discriminatory practices.

Feminist studies of organizational culture are more likely to set out with an examination of the impact of organizational culture on women’s employability, sense of self and self-worth, discrimination at work, or strategies of organizational change towards great equity.

Feminist Philosophies and Methodological Choice

While there is a shared agenda of the betterment of womankind, feminists differ on a number of issues, including the definitions and understanding of central terms, strategies and outcomes. Thus, there are various feminist approaches to workplace diversity, reflecting the diversity of thought that underlies the different feminisms. Each feminist perspective informs not only the research agenda but also how it is

studied and the questions asked; in short, the methods used to study workplace diversity.

Feminist Qualitative Methods in Action

There is no single ‘feminist way’ to do research. The choice for a method is more rooted in ontological/epistemological preferences than in broad political agendas. While the use of quantitative methods is an option among some feminist perspectives, one may find evidence of a qualitative research approach in every feminist perspective.

Research Techniques in Context

This section explores selected techniques of qualitative research.

Kicking over the Traces: Content Analysis, Discourse Analysis and Historiography

Content analysis

Collection of archival materials like readings, diaries, notes, text, or photographic material to develop an understanding of a context or to deconstruct observations and interviews.

Discourse analysis

Discourse analysis may be used to deconstruct the understandings that we bring to and make sense of a particular organizational context.

Historiography

Historiography may be used in a similar way than the content analysis as it can be used to develop an understanding of a context or to deconstruct observations and interviews.

Crossing the Boundaries: Narrative Analysis, Life Histories and Discourse Analysis

While some methods of analysis focus on the traces of enacted agency (i.e. past actions), other feminist methods attempt to capture the sense making processes in action through such things as narrative analysis, discourse analysis and life histories.

Narrative analysis

This is a process of gathering and analyzing narratives and interpreting meaning from these.

Discourse analysis

Hardy (2001: 26) describes discourse as “the practices of talking and writing…which bring objects into being through the production, dissemination, and consumption of texts”.

Life histories

The life history method is a presentation of “the experiences and definitions held by one person, one group, or one organization as this person, group or organization interprets those experiences” (Dentin, 1970: 220). Data for life histories can come from various sources such as diaries, letters, taped accounts, television, doctors `records or newspaper stories. The challenge in using this methodology, as with other methods of textual analysis, is usually one of access to complete documentation. It is also argued that a life history approach is useful for understanding the experiences that influence women`s career choices and opportunities.

Living with the Results: Interviews, Observations and Ethnographies

Some research methods are designed to directly engage with the members of an organization; these can range from interviews and observations to more extensive ethnographic study.

Interviews

Interviews in feminist qualitative research can take a number of forms. They may appear as conversations, structured interview settings, focus group interactions, sharing of information through storytelling, etc. The concept of the ‘long interview’ as an open-ended and relatively unstructured approach to gathering information is a key component in much qualitative research. However, there is some debate among researchers as to the role of the interviewer and, to some extent, the role of the participant in the interview, whatever its form. Some feminist researchers view the interview process more as a sharing of information whereas other feminist researchers see the merit in searching for truth, which may or may not be withheld by participants. Although the interview format is to be unstructured in the feminist qualitative approach, some contend that there is still a need for clear and well-conceived questions. The application of these questions, and the involvement of the participant in the process, allows feminist qualitative researchers the opportunity to explore the subjective experience of those involved in a more profound way.

Observations

There exist various forms of observation in qualitative research like observation, participant observation or ethnography. Observation is in many ways the most straightforward when it involves someone who is known to be a researcher spending time observing certain activities and making notes. Nonetheless, because observations can encourage people to be on their best (less obviously gendered) behavior some researchers prefer participant observation in which the observer participates in the daily life of the people under study, either openly in the role of researcher or covertly in some disguised role.

Ethnography

The researcher in an ethnographic research attempts to become embedded in a particular organizational community over time. Such a study can include interviews, discussions, observations and analysis of certain corporate documents.

Being Feminist: Auto ethnography, the Self in Research and Techniques of the Self

The focus on a more profound understanding of the experiences of individuals in qualitative research rather than a large-scale study of a particular demographic group has led a number of feminist researchers to examine the role of the self in qualitative research.

Auto ethnography

Auto ethnography is a form of autobiographical personal narrative that explores the writer's experience of life. It differs fundamentally from ethnography in that authoethnography focuses on the writer's subjective experience rather than the beliefs and practices of others.

The self in feminist research

Katila and Merilainen (2002: 185) argue that ‘placing self in the centre of research – that is, seeing self both as the subject and the object of research – can be a meaningful and fruitful strategy’ for dealing with ‘discriminative organizational cultures’. However, one should be aware that this approach has the danger of being seen as biased.

Deconstructing the Social Constructions: Deconstruction

At the end of the day, making sense of data may be as simple as ‘writing up’ the ‘results’ through to what post-structuralists call ‘deconstruction’.

Deconstruction

This is another approach applied to textual analysis and it asserts that there is no one true account of the world. Therefore, only partially objective truths can be created as all language creates a discourse that will, at the same time, include some voices and exclude others.

And the Underprivileged Methods

There are several other important methodologies which have been left out due to the limits of time and space.

Challenges in using these Methodologies

The application of feminist qualitative research methodology is not without its limitations. The major criticisms of this perspective are similar to those leveled at qualitative research in general. These include; the role of the researcher and subject, research bias, ethical practice, validity and credibility. However, the researcher’s experience and involvement in the research process which are often criticized as research bias and research subjectivity are seen as resources, rather than problems to be overcome in feminist research.

Conclusion

The fundamental goals of feminist and diversity research are to facilitate change and provide opportunities for representation of marginalized groups and individuals. Feminism makes an important contribution to insights into/or the deconstruction of workplace diversity not by subsuming its political focus on women’s liberation under a broader umbrella, but by continuing to stress the problematic of gender discrimination. Thus, feminism has much to offer workplace diversity research where it is able to deal with issues of race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation and age while continuing to focus on the contribution of those insights to addressing gender discrimination at work.