Chapter 5 Country And Company Culture Flashcards
What is culture
Culture is the characteristic way of behaving and believing that a group of people have developed over time and share in common
Surface or explicit culture
Outside layer
Observable
Dress, food, architecture,customs, handshake, body language, gestures.
Hidden culture
Middle layer
Values, religion, philosophies and views of what is right and wrong.
Invisible or implicit culture
Core
The cultures universal truths, bases for all cultural beliefs.
Power distance
Power distance between bosses and subs.
High power distance
Power is legitimate and should be respected.
Malasia Guatemala Panama Philippines Mexico
Low power distance
Authority is to be challenged.
Austria Israel Denmark New Zealand Ireland
Individualistic cultures
Us Canada Australia UK Netherlands
Collectivist culture
Guatemala Mexico Venezuela Ecuador Colombia
South America
Uncertainty avoidance
The need for rules, policies, the extent to which ppl feel
threatened by uncertainty.
Cultures include:
Greece Portugal Guatemala Uruguay Belgium
Tolerance for ambiguity
Less need for rules or policies.
Cultures:
Singapore Jamaica Denmark Sweden Hong Kong
Masculinity culture
Preference for achievements, heroism, assertiveness, or material possessions.
Cultures:
Japan, Austria, Venezuela, Italy, Switzerland
Feminity culture
Cooperation, modesty, caring for the weak and quality of life. Environmental awareness.
Cultures:
Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Denmark, Costa Rica
Long term orientation
Acceptance that business results may take time to achieve, employees belying a long term relationship with their employer.
Cultures:
Asia
Short term orientation
Results are set and can be achieved within a time period. Employees change employers often.
Cultures:
Pakistan Nigeria Philippines Canada UK US
Pragmatic
Accepting that not everything can be explained.
Cultures:
Asia
Germany
Normative
The need to have an explanation for everything.
Cultures:
Egypt Malta Nigeria Dom rep Colombia
Indulgent
Free gratification
Culture:
South America
Nigeria
Angola
Restraint
Suppressed gratification
Pakistan
Egypt
Latvia
Eastern Europe
What company did Geert Hofstede work for and study 53 countries cultural diversities
IBM
What dimensions was Trimpenaars and Hampden Turner responsible for
Univer/particularism
Individ/communitarianism
Neutral/emotional
Specific/diffuse
Achievement/ascription
Sequential/synchronous
Internal/outer direction
Universalism
High importance on laws, rules, values, and obligations.
Culture:
US Canada UK Netherlands Australia Switzerland
Particularism
Each circumstance and each relationship dictates the rules to live by.
Cultures:
Russia
Latin America
China
Individualism
Personal freedom and achievement. Must take care of self.
Cultures:
US Canada UK Scandinavia New Zealand Switzerland
Communitarianism
The Group is more important than the individual.
Cultures:
Latin America, Africa, and Japan
Neutral
People make a great effort to control their emotions. Reason influences their actions for more than their feelings. People don’t reveal what they’re thinking or how they’re feeling.
Cultures:
Eastern Europe
UK Sweden Netherlands Finland Germany
Emotional
People want to find ways to express their emotions, even spontaneously, at work and in social situations.
Cultures:
Poland Italy France Spain Latin America
Specific
People keep work and personal lives separate.
Cultures:
UK US Swiss Germany Netherlands
Diffuse
People see an overlap between their work and personal lives they believe that good relationships are vital to meeting business objectives, and that their relationships with others will be important.
Cultures:
Argentina Spain Russia India China
Achievement
Value performance no matter who you are. Assumed that you earned your status.
US
Canada
Australia
Scandinavia
Ascription
People believe that you should be valued for who you are. Societal roles and jobs are passed down.
Cultures:
France
Italy
Japan
Saudi Arabia
Sequential time
People like events to happen in order they place a high value on punctuality, planning and sticking to your plans and staying on schedule.
Cultures:
Germany
UK
US
Synchronous time
People see the past, present, and future as interwoven periods. They often work on several projects at once, and view plans and commitments as flexible.
Cultures:
Japan
Argentina
Mexico
Internal direction
People believe that they can control nature for their environment to achieve goals, this includes how they work with teams and within organizations.
Cultures:
US
Australia
New Zealand
UK
Outer direction
People believe that nature, or their environment, controls them; they must work with their environment to achieve goals. At work or in relationships, they focus their actions on others, and they avoid conflict where possible. People often need reassurance that they’re doing a good job.
China
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Anglo cultures
Aus Canada Ireland New z SA UK US
Arab
Abu Bahrain Kuwait Oman Saudi UAE
Far Eastern
HK China Indo My Phil Sing Burt Taiwan Thai
Germanic
Austria
Germ
Swiss
Latin
Argen Chile Colombia Mexico Peru Venezuela
Latin EU
Belgium France Italy Port Spain
Near eastern
Greece
Iran
Turkey
Nordic
Denmark
Finland
Norway
Sweden
Independent
Brazil India Israel Japan South Korea
BIIJS
Gestelands four patterns
Deal vs relationship
Informal vs formal
Rigid vs fluid
Expressive vs reserved
Gestelands Deal Focus
Some culture value relationships more then the deal and vice versa. Doing business together makes it very difficult.
Gestelands Informal
Issues arise when travelers form informal cultures come across more formal cultures.
Gestelands rigid time
Some cultures focus more on the rigid ness of a clock while others are more focused on building relationships.
Emic
Differences across cultures
Etic
The same across all cultures
What are the 3 critical equivalence issues that arise in conducting cultural research?
Metric - surveys wording when translated. Fixed by back translating it.
Conceptual- words and scales have the same meaning.
Functional- words used are viewed similarly in each culture.
