F - Dimensional Cultural Approaches Flashcards
What is a cultural dimension?
Function of cultural dimensions
values that are relevant for the differences and similarities between cultures
-> basic “latent” variables
What is a cultural dimension?
Empirical approach
In the n-dimensional area built by the cultural dimensions each country culture gets an unambiguous, quantitatively identifiable position
Hofstede’s Culture Concept
What is culture according to Hofstede?
the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another. Culture in this sense, includes systems of values; and values are among the building blocks of culture
Hofstede’s Culture Concept
Basic idea
Culture = software of the mind
-> mental programming
Mind -> personality
- specific to individual
- e.g. extraversion, openness
- > learned and inherited
Software -> culture
- specific to group or category
- e.g. politeness, respect for the elderly, honesty, no losing face
- > learned
Hardware -> human nature
- universal
- e.g. anger for injustice, gratitude for favors
- > inherited
Hofstede’s Culture concept
Development
- Hofstede assumed cultural differences between the subsidiaries of IBM
Initial study:
- comprehensive study on work-related values
- study showed four stable cultural dimensions explaining 49% of the variance
Extensions:
- additional dimensions: long-term orientation (1988), indulgence (2010)
Hofstede’s culture concept
Acknowledgement
Pro and contra
Pro:
- hitherto most comprehensive cultural concept
- attracted considerable scientific and public attention
Contra:
- empiristic procedure: cultural dimensions explained in retrospect
- corporate culture is not the same as country culture
Individualism vs. collectivism
Main Proposition
Identity of the individual arises from …
… oneself vs. the belonging to a social community
Individualism vs. collectivism
Correlates
Family life
- Education goals:
- Obligations:
- central values:
Family life (collectivism vs. individualism)
Education goals:
- we-awareness vs. I-awareness
Obligations:
- towards the family vs. towards oneself
Central values:
- harmony, respect, performance, shame vs. competition, self-respect, self-fulfillment, guilt
Individualism vs. collectivism
Correlates
Work life
- Justice principle:
- Superordinate criterion for success:
Work life (collectivism vs. individualism)
Justice principle:
- Different standards for members of the in group and out group vs. equal treatment of all members of a group (respectively a society)
Superordinate criterion for success:
- harmony in interpersonal relationships vs. task fulfillment
Individualism vs. collectivism
Correlates
Role of advertising:
Brands:
(collectivism vs. individualism)
Role of advertising:
- building trust / endorsers vs. persuasion
Brands:
- corporate logo / brand vs. product logo / brand
Individualism vs. collectivism
Application for HRM and marketing
Individualism (autonomy, uniqueness, independence)
Task distribution:
Leadership:
Brands:
Product development:
Task distribution:
- attribute individual responsibilities in the work system
Leadership:
- Dual communication with subordinates. Praise individual achievement of the group members.
Brands:
- brand should enable the owner to discriminate oneself from others
Product development:
- Emphasize the “I”
- > fashion
- > tailor-made
Individualism vs. collectivism
Application for HRM and marketing
Collectivism (conformism, interdependence, belonging)
Task distribution:
Leadership:
Brands:
Product development:
Task distribution:
- emphasize group work feeling as a member of an in group
Leadership:
- Emphasize the team spirit. Prevent competition within the team.
Brands:
- brand should enable the owner to feel and present oneself as a part of a group.
Product development:
- Emphasize the “we”
- > Inconspicious
- > social status
Power distance
Main proposition
To what degree do members of the culture accept that power is not distributed equally in institutions?
Power Distance Correlates
Correlates
Power distance refused
Family life
- Educational goals:
- Role of the parents:
Working life
- Differences in income:
- Leadership principle:
State and society
- Legal understanding:
- Power perception:
Family life
- Educational goals:
- > independence, own will
- Role of the parents:
- > partner
Working life
- Differences in income:
- > low
- Leadership principle:
- > delegation, worker participation
State and society
- Legal understanding:
- > equal rights for all
- Power perception:
- > power has to be earned by election and legitimated
Power Distance Correlates
Correlates
Power distance accepted
Family life
- Educational goals:
- Role of the parents:
Working life
- Differences in income:
- Leadership principle:
State and society
- Legal understanding:
- Power perception:
Family life
- Educational goals:
- > obedience, adaption
- Role of the parents:
- > authority
Working life
- Differences in income:
- > high
- Leadership principle:
- > centralization of decisions and responsibility
State and society
- Legal understanding:
- > the powerful enjoy privileges
- Power perception:
- > Might is right (Power is more important than legal rules) and given by heritage
Power Distance
Examples
Corporate Hierarchy
-> rather flat or high
Leadership style
-> directive or participative
Uncertainty avoidance
Main proposition
Degree to which the members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain, ambiguous and unstructured situations and try to avoid them
Uncertainty avoidance
Correlates
Uncertainty acceptance
Family life
- Educational goals:
- Attitude towards life:
- Central values:
Working life
- Timing and targets:
- Organizational and work design:
- communication channels:
Family life
- Educational goals
- > Relativity of “good and bad” and “right and wrong”
- Attitude towards life
- > calmness, convenience, optimism
- Central values
- > self-responsible behavior
Working life
- Timing and targets:
- > general and vague
- Organizational and work design:
- > flexible and decentral (network structure)
- communication channels:
- > spontaneous (vertical/horizontal)
Uncertainty avoidance
Correlates
Uncertainty avoidance
Family life
- Educational goals:
- Attitude towards life:
- Central values:
Working life
- Timing and targets:
- Organizational and work design:
- communication channels:
Family life
- Educational goals:
- > Unambiguity of “good and bad” and “right and wrong”
- Attitude towards life:
?? - Central values:
- > norm adequate behavior (many standard regulations)
Working life
- Timing and targets:
- > detailed and precise
- Organizational and work design:
- > formalized and standardized (bureaucratic hierarchy)
- communication channels:
- > hierarchic (official channels “Dienstweg”)
Femininity vs. masculinity
Main proposition
Degree of clear-cut social roles attributed to gender
Femininity vs. masculinity
Correlates
Feminine
Family life
- central values
- gender roles
- strategy of conflict solutions
School and work life
- overall goal
- problem solving strategy
- work style
Family life
- central values:
- > Life quality, modesty, interpersonal relationships
- gender roles:
- > role flexibility
- strategy of conflict solutions
- > compromises and agreements (Win-win)
School and work life
- overall goal:
- > Adaption to the status quo
- problem solving strategy:
- > intuition
- work style
- > cooperation and willingness to compromise
Femininity vs. masculinity
Correlates
Masculine
Family life
- central values
- gender roles
- strategy of conflict solutions
School and work life
- overall goal
- problem solving strategy
- work style
Family life
- central values:
- > pursuit of financial success, heroism, strong performance approach
- gender roles:
- > primacy of the man
- strategy of conflict solutions
- > winners and losers
School and work life
- overall goal:
- > specific performance
- problem solving strategy
- > analytical
- work style
- > competition and readiness for conflict
Long-term orientation (Confucianism)
Starting point
Cultural bias
Confucianism dynamics
Long-term orientation (Confucianism)
Starting point
Main proposition
Characteristics, which enable people to achieve long-term targets (pragmatic awareness of tradition)
Long-term orientation (Confucianism)
Correlates
Long-term oriented
Decision-making: Work style: Self-determination: Tradition: Dealing with capital and investment:
Decision-making:
- Pragmatic
- there are many truths; willingness to consider situational variables)
Work style:
- Endurance and persistence in pursuing goals, future-orientation
Self-determination:
- readiness to subordinate oneself to a purpose
Tradition:
- Adaption to modern conditions
Dealing with capital and investment:
- High saving rates
Long-term orientation (Confucianism)
Correlates
Short-term oriented
Decision-making: Work style: Self-determination: Tradition: Dealing with capital and investment:
Decision-making:
- normative
- search for the absolute truth
Work style:
- static, looking for quick profits, orientation towards the present
Self-determination:
- important
Tradition:
- respect for traditions
Dealing with capital and investment:
- Low investment activity
Indulgence vs. restraint
Central statement
Indulgence refers to a tendency to allow relatively free gratification of basic and natural human desires related to enjoying life and having fun, whereas restraint is a conviction, that such gratification needs to be curbed and regulated by and strict social norms.
Indulgence vs. restraint
Correlates
Indulgence
Satisfaction:
Leisure time:
Food/Nutrition:
Locus of control:
Satisfaction:
- high share of happy people
Leisure time:
- high significance of leisure and sports
Food/Nutrition:
- in wealthy countries: high level of obesity cases
Locus of control:
- feeling of having control over one’s own life
Indulgence vs. restraint
Correlates
Satisfaction:
Leisure time:
Food/Nutrition:
Locus of control:
Satisfaction:
- low share of happy people
Leisure time:
- low significance of leisure and sports
Food/Nutrition:
- in wealthy countries: low level of obesity cases
Locus of control:
- feeling of helplessness: incidents independent from one’s own actions
Reflection on Hofstede’s study
Pro and contra
Pro:
- thorough execution of the study
- dimensions as guidelines for explaining behavior at least in initial orientation
Contra:
- determinist and universalist, trying to reduce cultures to a few dimensions instead of using more sophisticated descriptions
- dimensions on the level of values
- > to what extent is the questionnaire method able to reach the unconscious deeper motives
- borders between values and behavior are blurred and cannot be distinguished
- multicultural societies are not reflected -> representation of existing ethnic groups not sufficient
- distortion of results because of the sample which consists only of IBM employees, mainly middle-class male
Ecological Fallacy
Definition
An ecological fallacy (or ecological inference fallacy) is a formal fallacy in the interpretation of statistical data that occurs, when inferences about the nature of individuals are deduced from inferences about the group to which those individuals belong.
Individualistic Fallacy
Definition
An individualistic fallacy is a formal fallacy in the interpretation of statistical data that occurs, when inferences about the nature of the group are deduced from inferences about the individuals of the group.
GLOBE
What does GLOBE mean?
Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research Program
-> initiated by Robert J. House, management oriented
GLOBE
Basic Idea
GLOBE builds, extends, and revises the Hofstede Approach:
- instead of one company: 951
- no ethnocentric bias (survey developed with regard to all cultures)
- cultural dimensions theoretically defined
- modified the Hofstede (1980) dimensions and expanded by new dimensions
- survey asks for practices (as is) and values (should be) of each dimension
GLOBE
Acknowledgement
Pro and contra
Pro:
- Extensive methodological approach (17300 people from middle management, 951 organizations, 62 countries, 170 scientists, 735 questions)
- scholars from around the world help to avoid a one-side Western focus
Contra:
- like with Hofstede: equivalence of culture to nation, subcultures not considered
- limited industry focus (only 3)
- practical relevance questionable
GLOBE
Cultural dimensions
Institutional Collectivism Ingroup Collectivism Power Distance Uncertainty avoidance Gender egalitarianism Assertiveness Performance orientation Humane orientation Future Orientation
GLOBE
Welche Dimensionen von Hofstede wurden für die GLOBE studies erweitert?
Individualism vs. collectivism
- > institutional collectivism
- > ingroup collectivism
Masculinity vs. Femininity
- > assertiveness
- > gender egalitarianism
Additional dimensions:
- > performance orientation
- > humane orientation
Comparison: Hofstede vs. GLOBE
Hofstede
Theoretical Basis:
Assumptions:
Cultural dimensions:
Psychometric characteristics:
Theoretical Basis:
none/empiristic
Assumptions:
- ecological fallacy
- “culture onion” (values are relevant for behaviors)
Cultural dimensions:
- one-dimensional
Psychometric characteristics:
- questionable, hardly verified (particularly intercultural comparability)
Comparison: Hofstede vs. GLOBE
GLOBE
Theoretical Basis:
Assumptions:
Cultural dimensions:
Psychometric characteristics:
Theoretical Basis:
- theory-driven
Assumptions:
- no ecological fallacy
- verification of the “culture onion”
Cultural dimensions:
- two-dimensional
Psychometric characteristics:
- multi-level, multi-trait, multi-method approach
- > valid and reliable scales
