Hub 9 pt 5 Organizational Design and Behavior: Cultural Dimensions

Question 1

how does culture play a role in organizational design?who gets affected

Answer 1

• culture may impact how u design a organization, specifically organizational culture
• management, staffing, overall behavior of organizational culture will play a significant role

Question 2

domestic-global development (cultural perspective)
what are the 4 phases?

Answer 2

1. domestic phase
   2.multidomestic phase
   3.Multinational phase
   4.Global phase

Question 3

Domestic V Global Orgs
what are the two fundamental differences?

Answer 3

1.Geographic dispersion: The spread of global
organization’s operations; added complexity.
2.Multiculturalism: People from many countries and/or cultures interact
regularly. (i.e : Mexico / US Canada / US.)

Question 4

Cross-Cultural (internatioal mgmt)
1. what does international management focuses on?
2.what does it describe org behavior between?
3.whos org design and behavior does it compare
4. what does it seek to understand and improve?

Answer 4

1. focuses on Cultural Diversity
   2.Describes org behavior within countries and cultures
   3.compared org design and behavior across countries and cultures
   4.trying to understand/improve interaction of coworkers, managers, executives, clients, suppliers, alliance partners from countries/cultures worldwide

Question 5

in designing the organization you design the organization’s _____

Answer 5

culture

Question 6

what does that organization design include

Answer 6

1. value
2. attitudes
3. behaviors
4. peoples relationship in the world (dominance v harmony)
5. individualism v collectivism

Question 7

what does Activity Doing or Being rlly mean, whats it associated with, whats its type of considerations

Answer 7

• achievement (controlling) orientation
  VS
  -present(now) orientation
  -associated with motivation;future events v present harmony
  -temporal considerations

Question 8

How Cultural Differences Affect Organizations

theres systematic and culturally based differences in managers: 3 things

Answer 8

values
attitudes
behaviors

Question 9

How Cultural Differences Affect Organizations
Specific V diffused cultures

Answer 9

specific: focuses on behavior that takes place at work
diffused: focused on wider range of behavior, including behavior taking place in employee’s private and professional lives

Question 10

Past Orientated Societies

Answer 10

-Plans should be evaluated in terms of their fit with the customs, traditions and the historic wisdom of society and that innovation and change are justified only to the extent that they fit with past experience.
- History is critically important
- Lifetime employment commitments

Question 11

Present - future - orientated societies

Answer 11

• US; present or near future.5 –10 year plans
• Quarter results; short term
• One-year performance review

Question 12

Public vs. private dimensions; provide US example

Answer 12

defines arrangement of the organizational space.
- Privacy

ex:
private: US gives large private offices to important employees, and even separate open -plan offices with partitions between desks.
public: Middle Easterners and Japanese have a more public orientation.
Few partitions, invite multiple people to important meetings

Question 13

Theory X (3 points) vs Theory Y (2 points)

Answer 13

Theory X
1.Managers do not trust their subordinates and believe that employees will not do a good job unless closely supervised.
2.These managers establish tight control system – time clocks, frequent employee
observations.
3.Employees act accordingly.

Theory Y
1.More benevolent cycle.
2.More trust
Employees act according

Question 14

The Convergence (interchange?)of Managerial Style and Organization Design
1. what must org design incorporate?
2. theres direct implication on what

Answer 14

1. Organization design must incorporate specific cross -cultural managerial styles.
   
   • These include multiple considerations.
     2.Direct implication on human resources, staffing and teamwork.

Question 15

Hierarchical structure
1. what does its task orientated society look like
2.type of society
3.what does it differ

Answer 15

1.Task oriented society
-US managers believe that the man reason for a hierarchical structure is to organize tasks and facilitate problem solving around those tasks.
-Flat organizational structures are acceptable and may be effective
2. relationship orientated
3.Concepts of insubordination (disobediance) therefore differ.

Question 16

Hofstede’s Model
Individualism VS collectivism

Answer 16

Individualist - self define as primarily separate individuals and make commitments to themselves.
Collectivism is characterized by tight social networks in which people strongly distinguish between their own groups (in -groups, relatives, clans or organizations)

Question 17

Hofstede’s model
Power Distance

Answer 17

Reflects the extent to which less powerful member of organizations accept an unequal distribution of power.

Question 18

Hofstede’s Model
Uncertainty Avoidance

Answer 18

1. The extent to which people in a society feel threatened by ambiguity and therefore try to avoid ambiguous situations by providing greater certainty and predictability.
2. Formal rules; rejection deviant ideas and behavior
3. Absolute truths; attainment of unquestionable expertise.
   Greater career stability

Question 19

Hofstede’s “Fourth” cultural dimension
Career -success societies emphasize:

Answer 19

assertiveness and the acquisition of money and things (materialism) while not showing particular concern for people

Question 20

Hofstede’s “Fourth” cultural dimension
Quality -of -Life societies emphasize:

Answer 20

relationships among people, concerns for others and the overall quality of life.

Question 21

Are organizations becoming more similar?
Convergence vs. Divergence

Answer 21

Convergence on macro -level issues –Organization’s structure
-Technology

Divergence on micro -level issues
-The behavior of people within organizations

Question 22

Does organizational culture moderate or erase the influence of national culture?

Answer 22

-Foreign clients vs. international colleagues.
-National culture explained differences in employees’ attitudes and behaviors but if you now belong to an organization …
-National culture explained more of the differences than did professional role, age, gender or race. Particularly in a US environment where you have “cultural blinders”

Question 23

Communication involves the exchange of meaning: it is my attempt to let you know what I mean

Answer 23

1.Perception and interpretation
2.Verbal and nonverbal
3.Concious vs subconscious
4. Symbolic behavior (Complex,
multilayered, dynamic process through
which we exchange meaning)

Whatever you say or do you can not not communicate.

Question 24

Communication Across Cultures (describe its image)

Answer 24

Culture A Culture B
- theres recording message
-sent message and sent responses between eachother

Question 25

Subconscious cultural blinders

Answer 25

Unaware of assumptions and their cultural basis

Question 26

Lack of Cultural Self -Awareness

Answer 26

1. Becoming aware of our own cultural conditioning.
2. Surprise when we learn how foreigners view us.

Colombia - “Work seems to be their one type of motivation”
Vietnam- “Americans are very handy people .”

Question 27

projected similarity

Answer 27

People are more similar to you than they actually are

Question 28

“Caretaker’s Speech” Communicating when you do not speak the language

Answer 28

1. accurate interpretation: Silence, Intelligence, Difference
   2.design: Breaks, Small modules, Longer time frame
   3.comprehension: Understanding, Checking, comprehension
   4.motivation: Encouragement, Drawing out, Reinforcement

Question 29

Organizational design within an international context is acquiring_________

Answer 29

greater importance as the world becomes more globalized.

Question 30

paramount

Answer 30

The ability to effectively and dynamically integrate worldwide business activities

Question 31

what two things should be considered in varioys levels?

Answer 31

Control and decision making must be considered at various structural levels.

Question 32

what must be considered in overall organization design?

Answer 32

Culture