Unit 4 Flashcards
What is culture and ethnocentricity?
(1)Culture:+The sum total of beliefs, rules, techniques, institutions and artifacts that characterize human populations
(2)Ethnocentricity:+The belief that your own culture is superior to other cultures
What must managers learn about culture and how can they do this?
+To live, work and meet business goals in other cultures
+Can be done by learning characteristics of other cultures to adapt
+By accepting other cultures are different
What are the 5 business functions affected by culture?
(1)Marketing:+ different marketing approaches required to reach different cultures
+Cultural issues that can occur due to product design, advertising and pricing
(2)Human resources:+Culture plays key roles in motivating and evaluating employees
+Also affect how authority is under student
(3)Production and procurement:+Values and attitudes to change can effect acceptance of new production methods
+ culture affects the plant layout
+Norms structure resource acquisition
(4)Accounting and Finance:+Tight control equals low Trust
+Loose control equals tendency to act with honesty
(5)Preferred leadership style:+Roles and functions of leadership differs amongst cultures
Desired leadership traits vary by culture;
o Hierarchical or lateral relationships?
o Is leadership model paternalistic?
o Rise through the ranks, or reliant on family or status?
o Preferred communication style? Method of dealing with conflict?
What are the 6 ways culture shows itself?
- Aesthetics
A culture’s aesthetics describes its sense of beauty. It is expressed in many areas such
art, drama, music, folklore and dance. - Religion
Along with its spiritual aspect, religion is an important component of culture and is
responsible for attitudes and beliefs that influence human behaviour. Each religion has its
forms and traditions and expresses its beliefs through particular kinds of worships,
prayers, rituals, dietary rules, modes of dress. - Material culture
Material culture / artefacts are the human made objects of culture and each culture prides
itself on certain parts of material culture. - Language
Spoken and unspoken (nonverbal) language is an important key to culture. - Societal organisation
Every society structures its social relationships, and these patterned arrangements define the way
social groups (institutions) are constructed. The family is the basic unit of institutions based on
kinship. Free association are groups formed by age, gender or common interests. - Gift giving in business
In cultures, gift giving follows a set of rules members have internalised and outsiders may not be
aware of. Gift giving is different in cultures that tolerate high levels of social inequality and
hierarchical from cultures where power is equally distributed.
What are the 4 culture frameworks?
(1)Halls’ high low context
(2)Kluckhohn and Strobeck’s cultural orientations
(3)Hofstede’s six dimensions
(4)Tropenaar’s seven dimensions
What is Halls theory based on?
+ communication styles and the role that context plays in culture’s communication patterns
What are the two differences between high and low context cultures?
(1)High Context:+Much communication conveyed by context
+Societies longstanding and close
+Communication tends to be implicit and indirect
+Polychronic culture : simultaneous activities, multitasking
+Japan
(2)Low context:+Most of communication is carried in words: What you say is what you mean
+Social ties of shorter duration, communication is explicit
+Monochronic culture : linear time, sequential activities
+Germany
Important
Look at continuem of examples of high- low cultures according to halls theory on slides
- Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s Cultural
Orientations
Classification system for cultures based on five universal problems;
1. Relationship to nature
2. Relationships among individuals
3. Orientation for human activity
4. Relationship with time
5. Evaluation of human nature
Important
Learn the table about kluckhohn and strodtbecks culture orientations in slides
What is Hofstede’s six dimentions?
+How culture affect organizations and management methods
+Management skills are Culture specific
(1)Individualism vs collectivism:+The degree to which people integrate into groups
(2)Power distance:+Extent to which Society expects power to be distributed unequally and accepted
(3)Uncertainty avoidance:+A societies level of comfort with uncertainty
(4)Masculinity vs femininity:+Distribution between sexes
(5)Indulgence vs. restraint:+Allow free gratification of desires or suppress through strict social norms
(6)Pragmatic versus normative:+How people deal with unexplainable things in their lives
What is Trompenaars’ seven dimensions?
(1)Universalism vs particularism:+Whether rules or relationship regulate behaviors
(2) individualism vs communitarianism:+Whether people plan their actions with the reference to individual benefit or group benefit
(3) neutral vs affective:+Withholding emotion or expressing emotion
(4) specific vs diffuse:+ difference between private life and public Life
(5) achievement versus ascription:+Ascription cultures consider who a person is intern terms of his family, lineage, age or other attributes while achievement focus on reward and what you did
(6)Attitude towards time:+2 aspects
+1. Where cultures primary Focus is: past, present or future
+2. Whether actions are sequential or synchronous
(7)Attitudes towards the environment:+Different between believing they control nature or are controlled by nature and need to live alongside it
What is a global mindset?
+ openness to diversity along with an ability to synthesize across diversity
What are the 5 rules when doing business across cultures?
(1) be prepared
(2) slow down
(3) establish trust
(4) understand the importance of language
(5) respect the culture
