Week 15, Culture of IO, Slides Flashcards
1
Q
Background
A
- To compete effectively, organizations have established facilities overseas (countries invite FDI)
- Immigration (in high tech fields) and joint international ventures
- Global economies are intricately tied together
- Cultural values directly impact the success of management initiatives
- Can be a source of misunderstanding and resistance
- I/O psychology has until recently relied on western views
- Attempting to resolve management issues by using traditional North American methods will not be adequate.
- We need more cultural competency when conducting research and practice
- Research designs are extremely challenging in CC settings
2
Q
What is Culture?
A
- At ICCM, we define culture as the shared values, norms, beliefs, assumptions, and systems of meaning held by members of any social collective.
- These collectives exist at many levels beyond nation and can be demographic (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender), geographic (e.g., national, regional), or associative (e.g., political, organizational, disciplinary) in nature.
- Individual cultural identity is multifaceted and composed of many assigned and chosen demographic, geographic, and associative elements that intersect in meaningful ways.
3
Q
Culture
A
- Culture affects people in a variety of basic psychological domains:
** Self-concept
** Attribution and reasoning
** Interpersonal communication
** Negotiation
** Intergroup relations
4
Q
Convergence vs. Divergence
A
- Given the growth of communication technology, some have posited that cultures will converge
- Data suggests that at a macro level that might be true
** Organizations are becoming more similar - However at an individual level, we may actually see more divergence
** People are resisting, and embracing their culture
5
Q
Cultural Dimensions Adler (1991)
A
- What is the nature of people? (Mixture of good and evil and change is possible vs. good and evil and change is impossible)
- What is a person’s relationship to nature? (People dominant over nature vs. harmony or subjection to nature)
- What is a person’s relationship to other people? (Individualistic vs. group (hierarchical or lateral).
6
Q
Cultural Dimensions (cont.)
A
- What is the primary mode of activity? (Doing i.e. employee works hard to achieve goals) vs. being (i.e. employee works only as much as needed to be able to live)
- What is the conception of space? (Private vs. public.)
- What is a person’s temporal orientation? (Future/present vs. past/present)
7
Q
Hofstede’s (1980)
Dimensions
A
- Power Distance - “the extent to which a society accepts the fact that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally”
- Low and High Power Distance
8
Q
Low PD
A
- Bypass their boss frequently in order to get their work done
- Have little concern for titles, status, and formality
- Comfortable accepting higher levels of responsibility and autonomy
9
Q
High PD
A
- Expect managers to lead
- Become uncomfortable with both the delegation and discretionary decisions
- Dislike role ambiguity
- Consider any bypassing of bosses to be insubordination
10
Q
PD Continuum
A
Low
* Israel
* Denmark
* U.S.
High
* Philippines
* Venezuela
* India
11
Q
Individualism/Collectivism
A
- Collectivists tend to put aside their own self-interests in deference to the interests of their group
- Identity is based in the social system
- Disregard individual performance differences when determining employee rewards
12
Q
Individualism
A
- Promote their own welfare
- United States - a highly individualistic culture
- Prefer reward distributions that are based on individual performance
- Individuals from individualistic cultures will resist teams
13
Q
I/C Continuum
A
Individualistic
* Australia
* United States
* Great Britain
Collectivist
* Japan
* Pakistan
* Colombia
14
Q
I/O examples
A
- How do we motivate employees with rewards ?
- Merit raises would be effective in individualistic cultures
- Gain-sharing is more likely to be effective in countries that are more collectivist
15
Q
Uncertainty Avoidance
A
- When uncertainty avoidance is strong, a culture tends to perceive unknown situations as threatening so that people tend to avoid them
- Ex. South Korea, Japan, and Latin America
16
Q
Weak Uncertainty Avoidance
A
- People feel less threatened by unknown situations
- Tend to be more open to innovations, risk, etc
- Ex. - US, the Netherlands, Singapore
17
Q
I/O example
A
- Self Directed Work Teams
- Autonomy is a trait that is seen as desirable in countries with weak uncertainty avoidance
- Participatory management style would be valued here
- Not so in countries with Strong Uncertainty Avoidance
- interesting example of interaction Japan has strong uncertainty avoidance, but
is high on collectivism. Being a member of a group can decrease uncertainty
18
Q
Femininity vs. Masculinity
Feminine cultures tend to value:
A
- Good working relationship with their supervisors
- Working with people who cooperate well with one another
- Having the security that they will be able to work for their company as long as they want
