Week 9 Flashcards

1
Q

Trompenaars-Hampden-Turner’s
(THT) Cultural Dimensions

A
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2
Q

Affective vs. Neutral

A

Affective
In affective cultures people express their emotions more naturally. Reactions are shown immediately verbally and/or non-verbally by using mimic and gesture in form of body signals. They don’t avoid physical contact, which is well known especially from Italians and Spanish when meeting each other very enthusiastic and with raised voices.
* Humorous
* Expressive
* Verbally communicative
* Close body-space
* Tactile

Neutral
In contrast neutral cultures like Japanese tend to hide their emotions and don’t show them in public. Neutral cultures don’t express precisely and directly what they are really thinking which can lead to misunderstandings and certain emotions are considered to be improper to exhibit in certain situations.
* Serious
* Controlled
* Non-verbal communication
* Larger body-space
* Non-tactile

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3
Q

Emotional vs Restraint

A

Kuwait, Egypt, Spain: very emotional
China, Hong Kong, Japan: try to hide emotions, communitarism, how does our feelings affect the group

-> in the middle, universalist coutnries

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4
Q

Cross-cultural Perspectives on Humor

A

“Humor seems to manifest differently in Western and Eastern cultures, although little is known about how culture shapes humor perceptions. The authors suggest that Westerners regard humor as a common and positive disposition; the Chinese regard humor as a special
disposition particular to humorists, with controversial aspect.

In. Westerners view humor as a commonly owned trait and as a positive disposition for self-actualization. In contrast, the
Chinese consider humor to be restricted to humor
professionals and less desirable for social interactions.

-> Western: humour is positive
-> Chinese: humour is not evaluated as positvely

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5
Q

Emotional expression
in the workplace

A
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6
Q

Recognize the differences
Affective vs Neutral

A

Neutral
- Do not reveal what they are thinking or feeling
- May (accidentally) reveal tension in face and posture
- Emotions often dammed up will occasionally explode
- Cool and self-possessed conduct is admired.
- Physical contact, gesturing or strong facial expressions are often taboo.
- Statements often read out in monotone

Affective
- Reveals thoughts and feelings verbally and non-verbally.
- Transparency and expressiveness release tensions.
- Emotions flow easily, effusively, vehemently and without inhibition.
- Heated, vital, animated expressions are admired
- Touching, gesturing and strong facial expressions are common.
- Statements declaimed fluently and dramatically

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7
Q

When doing business with Affectives vs Neutrals

A

Neutrals
- It is recommended to ask for time-outs from meetings and negotiations and put as much as you can on paper beforehand.
- “Neutrals” tend to be reserved which doesn’t mean that they are disinterested or bored. It is just a lack of emotional tone. You may experience that the entire negotiation is very focused on the object or proposition being discussed and less on you as a person.

Affectives
- Members of affective cultures may have a tendency to overact, creating scenes or getting histrionic, but it is suggested not to get confused but to take time-outs for a clear, sober reflection and hard assessment.
- They haven’t necessarily made up their minds when showing their enthusiasm, readiness to agree or vehement disagree. You can respond warmly their expressed goodwill. In contrast to neutral cultures, affective cultures are focused on you as a person and not so much on the object or position

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8
Q

Specific vs. Diffuse

A

Specfic (Analytic, Differentiated)
* direct low context, say what you mean
* Text / Task
* Easy Contact
* Open, direct communication
* Analyzing, segmenting
* Hard-selling
* Shareholders

Diffuse (Holistic, Integrated)
* Context, Relationship
* Slower personal involvement
* Polite, implicit communication
* Connecting issues
* Client relationship
* Stakeholders

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9
Q

Specific vs. Diffuse
-> countries comparision

A

low context countries -> high specific

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10
Q

Specific vs. Diffuse

A

Specific / Segmented / Atomistic
- From the specific to the general
- Communication: Clear and direct (Get to the point!)
- Relationship: Public / private life separation

Diffuse / Integrated / Holistic
- From the general to the specific
- Communication: Picturesque, and indirect. (Read between the lines!)
- Relationship: Hardly any public / private life separation
- Context, Relationship

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11
Q

Specificity
-> as it best

A

As its best
- Seeks truth through analysis, and a scientific approach
- Contributed to the doctrine of human rights; democracy began as a franchise of property owners. When everyone was allowed to vote as a result of political pressures, landless voters were said to have property in their persons, hence civil “rights.”
- Is vital to promise-keeping. When you “give your word” you must keep it.
- Can clarify issues by separating what we know from what we infer or conclude from known facts or results

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12
Q

Specify -> taken too far

A
  • Must specify what those in your environment care about, what they require, and then match each specific request with your own response.
  • May cause “paralysis-through-analysis.” (ex. Reducing a house to a pile of bricks)
  • Turns into “single-principle imperialism.” The part or unit specified grows and grows in salience until it usurps the whole. (ex. Pay-for-performance) -> poor job fit
  • Can become materialist and lose all human and spiritual qualities. Objects and objectives are more specific than living people, who are more diffuse. Human beings have attachments and social bonds Objects have none, take away human spiritual & human qualities
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13
Q

Extreme Specificity

A

The first step is to measure what can be measured. That’s ok as far as it goes.

The second step is to disregard what cannot be measured or give it an arbitrary quantitative value. This is artificial and misleading.
-> we ignore things that cannot be meassured

The third step is to assume that what cannot be
measured is really not important. This is blindness.

The fourth step is to assume that what cannot be
measured does not really exist. This is suicide.

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14
Q

Diffuseness -> at its best..

A
  • root cause analyse
  • Is very aware of quality (as a characteristic of whole products and whole design, development, and manufacturing processes.) -> quality is everyone’s job
  • Considers the entire process by which the product is conceived, designed, developed, manufactured, distributed, and maintained. -> work as a process
  • Is more alert to remote consequences and the need for balance. (ex. “Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?”)
  • Accelerates returns in networked contexts (ex. The
    one-thousandth member to join a network generates nine hundred and ninety-nine additional relationships.”)
    -> complex interactions
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15
Q

Diffuseness - >when taken too far

A
  • Tends to subscribe to the “ethic of ultimate ends.” If the ends are sufficiently glorious and revolutionary, the trails of blood leading to those ends can be overlooked. -> everyones job -> no one’s job
  • Tendency to maintain hierarchy through reciprocal obligations. Because a powerful superior can always do more for a relatively powerless person than the latter can do for his superior, the powerless person is forever obligated. -> the ends justify the means, in the end we get what we want, in reality no
  • Stresses aesthetics, harmony, and the closeness of relationships; Rebellion is seen as ugly, ungrateful, and insensitive; Disagreement is not permitted.
  • Slows needed changes and prevents incremental adjustments to the outside world; When the change comes it may be radical, but it is overdue.
  • Erects barriers against invalidation; Objections are explained away.
  • unfalsifibale theory
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16
Q

Direct vs. Indirect
-> Communication

A

Direct (Switzerland)
Transmitter-oriented Communication: It is considered the responsibility of the speaker to communicate ideas clearly and unambiguously

Indirect (Japan)
Receiver-oriented Communication: It is up to the listener to make sense of what is being said

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17
Q

Specific vs. Diffuse
Relationships

A

Specific
- Large public space (easily shared with others); Small private space (for family, friends and close associates)
- Informal approaches in both public and private spaces

Diffuse
- Public and private spaces overlap; therefore, private space must be closely protected (as it provides access to public space).
- Value is attached to formality in
public space

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18
Q

Communication in
Context

A

pauses, body language, loudness, not just the words are diffrent

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19
Q

Management Dichotomies
Specific vs diffuse

A

specific:
* division of leader, everyone is spezialized at a specific part
* mechanism: fix small things
* forecast for next year

diffuse;
* integration of labor, they rotate, they know very little about technical things
* organism: look at the big picture
* scenarios, if— then

20
Q

Recognize the Differences
Specific vs diffiuse

A

Specific
- Direct, to the point, purposeful in relating
- Precise, blunt, definitive and transparent
- Principles and consistent moral stands independent of the person being addressed

Diffuse
- Indirect, circuitous, seemingly “aimless” forms of relating
- Evasive, tactful, ambiguous, even opaque
- Highly situational morality depending upon the person and context encountered

21
Q

When doing business with…
Specific vs diffuse

A

Specific- (for Diffuse-) oriented
- Study the objectives, principles and numerical targets of the specific organization with which you are dealing
- Be quick, to the point and efficient
- Structure the meeting with time, intervals and agendas
- Do not use titles or acknowledge skills that are irrelevant to being discussed

Diffuse (for Specific-) oriented
- Study the history, background and future vision of the diffuse organization with which you expect to do business
- Take time and remember that “many roads to Rome”
- Let the meeting flow, occasionally nudging its process if necessary
- Respect a person’s title, age, background connections, whatever issue is being discussed

22
Q

In Management
Specific / Diffuse

A

Specific
- Management is the realization of objectives and standards with rewards attached
- Private and business agendas are kept separate from each other
- Conflicts of interest are frowned upon
- Clear, precise and detailed instructions are seen as assuring better compliance, or allowing employees to dissent in clear terms
- Begin reports with an executive
summary

Diffuse
- Management is a continuously improving process by which quality improves
- Private and business issues interpenetrate
- Consider an employee’s whole situation before you judge them
- Ambiguous and vague instructions are seen as allowing subtle and responsive, personal interpretation
- End reports with a concluding overview

23
Q

Doing vs Being
Achievement vs. Ascription

A

Achievement Orientation (Switzerland)
- Respect or status is based on what you do.
- Status is ascribed to what you do, what you have accomplished.
- Winners “make it” on their own
-> Steve Jobs

Ascription Orientation
- Respect or status is based on who you are; i.e. on your (family) background
- Status is ascribed to what you are, what you stand for or where you come from
-> Price Harry

24
Q

Disagree with “Respect depends on family background”
-> diffrence between countries

A
25
Q

Achievement
-> at its best…

A
  • Promotes stories the story of the underdog whose self-motivation and determination result in success that is only to the hero of the story.
  • Celebrates promises kept. The achiever endures until the promise is redeemed. (ex. Gen. Douglas MacArthur returning to Leyte in WW2.)
  • Can create a reputation and further expectation for continued success.
  • Competes to prove and renew excellence.
  • Inspires discovery and pushes individuals to achieve.
  • Reflects feats of past glory and victories.
  • Generates fame though memorializing (and renewing) achievements.
26
Q

Achievement
-> when taken too far…

A
  • Promotes growth for its own sake: the continuous impetus to achieve, grow and optimize can be harmful.
  • Vulgarizes and secularize values that are (or should be) considered sacred.
  • Abbreviates childhood; increasingly ever younger children are being made to perform or excel or achieve, often for vacuous motivations.
  • Inevitably multiplies losers; Disappointment is far more common than delight.
  • Glorifies winning, “losers” are marginalized.
  • Trivializes achievement ignoring the effect of the achievement on actual progress
27
Q

Ascription
-> at its best…

A
  • Connected to the foundations of business enterprise in relationships of trust, integrity, and reputation for fair dealing.
  • Presupposes the worthiness of what is being achieved. It may be less important if people know how much money you have, and more important for them to know how that money was made.
  • Tends to espouse worthy causes and can make its recipients public-spirited.
  • Symbolizes good moral conduct and enduring values like family life, charitable giving, and civic virtue, and by doing so, places authority above the common person. (ex. Monarchies)
  • Treats others in a way that elicits their potential, so that their success is a selffulfilling prophecy.
  • place authority abouve the commoner

-> MIsss Schweiz: nothing that a person achieved -> swissness, beauty, women, it was luck

28
Q

Prejudice

A

“We have to distinguish prejudicial forms of ascribing status from non-prejudicial forms. If we favor white men of European descent, we thereby disfavor darker women of African or Asian descent. What we give to one group we have snatched from another. But the search for those with potential, nurturing and mentoring them, takes from no one and looks for unique capacity in the diversity of cultural lifestyles”

-> we should look for potential
-> criteria for boyfriend, mostly things that he did not achieve

29
Q

Ascription
-> when taken too far…

A
  • Yearns for grandeur and promotes a belief in one’s own mythology.
  • Puts on airs and makes it easy for those who do
    not subscribe to it, to laugh at the absurdities.
  • Imposes upon others status you have ascribed to yourself (through violence, if necessary).
  • Elevates the “well-bred” and promotes incompetence. (ex. UK House of Lords)
  • Results in racial profiling where a specific religious, ethnic or racial minority are singled out for disproportionate action by law enforcement or in the much more stringent sentencing of offenders compared to the religious, racial or ethnic status quo.

-> massive violations, same cirme should have the same conseuqences
* -> difference in treating with crime because we belive certain groups / race are law brackers

30
Q

Management Dichotomies
Achiebement vs Ascription

A

Achivement
* Up or out -> Consulting Group
* high flyers -> super sale people
* Management by objecitves, KPI
* Incentives

Ascription
* nurutre talent, they expect you have potential
* crown princes -> niece of the CEO
* Elicit Potential
* Group Dynmaics, its about the team, group

31
Q

In Management
Achievement-oriented vs Ascription-oriented

A

Achievement-oriented
- Respect for a manager is based on knowledge and skills
- MBO and pay-for-performance are effective tools
- Decisions are challenged on technical and functional grounds

Ascription-oriented
- Respect for a manager is based on seniority
- Direct rewards from the manager are more effective MBO and payfor-performance
- Decisions are only challenged by people with higher authority

32
Q

Tips for doing business with…
Achievement-oriented vs Ascription-oriented

A

Achievement-oriented (for “Ascriptives”)
- Make sure your negotiation team has enough data, technical advisors and knowledgeable people to convince the other company that the project, jointly pursued, will work
- Respect the knowledge and information of your counterparts even if you suspect they are short of influence back home
- Use the title that reflects how competent you are as an individual
- Do not underestimate the need of your counterparts to do better or do more than is expected

Ascription-oriented (for “Achievers”)
- Make sure your negotiation team has enough older, senior and formal position-holders to impress the other company that this is important
- Respect the status and influence of your counterparts, even if you suspect they are short of knowledge. Do not show them up
- Use the title that reflects your degree of influence in your organization
- Do not underestimate the need of your counterparts to make their ascriptions come true

33
Q

Achievement vs Ascription

A

Achievement
* What you do
* Achievement
* Performance

Ascription
* Who you are
* Family background
* Age
* Gender
* Education
* Position

34
Q

Respond to failure dimensions
-> Do we control our environment or does it control us?

A

Do we control our environment or does it control us?
* Internally: manage failure with prevention -> maybe see failure as a personal threat and may become authoritarian or manipulative to increase their comfort level, less wasteful because they tend not to repeat mistakes and are more adaptable
* Externally: manage failure with response (externally)

35
Q

Respond to failure dimensions
Whats more important, rules or relationship?

A

Whats more important, rules or relationship?
* Rule-centred societies: general rules should have global application -> may be obsessed with rules and regulations -> rule-centered organization provides clarity and greater cost efficiency, but als inflexbility
* Relationship-centred societies: value bonds with familiy and friends above abstract rules, particular circumstances and the people involved may dictate the response -> solve failure privately through relationships -> relationship-centred organization, with its tolerance of failure, can encourage innovation and learning, but it may also be wasteful, and its employees may be relucatnt to compete with friends

–> combine both management by exception

36
Q

Respond to failure dimensions
Are Failures the Responsibility of the Individual or the Team?

A

Are Failures the Responsibility of the Individual or the Team?

  • Indvidualistic societies are very independent and even compete with their colleagues, internal competition can be oganizationally toxic but also highly productive
  • Communitarian countries, in which people take responsibility for errors as a group, even when only one member is involved -> support people to become better individual workers -> downside is that companies dominated by a sense of group can choke off individual creativity and the striving for personal excellence
37
Q

Respond to failure dimensions
How Much Do We Identify with Our Failures?

A

How Much Do We Identify with Our Failures?
* non-identifying cultures are not afraid of failure, viewing a failure as simply an idea that didn’t work, failure as a learning opportunity, more likely to jump to conclusion too quickly may waste a lot of energy
* identifiying culture failure is a bigger deal

38
Q

Respond to failure dimensions
Do We Grant Status According to Performance or Position?

A
  • Achieving: value other accoring to their performance, people take a lot of personal initiatve, but they are often very protective of their achievements, strong sense of property rights, people take action and inform the boss later
  • Ascribing culture: emphasize a person’s position in the organizaiotn or the society, people avoid taking responsibility for actions when their superiors are around, vulnerable if they make mistakes, employees first discuss their actions first with their boss, the boss takes responsibilty for sucess or failure
39
Q

cognitive culture and emotional culture

A

Emotions are central to build the right culture

Cognitive culture:
* shared intellectual values, norms and assumptions that serve as a guide for the to thrive, set the tone for how employees think and behave at work, conceyed verbally

Emotional culture:
* shared affective values, norms and assumptions that govern which emotions people have and express at work and which ones they are better fo suppressing, conveyed thorugh nonverbal behaviour
* often no managed
* influences employee satisfaction, burnout, temawork and even hard measures as financial performance, impact of emotions on how people perform on task, how engaged and creative thy are and how comitted they are to their organization and how they make decsions
* postive emotions are associated with better performance, quality and customer service
* negative emotions are group anger, sadness, fear -> negative outcomes such as bad performance

40
Q

Creating and maintaing an emotional culture

A
  • implement strategy
  • facial expression and body language -> managers as a role model
  • office decor and funishings
41
Q

Emotional Cultures in Action
-> culture of joy

A
  • cultivate joy helps customers to have fun too, it give the organization an edge in retaining top talent in an extremly competitive industry
  • joy was one of the strongest drivers of employee satisfaction and commitment
  • pause for fun
  • leaders support this values and create something funny
42
Q

Emotional Cultures in Action
-> a culture of companionate love

A
  • degree of affeciton, caring and compassion that employees feel and express toward one another
  • Units with strong cultures fo companionate love had lower absenteeism, less burnout and greater teamwork and job satisafaction
43
Q

Emotional Cultures in Action
-> a culture of fear

A
  • constant fear of being yelled at—for making mistakes, not knowing things, challenging authority, and so on—made it harder to think well and act quickly
  • the impact of excessive stress on the prefrontal cortex: It impairs executive functions such as judgment, memory, and impulse control
44
Q

What Happens When Emotions Overlap

A
  • Clearly, fear can be toxic, but even positive emotions can have unintended side effects if given too
    much sway.
  • In a culture of unmitigated joy, fun might impede work. In a culture of love, where everyone feels like family, employees might struggle to have honest conversations about problems. To quote one person we interviewed, “People don’t want to talk about conflict because they don’t want to get in the way of the love.”
45
Q

Creating an Emotional Culture
-> Use what people already feel

A

Some employees will experience the desired emotions quite naturally. This can happen in isolated moments of compassion or gratitude, for example. When such feelings arise regularly, that’s a sign you’re building the culture you want.

It’s important to listen when employees express their concerns so that they feel they are being heard. That’s not to say you should encourage venting, or just let the emotions flow with no attempt at solving the root problems. You’re better off helping employees think about situations in a more constructive way.

46
Q

Creating an Emotional Culture
->Model the emotions you want to cultivate

A
  • A long line of research on emotional contagion shows that people in groups “catch” feelings from others through behavioral mimicry and subsequent changes in brain function. If you regularly walk into a room smiling with high energy, you’re much more likely to create a culture of joy than if you wear a neutral expression. Your employees will smile back and start to mean it.

-> role model function

47
Q

Creating an Emotional Culture
-> Get people to fake it till they feel it

A

If employees don’t experience the desired emotion at a particular moment, they can still help maintain their organization’s emotional culture. That’s because people express emotions both spontaneously and strategically at work. Social psychology research has long shown that individuals tend to conform to group norms of emotional expression, imitating others out of a desire to be liked and accepted. So employees in a strong emotional culture who would not otherwise feel and express the valued emotion will begin to demonstrate it—even if their initial motivation is to be compliant rather than to internalize the culture.

Through “surface acting,” employees can display the valued emotion without even wanting to feel it. Surface acting isn’t a long-term solution, though. Research shows that it can eventually lead to burnout—particularly in the absence of any outlet for authentic emotions.

A better way to cultivate a desired emotion is through “deep acting.” With this technique, people make a focused effort to feel a certain way, and then suddenly they do.