week one - culture and cultural differences Flashcards

1
Q

what is culture

A

A set of beliefs, values and norms embedded in a human group that provides the group with a common identity

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2
Q

what are values

A

they are abstract ideas about what a group believes to be good, right and desirable

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3
Q

what are norms

A

social rules and guidelines that prescribe appropriate behaviour in particular situations.

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4
Q

characteristics of culture

A
  • it is not innate, it is learned
  • serves as a guide for people
  • shared by a collective but cannot be identified with the individual personalities
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5
Q

determinants of culture

A
  • climate
  • religion
  • education
  • social
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6
Q

what is ethnocentrism

A

analysing any problem or situation through the lens of one’s own culture without bearing in mind that our decisions, actions and behaviour may have a very different impact on other people than they would have in our own culture

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7
Q

what is a stereotype

A

a fixed, unvarying idea about something or someone

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8
Q

what is a generalisation

A

a principle, statement or an idea hhaving general application

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9
Q

model of cultural behaviour

A

lecture one, slide seven

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10
Q

what are the dimensions of the hofstede model

A
  • power distance
  • uncertainty avoidance
  • individualism/collectivism
  • masculinity/femininity
  • long/short-term orientation
  • indulgence/restriction
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11
Q

what is power distance

A

the extent to which less powerful members of organisations accept an unequal distribution of power

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12
Q

what does high power distance in a company imply

A
  • managers make decisions in a autocratic way, subordinates accept orders without questioning them
  • privileges and status symbols are expected for managers
  • high organisation pyramids with many management levels
  • wide salary range between top and bottom of organisation
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13
Q

what does a low power distance in a company imply

A
  • managers usually consult subordinates before making decisions, subordinates may question orders
  • experience and talent are more important than formal status
  • formal titles and positions are not so important for negotiations
  • decentralised and flatter structures, few management levels
  • openness and multi-directional information flows
  • narrow salary range, managers feel adequately paid
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14
Q

what is uncertainty avoidance

A

the extent to which people in a society feel threatened by ambiguity

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15
Q

what does high uncertainty avoidance imply

A
  • strong loyalty to the employer, long length of employment in the same company
  • highly formalised conception of management: key role of rules and procedures
  • preference for tradition, resistance to change and innovation
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16
Q

what does low uncertainty avoidance imply

A
  • weak loyalty to the employer, high mobility across companies
  • low formalisation and structuring of activities: key role of common sense
  • risk-taking and innovation are encouraged
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17
Q

what is individualism (hofstede)

A
  • people define themselves as independent individuals and make their primary commitments just to themselves
  • emphasis on personal initiative and achievement, efficiency, and financial autonomy
  • hiring is based on skills and performance
  • poor performance is the main reason for dismissal
  • treating friends or family better than others is considered unethical
  • greater social mobility across occupations
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18
Q

what is collectivism (hofstede)

A
  • relatives and friends of the employer are preferred in hiring and promotion decisions
  • personal relationships prevail over efficiency in tasks and company goals
  • treating friends better than others is normal and ethical
  • organisational success attributed to sharing information with the group
  • belief in collective decisions
  • low social mobility across occupations
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19
Q

pros of individualism

A
  • employees develop a stronger self-concept and self-confidence
  • is consistent with achievement motivation
  • competition encourages innovation
  • links between personal effort and greater sense of equity
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20
Q

cons of individualism

A
  • emphasis of personal gain at the expense of others
  • interpersonal conflicts are encouraged
  • personal stress
  • more feelings of loneliness and alienation
  • greater incentive for unethical behaviour
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21
Q

pros of collectivism

A
  • individuals are treated as equals
  • greater synergies
  • greater concern for the welfare of others
  • relationships are more personalised
  • credit for failure is shared
  • teamwork
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22
Q

cons of collectivism

A
  • loss of personal self to the group
  • individuals have a greater emotional reliance on the group
  • less personal responsibility for outcomes
  • tendency towards ‘group think’
  • collectives can take longer to reach a consensus
  • ‘free ride’ effect
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23
Q

what is masculinity

A
  • emphasis on income, mutual competition and performance
  • managers are expected to be decisive, firm, assertive, aggressive, competitive and fair
  • career ambitions are compulsory for men and optional for women
  • managers are generally ready to prioritise their careers over family
  • sickness leave is not popular
  • preference for larger companies and higher pay
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24
Q

what is femininity

A
  • emphasis on quality of life, relationships among people and concern for wellbeing of others
  • high job satisfaction, freedom, flexibility and low stress
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25
Q

what is long-term orientation and what is it also known as

A

flexhumility, how every society has to maintain links with its own past while dealing with the challenges of the present and future, and how society priorities these two goals differently

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26
Q

what is short-term orientation called

A

monumentalism

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27
Q

what dimensions does the globe model consider

A
  • power distance
  • uncertainty avoidance
  • gender egalitarianism
  • assertiveness
  • institutional collectivism
  • group collectivism
  • future orientation
  • performance orientation
  • humane orientation
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28
Q

what is performance orientation

A

This reflects the extent to which a community encourages and rewards innovation, high standards and performance improvement

29
Q

what is high performance orientation

A
  • Value training and development
  • Emphasise results more than people
  • Reward performance
  • Expect demanding targets
  • Value assertiveness, competitiveness and materialism
  • Value initiative. Have a ‘can-do’ attitude
  • Value and reward individual achievement
  • View feedback as necessary for improvement
  • Believe that anyone can succeed if he or she tries hard enough
  • Value what you do more than who you are
  • Attach little importance to age in promotional decisions
  • Value being direct, explicit and to the point in communications
  • Have a monochronic approach to time
  • Have a sense of urgency
  • believe that education is critical
30
Q

what is low performance orientation

A
  • Value societal and family relationships
  • Emphasise loyalty and belonging
  • Have high respect for quality of life
  • Value harmony with the environment rather than control
  • View assertiveness as socially unacceptable
  • Have high value for sympathy
  • Regard being motivated by money as inappropriate
  • View feedback and appraisal as judgmental and discomforting
    Value who you are more that what you do.
  • Pay particular attention to age in promotional decisions
  • Value ambiguity and subtlety in language and communications
  • Have a polychronic approach to time
    Have a low sense of urgency
  • Value “attending the right school” as an important criterion of success
  • associate competition with defeat and punishment
31
Q

what is future orientation

A

this represents the degree to which a collective encourages and rewards future-oriented behaviours such as planning and delaying gratification

32
Q

what is high future orientation

A
  • Achieve economic success
  • Have a propensity to save for the future
  • Individuals are more intrinsically motivated
  • Organisations have a longer strategic orientation
  • View materialistic success and spiritual fulfilment as an integrated whole
  • Emphasise visionary leadership that is capable of seeing patterns in the face of chaos and uncertainty
  • organisations and managers are flexible and adaptive
33
Q

what is low future orientation

A
  • Have lower levels of economic success
  • Have a propensity to spend now rather than save for the future
  • Individuals are less intrinsically motivated
  • Organisations have a shorter strategic orientation
  • Organisations and managers are inflexible and maladaptive
  • See materialistic success and spiritual fulfilment as dualities
  • Emphasise leadership that focuses on repetition of reproducible and routine sequences
34
Q

what is gender egalitarianism

A

The societies that are gender egalitarian seek to minimise gender role differences

35
Q

what is high gender egalitarianism

A
  • Have more women in positions of authority
  • Accord women a higher status in society
  • Have a higher percentage of women participating in the labour force
  • Have less occupational sex segregation
  • Have similar levels of education of females and males
36
Q

what is low gender egalitarianism

A
  • Have fewer women in positions of authority
  • Accord women a lower status in society
  • Have a lower percentage of women in the labour force
  • Have more occupational sex segregation
  • Have a lower level of education of females relative to males
37
Q

what is assertiveness

A

Assertiveness reflects the degree to which a collective encourages being assertive, aggressive or tough in social relationships

38
Q

what is high assertiveness

A
  • Value assertive, dominant, and tough behaviour for everyone in society
  • Have sympathy for the strong
  • Value competition
  • Value success and progress
  • Value being explicit and to the point in communications
  • believe that someone can succeed if he or she tries enough
  • value expressiveness and revealing feelings and thoughts
39
Q

what is low assertiveness

A
  • View assertiveness as socially unacceptable and value modesty and tenderness
  • Have sympathy for the weak
  • Value cooperation
  • Associate competition with defeat and punishment
  • Value people and warm relationships
  • Speak indirectly and emphasise “face-saving”
  • Value detached and self-possessed conduct
40
Q

what is individualism (globe)

A
  • At the organisational level, individualistic cultures have members who consider
    themselves largely independent from the organisations
  • At the group level, individualism reflects the degree to which the individual shares his or her goals and rewards
41
Q

what is high collectivism (globe)

A
  • Individuals are integrated into strong and cohesive groups
  • The self is viewed as interdependent with groups
  • Group goals take precedence over individual goals
  • Duties and obligations are important determinants of social behaviour
  • People emphasise relatedness with groups
  • The pace of life is slower
  • Individuals make greater distinctions between in-groups and out-groups
  • There are more extended family structures
  • Divorce rates are lower
  • Heart-attack rates are lower
  • Love is assigned less weight in marriage decisions
  • individuals have fewer social interactions but the ones they have tend to be longer and more intimate
42
Q

what is low collectivism (globe)

A
  • Individuals look after themselves or their immediate families
  • The self is viewed as autonomous and independent of groups
  • Individual goals take precedence over group goals
  • Attitudes and personal needs are important determinants of behaviour
  • People emphasise rationality
  • The pace of life is faster
  • Individuals make fewer distinctions between in-groups and out-groups
  • There are more nuclear family structures
  • Divorce rates are higher
  • Heart-attack rates are higher
  • Love is assigned greater weight in marriage decisions
  • individuals have more social interactions but interactions tend to be shorter and less intimate
43
Q

what is humane orientation

A

Represents the degree to which an organisation or society encourages and rewards individuals for being fair, altruistic, friendly, generous, caring and kind to others

44
Q

what is high humane orientation

A
  • Needs for belonging and affiliation motivate people
  • Close circle receives material, financial and social support
  • People are expected to promote paternalistic norms and patronage relationships
  • Children should be obedient
  • Members of society are urged to be sensitive of all forms of racial discrimination
45
Q

what is low humane orientation

A
  • Self interest is important
  • Power and material possessions motivate people
  • Lack of support for others; predominance of self-enhancement
  • People are expected to solve personal problems on their own
  • Children should be autonomous
46
Q

what are the dimensions of gesteland’s model

A
  • deal-focused cultures/relationship-focused cultures
  • formal cultures/informal cultures
  • monochronic cultures/polychronic cultures
  • expressive cultures/reserved cultures
47
Q

characteristics of deal-focused cultures

A
  • task oriented
  • easy direct contact
  • written agreements are important to avoid miscommunication
  • impersonal contracts and lawyers are important
  • language is direct
48
Q

characteristics of relationship-focused cultures

A
  • uncomfortable doing business with foreigners/strangers
  • face to face contact is important
  • getting to know each other is important
  • indirect language
49
Q

characteristics of formal cultures

A
  • informality can be perceived as disrespect
  • formality involves organisational hierarchies
  • status according to gender, age
50
Q

characteristics of informal cultures

A
  • informality is not disrespect
  • attitudes tend to be more egalitarian
  • differences in power are smaller
  • no protocol
51
Q

characteristics of a rigid-time culture

A
  • punctuality is crucial
  • agendas are fixed
  • business meetings are rarely interrupted
52
Q

characteristics of a fluid-time culture

A
  • people and relationships are more important than agendas
  • less emphasis on deadlines and punctuality
53
Q

characteristics of an expressive culture

A
  • silence in a conversation can seem tense
  • conversations overlap
  • personal space is small
  • eye contact is intense
54
Q

characteristics of a reserved culture

A
  • silence is not a problem
  • no conversations overlap
  • physical distance
  • eye contact is indirect
  • ‘poker faces’
55
Q

what are the basic dimensions of trompenaars model

A
  • universalism/particularism
  • specific/diffuse
  • individualism/communitarianism
  • internal/external control
  • sequential/synchronic
  • achieved/ascribed status
  • egalitarianism/hierarchy
56
Q

characteristics of a universalistic culture

A
  • relations between people are prescribed by laws, rules, general values and obligations
  • rules come before personal relationships
57
Q

characteristics of a particularistic culture

A
  • personal relationships always come before universal rules and laws
  • an individuals behaviour is determined by the particular obligations to the people they know
58
Q

characteristics of a diffuse culture

A
  • people are more holistic
  • they see parts of their life and business as a whole
  • relationships are seen as more important than individual elements
  • personal and professional lives overlap
59
Q

define specific oriented cultures

A
  • people think their lives are a sum of parts, best to remain separate
  • professional and personal aspects must stay separate
60
Q

what is individualism - communitarianism

A
  • individual values prevail and individual efficiency is rewarded
    vs
  • harmony and group cohesion prevails
61
Q

what is internal - external control

A
  • people determine their own correct course of action
    vs
  • people orient their action to others
62
Q

what is sequential - synchronic time orientation

A
  • time flows in one direction
    vs
  • time is a circle, past/present/future are interrelated
63
Q

what is achieved - ascribed status

A
  • status is ascribed on the basis of one’s achievements (by doing)
    vs
  • status is achieved by virtue of ages, class, gender, education (by being)
64
Q

what is egalitarianism - hierarchy

A
  • contributions must be assed by themselves
    vs
  • the position of the individual influences the assessment of his/her actions
65
Q

what does Hall’s model assess

A

context and cross-cultural communication

66
Q

characteristics of a high-context culture

A
  • the meaning of the message is dependent on non-verbal communication and the environment
  • communication is internalised
  • shared values and common mental frameworks
67
Q

characteristics of a low context culture

A
  • most information is contained in speech/words
  • listeners must be told everything
  • less importance in non-verbal communication
  • cultures are heterogeneous with different mental frameworks
68
Q

what are Shwartz individual values and representative items

A
  • self-direction
  • stimulation
  • hedonism
  • achievement
  • power
  • security
  • conformity
  • tradition
  • benevolence
  • universalism