L2 - Determinants and Dimensions of Culture.ppt

Cultural dimentions

1. Determinants and Dimensions of Culture
Scheme
1.Concept of Culture
2.Determinants of Culture
3.Dimensions of Culture

2. CONCEPT OF CULTURE

3. Concept of Culture
What is / is not culture?
•Culture is a code of attitudes, norms, values, the way of thinking.
•Culture determines
–How we see ourselves
–How we see the world
•Culture is not right or wrong, inherited, individual behavior.

4. Layers
•It has three layers
•Artifacts and attitudes
–Behavioral or explicit level
–Dress code, language, ritual, architecture, eating etc.
•Norms and values
–Rules or a system, every culture has its own
–What is good or bad, right or wrong
•Basic assumptions
–Implicit, difficult to describe
–“why” we act according to a certain norm, values and rules.

5. Layers

6. Comparison of Value Systems
•Traditional society
–Religion plays an important role, large families are encouraged, conformity is
rewarded and individualism rejected. Arab countries.
•Rational society
–Interests of the individual come first, the authority of the state is recognized.
Germany.
•Materialism is dominant
–Survival is the primary concern, where materialism is predominant. Post
communist scociety.
•Post-modern society
–tolerant and democratic. Scandinavia and the Netherlands

7. Definition
•Edgar Schein’s defines cultures as, ‘a set of basic assumptions –
shared solutions to universal problems of external adaptation (how to
survive) and internal integration (how to stay together) – which have
evolved over time and are handed down from one generation to the
next’.
•Culture can develop at different levels

8. DETERMINANTS

9. Influence at Levels
•Macro level
–Laws and economic institutions
–Nation becomes a main consideration when organizations set up their
business
•Micro level
–Employee employer relationship
–Behavior among employees

10. National Culture
•Elements that contribute to national culture
–Environment
–History of the nation
•Schein states that institutions build the national culture
–Family - social unit
–Religion
–Education
–Mass communication media
–Multinational company

11. The general
pattern of
behavior,
shared beliefs,
and values that
organization
members have
in common

12. What is Organizational Culture?
•Defining Organizational culture
"A physical or virtual environment designed to make workers as
effective as possible in supporting business goals and
providing value.”
“The learned assumptions and unwritten rules on which people
base their daily behavior.”
"This is the way we do things around here” 

13. Organizational Culture
•Schein develops his definition of culture when defining organizational
culture:
–(a) a pattern of basic assumptions,
–(b) invented, discovered, or developed by a given group,
–(c) as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal
integration,
–(d) that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore
–(e) is to be taught to new members as the
–(f) correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to chosen problems.
•In organizations, culture affects the way
–Strategy is determined
–Goals are establishes
–How organizations operate

18. Organizations existing in the context of an entrepreneurial culture are
characterized by
•High level of risk taking and creativity
•Experimentation
•Values innovation
•Dynamic
Entrepreneurial culture

19. Many companies slogans give a general idea of what a particular
company stands for and depicts a culture
•For example
•General Electric….. “progress is our most important product”
•Delta Airlines…. “The Delta family feelings”
•IBM wants to be known as, sears for quality and price
•Caterpillar, 24 hours parts service

22. Corporate Culture
•Corporate culture is combination of
–Organizational culture
–National / regional culture
•There is diffusion
–if an organization develops into a multinational conglomerate, the culture at
headquarters may influence that of subsidiaries abroad.
–a firm involved in a joint venture with a company from another country may find
that the presence of the ‘foreign’ partners influences the underlying culture

23. •Cross-cultural management explains the behavior of people in
organizations around the world
•and shows people how to work in organizations with employees and
client populations from many different cultures.
• Cross-cultural management describes organizational behavior within
countries and cultures; compares organizational behavior across
countries and cultures; and, perhaps
•most important, seeks to understand and improve the interaction of
co-workers, managers, executives, clients, suppliers, and alliance
partners from countries and cultures around the world.

24. Build Cultural Intelligence
•Cultural intelligence is the capability to
understand how a person’s cultural
background influences behavior.
© 2010 Jupiterimages Corporation

25. Listen to Locals
•Convergys, a Cincinnati-based call center
company was building a cafeteria for its
employees in India. During the planning
phase, a VP from India pointed out that
Indian food is served hot, and building a
cafeteria to serve only sandwiches would
create dissatisfied employees in India.

26. Professional Culture
•Three professional cultures in management
–Operators – involved in production
–Engineers – design and monitor technology
–Executives – senior management
•How these cultures co exist?
Set of values shared by people working together professionally. Schein
(1996: 237)

27. DIMENSIONS

28. Hofstede’s Dimensions of Culture
•Power distance (high/low): attitudes to authority, the distance
between individuals in a hierarchy.
•Uncertainty avoidance (high/low) : the degree of tolerance for
uncertainty or instability.
•Individual versus group orientation : independence and
interdependence, the loyalty towards oneself and towards a group.
•Masculine versus feminine orientation : importance of work goals
(earnings, advancement) compared with personal goals (co-
operation, relationships).
•Short-term versus long-term orientation : fostering virtues related to
the past and present or virtues related to the future.

30. Hofstede’s Dimensions of Culture

31. Power Distance

32. Hofstede’s Dimensions of Culture

33. Aggressive-Nurturing (Masculinity-
Femininity)
Masculinity
Cultures where individuals
value achievement,
competitiveness, as well as
acquisition of money and
other material objects.
Femininity
Cultures where individuals
value maintaining good
relationships, quality of life,
and caring for the weak.
Slovakia
Japan
Hungary
Austria
Venezuela
Norway
Netherlands
Sweden
Costa Rica
Chile

34. Hofstede’s Dimensions of Culture

35. Uncertainty Avoidance
Low Uncertainty Avoidance
Cultures where individuals
are comfortable in
unpredictable situations and
have a high tolerance for
ambiguity.
High Uncertainty Avoidance
Cultures where individuals
prefer predictable situations
and have a low tolerance for
ambiguity.
Denmark
Jamaica
Singapore
China
Sweden
Belgium
El Salvador
Greece
Guatemala
Portugal

36. Hofstede’s Dimensions of Culture

37. Hofstede’s Dimensions of Culture

38. Examples???

39. GLOBE Dimensions

40. Q & A