presentation on cutural organisation

8/2/2019 presentation on cutural organisation

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GEERTHOFSTEDE


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G. Hofstede

Professor of Organizational Anthropology andInternational Management of Maastricht University

Senior Fellow of IRIC, the Institute for Research onIntercultural Cooperation, and Extra-Mural Fellow of the

CentER for Economic Research, both at TilburgUniversity

Occupational activities have varied from sailor, factoryworker, industrial engineer, plant manager andpersonnel director to teacher and researcher at variousacademic institutions in Europe
http://www.uvt.nl/irichttp://center.uvt.nl/http://center.uvt.nl/http://www.uvt.nl/iric


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http://www.info.wau.nl/people/gertjan/exploring_culture.htm


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McGraw-Hill, New York 1997

New edition in press 2004

(Hofstede & Hofstede)

Translated into Bulgarian,Chinese, Czech, Danish,Dutch, Finnish, French,

German, Japanese,Korean, Norwegian, Polish,Portuguese, Romanian,Spanish, Swedish

Older book in Italian

New edition forthcoming inRussian

Website www.geerthofstede.nl


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Hofstede Cultural Framework


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What is Culture?

A system oflearned valuesand norms sharedamong a group of

people and, whentaken together,constitute adesign

for living.


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Values

Abstract ideas about the good, the right, thedesirable

Like evil-good, abnormal-normal,dangerous-safe, dirty-clean, immoral-moral, indecent-decent, unnatural-natural, paradoxical-logical, ugly-beautiful, irrational-rational


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Norms

Social rules and guidelines; determineappropriate behavior in specific situations

Folkways:norms of little moral significance

dress code; table manners;timeliness

Mores:norms central to functioning of social

lifebring serious retribution: thievery,

adultery, alcohol


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Definitions of Culture

is

the unwritten rules of the social game

Culture is the collective programming ofthe mind, which distinguishes the

members of one human group fromanother (Hofstede, 1980).


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Why is knowledge of culture important intodays organisation?

"The world was my oyster, but I used thewrong fork.

Oscar Wilde


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Culture is more often a source of conflictthan of synergy. Cultural differences are a

nuisance at best and often a

disaster." Prof. Geert Hofstede,

Emeritus Professor, Maastricht University.


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Culture Shock Cycle

15-6


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V-for victory in USis obscene insome Europeancountries


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English-speaking:OK

France: zero,nothing,worthless

Japan: money

Brazil &Germany: vulgar,obscene gesture


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Fingers crossed:

Europe: goodluck, protection

Paraguay:

offensivegesture


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Thumbs up:

Australia: rudegesture

Most of the

world: okay


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Different connotations in differentcultures

Sacred colors

Green and blue in Arabic

countriesYellow in Buddhist countries

Colors of mourning: black / white /

purple / saffron...

Warning indicators: yellow / red


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The way to deal with diversity is not to

deny it or ignore it, but to learn aboutdifferences so they dont impair

communication


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Hofstedes IBM study

Geerte Hofstede was a staff psychologist at IBMInternational Business MachinesCorporation.

He conducted a global survey of IBM WORK

force & set forward a questionnaire to 160000IBM managers across more than 70 countries. Resultant database was & is a

gold mine for people who

study cultures. He found four fundamental

differences in national style


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Hofstedes Four Dimensions

Power Distance

Individualism

Masculinity

UncertaintyAvoidance


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individualismversuscollectivism

largeversussmall power distance

masculinityversusfemininity

strong versus weak uncertainty avoidance


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POWERDISTANCE

Small

Large


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Power distance focuses on the degreeof equality or inequality betweenpeople in the country or society orthe extent to which power inequality isaccepted.


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Power Distance

High Power Distancecultures believe thatthe more powerful people must bedeferred to and not argued with, especially

in public Based on gender, age, seniority, position

Inequalities of power and wealth havebeen allowed to grow within the society.Latin American and Arab nations areranked the highest in this category.


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Low Power Distancecultures believepeople are equal.The society de-emphasizes the

differences between citizen's power andwealth. In these societies equality andopportunity for everyone is stressed.Scandinavian and Germanic speakingcountries the least.


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Power Distance at Work

Hierarchy

Centralization

Salary range

Participation

Privilege & status

symbols


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Wide salary range

Taller organization structure

Strict obedience is in practice Employees accept that superiors have

more power tan they have & seldom by-

pass chain of command. Employees are seen as frequently afraidof disagreeing with their bosses

Privileges and status symbols for

managers are both expected and popular Centralization is popular


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Power Distance : Low

Superiors & subordinates are regarded asone

Flatter organization structure

Employees are not seen as very afraidand bosses are not often autocratic orpaternalistic.

Hierarchy in organizations means an

inequality of roles, establishedfor convenience


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Consultative relationship between bossand employees. There is less dependence

on a superior and more interdependence.Subordinates will readily approach andcontradict their boss.

Decentralisation is popular, narrow salaryranges, consultation, democratic bosses,

and limited privilege and status symbolsare emphasized.


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FemininityMasculinity


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Gender

Gender focuses on the degree oftraditional gender role ofachievement, control, and power.

a situation in which the dominant values insociety are success, money & things.


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Masculinity Masculine roles

assertiveness

competition

Toughness

Masculinesocieties: socialgender roles aredistinct (men

focus on materialsuccess; womenon quality of life)


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Femininity

Feminine societies:social gender rolesoverlap (both quality

of life) Feminine roles

home andchildren

people

family


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A High Masculinity ranking indicates the country

experiences a high degree of gender differentiation.Men are supposed to be assertive, ambitious, andtough; women tender and take care of relationships.

Males fight back when attacked - females shouldn't. .Japan is considered by Hofstede to be the most"masculine" culture,

A Low Masculinity ranking indicates the country hasa low level of differentiation and discrimination

between genders. Sweden the most "feminine."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan


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Masculinity / Femininity

Centrality of work

Ways of managing &decision making

Fem: equality,solidarity, quality ofwork life

Mas: equity, compete,performance

Conflict resolution


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Masculinity : High

Male dominate a significant portion of thepower structure.

Great importance on earning, recognition,advancement & challenge

Independent decision making isencouraged

Achievement is defined in terms of wealth

Career is defined as most important


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Emphasis on striving to be the best andfailure is regarded as a disaster.

Managers are decisive and assertive,stress is oncompetition and performance.

Conflict is resolved by fighting them out.


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INDIVIDUALISM

Individualist

Collectivist


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Identity

Identity focuses on the degree thesociety reinforces individual orcollective achievement andinterpersonal relationships.


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Collectivism

Collectivist societies:people integrated intostrong, cohesive groups;protection is exchangedfor loyalty

These cultures reinforceextended families andcollectives whereeveryone takes

responsibility for fellowmembers of their group.

Harmony and consensusare ultimate goals


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Individualism Individualist societies: ties are loose and

everyone looks out for himself or herself

Individualist cultures are expected to actaccording to their own interest, and work

should be organised in such a way thatthis self-interest and the employersinterest coincide.

individual freedom prevails

over.U.S.A. is one of the mostindividualistic cultures.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.A.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.A.


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Individualism / Collectivism

Employee-employerrelationship

Hiring and promotion

decisions Managerial focus

Task vs. relationshippriority


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Individualism: at work

Individual decisions are valued more thangroup decision.

Individual have the right to differ frommajority opinion.

Promotion is on merit & performance.

Tasks take precedence over relationship.

Emphasize individual rights & goals

I instead of We.


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Collectivism : at work

In a collectivist culture, an employer neverhires just an individual, but a person whobelongs to an in-group.

The employee will act according to theinterest of this in-group, which may notalways coincide with his or her individualinterest


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Promotion & advancement are based onseniority & loyalty.

Relations prevail over tasks


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HIGH

Uncertainty Avoidance

Low


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Uncertainty

Uncertainty focuses on the level ofavoidance or tolerance foruncertainty and ambiguity within the

society.


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the extent to which

the members of aculture feel

threatened byuncertain or unknownsituations.

Presence of rules


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Uncertainty avoidance : High

Hofstede described uncertainty avoiding

societies are a society where there aremany formal laws and informal rules.

There is a high need of security.

This creates a rule-oriented society that

institutes laws, rules, regulations, andcontrols in order to reduce the amount of

uncertainty

Japan rank the highest in this category
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan


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Uncertainty avoidance: Low

Societies have more tolerance for avariety of opinions, less rule-oriented,more readily accepts change.

Societies are characterized by feelingsthat life is a continuous fight against threat,high anxiety and stress, acceptance of

familiar risk but not of ambiguoussituations.


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Necessity of rules

Time orientation

Precision &

punctuality Interpretation of

What is different

Appropriateness ofemotional displays

Hi h U t i t A id t


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High Uncertainty Avoidance: atWork

High premium on job security

Career Planning

Insurance & retirement benefits

Clear rules & regulations are welcomed.

Managers prefer reduction of conflict, manprecise instructions, detailed job descriptions to

deal with job complexity, and avoidance ofmultiple bosses.


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Structure oriented organizations.

Prefer strong codes of behavior &management practices.

Tolerate less deviation from them

Low Uncertainty Avoidance: at


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Low Uncertainty Avoidance: atWork

Entrepreneurial, innovation

Exhibit less resistance to change

More risk taking managers

Managers empower team members anddelegate authority, rather than direct andcontrol team decisions.


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Single organization.

It assumes that national territory & limits of

culture correspond.

It is not so in case of smaller country & incase of bigger country as there are sub

cultures. Over lapping of some dimensions.

Limitations

Confirmation of Hofstedes IBM


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Confirmation of Hofstedes IBM

study

Despite all the limitation, Hofstedes workis widely acknowledged.

No other study compares so many nationalculture in so much detail.

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