Sharing good Practices for European mobility Activities ... · The Iceberg Model Culture is similar...

Project Number: 2016-1-IT01-KA202 -00550

Sharing good Practices for European mobility Activities Development

Erasmus+ KA2 – Strategic Partnerships

Project number: 2016-1-UK01-KA202-024348

Day 2: 6.05.2017

Module 2 – “Cultural Theories”

LTTA-2: 01.05.2017 – 5.05.2017

Plymouth, United Kingdom

Presented by: Matteo Radice

Europa Training UK


Module 2: Overview

Description: Aim of this module is to provide the stakeholders with the theoretical tools to better

understand what is meant by “culture”; what are the main elements that shape it and

in what way it may affect one’s international mobility (IM) experience. This stage is

fundamental in order to eventually prevent possible conflict situations that might be

caused by an improper approach towards a foreign environment.

Learning Outcomes:

Knowledge: The analysis wants to give a general answer to issues likewise: what are the most relevant theories

used to study “culture” as a social phenomenon? In what way we can use them to better assess the dynamics of an

international mobility?

Skills: Analysis and “proper” assessment of helpful skills such as linguistic proficiency; regional knowledge and

ethno relativism

Competences: The present module aims to strengthen the cultural competence and the cultural intelligence of

the stakeholders involved in IM, intended as: “is the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately with

people of other cultures” (Messner & Schäfer, 2012)


Module 2: Before we start– Assessing Culture

Before we crack on….a little experiment!

Get into small groups and try to answer to these questions: (5 mins.)

• Are you capable to give a definition of culture?

• Do you think there is a universal definition of culture?


Already by 1952, the American anthropologists Kroeber and Kluckhohn listed 164 definitions of culture.

Module 2: Before we start– Assessing Culture

• “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.” (Schein, 2004)

• “A complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art morals, law, custom and

any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as member of society.” (Tylor,

1871)

• “Whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its

[society] members.” (Goodenough, 1957)


Module 2: quick facts and key areas

“The average change achieved in six months through the Erasmus programme can be considered

equivalent to a personality change that would normally happen over four years of life without

Erasmus experience” (Erasmus+ Impact Study, 2017)

International mobility has become one of the major assets European students can rely upon and the most

appreciated trait by European employers (EACEA, 2016). In 2014 the ministers of the European Higher

Education Area (EHEA) agreed to double the proportion of students completing a period of study or training

abroad to 20% by 2020 (2014)

Quick facts:

By 2017, the Erasmus+ Framework Programme 2014-2020 has already given the opportunity

to work and study abroad to more than 4 million people:• Around 2 million Higher Education students

• Around 650,000 Vocational Education and Training students

• Around 800,000 lecturers, teachers, trainers, Education staff and Youth workers

• More than 500,000 young Volunteers


Even five to ten years after graduation, the unemployment rate of mobile students is lower than for non-mobile students, and in five to ten years after graduation, significantly more Erasmus alumni (64%) than non-mobile alumni (55%) hold a management position. (Source, Erasmus+ Impact Study, January 2016)

Five to ten years after graduation unemployment Alumni in management positions five to ten years after graduation


Erasmus+ mobility Programmes have turned to be a game changer not only as it comes to employability, but it is also changing the lifestyle of generations of students, reshaping cultural fundamental concepts, such as “Home” and “Family”.


Key areas

Cultural Theories Game TheoryValue Orientation

Theory

International mobility comes also with new challenges and issues that have to be faced on a

daily basis mobility of people means also mobility of cultures

Only in the city of London there are

more than 270 nationalities and

there are spoken over 300 languages

Especially on the work place, cultural difference might bring to conflict

situations that can hamper the productivity and can induce to a negative

opinion on the convenience of mobility.

In order to avoid conflict, it is important to have and provide, before the

mobility, proper preparation on the following key areas:


Module 2: Cultural Theories

Cultural theories


<<Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) and Finance

Minister Taro Aso “listen” to a question from an opposition

lawmaker during a budget session at the national Diet in

Tokyo in February 2013>> (Christensen, CNN 2016)

Why are cultural theories important?

Before approaching a foreign culture, means first and foremost understand that culture is made of many

different features and nuances. Knowing this can prevent from spreading “funny” misconceptions.


Culture in human mental programming (Hofstede, 1994)

According to the 2016 Erasmus+ impact survey, 93% of

the surveyed employers across Europe confirmed that

personality in general is indeed important for the

recruitment. Among the traits considered as part of

“Personality”, great consideration was given to:

Tolerance of Ambiguity

Curiosity

Ability to Adapt and Act in New Situations

In the 90s, Hofstede found that culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes

the members of one group or category of people from another. CULTURE IS LEARNED


Concerning icebergs, onions and lily ponds

Through the years, anthropologists and sociologists have tried to break culture down into several theoretical

structures, adding feature; perspectives and different levels of rigidity, yet all pointing at the same basic

fundamental concept: external products of any given culture are motivated by deeper and embedded

reasons

The Iceberg Model Culture is similar to an iceberg. In 1967, Edward T.

Hall proposed that culture has two components and

that only about 10% of culture (external or surface

culture) is easily visible; the majority, or 90%, of

culture (internal or deep culture) is hidden below the

surface.


The Onion Model

Culture is similar to an onion. In 1991,

Geert Hofstede theorized a more complex

structure of culture, in which every layer is

a “peel” of the system. In this concentric

structure, the only invisible level is the one

of “values”, namely how people believe

things “ought to be”. The outer levels are

nothing but external expressions of the

central core:

Symbols

Heroes

Rituals


The lily pond metaphor and the three layers of culture

Culture is similar to a lily pond. With this daring

statement, Edgar Schein wanted to replace the

assumption of culture as a rigid system.

According to this vision, culture is a dynamic ecosystem always

changing and adapting. It’s constantly evolving yet stable and strong.

It can be shaped not changed.

Things above the surface are nurtured from below. One cannot

create true change without impacting the whole system. For example,

you cannot decide you want red lilies and paint the flowers. You have

to understand what makes the flowers white.

Apply this vision to international mobility, means that no external

element can radically change the structure as a whole, nor the

structure stays imperturbable in its assumptions. Logic of

cooperation between the external element and the system


Learning activity 1

Reflecting one’s culture

Description:

An important part of intercultural awareness is the reflection of one’s own culture. This reflection can be done methodically by using the six cultural

dimensions of Geert Hofstede. The cultural dimensions represent independent preferences for one state of affairs over another that distinguish countries

(rather than individuals) from each other.

1) Power distance index (PDI)

2) Individualism vs. collectivism (IDV)

3) Uncertainty avoidance index (UAI)

4) Masculinity vs. femininity (MAS)

5) Long-term orientation vs. short-term orientation (LTO)

6) Indulgence vs. restraint (IND)

Didactic approach:

In pairs, participants will be given a detailed description of the cultural dimension of Hofstede (see the handout) to estimate the

level of the national culture they are in.

Once the host national culture has been assessed, participants will classify the other participants’ national cultures accordingly.

The results will be compared to the original findings and the participants with the closest estimation win.


35

89

66

35

51

69

50

76

70

75

61

30

56 5

9

47

96

47

66

11

55

79

70

60 6

3

68

60

64

93

38

29

63

27

31

99

28

33

POWER D ISTA NCE IND IV ID UA LISM MA SCULINITY UNCERTA INTY A V OID A NCE

LONG TERM ORIENTA TION

IND ULGENCE

SPREAD PARTNERS’ CULTURAL DIMENSIONS

United Kingdom Italy Malta Austria Poland Portugal


Module 2: Game Theories and Logic of Cooperation

Game Theory and Logic

of Cooperation


Big question: How can individually rational behaviour lead to collectively bad outcomes?

A beautiful mind (2002)


The Prisoner’s Dilemma

The most used and known model of game, important to understand that in situations of

stand off, the usual outcome is not the most efficient one.

Scenario: the police have arrested two suspects for a crime.

They tell each prisoner they’ll reduce his/her prison sentence if he/she betrays the other prisoner.

Each prisoner must choose between two actions: cooperate with the other prisoner, i.e., don’t betray him/her

defect (betray the other prisoner).

Payoff = – (years in prison):

Acions: Each player has only two strategies, each of which is a single action

Non-zero-sum There is no efficient allocation of resources

Imperfect information: neither player knows the other’s move until after both players have movedIn a non zero sum game,

none of the players is

interested in changing his

payoff unless the other

does the same, which

means that they both have

to agree to change


Reiterated game

Adding reiteration to a game situation allows the players to foresee the actions taken and have

better understanding of the expected outcomes

The payoffs change multiple Nash equilibria

More chance to collaborate to reach a better equilibrium

“Punishment” added as new variable to the game

Grim Strategy Tit for Tat

“Unforgiving strategy”

Non cooperative game

Non cooperative behaviour is

triggered after a first defection

Non cooperative behaviour is

maintained forever

Forces to cooperate

“blow for blow”

Non cooperative

behaviour adopted

“proportionally”

Invites to cooperate

What happens if “culture” is inserted in the equation?


Module 2: Value Orientation Theory

Value Orientation Theory


The logic of Value and the Expected Outcome

In game theory and classical economics, it is often assumed that the actors (people, and firms) are rational and that the action a rational agent takes depends on:

the preferences of the agent

the agent's information of its environment, which may come from past experiences

the actions, duties and obligations available to the agent

the estimated or actual benefits and the chances of success of the actions.

……but is it what truly happens in real life?


Purposes of values

Most of the time, humans make decision which are not profit-orientated, but rather value-based.

Help us decide whether preferences or events are good or bad, right or wrong, desirable or worthless, important or insignificant.

They become the basic determiners of perceptions, opinions and attitudes.

Using values will always mean going through certain processes: motivation, selection, appraisal (evaluation)

Values have social function: values derived from commonality of experiences unite families, tribes, societies and nations

CULTURE AS VALUE ORIENTED

Cultural value orientations evolve as societies confront basic issues or problems

in regulating human activity. People must recognize these problems, plan

responses to them, and motivate one another to cope with them.

Principles or standards of behaviour; one's judgement of what is important in life


Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck's (1961) Values Orientation Theory

Starting from the assumption that people's attitudes are based on the relatively few, stable values they hold,

cultural anthropologists Florence Kluckhohn and Fred Strodtbeck's (1961) suggested a theory of culture

based on value orientation.

Values Orientation Theory proposes that:

all human societies must answer a limited number of universal problems

value-based solutions are limited in number and universally known in all societies at all times

different cultures have different preferences among them.

Cultural dimensions:

1. Relationship with nature - beliefs about the need or responsibility to control nature.

2. Relationship with people - beliefs about social structure.

3. Nature of human activities - beliefs about appropriate goals.

4. Relationship with time - extent to which time influences decisions.

5. Human nature - beliefs about different people nature.


Learning activity 2

The Value Orientation Method

Description:

The Value Orientation Method (VOM) helps both parties to understand their own values, and those of the “other”.

1) Relationship with nature - beliefs about the need or responsibility to control nature.

2) Relationship with people - beliefs about social structure.

3) Nature of human activities - beliefs about appropriate goals.

4) Relationship with time - extent to which time influences decisions.

5) Human nature - beliefs about different people nature.

Didactic approach:

In pairs, participants will be given a detailed description of the VOM (see the handout) to estimate the level of the national

culture they are in and to carry on the activity shown.

The results will be compared and dicussed.


Conclusions:

International Mobility (IM) is becoming one of the key assets of today’s job market and one of the mostresilient vehicle of cultural exchange: a superficial knowledge of foreign cultures or the use of inadequatetheoretical measures, might lead to unfortunate misconceptions

Cultural Theories are a valuable tool for all the stakeholders involved in IM to understand the living andworking culture (in general) of the hosting country and work placement company culture to aid theadaption of all differences.

The value of culture cannot be underestimated especially in the working relations, in which decisionmaking and cooperative strategies are at the base of a mutual trust employers – trainee.

Recommendations:

Trainees who will arrive to the host country shall come prepared to experience the local living & working

culture and shall be disposed to develop skills and attitudes -as already expressed in Module 1- useful to

interact in an effective and appropriate way right from the start.

Organisations involved in hosting/sending trainees shall need to have deep understanding of the

hosting/sending culture, in order to better prepare and guide not only the trainees, but also host families

and work placements alike, throughout the whole IM experience.

Module 2: Conclusions and Recommendations


Know thy self and thy enemy. A thousand battles, a

thousand victories. (Sun Tzu, the Art of War)

Sharing good Practices for European mobility Activities ... · The Iceberg Model Culture is similar...

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