Culture• Culture – a community’s set of shared assumptions about how the world works and what ideals are worth striving for. • Culture can greatly affect a country’s laws. • Culture influences what people value, so it affects people’s economic systems and efforts to invest in education. • Culture often determines the effectiveness of various HRM practices. Culture • Cultural characteristics influence the ways members of an organization behave toward one another as well as their attitudes toward various HRM practices. • Cultures strongly influence the appropriateness of HRM practices. • Cultural differences can affect how people communicate and how they coordinate their activities Cultural environment . The three approaches also provide useful theoretical concepts to help understand the nuances of different cultures better. Globe Project Team 2.Dimensions of Culture 1. Trompenaar’s 7d cultural model An understanding of these models equips international managers with the basic tools necessary to analyse the cultures in which they do business. Hofstede’s model and 3. . Globe Project The GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness) project team comprises 170 researchers who have collected data over seven years on cultural values and practices and leadership attributes from 17. future orientation. performance orientation.000 managers in 62 countries. collectivism/societal. and in-group collectivism. covering as many as 825 organizations spread across the globe. human orientation. power distance. uncertainty avoidance. gender differentiation. The research team identified nine cultural dimensions that distinguish one society from another and have important managerial implications: assertiveness. . Assertiveness This aspect is defined as the degree to which individuals in organisations or societies are expected to be tough. Performance Orientation Performance orientation measures the importance of performance and excellence in society and refers to whether people are encouraged to strive for continued improvement and excellence. . confrontational and competitive versus modest and tender. Future Orientation This dimension refers to the level of importance a society attaches to futureoriented behaviours such as planning and investing in the future and delaying immediate gratification. In-group Collectivism This refers to the degree to which individuals express pride. loyalty and cohesiveness in their organisations or families. Gender Differentiation This is understood as the extent to which an organization or society resorts to role differentiation and gender discrimination. generous. .Human Orientation Human orientation is understood as the degree to which individuals in organisations or societies encourage and reward people for being altruistic. caring and kind to others. . Power Distance This refers to the degree to which organisational members or citizens of a society expect and agree that power should be unequally distributed.Collectivism/Societal This refers to the degree to which organisational and societal practices encourage and reward collective distribution of resources and collective action. rituals and bureaucratic practices to minimize the unpredictability of future happenings. Uncertainty Avoidance This refers to the extent to which members of an organisation or society strive to avoid uncertainty by relying on social norms. Anticipating cultural similarities and differences allows multi-cultural managers to develop the behaviours and skills necessary to act and decide in a manner appropriate to the host country norms and expectations. .GLOBE’s ranking is highly helpful to international managers who are seeking to be successful in cross-cultural settings. power distance. 5. reference should be made to the pioneering work done by the Dutch scientist. The four dimensions are: 1. individualism and masculinity. He identified five cultural dimensions around which countries have been clustered. 4. with people in each group exhibiting identical behaviours. 3. 2. Geert Hofstede. uncertainty avoidance. Long/Short term orientation .Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions In a discussion on multicultures. . some are low. High power distance countries have norms. •Most people should be dependent on a leader. •Every one has a place. values and beliefs such as:•Inequality is fundamentally good. Countries in which people blindly obey the orders of superiors have high power distance. •The powerful are entitled to privileges and •The powerful should not hide their power.Power Distance Power distance is the extent to which less powerful members of institutions and organisations accepts that power is distributed unequally. some are high. Brazil. France. Singapore. These societies exhibit characteristics almost the opposite of the features listed above. Norway and New Zealand represent cultures with low power distance.High Power v/s Low Power countries The US. Mexico and Indonesia are examples of societies with a high power distance. . Austria. India. Ireland. Countries with low uncertainty avoidance have people who are more willing to accept that risks are associated with the unknown and the life must go on in spite of this. . Countries with citizens who do not like uncertainty tend to have a high need for security and a strong belief in experts and their knowledge.Uncertainty Avoidance Uncertainty avoidance is the extent to which people feel threatened by ambiguous situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these. •Experts and authorities are usually correct and •Consensus is important Low uncertainty avoidance societies tend to represent the antonym of the above characteristics. •Deviant people and ideas should not be tolerated. values and beliefs which accept that: •Conflict should be avoided. . •Laws are very important and should be followed. high uncertainty avoidance countries are characterised by norms.Specifically. Denmark and Sweden. Individualism is common in the US. •Individual achievement is ideal and •People need not be emotionally dependent on organisations or groups. countries high on individualism have norms. Canada. In the individualist societies. Australia. . Specifically.Individualism Individualism is the tendency of people to look after themselves and their family only. favoritism shown to friends and relatives is considered to be unfair and even illegal. values and beliefs which accept that: •People are responsible for themselves. should be decisive. money and other material things. success and money are important. . Hofstede measured this dimension on a continuum ranging from masculinity to femininity. •Machismo or exaggerated maleness is good. •Men are assertive and dominant. •People – especially men .Masculinity Masculinity refers to a situation in which the dominant values in a society are success. values and beliefs that: •Gender roles should be clearly distinguished. High masculine cultures have norms. •Work takes priority over other duties. such as family and •Advancement. .Long /short term orientation • Suggests whether the focus of cultural values is on the future (long term) or the past and present (short term). (iv) neutral versus affective. (iii) specific versus diffuse.Trompenaar’s Framework Trompenaars. an European researcher. conducted an extensive research with 15. and (vii) internal versus external control . He describes cultural differences using seven dimensions (the theory is therefore called 7d cultural dimensions model): (i) universalism versus particularism. (vi) past versus present (time dimension). representing 47 national cultures.000 managers from 28 countries. (ii) individualism versus collectivism. (v) achievement versus ascription. THE 7D MODEL OF CULTURE CULTURAL DIMENSION Relationships with People: Universalism vs.g. particularism Individualism vs. social class)? Perspective on Time: Sequential vs. Ascription CRITICAL QUESTION Do we consider rules or relationships more important? Do we act mostly as individuals or as groups? How extensively are we involved with the lives of other people? Are we free to express our emotions or are we restrained? Do we achieve status through accomplishment or is it part of our situation in life (e. collectivism Specific vs. Diffuse Neutral vs. External Control Do we do tasks in sequence or several tasks at once? Do we control the environment or does it control us? . Affective Achievement vs.. gender. Synchronic Relationship with the Environment: Internal vs. age. deals are executed also changes depending on the situations. In universalistic cultures. the focus is more on formal rules than on relationships. In a particularistic culture.(i) Universalism versus Particularism In cultures with universalistic orientation. legal contracts are adhered to very closely and the way. people believe in abstract principles such as the rules of law. . business contracts are adhered to very closely and people believe that a ‘deal is a deal’. religion or cultural principles. including family. In individualistic societies. . In individualistic societies. achievements and rewards are group-based. the focus is on “I” or “me” and the orientation is one’s own growth. and each person assumes individual responsibility for his/her success or failure. organisation and community. In collectivist societies. Responsibility. the focus is on groups.(ii) Individualism versus Collectivism This dimension is almost identical to Hofstede’s value dimension. people are trained from childhood to be independent. (iii)Specific versus Diffuse This cultural dimension focusses on how a culture emphasizes on notions of privacy and access to privacy. the private one is guarded carefully and shared with only close friends and associates. While the public space is open. In specific cultures. . individuals have large public spaces and relatively small private spaces. A diffuse culture does not allow any distinction between public and private spaces. But in neutral societies. In neutral cultures. laughter. emotions are considered to be messy interference in achieving objectives. gesturing and a range of emotional outbursts are considered normal and acceptable.(iv) Neutral versus Affective In this dimension. . effective cultures encourage the expression of emotions. the tendency of the people is to control their emotions so that it will not interfere with their judgement. Trompenaars focusses on the appropriateness of expressing emotions in different cultures. Expressions of anger. In contrast. Achievement is not the criterion to accord status. his age. In an achievement culture. .(v) Achievement versus Ascription This dimension describes the methods used to acquire status. An ascription culture is one in which status is attributed based on who or what a person is. Status depends on achievement. gender or social connections. an individual is accorded status based on how well he/she performs his/her functions. In sequential cultures. In synchronic cultures such as Portugal and Egypt. The first dimension of Trompenaars is similar to Hofstede’s – there are different emphasis on the past. time is viewed as linear and divided into segments that can then be divided and scheduled. Mexico and France tend to follow sequential cultures. . US. The followers of sequential cultures tend to do only one activity at a time. and relationships are more important than schedules. This dimension is unique to Trompenaars. keep appointments strictly and show a strong preference for following plans as they are laid out and not deviating from them. present and future. The second refers to sequential versus spectronic cultures. time is viewed as circular and indivisible.(vi) Time Dimension Time orientation has two dimensions. . Where individuals (read managers) believe that they have control over outcomes. they are said to be followers of internal locus of control. Instead. if they believe that they have control over the outcomes. such people (managers) deem to follow the tenets of external locus of control.(vi) Internal versus External Control The final cultural dimension of Trompenaars relates to one’s locus of control – his belief about whether he or she is the master of his or her own destiny.