Cross Cultural Perspectives MBA Session 30

8/8/2019 Cross Cultural Perspectives MBA Session 30

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Dr. Nathalie van Meurs


2/28

Last week:

Any index may inform a manager with regard todecisions at the national level

Hofstede added an index related to cultural values

Other researchers have explored these in relation

to business e.g., advertising

The most used are: I/C and PD

y 1. Horizontal individualist(HI): unique and self-reliant, no

status differences

y 2. Vertical individualist(VI) people try to compete with

others for distinction and status.y 3. Horizontal collectivist(HC) part of the in-group and

emphasize common goals with others

y 4. Vertical collectivist(VC) people sacrifice their personal

goals, some have more status than others.


3/28

Is I/C enough?

Critique on research & management to focus

on crude measures

ANY motivation/reason/explanation for aphenomena needs to be inclusive enough to

capture subtleties

y The context is important

y The psychological state is important

y The interaction is important

y The underlying values may help to explain


4/28

International Negotiation


5/28

Quick test

What are the guiding principles in your

life?

Are you a cultural essentialist or agenetic determinist?


6/28

Schwartz: Motives (guiding principles)

Universalism

Self-

Direction

Stimulation

Hedonism

Achievement

Power

Benevolence

Security

ConformityTradition

Self-

Enhancement

Openness

to Change

Conservation

Self-

Transcendence

ObedienceHumility

Devoutness

Helpfulness

Social Justice,

Equality

Creativity,

Freedom

Exciting Life

Pleasure

Success,

Ambition

Authority,

Wealth

Social Order

Organized by motivational

similarities and oppositions


7/28

The global manager

Analysing feedback from returning overseasvisitors, Hammer, Gudykunst, and Wiseman

(1978) found that intercultural competence

concerns the ability to

y communicate effectively

y deal with psychological stress

y establish interpersonal relations.

Has anything changed?

y More global interactions instead of nationality

A vs. nationality B


8/28

TopMBA.com

JeffWeiss on "What makes a good negotiator?"

Someone who can prepare, who understands their own objectives,

concerns, and perspective and their counterpart's

Someone who is creative and can come up with a range of possible

solutions

Well researched so that important data and figures are at the fingertips

Having a clear idea of what one wants

Digging under a counterpart's stated demands to get at the true driving

issues

An ability to question one's own assumptions about the other person's

objectives

An ability to systematically change tactics during the negotiation to

"dance a different dance" if things aren't working, or to change the tactics

to play your counterpart's game

Ability to manage the relationship with your counterpart


9/28

Negotiation: TopMBA.com

JeffWeiss on "What makes a good negotiator?"- Someone who can prepare, who understands their ownobjectives, concerns, and perspective and their counterpart's- Someone who is creative and can come up with a range ofpossible solutions

- Well researched so that important data and figures are at thefingertips- Having a clear idea of what one wants- Digging under a counterpart's stated demands to get at thetrue driving issues- An ability to question one's own assumptions about the otherperson's objectives- An ability to systematically change tactics during thenegotiation to "dance a different dance" if things aren't working,or to change the tactics to play your counterpart's game- Ability to manage the relationship with your counterpart

Understanding own andothers perspective

Create solutions

Well researched, knows data

Have a clear idea of own wants

Do digging to understand

driving issues

Question own assumptionsabout others objective

Ability to change

tactics

Ability to manage

relationship with counterpart


10/28

BATNA

Main source of power(Fisher & Ury)

Best option outside current

negotiationBetter BATNA, more you can

demand

yBatna very good at a market stall,

bad BATNA?


11/28

Strategic choices

Confrontation

Social motivation

y

Function of: personalities, culture, context Confrontation Example:June 2006

Arcelor-Mittal negotiation European vs

Indian values

Social motivation Example: Arceloraftermath: Rather sell to Mittal than

Severstal


12/28

American model

Concern for Self vs. Concern for Others

(Thomas, 1976)

y Getting to Yes

Brett:Individualism, cooperation, competition,

altruism

Copyright 2008 Nathalie van Meurs


13/28

Jeanne Brett (2007)

Some stats on motives & negotiations

y Negotiators are predominantly cooperative (53%),

compared to 37% individualistic negotiators, and

few competitive negotiators (3%)

y High net value integrative agreements:

cooperators& individualistsNs are equally

successful, competitors Ns are sign. less so.

y Cooperators and individualists use different

strategies to each their goal


14/28

Make the connection...

Individualism

y Maximise own outcomes

Competition

y Maximise own at expense of

others outcome

Cooperation

y Maximise own and others

outcomes

Altruism

y Maximise others outcomes

1. Horizontalindividualist(HI)be

unique and self-reliant,

but not distinguished

or having high status.

2. Vertical individualist

(VI)compete with

others for distinctionand status.

3. Horizontal

collectivist(HC)

perceive self as an

aspect of in-group and

emphasize common

goals with others

4. Vertical collectivist

(VC)sacrifice personal

goals for in-group

goals; some members

have more status than

others.

penness to change

elf nhancement

elf Transcen ence

Conservation


15/28

Culture & negotiation

Not all members of a culture behave like

the cultural prototype and cultural

prototypes overlap

Cultures are not composed of a single

feature

Knowledge structures that include

cultural effects depend on the context Negotiators are likely to reciprocate

each others strategies


16/28

The Ugli Orange Case

Read the vignette

Consider these issues:

y

BATNA:If you had to buy the oranges, whatmaximum price would you have offered?

y Strategy:How would you negotiate the

deal?

yCommunication:How would you agree towhom and how the oranges are delivered?


17/28

Akio Morito, founder, Sony

Grammar and pronunciation arent as

important as expressing yourselfin a

way that matches the way Westerners

think, which is very different from ourthought process. So when youre in

America you must be clear, and when

you return to Japan you must be vague.Its more difficult than you can imagine.


18/28

When we can get it wrong:

Difficulties of social interaction and communication arise inseveral main areas:

y (1) language use, including forms of polite usage

y (2) non-verbal communication: uses of facial expressions,gesture proximity, touch, etc.

y (3) rules of social situations, e.g., for bribing, gifts and eating

y (4) social relationships, within the family, at work, betweenmembers of different groups

y (5) motivation, e.g., achievement motivation and for face-saving

y (6) concepts and ideology, e.g., ideas derived from religionand politics (Argyle, 1982, p. 76).

VariationVariation

inin communicationcommunication


19/28

In Business: Whats effective?

American managers in Saudi Arabia and Frenchmanagers in the U.S.A. on Intercultural CommunicationEffectiveness (Dean and Popp, 1990).

Both groups agreed on what is ICEy

Ability to work with others, deal with unfamiliar situations, andhandle misunderstandings and changes in lifestyle.

Tominaga, Gudykunst, and Ota (2002) also found thatJapanese and Americans share the idea that effectivecommunication concerns a positive approach, understanding, andclarity (Tominaga, et al., 2002).

HOWEVER, The Japanese were concerned with good relations and

the Americans were concerned with clarity.


20/28

In Business: Who decides whats effective?

How does your colleague rate your skills?y Employees' descriptions of theirown

communication skills correlates poorly withdescriptions contributed by colleagues

(Sypher and Sypher, 1984) Listening to others and speaking to others are

two independent aspects of the communicationprocess (Sargent et al, 1997)

y

E.g., Germans preferred the action style (prefer to receive conciseand error free information), Israelis preferred the content style(prefer to evaluate complex information carefully) andAmericansendorsed both the people (concern for others feelings andemotions) and time (brief and hurried interactions) style


21/28

Some cultural differences: I/C

Individualistic : verbally directy Value communication openness, learn to self disclose, like to be

clear, straightforward, and contribute to a positive management

climate

Collectivistic: indirect communication

y Group harmony is essential. It is rare in Asian cultures to have

open conflict, because it appears to disrupt group harmony.

Note:Collectivists are more stringent in treating the in-group

differently from the out-group (Triandis, 1988).

Individualism and collectivismfeature strongly communication

theories (e.g., High vs. Low Context Communication and Face

Theory)

http://globthink.com/2009/06/24/indirect-communication-and-indirect-leadership-in-asia/


22/28

High Context vs.

Low Context Communication

In 1976, Hall published his work on low and highcontext cultures (LCC vs. HCC).

Hall proposed that cultures can be differentiatedon the basis of whether the meaning of amessage should be inferred from its context(HCC) or is explicitly put forward by the speaker(LCC).

y U.S.A., Scandinavia and the UK are typicalexamples ofLCC

y China, Japan, and Taiwan would be typicalexamples ofHCC.


23/28

Some key points

Our perceptions of the situation are biased.y Social norms, communication rules, and strangers

characteristics.y Expectations also emerge from our out-group attitudes and

the stereotypes we hold (Gudykunst, 1998, p. 101).

Understanding involvesy Culture general information (i.e., knowing if Peruvians are

individualistic or collectivistic)y Culture specific information (i.e., is Peruvian HCC

particular to hierarchical business environments?)

Overcoming misunderstandings due to style

differences is difficult because in seeking to clarify,each speaker continues to use the very strategywhich confused the other in the first place (Tannen,1979, p. 5).Next week:Leadership


24/28

an Meurs: Model

Cultural Values

Context

Team B

Concerns

ClarityInconvenience

ControlStrategies

Problem SolvingAvoiding

DominatingCommunication Style

Consultative

IndirectDirect

Perceived Negotiation

Satisfaction

(Success & Comfort)

Team A

Concerns

ClarityInconvenience

ControlStrategies

Problem SolvingAvoiding

DominatingCommunication Style

Consultative

IndirectDirect


25/28

an Meurs: Negotiation styles

Confl. Man.Strategies

Other Dominating

Dominating

Other Avoiding

Avoiding

Other Prob Solv

Problem Solving

Mean

s(Scale1-5)

4.00

3.50

3.00

2.50

2.00

1.50

Nationality

Dutch

British


26/28

an Meurs: Communication

COMMUNICATION STYLES

Other Direct

Direct

Other Indirect

Indirect

Other Consultative

Consultative

Mean

s(Scale1-5

)

4.50

4.00

3.50

3.00

2.50

2.00

Nationality

Dutch

British


27/28

an Meurs: OutcomeModel 1Model 1

SuccessSuccess

StandardisedStandardised

F ChangeF Change Model 1Model 1

ComfortComfort

StandardisedStandardised

F ChangeF Change

Step 1:Step 1:

NationalityNationality

.38**.38** 5.49*5.49* Step 1: OtherStep 1: Other

Problem SolvingProblem Solving

.19*.19* 56.09*56.09*

Other IndirectOther Indirect .30**.30** 8.40**8.40** ConsultativeConsultative .19**.19** 14.42**14.42**

Adjusted R Adjusted R .05.05 InconvenienceInconvenience --.20**.20** 5.90*5.90*

d.f.d.f. 2,2402,240 Other ConsultativeOther Consultative .21**.21** 6.28*6.28*

FF 7.03**7.03** NL sub/UK supNL sub/UK sup

RelationshipRelationship

--.14**.14** 5.15*5.15*

Other DirectOther Direct .20**.20** 5.91*5.91*

Tenure Tenure .14*.14* 6.25*6.25*

Adjusted R Adjusted R .34.34

d.f.d.f. 7, 2227, 222

FF 16.14**16.14**


28/28

Test question: Critical incident

IBM requested parts from a trial project, with the specification

We will accept three defective parts per ten thousand. The

Japanese manufactured the parts, and sent them with a note:

We, the Japanese people, had a hard time understanding

North American business practices. But the three defective

parts per10,000 have been separately manufactured and

have been included in the consignment. Hope this pleases

you. This is an example of:

A)Face saving B)Low context communication

C)High context communication

D)Individualism

Cross Cultural Perspectives MBA Session 30

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