The survival of mankind will depend to a large extent on the ability of people who think differently to work together

(Hofstede 2001)

Cultural patterns and taxonomies

Cultural patterns and taxonomies

Nataliya Berbyuk Lindström

VT 2007

2000-01-31

•Cultural patterns•Taxonomies

Hall, Hofstede, Bond, Lewis, Trompenaars

” Shared beliefs, values and norms that are stable over time and that lead to roughly similar behaviors across similar situations are known as cultural patterns” (L & K, s. 85)Made up of people’s beliefs, values, and norms, they provide the way of thinking about the world and orienting oneself to it (ibid)Three components: belief (tro), value (värdering), norm (norm)

Patterns

Beliefs

”An idea that people assume to be true about the world” (a set of learned interpretations that form the basis for cultural members to decide what is and what is not logical and correct)

Central vs. peripheral• E.g. ”muti” (a term for traditional medicine in Southern Africa; derived from the Zulu word for

tree, of which the root is -thi. African Traditional Medicine makes use of various natural products, many of which are derived from trees. For this reason, medicine generally is known as Muti. In Southern Africa, the word Muti is in widespread use in most indigenous African languages, as well as in South African English and Afrikaans where it is sometimes used as a slang word for medicine in general) see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muti

• Medicine murder (ritual murder or muti murder)

Values

“What a culture regards as good or bad, right or wrong, fair or unfair, just or unjust, beautiful or ugly, clean or dirty, valuable or worthless, appropriate or inappropriate, and kind or cruel. V. are desired characteristics or goals of a culture, and they do not necessarily describe the actual behaviors and characteristics”“ a broad tendency to prefer certain states of affairs over others”

Valence & intensitye.g. money

Expectations of appropriate behaviors… The outward manifestations of beliefs and values are norms, which are socially shared expectations of appropriate behaviors.

importance and intensity, changeable e.g. manners (good/bad), social routines

Norms

TaxonomyTaxonomy

• “från kaos till ICA”

• e.g. Hall, Hofstede, Bond, Lewis, Trompenaars

importance of context, way of communicating

” amount of information implied by the setting or context of the communication itself, regardless of the specific words that are spoken”

Taxonomy # 1. Hall’s taxonomy(1976)

a high context culture (HC) where background information is implicit; most of the information is either in the physical context or internalized in the person, very little is coded, explicit, transmitted part of the message, e.g. Japanese, African American, Mexican...

a low context culture (LC) where much of the background information must be made explicit in an interaction; the opposite to HC, e.g. German, Swedish, English...

”MIXTURE”

High context vs Low context cultures

• Restricted code systems (communication is not general across individuals in content, but is specific to particular people, places and times)- the interactant will look to the physical, socio-relational and perceptual environment for information; STATUS is important

• clear who is a member of the group or not (many HC c are collectivistic)

• Strong commitment in high context cultures

• High-context communication tends to be more indirect. Flowery language, humility, and elaborate apologies are typical

• Silence

• High-context business people may even distrust contracts and be offended by the lack of trust they suggest

HC cultures

“There is an unspoken belief among the Japanese in general that putting deep feelings into words somehow lowers or spoils their value and that understanding attained without words is more precious than that attained through precise articulation” (Sumiko Iwao)

Japanese manager explains his culture’s communication style to an American:

” We are a homogeneous people and don’t have to speak as much as you do here. When we say one word, we understand ten, but here you have to say ten to understand one.”

•LC c people are logical, linear, individualistic, and action-oriented = logic, facts, and directness

•Solving a problem means lining up the facts and evaluating one after another

• Decisions are based on fact rather than intuition + end with actions

•Communicators are expected to be straightforward, concise, and efficient in telling what action is expected

•Silence is uncomfortable

LC cultures

•To be absolutely clear, they strive to use precise words and intend them to be taken literally

•Explicit contracts conclude negotiations, different from communicators in high-context cultures who depend less on language precision and legal documents

• OBS! in HC- the doer and the deed are the same; gifts are fine; in LC: hate the deed but love the doer”- “Ta det inte personligt”

LC cultures

• Geert Hofstede Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind” (first 1966)

• Mental programs”- component of national culture

• survey- differences in thinking and social action

• About 100 000 pers from IBM

• First 40 countries; 50 countries (2001)

#2. Hofstede’s taxonomy (1966)

• Human behavior is not random, but to some extent predictable e.g. taxi driver, lecturer person’s mental programming: partly

unique, partly shared with others

universal

collective

individual

Three levels of human mental programming (Hofstede 2001:3)

• inherited vs learned from birth

• the middle (collective)- > learned

Culture is

• The collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another

• Mental programs are developed in childhood and shaped by culture; they contain ideas of culture expressed by dominant values

Manifestation of culture at different

levels of depthsymbols: words, gestures, pictures, objects

heroes- possess characteristics highly prized by people of particular culturerituals- collective activities that are technically unnecessary to the achievement of desired ends, but that within a culture are considered socially essential, keeping the individual bound within the norms of the collectivity

•1. Power distance

•2. Uncertainty avoidance

•3. Individualism-collectivism

•4. Masculinity-femininity•Relatively new! 5. Long term vs short term orientation (1991)

Dominant patterns of culture can be ordered along the following dimensions:

•

1. Power distance

QuickTime och enTIFF (okomprimerat)-dekomprimerare

krävs för att kunna se bilden.

Physical and mental characteristics (basic fact of human existence)

Social status and prestige Wealth Power Laws, rights, and rules

Inequality can occur:

• The power distance between a boss B and a subordinate S in a hierarchy is the difference between the extent to which B can determine the behavior of S and the extent to which S can determine the behavior of B (Hofstede 2001: 83)

Beroendeförhållandena i ett land

Maktdistans är i hur hög grad de mindre kraftfulla medlemmarna av institutioner och företag inom ett land förväntar sig eller accepterar att makt fördelas ojämlikt

PDI (MDI) index OH

Some implications of country power distance differences

Low PDI High PDI

inequality minimized needed- rightful place

hierarchy convenience existential inequality

subordinates/superiors like me of different kind

rights equal power holders entitled to privileges

powerful people

try to look less powerfule.g. in order to exercise power in Sweden you have not to look powerful

try to look as powerful as possible

older people neither respected nor feared respected and feared