Unit 2 Culture

7/30/2019 Unit 2 Culture

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CULTURE

1Unit 2 topic1 subtopic1


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2

Demographic factors

Changes in values/

attitudes

Changes in lifestyle

Attitudes toward work/spare time

Education levels

Work environment factors

Health concerns

Changes in income distribution

Fads and fancies.

Media pressure

Socio-cultural factors


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Culture is the art and other manifestations of humanintellectual achievement regarded collectively; it is thecustoms, civilization, and achievement of a particulartime or people; is it the way of life of a particularsociety or group.

Culture is the knowledge, beliefs, art, law, morals,customs, and other capabilities of one group,distinguishing it from other groups



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etiquette (e.g. greetings) individual customs (e.g. routines for sleeping,

bathing) ways of thinkingthe way people understand

their world and make sense of it, a sharedsystem of meanings.

Cultural programming deals with both valuesandpractices.

There are different layers of culturalprogramming: national culture, professionalculture, corporate culture.



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Culture is very important to thepractice ofinternational business.

Culture impacts the waystrategic moves are presented.

Culture influences decisions. Culture is the lens through which motivation occurs.

Management, decision making, and negotiations areall influenced through culture.

Culture influences nearly all business functions fromaccounting to finance to production to service.



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Culture is a key ingredient in the liability offoreign-ness

Ethnic, religious, class, age and other sources of

heterogeneity Individual variation within groups

Danger ofethnocentric stereotypes

Intra-culturalvs. cross-cultural behaviour



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LANGUAGE- verbal and non verbal

RELIGION Christianity, Islam,

Hinduism, Buddhism,Confucianism

NATIONAL CULTURE Cultural typologies and

differences



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Linguistics

or the meanings of words

Proxemics or the distance that speakers stand from oneanother

Pragmatics the cultural interpretations of words,gestures, and non verbal

Non verbal The gestures and body language thataccompanies spoken words

(that for language to be truly useful to business people,they must understand the uses, distances, gestures andinterpretations that accompany verbal communication )



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Religion contains key values and norms that arereflected in a way of life.

Religion influences international business

practices. People try to adopt business practicesthat will satisfy religious tenets without sacrificingmodern practices in business.



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Hofstede

Bond

Trompenaars[By and large, these classifications show similardimensions and classify countries in the same

clusters.]



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A study of IBM employees in 50 countries. Studying

values (the broad tendencies to prefer certain states over

others

Four dimensions

power distance

uncertainty avoidance

individualism/collectivism

femininity/masculinity



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Power Distance is the extent to whichhierarchical differences are accepted in society

and articulated in term of deference to higher

and lower social and decision levels inorganization.

Centralization, Org.Levels-Height, Supervisors,Wage Differentials, White, Blue Collar Work

[A bottom-up view of power differences]

Large: Mexico, South Korea, India

Small: U.S.



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Uncertainty Avoidance is the extent to whichuncertainty and ambiguity are tolerated and rely

on formal rules

Standardization, Structured activities, Writtenrules, Specialists, No risk tolerance andRitualistic behaviour

[A proxy for risk propensity and tolerance]

High (i.e. risk averse): Japan, Greece

Low (i.e. risk taking): U.S., Hong-Kong



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The tendency of people to look after themselves and their

immediate family versus belonging to groups or

collectives and looking after each other in exchange for

loyalty

Firm as family, Utilitarian decision making, Groupperformance

High individualism: U.S.

High collectivism: China, Brazil, Venezuela There is an association between collectivism and wealth

per capita



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Values concerning work goals and assertiveness

(masculinity) as opposed to personal goals

(getting along, having friendly atmosphere) and

nurturance (femininity). Sex Roles Minimized, More Women In Jobs,

Interpersonal Skills Rewarded, Intuitive SkillsRewarded, Social Rewards Valued

[A proxy for assertiveness] High: Brazil, Chile, Sweden

Low: Japan, Mexico



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Small PD, Weak UA Examples: USA, UK

Less formal rules, less unnecessary layers of hierarchy. Control and coordination through mutual adjustment of people throughinformal coordination

Small PD, Strong UA Examples: Israel, Austria, Germany

Clearly defined rules and procedures without imposing stronghierarchy

Large PD, Strong UA

Examples: Japan, Korea, Portugal, Mexico Pyramids, clear authority lines

Large PD, Weak UA Examples: Singapore, Hong Kong

Family structure. Allocation of duties, strongKartaism



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STRONG UA WEAK UA

SMALL PD Israel, Austriaand Germany

USA, UK

LARGE PD Japan, Korea,Portugal,Mexico

Singapore,

Hong Kong



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Individualism versus collectivism

Universalism versus Particularism

Neutral versus affective relationships

Specific versus diffuse relationships

Achievement versus ascription



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Universalism is the belief that ideas and

practices can be applied everywhere without

modification.

Universalistic: Germany, U.K. Particularism is the belief that circumstances

dictate how ideas and practices should be

applied.

Particularistic: China, Hong-Kong, Venezuela



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A neutral culture is one where emotions

are held in check (repressed)

Neutral: Japan, U.K.

An affective country is one in which

emotions are openly and naturally

expressed

Affective: Mexico, Netherlands,Switzerland



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Public versus private spaces In specific cultures people tend to have a larger public

area and small private area. They prefer to keep privatelife separate.

Highly mobile; Separate work and private life

Direct, open To the point may appear abrasive

In diffuse cultures the private space is usually largerwhile the public area is smaller and more guarded.

People come across as cool initially the private space ismore accessible.

Low mobility; Work and private life closely linked

Indirect, close and introvert

Flexibility is very important



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Achievement: people are accorded statusbased on how well they perform theirfunctions.

Achievement: U.K., Argentina An ascription culture in one in which status

is attributed based on who or what aperson is.

Ascription: China



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Important:

persistence

ordering relationship by status and observing this order

thrift having a sense of shame (sensitivity to social contacts)

Less important:

personal steadiness and stability

protecting your face respect for tradition

reciprocation of greetings, favours and gifts.



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Corporate Culture is the cultureadopted, developed and disseminatedin an organization.

Corporate culture can deviate fromnational norms, but that depends upon

the strength of culture and the valuesand practices tied to it.



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Ethnicity

Industry

Demographics

Ideology KEY CULTURAL ISSUES

Cultural Etiquette

Cultural Stereotyping Cultural Distance

Cultural Convergence and Divergence


Unit 2 Culture

Documents

Transcript of Unit 2 Culture