Issues such as the demographic imbalance, the disappearance of the Arabic language, competition over jobs, lagging education and a lack of sensitivity towards Emirati cultural and religious values, have been discussed in the past, but are now taking centre stage.
Last month, a two-day forum on national identity took place in Abu Dhabi to debate such issues openly for the first time. The conference, organized by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development, featured more than 30 high-level government and private-sector speakers. Participants spoke their minds.
This is the state of our nation. He advocated reducing foreign workers from any single country to a maximum 25 per cent of the population, according to press reports. He also suggested that property ownership be opened mostly to Emiratis and Arabs, and that increased childbearing should be a national strategy. The UAE is a young country, created in , but it attracted foreigners early on due to its strategic trade location and with the discovery of oil. During the period to , the population of nationals increased 4.
Prof al-Katbi says several factors have exacerbated this problem. Today, more are coming from the west, Russia or the Balkan countries, where the cultural values are markedly different.
You can limit labour. The problem now is that we are selling properties to expatriates. Foreigners should be welcomed on a temporary basis, not as permanent residents, she says. Why 99? Five years is enough. He suggested promoting national culture through such activities as desert camps, traditional dance, fishing and diving trips, and visits to elders. Long-term residency should be open to foreigners who have made a strong contribution to the UAE and, ideally, have familiarized themselves with its values.
Other Emiratis advocate making Arabic the main language for communication, and improving the public education system so Emiratis do not feel the need to attend private international schools. Watani, a UAE social develop- ment programme, works with schools and universities to strengthen Emirati identity among youth. In March, students from more than 20 universities across the UAE participated in a conference on national identity at the University of Sharjah.
Source: FT. How would you describe the national identity of the UAE. How do they distinguish themselves from other Arab countries?
These are concepts that allow variations between the attributes of cultures to be quantified. Attention will be given to the reflection of these cultural dimensions in the business environment. Concept 2. The notion of culture clusters is introduced, using the metaconfiguration proposed by the GLOBE project.
Although cultural groupings all undergo change over time according to the ways they deal with the challenges laid down by their environment, they each remain constant in the sense that they maintain certain notions about the world and attitudes towards their fellow humans. The characteristics that define each cultural group can offer international managers considerable insights when it comes, for example, to co-operating with companies from other cultural backgrounds.
If awareness of cultural differences is consciously raised, then the ability to analyse the effectiveness of employing business policies in differing cultural environments is considerably improved. A model from social anthropology Before examining cultural differences in the business context, it is worthwhile considering a comparative model developed in the early s that has been influential in other, more recent models relating to cross-cultural management.
Kluckholn and Strodtbeck devised a model based on responses to questions concerning the human condition. An adapted version of this is given in Table 2. This model, drawn from the field of social anthropology, suggests that a particular cultural grouping will display a certain orientation to the world in response to questions relating to those given in the table.
It does not claim, however, that all individuals within a particular grouping will respond in the same way. Moreover, it does not account for so-called sub-cultural groupings or for the way organizations in a particular cultural environment respond to the questions. Nevertheless, it does enable a comparison to be made along certain dimensions of different cultures.
Moreover, the model has proved to be the source of inspiration for many other researchers into cross-cultural matters, including Trompenaars see Chapter 5 and Hofstede. These value orientations influence not only attitudes to work, but also to other concerns in life.
As Diana Robertson suggests, if a culture has the future as its time focus, then it is likely to put more emphasis on the preservation of the environment for the sake of future generations than a culture that focuses on the past or present. Table 2. What is the modality of Spontaneous All-round Achieving human activity?
Source: adapted from Kluckholn and Strodtbeck : 11— His theories are not only frequently quoted and applied in cross-cultural research, but also used often indiscriminately in prescriptive works on dealing with other cultures. Despite, or maybe because of, its prominence, his work has provoked much criticism from theorists and practitioners alike, as we will see later.
Hofstede developed a dimensional approach to cross-cultural comparisons through his pioneering studies into how management is affected by differences between cultural groupings. He conducted extensive studies into national cultural differences, the first being across employees working in subsidiaries of a multinational corporation IBM in 64 countries.
Hofstede, who had founded and managed the personnel research department of IBM Europe, took a database of scores resulting from attitude surveys among IBM employees worldwide and re-analysed the figures. The surveys had been developed as a management tool to examine issues relating to the work situation determined beforehand through interviews with personnel.
The original respondents in these surveys were matched groups Hofstede, in seven occupational categories, five of them being non-managerial and two managerial. The research set-up, as well as the statistical methods used by Hofstede, was applied by other researchers to other groups, including students in 23 countries, commercial airline pilots in 23 countries and civil service managers in 14 countries.
These studies together identified and validated the first four dimensions of national culture differences described in this concept. Hofstede later developed a fifth dimension to account for value orientations that emerged from research carried out from a Chinese perspective. It should be stressed that these dimensions form a general model and are not necessarily applicable in specific circumstances.
They describe tendencies within a certain cultural grouping; they present orientations adopted by the majority of members of a cultural group- ing in normal situations. They do not account for cultural differences in absolute terms but in relative terms. When examining these cultural dimensions this book will focus on the workplace, i. It was developed by Hofstede on the basis of earlier research concerning preferences for power among different cultures and, in particular, on research identifying centralization as a characteristic of organizations Pugh, Essentially, this dimension reflects how a culture relates to authority of one form or another.
In relational terms, the comparisons made between cultures on this dimension convey the extent to which subordinates are dependent on their bosses. The extremes of this cultural dimension are characterized in Table 2.
How subordinates view their superiors depends on a combination of factors, and this combination can vary considerably from one culture to another. In some cultures the status of superiors is important: their position in the hierarchy, their age, their family and their connections. In short, it may be that who you are is more important than what you do — or vice versa.
This leads to the question of how subordinates deal with their superiors, regardless of how the latter are chosen. If they show great respect for status and life experience, they may be reluctant to show initiative and prefer to be given instructions instead, which are then accepted without question.
They are inaccessible and enjoy privileges their power gives them. If things go wrong, the subordinates — who are dependent on their superiors — are usually to blame. In low power distance cultures, on the other hand, effective managers are more oriented towards the people in an organization and allow them to participate more in making decisions. The relations between subordinates and superiors are more horizontal than vertical: superiors are accessible and try to make out they are less powerful than they are.
If anything goes wrong, the system is more to blame rather than the indi- viduals involved. To what extent are individuals in society autonomous and to what extent are they embedded in the group? This particular construct, apparent in ancient civilizations and to be found at the heart of much philosophical thought about the nature of the state and the individual, continues to be given much attention in many disciplines, particularly sociology, anthropology and psychology.
The extremes of this dimension are characterized in Table 2. This dimension is essentially about the importance that a cultural grouping attaches to relationships. Some cultures place more importance on personal relationships rather than the task to be performed or the deal to be completed. These relationships may well be within an extended family, so that blood-ties guarantee trust and loyalty.
Relations outside the family need to be built on face-to-face social encounters. Loyalty to those within the circle of relations and friends is considered essential and is rewarded in many ways. Collective achievement is the focus, rather than the attainment of individual goals and careers. Indeed, some form of personal sacrifice may be necessary for the sake of the common good.
In individualist cultures, the focus is more on rights and the achievements of the individual. Individuals are expected to achieve their own goals and to do so are willing, if necessary, to undergo contractual obligations.
Managers expect employees to fulfil the terms of a con- tract and vice versa. Close ties may develop between the two, but this does not diminish Table 2.
Within this sort of environment, competition between individuals is encouraged, thus allowing them to meet their goals and needs, as long as these are in line with those of the organization within which they are working.
Hofstede does stress rather traditional roles of the sexes: masculine values such as achievement and exercise of power are used to characterize cultures along this dimension as are feminine values: caring for others, being less self-centred.
Nevertheless, when a culture is examined in terms of the work environment, this dimension allows clear distinctions to be made between cultures in terms of their attitude to work. The characterization of the two extremes of this dimension show how dramatic these distinctions can be Table 2. Highly masculine cultures see work as a challenge, offering the possibility of high rewards and recognition.
The stress is on performance, on competing with others to achieve goals. Highly feminine cultures give more attention to the broader picture, particularly to rela- tionships with others in the workplace. Quality of life is a prime concern, not just in terms of how the work is performed but also in terms of what the work achieves. To what extent do they feel threatened by ambiguous, risky situations?
To what extent do they prefer predictability in their lives, clearly prescribed rules and procedures in their work? Uncertainty-avoiding cultures perceive life as a battle against anxiety and stress. They may be willing to accept familiar risks but not the danger of the unknown. To that end they tend to resist innovation or anything that deviates from the known. Cultures with low uncertainty avoidance are not disconcerted by ambiguity, and tolerate differences generally. They perceive that there are not always answers to problems and that laws are not always effective or necessary in dealing with deviation — they may be changed if deemed ineffective.
The two extremes of this dimension are characterized in Table 2. Managers in uncertainty-avoiding cultures would be expected to maintain the rules and regulations of an organization, to have precise answers to questions and to give exact instructions. Managers in cultures with low uncertainty avoidance would be expected to uphold or establish rules only as absolutely necessary most problems can be resolved with- out strict rules anyway ; managers cannot possibly be the source of all wisdom and may need to draw others into their decision-making who are more competent.
Two dimensions, power distance and uncertainty avoidance, are particularly important in this respect. As Hofstede and Hofstede themselves say: Both dimensions help answer two fundamental questions: Who should have the power to decide what?
What rules or procedures should be followed in order to attain the desired ends? Hofstede and Hofstede, 63 Table 2.
The fifth dimension: short-term versus long-term orientation The dimensions outlined above were supplemented by this, fifth, dimension. Hofstede maintains that this dimension was not found in the data used to determine the original dimensions because the questions used in the surveys were designed by Westerners.
This was initiated by Michael Bond and associates who were attempt- ing to measure value orientations from a Chinese perspective. The instrument which they developed — the Chinese Values Survey CVS — contained an element called the Confucian dynamism scale, reflecting those values upheld by Confucius and his followers.
Confucius, born in bc in the province of Lu, China, was a political figure, educator and philosopher. He lived during a time when China was divided into small states locked in endless conflicts and power struggles. He spent many years travelling from state to state, speaking for peace and universal love among humankind. His teachings, preserved by his followers, form the basis of subsequent Chinese thought on how the ideal man should live and interact, as well as how society and government should be formed.
Humans, Confucius believed, could eventually reach a state of perfectibility through learning from the Chinese past and attain a state of orderliness and peace by adopting the traditional values of their forefathers. It was these forefathers who had a perfect understanding of the order in heaven and on earth: by following their rituals, humans could create within themselves the same wisdom.
The principles of Confucian teaching are summarized by Hofstede as follows: 1. The stability of society is based on unequal relationships between people. The family is the prototype of all social organizations. A person is not primarily an individual; rather, he or she is a member of a family. Virtuous behaviour towards others consists of not treating others as one would not like to be treated oneself the Chinese golden rule is negatively phrased!
Although all the values to be found along the dimension are taken from the teachings of Confucius, those deemed short-term in nature are oriented towards the past and present and are more static; whereas those deemed to be long-term are oriented towards the future and are more dynamic.
It should be noted that one end of the dimension is not to be considered better or worse than the other — they are simply orientations towards life. A short-term orientation includes fostering virtues related to past and present, especially respect for tradition, preservation of face and fulfilling social obligations. A long-term orientation includes fostering virtues oriented towards the future, especially perseverance and thrift, ordering relationships by status, and having a sense of shame.
In relation to the business context, this dimension can be characterized as in Table 2. In his study of overseas Chinese, Gordon Redding shows how Confucian dynamism works and how the values in this continuum are reflected in the way the Chinese run their businesses outside China.
The companies are owned by the family and usually run by one dominant family member. They are kept small to enable this family control to persist since non-family employees are unlikely to have the necessary loyalty to the enterprise. If such companies decide to co-operate with other companies they do so through a network of personal relations based on extended family members, village, clan or ethnic group within the Chinese population.
The two virtues are combined in the way the Chinese move their capital round the world to take advantage of low risk and high profitability. Bond chose to label these values as Confucian since they generally reflect the teachings of Confucius.
Confucius nevertheless permeates the values of a number of countries in Asia, as Chapter 4 will show. These deal with the criticism that using surveys to measure culture is unsuitable, that using nations as units of analysis is not the most appropriate, that using only surveys at one company — IBM — as the basis of his research cannot yield information about entire national cultures. Finally, he responds to the reproach made that culture cannot be boiled down to so few dimensions.
Surveys are suitable, he maintains, but should not be the only method used. He agrees that nations are not always appropriate units of analysis, but they are the only sort of unit available.
When it comes to the criticism concerning the use of data from IBM, he reminds his critics of the detailed and thorough research methods used, the well-matched samples obtained and the correlations with other data, including many replications of his research.
As for the reproach made that his five dimensions cannot possibly tell the whole story, his reaction is, basically: if others can find more dimensions that are independent of those he has devised and which can be validated — fine.
A number of critics point out that the respondents could not be called representative because they were taken from only one location in each country and from only one company IBM and its carefully selected employees. Hofstede, however, considered this to be an advantage to his research because the company is homogeneous in nature, and this allowed a comparison to be made of cultural values across the subsidiaries.
By ensuring that respondents to his questionnaires shared one organizational culture as well as one occupational culture if their responses were matched , Hofstede believed he had been able to isolate nationality: The only thing that can account for systematic and consistent differences between national groups within such a homogeneous multinational population is nationality itself.
Hofstede, To make the assumption that there is homogeneity within IBM is, for many critics, a questionable one, particularly if, as Hofstede maintains, you can separate its organizational and occupational cultures from the national cultures present.
Can one really talk of one organizational culture at IBM? Hofstede had not investigated this question carefully and acknowledged in his later work that organizations could contain different types of organ- izational culture. Even if the idea is accepted of one organizational culture within IBM, is such a culture, as Hofstede maintains, to do with perceived common practices rather than the values of the employees concerned?
This issue is discussed further in Concept 2. Even if Hofstede has matched the results of the survey at IBM on an occupational basis, can one talk of a homogeneic occupational culture in the company? As for cultural homogeneity, McSweeney argues that if it is important for there to be a sameness in organizational and occupational terms, then the national culture should display a similar homogeneity.
However, the results of the surveys show considerable variation within the samples in each country. Therefore, according to McSweeney, rather than talking of cultural uniformity whereby each inhabitant of a nation embodies the same cultural values, Hofstede can only resort to using cultural average tendencies when comparing nations.
McSweeney, The dimensions Hofstede uses to delineate cultural differences have also undergone many critical reviews. There is also doubt expressed about the way Hofstede differentiates between cultures on each dimension according to their position on a continuum. McSweeney takes up this point and refers to the work of scholars who maintain that the opposite ends of any dimension — such as individualism and collectivism — co-exist in all of us. Situations cause one or the other end to come to the fore.
Even though Hofstede himself acknowledges that this unit of measurement is not perfect, objections continue to be raised about the validity of national cultural profiles, particularly in the light of recent world developments. Is it now to be regarded as a subculture within a much larger entity?
What about the cultural profile of former Yugoslavia? Then there is the question of Belgium. This very small country has recently received much attention within Europe because of the political tensions there.
The minute programme, in which broadcasts. What would happen to this cultural profile if Flanders the Flemish region of Belgium or Wallonia the French-speaking region actually declared independence from the rest of Belgium see Spotlight 2.
GLOBE is a long-term programme designed to conceptualize, operationalize, test and validate a cross-level integrated theory of the relationship between culture and societal, organizational and leadership effectiveness. The first two phases of the project are described in House et al. Dimensions of societal cultural variation During the first phase of the project, the investigators developed a range of dimensions of societal cultural variation, a number of which have their origins in those identified by Hofstede.
This was done by asking respondents questions as given in the second column of Table 2. The chapter featuring India includes Table 2. These and other issues are touched upon in Chapter 4 where features of non-Western societies are described.
In Figure 2. The reader will see that all the scores in Table 2. All the societies covered, it appears, want more equality than there actually is. This goes particularly for China. Although Chinese managers show themselves to be very tolerant of inequality of power in society, they consider that power should be spread more equally. Chhokar et al. Africa Black Sample Power Distance 2. Pressures from outside China, on the other hand, are forcing these leaders to become even more competitive, to consider merit rather than superiority of age or position.
This question of competing values will be examined further in Concept This particular finding with regard to China reflects those of the GLOBE project generally: societal values and practices had a significant effect on organizational culture on all nine dimensions of organizational cultural practice. This went for all three industrial sectors and all the medium to large companies being investigated.
Although a large number of respondents were involved in the project, multinational employees were not involved in the surveys. They were excluded in order to ensure that responses came only from representatives of the country in question. When re-analysing their scores he found a significant correlation between the dimensions. After using factor analysis, he was able to reduce their number to five. From dimensions to clusters When faced with a cornucopia of cultures, it is natural to try to establish some sort of order that allows cultures to be clustered in terms of their similarities.
Doing so enables those involved in multicultural operations to gain a perspective, be it a very general one, of similarities and differences between cultures. House et al. Religion, languages, geography and ethnicity are considered relevant factors, as are work-related attitudes and values. Historical developments and economic similarities are also seen as playing a crucial role in the clustering.
The result is a configura- tion on an East—West axis, with the clusters arranged according to calculations relating to the average distance in societal culture dimensions The Anglo and Sub-Saharan clusters are placed in the centre since they show mid-level scores on the nine dimensions used.
The countries featuring in the clusters are given in Table 2. Conclusion This chapter has explained the cultural dimensions of Hofstede and the relationship between national cultural values and those of organizational cultures. The chapter has also explained how the researchers involved in the GLOBE project have expanded this five-dimension model to eighteen and used a survey method which allows for a better understanding of the relations between organizational practices and social values.
This dimension is of special significance bearing in mind the increasing importance in current business of the relations between the Western countries and those in the East, especially China.
Each chapter will take aspects of each cluster relating to history, religion and work-related values and practices. Chapter 3 will consider European clusters, as well as Russia and Turkey. This chapter will also include the American and Australasian continents. Chapter 4 will cover the clusters in other parts of the world. This chapter has described cultural dimensions that can give insight into differences between national cultures.
What are the advantages and limitations when using these dimensions to describe organizational cultures? Which of these dimensions — and the others referred to in this chapter — do you consider to be most relevant to the study of culture in the business context?
Explain your choice. What added value does this extra dimension give to measuring the effect of culture in the business context? Look up the profile of your country, as given on the Geert Hofstede website www. Further reading Burns, R. This book provides a reference point for Western business people visiting Asian countries.
Burns gives assistance in determining the nuances of cultural behaviour, expectations and values, and the effect of these issues on business activities. It has been com- pletely rewritten. His co-author, his son Gert Jan, has hands-on experience teaching the subject to students and practitioners.
McSweeney, B. Hofstede responded to McSweeney in the following article: Hofstede, G. Chhokar, J. Hickson, D. House, R. Pugh, D. Redding, G. Robertson, D. Ronen, S. In contrast, tigers walk alone, and are in grave danger of extinction. The message for business is this: in the modern world, we must collaborate or die.
Too often, however, in many UK companies, successful collaboration — both internal and external — happens by accident rather than design, contrasting vividly with many overseas rivals. There are good reasons why effective collaboration is growing rapidly. Business operations are becoming steadily more flexible at every level of the organization.
Non-core activities are outsourced, and procurement has become a worldwide activity centred on China. Satisfying customers at home demands an unprecedented level of co-operation unimpeded by rigid hierarchies and departmental boundaries.
Flatter organizations depend not on authority but on teamwork for effective action, and networks of indi- viduals may stretch halfway round the globe and connect only electronically. The truly multinational executive, able to work effectively anywhere in the world with any nationality, remains a rare beast, and ordinary staff therefore need to understand and learn from different cultures to achieve the right level of collaboration.
A foreign joint venture or alliance, for example, may be agreed in Mumbai with great enthusiasm at board level, but the hoped-for results will only materialize if operating staff at all levels in Birmingham are ready and able to work with their opposite numbers. Wherever it occurs, the failure to understand can be disastrous. Rover is a tragic example.
Back in the s, when shop-floor collaboration in the UK car industry was near zero, Rover nonetheless managed to form a partnership with the Japanese group Honda to fill its vital new model programme. But the arrogance of the Rover managers and the lack of a learning culture prevented them from obtain- ing the real benefits of the relationship, according to Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, head of the Warwick Manufacturing Group.
Later, in , when BMW bought the Rover business, communication with the German managers was even worse exacerbated by political infighting on the German side. Failure was the inevitable and bitter result. No doubt, ex-Rover patriots today will see the somewhat similar collapse of the DaimlerChrysler link as salve for wounded pride.
Rather like Rover, DaimlerChrysler was dogged by poor collaboration and infighting, which stemmed in part from national cultural differences and traditions between German and US managers. Interest in their work is currently reviving after some big companies, including IBM, found that trying to impose a single corporate culture around the globe did not lead to better collaboration. One is individualism, defined as the degree to which ties between individuals — family as well as business colleagues — are loose or tight.
The UK score as assessed by Prof Hofstede is 89 out of a possible , indicating a high degree of individualism, exceeded only by the US with Germany is a little above the European average at 67, but Japan scores On another dimension, uncertainty avoidance — the degree to which individuals feel uncomfortable in unstructured environments — the Japanese score 92, the Germans 65, the Americans 46 and the Brits As immigration grows, and London expands even further as an international financial centre, it becomes an important skill to be able to work effectively with and through executives of widely different backgrounds.
Add in personal fiefdoms, ancient IT systems and complex and inappropriate organization and reward structures, and effective collaboration will sink rapidly. Wadia finds that with modern technology, companies can set up the infrastructure and telecommunications links between units relatively easily. What is more difficult and time-consuming are the soft issues, such as training UK managers to work together, and with foreign counterparts, and vice-versa. The more sophisticated the communications systems, the more room there is for misunderstanding.
Ants have no such problems. Give concrete examples, if possible. Pulling out all the stops A Canadian packaging company wished to extend its activities in the area of convenience foods. It had pinpointed one particular area where it could supply pizza boxes to half a dozen chains of pizza restaurants which operated home delivery services. These chains relied on local suppliers for their pizza boxes and were unhappy with the products supplied, the irregular delivery and, above all, the cost.
Negotiations by email and phone had taken place and a deal seemed imminent. The Chinese were to visit Canada and the Canadians were to fly to China two weeks later. The Canadian company decided to pull out all the stops to give their visitors a reception they would never forget. They arranged an elaborate welcome ceremony in a five-star hotel, to be followed by an authentic Chinese dinner.
Considerable attention was paid to all the details involved — some of the ingredients for the meal had even been specially imported for the occasion.
Despite the lavish words of praise from the Canadians in front of the hundred guests present, and the bonhomie everyone tried to engender, the Chinese remained reticent and very formal in their behaviour. During the meal the Chinese did not seem to appreciate the effort put into the food they were served. Moreover, they said very little and the attempts by the Canadians to keep the social conversation going eventually ended in silence on both sides.
Despite being promised an exotic Chinese floor-show after the dinner, the delegation made their excuses they were tired after their journey and quietly retired to their rooms. The Canadians were surprised and disappointed. What had gone wrong? Why were the Canadian hosts surprised by the behaviour of the Chinese? How do you think the Canadians expected the Chinese to behave?
Why do you think the Chinese behaved the way they did? If you had to choose a word to describe Chinese culture, what would that word be? Read the information on the fifth dimension one more time. Figure 2. The following two chapters will take aspects of each of the GLOBE clusters relating to history, religion and work-related values and practices, and will feature certain countries within each cluster.
Chapter 3 will deal with clusters within the left hemisphere and the related cultures in Western European, American, and Australasian countries. It will also consider two coun- tries, Russia and Turkey, which have been placed in two different clusters in the right hemisphere of Figure 2.
We consider that Russia — along with the other countries placed in the East Europe cluster — should be included in our deliberations concerning Europe as a whole.
Turkey is a similar case: although the GLOBE project has positioned this country in the Middle East cluster, we believe that it should be included in this chapter, particularly on account of its application for membership of the European Union. All Rights Reserved 3 This chapter explores the notion of culture and shows that individuals in a group form a culture that can be national, organisational or professional. All Rights Reserved 5 Concept 1.
All Rights Reserved 7 Norms and values The concept of culture has three layers: 1. Norms rules and values: - Every culture has its own system - Rules determine what is good or bad e. Muslim women wearing short sleeve shirt is bad , acceptable standard in the society - Norms are standards that are acceptable within a society e. Sex before marriage is unacceptable - Values - what is important to the society e. All Rights Reserved 9 Norms and values The concept of culture has three layers: 3.
All Rights Reserved 11 Politics and norms and values What is important in the forming process of a European culture? But still Muslim. Today, most foreigners come from the West, Russia or the Balkan countries. They are not aware of the culture of the UAE. Examine the results and answer the questions below Figure 1. Figure 1. Source: based on figures given in Laurent, Using the percentages given in the above figure, how would you characterise the attitudes of Swedes, Germans and Japanese towards the role of the manager in an organisation?
The reactions to this dilemma as given in Figure 1. North European and Anglo-Saxon countries, for example, see managers more as problemsolvers, while Latin and Asian countries see them more as experts. In the article from which the figures used in Figure 1. See pages 77—79 in: Laurent, A.
Read these pages before asking for answers to the question. Look up the scores of these same countries on the remaining cultural dimensions on www. It should be emphasised that these scores only reflect general tendencies and cannot be applied to individuals. How could score differences on these other dimensions also influence collaboration between the four cultures mentioned?
Give concrete examples, if possible. Relatively speaking, Japan as medium power distance. Collaboration could be influenced, e. The question of building trust. For the Western countries, trust often built on personal credibility, personality, persuasive techniques. In Japan, trust built more on position within an organisation, extended contact and consistency between words and action in the longer term.
The question of giving and maintaining face during interaction: the Japanese CEO, for example, would expect to be shown deference and to show deference towards his counterpart. Aspects of this are dealt with in Chapters 15, 16 and 17 which examine negotiations, team work and conflict management. A further point, which applies across the board: the nature of communication and to all cultures engaged: any collaboration requires an ongoing dialogue in which partners can learn about each other and engage in a productive way.
The question then arises whether the partners can succeed in this process — the Japanese with their high-context form of communication, the others with their lower-context form. This aspect of communication is referred to in the introduction to Part One and dealt with in detail in Chapter Can the group resolve attitudes towards gender: is there to be a clear differentiation between genders?
LTO Japanese score on this dimension is particularly high. Are the Western partners able to think in the longer term? NB reference to Concept 1. The dimensions are intended to characterise general tendencies within a culture and do not necessarily help to explain differences between professional cultures.
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