Chapter 2 International OB: Managing across cultures Culture- set of beliefs and values about what is desirable and

undesirable, socially derived taken-for-granted assumptions about how to think and act, beliefs and values about how a community of people should do and do act. Culture usually remains below the threshold of conscious awareness because it involves taken-for-granted assumptions about how one should perceive, think, act and feel. You are your culture, and your culture is you. Cultural influences on organizational behavior: Economic/ technological setting Political/legal setting Ethnic background Religion Mixing of societal and organizational cultures can produce interesting dynamics in multinational companies People from high context cultures rely heavily on situational cues for meaning when perceiving and communicating with another person. For e.g. in Japan nearly all communication takes place within an elaborate and vertically organized social structure. In low context cultures, written and spoken words carry the burden of shared meaning. People in low-context cultures read non-verbal messages from body language, dress, status and belongings. However they tend to double-check their perceptions and assumptions verbally. Cultural perception of time Monochromic people prefers to do one thing at a time. Preference for doing something at a time because time is limited precisely segmented and schedule driven. In monochromic cultures, time is treated like money; it is spent, saved or wasted. Polychromic time is when preference for doing more than one thing at a time because time is flexible and multi-dimensional. Low context cultures tend to run on monochromic time while high context culture tends to run on polychromic time. Interpersonal space Hall applied the term proxemics to the study of cultural expectations about interpersonal space. He specified 4 distance zones, intimate distance, personal distance, social distance and public distance.

Language what is the connection between the 300 languages spoken worldwide and information processing and behavior? Relativists claim each language fosters unique perceptions whereas Universalists claim each language fosters unique perceptions. Religion the following list gives the most important work-related value for each of five religions affiliations: Catholic consideration Protestant employer effectiveness Buddhists social responsibility Muslim continuity No religious preference professional challenge Thus there is no agreement across religions about the primary work value. Hence employers must be wise to consider the impact that religious differences appear to have on the values of employee groups. Cross cultural management is the understanding and teaching behavioral patterns in different cultures. There are 3 steps involved: 1.Understand cultural differences 2.Identify culturally appropriate management practices 3.Teach cross-cultural management lessons Key cultural dimensions in the Hofstede-Bond studies -Power distance: how much do people expect inequality in social institutions (e.g. family, work, organizations, government -Individualism-collectivism: how loose or tight is the bond between individuals and societal groups? -Masculinity-femininity: to what extent do people embrace competitive masculine traits (success, assertiveness, performance) or nurturing feminine traits (solidarity, personal relationships, service, quality of life) -Uncertainty avoidance: to what extent do people prefer structured vs unstructured situations? -Long-term vs short-term orientation: to what extent are people oriented toward the future by saving and being persistent vs being oriented toward the present and past by respecting tradition and meeting social obligation Practical lessons learnt from the study for international managers: -Due to varying cultural values, management theories and practices need to be adapted to the local culture particularly for made-in America management theories and Japanese management practices

-High long-term orientation was the only one of the five cultural dimensions to correlate positively with national economic growth. This correlation does not bode well for countries scoring lowest on this dimension -Industrious cultural values are a necessary but insufficient condition for economic growth. Markets and a supportive political climate also are required to create the right mix. -Cultural arrogance is a luxury individual and nations can no longer afford in a global economy. Why expatriates fail in foreign assignments: -The manager s spouse cannot adjust to new physical or cultural surroundings -The manager cannot adapt to new physical or cultural surroundings -Family problems -The manager is emotionally immature -The manager cannot cope with foreign duties -The manager is not technically competent -The manager lacks the proper motivation for a foreign assignment Global skills for global managers: Skills Description -Global perspective-Broaden focus from one or two countries to a global business perspective -Cultural responsiveness-Become familiar with many cultures -Appreciate cultural synergies-Learn the dynamics of multicultural situations -Cultural adaptability-Be able to live and work effectively in many different cultures -Cross-cultural communication-Engage in cross-cultural interaction every day whether at home or in a foreign country -Cross-cultural collaboration-Work effectively in multicultural teams where everyone is equal. =Acquire broad foreign experience Move up the career ladder by going from one fo reign country to another, instead of taking frequent home-country assignments Cross-cultural training is any type of structured experience designed to help departing employees adjust to foreign culture. Avoiding Cultural Shock- the best defense is comprehensive training, including intensive language study. -During first 6 months, when all is new, a support system needs to be put in -Avoiding reentry shock- 3 areas (work, social activities, general environment)