BUSINESS presentation
S99
NationalCultureLectureSlides.pdf
National Culture
Dr Lucy Rattrie
National Cultures in IB
A system of deeply founded values, attitudes and behaviours of the members of a society (Leung et al, 2005).
A kind of mental programming, or patterns of thought, feeling and action that each person acquires in childhood, and then applied throughout life
(Hofstede, 2001).
Various classifications e.g. Schwartz (1992, 1999), the World Values Survey and Inglehart (1997) and more recently the GLOBE study (House et al., 2004; Chhokar, Brodbeck, & House, 2008) – see reading for further info.
National Cultures in IB
Collective programming of the mind and manifests itself not only in values, but in more superficial ways: symbols, heroes, rituals.
Hofstede (2005)
2 minute activity – In pairs, think of reasons why it’s beneficial for understanding cultures in IB.
National Cultures in IB
Institutions can not be understood without considering
culture, and understanding culture presumes insights
into institutions (Hofstede, 2005)
Common culture applies to societies, not to nations…
yet… people refer to ‘typically American’, ‘typically
German’, ‘typically Japanese’ behavior (Hofstede, 2005)
Consider context, skills, behaviours, communications,
authority, how people think, feel, behave, live and work.
2 minute activity –
In pairs, think of rituals or habits that are typically American.
6-D cultural typology is the most often used. Initial study of 116,000 IBM employees who worked in 72 countries (n=53).
Hofstede’s work reveals underlying dimensions of culture:
• Power Distance Index (PDI) • Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) • Individualism vs. Collectivism (IDV) • Masculinity vs. Femininity (MAS) • *Long-term vs. short-term orientation (LTO) • *Indulgence vs. restraint (IND) – a new dimension
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions
Hofstede Dimensions
Power Distance (PD) • Degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and
expect that power is distributed unequally. • The fundamental issue here is how a society handles inequalities
among people. Individualism/Collectivism (Ind/Col) • Degree to which there is as a preference for a loosely-knit social
framework in which individuals are expected to take care of only themselves and their immediate families vs.
• A tightly-knit framework where individuals can expect their relatives or members of a particular ingroup to look after them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.
Masculinity/ Femininity • Masculinity represents a preference in society for achievement,
heroism, assertiveness, and material rewards for success. Society at large is more competitive.
• Its opposite, Femininity, stands for a preference for cooperation, modesty, caring for the weak and quality of life. Society at large is more consensus-oriented.
Uncertainty Avoidance • The dimension Uncertainty Avoidance has to do with the way that a
society deals with the fact that the future can never be known e.g. uncertainty.
• Should we try to control the future or just let it happen?
Hofstede Dimensions
Long-term vs. short-term orientation (pragmatism) • Extent a society maintains links to the past while dealing with
challenges of the present and future. • LTO (high scoring), prepare for the future being pragmatic. • STO (low scoring), maintain time-honoured traditions.
Indulgence/Restraint • Indulgence stands for a society that allows relatively free gratification
of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun.
• Restraint stands for a society that suppresses gratification of needs and regulates it by means of strict social norms.
Hofstede Dimensions
https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/
Mapping culture for countries
Guidance on culture for countries
China – Blue Greece – Purple UK - Green
Comparing cultures – a tool for IB
• Company bias, with a large MNC having a corporate culture • Time of data collection and analysis (1980s) • Non-exhaustive, just some cultural dimensions identified • Partial geographic coverage - Western bias (values western business
ideals) • Business culture, not values culture • Attitudinal rather than behavioral measures, with no connection
between employee attitudes and employee behaviors. • National level data generalized into individual behaviour.
Take 5: • Is there anything about this you would be careful with, when using it
in IHRM? • What do you think could be a criticism?
Hofstede Dimensions – be aware of criticism!
Answer the Q:
How do you think national culture influences international business?
Culture in today’s IB world
