614 dis 2

MBA 614

Cross-Cultural

Management THE GROUP AND THE INDIVIDUAL

INDIVIDUALISM VS. COLLECTIVISM

FEELINGS AND RELATIONSHIPS

AFFECTIVE VS. NEUTRAL CULTURES

OUTLINE

MODULE 2

Individualism vs.

Communitarianism

“Do we function as a group or as individuals?”

The degree to which people see themselves function

more as a community or more as individuals.

Individualism vs.

Collectivism

 This is our relation with the group

 Individualism: - autonomy and creativity

 Collectivism: – taking care of the group

International

Management

 Individualist or communitarian preferences affect

practices such as:

 Negotiations,

 Decision-making,

 Motivation,

 Pay-for-performance

The letter “I”

 The capital letter “I” is one of the most used

capitals in the English language.

Think about this . . .

 Does modernization imply individualism?

 Are we really self-made of did our parents,

teachers, families and friends have a hand in it?

 Is individualism a corporate requirement?

What is the “goal”?

 The I. culture sees the individual as “the end” and

improvements to communal arrangements as the

means to achieve it.

 The C. culture sees the group as its end and

improvement to individual capacities as a means

to that end. Yet if the relationship is truly circular.

 By definition circles never end. Every “end” is also the means to another goal.

I. vs. C. in International

Business

 It affects:

 Representation

 Status

 Translator

 Decision Making

Representation

 This is a very important issue for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution . . .

 From the reading, it should be evident that:

 C. cultures prefer plural representation.

 In the face of unexpected demands C. will wish to

confer with those back home

 Rarely does a single Japanese go to an important

negotiation

Status – Translators

 Status

 Unaccompanied people in C. cultures are assumed

to lack status

 Translators

 In Anglo-Saxon negotiations the translator is

supposed to be neutral

 The translator in C. Cultures…

Decision-making

 The I. society with its respect for individual opinion,

will frequently ask for a vote

 The C. society will intuitively refrain from voting.

I. C. & Motivation

 How to motivate people?

 Mr. Johnson believed that he and MCC knew what motivates people:

 extra salary reward paid to high-performing

individuals.

Practical tips for doing business in individualist and communitarian cultures

Recognizing the differences

Tips for doing business with:

When managing and being managed

MBA 614

Cross-Cultural

Management FEELINGS AND RELATIONSHIPS

AFFECTIVE VS. NEUTRAL CULTURES

In general . . .

 In general: overly neutral or affective (expressive)

cultures have problems doing business with each

other.

 The neutral person is easily accused o being ice-

cold ;

 The affective person is seen as out of control and

inconsistent.

Recognize the differences

 Refrain from making any judgments based on

emotions or the lack of them

 Neutral cultures are not necessarily cold or

unfeeling nor are they emotionally constipated or

repressed.

Degrees of

Affectivity/Emotional Display

 There are norms about acceptable levels of

emotional display and they can be much higher

in some countries than in others. The important

issue here is this : should emotion be exhibited or

separated in business relations?

This is what is happening

 Americans tend to exhibit emotion, yet separate it

from “objective” and “rational” decisions.

 Italians and south European: tend to exhibit and

not separate.

 Dutch and Swedes : tend not to exhibit and to

separate.

There is nothing “good” of “bad” about these

differences

Humor / Irony

 Humor is language dependent.

Interpretation . . .

 For the Anglo-Saxons

 For Latinos

 For Orientals

Tone of Voice (Cont.)

 For some neutral societies, ups and downs in

speech suggest that the speaker is not serious.

 However for most Latin societies this

“exaggerated” way of communicating shows

that you have your heart in the matter.

 For oriental societies tend to have a much more monotonous style, self-controlled. This way of

communicate for them shows respect.

The Spoken Words

 Language is often used quite differently in

different contexts. This has some serious differences in the meanings of individual words.

Non-verbal communication

Eye contact / Touching /

Space

 Nonverbal Communication

Congruency

 It is the relationship between current and past

patterns of behavior, as well as the harmony

between verbal and nonverbal communication.

References

 Trompenaars, F. & Hampden-Turner, Ch. (2013),

Riding The Waves of Culture