Zhichen documents

Dissecting culture and its application to business

What we’ll cover 1. What is the nature of culture? 2. Variety and variation in culture 3. How have globalisation, migration and diversity impacted on

national culture? 4. Use these insights to critically evaluate models of national culture 5. Culture traps: problems and pitfalls to avoid 6. Dynamic models of culture 7. Groupwork exercise: apply your cultural knowledge to business

practice

1. What is culture?

Read the following descriptions of national values for China, India, Britain

• What do these descriptions tell us about the nature of culture?

i.e. what kinds of things do we call ‘culture’?

• How long might it take an outsider to understand these values?

So what is the nature of culture? “a complex frame of reference that consists of patterns of traditions, beliefs, values, norms, symbols, and meanings that are shared to varying degrees by interacting members of a community” (Ting-Toomey, 1999, p.10)

traditions rituals, ceremonies, rites of passage beliefs, values, norms underlying principles governing behaviours symbols language (verbal, non-verbal) also images meanings Interpretations of symbols held by members ‘shared to varying degrees’ not every single member of the culture to the same degree! ‘a frame of reference’ for making sense of the world

Culture is socially constructed; a basis for shared, collective identities

What are the key words to highlight in this definition?

Another definition

“the coherent, learned, shared view of a group of people about life’s concerns that ranks what is important, furnishes attitudes about what things are appropriate, and dictates behaviour” (Varner & Beamer, 2011, p.5)

coherent an entire, consistent world view learned we are not born with it; culture is transmitted view of a group agreed, shared views of a society

What are the key words to highlight in this definition?

The Iceberg of Culture

In awareness Visible

Out of conscious awareness

Invisible

Self-awareness The Iceberg of Culture Fine arts Literature

Drama Classical music Popular music Folk dancing Games Cooking Dress

Notions of modesty Conceptions of beauty Ideas about child raising

Rules of descent Cosmology Relationship to animals Courtship practices

Patterns of superior/subordinate relations Definitions of sin

Conceptions of justice Notions of leadership Incentive to work Tempo of work

Attitudes to the dependent Approaches to problem solving

Patterns of group decision making Eye behaviour Conceptions of cleanliness

Theories of disease Conception of status mobility

Roles in relation to status by age, sex, class, occupation, kinship etc

Definition of insanity Nature of friendship Conception of self

Patterns of visual perception Body language Facial expression

Notions of logic and validity Patterns of handling emotions Conversational patterns

Conception of past & future Ordering of time

Preference for competition or cooperation Social interaction rate

Notions of adolescence Arrangements of physical space

The onion of culture

The iceberg and the onion are static models of culture They view culture as

• a collection of things (values, beliefs, views, assumptions …) • shared by a group of people

Static models give rise to a popular view of culture in business • Identify people from 2 different countries who need to do business with each other • Look for likely problems/misunderstandings arising from their country of origin. • Provide tips and advice

So what is the problem with that?

2. Varieties and variation in culture

Varieties and levels of culture

The idea of ‘national culture’ is not straightforward

§ National boundaries rarely coincide with the boundaries of culture § National borders are politically determined,

artificially created, and shifting

• Today most “national” cultures are a collection of several, separate cultures.

Layers of culture: infra-national

Language religion

ethnic regional differences

are some of the main ways in which a national culture breaks down into a number of separate cultures. • Some examples to think about: Nigeria

China India Spain

What other country examples can you think of that illustrate this point?

Layers of culture: supra-national

Cultural identity can include identification with a region or group above the level of nation

• An example to think about: Europe

• What other country examples illustrate this point?

MENA region/Arab world?

For citizens of many countries, cultural identity may be multi- levelled:

•Supra-national identities •Infra-national identities

Layers of culture: sub-cultures In every society there are also many other types of sub-cultures, defined by, for example:

social class gender sexual orientation occupation age (youth culture)

Members of these subcultures vary in certain distinctive ways from the norms and values of the national culture (spreading around the central tendency )

3. How have globalisation, migration and diversity

impacted on national culture?

Multi-cultural societies

Worldwide migration contributes to diversity and change

Cultures shift from homogenous to heterogenous

An example … Long-established immigrant communities in the UK

British people of • Indian and Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin • Caribbean and African origin • east Asian origin • European origin

Most may identify comfortably with both British and their heritage culture.

‘Super-diverse’ cities

Since the early 90s, the scale of migration has escalated to a point where ‘multiculturalism’ has now been replaced by ‘superdiversity’.

Cities are drivers of language innovation and change: o they are working models of the future o places of multi-culturalism and multi-lingualism o places of young people working out new identities

Bi-culturalism and cultural hybrids

• Large global cities give us the opportunity to understand how migrants develop multiple cultural identities, as they learn to engage with a new language and culture.

• Bi-culturals navigate different worlds in their working and social lives, constantly switching cultural frames.

• They find different ways of relating to their heritage (original) and host (new) culture

4. Why should we be critical of models of national

culture?

the problem with ‘national culture’

Globalisation (plus technology) à has given rise to communication and relationships that cross and blur boundaries of culture, nationality, ethnicity, religion …

Many people are simultaneously members of different cultural groups

Survey findings based on national culture capture only the central tendency.

Nonetheless, the concept of national culture can be useful: • it provides a framework for understanding general or

central tendencies that operate in a country. • and a framework for multinational companies to operate

Limitations of data based on ‘national’ culture

5. Culture traps: problems & pitfalls to avoid

Quick quiz 1. All people within a cultural community

are the same, and do and believe the same things

TRUE / FALSE 1. A culture has a clear boundary and is

distinct from other cultures TRUE / FALSE

2. An individual’s culture is fixed, stable, and unchanging

TRUE / FALSE

Some things culture is NOT: Culture traps • Homogenous • All people within a cultural community are the same and do & believe the

same things False Cultures allow all sorts of differences; they are not uniform.

• Separate & distinct from other cultures • A culture has a clear boundary and is distinct from other cultures. False

Cultures share features and borrow influences from other cultures; they overlap, merge & blend.

• Static • Culture is fixed, stable, never changes. False

All cultures are dynamic and change over time; they shift & develop in the modern world more rapidly through influence of other cultures.

6. Dynamic models of culture

Dynamic models of culture

Culture as a process, not an entity: practices with which people engage Argues that: • culture cannot be measured or quantified • Culture is changing, dynamic and evolving • Culture is not a ‘thing’ we ‘get’ from our parents and families, but

something we ‘do’: that we actively create and can change. Not a ’thing’, but a tool for thinking/discovering/finding out about features that certain groups of people may share that may be similar or different from other groups of people.

Dynamic models of culture aim to avoid: • Essentialising viewing a cultural group as having definable ‘essences’, or fixed attributes

• Reductionism describing a complex phenomenon in simple terms

• Generalising assuming all people within a cultural community are the same, and do & believe the same things

• Stereotyping

7. Applying your cultural knowledge to business

practice

Watch the interview and answer the questions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W08H4sv6rLI

1. How have the needs of global business with regard to cultural knowledge changed in recent years?

2. What is ‘cultural relativity’ in business? 3. Is it true that globalisation is resulting in cultures becoming more

similar (homogenised)? 4. How can cultural differences lead to serious misunderstandings

when we give/receive feedback (performance appraisal)? 5. What are 2 key cultural differences in how we build trust in business

partnerships? 6. What are some key cultural differences in how we express

disagreement in the workplace?