Culture and management

Résumé du document

Hofstede?s contribution concerning "Culture differences" is so important that his main theories must be presented in this essay. Geert Hofstede?s work resulted from a large scale research program (through questionnaires) involving 160 000 employees from the IBM Corporation in 40 countries. The author identified four dimensions of culture (linked to national cultural difference): power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism and masculinity. He also used indexes to measure the different levels in each dimension and studied cultural differences at different levels: general norm, family, school, and workplace. I will focus my essay on the workplace level, which is the most important one for future managers. Power distance: it is "the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally" . The PDI (Power Distance Index) allows measuring this degree and permits to compare several countries.

Extraits

[...] Concerning individualism and collectivism at the workplace, there is much to tell because it can change a lot the way of managing people. In both cultures, workers are supposed to work on an economic way, but in a collectivist culture, the main feature is that the employee belongs to a group and that he or she acts according to the interest of this group. The main features of individualist way of thinking at workplace are the followings: relationships between employers and employees is a contract and is expected to bring mutual advantages; hiring and promotion decisions are based on skills and rules; management is management of individuals and the tasks prevails over relationship. [...]

[...] These theories have not to be used as magic wand” but rather as tools for a better understanding of cultural differences. That is why it is so important for managers to know them in order to improve cross-cultural relationships at the workplace. Bibliography Books Hofstede Geert, Cultures and Organisations, Intercultural Cooperation and its Importance for Survival, Software of the Mind, Profile books, London p. Mullins Laurie J. Management and Organisational Behaviour, Prentice Hall p. Articles Bluedorn A., Felker Kaufman C., Lane P., many things do you like to do at once? [...]

[...] An introduction to Monochronic and Polychronic Time”. Academy of Management Executive Vol N°4. Gallagher The Value Orientations Method: a tool to help understand Cultural Differences. Journal of Extension. December 2001. Volume 39. Number 6 in: http://www.joe.org/joe/2001december/tt1.html Kanter RM., Corn R.I., Do Cultural Differences Make a business Differences? Do Contextual factors Affecting Cross-cultural Relationship Success. Journal of Management Development, Vol pp.5-23. [...]

[...] So if we want to become good managers in an international company, we must understand that people, according to their origins, do no behave, do not think, and do not react the same way. Thus, these people can't be uniformly managed. Moreover, problems of mistrust (including stereotyping and miscommunication) may occur. The three main reasons for studying international organizational behaviour are to gain competitive advantage, to improve understanding of behaviour in contemporary organizations and modern society and finally to appreciate other cultures. It is the reason why, for a manager, it is so important to know more about theoretical approaches concerning culture Management. [...]

[...] Some countries (such as France, Spain) are classified as “medium countries”. To illustrate this theory, we can take this example of Americans doing business with Chinese: they will find it take more time as usually and will have difficulties to decode non-verbal communication. Moreover, American will try to negotiate a rules-based contact whereas Chinese will try to implement a mutually beneficial reciprocal relationship. Conclusion For an international manager, improving intercultural management directly depends on improving understanding of how culture influences behaviour in organizations. [...]