Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chap 4
Chap 4
Culture Environment
FTU – Foreign Trade University
Perceptions of each other
Telling the truth
Queuing
Transportation
Child
Senior’s daily life
Noise level inside a restaurant
Connections and Contacts
Punctuality
Boss
and many others….
EAST - WEST
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
Prof. Geert Hosftede
Values
Norms
and Beliefs
…being shared among group of people
ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
- Religion
- Language
- Aesthetic
- Political - economic philosophies
- Education
- Social structure
LANGUAGE
3,000 languages and as many as 10,000 dialects worldwide
Language can be a competitive weapon
Language serves at the window to the culture of a society
Verbal or non-verbal is a very important skill for Business people
4 Main religious: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism
“Master Kong”: 551 – 478 BC
Arab Countries
Germany
Australia
Canada
US
UK
India
Low Denmark
Singapore
Example
A company from France (high uncertainty avoidance) is considering investing in
Denmark (low uncertainty avoidance)
3) Allow employees the autonomy and space to execute their tasks on their own; only
guidelines and resources will be expected of him
Individualism
“The tendency of people to look
after themselves and their
immediate family and neglect the
needs of society”
Low individualism High individualism
• Individuals learn to think in terms of • Individuals learn to think in terms of
“we” “I”
• Diplomas provide entry to higher • Diplomas increase economic worth
status groups and/or self- respect
• Relationship employer- employee is • Relationship employer-employee is a
perceived in moral terms, like a family contract based on mutual advantage
• Hiring and promotion decisions take • Hiring and promotion are supposed
employees’ ingroup into account to be based on skills and rules only
• Management is management of • Management is management of
groups individuals
• Relationship prevails over task • Task prevails over relationship
High
Australia
US
UK
Canada
France
Germany
Spain
Japan
Mexico
Italy
Korea
Low Singapore
Example
A company from UK (high individualism) is considering investing in Mexico
(low individualism)
Individualism Index
Communication tips for the UK manager:
1) Note that individuals have a strong sense of responsibility for their family
4) Be aware that the decision making process will be rather slow, as many members
across the hierarchy need to be consulted
Masculinity
“The tendency within a society to
emphasize traditional gender
roles”
Low masculinity High masculinity
• Dominant values: caring for others • Dominant values: material success
and preservation and progress
• People and warm relationships are • Money and things are important
important
• Sympathy for the strong
• Sympathy for the weak
• In family, fathers deal with facts and
• In family, both fathers and mothers mothers with feelings
deal with facts and feelings
• Stress on equity, competition among
• Stress on equality, solidarity , and colleagues and performance
quality of work life
• Managers are expected to be
• Managers use intuition and strive decisive and assertive
for consensus
• Resolution of conflicts by fighting
• Resolution of conflicts by them out
compromise and negotiation
High
Japan
Mexico
Germany
UK
US
Arabia
France
Korea
Portugal
Denmark
Low Sweden
Example
A company from Denmark ( low masculinity) is considering investing in Mexico
(high masculinity)
Masculinity Index
Communication tips for the Danish manager :
1) Be aware that people will discuss business anytime, even at social gatherings
3) Take into account that people are not interested in developing closer friendships