Managing in the Global Environment Assessment 1:

Comparative Analysis

This report will contain a comparative analysis between the culture of South Africa &
Australia & identify the key cultural differences as well as similarities, including short
term Vs long term orientation and Individualism Vs collectivism, while applying global
business concepts to both of the countries. A dimension of the cultural framework,
GLOBE project, will also be applied & explained on why they fit with both countries'
business systems. Cultural value dimensions such as these, provide building blocks
for cultural awareness and therefore allow individuals & societies to gain
perspectives of other cultures. These cultural dimensions can impact a business
environment as different cultures have unique fundamentals on how a business is
best managed, therefore impacting the attitudes, work ethics & behaviour of their
employees.

Individualism Vs Collectivism & Short term Vs Long term orientation

Individualism Vs Collectivism is the interdependence a society maintains among
individuals, it describes the tendency of people to look after themselves and their
immediate families only to neglect the needs of society, which can be done
consciously or unconsciously. Since the 1990’s Australia has experienced a shift
towards individualism in labour market regulation, this is the result of governments
opening up domestic markets to face international competition. Kippist L. Managing
globally. 3rd edn. Pearson, Frenchs Forest; 2015. With this, an individualistic
oriented style of thinking had come to light and shaped the culture of certain regions
within the country. However, among indigenous cultures of Australia, this has failed
to take place. Contrary to this, South African culture is considered to be one of many
collectivist cultures, meaning that the groups within the society make decisions
collectively and conclude on what is best for the community as a whole. Being a third
world country, this is the best suitable cultural dimension for the country to adopt as
they work in unison to achieve common goals and ensure basic daily needs are met
for everyone.
Short term Vs Long term orientation emphasises on time horizons for business
planning and performance. Samad. A. Week 3 Lecture slides ‘Determinants of
Culture’ p.g 4 ‘Cultural Values - Hofstede 1980 Dimensions' (2022). Long term
orientation is widely known as the degree to which a culture has a pragmatic
perspective that is focused on the future. Whereas, short term orientation is the
degree to which a society has adopted a perspective which is more tradition
oriented. Major differences between South Africa and Australia regarding beliefs
include their individual meanings of multiculturalism, in South Africa multiculturalism
refers to a mosaic of different cultures who are living under the same ‘rainbow’
nation. Whereas, Australian meaning for this term refers to the array of cultures living
in one country and ‘different people with different faces living together’ N. Robinson
p.g 1 ‘Cultural Differences between South Africa and Australia’ (2010). Differences
regarding values include non materialistic values for the South African community,
for example, they value the well-being of their community and everyday survival over
the tangible goods that are accessible to us in Australia.

The GLOBE project & managing in the business environment

In this part of the report, two concepts will be competitively analysed: Performance
Orientation and Power distance. Orientation is the degree to which a collective
encourages and rewards group members for performance improvement and
excellence. Samad. A. Week 3 Lecture slides ‘Determinants of Culture’ p.g 12
‘Cultural Values - The GLOBE project’ (2022). Power distance is the degree to which
members of a collective expect power to be distributed equally. In South African
culture it is widely accepted that in business environments the managers are of
higher power in any situation, in this culture people prefer a ‘benevolent autocrat’
which is a leader who sees themselves as superior and makes all the critical
decisions without the input of employees. This is common in Australia but not to the
degree that it is in South Africa, in Australia it is expected that employees be treated
with acceptable regard and respect as the superiors are, as the degree of equality
among people in the workforce is much higher.
Regarding performance orientation, it has been found that in South African
businesses the managers encourage the performance of employees through
monetary motivation, therefore neglecting social and environmental performance in
the business. Whereas, In Australian business performance is orientated through
fundamental measurement approaches and is based on improving employee work
ethic by measuring general performance and the rate in which groups within an
organisation meet KPIs and business goals. From this, we can conclude that South
African and Australian culture is similar regarding the superiority of managers in the
business environment, and are also differentiated by the equality levels between the
employee and the manager. Australia being more equal and South Africa being less
equal. Based on this analysis, it is evident that Australia is more efficient when
measuring performance within a company and the techniques for doing so are very
different compared to South Africa’s techniques.

References:

Kippist L. Managing globally. 3rd edn. Pearson, Frenchs Forest; 2015.

Anon, 2016. Value Dimensions of Culture . Value Dimensions of Culture. Available

at:
https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_leading-with-cultural-intelligence/s04-11-value-dim
ensions-of-culture.html [Accessed August 22, 2022].

Beyer , H. & Fening , F., 2020. The International Journal of Business & Management.
The International Journal of Business and Management . Available at:
https://www.trident.edu/wp-content/uploads/team/pub/216/cultural_value_dimensions
.pdf [Accessed August 23, 2022].
Frazer , A.D., 2009. "individualism and collectivism in agreement-making under
Australian LAW" by A. D. Frazer. Site. Available at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/erahca/7/
[Accessed August 17, 2022].

Haslam Professor of Psychology, N., 2017. Australian values are hardly unique when
compared to other cultures. The Conversation. Available at:
https://theconversation.com/australian-values-are-hardly-unique-when-compared-to-
other-cultures-76917 [Accessed August 25, 2022].

N, R., 2019. Cultural Differences between South Africa and Australia . Cultural
comparison between South Africa and Australia. Available at:
http://convictcreations.com/culture/southafrica.html [Accessed August 24, 2022].