Organizational

Behavior
across Cultures
Amiel Romulus Dionisio
Chapter Objectives:
• Conditions affecting multinational operations
• Individual differences among employees
• Barriers to cultural adaptation
• Overcoming barriers to cultural adaptation
• Productivity and cultural contingencies
Conditions affecting multi-
national operation
Social Conditions
 Legal and Ethical conditions
Political Conditions
Economic Issues
Social Local Trainees

Condition Local Trainers

Loaned Skilled
People

Local Trainers

Local Trainees
 Legal and Ethical
Environment
Countries vary substantially in their legal systems, and specially in
their relevant employment laws and business practices.

 Managers need to be aware of the possible and unacceptable

behaviors in foreign countries.
 Managers need to become familiar with local customs and
practices.
 Apply personal and organizational value systems to decided which
behaviors are compatible with both parties and which are not.
 Recognize that the resolution of ethical issues are not always
clear-cut but needs to be addressed and resolved.
 • Instability of the government
• Nationalistic drives
• Subordination of employers
and labor to an authoritarian
state

Political Condition
 • Low per capita income
• Rapid Inflation
• Social Unrest

Economic Issues
Individual Differences

There are five dimensions that accounted for the sharpest difference
among employees including:

• Individualism/Collectivism
• Power Distance
• Uncertainty Avoidance
• Masculinity/Femininity
• Time Orientation
Individual Differences
Power Distance

 Refers to the belief that strong

and legitimate decision-making
rights separate managers and
employees.
 refers to the degree to which
individuals, organizations and
societies accept inequalities in
relation to power, status, and
wealth (Hofstede, 1980).
Uncertainty
Avoidance
• is a cross-cultural
phenomenon that describes
how different cultures or
societies react to and tolerate
uncertainties
• it refers to a country or
culture’s level of tolerance or
comfort for ambiguity,
uncertainty, and unstructured
situations (Geert Hofstede)
 Masculinity/Femininity
“Masculinity stands for a society in which social
gender roles are clearly distinct: Men are
supposed to be assertive, tough, and focused on
material success; women are supposed to be more
modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of
life.”

“Femininity stands for a society in which social

gender roles overlap: Both men and women are
supposed to be modest, tender, and concerned
with the quality of life.”

-From Hofstede (2001), Culture’s Consequences

 Time Orientation
• Long-term orientation is when you are focused on the
future. You are willing to delay short-term material or
social success or even short-term emotional gratification
in order to prepare for the future. If you have this
cultural perspective, you value persistence,
perseverance, saving and being able to adapt.

• Short-term orientation is when you are focused on the

present or past and consider them more important than
the future. If you have a short-term orientation, you
value tradition, the current social hierarchy and fulfilling
your social obligations. You care more about immediate
gratification than long-term fulfillment.
Barriers to Cultural
Adaptation
Parochialism

Ethnocentrism

Cultural Distance

Cultural Shock
Overcoming Barriers
to Cultural Adaptation

Careful Selection

Compatible assignments

Predeparture Training

Orientation and Support in the new country

Preparation of reentry
Cultural
Contingency

• Means that the most

productive practices for a
particular nation depend
heavily on its culture.

• The idea of Cultural

contingency suggest that
expatriate managers must
learn to operate effectively
in a new environment.
Although they are guided
by home-office policies,
managers also must be
flexible enough to respond
to local conditions.
Thank You