Culture and Organizations Software of the mind Intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival.

Culture and Organizations

Software of the mind

Intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival

Culture and Organizations

“The objective of this book is to help in dealing with the differences in thinking, feeling and acting of people around the

globe.”

Culture and Organizations

Hofstede: Culture is the collective programming of the mind which

distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another

Culture and Organizations

Hofstede’s work provides quantitative comparisons in over fifty countries on the influence of culture

in the workplace

The dimensions represent a kind of cultural map of the world

A dimension groups together a number of phenomena in a society which were empirically

found to occur in combination.

Culture and Organizations

Hofstede describes in part II five dimensions of cultural behavior:

- Power Distance- Individualism vs. collectivism- Masculinity vs. femininity- Uncertainty avoidance

- Long term thinking vs. short term thinking

Culture and OrganizationsDimension: Power Distance

“More equal than others”

Story:

Once upon a time little Melchior went to the bakers shop to buy a bread for his mother. He queued up in line, when suddenly…..

Culture and OrganizationsDimension: Power Distance

Not all people are equal. Physical or intellectual differences between people are obvious. How do

people handle the inequality in power?

PD informs us about dependence relationships in a country. The distance between bosses and

subordinates can be small or large.

Culture and OrganizationsDimension: Power Distance

PD: The extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. (family, school, community, workplace)

Small PD: limited dependence relationships of subordinates on bosses, a preference for consultation, a small emotional distance.

Large PD: dependence of subordinates on bosses, emotional distance between subordinates and bosses is large.

Culture and OrganizationsDimension: Power Distance

Malaysia 104

Netherlands 38

Finland 33

Austria 11

Culture and OrganizationsDim.:

Individualism/Collectivism“I, we and they”

Story:Once upon a time a young boy with an Arab

background was a very promising Football player. His trainer selected him to play an important match in the first team. The boy

was very happy, but ……

Culture and OrganizationsDim.:

Individualism/Collectivism

When a child is born it already is part of a group: a family. In some countries that is just the parents and other children in the family. In other countries the family is a

big group with grandparents, uncles, aunts, all members of one group.

Culture and OrganizationsDim.:

Individualism/CollectivismIndividualism: Societies in which ties between

individuals are loose, everyone is expected to look after himself and his immediate family.

Collectivism: societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive ingroups, which throughout people’s lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.

The richer a country is or gets, the more individualistic.

Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Individualism/Collectivism

Usa 91

Netherlands 80

Finland 63

Guatemala 6

Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Masculinity/Femininity

“He, she an (s)he”

Story:Once upon a time there was little country in

which unions and government sat together to resolve their problems and

find compromises for conflicts. They even gave this system a name……

Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Masculinity/Femininity

In one country modesty is a desired behaviour, in another you are supposed to be assertive.

Human societies consist of men and women, the differences between the sexes are the same everywhere, gender behaviour differs.

Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Masculinity/Femininity

Men are supposed to be assertive, competitive and tough.

Women are supposed to take care of home, children and people in general, the tender roles.

Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Masculinity/Femininity

Japan 95

Finland 26

Netherlands 14

Sweden 5

Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Uncertainty avoidance

“What is different is dangerous”

Story:

Lots of people are afraid of flying. These people prefer to stay at home, but…….

Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Uncertainty avoidance

The future is uncertain but we have to live with it anyway. Uncertainty is an subjective experience, a feeling.

Uncertainty avoidance is the extend to which members of a culture feel

threatened by uncertain and unknown situations.

Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Uncertainty avoidance

Strong avoidance: people busy, emotional, aggressive, active.

Weak avoidance: quiet, easy-going, indolent, controlled, lazy.

Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Uncertainty avoidance

Greece 112

Finland 59

Netherlands 53

Singapore 8

Culture and OrganizationsDim.: Long term vs. Short term

This dimension is added later by Hofstede.

LT: Large savings, perseverance to slow results, sparing with resources

ST: Small savings, quick results expected, pressure to keep up with

Culture and Organizations

Differences between cultures have a big influence on organizational structures.

The same case was solved in three totally different way by French, German and British students.

Globalization and merging companies (take KLM) are increasing.

Culture and Organizations

Parts of a new merged organization have to function in harmony, they all use windows software. Technically there is no problem.

The mental programming, the software of the mind however differs from one cultural background to another!

Culture and Organizations

Thank you for your attention!