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Culture? Who cares?

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Culture and values matter

If …

the whole world had the productivity of the Swiss,

the consumption habits of the Chinese,

the egalitarian instincts of the Swedes

and the social discipline of the Japanese,

the planet could support many times its current population.

Culture and values matter

On the other hand, if the world had the productivity of Chad,the consumption habits of the USA,the egalitarian instincts of India,and the social discipline of Argentina,the planet could not support anywhere near its current numbers.

Lester Thurow

What is culture?

The water we swim in?

The software of the mind?

When you‘re a kid, you don‘t have much variety of experience

You live with your parents and that‘s all you know. You grow up thinking whatever they do is “normal “

The arts, science, education….

The “collective programming of the human mind”

TWO MEANINGS OF CULTURE

Individual

Collectivein a group

Common to all mankind

Inherited/learned

Learned

Inherited

Culture

Group: e.g. nation, profession, organization, family

Programming of the Human Mind

Half of the group look at this

Half of the group look at this

Now tell me: what is this?

This is what you saw

Values

Rituals

Heroes

Symbols

CULTURE

Why do the French complain about the quick, simple lunches the Dutch offer their guests?

• The Dutch generally eat a good lunch, but when there are other people around, they try to save on costs

• The Dutch suffer a lot from constipation because of the rich, fatty foods they eat at home, so they have to eat simpler food during the day

• It’s the French who are the problem - they eat and drink too much at lunchtime and then can’t concentrate on their work

• Without much of a sense of occasion and not wanting to show off, the Dutch serve simple food

• The Dutch are very health conscious, so tend to eat simple, healthy food.

Why are the curtains in many Dutch houses left open during the evenings?

• It’s a way of showing they have nothing to hide

• It’s to show off their interiors

• It’s just a meaningless tradition

• It is a way for people to let visitors, friends and the family know they are at home

• It’s a way to let the outside world share the comfortable ambiance inside.

Dutch employees don’t like strict appraisal systems. Why?

• The Dutch hate to make a fool of themselves. It damages their self-esteem

• The Dutch like to have their own area of responsibility (“eigen toko”)

• The Dutch don’t like hard work. Just look how long their vacations are

• Such systems are seen as an expression of distrust by the boss

• Such systems tend to increase competition among colleagues. One is not supposed to stand out in the crowd,

so this will demotivate employees.

Paradoxes in Dutch culture

• egalitarian yet individualistic

• direct & critical yet conformist

• pragmatic yet money-minded

• moralistic yet permissive

• tolerant yet indifferent?

• local yet international

How deep-rooted is culture – will differences eventually disappear?

• Due to an increase in global communication, they will probably disappear in the next 25 years.

• Yes -- within 50 years.



• The essence of e.g. Dutch, French or Russian culture has not changed much in the last two centuries.

Cultural differences are here to stay.

Value differences between countries can be explained by five “dimensions of national culture”

• Power Distance (PDI)• Individualism (IDV)• Masculinity (MAS)• Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI)• Confucian Dynamism (CDI)

THE 5-D MODEL

The extent to which the less powerful

members of institutions and

organizations accept that power is

distributed unequally

POWER DISTANCE

Which country’s culture scores highest on

POWER DISTANCE ?

FRANCE GERMANY POLAND PORTUGAL SPAIN


POWER DISTANCE ?

68 35 50 63 40

FRANCE GERMANY POLAND PORTUGAL SPAIN

Which country’s culture scores lowest on

POWER DISTANCE ?

NETHERLANDS NORTH SWEDEN UK USAITALY


POWER DISTANCE ?

38 50 31 35 40

NETHERLANDS NORTH SWEDEN UK USA ITALY

If a boss in a country with high power distance doesn’t check regularly on subordinates, what will they think?

• At last the boss recognizes my competence and skills!

• He must be too busy.

• I hate being checked up on. At last the boss recognizes my need for independence.

• The boss is probably checking me out from a distance. As long as I do a good job, it’ll be OK.

• The boss is apparently not interested in my work , so he can’t.be interested in me. What have I done wrong?

• IndividualismPeople look after themselves and their immediate family only

• CollectivismPeople belong to groups, which look after them in exchange for loyalty

INDIVIDUALISM VERSUS COLLECTIVISM


INDIVIDUALISM ?

FRANCE GERMANY NETHERLANDS UK USA


INDIVIDUALISM ?

71 67 80 89 91

FRANCE GERMANY NETHERLANDS UK USA


INDIVIDUALISM, i.e. is most COLLECTIVIST

JAPAN POLAND CHINA RUSSIA SWEDEN


INDIVIDUALISM, i.e. is most COLLECTIVIST

46 60 15 47 71

JAPAN POLAND CHINA RUSSIA SWEDEN

Foreigners working under Dutch management are often surprised about the degree of freedom they are given

• The Dutch are weak leaders. Look at the way they raise their children - there’s a total lack of discipline.

• In the Netherlands subordinates prefer to have their own area of responsibility, which they manage independently.

• The Dutch delegation principle means that the boss doesn’t intervene without a compelling reason.

• It’s simply a way for Dutch management to avoid taking responsibility.

• The Dutch are just waiting for them to fail. They enjoy seeing others make mistakes.

• MasculinityThe dominant values in society are achievement and success

• FemininityThe dominant values in society are caring for others and quality of life

MASCULINITY VERSUS FEMININITY


MASCULINITY ?

GERMANY ITALY SPAIN UK USA


MASCULINITY ?

66 70 42 66 62

GERMANY ITALY SPAIN UK USA


MASCULINITY, i.e. is most FEMININE

FRANCE NETHERLANDS POLAND PORTUGAL SWEDEN


MASCULINITY, i.e. is most FEMININE

43 14 70 31 5

FRANCE NETHERLANDS POLAND PORTUGAL SWEDEN

The extent to which people feel threatened by ambiguous situations and create rules and institutionsin an attempt to avoid them

UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE


UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE ?

NETHERLANDS HONG KONG UK S’PORE USA



53 29 35 8 46

NETHERLANDS HONG KONG UK S’PORE USA



FRANCE GERMANY POLAND RUSSIA FINLAND



86 65 60 75 59

FRANCE GERMANY POLAND RUSSIA FINLAND

The extent to which people take a morepragmatic, future-orientated perspective as opposed to a normative, historical or short-term point of view

CONFUCIAN DYNAMISM ( CDI )

The Japanese don't ask the question why? Why is that?

• Adults in Japan consider Westerners who ask questions to be childish

• They have a very pragmatic culture and believethat there is simply no way we can know the answers to fundamental questions

• They are afraid that asking the question "why?" will cause loss of face, something to be avoided at all costs

• They are afraid to show their ignorance

• The word "why" does not exist in Japanese, like the words "analysis” and "consistency“.

The Chinese find Westerners naive because we believe what people say

• The Chinese never say what they think

• In individualistic cultures people are credulous

• The Chinese tend not to say how things really are, butrather what they think others wants to hear

• In China a written statement has more power than an oral agreement. So don’t accept an oral agreement unless it isbacked up in writing

• In the West people pay more attention to what is said than to how it is said or to body language.

An Scotsman flying with Singapore Airlines asks a stewardess whether they have all brands of liquor. When she says “yes”, he asks for a type of whiskyhe’s sure they won’t have in stock. The stewardess fails to reappear in the cabin. Why?

• She spends the whole flight looking for that particular brand of whisky

• This is a blow to her self-esteem and she is in a deep depression

• She is so hurt by the passenger’s rude behaviorthat she sits sulking in the galley

• She is so furious that her colleagues have to stop her attacking the passenger

• She has lost face and therefore feels unable to reappear.

The relative position of a numberof countries in the 5-D model

France

UK

Portugal

Austria

PDI IDV MAS UAI CDIRussia USA Japan Greece China

NL

UK

Austria Guatemala Sweden Singapore Pakistan

Denmark

Golden Rules • Respect your own culture• Respect the other culture• Only adjust your behavior to that of the other culture

in critical situations

Don’t try to behave like people in the other culture You will never get it quite right and this may be seen as patronizing

If we understand why people behave differently in another culture,we will be less likely to be upset by differences and better able to work together with them.

We should try to stop judging people according to our own ideas and norms.