Organisational

Behavior
Understanding the Cultures

Mrudula Savadasari
Rakesh G.R.
Amol Kasar
MBA-IBC
Hochschule Offenburg
 Organisational Behavior

INTRODUCTION

“Much of the violence that humanity suffers in our times is rooted in misunderstanding
as well as in the rejection of the values and identity of foreign cultures.”

-Pope John Paul II

When we seek answers to why an individual or group did something, we are pursuing
the explanation of the objective. The goal of prediction focuses on future events to
determine what outcomes will follow from a given action.

The emerging trend towards liberalized global policies coupled with suitable reform
processes throughout the globe have drastically changed the business environment for
the firms. This leaves the managers in organizations of all sizes and types around the
world with the opportunities and challenges of operating in the global market. The
immediate issue to be addressed is configuration of human resource that is diverse in
culture and geographic proximity especially in global business organizations.

We know that every person has a unique personality. An individual’s personality is a set
of relatively permanent and stable traits. Our personality influences the way we act and
interact with others. When we describe someone as warm, open, relaxed, or
conservative, we’re describing personality traits. An organization too has a personality,
which we call its culture.

What is Culture?
“Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, society, even when perfect, is but a
jungle. This is why any authentic creation is a gift to the future”

-Albert Camus

Culture is something that a person learns from his family and surroundings, and is not
ingrained in him from birth. It does not have any biological connection because even if a
person is brought up in a culture different from that in which he was born, he imbibes
the culture of the society where he grows up. It is also not a hidden fact that some
people feel the need to follow the beliefs and traditions of their own culture, even
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though they might be not subscribing to certain ideologies within.

Culture is a complex tool which every individual has to learn to survive in a society. It is
the means through which people interact with others in the society. It acts in a
subconscious way and whatever we see and perceive, seems to be normal and natural.
Sometimes, other societies and people seem to be a little odd because they have a
different culture from ours. We must remember that every society has a distinct culture
that forms the backbone of the society. Culture does not remain stagnant; on the other
hand it is evolving constantly and is in fact somewhat influenced by the other cultures.

Although every society has a specific culture, there are certain elements of culture that
are universal. They are known as cultural universals, in which there are certain
behavioral traits and patterns that are shared by all cultures around the world. For
instance, classifying relations based on blood relations and marriage, differentiating
between good and bad, having some form of art, use of jewelry, classifying people
according to gender and age, etc., are common in all cultures of the world.

What is Cultural Difference?

"Often we may even smile or laugh at adversity, but all people share the same passions.
They are merely manifest differently according to one's culture and conditioning."
— Yasuo Kuwahara*
The definition of cultural differences would
be the way the different cultures live, their
beliefs, what they eat, their religious beliefs
and values of a particular group. They are
different from one another. All human
beings have the same ‘hardware’, the
human brain; our ‘software’ or
‘programming’ is rather different. Some of
us are running Windows XP, some are
running Windows 7, and some are running
Linux. A computer running one operating
system or the other will (for the most part)
work fine in and of itself. Other aspects of
their culture will not make sense when
transferred to your frame of reference.
*Kamikaze: A Japanese Pilot's Own Spectacular Story of the Famous Suicide
Squadrons
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But when you put software designed to run on one operating system onto a computer
running a different one, and suddenly we will get error messages – something does not
run! It is the same experience when we interact with someone from a different culture –
their words, assumptions, gestures, values, and aspects of their culture will not make
sense when transferred to your frame of reference.

Example of Cultural Differences

A good example of cultural difference is in the way different cultures view time. In
traditional (i.e. most Eastern and African) cultures, trust and friendship is more
important than time. One does not hurry on to business matters – first one chats with
those one will be dealing with, even if this delays the start of the meeting. In this way,
one builds trust and relationships. In the West (i.e. Western Europe, the U.S., Australia
and much of South America) one’s schedule is to be adhered to strictly. Business
dealings do not generally involve friendship. By prolonging a meeting’s length, one is
likely to upset one’s associates and to give an impression of untrustworthiness because
one appears unable to keep faithfully to one’s schedule and appointments.

Critical incidents
Critical incidents consist of examples of cultural clash events - situations where
unexpected behavior occurs. It occurs commonly when persons with different cultural
background interact with each other.

The opportunity to think carefully and analytically about a critical situation promotes
cross-cultural awareness and accelerates teaching and learning. In that way, critical
incidents are an important strategy that can be used to highlight differences and
potential misunderstandings, which arise out of culture.

In a way, all communication can be seen as intercultural, because we all have our own
history and background, which we carry with us whenever we communicate.
Furthermore, misinterpretations and misunderstandings are not rare in intercultural
communication either.

All communication has two parts: a sender and a receiver. The sender has a message he
or she intends to transmit, and s/he puts it in words, which, to her/him, best reflect
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what s/he is thinking. But many things can intervene to prevent the intended message
from being received accurately.

Cultural differences increase the likelihood of misunderstanding as well. If people speak

different languages, the danger of bad translation is obvious. But even if people speak
the same language, they may communicate in different ways.

Common differences are between high-context and low-context communication. Low-

context communication stands on its own; it does not require context or interpretation
to give it meaning. High-context communication is more ambiguous. It requires
background knowledge and understanding (context), in addition to the words
themselves, for communication. While everyone uses both kinds of communication,
Western cultures tend to use low-context communication more often, while Eastern and
Latin American and African cultures tend to use high-context communication. If such
differences are not understood and adjusted for, misunderstanding is almost inevitable.

Given our tendency to hear what we expect to hear, it is very easy for people in conflict
to misunderstand each other. Communication is already likely to be strained, and
people will often want to hide the truth to some extent. Thus the potential for
misperception and misunderstanding is high, which can make conflict management or
resolution more difficult.

Example

This is an example of a critical incident was written by a German student.

“I was in the India for a year as an exchange student. I lived in an Indian family there.
I'm the kind of a person who needs to have some time for myself every day so I would go
to my room in the evenings for an hour or two and do my homework or write letters or
just relax and listen to music. I didn't think there was anything wrong with it - to me it
was just normal. One day my host-Mom came to me and asked if I'm ok. She said that
they had thought that I was sad and homesick, or maybe not happy with the host family
because I would go to my room and stay there for a couple of hours every evening. I was
really surprised to hear this.”

The reasons for this misunderstanding may be

 German culture is said to be "a quiet culture", where as the Indian culture is less
tolerant towards silence
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 In India, social relationships are constructed more on social communication than

in German culture
 Personal space that an individual needs varies across cultures and personalities

What is Social Style

Social styles is the name of a psychometric instrument that claims to help people better
understand and work with others, through appreciation of basic decision-making and
control needs. It is named after "social style", which is the behavior that one exhibits
when interacting with others.

People operate with four distinct ways of interaction, or SOCIAL STYLES: Analysers,
Relaters’, Directors and Expressers. A brief explanation of each style is detailed below 

Analyzers Directors Relaters Expressers

Enquires, States, Enquires, States,

Indirect Commands, Indirect Commands,
Talking
assertions Direct assertions Direct
assertion assertion

Quieter, Louder, Uses Quieter, Louder, Uses

Tone of Does not voice to Does not voice to
speech vary voice emphasise vary voice emphasise
much points much points

Pace of Moderate Very fast Slower Fast

speech

Limited or no Limited or no Some facial Controlled

facial facial expressions, facial
expressions, expressions, Good eye expressions,
Body
limited Intense eye contact, Good eye
language
gestures contact, regular contact, lot
Deliberate gestures of gestures
movements

Concise, Direct, Dreamy, Animated,

Communicati
logical, Formal Vague, informal,
on style
formal Informal casual
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Thorough, Pushy, more Easy going, Unstructured

Work style
attention to reserved & cooperative , lots of
detail cautious people
interaction

Why Social Styles are required?

 To analyze patterns and characteristics
 Determine the style of others
 Assess Persons own style
 To accommodate others’ needs
 To treat others as they want to be treated

Why is it good to know the cultural differences and the

differences in social style?

Cultural misinterpretation of gestures can produce embarrassing results and a person's

background should always be considered before jumping to conclusions about the
meaning of his or her body language and gestures.
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Interview
To illustrate the cultural differences, we interviewed Mr. Franz Rozer who has interacted
with many international clients during his professional tenure.

Mr. Franz worked as an Engineer at Schneider Electric, specialized in Robotic Design and
handled multiple projects in different countries.

Interviewee Profile

Personal Information

Name: Franz Rozer

Citizenship: German

Country visited: China, Italy, Russia, and USA.

Social relations: Head of Senior Service Bureau, Offenburg.

His experiences while living abroad:

Frank Rozer, on his first visit to china for his company’s project had faced strange
situations due to the cultural differences.

Situation 1: Authoritatative Boss (China)

When Interviewee had many interactions with the partner company in china before his
visit there.

His Chinese counterpart always very calm and soft spoken over the phone. But, during
his visit Mr. Franz was surprised to see the Chinese counterpart behavior with the staff
members. In one of the situation he narrated that Chinese counterpart, scolded to one
of his lady staff in front of others which surprised Mr. Franz. He also mentioned that the
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Chinese counterpart was so demanding from his employees that they were forced to
work on weekends even though they are not willing to.

German Point of View

According to Mr. Franz, he was shocked to see the Chinese boss shouting to his
employee in front of all others. Such type situations are not common in Germany.
Instead of this, the boss talks to his employee in person and discusses about the
problem s and consequences privately.

Also boss cannot demand his employee to work on weekends if they are not willing to
do so.

Chinese Point of View

From Chinese point of view such type of incidents are common, where boss points out
mistakes of his employee in front of all. Also boss thinks that it is not wrong on his part
to shout in front of others so that the mistake would not be repeated again by the
employee and also by others.

Also, from Chinese point of view, boss can order his employee to do things like working
on weekends, as he feels he has authority to do so.

Possible explanation:

Low power distance vs. high power distance

In cultures with small power distance like Germany, people expect and accept power
relations that are more consultative or democratic. People relate to one another more
as equals regardless of formal positions. Subordinates are more comfortable with and
demand the right to contribute to and critique the decisions of those in power.

In cultures with large power distance like China, the less powerful accept power
relations that are autocratic or paternalistic. Subordinates acknowledge the power of
others based on their formal, hierarchical positions.
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Germany China

LOW HIGH

POWER DISTANCE

Situation 2: Decision Making (Italy)

Mr. Franz shared one more experience while in Italy. He always felt that the meetings
there were not held as per schedule and the meetings ended without any
outcomes/decisions most of the times. Also he felt that the employees were more
dependent on their higher authorities to make decisions, and there were frequent
interruptions like phone calls during meetings.

German Point of View

In Germany meetings will be with prior appointment and held as per schedule. As per
Mr. Franz, the meetings will also have a definite agenda and employee’s responsibilities
are clearly defined. Due to this meetings will have a definite outcome most of the times.

Italian Point of View

In Italy one does not hurry in to the business matters and it is ok if the meetings are
delayed. The decisions are always taken in consultation with the higher authorities
which may prolong the decision making process. Also when in meeting interruptions like
phone call will not bother much.

Possible explanation:

Germany, being more of a monochronic culture, likes to do just one thing at a time.
They value a certain orderliness and sense of there being an appropriate time and place
for everything. They do not value interruptions.

Polychronic cultures like Italy do multiple things at the same time. A manager's office in
a Polychronic culture typically has an open door, a ringing phone and a meeting all going
on at the same time.
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Germany Italy

Monochronic Polychronic

TIME

Mr. Franz has also has a lot of interactions with international student helping them to
adapt to new conditions and introducing them to German culture as he is working for
seniors service bureau, Offenburg.

Situation 3: Family Bonding

In general, he observed that student from Asia are more connected to their families
compared to German students. Also, he felt German students are less dependent on
their family both financially and psychologically.

German Point of View

In Germany Children will move out mostly after their schooling and would like to be
more independent. They prefer to take their decisions on their own most of the times.
They are more attached to their friends rather than their relatives.

Asian Point of View

Asian students are more attached to their families. Also, it is very common for students
in Asia to be dependent on their family both financially and psychologically. Most of the
decisions they take will be influenced by their family.

Possible explanation:

In individualist cultures, individual uniqueness, self-determination is valued. A person is

all the more admirable if they show initiative or work well independently. Collectivist
cultures expect people to identify with and work well in groups which protect them in
exchange for loyalty and compliance.

Individualist cultures tend to believe that there are universal values that should be
shared by all, while collectivist cultures tend to accept that different groups have
different values.

Asia Germany

Collectivism Individualism
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Conclusion

During the interview, the speaker was more expressive and had a good eye contact. He
also explained many situations with gestures and his tone was loud.

From this interview, we were able to understand that person's background should
always be considered before jumping to conclusions about him.

The key to effective cross-cultural communication is knowledge. First, it is essential that

people understand the potential problems of cross-cultural communication, and makes
a conscious effort to overcome these problems. Second, it is important to assume that
one’s efforts will not always be successful, and adjust one’s behaviour appropriately.