This Study Resource Was: The People Factor

Chapter 2 The cultural Environments Facing Business
Introduction
Culture – learned norms base don the balues attitudes, and beleifs of a group of
people, is an integral part of a nations operating enironent.
The people factor

In order to keep group memebrs from feeling threats, leaders must strive to
devlop an open and non threatening atmosphere. Successfully cultivating
such diversity is diffuct because indivuals may interact with others as they
do within their own culture.
The more succesfful teams worked to understand each others cultures

before dealing with task at hands.
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Culutal collision
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Occurs in international bsiness, the major peovlem of cultural collision
arise udner two conditions
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I) rs e
When a company implemnts practices that are leff effective than
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intended
II) When a company’s employees encounter distress because of
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difficulty in accepting or adjusign to foreign behaviors.

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Sensitivity and adjustments.

A fim doing business in another country must determine which of that
nations business practices differ from its own and then decide what
adjustments, if any, are neeed to operate efficiently.
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CUltual awareness
Most cultural variables- daily routines, rules, codes of social relations,
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language, emotive express, concepts of luck- are universal.

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Deal focus (DF) Culture, where people are primarly task oriented
Relationship focu (RF) culture, put dealing with friends ahead of business
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dealing,
A little learning goes a long way

Emphasize a few common shortcommings
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I) Company countries by what people say can be risky
II) Reasearches who focus on national differneces in terms of
averages may overlook specific variations within coutnires and
believe I unrealistic sterotyes
III) Becaue cultures evolve, research may be outdated/
The idea of a nation, delineating cultures
The nation as a cultural mediatior

Nations include various subcultures, ethinc groups, races, and classes and
a national culture must be felixible enough to accommodate such a
mixture.
Some people are bicultural or multicultural meaning they have internalized

more than one noational culture
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How cultures form and change
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o.
SOuces of change
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Change by choice
Change by choice may occur as a reaction to social and economic
situations that present people with new alternatives
o
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Change by Imposition
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Someone times cultural imperalisim, involves imposing elements from an

alien culture, such as a forced change in laws by an occupying country tht,
ovr time, becomes part of the subject culture.
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Language as both a diffuser and stabilizer of culture

Like national boundaries and geoprhic obstacles, language limits peoples
contact with other cultures
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Why English travesl so well

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Native English accounts for a thid of the worlds production much more
thatn any other language group.
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Religon as a cultural stabilizer
Religon shapes cultural values in societies
No beef in HINDU populations, Days of worship
Behavioural practices affecting business
Issues in social stratification

Every culture ranks some people higher than others, Social stratifiaciotns
ictates a persons class, status, and financial rewards within that culture.
i) individuals achievments and qualifacitons and

ii) Their affiliation with no membership in certain groups
Individual qualifacitons and their limitations

Most sociieties, indivudal ahchivement is important, such as in choosing a
sucesssful athlete as a spokesperson to advertise swimeawr.
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Those dtermiend by birth are ascribed group memerbships, including
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gender, family, age, caste, and ethnic , racial, or national origin
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o.
Acquired group memerbs include thos e based on religon, political
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affillation, educational place and achievement and profession,
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I) ethinic and racial groups
II) Gender base groups
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III) Age based groups

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IV) Family based groups

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Work motivation
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Materialism and motivation

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Protestand ethic theory, may weber, economic success would result to

salavaiton
Storng evidence indicuates that the desire for material wealth motivates
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indivudals to perform the kind of work that leads to community wife

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economic development.
The prodcutivtiy/leaisure trade off- Some cultures place more values on

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leisure time than others.
Expectaiton of success and reward

Generally people have little enthusiasm for effort when the likelihood of
success seems to easy or too difficlut,
Success and reward acorss borders-Peformed in different countires, the
same task come with differ probailties of success, difernt rewards for
success, and different consequences for failture.
Performance and achievement

The masculinity feminity index, significiant differences in atittudes towards
acheivment among employees in 50 countires. High masculinity score
admired successful work achievers, harbored little symparth for the
unfortunate, and preferred to be better than others rather than on a par
with them
Hierrchies of needs
Motivation, people try to fulfill lower needs before moving on the higher
ones, Most basic needs are
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1. Physiological: food, water, and sex
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2. Security, Safe physical and emotional environemnts
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3. Affiliation_ such as peer acceptance
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4. Eseem needs: bolsertierng our self image through recognition
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attention and appreciation,
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5. Self acutaliziation- self fulfillment- becomogn who we are capable of
being.
o
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Relationship preferences
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Power distance
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High power distance, people prefer little consultation between the two tiers
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and pone of two management styles Autocratic
Low powerdistance they prefer consultative styles

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UIndividualism verus collectivism
High- typifies an emplyoeees penchant for dependence on the

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organization thourgh training satisfactory workplace conditions, and good

benefits
i) ditiaton difference the family Indivudalisis in a family reinstated

collective countrymay be less motivated to receive material
rewards from the work because of dividising the rewards among
more family memerbs
Risk taking beahvoirs
Uncertainty avoidance
If high, most employees prefer to follow set of ruels even if they believe
that breaking them amy be in the companies best interest
Trust
“ Most people can be trusted” and “ You cant be too careful in dealing with
people
Future orientation
Perception of the risk from delaying gratification.
m
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Fatalism
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They believe life is inevitable- they’r less likely to accept the basi cause anf
o.
effect relationship between work and reward
rs e
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Information and Task processing
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
o
aC s
Perception of cues
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Rely on cues tha tare partly physiological, and gorwing evidence sugges
that evoilutiona nd genetics play a role on how different groups perceive
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Obtainign low context versus high context cultures

Low context- in which people gerneally regard as relevant only firehand
ifnromation that bears directly on the subjet at hand
High- people tend to regard seemingly peripheral informationa s pertinent
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and infer meaning form thisn said either indteictly or casually

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Information processing
Every culreu has it sown system sfor ordering and classifiyn ginfomraiton.
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Monochronic verus poly chornic cultures

Monochronic: culture people may perform to work sequentailyl such as
finsihgin transiacitosn with one customers before dealing with antoehr
Polychromic, people are more comfroatnbale when working simultaneously
on a variy of taks, such as delaign immediately with mutlple customers
who need service.
Idealism verus pragmatism

Some cultures prefer to establish overally princples before they try to
resolve small issues idealism
Cultures in wchi people focus more on details than on abstac tprincples

are said to be pragmatic
Communations
Spoken and written language
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Different meaning in varos languages
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US- inventory – UK – Stock
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US- Stock – UK shares rs e
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Silent language
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Colors
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Different conotations for various colturies, such as being lucky or lunlciky

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or being associated with specific business ( eg yellow cabs)
Dsitance
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Distance when speaking during conversations or when conducitn gbusines

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Time and punctuality

Us business speople usally arrive early for business appointments a few
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minutres late for dinner at someones home, and a bit later still for large
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social gatherins
A latin America host may find it supsrising and perhand disctourteous if a

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uS giest arrives only a few minutres later than the stated time.
Body lanague
They way that people wlak touch and move their bondies differ
Prestiege
Persosn status, particualry in organizaitonsal seeting
Dealing with cultural differences
Cultural distance
Culutral prxomitiy by averaging the cultural dittance sperating them on each
dimension. UK is culturally lcose to US while china is culturally idsitant
Hidden cultural attitude

Even if the home and hsot countries have seemingly similar cultures, people in the
host country may reject thte ifnlulux of foreign practices because they see them as
additional steps that threaten their self identities
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Abiltiy to adjust: Culture shock
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The frustration that results form having to absorb a vast arry of new cultural cues
and expectations
o.
rs e
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Reverse culture shock: when they go back home, having become partial to aspects of
life abroad that are not options back home
COmapyn and management orientations

o
aC s
Polycentrisim
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Believes that its business units abroach should act like local companies.
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Ethnocentrism
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Reflecst that conviction aht oens own culture is superior to that of other countires
GenocentrisimWhich integrates company and host contry practices as well as some

entirely new ones.
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Strategies for instituting change
Value system
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The more something contradicts our value system, the harder it is to accept
Cost benefit analysis

Introducign products and practices abroad is sometimes costly, sometimes not
Resistance to too much change
Participation
The discussion might help management assess the strength of the resistnace,
stimulate, stakehodlers to recognize the need for ahcnage, and ease fears about the
concqunces ofchagnes
Reward Sharing
Sometimes a proposed change may have no foreseeable benefit for those who
support is eneded
Opinion leadership Making use of local channels of influence, or opinion leaders, a

girm may be able to facilitate the acceptance of change.
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Cultural bridges
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Bicultural and multicultural individuals may serve as bridges, especially if form
other coutnires, thses indivudals may discern the new culture more quickly than
o.
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unicultural indivudals in much the same way that young bilingual childer have an
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esier time that unilingual childer in elarning another lanaug later on
Timing
A proposed labor saving production method, say, might make emplyoees nervous
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about losing their kbos no matte rhow much mangment treis to reassure them
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Learning abroad
As companies gain more experience in foreign operation, they may elarn as well as
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impart valuanle knowledge, knowledge that proves just as useful at home as in the
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ohsot ocuntry
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Chapter 2 The cultural Environments Facing Business

The people factor

The more succesfful teams worked to understand each others cultures

difficulty in accepting or adjusign to foreign behaviors.

Sensitivity and adjustments.

language, emotive express, concepts of luck- are universal.

A little learning goes a long way

The idea of a nation, delineating cultures

The nation as a cultural mediatior

Some people are bicultural or multicultural meaning they have internalized

Someone times cultural imperalisim, involves imposing elements from an

Language as both a diffuser and stabilizer of culture

Why English travesl so well

Religon as a cultural stabilizer

Religon shapes cultural values in societies

No beef in HINDU populations, Days of worship

Issues in social stratification

i) individuals achievments and qualifacitons and

Individual qualifacitons and their limitations

III) Age based groups

IV) Family based groups

Materialism and motivation

Protestand ethic theory, may weber, economic success would result to

indivudals to perform the kind of work that leads to community wife

The prodcutivtiy/leaisure trade off- Some cultures place more values on

leisure time than others.

Expectaiton of success and reward

Performance and achievement

and pone of two management styles Autocratic

Low powerdistance they prefer consultative styles

UIndividualism verus collectivism

High- typifies an emplyoeees penchant for dependence on the

organization thourgh training satisfactory workplace conditions, and good

i) ditiaton difference the family Indivudalisis in a family reinstated

Risk taking beahvoirs

Obtainign low context versus high context cultures

and infer meaning form thisn said either indteictly or casually

Monochronic verus poly chornic cultures

Idealism verus pragmatism

Cultures in wchi people focus more on details than on abstac tprincples

Spoken and written language

Different conotations for various colturies, such as being lucky or lunlciky

or being associated with specific business ( eg yellow cabs)

Distance when speaking during conversations or when conducitn gbusines

Time and punctuality

A latin America host may find it supsrising and perhand disctourteous if a

Dealing with cultural differences

Hidden cultural attitude

COmapyn and management orientations

GenocentrisimWhich integrates company and host contry practices as well as some

Strategies for instituting change

Cost benefit analysis

Opinion leadership Making use of local channels of influence, or opinion leaders, a

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