INTERCULTURAL MANAGEMENT

Definitions of culture  
A culture is a particular society or civilization, especially considered
in relation to its beliefs, way of life, or art. – Collins Dictionnary
“A collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the member of one
human group from another” -G.H. HOFSTEDE 1991
“Culture is a rich complex of meanings, beliefs, practices, symbols, norms and
values prevalent among people in a society” -SHALOM SCHWARTZ 1979
“Culture is a dynamic process of solving human problems and dilemmas in areas
of human relationships, time, and nature.” -FONS TROMPENAARS 2005

Different approaches of dealing with other cultures to avoid 

 
 Culture blind = It's about ignoring the culture 
 Similarity assumption = assume that the other's culture is similar 
 Go native = abandon your culture and adopt the other's culture 
 Compromising = win-lose / lose-win situation  

The United Nations agency UNESCO has defined culture as the "set of
distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual, and emotional features of society
or a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature,
lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs.”
“Culture is the name for what people are interested in, their
thoughts, their models, the books they read and the speeches they
hear” LIPPMAAN

“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’’ CAMUS

Models of culture:  
 1. Onion Model:  

o First layer is rituals, they change slowly 

o Second are heroes (role models) 
o Outer layers represent cultural artefacts or symbols (flags,
architecture or traditional clothing) 

2. Iceberg Model:  

 Observable part ==> behaviours (words Clothes/architecture/food

and actions)

 Non observable part ==> interpretations Beliefs

(how we feel) take more time for an
outsider to understand. Family

                ==> core values (learned Gender role: nowadays

ideas of what is considered women are speaking about
bad/good, right/wrong,                their rights but the society is
desirable/undesirable & still "masculine"
acceptable/unacceptable)
Core values: hospitality,
respect of the elder

3. Barrel Model: 

Superstructure Ideology

 The "hshouma" concept

 The hospitality
 Respecting the elder

Social structure Social organization

 The gap between the poor and the rich

 Gender inequalities

Infrastructure Economic base

Environment (of the barrel) Natural ressources
 The Barrel Model of Culture views a society as having integrated elements to provide a more
analytical view of culture. This model takes into account external factors, such as the
environment, and internal factors, such as the people who live in the society. These
elements are the environment, infrastructure, social structure, and superstructure. 

The base of this interdependence is infrastructure, an economic base.

The second level is social structure, which includes social patterns, interactions, and
arrangements. 

The third level is considered to be the superstructure which is the overall worldview of that
culture. 

All three of these are interdependent with the environment, and the natural resources,
present in that society. Because all of these are interconnected, a change in one level will
affect all other levels and society overall. 

Levels of culture : 

International It extends beyond national borders, it's universal Ex: Marriage

level
National level Values shared by a majority of the population within the nation

Ex: couscous at Friday in Morocco - punctuality in Germany

Regional level All national cultures consist of regional subcultures that infleunce
the characteristics of one group from another in a nation state
Organizational Organizational cultures are often referred to as "corporate
culture cultures" and reflect the beliefs, values, and assumptions of an
organization"Culture eats strategy for breakfast" P.Drucker It
means that no matter how strong the strategy of the company is, if
the employees don't share the same culture this startegy won't be
efficient.
Individual level It relates to your preferences for things through your personal
experience that include the influence of your family, peers, school,
media, co-workers…

C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y
High culture Often associated with political power, wealth, prestige,
intellectualism…

Popular culture The pattern of cultural experiences and attitudes that exists in
mainstream society.

"A football game, the final of a tv show…"

Subculture Smaller groups of people within a larger culture who share

cultural traits and patterns.

Countercultures A type of subculture that rejects some of the larger culture's

norms & values

Culture ETIC vs. EMIC 

 ETIC view of a culture: 
It is the perspective of an outsider looking in. But the results may be unfaithful
to the reality beceause people act differently when they are observed. ===>
Helps to analyse the culture  
  EMIC view of culture:  
It is a perspective focus on the instrinsic cultural distinctions that are
meaningful to the members of a given society, often considered to be an
"insider's" perspective. ===> Helps to understand the culture  
  

ETIC  EMIC 

Universal behaviors  Culturally specific behavior 

Outside perspective  Inside perspective 

Similarities between cultures  Uniqueness of cultures 

Global vision  Local vision 

Objective  Subjective 

Aspects of culture 
Xenocentric It refers to the desire to engage in the elements of another's
culture: culture rather than one's own. Styles, ideas and products can all
be items of preference by someone with xenocentrist
viewpoints. 
Example: 
"American's belief that Europeans product better quality
vehicles. 

Ethnocentric It's judging another culture based upon the values and standards
culture: set in one's own culture. 
It involves a belief or attitude that one's own culture is better
than all others. Almost everyone is a little bit ethnocentric. For
example; americans tend to say that people from Englad drive
on the "wrong" side of the road, rather than on the "other"
side. 

Polycentric The polycentric culture orientation operates under the premise

culture: that countries around the world have so many differences in
cultural and economic mores that striving to translate practices
from the country to another may be fruitless. 
Therefore, when a company assumes a polycentric orientation,
it adapts its products, marketing and support functions for each
country it operates in. 

Egocentric In The EGOcentric society, a person's identity is INDEPENDENT

culture: from a group (self centered)

Sociocentric In the SOCIOcentric culture society a person gets their identity

culture: from the group. 
The person acts differently around different groups of people. 

Caracteristics of culture  
 1. Culture is learned ==> process of inculturation  
2. Culture is shared/collective  
3. Culture takes time to develop  
4. Culture is transmitted across generations  
5. Culture is subject to change (migration & globalization lead to a mixing
of cultures)  

The values 
Definition:  
Beliefs or ideals shared by the members of a culture about what is good or bad
…..  Customs : a ritual/tradition that is sign of the group's cultural values.  

Types of values: 
Terminal the values we think are the most important/desirable and that
values we want to achieve by the end of the day/lifetime (success …
(goals) (happiness recognition, self respect)

Instrumental they are more focused on persanality traits, the values we

values adopt to achieve the terminal values ( honestry , ethics ,
ambition… ) 

Communication  
Intercultural communication:  
 It's the communication between people from 2 different cultures. 
 It's symbolic, transactional & interpretive contextual process. 

Deductive Theory (general statement)/hypothesis ===> reach a

reasoning confirmation /logical conclusion  

Inductive Observation ===> generalizations 

reasoning
Deductive communicators preferring to hear the point followed by the details.
Inductive communicators prefer to hear the details or the supporting
information prior to hearing the point of the communication.

CULTURE DIMENSIONS
The Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory was created in 1980. Hofstede
identified six categories :

Power distance
collectivism/INDIVIDUALISM

Uncertainty avoidance index

Long -term orientation /short -term orientation