CROSS CULTURE MANGEMENT

Introduction
Cross-cultural management
is the study of management
in a cross-cultural context.
It includes the study of the
influence of societal culture
on managers and
management practice as
well as the study of the
cultural orientations of
individual managers and
organization members.
Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions
Psychologist Dr Geert Hofstede published his cultural
dimensions model at the end of the 1970s, based on a
decade of research. Since then, it's become an
internationally recognized standard for understanding
cultural differences.
Hofstede studied people who worked for IBM in more
than 50 countries. Initially, he identified four
dimensions that could distinguish one culture from
another. Later, he added fifth and sixth dimensions, in
cooperation with Drs Michael H. Bond and Michael
Minkov.
 Hofstede identified six categories that
define culture
Power Distance Index (high versus low).
Individualism Versus Collectivism.
Masculinity Versus Femininity.
Uncertainty Avoidance Index (high versus low).
Long- Versus Short-Term Orientation.
Indulgence Versus Restraint.
 The CAGE Framework
The four CAGE dimensions are:
Cultural Distance
Administrative Distance
Geographic Distance
Economic Distance
Authoritarian leadership
Paternalistic leadership
 Participative leadership
use of both work or task centered and people centered
approaches to leading subordinates
 GLOBE research program
House et al’s (2004) research on the relationship
between culture and leadership resulted in the
GLOBE research program Initiated in 1991
160 investigators Used quantitative methods to study
the responses of 17,000 managers in more than 950
organizations, 62 different cultures Developed a
classification of cultural dimensions – identified nine
cultural dimensions Dimensions of Culture Research
 nine cultural dimensions of Culture
Research
 Uncertainty Avoidance: extent to which a society, organization, or group relies on established
social norms, rituals, and procedures to avoid uncertainty
 Power Distance: degree to which members of a group expect and agree that power should be
shared unequally Institutional
 Collectivism: degree to which an organization or society encourages institutional or societal
collective action. Dimensions of Culture Research
 In-Group Collectivism: degree to which people express pride, loyalty, and cohesiveness in their
organizations or families
 Gender Egalitarianism: degree to which an organization or society minimizes gender role
differences and promotes gender equality
 Assertiveness: degree to which people in a culture are determined, assertive, confrontational,
and aggressive in their social relationships Dimensions of Culture Research
 Future Orientation: extent to which people engage in future-oriented behaviors such as
planning, investing in the future, and delaying gratification
 Performance Orientation: extent to which an organization or society encourages and rewards
group members for improved performance and excellence
 Humane Orientation: degree to which a culture encourages and rewards people for being fair,
altruistic, generous, caring, and kind to others.
GLOBE researchers divided the data from
62 countries
 Strengths

GLOBE study is a major study and, to date, the only study to

analyze how leadership is viewed by cultures in all parts of the
world.
• Findings from GLOBE are valuable because they emerge from a
well-developed quantitative research design.
• GLOBE studies provide a classification of cultural dimensions
that is more expansive than the commonly used Hofstede
classification system.
• GLOBE studies provide useful information about what is
universally accepted as good and bad leadership.
 • The study of culture and leadership underscores the complexity
of the leadership process and how it is influenced by culture.
 Criticisms

 Research does not provide a clear set of assumptions and propositions that
can form a single theory about the way culture relates to leadership or
influences the leadership process.
 • Labels and definitions of cultural dimensions and leadership behaviors are
somewhat vague, difficult at times to interpret or fully comprehend the
findings about culture and leadership.
 • This study focuses on what people perceive to be leadership and ignores a
large body of research that frames leadership in terms of what leaders do
(e.g., transformational leadership, path–goal theory, skills approach).
 • Researchers in the GLOBE study measured leadership with subscales that
represented a very broad range of behaviors and as a result compromised the
precision and validity of the leadership measures.
 • The GLOBE studies tend to isolate a set of attributes that are characteristic
of effective leaders without considering the influence of the situational
effects.
 Application

The findings about culture can help leaders understand

their own cultural biases and preferences.
Different cultures have different ideas about what they want
from their leaders, and these findings help our leaders adapt
their style to be more effective in different cultural settings.
The findings can help global leaders communicate more
effectively across cultural and geographic boundaries.
Information on culture and leadership can be used to build
culturally sensitive Web sites, design new employee
orientation programs, conduct programs in relocation
training, and improve global team effectiveness.