Culture Part 2

1. Ascribed Vs Acquired group affiliations

Affiliations determined by birth are known as ascribed group affiliations where as affiliations not determined by birth are known as acquired group affiliations. Ascribed group affiliations include gender, family, age, caste, ethnic, racial and national origin. Acquired group affiliations include religion, political and professional associations. A person's importance/ranking depends upon both kinds of affiliations.

2. Role of Ladies in Society and Respect for elders

There ae strong country specific differences in attitudes toward males and females. In workplaces males are generally preferred. However barriers to employment based on gender are easing substantially in many parts of the world. in certain countries ladies are not allowed to choose their profession. for employee engagement we need to know the family values and the priority of work-life balance. There is tremendous respect for elders in certain countries, not in family but in work place also. but age does not matter in some other countries. They go by meritocracy.

3. Relationship Preferences

There are basically three aspects

• Power distance
• Individualism Vs Collectivism
• Authoritative Vs Participative

Power Distance

Power distance is a term describing the relationship between superiors and subordinates. Employee preferences in how to interact with their bosses, subordinates and peers varies substantially internationally. Where power distance is high, people prefer little consulation between superiors and subordinates. Similarly where power distance is low, perople prefer and usually have consultative styles.

Individualism Vs Collectivism

some societies are individualistic ( american society) where the effort is sinlge handed and group effort is to the extent necessary, where as in collective societies (japanese society) people prefer to work in teams but take a longer time to come up with a consensus. Attributes of Invidualism are low dependence on the organization and a desire for personal time, freedom and challenge. The attributes of Collectivism are dependence on the organization, desire for training, good physical conditions and benefits.

Authoritative Vs Particiapative

In authoritative societies people prefer being instructed. They like authoritative decision. where as in Participative societies people work in consent with each other. In certain countries people like to take decisions where as it is exactly opposite in some other countries.

5. Maslow's hierarchy of needs varies across countries

According to this theory there are five levels of needs. The needs from lowest to highest level being physiological, security, affiliation, esteem and self actualization. People try to fulfill lower level needs sufficiently before moving on to higher ones. But different countries have different levels of needs. So this theory is helpful for differentiating the reward preferences of employees in different countries.

6. Monochronic Vs Polychronic

I`n monochronic culture people are used to perform tasks sequentially where as in polychronic culture people are comfortable in doing the tasks simultaneously. some cultures tend to focus first on the whole and then on the parts where as others do the opposite. Cultures such as those in northern europe are called monochronic where as cultures in southern europe are polychronic.

7. Low context Vs High context

In low context cultures people consider firsthand information that helps directly in decision making are only relevant. Where as in high context cultures people consider peripheral informatioon to be valuable in decision making and infer meaning from things said indirectly. When managers from both types of cultures deal with each other, low context individuals believe that the high context individuals are inefficient and waste much time where as high context individuals believe that low context individuals are too aggressive to be trusted.

8. Risk taking behaviours.

Risk taking behaviours are basically categorized into four categories

• Uncertainty avoidance
• Trust
• Future Orientation
• Fatalism

Uncertainty Avoidance

In countries with high uncertainty avoidance, employees prefer set rules that are not to be broken even if it is for company's best interest. In these countries people prioritize job security and spend a longer time in a particular company. Where as in countries with low uncertainty avoidance people are adaptable to change easily. They like to try new products/services.

Trust

The level of trust among people varies across countries. In countries with high trust level the cost of doing business is low because costs incurred in supervision and contingencycan be lowered. where as companies have to be more cautious in doing business in low trust level countries.

Future Orientation

Countries differ in the extent to which individuals live for present rather than for future. In countries with high future orientation, companies motivate workers through delayed compensation like retirement programs where as it is exactly opposite in low future orientation countries.

Fatalism

In countries with high degree of fatalism, people plan less for contingecies. They believe unfortunate events are acts of god. People are reluctant to take insurance schemes. High fatalistic people are less swayed by bosses pursuasive logic.

9. Idealism Vs Pragmatism

Idealism cultures first determine principle before resolving small issues where as pragmatism cultures focus more on details of the issue rather on principles for resolution.

10. Culture Shock Vs Reverse Culture Shock

Culture shock is the frustration that results when a person moves to another country and has to learn and cope with a vast array of cultural cues and expectations.Some people also encounter culture shock while returning to home country because they have learned a different culture abroad. This is known as reverse culture shock.

11. Accomodation of foreigners

Every country does accomodate foreigners. The principal reason being business, FDI and inturn the country will emerge in the world map. However the local citizens treat local people and foreigners differently. In many countries foreign women are easily accepted as managers as compared to local women.

12. Implementation of cultural change

The various aspects of implementation of cultural change are as follows

• Value Systems--The more something counters our value system, the more difficult it becomes to accept.
• Cost of change--Some changes to foreign culture increases the productivity and sales greatly where as some other changes to foreign culture increases the productivity marginally. So we have to consider the cost in changes to some foreign culture and the benefits associated with the change.
• Too much change too soon--People are generally reluctant to accept too much changes too soon. so the changes in products/services have to be made in a phased manner.
• Reward sharing--sometimes a proposed change may have no forseeable benefit to the people who must support it. so in this scenario the profits generated due to the proposed change has to be shared among the people who must support it.
• Participation in change decision--To avoid problems arising from a proposed change, all the stakeholders are made to participate in change decison. By this method the company may learn how strong the resistance will be if changes are made.
• Opinion leaders--Sometimes opinion leaders greatly help to speed up the acceptance of change. By discovering the local channels of influence, a company might locate an opinion leader.
• Timing--Many good business decisions fall flat because they are ill timed. So changes should be implemented at the right time so that it can be easily accepted.

13. company Mindsets

The adaptation of a foreign culture by a company not only depends upon the conditions of the foreign culture but also depends upon the attitudes of managers of the company. so accordingly the attitudes or orientations can be broadly classified into three categories

• Polycentrism
• Ethnocentrism
• Geocentrism

Polycentrism

A polycentric organization customizes business practices/processes for different countries. The organization believes that business units in different countries should act very much like local companies. It gives better foothold in the market but the downside is the company has to give up its core business practices. Excessive polycentrism may lead to such extensive imitation of proven host-country practices that the company loses its innovative superiority.

Ethnocentrism

In ethnocentrism the company believes, what worked well in the home country will work well in the host country. It might be business practices or retention of employees. Since cultures and people are different, so ethnocentrism does not necessarily work. In ethnocentrism managers overlook important cultural factors abroad because they have become accustomed to certain cause and effect relationships in the home country. Here the management recognizes the environmental differences but still focuses on achieving home country objectivees.

Geocentrism

Geocentrism is a judicial process. Here a model is being created taking into consideration the host country needs and own company practices. Geocentrism exists when a company bases its operations on an informed knowledge of its organization culture along with home and host country needs, capabilities and constraints.