1 / 37

Cultural Differences

Cultural Differences. Session Four. Agenda. Culture Consequences of Culture for HRM Expatriates. What is Culture?.

bowen
Download Presentation

Cultural Differences

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Cultural Differences Session Four

  2. Agenda • Culture • Consequences of Culture for HRM • Expatriates

  3. What is Culture? • Culture consists of patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values.

  4. What is Culture? • Culture consists of patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values.

  5. Research on Culture • Most important works on culture come from … the Netherlands. • Hofstede research: questionnaire to all IBM offices around the world asking about cultural values

  6. Five Dimensions of Culture

  7. Individualism vs. Collectivism • Individualism: ties between people are loose and people look after their own interests • Collectivism: emphasis on social ties and bonds between people (people are part of cohesive groups)

  8. Power Distance • ‘The extent to which members of a society accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally.’(Hofstede, 1991) • Perceived distance between superior and subordinate.

  9. Uncertainty Avoidance • Reflects a society’s tolerance for situations of uncertainty and ambiguity and the extent to which it tries to manage these situations by • Providing explicit and formal rules and regulations • Rejecting deviant ideas and behavior

  10. Masculinity vs. Femininity • ‘Masculine’ social values: money, achievement, recognition • ‘Feminine’ social values: more concern for people and quality of life • In masculine societies the role between males and females are more rigidly defined

  11. Time Orientation (later added) • Long-term orientation: values saving and persistence in achieving goals. • Hong Kong: high rate of per capita savings • Short-term orientation: maintaining personal stability or happiness and living in the present

  12. How does Hong Kong score? • A= True, B= False • Hong Kong scores relatively high in individualism. • Hong Kong scores low on uncertainty avoidance.

  13. How do YOU score? • Cross-Cultural Values Survey

  14. Agenda • Culture • Consequences of Culture for HRM • Expatriates

  15. How Culture affects HRM • Training of employees • Motivation of employees • Leadership and decision making • Organizational structure

  16. Training and Developing a Global Workforce Table 15.1

  17. Motivation UK

  18. Leadership and decision making • MBO (Management by Objectives): Management tool which motivates personnel by setting mutually agreed objectives between a boss and his/her subordinates. • Requires low power distance • Also, in feminine cultures more emphasis on consensus.

  19. Organizational Structure

  20. Cultures in Hong Kong • Relatively less heterogeneous in Hong Kong than in the US or Europe • Major race components in Hong Kong firms • Local Hong Kong residents • Mainland Chinese • Taiwan Chinese • Caucasians • Indian or Pakistanis • Southeast Asians • Black • Hong Kong firms are highly export oriented.

  21. Cultural diversity Previous session: • Lack of cohesiveness leads to: • Lower levels of participation within a group • Lower levels of conformity to group norms • Less emphasis on group goal accomplishment • In short: Team will be less effective • How to manage cultural diversity? • One framework: The Johari Window

  22. KNOWN TO SELF UNKNOWN TO SELF KNOWN TO OTHERS UNKNOWN TO OTHERS Managing cultural diversity: The Johari Window OPEN BLIND HIDDEN UNKNOWN

  23. KNOWN TO SELF UNKNOWN TO SELF KNOWN TO OTHERS UNKNOWN TO OTHERS Managing cultural diversity: The Johari Window OPEN BLIND HIDDEN UNKNOWN

  24. KNOWN TO SELF UNKNOWN TO SELF KNOWN TO OTHERS UNKNOWN TO OTHERS Managing cultural diversity: The Johari Window OPEN BLIND FEEDBACK DISCLOSURE HIDDEN UNKNOWN

  25. Test Your Knowledge • Employees from a high-power distance culture would feel most comfortable in a training class that: • Involved several group activities with classmates • The teacher was the expert and responded definitively to all questions • The teacher acted as a facilitator of group discussion • None of the above

  26. Agenda • Culture • Consequences of Culture for HRM • Expatriates

  27. Foreign Assignments • Would you consider taking a foreign assignment for a 6 months to 1 year duration? • A=Yes, B=No • Before you took on a foreign assignment, what would you want to know?

  28. Cross-Cultural Preparation • Training to prepare employees and their family members for an assignment in a foreign country • Three phases: • Preparation – language instruction and an orientation to the foreign country’s culture • Assignment – combination of formal program and mentoring to understand the foreign country’s culture • Returning - providing information about the employee’s community and home country workplace

  29. Emotional Cycle Associated with a Foreign Assignment

  30. Emotional Cycle Associated with a Foreign Assignment Honeymoon High Culture Shock Adjustment Mood Learning Low 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Months in Foreign Culture

  31. Managing Expatriates • In the US, 16-40% of expatriates do not complete their assignment • Challenges with managing expatriates include: • Selection • Preparing • Compensating • Managing Performance • Repatriation

  32. A successful expatriate manager must have the ability to: Maintain a positive self-image Foster relationships with the host-country nationals Perceive and evaluate the host country’s environment accurately Selecting Expatriate Managers

  33. Compensating Expatriates

  34. Repatriation The process of preparing expatriates to return home from a foreign assignment Activities that support repatriation: Communication Validation Repatriation

  35. Test Your Knowledge • John, an expatriate working in Hong Kong is feeling very uncomfortable in his surroundings. He often feels as if he has said the wrong thing. John is most likely in which emotional stage of expatriation: • Honeymoon • Culture shock • Learning • Adjustment

  36. Brief Introduction to Hot Seat Case 8Cultural Differences • Michael, Director at Mustang Jeans (US). • Norio, Vice President at PopWear (Japan). • Norio has been working on a deal with Michael’s predecessor, Roger. Michael has just taken over the position. Norio and Michael have their first meeting at Mustang Jeans’ headquarters.

  37. Guest Speaker: Dana Breitenstein • 15 years of experience in inter- cultural training and consulting • Director Intercultural Services, Asia Pacific, Cartus • Speaks English, Swedish, Japanese and learning Mandarin • M.Sc. from Columbia University

More Related