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Objectives: Week 2 The Cultural Context of IHRM

This document provides an overview of cultural concepts relevant to international human resource management. It discusses definitions of culture, key dimensions of national culture identified in studies by Hofstede, GLOBE, and Trompenaars, and issues that can arise in cross-cultural management research. Key topics covered include power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, long-term vs. short-term orientation, and the influence of culture on human resource practices. The document also addresses how cultures can converge or diverge over time with globalization and presents discussion questions on defining culture and comparing cross-cultural management studies.

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Sri Vaishnavi
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176 views8 pages

Objectives: Week 2 The Cultural Context of IHRM

This document provides an overview of cultural concepts relevant to international human resource management. It discusses definitions of culture, key dimensions of national culture identified in studies by Hofstede, GLOBE, and Trompenaars, and issues that can arise in cross-cultural management research. Key topics covered include power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, long-term vs. short-term orientation, and the influence of culture on human resource practices. The document also addresses how cultures can converge or diverge over time with globalization and presents discussion questions on defining culture and comparing cross-cultural management studies.

Uploaded by

Sri Vaishnavi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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6/08/2013

Week 2
The Cultural Context of IHRM

Objectives
1. Definitions of culture
2. Cultural concepts
3. Results of various intercultural mgmt. studies:
Hofstede, GLOBE & Trompenaars
4. Reflections on cross-cultural mgmt. research
5. Development of cultures

Nature and importance of culture


Variances in people’s beliefs, and behavior patterns are critically
important to:
oInternational business activities
• Cross-national negotiations
• Sales interactions between people from different countries
• Management of the performance of employees from different
countries
• Understanding and treatment of contracts between firms from
different countries
oIHR responsibilities
• Recruiting and hiring
• Compensation
• Training
• Labour relations
• Performance management

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6/08/2013

Kluckhohn & Kroeber definition of


culture
Culture consists in patterned ways of  Thinking
 Feeling
 Reacting
acquired & transmitted mainly by symbols,
constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups,
including their embodiments in artefacts;

The
essential traditional ideas &
consists of
core of their attached values
culture

FIGURE 2.1UNDERSTANDING CULTURE AS


LAYERS OF MEANING
Surface or explicit culture (the
outside layer): things that can
be readily observed, such as
dress, food and ways of eating,
architecture, and customs

Hidden culture (the middle


layer): values, religions, and
philosophies about things like
child rearing, views of what is
right and wrong

Invisible or implicit culture


(the core): the culture’s
universal truths, the bases for
all of a culture’s values and
beliefs

Figure 2.2 Development of cross-


cultural competences

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6/08/2013

Goals of cross-cultural mgmt. studies


• Describe organizational behavior
• Compare between countries & cultures

• Explain & improve interaction between


employees, customers, suppliers or
business in different countries & cultures

Hofstede’s 5 culture dimensions


1. Power distance
2. Uncertainty avoidance
3. Femininity vs. masculinity
4. Individualism vs. collectivism
5. Confucianism or long-term orientation

Long-term cultures characterized by:


• Great endurance, persistence in pursuing goals
• Position of ranking based on status
• Adaptation of traditions to modern conditions
• Respect of social & status obligations within limits
• High savings rates & high investment activity
• Readiness to subordinate oneself to a purpose
• The feeling of shame

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6/08/2013

Short-term cultures characterized by:


• Personal candor & stability
• Avoiding loss of face
• Respect of social & status obligations without
consideration of costs
• Low savings rates & low investment activity
• Expectations of quick profit
• Respect for traditions
• Greetings, presents & courtesies based on
reciprocity

Country cultural clusters


• The results of several studies suggest groupings of the
following countries, based on their cultural similarities:
– Anglo: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa,
United Kingdom, United States
– Arab: Abu-Dhabi, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United
Arab Emirates
– Far Eastern: China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines,
Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand
– Germanic: Austria, Germany, Switzerland
– Latin American: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru,
Venezuela
– Latin European: Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain
– Near Eastern: Greece, Iran, Turkey
– Nordic: Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden
– Independent: Brazil, India, Israel, Japan, South Korea

Figure 2.3
Hofstede study: Power distance & individualism vs. collectivism

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6/08/2013

Table 2.1
Impact of the cultural context on HRM practices

Future Hofstede-style research issues


• Realization of cross-level studies
Consider groups, organizations, & country levels

• Inclusion of cross-cultural differences


Consider intracultural variance

• Inclusion of theoretically relevant moderators


Consider gender, class affiliation, etc.

• Interaction between variables

7 dimensions of Trompenaars & H-T study


a
Relationships 1. Universalism vs. particularism
between 2. Individualism vs.
people communitarianism
3. Emotional vs. neutral
4. Specific vs. diffuse
5. Ascription vs. achievement
Concept of time 6. Sequential vs. synchronic
concept of time

Concept of nature 7. Internal vs. external control

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The GLOBE study questions


• Are there leadership behaviors, attributes & org. practices
effective across all cultures?
• Are there leadership behaviors, attributes & org. practices
effective in some cultures only?
• How much do leadership attributes affect the effectiveness
of specific leadership behavior & its acceptance by
subordinates?
• How much do behaviors & attributes in specific cultures
influence the well-being of members in the researched
societies?
• What is the relationship between these socio-cultural
variables & an international competitive capacity
of the various sample societies?

GLOBE’s 8 culture dimensions


1. Institutional collectivism
2. In-group collectivism
3. Uncertainty avoidance
4. Power distance
5. Gender egalitarianism
6. Assertiveness
7. Performance orientation
8. Humane orientation

Country culture versus MNE


culture
o Countries develop unique patterns of
Values
Norms
beliefs
acceptable behavior
o For many firms, these organizational
values take precedence over country
cultures, particularly when there is a
conflict between the two

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6/08/2013

Cultural convergence and/or


divergence
o Convergence: firms adopting similar
best practices (globalisation)
o Divergence: local cultural practices
affecting firms’ business operations
(localisation)
o “Glocalisation”: optimal trade-off
between globalisation and localisation
(cross-vergence)

Basic assumptions of cultural


research
o Universal – assuming universal cultural
characteristics existing among countries,
studying what HR practices can work
anywhere in the world,
o Situational – “no best for all”, different HR
practices for different cultural situations
o Convergent – common set of HR practices
in countries with similar industrial &
cultural backgrounds, and on similar level
of economy

Equivalence problems in cross


cultural research
oMetric equivalence
oConceptual equivalence
oFunctional equivalence
oSubjectivity of topics
oFactors other than culture

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6/08/2013

Cultures change
There is increasing
1. International connectedness
2. Global economy coordination
3. Harmonization of laws & regulations
4. Migration

Cultures are not confined to given territories.


This means new challenges for HRM.

 How resistant are cultures to change?


 Generation Y are fast, self-organized & absorbed learners
with distinct work-life balance preferences
 Entire society workforces are aging

Discussion questions
• Define culture. How can culture be
conceptionalised?
• Outline the cross-cultural management by
Hofstede and discuss it.
• Compare cross-cultural management
studies and list advantages and
disadvantages.

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