UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF CULTURE
Lecturer: Nani Hidayati, S.Pd, M.Pd
LESSON OBJECTIVES AND OVERVIEW
Students are able to understand and comprehend about:
• Culture and its effects on organizations
• Cultural variables
• Cultural value dimensions
• The Internet and culture
• Developing cultural profiles
• Culture and management styles around the world
CASE STUDY
DISCUSSION
• 1. What do you think about this case? How far is freedom of speech can be applied and what boundaries which must be consider to respect other people’s opinion and belief?
• 2. As moslems, what solution do you think which need to be
• 2. As moslems, what solution do you think which need to be
taken among moslems and with other people who have different belief?
FREEDOM
•
at the level of structure: absence of censorship and government control, equal right to communicate and access channels of expression, independence from owners and interest groups, competitiveness of the system, freedom for news media to obtain
system, freedom for news media to obtain information
•
at the level of performance: active and critical
editorial policy, diversity of opinion and information, investigative and watchdog role on behalf of the
public, independence, originality and creativity,
reliability.
SOME LAWS DEALING WITH FREEDOM OF SPEECH:
• Article 19, UN declaration of Human rights
• “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression;
this right includes freedom to hold opinions this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and
to seek, receive and impart information and ideas
through any media
and regardless of frontiers.”
“In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of
meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society .”
• Article 29, UN declaration of Human rights
• Article 19, Inernational Covenant on Civil and
• Article 19, Inernational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, para 2
“Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds
regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice”
“The exercise of the right provided for in paragraph 2 of this Article carries with it special duties and responsibilities. It may therefore be subject to certain
restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law
Article 19, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, para 3
are provided by law and are necessary:
(a) For respect of the rights of and reputation of others;
(b) For the protection of national security or of public order, or of public health or morals.”
“(1) Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law
(2) Any advocacy of national, racial or
religious hatred that constitutes incitement
Article 20, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
religious hatred that constitutes incitement
to discrimination, hostility or violence shall
be prohibited by law..”
KEY TERMS
• Culture Savvy
• Cultural Sensitivity or Cultural Empathy
• Culture of a society
• Self reference criterion
• Parochialism
• Ethnocentrism
CULTURE AND ITS EFFECTS ON
ORGANIZATIONS
CULTURE AND ITS EFFECTS ON ORGANIZATIONS
• Once upon a time there was a great flood, and involved in this flood were two creatures, a
monkey and a fish. The monkey, being agile and experienced, was lucky enough to scramble up a
tree and escape the raging waters.
tree and escape the raging waters.
As he looked down from his safe perch, he saw the poor fish
struggling against the swift current. With the best of
intentions, he reached down and
lifted the fish from the water. The
result was inevitable.
CULTURAL VARIABLES
• Never assume that a person can simply transplant American, or Japanese, or any other country’s styles, practices, expectations, and processes
• People need to develop a cultural profile that identifies the
• People need to develop a cultural profile that identifies the specific differences found in each country
SUBCULTURES
• Residents of the country only conform to the national character to a certain degree
• Could be from ethnic, geographic, or other variables
• Good leaders treat people as individuals and they avoid any form of stereotyping
NATIONAL CULTURE
• “Nation”: is a useful way to define the boundaries of a society
•
similarity among people a cause -- and effect -- of national boundaries
• “Nation”: is a useful way to bound and measure
• “Nation”: is a useful way to bound and measure culture for conduct of business
•
culture is a key characteristic of society and can differ significantly across national borders
• Can also vary significantly within national borders
•
culture is both a cause and an effect of economic and political factors that vary across national borders
•
laws are established along national lines
INFLUENCES ON NATIONAL CULTURE
• Kinship – guides family relationships
• Education – formal or informal education of workers affects workplace expectations
• Economy – means of production and distribution in a society influences all aspects of the resource allocation
influences all aspects of the resource allocation
• Politics – system of government imposes varying constraints on an organization
INFLUENCES ON NATIONAL CULTURE
• Religion – spiritual beliefs of a society are so powerful that they overpower all other cultural aspects
• Associations – the formal and informal groups that make up a society
• Associations – the formal and informal groups that make up a society
• Health – system of health care affects employee productivity
• Recreation – the use, attitude, and choice of how
to use leisure time
SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND CULTURE
• Societies vary based on whether the unit of social organization is the individual or the group
• Society is often stratified into classes or castes
• High-low stratification
• High-low stratification
• High-low mobility between strata
• The individual is the building block of many Western societies
•
Entrepreneurship
•
Social, geographical and inter-organizational mobility
RELIGION, ETHICS AND CULTURE
•
Religion: system of
sharedbeliefs about the sacred
•
Ethical systems: moral principles or values that shape and guide behavior; often products of religion
•
Major religious groups and some economic implications
•
Major religious groups and some economic implications
• Christianity protestant work ethic
• Islam Islamic fundamentalism
• Hinduism anti-materialistic, socially stratified
• Buddhism anti-materialistic, social equality
• Confucianism hierarchy, loyalty, honesty
•
Major religious groups have significant sub-sets with distinct
beliefs and varying implications
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
• Language, spoken
• “private” does not exist as a word in many languages
• Eskimos: 24 words for snow
• Words which describe moral concepts unique to countries or
• Words which describe moral concepts unique to countries or areas: “face” in Asian cultures, “filotimo” in Greece
• Spoken language precision important in low-context cultures
• Language, unspoken
• Context... more important than spoken word in low context cultures
HIGH/LOW CONTEXT CULTURES
High-Context Low-Context
Crucial to Communications:
external environment, situation, non-verbal behavior explicit information, blunt communicative style
Relationships:
long lasting, deep personal mutual involvement short duration, heterogeneous populations Communication:
economical, fast because of shared "code" explicit messages, low reliance on non- economical, fast because of shared "code" explicit messages, low reliance on non-
verbal Authority person:
responsible for actions of subordinates, loyalty at a premium
diffused through bureaucratic system, personal responsibility tough to pin down Agreements:
spoken, flexible and changeable written, final and binding, litigious, more lawyers
Insiders vs outsiders: very distinguishable difficult to identify, foreigners can adjust
Cultural pattern change: slow faster
See E.T. Hall & M.R. Hall, Understanding cultural differences, 1990, Intercultural Press
EDUCATION AND CULTURE
• Education
• Medium through which people are acculturated
• Language, “myths,” values, norms taught
• Language, “myths,” values, norms taught
• Teaches personal achievement and competition
• Education is a critical element of national competitive advantage
• Education system itself may be a cultural
outcome
CULTURAL VALUE DIMENSIONS
• Values are a society’s ideas about what is good or bad, right or wrong
PROJECT GLOBE CULTURAL DIMENSIONS
• Assertiveness: tough, confrontational, and competitive vs. modest and tender
• Future orientation: planning and investing vs.
short term or instant gratification
• Performance Orientation: performance
improvement and excellence, initiative and a sense
• Performance Orientation: performance
improvement and excellence, initiative and a sense of urgency vs. tradition, loyalty, family, and an
association of competition with defeat
• Humane Orientation: fairness, generosity, caring and kindness vs. power and self-
enhancement
HOFSTEDE’S VALUE DIMENSIONS
• Power Distance
• How much people accept equality in power; high power distance reflects an acceptance of power inequality among institutions, organizations, and individuals. Low power distance means people expect equality in power
• Uncertainty Avoidance
• The degree to which members of a society feel uncomfortable with
• The degree to which members of a society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity and thus support beliefs and behaviors that promise certainty and conformity
• Individualism
• A value for a loosely knit social framework in which individuals are expected to take care of themselves
Collectivism
– A preference for a tightly knit social framework in which people look out for one another and organizations protect their
members’ interests
Masculinity Masculinity
– A preference for achievement, heroism, assertiveness, work centrality, and material success
Femininity
– A preference for relationships, cooperation, group decision
making, and quality of life
Rank Orderings of 10 Countries Along Four Dimensions of National Value Systems (adapted)
Country Power Uncertainty Individualism Masculinity Australia
7 7 2 5
Costa Rica
8 2
(tie)10 9
France
3 2
(tie)4 7
India
2 9 6 6
2 9 6 6
Japan
5 1 7 1
Mexico
1 4 8 2
Sweden
10 10 3 10
Thailand
4 6 9 8
United States
6 8 1 4
CRITICAL OPERATIONAL VALUE DIFFERENCES
• Time
• Change
• Material factors
• Individualism
then how people should deal with those cultural differences?
THE INTERNET AND CULTURE
• Search and find out each country’s culture
• Norms of information privacy differ among nations and have their roots in culture and history, e.g. Europeans attitudes toward
privacy are much stricter than in the US.
privacy are much stricter than in the US.
DEVELOPING CULTURAL PROFILES
• Composite pictures of environments, people’s attitudes, and norms of behavior developed from research, personal
observations, and discussions with people.
• Used to anticipate differences in things like motivation,
• Used to anticipate differences in things like motivation, communication, ethics, loyalty, and individual and group productivity
LOOKING AHEAD
Communicating Across Cultures
• The Communication Process
• The Culture – Communication Link
• Information Technology
• Information Technology
CULTURE SAVVY
• A working knowledge of the cultural variables affecting management affecting management decisions
3-32
CULTURAL SENSITIVITY OR CULTURAL EMPATHY
• An awareness and an honest caring about another individual’s culture.
culture.
3-33
CULTURE OF A SOCIETY
• Comprises the shared values, understandings, assumptions, and goals that are learned from earlier generations, imposed by present members of a society, and passed on to succeeding generations.
generations.
SELF REFERENCE CRITERION
• The unconscious reference point of one’s own cultural values
values
3-35
PAROCHIALISM
• Occurs when a Frenchman, for example, expects those from or in another country to automatically fall into patterns of behavior common in France.
ETHNOCENTRISM
• Describes the attitude of those who operate from the
assumption that their ways of doing things are best – no matter where or under what conditions they are applied
CONCLUSION
• People who live in diverse cultures need a cultural difference reconciliation
• Ethnocentrism vs Polycentrism
• Must a company adapt to local cultures or can corporate
• Must a company adapt to local cultures or can corporate culture
-- often home-country dominated -- prevail?
• Cross-cultural literacy essential
TOPIC PRESENTATIONS:
• 1. Asian, Australian and Polynesian Culture and Festivals Group 2
• 2. American and European Culture and Festivals Group 1
Group 1
• 3. Superstition, Issue and Taboo Group 5
• 4. African Culture and Festivals Group 4
• 5. Countries Sign and Symbols Group 3
REFERENCES
• Understanding the Role of Culture
http://www.business.unr.edu/faculty/simmonsb/mgt480/ch3.PPT
• Differences in Culture
http://www.umsl.edu/~naumannj/Geography%20PowerPoint%20Sli http://www.umsl.edu/~naumannj/Geography%20PowerPoint%20Sli des/cultural%20geog%20class/culture%20&%20business.ppt
• Freedom of Speech
https://studentportalen.uu.se/uusp-
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