123 Activity 4.4
ACTIVITY 4.3
Read the following text and answer the questions.
Where are the workers?
The following incident took place in a company based in South Africa and which had a Dutch management team. Those employed in the production department were black.
The general manager was pleased with the performance of the production workers, and as is usual in his own country, the Netherlands, he awarded them a bonus at the end of the year equivalent to two weeks’
wages.
The Christmas holidays came and went and the New Year started. However, none of the production workers turned up for work, even though the factory was open. Eventually, on 15 January they re-appeared.
The general manager was perplexed. What had gone wrong?
Questions
1. Why was the factory empty for the first two weeks of January?
2. Analyse the attitude of the workers using the relevant ‘culture construct definitions’ given in Table 2.7 as well as relevant data in Table 2.8 ( Chapter 2 ).
ACTIVITY 4.4
Read the following case study about Asian family businesses and then answer the questions.
124
Chapter 4 Business cultures in Asia, Africa and the Middle East
Dynasties proliferate across south-east Asia: the Malaysian Kuoks, whose interests span hotels and media; Indonesia’s Salims in noodles; and the same country’s Bakries in mining and telecoms.
Taiwan has the Wangs, of Formosa Plastics fame, and the Koos, its oldest business dynasty, now in a spot of bother over the antics of heir apparent Jeff rey Koo junior. Even Singapore, whose cor- porate landscape is partly in government hands, has family empires.
Does that mean Asian investors have more chance of outperforming benchmarks? Sadly, Credit Suisse has not developed an Asian version of its index.
However, consistent out-performance does not apply to all the region’s best-known family com- panies. Korea’s Samsung Electronics under- performed its benchmark in two of the past four years, while Hutchison lagged behind every year.
In Singapore, state-controlled DBS outperformed its family-owned banking peers. Other Asian dyn- asties move in lockstep with their peers – a refl ec- tion of the fact that many are rooted in cyclical industries such as property development.
But there are plenty of stars in the family- controlled universe. Henry Yeung Wai-Cheung, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore who has researched Asian family businesses, sees grounds for optimism. Corporate governance and transparency – once conspicuous by their absence – have improved, he says, along with greater globalisation of operations.
Younger generations are moving family busi- nesses into diff erent areas. ‘This new phenomenon is leading to a new kind of family fi rm, more driven by emerging operations, especially in technology’, he says. ‘That’s a good development – extracting more from the existing franchise.’
And what of the unhappy families? The spat in India between Reliance’s Ambani brothers, who engaged in a power struggle when their father died, briefl y sent Reliance shares tumbling. But it did shareholders a favour in the long run – the subsequent division of the company unlocked value and pushed both brothers into expansion mode.
Stanley Ho, the Macao casino kingpin, disowned his sister over a row about dividend payments and shareholdings in his gambling empire. But his dynasty continues to produce fabulous returns for shareholders. His son Lawrence’s casino joint venture with the son of Australian media magn- ate Kerry Packer recently listed on NASDAQ and shareholders saw gains of up to 32 per cent on day one.
Perhaps the most startling family rift was last year’s bid by Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong billion- aire, to help bankroll an acquisition of his son’s telecoms business. Mr Li’s proposal, ultimately rejected by shareholders, probably owed more to repairing political relations than sparing his son’s blushes. Richard Li’s plans to sell PCCW’s telecom assets to private equity fi rms were scuppered by Beijing. But it set back the cause of family businesses. A pity, since it was Mr Li who wrote the epitaph for keeping wealth in the family, in a speech last September entitled
‘My third son’ – which is how he refers to his charitable foundation.
Mr Li said: ‘In Asia, our traditional values encour- age and even demand that wealth and means pass through lineage as an imperative duty. I urge and hope to persuade you, especially all of us in Asia, that if we are in a position to do so, that we transcend this traditional belief.’
Source: from ‘A new generation of family firm’, Financial Times , 10/3/2007, p. 12 (Lucas, L.),
© The Financial Times Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Questions
1. How can an unhappy family be good for business?
2. How does an Indian family differ from the other family types in Asia? Refer to Concept 4.1 .
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125 Figure I.2 in the introduction to Part One mentioned the names of two social scientists, Kluckholn and Strodtbeck. Their book, Variations in Value Orientations (1961), has served as a primary source of reference for many researchers into culture and management, including Schein, Adler, Hall, Hofstede and Trompenaars. These researchers developed cultural value orientations when investigating the phenomenon of culture and developed cross-cultural management models for a business context.
Some insight was given in Chapter 2 into the relationship between national cultural values and management. Trompenaars also developed dimensions to measure cultural differ- ences and to gain further understanding about cultural diversity in business. What is particularly original about his work is that he presents opposing cultural values in the form of dilemmas.
Concept 5.1 goes further by developing the value orientation model addressed in Chapter 2 . It then gives an overview of Trompenaars’ dimensions and the ensuing dilemmas which a manager may encounter in an intercultural environment. It also highlights some of the differences between Trompenaars’ and Hofstede’s dimensions. In addition, it deals with the culture of innovation in organisations.
Concept 5.2 explains the method and the process for reconciling the dilemmas outlined in Concept 5.1 . The dilemma of motivation is addressed in the preface.
Learning outcomes
After reading the chapter you should:
● Understand the concept of value orientations.
● Have gained insight into Trompenaars’ seven dimensions.
● Have explored some cultural dilemmas in business.
● Have learned how cultural differences can be reconciled.
● Have acquired an initial insight into the theories of motivation.
One experiences a dilemma (the notion of two opposing values) when answering the question ‘What should I do?’ by saying ‘I don’t know, but I can’t ignore the problem’
(Tahssain-Gay and Cherre (2012): 18).
Chapter 5
Cultural dimensions and dilemmas
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Chapter 5 Cultural dimensions and dilemmas
126
Preface: motivation – needs and values
When considering the problem just raised, Gullestrup (2006) sees it as a possible dilemma in ethical terms for what he calls a ‘cultural actor’, i.e. the person seeking intercultural understanding when interacting with people from other cultures. He considers such dilemmas as occurring at two levels. At an abstract level, a dilemma is related to the question whether something like an ideal, universally valid culture actually exists, one which can be applied to any local culture. At an emotional and personal level, a dilemma may occur when the cultural actor is trying to modify certain behaviour or values in a given culture. Gullestrup illustrates the latter by referring to an exporter who is attempting to change the habits of people in a particular culture to enable him to sell them more products.
Dilemma of motivation
Th is type of second-level dilemma is one experienced by many managers working in an international context experience who are dealing with people from diff erent cultural backgrounds. One of the most important dilemmas such managers have to face is what it is called, the dilemma of motivation. Acknowledging that people work in diff erent ways is not enough; what needs to be recognised is that they may have diff erent motivational systems. Finding out what systems are at play is not an easy matter since there are various systems which may improve the quality of individual working life as well as group behaviour.
Th e dilemma of motivation may arise when a manager is searching an appropriate strategy for motivating people with diff erent needs and values. As Todes et al. (1977: 165) emphasise: ‘Th e success or failure of motivation rests not on the technique itself but on management’s ability to match the needs of people with appropriate incentives.’ Th is implies that a manager should possess an interdisciplinary knowledge of several disciplines comprising psychology (personality of the individual) and motivational theories.
Motivation theories: human versus cultural perspectives
Th ere are many theories of motivation, most of which come from the Western world. Below is a brief overview of some of them in terms of two approaches to motivation: human needs and cultural values.
Human needs
Todes et al. (1997: 166) classify the needs of people according to four motivational perspectives:
1. Th e sociological view: people’s actions are governed by the customs and the values of the society.
2. Th e biological view: human’s actions are determined by their physical needs.
3. Th e psychoanalytic view: human actions are driven by mostly unconscious processes.
4. Th e behaviourist view: human behaviour is the response to various motivating stimuli.
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Concept 5.1 Value orientations and dimensions
127 At the organisational level, other scholars add psychological and spiritual needs, needs which are not only more complex to understand because these are not just to do with human needs, but are also related to the cultural background of the organisation in question.
Cultural values
Adler with Gundersen (2008) argue that the motivation theories which emanate from the US are more a refl ection of American values than a universal description of motivation.
She is referring in particular to Maslow’s well-known hierarchy of fi ve basic needs, and to Herzberg’s two-factor motivation theory. Th e latter can be briefl y described as one involving (1) intrinsic factors or motivators that infl uence the employee’s job satisfaction (the need for personal growth) and (2) extrinsic factors that infl uence the employee’s job dissatisfaction (the need to avoid disagreement).
However, when considering Vroom’s expectancy theory of motivation, in which motivation depends ‘on the extent to which people believe they have control over the out- comes of their eff orts as well as on manager’s abilities to identify desired rewards’, Adler (2008: 189) notes its ‘universal’ character. Th is is because the theory does not stipulate the nature of the rewards that motivate a specifi c culture. Th is suggests that the managers themselves have to discover which type of reward is the most adequate for a specifi c group.
Never theless, this theory, like the ones mentioned earlier, still refl ects the values related to the culture where the theory has been developed.
However, as Adler with Gundersen (2008: 192) point out, more recent motivation theories take into account the cultural component. Th is goes particularly for the cultural intelligence theory, developed originally by Earley and Ang (2003), which refers to a person’s capability to adapt when interacting with people from diff erent cultural contexts.
One of the three constituents or ‘motivational aspects’ of cultural intelligence comprises values such as confi dence, persistence, and, not least, the level of affi nity with a new culture.
Having confi dence, persistence and the required affi nity may improve a manager’s per- formance eff ectiveness in an international context, even though the manager maintains an unconscious ethnocentrism.
Concept 5.1 Value orientations and dimensions
Th e concepts of cultural theory have inspired researchers, particularly those relating culture to management, to examine the eff ect of the norms and values of a society on the individual.
Parsons, an American sociologist who attempted to integrate all the social sciences into a science of human action, argued in his ground-breaking work, Th e Structure of Social Action (1937), that the action of the individual is totally integrated into a social system.
Individuals passively follow the rules of conduct of the specifi c society in which they are living. Th e norms of the society are institutionalised and internalised by the individuals in it through a process of socialisation. Th ese norms steer their actions and subordinate individuals to the social order, reducing the uncertainty they experience when interacting.
Without this social mechanism, interaction would be much less predictable, the motives and reactions of those involved much less certain.
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Chapter 5 Cultural dimensions and dilemmas
128
The value-orientation approach
Kluckholn and Strodtbeck (1961: 4) defi ne value orientations as being complex principles that are the result of interaction between three elements: the cognitive, the aff ective and the directive. Th is fi nal element is of particular interest since it orders and conducts human thoughts and actions ‘as these relate to the solution of “common human” problems’.
Th ey put forward a classifi cation of the universal components of value orientations, including some intracultural variations. To enable this classifi cation to be made, Kluckholn and Strodtbeck (1961: 10) formulate three assumptions:
1. ‘Th ere are a limited number of common human problems for which all peoples at all times must fi nd some solution’. Th is forms the essentially universal nature of value orientations.
2. Th ere are many ways of solving problems.
3. Societies have diff erent preferences when it comes to choosing solutions.
Th ese assumptions allow them to determine fi ve problems common to all human groupings. On the basis of these problems they established the variations in fi ve orientations, which have been integrated into Chapter 6 dealing with cultural values in management.
To enable a clearer understanding of these value orientations, Kluckholn and Strodtbeck (1961: 11–20) illustrate their defi nitions with examples, many of which relate to the culture prevailing in the US at that time.
1. Human nature orientation (goodness or badness of human nature): ‘Some in the United States today incline to the view that human nature is a mixture of Good and Evil. Th ese would say that although control and eff ort are certainly needed, lapses can be under- stood and need not always be severely condemned’ ( p. 12 ).
2. Man–nature orientation (harmony-with-nature and mastery-over-nature): ‘In the conceptualization of the man–nature relationship is that of harmony; there is no real separation of man, nature and supra-nature [. . .] Th e mastery-over-nature position is the fi rst-order [orientation] (that is, the dominant orientation) of most Americans.
Natural forces of all kinds are to be overcome and put to the use of human beings’
( p. 13 ).
3. Time orientation (past, present and future): ‘Americans place an emphasis upon the future – a future which is anticipated to be bigger and better [. . .] Th e ways of the past are not considered good just because they are past, and truly dominant [. . .] Americans are seldom content with the present. Th is view results in a high evaluation of change, providing the change does not threaten the existing value order – the American way of life’ ( p. 15 ).
4. Activity orientation (being, being-in-becoming and doing): ‘Th e doing orientation is so characteristically the dominant one in American society [. . .] “Getting things done”
and “Let’s do something about it” are stock American phrases’ ( p. 17 ).
5. Relational orientation (man’s relation to other men): ‘Th e Lineal, the Collateral and the Individualistic ‘relational’ alternatives are analytical concepts for the purpose of making fi ne distinctions both within and between systems rather than generalizing concepts for the specifi cation of the gross diff erences between systems’ ( p. 17 ).
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Concept 5.1 Value orientations and dimensions
129 Th e US, with its many ethnic groups, serves as an ideal example to illustrate the degrees of variation in value orientations. Th ese variations result from the presence of subgroups in every society whose behaviour is more or less patterned according to the value orienta- tions of the dominant group. Th ese subgroup variations contribute to the creation of what Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck (1961: 28) call a ‘web of variation’ in a society.