An in-tray task
Concept 6.2 Other views on cultural values
159 Th is concept has led to a number of cultural value orientations and presented extreme diff erences between the values within each orientation. Sometimes, of course, the diff er- ences between (some) cultural values may not be as extreme as the diff erences presented here, so that some sort of accommodation can be made between the representatives of the cultures in question. On the other hand, the contrasts may be such that working together is extremely diffi cult.
An in-tray task
Christopher Earley, a US management researcher, gave 48 management trainees from southern China and a matched group of 48 management trainees from the US an ‘in-tray task’ consisting of 40 items requiring between two and five minutes each (Earley, 1989). The task involved such activ- ities as writing memos evaluating plans and rating job candidates’ application forms. Half of the participants from each country were given an individual goal of 20 items; the other half were given a group goal of 200 items to be completed in one hour by 10 people. In addition, half of the participants from either country, both from the
group and from the individual goal subsets, were asked to mark each item with their name; the other half turned them in anonymously. The Chinese, collectivist, participants performed best when operating with a group goal and anony- mously. They performed worst when operating individually and with their name marked on their work. The individualist US participants performed best when operating individually and with their work attributed to them personally, and per- formed very poorly when operating as a group and anonymously.
Source: Hoecklin, 1995: 37.
SPOTLIGHT 6.8
Concept 6.2 Other views on cultural values
Th e previous concept outlined the cultural values and the way they are refl ected in man- agement. Values are what people essentially share in a particular culture, what helps them co-exist. Hofstede (1991) emphasises their durability, as does Trompenaars. Th e latter’s dilemma approach, however, acknowledges that in dealing with foreign cultures it may be necessary to talk of reconciliation whereby the parties involved recognise each other’s needs while maintaining their own values.
Integrating values
As we have seen in Chapter 5 , this reconciliation process may, according to Trompenaars, entail the development of a third dimension in which the values of the parties concerned are integrated through close synergy. Th is is a much more productive way of addressing the either/or nature of a cultural dilemma than trying to resolve it through making weak compromises. Th is idea of integrating values is much less clear-cut in nature than that of trying to fi nd a trade-off of values during cultural collisions. Th e complex and unpredict- able nature of this integration process, however, seems to refl ect much more faithfully the
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nature of present-day international business and the increasing interdependence between countries and business sectors across the globe.
Cultural patterns
Th e notion of cultures and their related values being subject to their mutual interaction has received increasing consideration. Søderberg and Holden perceive culture as a sharing of ‘patterns of meaning and interpretation’ (2002: 112). Rather than there being stable cultural communities, there are groups sharing such patterns who, when interacting with others whose patterns they can identify with, may take them on board, be it in adapted form, and/or negotiate a shared meaning and interpretation. In their view, managers who are involved in globalisation may relate to this concept much more readily than to the fi xed dimensions of culture as described in Part One . Th ey will see their role as more to do with ensuring that the interaction within multicultural teams is eff ective and reaping synergetic rewards. Rather than being a matter of dealing with cultures in isolation, their work is ‘the management of multiple cultures’ (Søderberg and Holden, 2002: 110), thereby ensuring that ‘knowledge, values and experience are transferred into multicultural domains of implementation’ (idem: 113).
Culture is not a set of values
Earley (2006) is another scholar who sees the concept of culture as being related to the context, to interaction with others. He is adamant about wanting to avoid what he calls the ‘cultural quagmire’ of the cultural dimension construct whereby cultural values are an aggregate of individual perceptions and therefore contradict the construct itself (idem: 924). ‘Culture’, Earley claims, ‘is not a value or set of values; culture is the meaning which we attach to aspects of the world around us’ (idem: 925). Values as culture remains what Earley calls the ‘obsession’ of cross-cultural researchers. Th ey should, he maintains, be more focused on meaning as culture. Values are only one element allowing meaning to be attached to the environment. Rather than developing even more value-based classifi cations on a grand scale, he proposes (more) research based on the concept of culture as a psychological construct whereby an individual is subject to a number of infl uences. Earley shows how this ties in with a defi nition of culture made by Rohner (1984: 119–120):
The totality of equivalent and complementary learned meanings maintained by a human popu- lation, or by identifiable segments of the population, and transmitted from one generation to the next.
What is needed, Earley says, is the development of theories and framework that ‘link culture to action’, which can be used to understand ‘the linkage among cultures, percep- tions, actions, organizations, structures, etc.’ (Earley, 2006: 928). At the heart of this lies the individual, not societies and their ‘average tendencies’ (the term used by Hofstede to describe the nature of cultural dimension scores).
Aft er reviewing work done to establish the linkage described above, Earley (2006) points to the work done by several authors, including Earley himself, on the ‘ cultural intelligence ’
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161 Points for reflection construct. Th is approach to studying cultural diff erences examines the extent to which individuals are able to adapt to cultural settings. Th e focus moves from the context of interaction (such as shared values and meanings) to the behaviour of the individual and the (meta-) cognitive processing involved. Earley admits this approach needs considerable development, but believes it off ers a promising way to examine how individual actions are aff ected by culture.
Conclusion
This chapter has presented a model of culture, the development of which is based on defi- nitions drawn from research in the field of culture and management. This model has been applied to the world of international business and the daily tasks of a manager examined in terms of cultural values. The assumption underlying this study is that an individual’s framework of cultural preferences influences the way in which their tasks are executed.
The case given in Activity 6.1 will demonstrate this influence.
This chapter has also considered the question whether cultures – and their values – are dynamic rather than stable in nature. It has done so by briefly reviewing the notion of values being subject to modification through interaction in and between cultures, as well as the idea that culture is to do with sharing patterns of meaning and interpretation.
Finally, Chapter 6 touches on the belief that culture has nothing to do with shared values, but rather to with the individual.
Activity 6.2 will provide readers with the opportunity to reflect on their own cultural values and to develop, it is hoped, a clear definition of their own style of working. Furthermore, the activity allows a comparison to be made between the cultural values and related work styles with those from other cultures.
Points for reflection
1. The concept gives a range of eight cultural values that could affect five management skill areas.
Can you suggest other cultural value ranges that could be applied? Are there other management skill areas to which these values could apply?
2. There are those who think that when doing business internationally it is necessary to follow certain professional codes of behaviour, such as keeping to deadlines, meeting delivery dates and obeying terms of contract. There are others, however, who consider that business culture rather than business convention has a greater influence on the way people work internationally or otherwise. Managers operating internationally therefore need to take cultural differences into account.
Which standpoint do you support? Explain why and give examples on the basis of your experience or analysis.
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3. You have seen how culture can affect management.
Apart from being aware of this, what else do you think is needed to perform success- fully in a cross-cultural context?
4. Earley argues that culture has less to do with determining values and more to do with meanings. When doing so, he refers to Rohner’s definition of culture: ‘The totality of equivalent and complementary learned meanings maintained by a human population, or by identifiable segments of the population, and transmitted from one generation to the next.’
Compare this definition of culture with that made by Hofstede ( Chapter 1 ): ‘The collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another’.
In which ways do you consider these definitions to be complementary and/or opposi- tional in nature?
5. Gullestrup sees the General dynamics culture model which he has created (see Figure 6.2 – which includes Figure 6.1 ) as being a frame for further research. It is to be seen as a skeleton to which data and information has to be added according to the specific nature of the study being carried out.
How useful do you consider this model to be if you are about to carry out a cross- cultural research project?
Further reading
Earley, P.C. and Mosakowski, E. (2004) ‘Cultural intelligence’, Harvard Business Review , 82 (October): 139–146. This article describes what the authors claim to be the three sources of cultural intelligence. After giving six cultural intelligence profiles to enable readers to assess which one describes them, the authors suggest ways in which cultural intelligence can be cultivated.
Hall, E.T. and Hall, M.R. (1990) Understanding Cultural Differences , Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press. Although this book was written primarily for business people, it is oriented towards inter- personal relations with foreigners. It is useful, therefore, for many other people whose lives involve contact with foreign nationals, either in their personal or professional lives.
Gullestrup, H. (2006) Cultural Analysis – towards further understanding , Aalborg: Aalborg University Press. This book examines the nature of cross-cultural understanding and co-action. The author presents a way of considering intercultural plurality and complexity in abstract terms. He then proposes an empirical model for the analysis of intercultural co-action before discussing ethical issues relating to intercultural co-action.
References
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Earley, C.P. (1989) ‘Social loafing and collectivism: a comparison of the United States and the People’s Republic of China’, Administrative Science Quarterly , 34: 565–581.
Earley, P.C. (2006) ‘Leading cultural research in the future: a matter of paradigms and taste’, Journal of International Business Studies , 37: 922–931.
Gullestrup, H. (2003a) ‘The Complexity of Intercultural Communication’, Intercultural Communication , 6: 1–19.
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