Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ 3 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 4 Globalization ................................................................................................................................ 4 The Hofstede Framework ................................................................................................................ 5 Power Distance Index .................................................................................................................. 5 Individualism ................................................................................................................................ 6 Masculinity .................................................................................................................................. 7 Uncertainty Avoidance Index ...................................................................................................... 9 Long Term Orientation............................................................................................................... 10 When Cultures Clash ..................................................................................................................... 11 References ..................................................................................................................................... 14
Abstract
Today the business world continually grows smaller with even small companies beginning to have global factors playing into successful operations. Because of this, to be a truly high-performing leader today, one must be able to lead across the cultural boundaries that typically divide those of different nationalities and backgrounds. Be it managing teams in overseas offices or operations, working for a foreign national company or simply getting along with peers from a different cultural background, differences can affect every level of the leadership structure.
This paper will first examine common cultural factors and the general characteristics of various nationalities to define a framework of traits which can have a strong effect on leadership. Second, it will examine common problems which can arise in an international environment which a leader will have to deal with to be successful. Finally, this paper will outline some basic strategies and best practices for the prospective international leader to follow. Cross-culture management presents its own unique challenges and problems. Being prepared for and able to deal with such situation not only allows a leader to gain the great rewards and satisfaction of leading across cultures, but also has our world continues to get smaller this ability will become more and more a necessity.
Introduction
Globalization
Globalization is a buzz word that seems to be getting thrown around more and more these days. Business schools have discussions, if not entire classes, devoted to it and dozens of writers, pundits and politicians have taken turns both deriding it as the root cause of all the bad in the world today and as savior that will bring peace and prosperity to the planet. The questions are, however, do we really understand what globalization is and are we prepared to handle it? According to a recent article in Fortune Magazine online, the answer may be no. According to the author, a common conversation between CEOs and business school deans could be going something like this; "A recent grad we hired got up to give a presentation to our senior management and had simply no appreciation for the challenges of globalization: no feel for the country or region; no anticipation of corruption or socialism in-country; no grasp of the supply chain difficulties; no appreciation for the differences in rule of law and property rights; and the proposed brand name translated into an unmentionable body part. The pitch was an embarrassment." While this imaginary quote itself may be somewhat overly dramatic to prove a point, recent research is backing up the point the author is trying to make, that todays business school grads coming out unable to cope with the challenges presented by globalization. This is especially important considering that most graduates with advanced business degrees are brought into organizations to be the future leaders and in the opinion of many, the problems of a global business environment are the primary issues successful leaders will have to manage in the future. While the end results of these issues can be varied, typically the root cause will come down to
people and culture. Therefore it is of key importance that leaders understand the cultural differences and issues facing the world today. With that in mind, this paper will first look at the cultural differences across nationalities as defined by the Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions.
It suggests that a society's level of inequality is endorsed by the followers as much as by the leaders. Power and inequality, of course, are extremely fundamental facts of any society and anybody with some international experience will be aware that 'all societies are unequal, but some are more unequal than others'. In other words, this factor can greatly affect how a person from a certain culture perceives power within an organization and how willing they are to accept the control of a higher power position. This can be of strong importance to how a leader derives their power and how to present that power to their followers. As we can see in the map above, cultures from South American, Asian and Middle-Eastern countries tend to have moderate to high power distance. This can suggest that Legitimate Leaders, or those who have their position appointed from above, stand the best chance to have their power recognized within such a culture and perhaps is how they should display their power to be best considered a leader. In addition, this cultural factor can indicate how cultures will respond to inequalities in things such as work, pay and benefits as well as expectations within a culture.
Individualism
In the Hofstefe Dimensions, Individualism, and its opposite Collectivism, looks at the degree to which individuals integrate into groups. In highly individualistic cultures, one is expected to more or less look after oneself and immediate connections or family. In more
collective cultures, the ties of connections are extended further and tightened to broaden the number of people one is expected to protect or take care of. Beyond the extent of connections, individualism vs. collectivism also determines the strength to which one is held to their group and the expectation of conformity to the procedures and practices of that group. In a highly individualistic society, such as the United States, it can be seen that those who take initiative for themselves and make effort to stand out are the ones most often rewarded for their achievements and these rewards are kept for the most part to themselves. Compare this to a country such as South Korea, where from birth people are integrated into strong in-groups and are highly accepting of placement into groups within an organization. Here, a thought process can be seen of The nail that stands out is the one that is hit type where efforts are to maintain the status quo and cohesion within the group. Success extends beyond the individual to all those surrounding them and rewards also.
Masculinity
The Hofstefe Dimension of Masculinity measures the strength of traditionally male or female values, from a Western sense, within a culture. In the more masculine cultures, high value is placed on such things as competitiveness, assertiveness and ambition as well as the accumulation of wealth and material possessions. On the opposite, in so-called feminine cultures, the emphasis is relationships and quality of life factors such as happiness and a sense of fulfillment. To better describe this aspect of culture, some researchers have reclassified this
dimension as Quantity of Life vs. Quality of Life, to separate the values from specific genders as both males and females within a culture can exhibit these traits. To the left, we can see the dimensional scores for Japan. Immediately we can notice a high peak in Masculinity which, at 95, is actually among the highest in the world. This carries the meaning that within the Japanese culture, the norm is to place high values on defined and quantifiable success measured in such things as wealth and power. Many stages within life and organizations are seen as a competition and therefore the expectation is to put in a great deal of time and sacrifice in order to win. To this end, it is considered a cultural norm for those within Japanese organizations to put in longer hours and less vacation time than Western counterparts. In exchange, greater financial reward is expected to come eventually to allow individuals to view themselves as a success. While it is true that masculine and feminine traits can be displayed by both genders within a culture, it is also important to note that the level existing within a culture can have bearing on the on gender roles traditionally assigned to females, which in turn can have a great affect on organizational structure. We will discuss this further later in common problems that can arise in cross-cultural leadership.
the uncertain times was through anger. While many factors played into what happened within the country, it isnt going too far to say that on the whole the issues were not very well dealt with on all levels and the cultural significance of uncertainty avoidance may have played a part.
10
Bob is a distribution manager for a U.S. automobile manufacturer in Mexico City. His boss, Juan, is Mexican, as are most of his peers and all of his subordinates. Bob has been in the big city for only a few months and he has a problem, actually a bunch of problems. He recalls that only a few weeks ago he felt he could have taken on the world and won. Now, he questions his ability to sell peanuts to passing motorists. So what was the primary cause of Bobs breakdown and loss of confidence? His assumption that the management style successful for him in the US would apply equally in Mexico. In the US, many managers have found success in a democratic leadership style, encouraging ideas and inputs from subordinates where as in Mexico, higher power distance has led to the expectations of followers that the manager take a stronger lead and direct from a position of authority. In Bobs case this caused him to be viewed as weak and indecisive by his subordinates when he was trying to involve them and disrespectful and insubordinate by his boss for disagreeing with his position in front of others. Being aware of these differences beforehand and adjusting his leadership style somewhat to fit expectations could have saved Bob a lot of frustration during his transition.
11
Outside of a manager/employee relationship, cultural differences can also have a strong affect on an organizational leaders ability to conduct business with the leadership of another organization from another country. Examples of such clashes can be found in the book Changing Face of Japanese Management by Jackson and Tomioka. In a meeting between a Japanese negotiation team and UK managers, the Brits were constantly frustrated by the seemingly inability to get contracts down on paper and consistent silence during formal meetings. Such issues can be explained in terms of the Hofstede Dimensions. First, with the Japanese managers, very high Masculinity scores meant that they feared appearing weak in front of others. Their silence was not out of disrespect, but rather because the meetings were being conducted in English, they felt making mistakes would make them appear weak and therefore it was better to not speak at all. In addition, high Uncertainty Avoidance made the Japanese team less willing to jump into agreements without full understanding of what effect and changes this would have on their organization. Finally, the general long-term orientation held by many Asian cultures made hard contracts difficult to get signed until the managers felt strongly about the relationship and connection between themselves and the Western counterparts. By approaching negotiations with this knowledge before hand, the process could have been a less frustrating experience and lead to more positive results.
So what can a leader really do to be successful in a cross-cultural situation? The most simple answer is that they have to adapt. Adaptation to a specific situation is always a requisite for success in any leadership scenario, but gains even greater importance when different cultures are involved. By understanding the cultural norms an organization holds, the leader can then select and incorporate a leadership style that best fits with that organization. We can see in the
12
chart below a quick glance at four different styles, the cultural dimensions controlling them and the counties where they may best be used.
By no means is this an end all be all solution and one cannot simply take the cultural assumptions at face value and feel all within that culture will operate the same way. However, by having a greater understanding of the cultural averages, a leader can approach possible cultural differences with better understanding of the situation and possible solutions to produce the best outcomes.
13
References
Bruner, Robert. (2011, February 25). B-schools: it's time to globalize. Fortune, Retrieved from http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/02/25/b-schools-its-time-to-globalize/ Rutherford, Don. (2005, February). Whos in charge? Cultural value differences. Entrepeneur, Retrieved from http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/129814158.html Jackson, K, & Tomioka, M. (2004). The changing face of japanese management. Psychology Press. Sungmin, Ryu. (2005). The effect of lto culture on international supply chain contracts. The Journal of Applied Business Research, 21(4), Retrieved from http://www.cluteinstituteonlinejournals.com/PDFs/2005258.pdf Clark, Don. (n.d.). Long-term vs short-term orientation. Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/culture2.html Hostede, Geert. (2009). Hofstede cultural dimensions. Retrieved from http://www.geerthofstede.com/ Cross cultural communications.. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.clearlycultural.com
14