Towards the cross

cultural negotiation

Culture
The set of symbols (such as values,
norms, attitudes, beliefs, languages,
customs, rituals, habits, skills, education,
ethics, art, etc..) And objects (such as
clothing, housing, products, artwork,
tools, etc..) that are learned, shared and
transmitted from one generation to
another by the members of a society,
therefore, is a factor that determines,
regulates and shapes human behavior.

The cultural factor

Human behavior is the product of the existing culture in the

society to which he belongs, therefore, not surprising that this
affects their purchasing decisions.

Culture is widely accepted by the members of each society. For

example, in Scotland there is nothing new to see a man in a skirt,
which in turn gives rise to a "market skirts for men" (a situation
that is inconceivable in Latin countries).

Culture is difficult to change. For example, it would be almost

impossible for a Scottish company that manufactures skirts for
men to change in Latin America the custom for men to use pants
to wear skirts instead.

The culture shapes people's behavior so they usually respond to

certain stimuli in a uniform manner. For example, in some Asian
countries the vast majority of people are accustomed to eating
rice (as part of their main meal) so it responds to stimulus in their
meals, rather than with other food.

Cultural differences studied by Hosftede

Hofstede was one of the first sociologists who sought to
classify the cultural differences of nations and therefore is the
cornerstone of many studies that have been done on this
topic. The project began in 1967 and ended in 1973 getting
data from IBM employees in 70 countries. According to
Hofstede (2001), culture is a mental program that each person
has and is stable over time in a way that leads to that person
to behave the same under similar circumstances. Then, each
person has a shared part programming and individual part.
The part will be due to shared universal values and collective
and individual part to the region, religion or to family
influence. Then (Figure 1) is a diagram showing the
relationship between the values and behavior:

Colective Values

Universal Values

Individual or colective
behaviour

Individual
Values

Rokeach (1969) notes that values are the basis of behavior

and defined as:
An enduring belief that specify the behavior or alternative
preferred modes lead to a final state (Rokeach, 1969:160).
The behavior is observable while values are not (Connor and
Becker, 1994), ie we can only infer an individual's values
through their actions and collective values will shape the
national culture understood as the actions taken by a group of
individuals in similar conditions.
In this sense, culture can be defined as structured ways of
thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and transmitted by
symbols, constituting the distinctive features of human
groups. According to Hofstede (2001) culture is a collective
programming of mind which distinguishes the members of
one group or category of people from another (Hofstede,
2001:9). Studied by Hofstede dimensions to make the
differentiation between different national cultures are: power

Power distance
It's the way how companies effectively
manage human inequality. The inequality
can be in different areas such as prestige,
wealth and power; different societies put
different emphasis on these factors. Both
organizations and society, human inequality
is a reality and it can refer to a relationship
such subordinate chief. In some countries,
the salary of a manager is far superior to a
subordinate, generating a large power
distance, while in other countries pay equity

Uncertainity management
Uncertainty about the future is a factor in
human life and that is constantly adapting
to new technologies, laws and new
lifestyles. In general, before the twentieth
century people lived and died with the
same technology, ie radical changes were
not as they are now. The uncertainty is
also present in the cultures as in some
countries like the UK, Denmark and the
United States, are more willing to take
risks, while in Greece, Guatemala, Peru
and
Portugal
prefer
the
security

Individualism and
colectivism

The relationship between the individual and

the collective concerns 67 in community
living, this is closely related to social norms,
which are reflected in the family, school,
work, religion, and social relations. The
extent to which
societies are individualistic or collectivist
affect
the
relationship
between
the
individual and the organization. A high
collectivist index could establish a greater
emotional dependency relationship among
members of the organization, where there is

Masculinity and femineity

The fourth factor investigated by Hofstede is
the degree to which a culture is male or
female type. The gender role socialization
begins in the family, peer groups still in
school and is still in the media, literature,
film, television, etc.. The sense of use of
these terms refers to the dominance of one
gender in society, male assertive patterns
and reflected in raising infants breast shape.
In general, a high rate male establishes a
significant gender difference in opportunities
and established roles for men and women.

Hofestede criticism
The main criticisms associated with the model of
Hofstede (Jabri, 2005; Graen, 2006) is that the
proposed dimensions are simplistic because they are
basically divided into four dimensions (later added one
more) that are outside the actual context of the
national culture, and to classify all individuals in a
country in the same way, without taking note that
there are significant differences even between regions
within a country. Another criticism is that the
measurements were performed considering a single
company of U.S. origin with a particular organizational
culture and staff characteristics are not representative
of individuals in a country. In addition, as mentioned
above, the rates have more than thirty years and have

Cultural dimensions of Solomon Schwartz

Schwartz (1994, 1999) has conducted

surveys on the values of individuals in 63
countries with 60,000 teachers, the aim
was to identify the values at work. Values
studied are:
Traditionalism. Keep the status quo of
the group and restrict the actions or
inclinations that might disrupt the
solidarity and group behavior where
people located.

 Intellectual Autonomy. Emphasizes the desire

of individuals to pursue their own ideas and
intellectual directions independently.
Affective autonomy. Stresses the willingness of
individuals to seek positive experiences affective.
Hierarchy. Stresses the legitimacy of a
distribution of power, roles and resources so
inequitable.
Equality. Importance of private interests in favor
of voluntary commitment promote the welfare of
others.
Dexterity. Stresses the get ahead through their
own assertiveness.
Harmony. Stresses the fit harmoniously with the
environment.

The 7 values
The seven types of values, are summarized in three continuous
dimensions: "Tradition vs. Autonomy "," Hierarchy vs. Equality "and"
Dexterity vs. Harmony "(Schwartz, 1999). Values in tradition and
autonomy people, societies tend to follow the traditional values of
family, security and social relations while in other societies people
act independently both intellectually and emotionally. This involves
having their own criteria and different to traditional values regarding
search meet challenges of creativity, curiosity or pleasure.
The hierarchy and equality values show a tendency to respect social
systems established or the pursuit of equality of individuals, currently
many systems hierarchical world are challenged by young people
seeking equal opportunities for any individual. Finally, the values of
skill and refer to the degree harmony a society that is challenging,
ambitious and successful as opposed to be right with
others and with the environment.

More economically developed countries are less

traditional and more egalitarian than the less
developed. A lower value results in hierarchy also
occurs in developed countries with high worth for
autonomy values. Countries evolve over time
according to the specific circumstances, new
information
technologies
and
thus
new
generations are changing their values according to
these. The same criticism that is done Hofstede
studies apply to the Schwartz model, but unlike
Schwartz Hofstede's model measured values that
can be considered universal for any culture. This
model has also been observed by critics, as it was
designed for students and teachers (Williamson,
2002).

Inglehart - World Values Survey

Inglehart and colleagues (Inglehart et al., 1998 Chull Dalton

and Shin, 2006; Esmer and Pattersson, 2007), have studied
90 different companies in the world since 1981 (www.
wordlvaluessurvey.org).
The aim of the association is to study the beliefs, values
and motivations of people in the world as an aid to social
researchers and to international decision makers.
The dimensions studied by them are based on traditional
values vs. the secular or rational. These two dimensions
reflect the contrast between societies where religion, family
ties, the difference of authority and national pride are
important.
Among these countries are most Africans, Latin Americans
and the South Asian countries. Secular or rational countries
are those in which the values are based on development
and not on the bus, is not given much importance to
religion and gender equality exists. Tolerance of differences
is an important aspect.

 Another factor that, according to these authors,

involved in the development of wealth in society
are the "survival values (basic needs) vs. The
values of self-expression. "In some societies where
survival seeks security and wealth has been
surpassed, so will tend to present self-expression
and the pursuit of quality of life. The companies
are still struggling to develop their basic needs are
most African countries, South Asia and some
former communists, while most European and
North American countries are developing self
expression with high rational value.

 Inglehart (1988) found a significant correlation between

the values of mass expression and democratic form of
government. These factors also are related with the
degree of satisfaction and happiness of peoples. In the
world map Inglehart values (www.worldvaluessurvey.org)
shows how different societies are changing with time
values, but this does not mean the end of time all human
beings have similar values centered secular and
expression as in the case of the most technologically
developed countries such as Sweden, Holland, Denmark,
Germany, etc.. Each country will retain some traditional
values and modifying others in pursuit of the general
welfare of its citizens. east
approach recognizes that nations can maintain their
traditional values while evolving in other ways depending
on the socioeconomic situations.

Recent Developments

Recently, the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Effectiveness "GLOBE") led by House et al. (2004, 2002)
conducted a study of 62 companies interviewing 17,000
managers of more than 950 organizations. The project's
objective was to increase the understanding and awareness of
multicultural interactions and their impact on leadership. The
factors studied are similar to those discussed above, but have
a greater orientation toward work, the criticism associated
with this model is that somehow replicate those previously
proposed and are not representative of a national culture
because the questionnaire was applied in the business
environment. the study
original House et al. (2004) were included Ecuador, El
Salvador, Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Costa Rica,
Venezuela, Argentina and Mexico. Chhokar et al. (2007) also
conducted a quantitative and qualitative study in relation to
the business of what they call the "Latin American cluster"
originally studied by House.

Sugested readings
Marketing, Sexta Edicin, de Lamb Charles, Hair
Joseph y McDaniel Carl, International Thomson
Editores S.A., 2002, Pg. 152.
Fundamentos de Marketing, 13va. Edicin, de
Stanton William, Etzel Michael y Walker Bruce, Mc
Graw-Hill Interamericana, 2004, Pg. 114.
Mercadotecnia, Primera Edicin, de Sandhusen L.
Richard, Compaa Editorial Continental, 2002, Pg.
103.