Chapter 4

You get very different thinking if you sit in Shanghai or São Paulo or Dubai than

if you sit in New York.

-- Michael Cannon-BrookesVice President, Business Development

India and ChinaIBM Corporation

 

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(p. 85)

Much of management theory is based on the writings of 20th century Western scholars. . . .

Their writings depict people as being individualistic, utility maximizing, transaction-

oriented. In point of fact, people are social and communal beings. Along with rationality,

they are also guided by emotions.

-- Mzamo MangalisoPresident, National Research Foundation

South Africa

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(p. 85)

Opening question:

How can cultural differences influence how managers see, understand, and react to people and events around them?

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Consider:Executive leadership at Kia Motors

1. What are the underlying causes of friction between Korean and American executives at Kia Motors America?

2. How would you describe the principal differences in executive thinking between the two cultures?

3. What are the implications of high executive turnover for American middle managers working at Kia?

4. Overall, how do you rate Chung Mong Koo’s effectiveness as leader of both Kia and Kia America?

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(p. 86)

Topic for today:Inside the managerial mind

• Culture, cognition, and managerial action

• Patterns of managerial thinking

• The geography of thought

• Culture and the managerial role

• Management patterns across cultures: France, Malaysia, and Nigeria

• Are management patterns converging?

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Inside the managerial mind: Understanding mental screens

Experienced managers have learned that unless they can make sense of the mental screens that separate people from different cultures, their work is likely going to be painful, ineffective, and time-consuming.

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(p. 89)

Inside the managerial mind:Understanding cognitions

Management requires an understanding of what lies behind action. It requires knowledge about how our minds function (i.e., cognition), how the minds of others function, and how we can relate our own mental patterns to the patterns of others within an organizational context.

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(p. 89)

Culture, cognition, and action: A model

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(p. 90)

Culture, cognition, and action: An example

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Cultural influences on managers’ information processing

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(p. 92)

Examples, East and west:Culture and information processing

• In many Western cultures, sales managers typically recall subordinate successes in terms of achieved financial results, while in many Asian cultures sales manages tend to recall subordinate successes in terms of their ability to build effective sales teams. Issue: Do we emphasize the bottom line or the means to achieve it?

• In many Western cultures, managers often assume that external actions and emotional displays are consistent with people’s internal states (i.e., norm of authenticity), while in many Asian cultures managers frequently see such an assumption as naïve and often inaccurate. Issue: “What you see is what you get” vs. “what you see is what you see.”

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(p. 94)

The geography of thought: Nisbett’s thesis

• Cognitive processes in people develop differently from infancy based local parental nurturing patterns.

• As people mature, they increasingly differentiate between cognitions about external objects and events (i.e., looking outside) and cognitions about themselves (i.e., looking inside). This, too, is based on local parental and cultural upbringing.

• As a result, “Westerners” and “Asians” (Nisbett’s terms) exhibit fundamental differences in how they think and approach problems.

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(p. 96)

Looking outside: Patterns of east-west cognitive differences/1

Cognitions about external objects and events

“Western” patterns “Asian” patterns

Mental processing Seeks to classify objects and events into organized categories so the can be dealt with separately

Seeks to create network maps incorporating multiple objects and events

Primary focus of attention

Understanding individual objects and events

Understanding relationships between objects and events

Keys to understanding Identify key variables, often in a sequential manner

Identify interrelationships in a holistic fashion

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(p. 99)

Looking outside: Patterns of east-west cognitive differences/2

Cognitions about external objects and events

“Western” patterns “Asian” patterns

Patterns of evolution Seeks stability Recognizes change

Relation to environment Mastery-oriented; control it

Harmony-oriented; adapt to it

Modes of thought Applies formal logic, analytical powers

Applies a dualistic perspective, accept contradictions

Problem solving criteria Seeks correctness and truth

Seeks reasonableness

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(p. 99)

Looking inside: Patterns of east-west cognitive differences

Cognitions about self “Western” patterns “Asian” patterns

Concept of self Independent Interdependent

Focus of attribution Individual Situation

Attribution of success Personal merit Group merit

Social goals Fairness or equality Harmony

Individual goals Self-knowledge and achievement

Fitting-in and acceptance

Overall values Equality and freedom Hierarchy and group control

Conflict resolution Debate and argument (win or lose)

Compromise and face-saving (seeking a middle way)

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(p. 100)

Consider:

1. Do you agree or disagree with Nisbett’s thesis? Why or why not?

2. To the extent that his thesis has merit, how can managers make use of such knowledge in developing and using their own global management skills and abilities?

3. What possible caveats might be advisable in considering this thesis, either from a conceptual or a managerial standpoint?

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Culture and the managerial role

Country

Percent of managers who agreed with each statement

“Managers must have the answers to most questions

asked by subordinates.”

“The main reason for a chain of

command is so people know who

has authority.”

“It is OK to bypass chain of command to get something done

efficiently.”

China 74% 70% 59%

France 53% 43% 43%

Germany 46% 26% 45%

Indonesia 73% 83% 51%

Italy 66% NA 56%

Japan 78% 50% NA

Netherlands 17% 31% 44%

Spain NA 34% 74%

Sweden 10% 30% 26%

United States 18% 17% 32%

United Kingdom 27% 34% 35%

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(p. 103)

Culture and managerial characteristics

Country

Manager’s sense of drive and initiative Country

Manager’s willingness to

delegate authority

U.S.A. 74 Sweden 76

Sweden 72 Japan 69

Japan 72 Norway 69

Finland 70 U.S.A. 66

Korea 68 Singapore 65

Netherlands 67 Denmark 65

Singapore 66 Canada 64

Switzerland 66 Finland 63

Belgium 65 Switzerland 62

Ireland 65 Netherlands 61

France 65 Australia 61

Austria 63 Germany 61

Denmark 63 New Zealand 61

Italy 62 Ireland 60

Australia 62 United Kingdom 59

Canada 62 Belgium 55

Spain 62 Austria 54

New Zealand 59 France 54

Greece 59 Italy 47

United Kingdom 58 Spain 44

Norway 55 Portugal 43

Portugal 49 Greece 3819

(p. 104)

Managerial roles

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(p. 105)

Cultural influences on managerial roles: Interpersonal roles

• Figurehead: Figureheads have considerable symbolic value in some cultures; in others, being described as a figurehead is not seen as a compliment.

• Leader: Individualistic cultures prefer highly visible “take charge” leaders; collectivistic cultures prefer more consultative leaders.

• Liaison: Some cultures prefer informal contacts based on long-standing personal relationships; others prefer to use official representatives.

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Cultural influences on managerial roles: Informational roles

• Monitor: Culture often influences both the extent of information monitoring and which specific information sources receive greatest attention.

• Disseminator: In some cultures, the context surrounding a message is more important than the message itself; in others, the reverse is true.

• Spokesperson: Culture often influences who is respected and seen as a legitimate spokesperson for an organization.

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Cultural influences on managerial roles: Decisional roles

• Entrepreneur: Some cultures are highly supportive of innovation and change; others prefer the status quo and resist change.

• Disturbance handler: Some cultures resolve conflict quietly; others accept and at times encourage a more public approach.

• Resource allocator: Hierarchical cultures support differential resource allocations; egalitarian cultures prefer greater equality or equity in distributions.

• Negotiator: Some cultures negotiate all items in a proposed contract simultaneously; others negotiate each item sequentially.

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Consider:

Which of these managerial roles would you expect to have the largest variance across different regions of the world? Why?

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Example: Culture and management trendsFrance, Malaysia, Nigeria

25 (p. 108)

Consider:

1. In which of these three countries would you be most comfortable in managing a local workforce?

2. What allowances might you have to make if you were assigned a managerial role in each of these countries?

3. How would you prepare yourself for a managerial assignment in each location?

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MANAGER’S NOTEBOOK:Cultural differences can influence a manager’s reasoning

• Culture can influence the thought processes through which people acquire, retain, and recall information.

• Culture can influence the classification and structure of information and knowledge in people’s minds.

• Culture can influence intelligence, learning, and reasoning, working through four cognitive processes: perceptual perception, cognitive evaluation, cognitive dissonance, and the creation of behavioral intentions.

• As a result, culturally-influenced cognitions can represent a significant influence on managerial attitudes and behaviors.

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MANAGER’S NOTEBOOK:Management implications: Understand the reasoning process

1. If culture influences cognitions, informed managers would likely seek multiple inputs from divergent sources or people before reaching conclusions on issues that cross cultural boundaries (e.g., market research for a global product).

2. Informed managers might also be well advised to consider how different thought patterns—different lines of reasoning tied to cultural differences—might lead to different outcomes.

3. In this pursuit, managers can make use of the various core cultural dimensions to provide a rough framework for purposes of analysis and comparison.

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MANAGER’S NOTEBOOK:Different reasoning can lead to different actions

• Culture helps determine how managers think and reason prior to action (as just noted).

• Culture also helps shape the context in which managerial action occurs (e.g., what is acceptable behavior).

• This dual effect of culture—both as an internal and external influence on managerial action—helps explain some of the difficulties in understanding why different managers behave as they do.

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MANAGER’S NOTEBOOK:Managerial implications: Be on the lookout for different actions

1. Regardless of national background, managers need to continually be on the lookout for different patterns of managerial and employee behavior. Seek understanding, not judgment.

2. Managers should be prepared to accommodate these differences in ways that add value to the operation without jeopardizing what they believe in.

3. Managers should remain flexible at the same time they remain focused on their goals and responsibilities. Understanding, not acquiescence, is the name of the game.

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Application:Are management styles converging?

Robert House suggests that when cultures increasingly come in contact with one another, they may converge in some respects but their idiosyncrasies may also become accentuated. In this regard, several researchers have suggested that management styles around the world—especially in the industrialized world—are beginning to converge and that this convergence will likely increase over time as a result of increased globalization pressures. Other researchers suggest, equally strongly, that a convergence of management styles across various national cultures will never occur. Instead, management styles around the world will remain culturally distinct, requiring global managers to adapt to various local conditions if they are succeed.

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(pp.115-117)

Application:Are management styles converging?

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Application:Are management styles converging?

1. Do you believe that management styles around the world will begin to converge in the future as a result of globalization pressures or that cultural differences will override globalization pressures and make such convergence very difficult, if not impossible? Why?

2. If you believe that management styles around the world will in fact converge in the future, describe what this convergence will look like. What will characterize this new management style?

3. If you believe that management styles around the world will not converge over time, what can global managers do to prepare themselves for a career that involves doing business in various countries that are characterized by highly diverse cultures?

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Think about it:How do you solve problems?

1. How does your personal background and life experiences influence your approach to problem-solving?

2. Is any of this related to your culture?

3. When someone you are working with does something you don’t understand, what do you normally do first? What should you do?

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