“Culture” Something difficult to understand
From ancient times, travelers have noticed that when you go from one place to the next, things you take for granted at home aren’t true any more
Central to life in America is the desire to be a free individual who gets what he or she wants“I know my rights”
In Japan, people took for granted they would do what their group (their company, their family, their school) wanted“The nail that sticks up gets hammered
down”
What is culture?“The collective programming of the mind which distinguishes one human group from another”
- Geert Hofstede
Systems of ideas that constitute a “design for living”
- Zvi Namenwirth & Robert Weber
Why do cultures differ?
Cultures are an ‘evolutionary product’ For thousands of years, human groups
evolved with a good deal of isolationThey’ve struggled with different problems
People can do European-style farming individually
Rice farming calls for great cooperation
There are probably many, many other reasons for differences among cultures
Components of Culture:One standard (incomplete!)
approach Values – basic attitudes about what is important
Norms – social rules
A Society – a group of people who share common values & norms & ways of doing things that is, a common
culture
Values – assumptions about
how things ought to beValues may form the bedrock of a cultureThey provide a context within which a society’s norms are established and justified
They include attitudes toward Individual freedom Democracy Truth Justice Honesty Loyalty Social obligations
Values are also reflected in the political and economic systems
NormsNorms are the social rules that govern people’s actions toward one anotherFolkways – little moral significance
Americans expect you to come on time to appointments
In Italy, people weren’t usually on timeMores
Norms seen as central to functioning of society MarriageHonesty
Examples of Mores – Norms felt as central to
societyU.S. – The winner in an election gets to rule
African nations – an individual is loyal first to his/her tribe
Scandinavia – differences in wealth must not be too great
Japan – elite organizations try to give the people they hire a position for life
Culture vs. ‘a culture’
If “culture” means the “collective programming that distinguishes a human group”…
the phrase, “a culture” refers to a group that shares the same programming
“A society” or “a culture”
Definition: a group that shares the same values and norms (that is, shares same “collective programming”)
We often assume that a society corresponds to a nationWe talk of ‘American society,’ ‘Russian society’
But there is no strict one-to-one correspondence
Nation State: Is a political creation May contain a single culture or several cultures
CanadaIndiaMulti-tribal African nations
Societies contain subcultures
ethnic cultures business or professional cultures
Often (usually?) a company will be known for a particular culture At Ford and Toyota, manufacturing is most important
At General Motors, marketing is most important
youth cultures How do youth cultures vary in the South Bay?
Social Structure
‘Social structure’ is a society’s basic systems of social organization
Two dimensions are particularly important:The extent to which society is group or individually oriented
(‘collectivist’ vs. ‘individualist’)Degree of stratification into castes or classes
‘stratification’ = the separation of the members of a society into hierarchical social categories (‘strata’) based on family background, occupation, or income
Religious and Ethical Systems
Religion: a system of shared beliefs and rituals that are concerned with the realm of the sacred (i.e., things regarded with special respect)
Ethical systems: a set of moral principles, or values, that are used to guide and shape behavior Most of the world’s ethical systems are the product of religions
Among the thousands of religions in the world today, four dominate in terms of numbers of adherents: Christianity with 1.7 billion adherents Islam with 1 billion adherents Hinduism with 750 million adherents Buddhism with 350 million adherents
Language
SpokenLanguage structures our perception of world
English tries to be preciseJapanese
doesn’t discourage vagueness allows more direct expression of emotion
UnspokenBody languagePersonal space
Be alert for unexpected meanings of
‘silent language’Colors
Black symbolizes death in U.S.White indicates death in parts of AsiaPurple indicates death in (some situations in) Latin America
GesturesSideways head movement that means ‘yes’ in Greece and parts of India looks like negative ‘no’ head shake in U.S.
Culture in the Workplace
Geert Hofstede’s four dimensions of culture Power distance – the extent to which people are comfortable
with inequalities of power and wealth Uncertainty avoidance - the extent to which people accept
ambiguous situations and tolerate uncertainty Individualism versus collectivism - this dimension focuses on
the relationship between the individual and his/her fellows within a culture
Masculinity versus femininity - this dimension looks at the relationship between gender and work roles
Problems with Hofstede’s ‘dimensions’
Assumes one-to-one relationship between culture and the nation state
Research may have been ‘culturally bound’ Survey was of IBM employees, conducted by
Europeans and Americans
Survey respondents were from a single industry (computer) and one company (IBM)
Other scholars have proposed manyother dimensions of culture
but none have been shown more significant than the first three Hofstede developed
A few cultures have influenced global business enormously
Technological and economic successes of northern Europe and North America from the 18th Century made international business possible
Why? There are many theories, and no consensusBut while the free trade theory that you’ll read about is clearly important, it’s certainly more than that
Something very important happened in northern Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries It clearly continues to affect global business today
Limitations of the concept of ‘culture’
Clearly, societies differ a lot, and ‘culture’ tells why
But how do we think about where cultures come from? Why don’t cultures change more?How do we predict when they will change?How can people change them deliberately?
Because the concept of ‘culture’ is so massive and complicated (“collective programming of the mind”), it is difficult to use it to think about specific, perhaps small, changes.
Thinking about‘institutions’ can be more flexible
Institutions are defined as the “rules of the game” in any human systemAnalogous to rules in a sport
Most elements of culture can be thought of as “rules of the game” in the system of a societyExample: One of rule of the game in our
class is that we speak English
It’s easier to think about ‘changing the rules’ than about ‘changing the culture’
Cultural Change/Institutional
ChangeCulture evolves over timeSince 1960s American values toward the role of women
have changedJapan has moved toward greater individualism in the
workplace
Globalization will continue to impact cultures around the worldAnd global business, especially, is always changing
cultures
Some Managerial Implications
Cross-cultural literacyYou need to understand differences between cultures
Culture and competitive advantageSome cultures make business easier than others
Culture and business ethicsAs we’ll see in a few weeks, cultural differences create big ethical issues
What is Culture?
• “The collective programming of the mind which distinguishes one human
group from another”• - Hofstede
You’ll always be shocked by new
culturesBut we want to learn how to think about them so we can work with diverse cultures“cross-cultural literacy” – understanding
how cultural differences can affect the way business is practiced
Why did Europe start growing?
3 Theories to consider (of many)
1.It was Protestantism working out its core principles. Protestant breakaway from the Catholic church starting 1517 created ways of life that promoted ‘progress’ (Troeltsch)
• More individualistic, decentralized view of religion
• Taught everyone to read, write to understand Bible
• Promoted universities and secular learning• This theory dominant before 1930
2. It was also the fear Protestantism created. Some theology made believers fear going to hell so much they worked hard in the world while practicing asceticism (renunciation of worldly pleasures). (Weber)
• They started accumulating worldly goods. • When people stopped believing so strongly in
God, they kept an ascetic approach to life • Secular knowledge and riches accumulated
• This theory dominant after 1930
3.It was the success of the rich in throwing people off the land. Owners forced the poor to leave the land so they could use it more efficiently. The poor became available for exploitation in factories. (Grossman and others)
This is a radical theory, but one with real empirical support
Something big happened Whatever the truth, something about north European and North American culture has driven powerful economic growth since the 18th Century. It still plays a big role todayIt’s often hard to understand how people
in other countries can deal with the challenge of the West
A silly exampleWhen I was growing up, Mother said, “Don’t take your shoes off in the house, that’s uncivilized.” In Japan, it’s completely uncivilized to have your shoes on inside the house