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Thomson South-WesternWagner & Hollenbeck 5e
1
Chapter Fifteen
International
OrganizationalBehavior
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Chapter Overview
This chapter examines the following topics: International Dimensions
Uncertainty Avoidance
Masculinity-Femininity
Individualism-Collectivism
Power Distance
Short-Term/Long-Term Orientation
Effects on Organizational Behavior
Cultural Trends: Four Scenarios
Organizational Effects
Cross-Cultural Differences
Managing International Differences
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Introduction
With multinationalizationand globalization comedifferences in nationalityand culture that can have
major effects on micro,meso, and macroorganizational behavior
Todays managers must
take internationaldifferences seriously if theyexpect to compete andsucceed in global markets
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International Dimensions
Dutch researcher, Geert Hofstede,discovered that most differences
among national cultures were
described by four cross-cultural
dimensions:
Uncertainty avoidance
Masculinity-femininity
Individualism-collectivism
Power distance
In later research, Canadianresearcher Michael Harris Bond,
uncovered a fifth dimension
Long-term/short-term orientation
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Uncertainty Avoidance
The degree to which people arecomfortable with ambiguous situationsand with the inability to predict futureevents with assurance is called uncertainty
avoidance People with weak uncertainty avoidance
feel comfortable even though they areunsure about current activities or future
events People with strong uncertainty avoidance
are most comfortable when they feel asense of certainty about the present and
future
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Masculinity-Femininity
Hofstede used the termmasculinity to refer to thedegree to which a cultureis founded on values thatemphasize independence,
aggressiveness,dominance, and physicalstrength
Femininity according toHofstede, describes a
societys tendency tofavor such values asinterdependence,compassion, empathy,and emotional openness
Together, theextremes of
masculinity and
femininity delineate
the dimension of
masculinity-femininity in
Hofstedes analysis of
cross-cultural
differences
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Individualism-Collectivism
According to Hofstede,
individualism-collectivismis a dimension that tracescultural tendencies toemphasize either satisfyingpersonal needs or looking
after the needs of thegroup
From the viewpoint ofindividualism, pursuingpersonal interests is seenas being more importantand succeeding in thepursuit of these interests iscritical to both personal
and societal well-being
The collectivist
perspectiveemphasizes that groupwelfare is moreimportant thanpersonal interests
The members ofcollectivist nationalcultures tend to ignorepersonal needs for thesake of their groups,ensuring groupwelfare even ifpersonal hardshipsmust be endured
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Power Distance
Power distance is adimension that reflects the
degree to which the members
of a society accept differences
in power and status among
themselves
Power distance influences
attitudes and behaviors byaffecting the way that a
society is held together
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Short-Term/Long-Term
Orientation
The dimension of short-term/long-termorientation reflects the extent to which themembers of a national culture are oriented
toward the recent past and the present versusoriented toward the future
The short-term orientation supportsimmediate consumption and opposes the
deferral of pleasure and satisfaction A longer-term orientation favors the opposite
strategy, that is, doing what is necessary nowwhether pleasant or unpleasant, for the sake
of future well-being
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Effects on Organizational
Behavior
The five-dimensional model based
on the research by Hofstede and
Bond does not lack for critics
Nonetheless, the model is the mostcomprehensive cross-cultural
framework currently available and
it can stimulate useful insights into
ways in which organizational
behavior varies from one national
culture to another
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Cultural Trends:
Four Scenarios
For an in-class project, use the five
dimensions of Hofstede and Bonds model
to explain the four scenarios described in
the text, pages 514-517, which deal withthe following topics:
Feelings about progress
Tendencies toward confrontation or consensus
Locus of control
Status and social position
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Organizational Effects
The four scenarios illustrate how theHofstede-Bond five-dimensional model can
diagnose differences in national culture and
help identify some of the cultural roots of
everyday customs and behaviors
To understand how these cultural differences
can influence organizational behavior,
consider first the national culture of theUnited States and its effects on American
theories and practices
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Cross-Cultural Differences
To further understand howthe differences highlighted in
the Hofstede-Bond model can
influence behavior in
organizations, consider the
various areas of
organizational behavior as
practiced in organizationsthroughout the world
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Cross-Cultural Differences:Decision-Making and Motivation
On an Israeli kibbutz (aself-containedcommunity) decisionmaking is shared among
the adult membership Japanese organizations
are well known for theiruse of ringisei
In contrast, Korean
organizations seldomuse groups to makedecisions
Japanese motives andmotivation are influencedby the relatively strongcollectivism that
characterizes Japansnational culture
Collectivist loyalty isencouraged in largeJapanese firms by the
nenko system of wagepayment
Seniority is the single mostimportant factor indetermining a Japaneseworkers compensation
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Cross-Cultural Differences:
Work Design
Jobs in the Swedish
automotive industry are
organized not around the
assembly-line processes
commonly found in the
United States and elsewhere,
but instead according to theprinciples of reflective
production
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Cross-Cultural Differences:
Leadership Consistent with cultural proclivities favoring low
power distance, mangers in Sweden often do notsupervise employees directly nor do they issuedirect orders to coordinate work activities
Groups and committees fulfill leadershipfunctions in many Swedish firms
Works council: composed of workerrepresentatives who are elected by their peers andmanagement representatives who are appointed bytop management
Special-interest committees: composed of workerand manager representatives who provide theworks council with advice on specific issues
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Cross-Cultural Differences:Organization Structure
The structures of familybusinesses in Chinareflect the ideology ofpatrimonialism, which
brings together theelements of paternalism,hierarchy, mutualobligation,responsibility, and
familialism that growout of the Chinesenational cultures highcollectivism and powerdistance
The kinds of
dependence relations
and communication
patterns formed in
Japanese organizationscreate a latticework
structure of vertical and
horizontal relationships
among the company'smanagers
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Cross-Cultural Differences:
Organizational Change
In general, national
cultures that are highly
supportive oforganizational change
tend to have low power
distance, high
individualism, and lowuncertainty avoidance
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Managing International
Differences
Diagnosing and understanding the primaryfeatures of national cultures are critical tosuccess in the management of international
organizational behavior because thisrepresents the first step toward determiningwhether familiar management practices mustbe reconfigured before being used abroad
Certain trends seem to support theconvergence hypothesis, which suggests thatnational cultures, organizations, andmanagement practices throughout the world
are becoming more homogeneous