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DEFINING THE CULTURE:Key Components of Culture, Individualism

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Organizational Psychology­ (PSY510)
VU
LESSON 04
DEFINING THE CULTURE
Culture may be understood as:
·  the set of common understandings expressed in language
·  values, beliefs and expectations that members come to share
·  a system for creating, sending, storing and processing information
·  the collective of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group of people from another
The world culture has been derived from the Latin word cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate".
It generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity
significance. Different definitions of "culture" reflect different theoretical bases for understanding, or
criteria for evaluating, human activity.
Anthropologists most commonly use the term "culture" to refer to the universal human capacity to classify
codify and communicate their experiences symbolically. This capacity has long been taken as a defining
feature of the humans. Many observers have shown that there are cultural differences in:
o  Self perception
Self perception is how people belonging to different culture look at themselves. For example,
in some cultures people are viewed as honest while in other people are cynical about each
other. Therefore, they act accordingly taking or not taking precautionary measures.
o  Relationship with world
This refers to the inclination of the people to dominate their environment to, perhaps extract
the most out of it. Further, it also refers to the acceptability of other cultures. In simpler terms,
relationship with the world refers to the terms that people have with their environment and the
rest of the world.
o  Time Dimension
Time dimension refers to the past, present or future orientation of the people in a culture. It
means that people in a particular culture may either be concerned about their future or present
or past. The Japanese culture is a future oriented while the American culture is considered to be
a present oriented.
o  Public and private space
In some cultures, people prefer to be sitting alone in their cabins at their workplace, while in
other cultures, people tend to inclined towards common working space where they sit together
and work. Therefore, the public or private space orientation is also a differentiating feature of
cultures.
Key Components of Culture
A common way of understanding culture sees it as consisting of four elements that are "passed on from
generation to generation by learning alone":
1. Values
2. Norms
3. Institutions
4. Artifacts
Values comprise ideas about what in life seems important. They guide the rest of the culture. Norms consist
of expectations of how people will behave in various situations. Each culture has methods, called sanctions,
of enforcing its norms. Sanctions vary with the importance of the norm; norms that a society enforces
formally have the status of laws. Institutions are the structures of a society within which values and norms
are transmitted. Artifacts are things, or aspects of material culture.
Organizational Culture
Just as a country has a culture, organizations also have culture which is influenced by the national culture.
With respect to cultural differences affecting organizational psychology, two major researches need to be
quoted:
·  Geert Hofstede's research; and
·  Trompenaar's Research
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Organizational Psychology­ (PSY510)
VU
Geert Hofstede's Research
Hofstede researched on 116,000 workers of IBM spread over 70 countries world wide. He discovered that
organizational culture differs in the following four terms:
·  Power distance (acceptance of other's power)
·  Masculinity/Femininity
·  Indvidualism/collectivism
·  Uncertainty avoidance
Power Distance Index (PDI) that is the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and
institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. This represents inequality
(more versus less), but defined from below, not from above. 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'.
Individualism (IDV) on the one side versus its opposite, collectivism, that is the degree to which
individuals are integrated into groups. On the individualist side we find societies in which the ties between
individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after him/herself and his/her immediate family. On the
collectivist side, we find societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive
in-groups, often extended families (with uncles, aunts and grandparents) which continue protecting them in
exchange for unquestioning loyalty. The word 'collectivism' in this sense has no political meaning: it refers
to the group, not to the state. Again, the issue addressed by this dimension is an extremely fundamental one,
regarding all societies in the world.
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Organizational Psychology­ (PSY510)
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Masculinity (MAS) versus its opposite, femininity refers to the distribution of roles between the genders
which is another fundamental issue for any society to which a range of solutions are found. The IBM
studies revealed that (a) women's values differ less among societies than men's values; (b) men's values from
one country to another contain a dimension from very assertive and competitive and maximally different
from women's values on the one side, to modest and caring and similar to women's values on the other.
The assertive pole has been called 'masculine' and the modest, caring pole 'feminine'. The women in
feminine countries have the same modest, caring values as the men; in the masculine countries they are
somewhat assertive and competitive, but not as much as the men, so that these countries show a gap
between men's values and women's values. The following table shows some of the basic characteristics of
Feminine and Masculine societies.
Feminine societies
Masculine societies
Assertiveness ridiculed
Assertiveness appreciated
Undersell yourself
Oversell yourself
Stress on life quality
Stress on careers
Intuition
Decisiveness
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Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) deals with a society's tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity; it
ultimately refers to man's search for Truth. It indicates to what extent a culture programs its members to
feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations. Unstructured situations are novel,
unknown, surprising, and different from usual. Uncertainty avoiding cultures try to minimize the possibility
of such situations by strict laws and rules, safety and security measures, and on the philosophical and
religious level by a belief in absolute Truth; 'there can only be one Truth and we have it'. People in
uncertainty avoiding countries are also more emotional, and motivated by inner nervous energy. The
opposite type, uncertainty accepting cultures, are more tolerant of opinions different from what they are
used to; they try to have as few rules as possible, and on the philosophical and religious level they are
relativist and allow many currents to flow side by side. People within these cultures are more phlegmatic and
contemplative, and not expected by their environment to express emotions.
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Long-Term Orientation (LTO) versus short-term orientation: this fifth dimension was found
in a study among students in 23 countries around the world, using a questionnaire designed by
Chinese scholars It can be said to deal with Virtue regardless of Truth. Values associated with
Long Term Orientation are thrift and perseverance; values associated with Short Term
Orientation are respect for tradition, fulfilling social obligations, and protecting one's 'face'. Both
the positively and the negatively rated values of this dimension are found in the teachings of
Confucius, the most influential Chinese philosopher who lived around 500 B.C.; however, the
dimension also applies to countries without a Confucian heritage.
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Organizational Psychology­ (PSY510)
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The following table shows the ratings for some countries of the world on Hofstede's dimensions:
Country
PDI
IDV
MAS
UAI
LTO
Arab World
80
38
52
68
Australia
36
90
61
51
31
Canada
39
80
52
48
23
China
80
20
66
30
118
Denmark
18
74
16
23
France
68
71
43
86
Germany
35
67
66
65
31
Hong Kong
68
25
57
29
96
India
77
48
56
40
61
Indonesia
78
14
46
48
Israel
13
54
47
81
Italy
50
76
70
75
Japan
54
46
95
92
80
Malaysia
104
26
50
36
Mexico
81
30
69
82
Netherlands
38
80
14
53
44
New Zealand
22
79
58
49
30
Norway
31
69
8
50
20
Pakistan
55
14
50
70
0
Russia
93
39
36
95
Singapore
74
20
48
8
48
South Korea
60
18
39
85
75
Sweden
31
71
5
29
33
Switzerland
34
68
70
58
Taiwan
58
17
45
69
87
United Kingdom
35
89
66
35
25
United States
40
91
62
46
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Trompenaar's Research
Trompenaar's research comprised 15000 managers in 28 countries. Having researched and written
extensively on how reconciling cultural differences can lead to competitive advantage, Fons Trompenaars is
now widely recognised as a leading authority on organisational culture.
To Fons Trompenaars, knowledge management is, or should be, fundamentally a cultural issue. "Data
becomes meaningful when you structure it in a certain way ­ it becomes information. When you structure
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information, it becomes knowledge, and when you structure knowledge it becomes science, it is the process
of structuring that adds meaning. And since different cultures have different ways of structuring meaning,
you can see that, by definition, knowledge management is a cultural construct."
He identified the following dimensions of culture:
o  Universalism/Particularism practices applied universally and in particular countries
o  Individualism/collectivism
o  Neutral/Affective: emotions held in control; affective cultures emotions are openly expressed.
o  Specific/diffuse: differences in public/private space sharing.
o  Achievement/Ascription: stress of a person on his work/achievement, or stress on who a
person is
The first of these he identifies as the universal versus the particular, a dilemma that he explores in great
depth in his book, Did the Pedestrian Die? "Imagine you're going in a car, you're friend is speeding and he
hits a pedestrian. You come to court, and your friend's lawyer tells you not to worry, as you were the only
witness. You know he was speeding, but what right does your friend have to ask you to lie? Would you do
so?" This is a question that vividly demonstrates the divide between universalist and particularist thinking.
Trompenaars's research has revealed that 92 per cent of Americans, for example, would fall into the
universalist camp: respect to the truth and to the law overrides any notion of there being exceptions to the
rule. Conversely, the majority of those in South Korea, Venezuela and France (and indeed most of the Latin
world) would tend to a more particularistic standpoint: in Trompenaars's experience, most ask for more
information before they are able to decide whether they would lie for their friend, the most common
question being, did the pedestrian die?
In a corporate context, this cultural dilemma raises obvious difficulties for a knowledge manager,
particularly those operating in a multinational organization. Even on a functional level, it is a disparity that
needs to be addressed. As Trompenaar says, while HR, finance and marketing professionals are generally
Universalist in their outlook, salespeople tend to be more particularist ­ they invariably demand exceptions
for their clients, for example. For a KM system to succeed, therefore, it must reconcile the two.
Implementing a standardized system in every office around the world and across functions will isolate the
particularist, just as allowing every office and department to develop their own approach to KM will lead to
chaos. "Mass customization is the reconciliation of the universal and the particular," he says. "You will not
solve knowledge management through one approach alone; it's about how you combine the two."
The second of Trompenaar's five dimensions is the individual versus the team, which is closely aligned to
the third: specific and codified versus diffuse and implicit knowledge. He himself relates "a short time ago
we worked with General Motors to help integrate its joint venture with Isuzu, a Japanese truck-producing
firm. Because their knowledge was so individualized, the Americans spent about 30 per cent of their time
codifying their knowledge and writing it up in handbooks and procedures. The Japanese, on the other hand,
never wrote anything down. Their knowledge was stored in the network of their relationships. This
infuriated the Americans, but in a group-oriented culture, you need other ways of communicating
knowledge. Whereas in an individualized society, there is a tendency to keep knowledge because knowledge
is seen as power, in Japan, knowledge is only knowledge when it is shared; your status is dependent on how
much you contribute to the group."
Eventually, GM's managers succeeded in convincing their Japanese counterparts to compile more concise,
less time-consuming manuals, which went some way to satisfying both parties, but the challenge of
reconciling the individual and the group, particularly in an international organization, is clear.
The last of Trompenaars's five dimensions of knowledge management relates to the disparity between
perceptions from the top down and from the bottom up. "Data about clients and products is stored in the
heads of individual staff members," he says. "Middle management translates it into information that in turn
is organized as knowledge by top management. For effective KM, the reconciliation of this dilemma can be
found in `middle-up-down', in which middle management is the bridge between the standards of top
management and the chaotic reality of those on the front line," he says. It can also be reconciled by the
`servant leader', he continues, a leader who connects the bottom with the top through the style with which
he or she leads, drawing their authority by serving the community as a whole. In Trompenaars's view, this is
an approach Goldman Sachs seems to have mastered.
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Organizational Psychology­ (PSY510)
VU
REFERENCES
·
Trompenaars, F., Did the Pedestrian Die? (Capstone Publishing, 2003)
·
Trompenaars, F. & Hampden-Turner, C., 21 Leaders for the 21st Century (Capstone Publishing, 2001)
·
Geert-Hofstede's research:http://www.geert-hofstede.com/geert_hofstede_resources.shtml
·
Detailed article on defining culture:
http://courses.ed.asu.edu/margolis/spf301/definitions_of_culture.html
FURTHER READING
·  Dictionary of the History of Ideas: "culture" and "civilization" in modern times:
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-73
·  Countries and their Cultures: http://www.everyculture.com/
·  Global Culture Essays on globalization, migration and their impact on global culture: http://global-
culture.org/
·  What is Culture? - Washington State University: http://www.wsu.edu/gened/learn-
modules/top_culture/culture-index.html
·  Define Culture - List of definitions of culture from people around the world:
http://www.defineculture.com/
·  Arnold, Matthew. 1869. Culture and Anarchy. New York: Macmillan. Third edition, 1882, available
online. Retrieved: 2006-06-28.
·  Forsberg, A. Definitions of culture CCSF Cultural Geography course notes. Retrieved: 2006-06-29.
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~aforsber/ccsf/culture_defined.html
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Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHLOGY:Hawthorne Effect
  2. METHODOLOGIES OF DATA COLLECTION:Observational method, Stability of Measures
  3. GLOBALIZATION:Aspects of Globalization, Industrial Globalization
  4. DEFINING THE CULTURE:Key Components of Culture, Individualism
  5. WHAT IS DIVERSITY?:Recruitment and Retention, Organizational approaches
  6. ETHICS:Sexual Harassment, Pay and Promotion Discrimination, Employee Privacy
  7. NATURE OF ORGANIZATIONS:Flat Organization, Neoclassical Organization Theory
  8. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE:Academy Culture, Baseball Team Culture, Fortress Culture
  9. CHANGING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE:Move decisively, defuse resistance
  10. REWARD SYSTEMS: PAY, Methods of Pay, Individual incentive plan, New Pay Techniques
  11. REWARD SYSTEMS: RECOGNITION AND BENEFITS, Efficiency Wage Theory
  12. PERCEPTION:How They Work Together, Gestalt Laws of Grouping, Closure
  13. PERCEPTUAL DEFENCE:Cognitive Dissonance Theory, Stereotyping
  14. ATTRIBUTION:Locus of Control, Fundamental Attribution Error
  15. IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT:Impression Construction, Self-focused IM
  16. PERSONALITY:Classifying Personality Theories, Humanistic/Existential
  17. PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT:Standardized, Basic Categories of Measures
  18. ATTITUDE:Emotional, Informational, Behavioural,Positive and Negative Affectivity
  19. JOB SATISFACTION:The work, Pay, Measurement of Job Satisfaction
  20. MOTIVATION:Extrinsic motive, Theories of work motivation, Safety needs
  21. THEORIES OF MOTIVATION:Instrumentality, Stacy Adams’S Equity theory
  22. MOTIVATION ACROSS CULTURES:Meaning of Work, Role of Religion
  23. POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY:Criticisms of ‘Traditional’ Psychology, Optimism
  24. HOPE:Personality, Our goals, Satisfaction with important domains, Negative affect
  25. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE:EI IS Related To Emotions and Intelligence
  26. SELF EFFICACY:Motivation, Perseverance, Thoughts, Sources of Self-Efficacy
  27. COMMUNICATION:Historical Background, Informal-Formal, Interpersonal Communication
  28. COMMUNICATION (Part II):Downward Communication, Stereotyping Problems
  29. DECISION MAKING:History, Personal Rationality, Social Model, Conceptual
  30. PARTICIPATIVE DECISION MAKING TECHNIQUES:Expertise, Thinking skills
  31. JOB STRESS:Distress and Eustress, Burnout, General Adaptation Syndrome
  32. INDIVIDUAL STRESSORS:Role Ambiguity/ Role Conflict, Personal Control
  33. EFFECTS OF STRESS:Physical Effects, Behavioural Effects, Individual Strategies
  34. POWER AND POLITICS:Coercive Power, Legitimate Power, Referent Power
  35. POLITICS:Sources of Politics in Organizations, Final Word about Power
  36. GROUPS AND TEAMS:Why Groups Are Formed, Forming, Storming
  37. DYSFUNCTIONS OF GROUPS:Norm Violation, Group Think, Risky Shift
  38. JOB DESIGN:Job Rotation, Job Enlargement, Job Enrichment, Skill Variety
  39. JOB DESIGN:Engagement, Disengagement, Social Information Processing, Motivation
  40. LEARNING:Motor Learning, Verbal Learning, Behaviouristic Theories, Acquisition
  41. OBMOD:Applications of OBMOD, Correcting Group Dysfunctions
  42. LEADERSHIP PROCESS:Managers versus Leaders, Defining Leadership
  43. MODERN THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP PROCESS:Transformational Leaders
  44. GREAT LEADERS: STYLES, ACTIVITIES AND SKILLS:Globalization and Leadership
  45. GREAT LEADERS: STYLES, ACTIVITIES AND SKILLS:Planning, Staffing