Transcript IBU 321: Cross Cultural Communications

Cross Cultural Communication
Chapter 11
National Cultures &
Corporate Cultures
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Learning Outcomes
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National Cultures and Corporate Culture
Different Corporate Cultures
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Family Culture
Eiffel Tower Culture
Guided Missile Culture
Incubator Culture
National Patterns of Corporate Culture
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National Cultures and Corporate Culture
Three aspects of organizational structure are important in
determining corporate culture :
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The general relationship between the employees and their
organization
The vertical or hierarchical system of authority defining
superiors and subordinates
The general view of the employees about the organization’s
destiny, purpose, and goals, and their places in this
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Types of Corporate Culture
Different corporate cultures can be distinguished
along two dimensions :
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Four type of corporate cultures identified on this
basis are :
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Equality – hierarchy
Orientation to the person – orientation to the task
The
The
The
The
family
Eiffel tower
guided missile
incubator
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Types of Corporate Culture
These four types of organizations culture differ in :
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Fig.11.1 summarizes the images the images these
organizations project
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How they think and learn
How they change, and,
How they motivate, reward and resolve conflicts
Each of these types of corporate culture are “ideal types”
In practice, the types are mixed or overlaid with one culture
dominating.
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Types of Corporate Culture
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The Family Culture
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personal, close face-to-face relationship
hierarchal ("father knows best")
power-oriented (leader is fatherly figure)
home-like work atmosphere
long-term relationships of employee to company; high
loyalty
values, norms, atmosphere set by father" or "elder
brother"
(Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Italy, India)
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The Family Culture
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Refers to a culture which is :
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Personal : close face-to-face relationship, and
Hierarchical : “father” of a family has experience and authority
greatly exceeding those of his “children”
Result is power-oriented corporate culture with leader as caring father
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Power is essentially intimate and (hopefully) benign
Japanese recreate within the organization aspects of the traditional family
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Major business virtue is amae : kind of love between persons of different rank
: idea is to always do more than a contract or agreement specifies
Ideal relationship is sempai-kokai : between an older and younger brother
At its best the power-oriented family culture exercises power through its
members acting with one accord
Many family like corporate cultures are from nations which industrialized
late : Greece, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Spain.
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The Family Culture
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Tend to be high-context : sheer amount of information and cultural
content taken for granted by members
Relationships tend to be diffuse : “father” or elder brother” is
influential in all situations.
Leader’s power is political, being broadly obtained by authorities,
power may be that of the state, the political system, the society or
God.
Family cultures at their least effective drain the energies and
loyalties of subordinates to buoy up the leader, who literally floats
on the sea of adoration.
Family cultures have difficulty with project group organizations or
matrix structures since here authority is divided.
Families tend to be strong where universalism is weak.
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The Family Culture
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Employees in family cultures will behave like the “eldest child” left
in the charge of family while the parents are out, but relinquishing
that authority as soon as a “parent” returns.
Thinking, learning and change
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Family corporate culture is more interested in intuitive than in rational
knowledge, more concerned with the development of people than with
their deployment or utilization
Thinking and learning intuitive, holistic, lateral and error correcting
Personal knowledge of another is rated above empirical knowledge.
Conversations are preferred to research questionnaires and insights to
objective data.
Change is essentially political, getting key actors to modify policies
through new visions, charismatic appeals, inspiring goals and
directions and more authentic relationships with significant people.
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The Family Culture
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Motivating, rewarding and resolving conflicts
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Since family members enjoy their relationships, they may be motivated more by
praise and appreciation than by money.
Pay-for-performance or any motivation that threatens family bonds is not
welcome
They tend to “socialize risks” among its members and can operate in uncertain
environments as well.
Major weakness occurs when intra-family conflicts block necessary change.
Conflict resolution depends on the skill of a leader.
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Criticisms not aired publicly
Negative feedback is indirect, sometimes confined to special “licensed” occasions.
High priority to effectiveness ( doing right things) than efficiency ( doing things right)
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The Eiffel Tower Culture
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hierarchal
structure more important than function
leader is boss (not father)
relationships specific; status ascribed
highly bureaucratic, depersonalized
rules dominate; roles before people
careers depend upon professional
qualifications
symbolic of machine age
(Germany, Austria)
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The Eiffel Tower Culture
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Eiffel Tower Culture is steep, symmetrical, narrow art
the top and broad at the base, stable, rigid and robust
like Eiffel Tower itself.
Various roles and functions is prescribed in advance
One senior can see the jobs of several subordinates.
Each higher level has a clear and demonstrable function
of holding together.
Organization’s purpose is legally separate from personal
needs of power or affection. Such needs are considered
distractions.
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The Eiffel Tower Culture
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Boss has a legal authority and only incidentally a
person. Essentially he or she is a role.
Careers in Eiffel Tower Companies are assisted by
professional qualifications.
Each role at each level of authority is described and has
a salary attached to it.
It’s a role culture.
Logic of subordination is clearly rational and
coordinative.
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The Eiffel Tower Culture
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Thinking, learning and change :
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For employees in Eiffel Tower, the family culture is arbitrary, irrational,
conspirational, cozy and corrupt.
Thinking and learning is logical, analytical, vertically and rationally
efficient
Learning means accumulating the skills necessary to fit a role and
additional skills to qualify for higher positions.
Human resources are considered similar to capital or cash resources
change is effected through changing rules and procedures.
This culture does not adapt well to turbulent environments. Change is
immensely complex and time-consuming.
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The Eiffel Tower Culture
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Motivating, rewarding and resolving conflicts
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Employees are ideally precise and meticulous.
They are nervous when order and predictability is lacking.
Conflicts are seen as irrational, pathologies of orderly
procedure, offences against efficiency.
Criticisms and complaints are typically channeled and dealt with
through even more rules and fact-finding procedures.
Motivating and rewarding by promotion to greater position, and
larger role and responsibilities
Management by job description.
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The Guided Missile Culture
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highly Egalitarian
task-oriented, impersonal
team approach emphasized
cross-disciplinary
performance emphasized
loyalty to professions / project greater than
to company
Motivation intrinsic
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The Guided Missile Culture
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Egalitarian, impersonal and task oriented.
While in Eiffel Tower, the rationale of culture is means,
the guided missile has a rationale of ends. Everything
must be done to preserve strategic intent
Typifies neutral culture
Matrix organization is created by superimposing guided
missile structure on Eiffel Tower organization.
Relationship between employees :
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Specific tasks in cybernetic system targeted upon shared
objectives
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The Guided Missile Culture
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Thinking, learning and change :
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Cybernetic culture : it homes in on its target using
feedback signals and is therefore circular rather than
linear.
Shift aim as target moves
Steering is corrective and conservative, not as open
to new ends as to new means.
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The Guided Missile Culture
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Thinking, learning and change :
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Learning includes “ getting on” with people, being
practical rather than theoretical and being problemcentered rather than discipline-centered.
Appraisal is often by peers or subordinates rather
than by superiors.
Change comes quickly in guided missile culture. The
target moves. More targets appear, new groups are
formed, old ones dissolve
This culture in many way the antithesis of the family
culture.
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The Guided Missile Culture
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Motivating, rewarding and resolving conflicts
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Motivations tend to be intrinsic
Culture tends to be individualistic since it allows for a wide
variety of differently specialized persons to work with each
other on a temporary basis. The scenery of faces keeps
changing.
Management boy objectives is the language spoken, and people
by paid for performance and problems solved.
Conflict resolution is constructive, task related only. Admit error
if any and correct fast.
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The Incubator Culture
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organizations secondary to individual fulfillment
existence precedes organization
aim at self-expression and self-fulfillment
personal and egalitarian
minimal structure; minimal hierarchy
emotional commitment
creative, innovative
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(Sweden)
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The Incubator Culture
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The purpose is to free individuals from routine to more creative
activities and to minimize time spent on self-maintenance
Roles of other people are crucial. They are there to confirm,
criticize, develop, find resources for and help complete the
innovative product or service
The companies are usually entrepreneurial or founded by
creative team.
Relationship between employees diffuse, spontaneous, growing
out of shared creative process.
The work environment is often of intense emotional commitment
Status is achieved by individuals exemplifying creativity and
growth.
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The Incubator Culture
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Thinking, learning and change
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Ways of thinking and learning is process oriented, creative,
ad hoc and inspirational.
Attitudes towards people as co-creators.
All participants on same wave-length, emphatically searching
together for a solution to the shared problem.
Problem itself is an open to redefinition and the solution
being searched for its typically generic, aimed at universe of
applications.
This culture learns to create but not to survive altered
patterns of demand.
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The Incubator Culture
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Motivating, rewarding and resolving conflict
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Motivation is wholehearted, intrinsic and intense with
individuals working for long hours.
There is competition to contribute to the emerging shape of
something new.
There is scant concern for personal security and few wish to
profit or have power apart from unfolding creative process.
Leadership is achieved
Power plays that impede group achievement will be reviled.
Conflict is resolved either by splitting up or by trying the
proposed alternatives to see what works best.
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Which countries prefer which
corporate cultures
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Pure cultures seldom exist. In practice, the types are mixed or overlaid
with one culture dominating.
Fig.11.5 shows the results of a recent survey
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Highest scores for guided missile companies in USA & UK
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Highest for family companies in France and Spain
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Sweden scores highest for incubators & Germany for Eiffel Tower
Smaller companies, wherever located, more likely to have family and
incubator forms
Larger companies, needing structure to cohere are likely to choose
Eiffel Tower or guided missile forms.
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