1. Thinking Globally about Managing Diversity
Part 2

2. Learning Objectives
How is Cultural Competency demonstrated in the global arena?
Why must we understand diversity in the global arena (Sowell)?
How are International Management cultures classified (types)?
How do national cultures vary (Hofstede)?

3. Culture Behavioral Symbols (language, clothing, appearance) Layer 1
consists of the values, beliefs, customs, morals, and laws shared by people in a particular society.
shapes our perceptions and responses and influences the quality of our interpersonal interactions.
Rao, p.150,1.
The Culture Pit & Religion
Behavioral Symbols
(language, clothing, appearance)
Layer 1
Attitudes, Rituals, Structures (attitudes toward work)
Layer 2
Core Values, (Stable) Beliefs (work ethic, centrality of work )
Layer 3

4. Management Skills & Techniques that matter in international arena
Perceptual skills – awareness, recognition of differences
Cognitive skills – knowledge about differences and related tensions
Behavioral skills – ability to select the appropriate response; especially communication

5. A World View of Cultural Diversity (Sowell, p.41)
Cultures exist to serve the vital, practical requirements of human life ---
To structure a society so as to perpetuate a species,
To pass on hard-earned knowledge and experience in order to spare the next generation the costly and dangerous process of learning everything all over again from scratch through trial and error, including fatal errors.

6. A World View of Cultural Diversity (Sowell) Why must we understand diversity in the global arena?
Cultural diversity, viewed internationally and historically, is not a static picture of differentness but a dynamic picture of competition in which what serves human purposes effectively survives while what does not tends to decline or disappear. (p. 34)

7. Cultural leadership in various fields . . .
Exists when particular groups - often a minority – dominate particular occupations or industries.
Has changed hands many times from nation to nation, culture to culture.

8. Edward Hall classified National Cultures based on Communication Patterns
The extent to which effective communication depends upon a sensitivity to non-verbal and situational cues.
Low Context
Cultures
High Context
Cultures

9. Ruhly’s Cultural Iceberg
Technical: Visible
Formal: Partly Visible
Informal: Not Visible
Little emotional content
Straightforward communication
High emotional content
General social rules
Intense emotional content
Automatic learned behavior

10. Hofstede identified 5 dimensions of societal norms that reflect work behavior
Hofstede studied 72,000 managers from more than 40 countries to define “5 Dimensions of Cultural Diversity”.
Dimensions are “continuums” with opposing values at each end.
Foreign cultures are not arbitrary or randomly different from one another. There are patterns
Cultures can be “mirror images” of one another.

11. Hofstede’s Cultural Continuum
Time Orientation
Long-Term Short Term
Self-importance
Individualism Collectivism
Tradition - Flexibility
Masculinity Femininity
Uncertainty
Risk Avoidance Risk Taking
Power Relations
Equal Distance Unequal

12. Hofstede’s Cultural Continuum
Long-Term Short Term
China
West Africa
Individualism Collectivism
US, Britain, Canada, Aus.
Columbia, Peru, Pakistan
Masculinity Femininity
Denmark, Sweden, Norway
Japan, Austria, Venezuela, Italy
Risk Avoidance Risk Taking
Netherlands, Greece, Japan
Sweden, Denmark, Singapore
Equal Distance Unequal
NZ, Denmark, Israel, Austria
Philippines, Mexico, India

13. MOW: Meaning of Work
A culture’s view of work is reflected in worker behavior and expectation for the job.
Understanding how a foreign workforce regards work is critical to international mgt.
Work is VERY
CENTRAL
Work is NOT
VERY CENTRAL
Japan, Yugoslavia
Israel
U.S., Belgium
Netherlands
Germany
Great Britain

14. Global Mgt. Orientations
Ethno-centric
Home-country centered
Key employees from home country
Poly-centric
“Host”-country centered
Key employees from host country
Regio-centric
Interdependent units within a region
Headquarters selects regional mgt / corp. culture
Geo-centric
World oriented, w/ local objectives
Integrated system worldwide.

15. Modes of Acculturation
Assimilation
Dominant Culture becomes the standard of behavior for other cultures.
Everyone conforms to Dominant norms/values.
Separation
Minority Culture unwilling/ unable to adapt to Dominant;
Seeks cultural & physical autonomy.
De-culturation
Dominant & Minority Culture not highly valued by members
Neither is influential in framing minority behavior.
Pluralism
Integration: a two-way process.
Both Cultures change to some degree and reflect the norms and values of the other.
Cox, Taylor, & Beale, R.L. Developing Competency to Manage Diversity. San Francisco, Berrett-Koehler, 1997, pp