1. Innovation in its cultural context
Prof. Denise E. Murray
Macquarie University

2. Task 1:
Think back over the past 10 years. What changes were you asked to make in your teaching practice?

3. Innovation or change?
Change is predictable and inevitable, always resulting in an alteration in the status quo but not necessarily in improvements. Innovation, on the other hand, results from a deliberate and conscious effort that is perceived as new, is intended to bring about improvement, and has potential for diffusion.
(Stoller, 1997 p. 34)

4. Contributors to innovation
Horizontal organizations cf vertical
Communication across areas
Willingness to move beyond received wisdom
Combining ideas from unconnected sources
Seeing problems integratively, as wholes, related to larger wholes
Challenging established practices (Kanter 1983)
Stable core staff
Match with values, resources, student needs (Stoller 1997)

5. People and innovation
Change is experienced differentially among participants and differently from the intentions of the original proposers. (Murray, 2008, p.6.)
Innovators (2%-3%)
Early adopters (10%)
Early majority
Late majority
Laggards (15%)
(Rogers 1995)

6. Task 2:
What ideas/words come into your mind when you hear the word “culture”?

7. Definition of culture “Collective programming of the mind”
Shared values
Habitus (a system of permanent and transferable tendencies)
Hofstede 1990

8. Definition of culture
I am referring to a sense of culture as the process by which people make sense of their lives, a process always involved in struggles over meaning and representation. (Pennycook 1995:47)

9. A different definition of culture
The ways people agree to be.
(Sullivan, 1994)

10. Culture is Ways of Seeing Being Behaving Communicating
Based on shared values.

11. Values
A value is “a broad tendency to prefer certain states of affairs over others” (Hofstede, 2001, p. 5).

12. Some value continua What behaviors do you attach to these values? Evil
Good
Dirty
Clean
Dangerous
Safe
Ugly
Beautiful
Immoral
Moral
Abnormal
Normal
Paradoxical
Logical
Irrational
Rational
What behaviors do you attach to these values?

13. Cultural dimensions (Hofstede 2001)
Power distance – distance between individuals at different levels of hierarchy
Uncertainty avoidance – more or less need to avoid uncertainty about the future
Individualism/collectivism – relations between individual and his/her fellow
Masculinity/femininity – division of roles and values
Long-term orientation – focus on future or present

14. Power distance (PDI)
PDI is related to the different solutions to the basic problem of human inequality (Hofstede 2001).
PDI is the extent to which a society accepts that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally (Dickson et. al. 2003).

15. Power distance (PDI)
Boss
Subordinate 1
Subordinate 2
Subordinate 3

16. PDI - organizational Low power distance High power distance
Flat organization pyramids
Managers rely on personal experience & subordinates
Consultative leadership leads to satisfaction, performance, productivity
Privileges, status symbols for managers frowned on
Openness with information
Subordinates expect to be consulted
Tall organization pyramids
Managers rely on formal rules
Authoritative leadership, close supervisions lead to satisfaction etc
Privileges, status symbols for managers expected, popular
Information constrained by hierarchy
Subordinates expect to be told

17. PDI - schooling Low power distance High power distance
Teachers treat students as equals (& vice versa)
Student-centered education
Students initiate some communication in class
Teachers are experts-transmit impersonal truths
Parents may side with students against teachers
Quality of learning depends on two-way communication & excellence of students
Students dependent on teachers
Teacher-centered education
Teachers initiate talk
Teachers are gurus-transmit personal wisdom
Parents side with teachers to control students
Quality of learning depends on excellence of teachers

18. Task 3
Which of these characteristics are typical of Thailand?

19. Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)
UA is related to the level of stress in a society in the face of an unknown future (Hofstede 2001).
UA is the degree to which members in a society feel uncomfortable with ambiguous and uncertain situations, and take steps to avoid them (Dickson et. al. 2003).
May have religious basis.

20. Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)

21. UAI -organizational Low uncertainty avoidance
High uncertainty avoidance
Skepticism towards technological solutions
Relationship orientation
Appeal of transformational leader role
Tolerance for ambiguity in structures and procedures
Strong appeal of technological solutions
Task orientation
Appeal of hierarchical control role
Highly formalized conception of management

22. UAI -schooling Low uncertainty avoidance High uncertainty avoidance
Students expect open-ended learning & discussion
Teachers may say “I don’t know”
Students learn that truth may be relative
Students attribute achievements to own ability
Parents’ ideas sought by teachers
Students expect structured learning & want right answers
Teachers supposed to have all the answers
Students learn that Truth is absolute
Students attribute achievements to effort, luck
Teachers seen as extension of parents

23. Task 4
Which of these characteristics are typical of Thailand?

25. Collectivism/Individualism (IDV)
Cultures characterized by individualism can be seen as loosely knit social frameworks in which people are supposed to take care of themselves and look after their own interests and those of their close family only. A tight social framework with strong and cohesive in-groups that are opposed to out-groups is a key characteristic of high collectivism. (Dickson et. al. 2003, p. 742)

26. Individualist
Collectivist

27. IDV - organizational Low individualist societies
High individualist societies
Employees act in the interest of their in-group
Employer-employee relationship is basically moral
Employee commitment to organization high
Treating friends better than others is normal, ethical
Belief in collective decisions
Employees act as economic men
Employer-employee relationship a business deal
Employee commitment to organization low
Treating friends better than others is nepotism, unethical
Belief in individual decisions

28. IDV - schooling Low individualist societies
High individualist societies
Teachers deal with students as groups
Individual student initiative discouraged
Harmony, face, shaming
Students not expected to speak up
Goal of education: Learning how to do
Teachers deal with individual students
Individual student initiative encouraged
Students respected
Students expected to speak up
Goal of education: Learning how to learn

29. Task 5
Which of these characteristics are typical of Thailand?

30. Collectivism: Some features
Luck rated especially important in Thailand.
People in collectivist societies are integrated horizontally and vertically:
Stay in contact with parents, grandparents, care for elders
Honor memories of deceased and care for their graves
Static/circular view of time

33. Masculinity-femininity dimension (MAS)
Masculinity implies dominant values in society that stress assertiveness and being tough, the acquisition of money and material objects, and not caring for others, the quality of life or people. In feminine cultures, values such as warm social relationships, quality of life, and care of the weak are stressed. (Dickson et. al. 2003, p. 745)

34. Masculinity
Femininity

35. MAS – organizational Low masculine societies High masculine societies
Work in order to live
Managers are employees
Managers expected to use intuition, deal with feelings, seek consensus
More women in management
Resolution of conflicts through problem-solving, compromise, negotiations
Live in order to work
Managers are culture heroes
Managers expected to be decisive, firm, assertive, just, competitive
Fewer women in M’ment
Resolution of conflicts through denying them or fighting until the best “man” wins

36. MAS – schooling Low masculine societies High masculine societies
Friendliness in teacher appreciated
Students’ socialization
No special awards
Children socialized to avoid aggression
Ego effacing: own performance underrated
Teachers give equal status to boys and girls
Curriculum guided by intrinsic interest
Brilliance in teacher appreciated
Students’ performance
Awards for good students, teachers
Children socialized to fight back
Ego boosting: performance overrated
Teachers pay more attention to boys
Curriculum guided by career expectations

37. Task 6
Which of these characteristics are typical of Thailand?

38. Some interesting statistics
Responses to child standing over another, saying “Go ahead and fight back if you can!” Aggressive answers (such as “You’ve hit me. Now I’m going to teach you a lesson.”) Japan 38% Britain 26% Korea 22% Thailand 17%

41. Future orientation dimension (LTO)
LTO refers to the extent to which the culture programs its members to accept delayed gratification of their material, social, and emotional needs. (Hofstede, 2001, p. xx)
LTO is related to the choice of focus for people’s efforts: the future or the present. (p. 29)

42. Future orientation

43. LTO - organizational Low long-term orientation
High long-term orientation
Short-term results, bottom line
Family, business separate
Meritocracy-economic and social life
Traditions sacrosanct
Leisure time important
Spending
Building relationships, market position
Vertical, horizontal coordination
People should live more equally
Traditions adaptable to changed circumstances
Leisure time not important
Saving, investing

44. LTO - schooling Low long-term orientation High long-term orientation
Children should have tolerance and respect for other people
Gifts to children for their self-concept and love
Pre-school child need not suffer if mother works
All siblings are equal
Consumption
Children should learn thrift
Gifts to children for their education and finances
Pre-school child will suffer if mother works
Differentiation between elder and younger brothers and sisters
Frugality, perseverance

45. Task 7
Which of these characteristics are typical of Thailand?

49. Australia & Thailand
Power distance – Thailand has much higher power distance than Australia
Uncertainty avoidance – Thailand rates higher on uncertainty avoidance than does Australia
Individualism/collectivism – Australia is much more individualistic than Thailand
Masculinity/femininity – Thailand is more feminine than Australia
Future orientation – Thailand is more future oriented than Australia

50. Issue for teachers and administrators

51. Contributors to innovation
Horizontal organizations cf vertical
Communication across areas
Willingness to move beyond received wisdom
Combining ideas from unconnected sources
Seeing problems integratively, as wholes, related to larger wholes
Challenging established practices (Kanter 1983)
Stable core staff
Match with values, resources, student needs (Stoller 1997)

52. How to effect innovation in the Thai cultural context?