building trans-cultural communities
DESCRIPTION
Building trans-cultural communities: a travel to learn approachTRANSCRIPT
Building trans-cultural communities A travel to learn approach
Erik van ‘t Klooster, PhD
Rotterdam School of Management
Background
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
1. Towards an international perspective
2. Focus: ontological security
3. Cultural differences & dynamics
4. Dealing with uncertainty
5. Personal development
Content
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Towards an international perspective
Opportunities
1) International business
2) Discover new ways of living
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Uncertainties
1) International value chains, global reorganizations, interdependent markets.
2) Global power is shifting from West to East. Cultural differences increase the chance of conflicts in international business and politics.
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Example: Ukraine
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Underlying cultural differences threaten our core assumptions of how we view the world
Huntington, S. P. (1993). The clash of civilizations. Foreign Affairs 72(3): 22-49.
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Cultural values below the surface
Behavior Language proficiency
Factual knowledge Relationship etiquette
Values / Attitude Personality characteristics
Cultural values
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Cultural differences / Human differences
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Ontological security
“a security of being, a sense of confidence and trust that the
world is what it appears to be. Trust of other people is like an emotional inoculation against existential anxieties” (Giddens 1991; Kinnvall 2004).
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Identity & security
Identity is seen as an anxiety-controlling mechanism reinforcing a sense of trust, predictability, and control (Erikson 1950).
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Question
1) Which competencies are needed to succesfully deal
with ontological security?
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Answer
1) Understanding cultural differences and their dynamics
2) Understanding uncertainty coping mechanisms
3) Understanding personal development
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Understanding cultural differences
and their dynamics
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Cultural zones
Huntington, S. P. (1993). The clash of civilizations. Foreign Affairs 72(3): 22-49.
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
World values survey
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Dynamics of cultural values: Transition from agrarian to industrial economy Traditional values that are commonly found in pre-industrial
societies include relatively low levels of tolerance for abortion, divorce, tend to emphasize male dominance in economic and political life, a deference to parental authority, and the importance of family life. They are relatively authoritarian and religion plays an important role. When an economy becomes more industrial, values move towards the opposite sides of these spectrums (Inglehart and Baker 2000).
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
As an economy develops further, becoming more post-industrial, cultural values shift further from survival to self-expression and embrace general trust, tolerance, subjective well-being, and political activism.
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Dynamics of cultural values: Transition from industrial to service economy
Persistance of traditional values
Although economic development triggers these shifts in norms and values, the nature of the actual cultural changes is dependent on a country’s broad cultural heritage (e.g. Protestantism, Catholicism and Communism).
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
World values survey
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Understanding uncertainty coping mechanisms
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
How to deal with the culture of that shadowy Other?
“At the root of this turning inward and disconnect is a great fear – one of the most primal known to man, and perhaps
the least understood” (50 Cent and Robert Greene 2009)
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Cross-cultural competencies
Relationship Foreign language proficiency Factual cultural knowledge
Relationship efficacy
Perceptual Conceptual cultural knowledge Contextual cultural knowledge
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Opening the black box: Schema theory
Schemas can be defined as generalized collections of knowledge of past experiences. This knowledge includes associations between social roles, identity, facts, etiquette, procedures, problem solving strategies and emotional states (Bartlett 1932; Nishida 1999).
Developmental psychologists suggest that a child’s fundamental value schemes are anchored by around the age of ten, due to ‘mental programming’ which starts in the family and develops further through schools, associations, work, public life and community (Hofstede 2003: 20).
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Schema theory & Stereotypes
Schemas are gradually formed by conscious and unconscious lessons learnt from daily events and experiences. When a person encounters a familiar situation, the already built cognitive structures are retrieved, helping the person to categorize information, interpret stimuli and then select appropriate reactions.
Stereotypes are a product of knowledge schemes. They represent mental ‘files’ or images that people use to help them process new information by comparing it with past experience. Although stereotypes may be useful for rapid decision making, they can be counter-productive when rigidly applied in unfamiliar situations (Schneider & Barsoux 2003).
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Schema theory and cultural encounters
A cross-cultural encounter leads individuals to assimilate and accommodate new stimuli, thus adjusting their schemas:
Assimilation: the process of making the experienced world fit into the existing schemas.
Accommodation: modification of the existing schemas to fit the new experience.
Withdrawal: Instead of changing the schemas that have proven inadequate in a new context, they choose to change their situation and environment (Chang 2009).
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Neurosis and the need to gain control In line with schema theory, but from a psycho analysis
perspective, according to Horney (1950) neurotic needs can be classed into three broad categories of personality types:
Aggressive: move against the environment Compliant: move toward the environment Withdrawn: move away from the environment
Karen Horney believed neurosis to be a continuous and normal state of human condition to gain some control of a person's external environment. Well-adjusted individuals utilize all three of these strategies, shifting focus depending on internal and external factors.
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Understanding personal development
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Personal development
Independence
Flexibility
Self awareness Expanded view of the self
Self-assurance
Expanded worldview Perceptual questioning skills Awareness of the state of the
world
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
Conclusion
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
In modern society, human instincts and
cultural traditions have lost their place. The result is an existential vacuum, an absence
of meaning or purpose in life.
The pursuance of pleasure or power cannot bring substance to this void, as they are
merely empty quests. Growth is the result of the discovery of meaningful connections
with others (Frankl 1969).
E. van 't Klooster www.getupandgo.nl
For more information: Erik van ‘t Klooster Email: [email protected] Website: www.getupandgo.nl