chapter 5 culture, management styles, and business systems
TRANSCRIPT
Culture, Management style, and Business
system
Chapter 5
Agenda/Topics To Be Covered
1. Required adaptation2. The impact of American culture on management
style3. Management styles around the world4. Gender bias in International Business5. Business ethics6. Culture’s influence on strategic thinking7. A synthesis, relationship-oriented versus
information-oriented cultures
Culture?
What is it?
How does it affects you?
1. Required adaptation
Cultural exclusives
–Customs or
behavior patterns
exclusively for the
locals and from
which the
foreigner is barred.
Cultural electives
–Relates to areas of
behavior or to
customs that
cultural aliens may
wish to conform to
or to participate in
but that are not
required.
Cultural imperatives
–Customs and
expectations that
must be met and
conformed or be
avoided if
relationship are to
be successful.
Degree of adaptation
-A need to
understand a
counterparts
custom
2. The impact of American culture on
management style
Independent enterprise as the instrument of social action
Wide sharing in decision making
Decision based on objective analysis
“master of destiny” viewpoint
Personnel selection and reward based on merit
3. Management
styles around the
world
•Authority and decision making
•Authority and decision making
•Management objectives and aspirations
Security and mobility
Personal life
Affiliation and social acceptance
Power and achievement
•Communication styles
Face-to-face communication
Internet communications
•Formality and tempo
•P-time versus M-time
-polychronic time and
monochronic time
•Negotiations emphasis
It is true that in many cultures – Asian, Middle Eastern, and Latin America – women are not typically found in upper levels of management and men and women are treated very differently.
4. Gender bias in International Business
5. Business ethics
The western focus on bribery
Bribery: variations on a theme
Bribery and extortion
Subornation and lubrication
Agent’s fees
Corruption
5. Business ethics: ethically and socially responsible decisions
Utilitarian ethics
Rights of parties
Justice or fairness
6. Culture’s influence on strategic thinking
How culture influences manager’s thinking about business strategy?
7. A synthesis, relationship-oriented versus information-oriented culture
What is "Culture"?
Culture is the acquired knowledge people use to interpret experience and generate behavior.
High and Low Context
"high context" and "low context" (popularized by Edward Hall) are used to describe broad-brush cultural differences between societies.
Low context refers to:
societies where people tend to
have many connections but of
shorter duration or for some specific
reason
Example: large US airports, a chain
supermarket, a cafeteria, a convenience store,
sports where rules are clearly laid out, a motel.
Low context
• Rule oriented, people play by external rules
• More knowledge is codified, public, external, and accessible.
• Sequencing, separation--of time, of space, of activities, of relationships
• More interpersonal connections of shorter duration
• Knowledge is more often transferable
• Task-centered. Decisions and activities focus around what needs to be done, division of responsibilities.
High context refers to:
• societies or groups where people have close connections over a long period of time
Examples:
Small religious congregations, a party with friends, family gatherings, expensive gourmet restaurants and neighborhood restaurants with a regular clientele, undergraduate on-campus friendships, regular pick-up games, hosting a friend in your home overnight.
High context
• Less verbally explicit communication, less written/formal information
• More internalized understandings of what is communicated
• Multiple cross-cutting ties and intersections with others
• Long term relationships
• Strong boundaries- who is accepted as belonging vs. who is considered an "outsider"
• Knowledge is situational, relational.
• Decisions and activities focus around personal face-to-face relationships, often around a central person who has authority.
Entering High and Low Context Situations?
THANK YOU..