Slide 1.
Part one: Culture and management
Introduction: Part one
Outlines
Definitions of the concept of culture
Research in the field of culture in management
Provides
Some understanding of business culture in
international environment
Helps to develop
Desirable behaviours in a specific cross-cultural
context
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 1.2
Chapter 1: Determinants of culture
Concept 1.1: Facets of culture
What does culture really mean?
Norms and values
Cultural assumptions in management
Concept 2.2. Levels of cultures
From national culture to culture and management.
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 1.3
The concept of culture
What culture is?/is not?
Culture is a code of attitudes, norms and values,
the way of thinking...
Culture determines:
How we see ourselves
How we see the world
Culture is not right or wrong, inherited, about
individual behaviour...
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 1.4
Three layers
The concept of culture has three layers:
1) Artifacts and attitudes
Behavioural or explicit level
2) Norms (rules) and values
Every culture has its own system
3) Basic assumptions
Difficult to describe or explain
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 1.5
Comparison of value systems of societies
Four categories (Ruano-Borbalan, 2002)
Traditional society (Arab countries)
Religion plays an important role
Rational society (Germany)
Interests of the individual come first
Society where materialism is predominant
(ex-communist countries)
Post-modern society (Scandinavia)
Tolerant and democratic
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 1.6
European Culture
What is important in the forming process of a
European culture?
Meeting of diversity
Complementarity of ideas
Interaction and interference within opposite
values :
Religion/rationality
Mythical thought/critical thought
Humanism/science
(Morin,1987)
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 1.7
Levels of cultures in a business context
Cultures can develop at different levels:
Culture and nation
National culture
Organizational culture
Corporate culture
Professional culture
Culture and management
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 1.8
Culture and nation
Influence of culture/nation on organizations:
Macro level
Laws and economic institutions
The nation must be considered by organizations
going about their business.
Micro level
The organization is influenced through a number of
cultural elements relating to:
employeremployee relationships
behaviour among employees
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 1.9
National culture
Elements that contribute to the creation of a
national culture:
Physical environment
History of the nation
Institutions that contribute to the establishment of
a national culture
Family/Religion/Education
Mass communication media
The multinational company as culture-building
institution.
(Tabey, 2003)
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 1.10
Organizational culture
In organizations, culture affects the way:
strategy is determined
goals are established
how the organization operates
The personnel of the organization:
are influenced by their cultural backgrounds
share their own values and perceptions.
(Schein, 1999)
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 1.11
Cultural assumptions in management
Edgar Schein defines culture as:
a set of basic assumptions shared solutions
to universal problems of external adaptation
(how to survive) and internal integration (how
to stay together) - which have evolved over
time and are handed down from one
generation to the next
(Schein, 2004, p.4)
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 1.12
Corporate culture
Corporate culture is a combination of:
Organizational culture
National/regional culture
Two differing views on the influence of corporate
culture on a (multi-) national company:
Success depends on it having either
1. A clearly defined corporate culture, or
2. A flexible culture.
Internal factors play an important role, in
particular the extent of cultural control.
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 1.13
Professional culture
Three professional cultures in management:
Operators
involved in production (goods/services)
Engineers
design and monitor the technology
Executives
senior managers
(Schein, 1996)
The question remains: how do these professional
cultures co-exist?
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 1.14
Culture and management
Cross-cultural management
Explains the behaviour of people in organizations
around the world
Describes and compares organizational
behaviour across countries and cultures
Seeks to understand and improve the interaction
of : co-workers, managers, executives, clients,
suppliers and alliance partners.
(Adler, 2002)
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 1.15
Conclusion to Chapter 1
Chapter 1 shows how difficult it is to give a
definition of the word culture.
Chapter 1 also shows that the individuals in a
group form a culture that can be national,
organizational or professional.
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition Pearson Education Limited 2011
