In our daily life,people and organisations are subscribe to several key values that play a pivotal roles and probably effect the people or organisation when their pratices the values.Some said "the managers have to become capable of working with people from different cultures".This is because differ across cultures,an understanding of these differences should be helpful in explaining and predicting behaviour of employees from different countries.Hofstede's Framework is one of the approaches that mostly use refered for analyzing variations among cultures.It was done in the late 1970s by Geert Hofstede.He found that managers and employees vary on five value dimensions of national culture.So that,in this blog I will discuss three from five values that stated in Hofstede's Framework.
1.INDIVIDUALISM versus COLLECTIVISM
Individualism can define as a national culture attribute describing the degree to which people prefer to act as individuals rather than as member of groups.Its also means stands for a society in which the ties between individuals are loose, everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family only.Individualist characteristics is tend to value personal freedom,self sufficiency,control over themselves,and being appreciated for unique qualities.People in individualistic cultures emphasize their success or achievements in job or private wealth and aiming up to reach more and/or a better job position. Especially in the USA the fight about jobs and trying to climb up in the hierarchy ladder is something very common there. It just counts to get there less caring who will left behind one. In business they try to improve their connections and to gain more value out of them, not for establishing a good relationship but just to be involved in a calculative way. Employees are expected to defend their interests and to promote themselves when ever possible.The United States ranked highest among all countries on individualism.
The video tells us what the definition of individualism and how it works by Professor Alan Macfarlane,the author of The Origins of English Individualism.He believed that individualist came before collectivism can practices.
Collectivism can define as a national culture attribute that describes a tight social framework in which people expect others in groups of which they are a part to look after them and protect them.Collectivism stand for a society in which people from birth onward are integrated into strong cohesive ingroups,throughout people's lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.The characteristic of collectivist is their tend to identify themselves by group membership,value harmonious relationships with their groups and located within the conversation range of values(security,tradition and conformity).Asian - collectivist cultures like China (Hong Kong 37th rank), view other companies with less collectivist philosophy as cold and not supportive. Collectivists cultures have a great emphasize on groups and think more in terms of "we". Harmony and loyalty within a company is very important and should always be maintained and confrontation should be avoided. In China it is out of question to disagree with someone's opinion in public. You will do that in a more private and personal atmosphere to protect a person from the "loss of face".In collectivist cultures a direct confrontation will be always avoided. Expressions or phrases are used which describe a disagreement or negative statement instead of saying no. Saying no would mean to destroy the harmony in the group. The relationship between employer and employee or business partners is based on trust and harmony and a deep understanding of moral values. The wealth of the company and the groups inside are more important than the individual one's.Most Asian countries were more collectivist than individualistic.
This video is taken from one scene in The Ant Bully movie.It tells us that collectivism is better than individualism.
2. POWER DISTANCE
Power distance means a national culture attribute describing the extent to which a society accepts that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally.Ranges from relatively equal(low power distance)to extremely unequal(high power distance).Low power distance expect and accept power relations that are more consultative or democratic. People relate to one another more as equals regardless of formal positions. Subordinates are more comfortable with and demand the right to contribute to and critique the decision making of those in power.The example of the country that has low power distance is Austria,Denmark and New Zealand. In high power distance countries less powerful accept power relations that are more autocratic and paternalistic. Subordinates acknowledge the power of others simply based on where they are situated in certain formal, hierarchical positions.Malaysia is one of the country that pratices high power distance beside Slovakia.In short this cultural dimension looks at how much a culture does or does not value hierarchical relationships and respect for authority.So how doesthis manifrst in a culture or country?
In a high power distance cultures the following may be observed: . Those in authority openly demonstrate their rank.
. Subordinates are not given important work and expect clear guidance from above.
. Subordinates are expected to take the blame for things going wrong.
. The relationship between boss and subordinate is rarely close/personal.
. Politics is prone to totalitarianism.
. Class divisions within society are accepted.
In a low power distance culture:
. Superiors treat subordinates with respect and do not pull rank.
. Subordinates are entrusted with important assignments.
. Blame is either shared or very often accepted by the superior due to it being their responsibility to manage.
. Managers may often socialise with subordinates.
. Liberal democracies are the norm.
. Societies lean more towards egalitarianism.
3.ACHIEVEMENT versus NURTURING
The video tells us what the definition of individualism and how it works by Professor Alan Macfarlane,the author of The Origins of English Individualism.He believed that individualist came before collectivism can practices.
Collectivism can define as a national culture attribute that describes a tight social framework in which people expect others in groups of which they are a part to look after them and protect them.Collectivism stand for a society in which people from birth onward are integrated into strong cohesive ingroups,throughout people's lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.The characteristic of collectivist is their tend to identify themselves by group membership,value harmonious relationships with their groups and located within the conversation range of values(security,tradition and conformity).Asian - collectivist cultures like China (Hong Kong 37th rank), view other companies with less collectivist philosophy as cold and not supportive. Collectivists cultures have a great emphasize on groups and think more in terms of "we". Harmony and loyalty within a company is very important and should always be maintained and confrontation should be avoided. In China it is out of question to disagree with someone's opinion in public. You will do that in a more private and personal atmosphere to protect a person from the "loss of face".In collectivist cultures a direct confrontation will be always avoided. Expressions or phrases are used which describe a disagreement or negative statement instead of saying no. Saying no would mean to destroy the harmony in the group. The relationship between employer and employee or business partners is based on trust and harmony and a deep understanding of moral values. The wealth of the company and the groups inside are more important than the individual one's.Most Asian countries were more collectivist than individualistic.
This video is taken from one scene in The Ant Bully movie.It tells us that collectivism is better than individualism.
2. POWER DISTANCE
Power distance means a national culture attribute describing the extent to which a society accepts that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally.Ranges from relatively equal(low power distance)to extremely unequal(high power distance).Low power distance expect and accept power relations that are more consultative or democratic. People relate to one another more as equals regardless of formal positions. Subordinates are more comfortable with and demand the right to contribute to and critique the decision making of those in power.The example of the country that has low power distance is Austria,Denmark and New Zealand. In high power distance countries less powerful accept power relations that are more autocratic and paternalistic. Subordinates acknowledge the power of others simply based on where they are situated in certain formal, hierarchical positions.Malaysia is one of the country that pratices high power distance beside Slovakia.In short this cultural dimension looks at how much a culture does or does not value hierarchical relationships and respect for authority.So how doesthis manifrst in a culture or country?
In a high power distance cultures the following may be observed: . Those in authority openly demonstrate their rank.
. Subordinates are not given important work and expect clear guidance from above.
. Subordinates are expected to take the blame for things going wrong.
. The relationship between boss and subordinate is rarely close/personal.
. Politics is prone to totalitarianism.
. Class divisions within society are accepted.
In a low power distance culture:
. Superiors treat subordinates with respect and do not pull rank.
. Subordinates are entrusted with important assignments.
. Blame is either shared or very often accepted by the superior due to it being their responsibility to manage.
. Managers may often socialise with subordinates.
. Liberal democracies are the norm.
. Societies lean more towards egalitarianism.
3.ACHIEVEMENT versus NURTURING
The definition of achievement is a national culture attribute describing the extent to which societal values are characterized by assertiveness,the acquisition of money and materialism and competition prevail.For example,achievement-striving people were more likely to escalate their commitment.Generally,achievement-oriented people hate to fail,so they escalate their commitment hoping to forestall failure.Beside that achievement-striving individuals appear to be more susceptible to the hindsight bias,perhaps because they have a greater need to justify the appropriateness of their actions.They have a desire to do something better or more efficiently than it has been done before.The assertiveness is the extent to which a society encourages people to be tough,confrontational,assertive and competitive versus modest and tender which is equivalent to Hofstede's achievement dimension.
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above picture is Shigeru Miyamoto,Japanese video game designer.He already achieve many awards from many organisations over the world because of his exciting video game.
Nurturing can be define as national culture attribute that emphasizes relationships and concern for others.One dimension that closely approximates Hofstede's nurturing dimension is human orientation.This is defined as the degree to which a society encourages and rewards individuals for being fair,altruistic,generous,caring and kind to others.The nurture-cultures people were more likely to concern to their environment.They also easy to help people that needs helps.Their mostly spend their time to help others.This dimension usually happened in collectivicm culture.This is because they have been worked as one team so the attention to each other was very important.
The editorial cartoon above is taken from CSL cartoonstock website.The cartoon showed us how a small company concern to their employees welfare such as their employees health insurance.This company practices nurturing dimension in their organization.
MY EXPERIENCES FROM PRACTICING THE VALUES.
In everyday routine,we are actually practising the key values that we discussed in this blog which is,individualism vs collectivism,power distance and achievement vs nurturing.As myself personally,i practise this value on purpose or without purpose.For example for this assignment,i was practised individualism culture to finish it.I was searching the information about this topic with my ownself.It give me advantage to use my own creativity to make this blog better and can find the suitable information that i think is perfect for the topic.However there must be disadvantages by practising this value.One of the disadvantages is I maybe missed some important information that i should write in my blog.That's why the collectivism sometimes give good result if we contribute in it.For me,every class that i attend,the teaching and learning process from my lecturer to the students is one of the example of collectivism practising.The lecturer teach us new things in every lecture and we as a student will collect the information that were given by him/her as our reference.Sometimes,we shared new information when discussing about the topic in the class.Everyone has a different opinion and story that can be shared.Even tough I think collectivism is better than individualism but there's still have the disadvantage of practising collectivism.For me myself,I've been in a situation when I was assigned one tasks where we were 6 persons in the group.Unfortunately,my leader and i has an argument.It was because me and her has misunderstanding with each other.It's also because miscommunication happened in giving instructions to the group members.Sometimes,we have different opinion that can bring to the best result or became worse.For power distance value,I have been experienced by practicing the value.I've been a leader for my group for one of my assignment.I practised low power distance when I was a group leader.I gave my group members space to give their personal opinion and speak out if they don't agree with some information that has been collected.We also held a meeting and do our task together.My highest achievement during my time in this university,for my acedamic record I manage to finish my diploma level in Information Technology.For outdoor activities,I've been in touch rugby tournament represent MMU and became the first runner-up team in that tournament.The latest achievement of mine is I succeed to finish this assignment.
REFERENCES
1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstede
2.http://www.kwin.essential.co.uk/intercultural/power-distance-index.html
3.http://www.via-web.de
4.http://www.cartoonstock.com
5.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShigeruMiyamoto
6.http://www.youtube.com
7.Organizational Behavior,11th Edition,by Stephan p.robbins
8.Organisational behaviour,5th Edition,by Robbins,Judge,Millett,Water-Marsh
9.Chapter 2 from lecture notes
.png)
above picture is Shigeru Miyamoto,Japanese video game designer.He already achieve many awards from many organisations over the world because of his exciting video game.
Nurturing can be define as national culture attribute that emphasizes relationships and concern for others.One dimension that closely approximates Hofstede's nurturing dimension is human orientation.This is defined as the degree to which a society encourages and rewards individuals for being fair,altruistic,generous,caring and kind to others.The nurture-cultures people were more likely to concern to their environment.They also easy to help people that needs helps.Their mostly spend their time to help others.This dimension usually happened in collectivicm culture.This is because they have been worked as one team so the attention to each other was very important.
The editorial cartoon above is taken from CSL cartoonstock website.The cartoon showed us how a small company concern to their employees welfare such as their employees health insurance.This company practices nurturing dimension in their organization.
MY EXPERIENCES FROM PRACTICING THE VALUES.
In everyday routine,we are actually practising the key values that we discussed in this blog which is,individualism vs collectivism,power distance and achievement vs nurturing.As myself personally,i practise this value on purpose or without purpose.For example for this assignment,i was practised individualism culture to finish it.I was searching the information about this topic with my ownself.It give me advantage to use my own creativity to make this blog better and can find the suitable information that i think is perfect for the topic.However there must be disadvantages by practising this value.One of the disadvantages is I maybe missed some important information that i should write in my blog.That's why the collectivism sometimes give good result if we contribute in it.For me,every class that i attend,the teaching and learning process from my lecturer to the students is one of the example of collectivism practising.The lecturer teach us new things in every lecture and we as a student will collect the information that were given by him/her as our reference.Sometimes,we shared new information when discussing about the topic in the class.Everyone has a different opinion and story that can be shared.Even tough I think collectivism is better than individualism but there's still have the disadvantage of practising collectivism.For me myself,I've been in a situation when I was assigned one tasks where we were 6 persons in the group.Unfortunately,my leader and i has an argument.It was because me and her has misunderstanding with each other.It's also because miscommunication happened in giving instructions to the group members.Sometimes,we have different opinion that can bring to the best result or became worse.For power distance value,I have been experienced by practicing the value.I've been a leader for my group for one of my assignment.I practised low power distance when I was a group leader.I gave my group members space to give their personal opinion and speak out if they don't agree with some information that has been collected.We also held a meeting and do our task together.My highest achievement during my time in this university,for my acedamic record I manage to finish my diploma level in Information Technology.For outdoor activities,I've been in touch rugby tournament represent MMU and became the first runner-up team in that tournament.The latest achievement of mine is I succeed to finish this assignment.
REFERENCES
1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstede
2.http://www.kwin.essential.co.uk/intercultural/power-distance-index.html
3.http://www.via-web.de
4.http://www.cartoonstock.com
5.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShigeruMiyamoto
6.http://www.youtube.com
7.Organizational Behavior,11th Edition,by Stephan p.robbins
8.Organisational behaviour,5th Edition,by Robbins,Judge,Millett,Water-Marsh
9.Chapter 2 from lecture notes
