Cross-Cultural Communication and Hofstede's Cultural Dimension in Employee Motivation - Term Paper Example

What are the issues involved in terms of recruitment and/or motivation across different culture in an international HR context? Can Hofstede’s dimensions help in understanding different points of view and expectations, or are they no longer relevant in today’s world? Cross Cultural Communication and Management Application of cultural dimensions in employee motivation Name Instructor Class 4 April 2012 Introduction Employee motivation has been the centre of numerous studies because of its connection to employee performance and retention (Humborstad et al., 2008). Employee motivation refers to what drives people to be attracted to their work. Intrinsic motivation pertains to how individuals are attracted to work “in and of itself,” while extrinsic motivation refers to being engaged with work because of external variables, such as management support and the organisational rewards system and practices (Dewett, 2007, p.198). The main tools of analyses for this paper come from Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions and Deutsch’s (1973) theory of cooperation and competition. The subject matter is motivation and the country analyzed is Macau. Organisations that participated were Chinese firms. Motivation strategies through empowerment for Chinese employees in Macau hotels moderately support the perceived effects of high Power Distance (PDI) (Hofstede, 2012) and relates to how empowerment includes cooperation and other external support that can enhance employee performance (Humborstad et al., 2008). Definitions and Theory Section 1. Empowerment (Psychological empowerment) Psychological empowerment consists of “the additive effects, or gestalt of three separate dimensions validated by Spreitzer (1995)” and these dimensions are “impact, competence, and self-determination” (Drake, Wong, and Salter, 2007, p.72). 2. Motivation Employee motivation refers to what drives people to be attracted to their work. Intrinsic motivation pertains to how individuals are attracted to work “in and of itself,” while extrinsic motivation refers to being engaged with work because of external variables (Dewett, 2007, p.198). Examples of intrinsic motivation are pleasure and entertainment attained from jobs. 3. Power Distance (PDI) PDI symbolizes “the degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally” (Hofstede, 2012). Power distance stands for the nation’s score in how they deal with social inequality (Hofstede, 2012). Inequality happens in areas of fame, wealth, and power, and different societies provide different weights on the consistency for these areas of inequalities (Hofstede, 2012). 4. Values Values are “desired end states or standards by which persons evaluate experience, and are largely defined in terms of their importance to the individual” (Hattrup, Mueller, and Joens, 2007, p.480). They can affect human behaviour, attitudes, perceptions, and choices (Hattrup, Mueller, and Joens, 2007, p.480). They may be part of cultural values, or may be more strongly based on organisational values. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Geert Hofstede conducted one of the most wide-ranging studies on the role of culture in influencing values and behaviours at work. He examined a large data base of employee values scores that IBM collected between 1967 and 1973 and which involved more than 70 countries (Hofstede, 2012). He proposed a theory on culture that included the five Dimensions of National Culture: Power Distance (PDI), Individualism versus Collectivism (IDV), Masculinity versus Femininity (MAS), Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI), and Long-Term Orientation (LTO) (Hofstede, 2012). These cultural dimensions indicate the role of values in shaping cultural differences, which in turn affect employee attitudes and behaviours towards work (Hofstede, 2012). Deutsch’s (1973) Theory of Cooperation and Competition Deutsch’s (1973) theory of cooperation and competition aims to comprehend the different faces of power (Tjosvold, Sun, and Wan, 2005, p.648). Power is not operationalised in terms of power over other people alone, but power that can be shared among different individuals with different access to resources of power. Deutsch stressed that perceptions of goal interdependence greatly influences the dynamics and effects of conflict and power (Tjosvold et al., 2005, p.648). With cooperative goals, people think that when they work together, the more that they can attain their goals (Tjosvol et al., 2005, p.648). Critical Literature Review Section Employee motivation is a product of internal and external factors. Collier (2007) examined employee commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR). They stressed that the most lucid theory on motivation is from Locke (1997). In Locke’s theory of motivation, the efficacy of actions made to attain specific goal(s) is believed to be affected by effort, persistence and task strategies (cited in Collier, 2007, p.22). These factors will produce performance results that are moderated through the existence or lack of feedback, ability, and commitment and task complexity (Locke, 1997, p.402 cited in Collier, 2007, p.22). The motivation and commitment model is provided in Figure 1. The perseverance of motivation is sustained by commitment (Collier, 2007, p.23). Commitment is “a force that binds an individual to a course of action that is of relevance to a particular target” (Meyer and Herscovitch, 2001, pp. 301). Contextual factors, such as culture, values, and policies affect commitment (Collier, 2007, p.22). This theory shows that culture indirectly affects employee motivation by directly affecting commitment. Figure 1: Motivation and Commitment, adapted partially from Locke (2004) Source: Collier (2007, p.23) Hofstede’s dimensions can still help in understanding different points of view and expectations, because they continue to be relevant in today’s world, although other contextual factors have to be considered too. Triandis (2004) analyzed Hofstede’s theory and its relevance to psychology and organizational studies. For him, the Individualism versus Collectivism dimension is the most important dimension of Hofstede’s theory. He mentioned that for the past 25 years, numerous findings affirmed the differences between individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Context remains more important for collectivist than individualist cultures (Triandis, 2004, p.90). Individualists also tend to believe that people remain stable no matter what context they are in, while collectivists think that the environment largely affects people’s attitudes and actions (Triandis, 2004, p.90). Collectivist societies also prioritize in-group goals over personal goals (Triandis, 2004, p.90). These differences affect employee motivation, because the belongingness to one kind of culture affects beliefs regarding motivation. The nature of individualism and collectivism will also affect how managers work with other people (Triandis, 2004, p.91). In-culture differences and lack of studies on other cultures should be noted in developing motivation strategies and methods. Orr and Hauser (2008) replicated Hofstede’s studies and findings showed that Hofstede’s sampling size/characteristics and contextual relevance have to be questioned. Hofstede’s sampling was smaller than originally thought and decades have passed since these cultural constructs were identified and tested. IBM employees were also mostly male, which results to oversight of the female gender’s unique experiences and motivations in the studies. Orr and Hauser (2008) also emphasized in-culture variations that impact people’s attitudes and behaviours. These studies indicate that Hofstede’s cultural dimensions can still affect motivation, although individual and other internal and external factors must be considered in analysing employee motivation and designing culturally-appropriate motivation strategies. Wei and Rowley (2009) conducted a literature review on the changing patterns of rewards in Asia. Findings showed that other Asian countries are under-researched, so Western and one-nation case studies should not be treated as true for other Asian countries. These articles indicated that Hofstede’s study still has relevant constructs, but they should not be taken with face value. Additional empirical studies have to examine the relevance of Hofstede’s theory to different groups and organisations across industries and nations. Case Study Summary Humborstad, Humborstad, Whitfield, and Perry (2008) studied the implementation of empowerment in Chinese high power-distance organizations. For them, empowerment is a means to support, train, and distinguish different customer contact situations so that service personnel can use their opinion to make timely decisions and go beyond minimum expectations to satisfy customers (Humborstad et al., 2008, p.1349). They presented an interesting study because of their focus on using empowerment for a culture with high power-distance values. They used self-administered questionnaires from six different 4 and 5 star hotels in the Macau SAR during 2006. Around 600 questionnaires were distributed, where 316 responded. These employees were Chinese employees, which mean that the Chinese culture is being analysed. A total of 26 responses were not usable because of lack of completeness. The final sampling consisted of 290 respondents or 65.2% response rate. Findings showed that implementation of empowerment strategies improved the willingness of employees to deliver quality service. The support received from supervisors and organizations, as well as performance-based rewards, enhanced motivation. Adequate training also directly affected frontline staff performance (Humborstad et al., 2008, p.1360). Humborstad et al. (2008) concluded that empowerment motivated them to perform better, although perceptions of support received from supervisors and organization affected them too. Apparently, there are cultural differences in how empowerment is perceived and properly applied. For high power distance cultures, empowerment may be negatively seen as a form of abandonment from supervisors or even a weakness of supervisors. Empowerment models of other low PDI then cannot be automatically applied to high PDI cultures, because of differences in how power is seen by different cultural groups. Critical Analysis People in societies with high Power Distance (PDI) acknowledge a hierarchical order in which everybody has a place and which requires no additional justification (Hofstede). The Chinese are highly responsive to giving, taking, and protecting their “face” in social settings, which is part of the interactions between superiors and subordinates (Humborstad et al., 2008, p.1360). In addition, Chinese front-line employees tend to depend more upon their superiors than Western front-line employees, principally in service industries (Humborstad et al., 2008, p.1360). They also appreciate positive social relationships at work, because these have a role too in their work attitudes and behaviour (Humborstad et al., 2008, p.1360). Even with high PDI, it is important also for empowerment to be used to enhance employee motivation and performance. The application of empowerment for motivation, however, has to be contextualised. The Chinese may see empowerment as a form of abandonment and of superiors who are not doing their jobs (Humborstad et al., 2008, p.1360). Instead of having favourable work attitudes and behaviours, Chinese will develop dysfunctional actions if such perceptions of empowerment are present in the organisation (Humborstad et al., 2008, p.1360). Hence, it is important for Chinese managers to apply empowerment with adequate support, training, and orientation (Humborstad et al., 2008, p.1360). This case study also showed the importance of aligning reward systems with organisational strategy. Employees who are empowered tend to be more eager to provide quality service if their service performances are rewarded (Humborstad et al., 2008, p.1360). Sufficient rewards can motivate employees to improve performance and provide a supportive culture that emphasizes performance over other goals. The growing convergence of perspectives and practices in terms of rewards as patterns of motivations indicates Westernization of these motivation theories and practices. Wei and Rowley (2009) noted that there is a “move towards more Western-style, performance-related reward” (p.500). The features of flexibility that shape pay system diversification; pay level and organisational effectiveness; pay focus and general strategies; risk sharing between organisations and employees; and, pay level and individual effort, have shaped reward system reforms and the future propensity of rewards practices in Asia (Wei and Rowley, 2009, p.500). This means that rewards systems also affect motivation and that culture can affect how employees perceive and respond to rewards systems. Tjosvold, Sun, and Wan (2005) highlighted the cooperation framework of empowerment for Chinese employees. They utilised the theory of cooperation and competition to examine the effects of social context on power use for Chinese participants. Deutsch’s (1973) theory of cooperation and competition aims to comprehend the different faces of power (Tjosvold, Sun, and Wan, 2005, p.648). Deutsch stressed that apparent goal interdependence greatly influences the dynamics and effects of conflict and power (Tjosvold, Sun, and Wan, 2005, p.648). With cooperative goals, people think that when they work together, the more that they can attain their goals (Tjosvold, Sun, and Wan, 2005, p.648). Findings from Tjosvold, Sun, and Wan (2005) showed that managers also shared power with employees to attain collective goals. This article shows that the case study moderately support the perceived effects of high Power Distance (PDI) (Hofstede, 2012) and relates to how empowerment includes cooperation and other external support that can enhance employee performance (Humborstad et al., 2008). Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are still relevant categories, but they need to be updated and contextualized further through additional empirical studies. Hattrup, Mueller, and Joens (2007) studied the similarities and differences in the work values of employees of three German multinational organisations across nations and organisations. Findings showed that differences in valuation of job facets affected job satisfaction more than differences in national and organisational cultures. In particular, good supervision and learning and development opportunities improved job satisfaction. They noted that Hofstede discovered three decades ago that interpersonal relationships are most important at work, but in their study, it only ranked middle in terms of values. This case study also shows that good supervision and learning and development opportunities are important to motivation. Employees with high PDI, in particular, will not be motivated to work hard and to enjoy their empowering work conditions without sufficient supervision and learning and development support. Conclusion Motivation strategies through empowerment for Chinese employees in Macau hotels moderately sustain the perceived effects of high Power Distance (PDI) (Hofstede, 2012) and relates to how empowerment includes cooperation and other external support that can enhance employee performance (Humborstad et al., 2008). The Chinese respondents appreciated empowerment as a way of motivating themselves to work harder, but this empowerment should be culturally contextualised also. Implications for management are that they cannot lift up Western motivation strategies and apply them to other cultures without further analysis and in-culture variations exist too. The management cannot assume that cultural groups are homogenous. They also have particular intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors that culture may or may not affect. Other contextual factors should also be considered, such as organisational policies and values. Bibliography Collier, J. and Esteban, R., (2007) Corporate social responsibility and employee commitment. Business Ethics: A European Review, 16 (1), pp. 19-33. Dewett, T., (2007) Linking intrinsic motivation, risk taking, and employee creativity in an R&D environment. R&D Management, 37 (3), pp. 197-208. Deutsch, M., (1973) The resolution of conflict. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Drake, A.R., Wong, J., and Salter, S.B., (2007) Empowerment, motivation, and performance: examining the impact of feedback and incentives on nonmanagement employees. Behavioral Research in Accounting, 19, pp. 71-89. Hattrup, K., Mueller, K., and Joens, I., (2007) The effects of nations and organisations on work value importance: a cross-cultural investigation. 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