Hofstedes Culture Work - Case Study Example

Running Head: Hofstede's Culture work Using Hofstede's Culture work, discuss the possible cultural issues for a European national corporation (E.on) acquiring in another E.U country (Spain) [Writer's Name] [Institution's Name] Using Hofstede's Culture work, discuss the possible cultural issues for a European national corporation (E.on) acquiring in another E.U country (Spain) In this paper we will discuss the possible cultural difficulties which can be experienced by E.ON if the company acquires a company in Spain. We will open this topic by discussing more general concepts about culture how it affects businesses today. We will offer a number of different interpretations of culture for discussion, highlighting some key phenomena such as the resulting 'global' versus 'local' dilemma faced by many global organisations today; the pressure on the one hand to globalise and on the other to meet local needs. The word 'culture' comes from the same root as the verb 'to cultivate', which underlines its connection to survival and Mother Nature. Indeed, culture is the way in which humans act upon nature and towards one another. It becomes so ingrained in our daily activities that we are often not aware of its existence, just as the fish takes water for granted. This obliviousness to the existence of 'culture' and the shared basic assumptions that unites a cultural group often leads to members of that group becoming confused or irritated when situations arise which are alien to their set of norms and expectations. Hofstede has conducted a study in which he researched some employees of Germany's E.ON in Spain. However, Hofstede's E.ON questionnaire was not designed for cultural comparisons but for organisational development. Employees gave self-report responses to about 160 items which Hofstede analysed with ingenuity; he compared scores not for individuals but between countries, which he called an "ecological analysis." He reported and analysed four dimensions of culture: Power distance: "the extent to which the members of a society accept that power in institutions and organisations is distributed unequally" Individualism versus Collectivism: "Individualism - a preference for a loosely knit social framework in society, in which individuals are supposed to take care of themselves and immediate family's only; as opposed to Collectivism - a preference for a tightly knit social framework..." Masculinity versus Femininity: "Masculinity - a preference for achievement, heroism, assertiveness, and material success; as opposed to Femininity - a preference for relationships, modesty, caring for the weak, and the quality of life" Uncertainty Avoidance: "the degree to which members of society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity" (Hofstede, 1983, 1991) Hofstede has made unusual efforts to elaborate the conceptual nature of his dimensions. Such extensions have also been made by others such as Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997). There is already considerable research concentrating on these dimensions, especially regarding individualism-and collectivism. Individualism versus Collectivism Our sense of identity is often dependent, to a large degree, on our sense of belonging to and affiliation with a particular group - be it family, caste, clan, tribe or class. However, in individualistic countries, much more emphasis is placed on the realisation of the individual. Independence is greatly valued and social bonds between people tend to be relatively loose and flexible. This is particularly evident in the decision-making process as decisions tend to be made by individuals in positions of authority rather than by a committee or group. On the other hand, collectivistic countries are primarily oriented towards common goals and objectives and more value is placed on group interests. In collectivistic countries, employees often expect the organisation to protect their interests by way of providing them with professional development, benefits and long term security within the organisation. Needless to say that there is a sliding scale between the two poles of individualism and collectivism and one often finds gradations within individual countries. It is therefore important to base the country scores on comparable samples each of the countries in our study. Hofstede used a series of 'work goal' questions in order to do a comparative analysis between countries. Hofstede formulated six questions of which the first three were geared towards the individualistic pole and the last three towards the collectivist pole. Participants were then asked to choose the relevant importance of each of the questions. The USA, the most individualist of the nations covered in this project is closely aligned to the UK. On the other hand, there is a group of more family-oriented cultures, most of which typically industrialised late, such as Spain. "[These are] countries in which the transition from feudalism to industrialism was rapid [and] many feudal traditions remain". (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 1997). As might be expected, these countries are more aligned to the collectivistic pole. Surprisingly, there appears to be little or no correlation between the two sets of results. However, the results do conform to the arguments put forward by the respective authors: Hofstede's states that Spain is the less individualistic, whereas Trompenaars and Hampden- Turner suggest that Spain is more individualistic. This brings us back to one of the first points we made about the literature available on culture: that most writers use different methods of comparison when studying cultural diversity. Trompennars and Hampden-Turner's results are nonetheless aligned to the Portal community adoption at enterprise. Currently only France has developed a community, and we can therefore assume that France is most collectivistic followed by the Italians, who have shown an active interest, followed closely by Germany. UK has decided not to currently proceed with a Portal community due to other priorities and lack of business demand. Spain had already invested heavily on developing an Intranet web page, through a joint venture company, where enterprise holds a large share. However, researching which countries are individualistic and collectivistic would outweigh the scope of this project. Let us concentrate, rather, on those elements which directly affect the implementation and success of the Enterprise Portal, such as communication for example, which is one of the primary objectives of an Enterprise Portal Communication "When considering all life as communication we see a spectrum covering a wide range of communication events" (Hall 1976). Communication and Culture are tightly interlinked. Indeed, not only do our actions and words have different meanings to people from different cultures, but also the way we express ourselves varies enormously, particularly in this day and age in which there is a multitude of communication media ranging from formal exchanges from person to person using words and gestures to informal exchanges such as e-mail and memo's. Let us compare communication methods at enterprise for example: High context interaction such as person to person is more intimate and ideal for relationship building. In person to person communication, much of the communication is non-verbal, such as gestures and body language. This form of communication requires a relatively low 'rapport'. On the other hand, Low Context forms of communication are more aligned to exchanging facts and opinions in a frank, impersonal manner. Examples of low context forms of communication are GroupWare applications and E-mail where only words are exchanged. Low context communication requires a relatively high rapport. One finds similar patterns in the preferred methods of communication across different cultures. After much research into cultural behaviour and communication patterns, we have split up the different communications methods across the following four continua: a) Low Context - High Context b) Direct - Indirect c) Expressive - Instrumental d) Formal - Informal Low and High Context Low Context culture is most commonly associated with task-centred environments in which business tends to be impersonal. Trust and loyalty are not primary consideration when doing business and therefore relatively little information about is needed about an individual or a company in order for business to be transacted with them. Indeed, in order for tasks to be accomplished it is not deemed necessary to have good relationships between the parties involved. Communication in low-context cultures is primarily to exchange information, facts and opinions. On the other hand, High Context cultures tend to require far more contextual information about individuals and companies before business can be translated. Business relationships most commonly built upon trust and loyalty and to attempt to make a transaction without having established them would be very difficult. Unlike Low Context cultures, a significant amount of time tends to be spent on 'small talk' e.g. family issues, food and drink, the weather, etc. In addition, as Stewart and Bennett (1991) point out, "conclusions are often not stated explicitly; it is up to the listener to divine the conclusion implied by the context...". Japanese culture is a classic example of an extremely High Context culture. In Japan, it is not unusual at a business meeting for one party to say 'yes' simply to 'save face' and as such, one should not take this necessarily as a firm response or decision. The primary purpose of communication in high-context cultures is to form and develop relationships rather than exchange information and facts. Direct and Indirect In direct cultures information is communicated through the business structure in the form of orders and directives and conflict is often dealt with from the top by means of power and force. On the other hand, in indirect cultures a range of conflict avoidance techniques are often employed and third parties are often involved in the resolution of conflict. Much in-directness in communication is to save 'face', protect honour and avoid shame. Direct communication and business manner, such as that typical of the USA, may be perceived as "...highly competitive, adversarial and impersonal to those used to having indirect style" (Hill, 2001). "Asian cultures are well known for their indirectness. Such communication tends to be highly ritualised and understated" (Lewis, 1996). Expressive and Instrumental In expressive cultures far more importance is given to the establishment and maintenance of personal and social connections than to the precision of communication. People openly show emotions at the workplace and voices may be raised in anger, joy or another intense emotion. Similarly, body language is likely to be demonstrative and affectionate: touching or hugging is often considered an acceptable form of behaviour among colleagues. Examples of highly expressive cultures are Latin America and Middle Eastern, Southern and Eastern Europe. On the other hand, Asian cultures tend to shy away from being overly expressive, especially in the workplace. Outside of work and among friends, however, they are likely to display a more expressive orientation than in the workplace. Conversely, instrumental cultures place far more stress on the accuracy of communication rather than its appropriateness or style. Communication is more problem-oriented, pragmatic and impersonal. As the primary objective is to reach factual, objective unemotional conclusion that lead to action, people who display emotion are likely to be perceived as lacking in professionalism or rationality and therefore emotions are often kept hidden as much as possible, even under stress. American culture leans heavily towards the instrumental end of the spectrum. Formal and Informal Formal cultures tend to have strong traditions and strict social protocols and adhesion to these rules and norms at the workplace is taken very seriously. There is a great awareness of and respect for hierarchy and failure to comply may results in severe consequences. In business, one is expected to show sincerity and seriousness by observing these customs and rituals, examples of which are attire, greetings, business card exchange, forms of address, scheduling and conducting meetings, eating and drinking, entertaining and gift-giving. Latin America, UAE and parts of Asia and Europe are all formal to varying degrees (Lewis, 1996). Informal cultures, on the other hand, tend to give much less importance to historical continuity and focus much of their efforts on change and progress. By the same token, individuals in informal cultures often feel uncomfortable with social or power differences as these may inhibit direct and candid communication. Business relationships are often relaxed and informal and much more emphasis is placed on the observance of schedules or deadlines than on the maintenance of image or status. The United States and Australia are widely considered to be two of the most informal cultures in the world. (Lewis, 1996). References Hall, ET and Hall, MR (1976) Understanding Cultural Differences: Germans, French and Americans Intercultural Press, Inc Hill, R (2001). We Europeans. Euro Publications. Hofstede, G (1980). Culture's Consequences:- International Differences in Work-Related Values. Sage Plublications. Hofstede, G (1983). Dimensions Of National Cultures in Fifty Countries in Fifty Countries and Three Regions. Swets and Zeitlinger. Hofstede, G (1991). Cultures and Organisations: Intercultural Co-operation and its Importance to Survival - Software of the mind. HarperCollinsBusiness. Lewis, RD (1996). When Cultures Collide: Managing Successfully Across Cultures. Nicolas Brealey Publishing. Trompenaars, F and Hampden-Turner, C (1997). Riding The Waves Of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business. Nicholas Brealey Publishing. Read More