culture
a set of shared values, understandings, assumptions and goals that are learned from earlier generations, imposed by present members of a society and passed on to succeeding generations
corporate culture
The beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company’s employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions.
Often, corporate culture is implied, not expressly defined, and develops organically over time from the cumulative traits of the people the company hires
A company’s culture will be reflected in its dress code, business hours, office setup, employee benefits, turnover, hiring decisions, treatment of clients, client satisfaction, and every other aspect of operations.
It also influenced by national cultures and traditions, economic trends, international trade, company size, and products
Cultural diversity
- Ideas may change relative to language, technological expectations, social organization, face-saving, authority conception, non-verbal behavior, and the perception of time.
- For many years, there was a concept of a ‘dominant business culture’ (white, western, male). As this fades away, managing cultural diversity offers muc greater richness but at thee same time has become more complex
- People are most comfortable with those like themselves. Emphasizing diversity may undermine that comfort level.
- There is often a gap between what MNC’s do in their home country, and what they do abroad. Many companies recognize and value diversity in their own domestic work environment but fail to apply the same policies in their international operations.
- Concept of cultural diversity itself can vary- in some countries it can mean a legal obligation (e.g. % of employees of a minority group), in others it is a regional respect for local languages, holidays, religious festivals, etc.
Problems when trying to promote cultural diversity in MNCa
Convergence - as managemnt styles become similar to another it may have less room for diversity
self-reference criterion - we all use our own culture as reference point, makes it difficult to understand other values
Parochialism: when you expect those from another country to have the same behaviour patterns as you do
ethnocentrism: an attitude where “our way” of doing things is best
Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions
cultures distinguish themselves alsong five axes
centrality : power distance group : individualism / collectivism gender : masculine / feminine uncertainty : uncertainty avoidance time : long-short term perspective
