Managing Within Cultural Contexts

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Chapter 4

• Managing Within Cultural Contexts

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What is Culture?

• Culture is defined as .
• a learned set of assumptions, values, and
  behaviors
• that have been accepted as successful enough to
  be passed on to newcomers.

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Relevance of Culture to Managers

• Impact of Culture on Behavior -
• -gt influence on patterns of behavior through its
  effect on shared perceptions, beliefs, and
  attitudes
• Cultural Diversity in the Workplace
• Culture as a Management Tool

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Levels of Culture

• Artifacts (visible)
• Analogies
• (tree) (iceberg)
• Values
• Assumptions (hidden)

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Cultural Assumptions

• Assumptions about the Human - Environment
  Relationship
• -gt coexistence vs. domination
• Assumptions about Human Nature
• -gt Theory X vs. Theory Y

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Assumptions, contd.

• Assumptions about Human Relationships
• -gt power distance
• -gt individualism vs. collectivism
• Assumptions about Human Activity
• -gt masculine vs. feminine societies
• (stereotypically)

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Assumptions, contd.

• Assumptions about Truth and Reality
• -gt basis or nature of truth or reality
• -gt uncertainty avoidance
• Assumptions about Time
• -gt short-term vs. long-term

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Cultural Values

• Values enduring beliefs about which behaviors
  or states of existence are personally and
  socially preferred by others
• Classification of Values
• Theoretical people
• Economic people
• Aesthetic people
• Social people
• Religious people

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Managing Cultural Diversity

• Arguments for How Managing Cultural Diversity
  Enhances Competitive Advantage
• Cost Argument
• Marketing Argument
• Creativity Argument
• Problem Solving Argument
• System Flexibility Argument
• Resource Acquisition Argument
• Strong and Weak Cultures
• Subcultures
• Core Values

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Cultural Strength Matrix Violations of Values
and their Sanctions

• Deep Narrowly Shared Widely
  Shared
• Deeply Held Deeply Held
• (Values
• Held)
• Narrowly Shared Widely Shared
• Shallow Shallowly Held Shallowly Held
• Narrow (Values Shared)
  Wide

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Creating and Changing Organizational Culture

• Selection
• Socialization
• Performance Appraisal
• Rewards and Compensation
• Stories and Symbols