CULTURAL DIMENSIONS OF MANAGEMENT



Cultural Dimensions of Management

Cultural Dimensions of Management

Introduction

Culture consists of specific learned norms based on attitudes, values and beliefs which exist in every society. Attitudes and values differ from one country to another resulting in different cultural norms. Therefore, whether it be selling products or organizing, financing and managing its global operations, these differences will affect every firm operating on a global basis.

Discussion

The cultural impact on international management is reflected by the basic beliefs and behaviors of people. Firms conducting businesses globally have to deal with clients, strategic partners, distributors, and competitors with different cultural mindsets. By nature, managerial work is a "cultural bound" job, thus, national culture affects all level of operations-from interpersonal communication to formulation of strategy. Differences in cultural values often result in varying management practices (Neal, 2001, pp 5-48). For instance, a person's class or status within a society is dictated by how the particular culture values the person in comparison to others. "Social stratification" (the ways in which ranking is determined) varies substantially from country to country and affects various business functions such as employment practices. An organization's recruitment, promotion, compensation and redundancy policies differ from one country to another (Mead, 1998, pp 34-268).

Through 'individualism versus collectivism', he described the relationship between the individual and the group to which he or she belongs. In Japan for example, a collective culture can be seen unlike that of the U.S where the individual and his opinions are given due importance. The dimension of 'masculinity versus femininity' was used to reveal a society's bias towards either masculine value of materialism, competitiveness and assertiveness or towards feminine values of nurturing and the quality of life and relationship (Kotabe, 2001, pp 56-278). It is usually seen that in a masculine culture, "sex roles are sharply differentiated" and men are expected to be more assertive and competitive. However, in a feminine culture, sex roles are not sharply differentiated and both men and women have equal access to the same jobs (Keegan, 2002, pp 45-178).

To a great extent national culture influences organizational cultures. The impact of culture is significant on international firms when their organizational culture is not in line with national cultures. People can acquire or shed a series of organizational culture in the course of their career, but one will never disregard their own national culture(Kotabe, 2001, pp 56-278). Conducting successful cross cultural negotiations is a key ingredient for many international business transactions. These negotiations are further complicated when participants in the negotiation process are from different cultural backgrounds. Cultural forces also play a major role in shaping a company's global marketing mix program (Hofstede, 1991, pp 34-189).

Pricing decisions are greatly influenced as customer's willingness to pay for a product varies from one culture to another. For instance, in countries such as the U.S.A or the U.K., high prices for certain products are seen as a signal of premium quality, whereas in emerging markets like India, high prices are usually looked upon as gouging the ...