EFFECTS OF GLOBALIZATION ON NATIONAL CULTURE

Effects of Globalization on National Culture

Effects of Globalization on National Culture

Introduction

The past two decades have seen an increasing internationalisation and globalisation of business (Castells, 1989). This, coupled with the continuing process of industrialisation and the pressures of science and technology might lead one to argue that businesses world-wide are being driven to adopt similar ways of tackling the problems of production and organisation. Indeed, it seems that the application of common technologies and production methods associated with the spread of particular management techniques is dictating a “one best way” of organising with respect to organisational structures, systems and managerial practices. From this point of view, it appears that the process of industrialisation not only drives businesses to adopt similar ways of organising but also leads societies to adopt similar economic and social features (Kerr et al., 1960). Referred to as “the process of convergence”, this is accentuated at the European Union level where the number of supranational institutions is increasing as a result of greater integration between member states.

There is some support for both the convergence and the divergence theories (Wilson and Rosenfeld, 1990). Even so there are clear implications for management of organisations in subscribing to one of these theories rather than the other. These are:

If the convergence view is taken, it might be expected that qualities or characteristics required for managing would be similar across organisational and national boundaries.

If the divergence view is subscribed to then different national cultures will influence significantly the way in which management is viewed and what constitutes a “good” manager.

This paper seeks to address this debate by examining advertisements for managers across three countries, namely the UK, France and Germany. At the centre of the debate lies the issue of culture and whether any differences and similarities in the characteristics required of managers can be explained by reference to the impact of culture.

The question of culture

Many definitions of culture are suggested in the literature. Agreeing on one definition is not easy and indeed the anthropologists, Kroeber and Kluckhohn, once identified over 160 different definitions. They then offered a comprehensive definition (Kroeber and Kluckhohn, 1952, p. 181):

Culture consists in patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values.

Hofstede (1981, p. 24), in considering a number of definitions of culture, offers his own as:

Culture is the collective programming of the human mind that distinguishes the members of one human group from those of another. Culture, in this sense, is a system of collectively held values.

Literature Review

Several researchers have sought to identify cultural conceptions of management and have attempted to create cultural maps of nations incorporating the traits that impact on management. The question to be resolved is whether we are “all Europeans now” and there is little to choose between managers in one country or ...