Culture refers to the acquired knowledge that:
people use to interpret experience and generate social behavior, and
forms values, creates attitudes, and influences behavior.
In fact, culture comprises the 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.
Prepared by
Md. Sohel Chowdhury
Assistant Lecturer
Dept.of Management Studies
University of Barisal
2. The Nature of Culture
• Culture refers to the acquired knowledge that:
– people use to interpret experience and generate
social behavior, and
– forms values, creates attitudes, and influences
behavior.
• In fact, culture comprises the 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.
3. Characteristics of Culture
• Learned.
– Culture is not inherited or biologically based; it is
acquired by learning and experience.
• Shared
– People as members of a group, organization, or
society share culture; it is not specific to single
individuals.
• Transgenerational
– Culture is cumulative, passed down from one
generation to the next.
4. • Symbolic
– Culture is based on the human capacity to
symbolize or use one thing to represent another.
• Patterned
– Culture has structure and is integrated; a change
in one part will bring changes in another.
• Adaptive
– Culture is based on the human capacity to change
or adapt.
Characteristics of Culture
5. Cultural Diversity
• Culture can affect managerial attitudes,
managerial ideology, and even business-
government relations.
• Perhaps most important, culture affects how
people think and behave.
• There are many ways of examining cultural
differences.
8. Cultural Diversity and Management
Approaches
• Here are some specific examples where the
culture of a society can directly affect
management approaches:
– Centralized vs. Decentralized Decision Making.
– Safety vs. Risk
– Individual vs. Group Rewards
– Informal vs. Formal Procedures
– High vs. Low Organizational Loyalty
– Cooperation vs. Competition
– Stability vs. Innovation
9. Values in Culture
• A major dimension in the study of culture is
values.
• Most of the variations between cultures stem
from underlying value systems.
• Values cause people from different cultures to
behave differently under similar
circumstances.
• Values are basic convictions that people have
regarding what is right and wrong, good and
bad, important and unimportant.
10. Communication of Values
• As a powerful component of a society’s
culture, values are communicated through the
eight subsystems:
– Kinship System
– Education System;
– Economic
– Political Systems;
– Associations
– Attitudes Toward Recreation and Leisure; and
– Perhaps Most Importantly—Religion.
11. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions
• Geert Hofstede who was a Dutch researcher
conducted a study on cultural dimensions.
• His study still is being considered as the
largest organizationally based study ever
conducted.
• The survey covered over 116,000 respondents
from over 50 different countries around the
world.
12. • Geert Hofstede identified four dimensions:
– Power Distance
– Uncertainty Avoidance
– Individualism, and
– Masculinity
• These dimensions help explain why and how
people from different cultures behave
differently under similar circumstances.
Hofstede’s Cultural DimensionsHofstede’s Cultural Dimensions
13. Power Distance
• It refers to the extent at which:
– The society accepts the unequal distribution of
power in institutions.
– Employees are reluctant to express disagreement
with their managers.
– Inequalities in power are normal.
14. Uncertainty Avoidance
• It refers to the extent to which people in a
society feel threatened by ambiguous
situations.
• Countries with high-uncertainty avoidance
cultures have the following characteristics:
– Strict laws and procedures for firms.
– Strong sense of nationalism
– Less risk taking by managers
– Less ambitious employees.
15. Individualism
• Individualism is the tendency of people to look
after themselves and their immediate family only.
• Collectivism is the tendency of people to belong
to groups and look after each other in exchange
of loyalty.
• Countries with high individualistic cultures
generally emphasize.
– Self-respect, autonomy, and independence
– Individual achievement
16. Masculinity
• Masculinity refers to a situation in which the
dominant values in society are success, money,
and things.
• Femininity refers to a situation in which the
dominant values in society are caring for others
and the quality of life.
• Countries with high masculinity generally
emphasize on
– Earnings, recognition, advancement, and challenge
– Job stress and ‘X’ theory of motivation