Riding the Waves of Culture - Questions

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Riding the waves of culture
Chapter 1 – An introduction to Culture 1- According to Trompenaars, culture is:
Culture is “the way in which group of people solves problems and reconciles dilemmas.” Culture is the context in which things happen.

2- What is “Glocalisation”?
“Glocalisation” is a new phenomenon which affects the management organization. Indeed, the organizational design tends to be standardized with globalization. So managers have to adapt their organization to the local characteristics of the market, to the fiscal regime, the political system and cultural system. They have to balance consistency and adaptation to succeed.

3- Why is it that many management processes lose effectiveness when cultural borders are crossed?
Many companies are applying formulas in every area that are derived from their own culture. But, in fact, this does not work, because management could not be the same in each country, to provide the best management possible in a company, people must take care of the country’s habits.
The Anglo Saxon management is used by a lot of companies but its deny cultural differences, so the management process is less effective in some countries.

4- Why does Trompenaars disagree about books on management that proscribe “One best way” to manage?
Trompenaars disagree about books on management that proscribe “One Best Way “ to manage because according to him, there is no best way to manage. This organizational theory do not measure the effects of national culture but point to the importance of the market, the product.. in order to determine the most effective management and organization.
For him, the important is to examine the visible and the invisible ways in which culture impacts on organizations. Because culture play an important role in the success or not of an international organization and management.

Chapter 2 – The One Best Way of Organizing Does Not Exist?

1- What is meant by culture being a “side dish” to most managers?
“A side dish” means that culture radiates meanings into every aspect of a company and touches the whole business relationship in the company. Thus, culture is a side dish because its takes place in every aspect of the organization. People cannot take care of each culture to manage, but culture is still important in the way workers are seeing their management and organization.

2- How do most French/British/Polish/Russian/Greek managers conceive of a company?
40 % of French and Greek conceive a company as a system and not as a social group. Concerning the British, 52%, more than a half of the population, thinks that a company is more a system than a group. Russian and Polish, Eastern European see the company as a system for almost 70%.

3- What is meant by “cultural perception”?
“Cultural perception” means that the same way of manage could be seen in different aspects by people from diverse cultures. We cannot understand individual acts without considering the meanings attributed to their environment. “Culture perception” is how a fact is seen and understood by people from different culture. Management and organization are more than objective. Culture aspects come to understand it as well as possible. Culture perception is a way to identify and clarify the reactions of foreign cultures concerning the same fact or management technique.

Chapter 3 – The Meaning of Culture

1- The outer layer of culture is concerned with “explicit culture”. What is this?
“Explicit culture” is the observable reality of the language, food, buildings, monuments, fashions, arts, houses, shrines, markets….The symbols of a deeper level of culture.
This “explicit culture” is what we see firstly when we discover a new culture. Something visible for anyone. 2- Define what is meant by norms and values
Norms and values composed the middle layer of culture. Norms are the mutual sense a group has of what is “right “ and “wrong”. They can develop on a formal level (written laws) or on an informal level (social control).
Values determine the definition of “good” and “bad”, and are closely related to the ideals shared by a group. 3- “Culture can be distinguished from one another by the differences in shared meanings they expect and attribute to their environment “. What do you understand?
Culture is not a thing, it’s not something we can observe easily and describe. Culture is made by people interacting, in fact, culture is different between people from a country and people from others. To determine a culture, we have to observe the way that people are using it to adapt to their environment. Culture can be distinguished by the observation of the way people are adapting their culture to their life and environment. 4- Name the three dangers of stereotyping?
The 3 dangers of stereotyping are: * Caricature the culture observed and unintentionally the observer, because this is a limited view of average behavior in a certain environment. * Equate something different with something wrong * Ignores that individuals in the same culture do not behave according to the cultural norm. Individual personality mediates in each culture.

Chapter 4 – Relationships and Rules

1- What is a universalist culture? Which countries have Universalist cultures?
A universalist culture is a culture where we encounter an obligation to adhere to standards which are universally agreed to by the culture in which we live. Every people is treated equally. This behavior is abstract.
Most of Western European countries (France, Poland, Spain, CZ, Hungary, Netherlands, UK, Sweden, Ireland), Australia, Canada, USA and Switzerland have a universalist culture.

2- What is a particularist culture? Which countries have particularist cultures?
A particularist culture is a culture where we encounter particular obligations to people we know.
Venezuela, Nepal, South Korea, Russia, China, India, Bulgaria or Indonesia have a particularist culture.

3- What kind of contracts do particularists prefer to sign and why?
Particularists prefer to sign vague contract. The contract is seen as a rough guideline, because he may object to certain clauses. It helps for mutual accommodation. So they can change the contract terms after sign it to adapt it to new situations.

4- Which of the following sentences apply to universalist/particularist cultures?
“A deal is a deal “ -> Universalist
“Let’s get down to business” -> Universalist
“I want to get to know you” -> Particularist
“The Golden Rule “ -> Universalist