Culture Pyramid and Spheres of Culture

Culture Pyramid

• Culture is specific to individuals and is learned and inherited
• Culture is specific to groups and learned
• Human nature is universal and inherited
• Culture spheres: National (history, geography, climate, religion), Industry (resources, technology, market), Regional, Corporate (founder, leadership stage, administrative heritage), Professional (education, training, socialization), Functional (tasks, environment, time horizon).

Spheres of Culture (Key Learnings)

• Culture gives a sense of belonging, security, significance, and appropriate behavior.
• Cultural groups' beliefs and values come into play and interact in different situations.
• Cultural differences can amplify feelings of threat when surrounded by other cultures, especially in multicultural teams.

Cultural Differences in Mergers and Acquisitions

• Cultural differences can lead to failures.
• Cultural differences can be a source of knowledge, value creation, and innovation
• Differences in organizational and national culture influence cross-border deals.
• Creating a new organizational culture strongly influences knowledge transfer.

Intercultural Competence

• Intercultural competence is the ability to effectively function in unfamiliar cultures.

Intercultural Models

• Intercultural models focus on traits, attitudes, and capability.
• Includes Reconciliation (recognizing, respecting, reconciling, and implementing reconciling actions).

Conflict Facework Behaviors

• Facework is about identity and relational issues arising before, during and after conflict.
• Includes self-face, other face, and mutual face.
• Includes respect, honor, status, credibility, competence, and network connections.

International Qualities

• Learning languages
• Valuing different perspectives
• Building relationships ("we" feeling)
• Understanding unfamiliar fields
• Diverse communication styles

Pull and Push Competencies

• Pull: Flexible behavior, welcoming strangers, accepting differences, and flexible judgment.
• Push: Focus on goals, inner purpose, resilience, and spirit of adventure.

Management Styles (Monochronic vs. Polychronic)

• Monochronic (Sequential): Values punctuality and planning, focus on time as a resource.
• Polychronic (Synchronous): Values flexibility, multiple tasks, and relationships.

Universalism vs. Particularism

• Universalism: Standards and rules should be followed consistently across everyone.
• Particularism: Obligations to particular people or circumstances take priority over abstract rules.

Achievement vs. Ascription

• Achievement: Value performance and accomplishments
• Ascription: Value roles, titles, and seniority.

Leadership Theories (Trait vs. Behavioral vs. Contemporary)

• Trait: Focuses on individual qualities of leaders.
• Behavioral: Focuses on what effective leaders do (initiating, consideration).
• Contemporary: Includes contingency theories (situational leadership styles), and emphasizes the relational and ethical aspects.

Leading and Managing

• Planning involves defining vision, mission, goals and objectives, organizational design, culture, and social networks.
• Organizing encompasses building structures, roles and responsibilities, and cultivating relationships.
• Leading involves motivating and inspiring people and making decisions effectively.
• Controlling involves monitoring performance, identifying deviations and resolving problems.

Responsible and Global Leadership

• Emphasizes effectiveness, maintaining moral integrity, addressing diverse perspectives.
• Examines Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory (high-exchange vs. low-exchange relationships).

Classical vs Contemporary Leadership

• Classical: Hierarchical, control-oriented, siloed.
• Contemporary: Interconnected, empowering, collaborative, inclusive.

Identity Leadership

• Emphasizes leaders' management of a shared sense of 'we'. Emphasizes purpose and values, organizational agility, and leadership approaches fitting different follower readiness levels.

Team Effectiveness

• Compelling direction
• Strong structure
• Cohesiveness
• Supporting context
• Shared mindset.

Information Bias in Groups

• Shared information is considered more credible and influential.
• Groups may overlook unique information/ideas, harming group decision quality.

Moral Disengagement Mechanisms

• Mechanisms people use to reconcile conflicting moral values.
• Includes disengagement from behavior, responsibilities and consequences, as well as a "condescending assessment" of victims.

Ethical Theories

• Utilitarianism (maximizing overall happiness), Rights Theory and Virtue Ethics (focus on morality) are discussed. Includes examples.

Explore the intricate layers of culture, including its individual and group dimensions, and how it impacts behavior and belonging. Understand the various spheres of culture and their implications in multicultural environments, particularly during mergers and acquisitions.