ICC chapter 5 and 8

Trompenaars' Seven Dimensions

• These dimensions include universalism vs. particularism, individualism vs. communitarianism, neutral vs. affective, specific vs. diffused, achieved vs. ascribed, sequential vs. synchronic, and internal vs. external control.

Universalism vs. Particularism

• Universalists admire those who adhere to cultural standards and rules, reflecting a rule-based society such as the USA, Australia, and Northern Europe.
• Particularists value people based on relationships, where obligations to individuals can override rules; Southern and Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia exemplify this.

Individualism vs. Communitarianism

• Individualism prioritizes the self.
• Communitarianism emphasizes common goals and objectives.

Emotions: Neutral vs. Affective

• Emotions are intense feelings directed at someone or something, as described by Stephen Robbins, differing from moods, which do not require a specific object or direction.
• Universal emotions include happiness, surprise, fear, sadness, anger, and disgust.
• Emotional dissonance arises from displaying desired emotions at work while suppressing true feelings.
• Neutral cultures control emotional expression, and individuals often apologize if they show emotions.
• Affective cultures encourage open emotional communication and expect sensitive responses.
• Every group has norms about how much feeling to display in professional settings.
• Poland, Bulgaria, Austria, Ethiopia, Canada, and Japan are examples of neutral cultures.
• The UK, Nordic countries, Netherlands, Greece, USA, and Thailand are medium affective-neutral.
• Italy, France, Russia, Spain, Philippines, and Cuba are mostly affective cultures.

Involvement: Specific vs. Diffuse

• Specific cultures separate life aspects, such as work relationships differing from outside-work relationships.
• Diffuse cultures blend relationships across life areas, where authority at work extends to other settings.

Status: Achieved vs. Ascribed

• Achieved status is earned through accomplishments, like education and employment.
• Ascribed status is based on associations such as age, gender, social class, and family connections.
• Achieved status cultures include the USA, Canada, UK, Germany, and Scandinavian countries.
• Introduction in achieved cultures involves stating name, occupation, and achievements.
• Introduction in ascribed cultures involves discussing family and interests.
• CVs in achieved cultures focus on work experience and are formal.
• CVs in ascribed cultures include work experience and references from respected figures.
• Recommendations from friends and relations are valuable for job interviews in ascribed cultures.

Time: Sequential vs. Synchronic

• Sequential time involves doing one thing at a time in a linear fashion, similar to monochronic time.
• Synchronic time includes engaging in several activities simultaneously, akin to polychronic time.
• Past-oriented cultures value traditions and historical continuity.
• Present-oriented cultures focus on short-term goals and living in the moment.
• Future-oriented cultures emphasize long-term goals and systematic planning.
• Cultural time perspectives vary by profession, region, and age.

Attitudes Towards the Environment: External Control vs. Internal Control

• Internal control involves an attitude that people should control nature and their surroundings to succeed, historically stemming from battling natural dangers.
• This translates to proactively solving problems, setting goals, and taking charge in business.
• External control is about adapting to nature, historically working with it to survive.
• This translates to flexibility and adjusting to circumstances in business.

Reconciliation: From Vicious Circle to Virtuous Circle

• Cultural differences can cause misunderstandings, but integrating them leads to harmony and synergy.
• Trompenaars offers 10 steps to achieve cultural reconciliation.
• Cultural reconciliation involves seeing differences as complementary, using humor to ease tensions, and mapping cultural differences to understand them better.
• It involves using dynamic terms for flexibility, using language effectively, considering context, and alternating between extremes.
• Transforming opposition into synergy and viewing cultural integration as a DNA double helix are also key.

Cultural Synergy

• Cultural synergy involves cultural dominance, synergy, avoidance, and accommodation.
• The process involves cultural compromise.
• Cultural avoidance means not imposing one's cultural way.
• Cultural dominance means assuming others adapt to your cultural background.
• Cultural compromise involves a mutual give-and-take.
• Cultural synergy involves creating new working methods, valuing all cultures, and promoting creativity and dynamism.
• Achieving cultural synergy involves describing the situation from all viewpoints, understanding cultural assumptions, and increasing cultural creativity.

Managing Diversity in Teams

• Multicultural teams perform at either a high or low level, based on management and integration of diversity.
• Ignoring diversity leads to low team performance.
• Team needs depend on its diversity, requiring those needs to be met to excel.
• Adler identifies homogenous, token, bicultural, and multicultural teams.
• Homogenous teams share similar backgrounds and perspectives.
• Token teams are homogenous except for one member.
• Team leaders of token teams can enhance vision and performance by considering the token member's views.
• Bicultural teams consist of two cultures, which may be equally or unequally represented; team managers should ensure equal attention to each culture to gain advantages from both.
• Multicultural teams comprise multiple cultures, with members and leaders recognizing challenges and benefits.

Multicultural Teams: Strengths, Weaknesses, and Conditions for Excellence

• Groupthink is when team members conform to the majority opinion to maintain harmony.
• Strengths of multicultural teams include increased creativity, broadening perspectives, more innovation, and better problem-solving.
• Weaknesses include lack of cohesion, mistrust due to communication differences, and stereotyping.
• Effective multicultural teams require inclusiveness, creativity-focused assignments, and awareness of bias.

Bias

• Bias is a preference for or against a person or group.
• People are not truly neutral.
• Cultural bias involves judging perceptions based on one's own cultural standards.
• Implicit bias includes unconscious attitudes or stereotypes about people based on characteristics.
• Banaji describes implicit biases being ingrained in our culture.

Addressing Implicit Bias

• Addressing implicit bias helps organizations attract talent, raise employee engagement, and increase job satisfaction.
• Increases diversity and inclusiveness in teams.
• Prejudices are rooted in the primitive brain, focused on safety and survival.
• Ethnocentric reflex is the tendency to view one's own culture as the standard.

Multicultural Teams During Group Formation Stages

• The stages include forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning, are based on Adler and Tuckman's research.
• The forming stage in teams is characterized by uncertainty, where building trust and getting to know each other are essential.
• The storming stage involves internal conflict, leadership clashes, and restrictions on the individual.
• The norming stage involves growing cohesiveness and building relationships.
• During the performing stage, the group works at full potential.
• The adjourning stage involves wrapping up activities and concluding.

Global Leadership: The GLOBE Project

• GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) studies culture, leadership, and organizations.
• It aims to investigate the relationship between cultural values and organizational practices.

GLOBE Cultural Dimensions

• The GLOBE project measures similarities and differences in cultural norms using nine dimensions.
• Uncertainty avoidance measures reliance on social norms to avoid uncertainty.
• Power distance measures the acceptance of stratified power distribution.
• Institutional collectivism measures the encouragement of collective resource distribution.
• In-group collectivism measures pride, loyalty, and cohesiveness within groups.
• Gender egalitarianism measures the minimization of gender role differences.
• Assertiveness measures the degree of assertiveness and aggression in relationships.
• Future orientation measures engagement in future-oriented behavior.
• Performance orientation measures encouragement and rewards for performance improvement.
• Humane orientation measures the encouragement of fairness, altruism, and kindness.

GLOBE Leadership Clusters

• GLOBE clustered 62 countries into 10 groups based on cultural similarities and differences, which shows the degree of cultural similarity.

GLOBE Leadership and Values

• Leadership effectiveness is based on the norms, values, and beliefs of those being led.
• Leadership is enabling others' effectiveness and success in organizations.
• CLTs (culturally endorsed leadership theory) consists of six dimensions of implicit leadership.
• Charismatic/value-based leadership emphasizes high standards, decisiveness, and innovation.
• Team-oriented leadership promotes pride, loyalty, and collaboration.
• Participative leadership emphasizes equality and delegation.
• Humane-oriented leadership shows compassion, generosity and support.
• Autonomous leadership is independent, individualistic, and self-centric.
• Self-protective leadership is procedural, status-conscious, and face-saving.
• Power Distance impacts leadership style as high power distance cultures lead to decisions made by few.
• There is a strong correlation between power distance (hierarchy) and leadership style.
• Low power distance cultures prefer decisions made by consensus.
• High power distance cultures prefer directing and coaching leadership.
• Low power distance cultures prefer supporting and delegating leadership.