Innovation in its cultural context

1. Innovation in its cultural context Prof. Denise E. Murray Macquarie University

2. Task 1: Think back over the past 10 years. What changes were you asked to make in your teaching practice?

3. Innovation or change? Change is predictable and inevitable, always resulting in an alteration in the status quo but not necessarily in improvements. Innovation, on the other hand, results from a deliberate and conscious effort that is perceived as new, is intended to bring about improvement, and has potential for diffusion. (Stoller, 1997 p. 34)

4. Contributors to innovation • Horizontal organizations cf vertical • Communication across areas • Willingness to move beyond received wisdom • Combining ideas from unconnected sources • Seeing problems integratively, as wholes, related to larger wholes • Challenging established practices (Kanter 1983) • Stable core staff • Match with values, resources, student needs (Stoller 1997)

5. People and innovation Change is experienced differentially among participants and differently from the intentions of the original proposers. (Murray, 2008, p.6.) • Innovators (2%-3%) • Early adopters (10%) • Early majority • Late majority • Laggards (15%) (Rogers 1995)

6. Task 2: What ideas/words come into your mind when you hear the word “culture”?

7. Definition of culture “Collective programming of the mind” • Shared values • Habitus (a system of permanent and transferable tendencies) Hofstede 1990

8. Definition of culture I am referring to a sense of culture as the process by which people make sense of their lives, a process always involved in struggles over meaning and representation.(Pennycook 1995:47)

9. A different definition of culture The ways people agree to be. (Sullivan, 1994)

10. Culture is Ways of • Seeing • Being • Behaving • Communicating Based on shared values.

11. Values A value is “a broad tendency to prefer certain states of affairs over others” (Hofstede, 2001, p. 5).

12. Some value continua What behaviors do you attach to these values?

13. Cultural dimensions (Hofstede 2001) • Power distance – distance between individuals at different levels of hierarchy • Uncertainty avoidance – more or less need to avoid uncertainty about the future • Individualism/collectivism – relations between individual and his/her fellow • Masculinity/femininity – division of roles and values • Long-term orientation – focus on future or present

14. Power distance (PDI) • PDI is related to the different solutions to the basic problem of human inequality (Hofstede 2001). • PDI is the extent to which a society accepts that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally (Dickson et. al. 2003).

15. Power distance (PDI)

16. PDI - organizational

17. PDI - schooling

18. Task 3 Which of these characteristics are typical of Thailand?

19. Uncertainty avoidance (UAI) • UA is related to the level of stress in a society in the face of an unknown future (Hofstede 2001). • UA is the degree to which members in a society feel uncomfortable with ambiguous and uncertain situations, and take steps to avoid them (Dickson et. al. 2003). • May have religious basis.

20. Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)

21. UAI -organizational

22. UAI -schooling

23. Task 4 Which of these characteristics are typical of Thailand?

25. Collectivism/Individualism (IDV) • Cultures characterized by individualism can be seen as loosely knit social frameworks in which people are supposed to take care of themselves and look after their own interests and those of their close family only. A tight social framework with strong and cohesive in-groups that are opposed to out-groups is a key characteristic of high collectivism. (Dickson et. al. 2003, p. 742)

26. Individualist Collectivist

27. IDV - organizational

28. IDV - schooling

29. Task 5 Which of these characteristics are typical of Thailand?

30. Collectivism: Some features • Luck rated especially important in Thailand. • People in collectivist societies are integrated horizontally and vertically: • Stay in contact with parents, grandparents, care for elders • Honor memories of deceased and care for their graves • Static/circular view of time

33. Masculinity-femininity dimension (MAS) Masculinity implies dominant values in society that stress assertiveness and being tough, the acquisition of money and material objects, and not caring for others, the quality of life or people. In feminine cultures, values such as warm social relationships, quality of life, and care of the weak are stressed. (Dickson et. al. 2003, p. 745)

34. Masculinity Femininity

35. MAS – organizational

36. MAS – schooling

37. Task 6 Which of these characteristics are typical of Thailand?

38. Some interesting statistics Responses to child standing over another, saying “Go ahead and fight back if you can!” Aggressive answers (such as “You’ve hit me. Now I’m going to teach you a lesson.”) Japan 38% Britain 26% Korea 22% Thailand 17%

41. Future orientation dimension (LTO) • LTO refers to the extent to which the culture programs its members to accept delayed gratification of their material, social, and emotional needs. (Hofstede, 2001, p. xx) • LTO is related to the choice of focus for people’s efforts: the future or the present. (p. 29)

42. Future orientation

43. LTO - organizational

44. LTO - schooling

45. Task 7 Which of these characteristics are typical of Thailand?

49. Australia & Thailand • Power distance – Thailand has much higher power distance than Australia • Uncertainty avoidance – Thailand rates higher on uncertainty avoidance than does Australia • Individualism/collectivism – Australia is much more individualistic than Thailand • Masculinity/femininity – Thailand is more feminine than Australia • Future orientation – Thailand is more future oriented than Australia

50. Issue for teachers and administrators