Cross Cultural Communication

Cross Cultural Communication Chapter 11 National Cultures & Corporate Cultures Chapter 11

Learning Outcomes • National Cultures and Corporate Culture • Different Corporate Cultures • Family Culture • Eiffel Tower Culture • Guided Missile Culture • Incubator Culture • National Patterns of Corporate Culture Chapter 11

National Cultures and Corporate Culture Three aspects of organizational structure are important in determining corporate culture : • The general relationship between the employees and their organization • The vertical or hierarchical system of authority defining superiors and subordinates • The general view of the employees about the organization’s destiny, purpose, and goals, and their places in this Chapter 11

Types of Corporate Culture Different corporate cultures can be distinguished along two dimensions : • Equality – hierarchy • Orientation to the person – orientation to the task • Four type of corporate cultures identified on this basis are : • The family • The Eiffel tower • The guided missile • The incubator Chapter 11

Types of Corporate Culture These four types of organizations culture differ in : • How they think and learn • How they change, and, • How they motivate, reward and resolve conflicts • Fig.11.1 summarizes the images the images these organizations project • Each of these types of corporate culture are “ideal types” • In practice, the types are mixed or overlaid with one culture dominating. Chapter 11

Types of Corporate Culture Chapter 11

The Family Culture • personal, close face-to-face relationship • hierarchal ("father knows best") • power-oriented (leader is fatherly figure) • home-like work atmosphere • long-term relationships of employee to company; high loyalty • values, norms, atmosphere set by father" or "elder brother" (Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Italy, India) Chapter 11

The Family Culture • Refers to a culture which is : • Personal : close face-to-face relationship, and • Hierarchical : “father” of a family has experience and authority greatly exceeding those of his “children” • Result is power-oriented corporate culture with leader as caring father • Power is essentially intimate and (hopefully) benign • Japanese recreate within the organization aspects of the traditional family • Major business virtue is amae : kind of love between persons of different rank : idea is to always do more than a contract or agreement specifies • Ideal relationship is sempai-kokai : between an older and younger brother • At its best the power-oriented family culture exercises power through its members acting with one accord • Many family like corporate cultures are from nations which industrialized late : Greece, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Spain. Chapter 11

The Family Culture • Tend to be high-context : sheer amount of information and cultural content taken for granted by members • Relationships tend to be diffuse : “father” or elder brother” is influential in all situations. • Leader’s power is political, being broadly obtained by authorities, power may be that of the state, the political system, the society or God. • Family cultures at their least effective drain the energies and loyalties of subordinates to buoy up the leader, who literally floats on the sea of adoration. • Family cultures have difficulty with project group organizations or matrix structures since here authority is divided. • Families tend to be strong where universalism is weak. Chapter 11

The Family Culture • Employees in family cultures will behave like the “eldest child” left in the charge of family while the parents are out, but relinquishing that authority as soon as a “parent” returns. • Thinking, learning and change • Family corporate culture is more interested in intuitive than in rational knowledge, more concerned with the development of people than with their deployment or utilization • Thinking and learning intuitive, holistic, lateral and error correcting • Personal knowledge of another is rated above empirical knowledge. • Conversations are preferred to research questionnaires and insights to objective data. • Change is essentially political, getting key actors to modify policies through new visions, charismatic appeals, inspiring goals and directions and more authentic relationships with significant people. Chapter 11

The Family Culture • Motivating, rewarding and resolving conflicts • Since family members enjoy their relationships, they may be motivated more by praise and appreciation than by money. • Pay-for-performance or any motivation that threatens family bonds is not welcome • They tend to “socialize risks” among its members and can operate in uncertain environments as well. • Major weakness occurs when intra-family conflicts block necessary change. • Conflict resolution depends on the skill of a leader. • Criticisms not aired publicly • Negative feedback is indirect, sometimes confined to special “licensed” occasions. • High priority to effectiveness ( doing right things) than efficiency ( doing things right) Chapter 11

The Eiffel Tower Culture • hierarchal • structure more important than function • leader is boss (not father) • relationships specific; status ascribed • highly bureaucratic, depersonalized • rules dominate; roles before people • careers depend upon professional qualifications • symbolic of machine age (Germany, Austria) Chapter 11

The Eiffel Tower Culture • Eiffel Tower Culture is steep, symmetrical, narrow art the top and broad at the base, stable, rigid and robust like Eiffel Tower itself. • Various roles and functions is prescribed in advance • One senior can see the jobs of several subordinates. • Each higher level has a clear and demonstrable function of holding together. • Organization’s purpose is legally separate from personal needs of power or affection. Such needs are considered distractions. Chapter 11

The Eiffel Tower Culture • Boss has a legal authority and only incidentally a person. Essentially he or she is a role. • Careers in Eiffel Tower Companies are assisted by professional qualifications. • Each role at each level of authority is described and has a salary attached to it. • It’s a role culture. • Logic of subordination is clearly rational and coordinative. Chapter 11

The Eiffel Tower Culture • Thinking, learning and change : • For employees in Eiffel Tower, the family culture is arbitrary, irrational, conspirational, cozy and corrupt. • Thinking and learning is logical, analytical, vertically and rationally efficient • Learning means accumulating the skills necessary to fit a role and additional skills to qualify for higher positions. • Human resources are considered similar to capital or cash resources • change is effected through changing rules and procedures. • This culture does not adapt well to turbulent environments. Change is immensely complex and time-consuming. Chapter 11

The Eiffel Tower Culture • Motivating, rewarding and resolving conflicts • Employees are ideally precise and meticulous. • They are nervous when order and predictability is lacking. • Conflicts are seen as irrational, pathologies of orderly procedure, offences against efficiency. • Criticisms and complaints are typically channeled and dealt with through even more rules and fact-finding procedures. • Motivating and rewarding by promotion to greater position, and larger role and responsibilities • Management by job description. Chapter 11

The Guided Missile Culture • highly Egalitarian • task-oriented, impersonal • team approach emphasized • cross-disciplinary • performance emphasized • loyalty to professions / project greater than to company • Motivation intrinsic Chapter 11

The Guided Missile Culture • Egalitarian, impersonal and task oriented. • While in Eiffel Tower, the rationale of culture is means, the guided missile has a rationale of ends. Everything must be done to preserve strategic intent • Typifies neutral culture • Matrix organization is created by superimposing guided missile structure on Eiffel Tower organization. • Relationship between employees : • Specific tasks in cybernetic system targeted upon shared objectives Chapter 11

The Guided Missile Culture • Thinking, learning and change : • Cybernetic culture : it homes in on its target using feedback signals and is therefore circular rather than linear. • Shift aim as target moves • Steering is corrective and conservative, not as open to new ends as to new means. Chapter 11

The Guided Missile Culture • Thinking, learning and change : • Learning includes “ getting on” with people, being • practical rather than theoretical and being problem-centered rather than discipline-centered. • Appraisal is often by peers or subordinates rather than by superiors. • Change comes quickly in guided missile culture. The target moves. More targets appear, new groups are formed, old ones dissolve • This culture in many way the antithesis of the family culture. Chapter 11

The Guided Missile Culture • Motivating, rewarding and resolving conflicts • Motivations tend to be intrinsic • Culture tends to be individualistic since it allows for a wide variety of differently specialized persons to work with each other on a temporary basis. The scenery of faces keeps changing. • Management boy objectives is the language spoken, and people by paid for performance and problems solved. • Conflict resolution is constructive, task related only. Admit error if any and correct fast. Chapter 11

The Incubator Culture • organizations secondary to individual fulfillment • existence precedes organization • aim at self-expression and self-fulfillment • personal and egalitarian • minimal structure; minimal hierarchy • emotional commitment • creative, innovative • (Sweden) Chapter 11

The Incubator Culture • The purpose is to free individuals from routine to more creative activities and to minimize time spent on self-maintenance • Roles of other people are crucial. They are there to confirm, criticize, develop, find resources for and help complete the innovative product or service • The companies are usually entrepreneurial or founded by creative team. • Relationship between employees diffuse, spontaneous, growing out of shared creative process. • The work environment is often of intense emotional commitment • Status is achieved by individuals exemplifying creativity and growth. Chapter 11

The Incubator Culture • Thinking, learning and change • Ways of thinking and learning is process oriented, creative, ad hoc and inspirational. • Attitudes towards people as co-creators. • All participants on same wave-length, emphatically searching together for a solution to the shared problem. • Problem itself is an open to redefinition and the solution being searched for its typically generic, aimed at universe of applications. • This culture learns to create but not to survive altered patterns of demand. Chapter 11

The Incubator Culture • Motivating, rewarding and resolving conflict • Motivation is wholehearted, intrinsic and intense with individuals working for long hours. • There is competition to contribute to the emerging shape of something new. • There is scant concern for personal security and few wish to profit or have power apart from unfolding creative process. • Leadership is achieved • Power plays that impede group achievement will be reviled. • Conflict is resolved either by splitting up or by trying the proposed alternatives to see what works best. Chapter 11

Which countries prefer which corporate cultures • Pure cultures seldom exist. In practice, the types are mixed or overlaid with one culture dominating. • Fig.11.5 shows the results of a recent survey • Highest scores for guided missile companies in USA & UK • Highest for family companies in France and Spain • Sweden scores highest for incubators & Germany for Eiffel Tower • Smaller companies, wherever located, more likely to have family and incubator forms • Larger companies, needing structure to cohere are likely to choose Eiffel Tower or guided missile forms. Chapter 11

Cross Cultural Communication