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Summary comparative&cross cultural management for IBA
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This file contains a detailed summary of the course Comparative & cross cultural management given at Tilburg University
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Studying cultures for CCCMSection 1: Introduction
In this paper, multiple approaches to culture are given. First, the question what is culture and
what is not will be discussed. Two papers will be discussed (Hofstede’s work and the World
Values Survey). Then, how management and organization can be understood on basis of these
studies will be discussed. Lastly, the focus is on the international negotiations.
1.1 What is culture and what is not?
2 definitions are given:
“Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and
transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups,
including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of
traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached
values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, and
on the other as conditioning elements of further action.”(Kroeber & Kluckhohn, 1952:
181)
This definition includes patterns of and for behavior, ideas and values/ this definition includes
artifacts in its explanation of culture
“The collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or
category of people from those of another’(Hofstede 1991: 5)”
This definition indicates culture is about learned (not inherited) behaviours, ideas and values (note,
no artifacts). Next, this definition focuses on the collective part of culture. Lastly, this definition says
behaviours one shares with a group/category is different from other groups. Culture can be specific
to both a group or a category
,Cultures and stereotypes
Most people tend to see their own culture more positively than outsiders do. Most perceptions of
countries are stereotypes, oversimplified images of members of the other groups, not based on
much direct experience. If one has more contact with another culture, one;s perceptions tend to
become more nuanced and overall more positive. Stereotypes, however, do have effects. Trust of
one partner in the other is strongly influenced by the nationality, which can be weakened when
experience is involved (Ertug, Cuypers, Noorderhaven & Bensaou, 2013)
Where does culture come from?
Most approaches assume culture has evolved to help people survive in a particular environment.
Here, culture is an adaptive system: it serves to relate a community to its ecological setting
(Keesing, 1974). A culture can be detrimental to the survival of the group for cultures, which change
very slowly, in a rapidly changing environment (industrialization).
An alternative perspective is the ideational system vier. Here, culture consists of behaviors and
beliefs are cumulative creations of the mind. This helps a group to survive, as it strengthens the
coherence of the collectivity. However, it can also lead to the downfall (Easter Island).
Independent of the theory of the development of culture, culture can be a positive as well as a
negative force in relation to any particular activity or endeavor.
Methodological dilemmas
Etic versus emic
Two main traditions can be distinguished in cross-cultural research: the etic and the emic. The
words are taken from the terms phonetic (study of sound and sound changes in human speech)
and phonemic (study of sound units enabling speakers to distinguish between meanings). The
difference is partly-parallel to that between physiological and sociological approaches
(nomothetic-etic) versus anthropological approaches (idiographic-emic)
The emic approach stresses the unique aspects and attempts to analyze the internal coherence
of single examples and condemns any attempts at classification across cultures as denying the
uniqueness of each culture. Because the emphasis is on the unique features of each culture,
this approach can be characterized as idiographic, where the research is based on qualitative
data.
The etic approach stresses the comparable aspects, looking at the (co-)variances of variables.
As this approach emphasizes on generalization, it can be characterized as nomothetic.
Research methods
Etic culture research aims to generalize across the boundaries of individual countries, so a
sufficient number of different societies have to be studied to be able to verify the general nature
of the proposed dimensions. Important is that the observations must be comparable so the
nomothetic-etic approach has a partiality for standardized instruments (standardized
questionnaires) to find ‘equivalence. Quests appear like translation into local language,
, differences in other context factors (e.g. amount of job alternatives) that make ‘asking the same
question’ difficult. In etic research, quantitative data is inevitable, making addressing issues of
equivalence after collection possible. We can test whether the answers are correlated and if this
is not the case, the measurement is not reliable and can be dropped.
Emic researchers, on the other hand, believe that searching for equivalence is strange and
these have to be removed to ask culturally neutral and ‘objective’ questions. Lack of
equivalence is the focus point here. Emic researchers study the logic of cultures from within,
and want to understand the meaning of culturally specific behaviour, symbols and artefacts. The
interpretation is very subjective, however. Put very simply, etic research data is shallow but
reliable, data collected in emic research is rich but less reliable
Boundaries of cultures
The boundaries of the level of analysis cannot always be defined clearly. National boundaries
often do not encompass homogenous societies with a shared culture (E.G Canada). It is
argued, however, that in nations that have existed some time, there are strong forces towards
integration (language, army, political system, national symbols). Etic research avoids this
problem by focusing on homogenous societies, but poses limits on the generalizability of the
framework. Emic research focuses on cultural groups not denied by national boundaries.
To be able to make valid comparisons, research should be based either on representative
samples (large samples with all relevant subgroups or categories) or on more narrow, but
carefully ‘matched’ samples (compose matched samples of individuals/situations/ institutions/
organizations). In case of narrow samples, we have to be careful in interpreting the differences
and the similarities: before drawing conclusions, equivalence must be proven. A better strategy
for narrow samples is to take several samples from different parts of society. The equivalence in
this strategy is found ex post facto.
Level of analysis
The nomothetic-etic approach presupposes data on a sufficiently large number of cultures and
tends to proceed from a study of ‘ecological’ correlations, calculated either from mean values or
from percentages of respondents for a particular score. Comparative research with an
idiographic-emic concern will express itself in a focus on relations between variables within
cultures, followed by a comparison of patterns found from culture to culture. This can lead to big
differences.
Two common areas of confusion in nomothetic-etic studies concerning the levels-of-analysis
problem are the ecological fallacy and the reverse ecological fallacy. The ecological fallacy is
committed when conclusions concerning individuals are drawn from higher-level data. The
ecological fallacy is particularly tempting when data at higher levels of aggregation are
available, but individual-level data are not. This is a form of stereotyping.
The reverse ecological fallacy implies that conclusions regarding cultures are drawn from
individual-level data. Here, we ought to make sure the items correlate across individuals or the
country mean scores correlate across countries.Within-society correlations are used instead of
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