Defination of Values.

INTRODUCTION

DEFINATION OF VALUES
Basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence if personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct and end-state of existence.
When we rank an individual’s value in terms their intensity, we obtain that person’s value system. This system is identified by the relative importance we assign to values such as freedom, pleasure, self-respect, honesty, obedience, and equality.
IMPORTANCE OF VALUES
Values are important to the study of organizational behavior because they lay the foundation for our understanding of people’s attitudes and motivation, because they influence our perception. They contain interpretation of right and wrong, they imply that certain behaviors or outcomes are preferred over others; as a result values cloud objectivity and nationality.
CLASSIFICATIONS OF VALUES
There are two approaches to develop values typologies.
TERMINAL VALUE: Milton Rokeach created the Rokeash Value Survey (RVS).It consists of two sets of values, each containing 18 individual values items. One set called terminal values refers to desirable end-state. In short, desirable end-state of existence; that goal a person would like to achieve during his or her life time.
INSTRUMENTAL VALUE : preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving one’s terminal values.

VALUES ACROSS CULTURE
There appears to be a decline in business ethics. Recent corporate scandals involving accounting manipulation, cover-ups, and conflicts of interest certainly suggest such a decline. This is not a recent phenomenon.
Although the issue is debatable, a lot of people think ethical standards began to erode in the late 1970s. After all, managers consistently report that the action of their bosses is the most important factor influencing ethical and unethical behavior in their organizations. Given this fact, the values of those in middle and upper management should have a significant bearing on the entire ethical climate within an organization.
We described the new global village and said managers have to become capable of working with people from different cultures. Because values differ across cultures, an understanding of these differences should be helpful in explaining and predicting behavior of employees from countries. Nowadays, there are many values that people and organizations usually practices. The key values that play a pivotal role and probably effect the people and organizations are tend to subscribe is individual-collectivism, power distance and achievement-nurturing. In other word I will discuss all the above with sharing some of my experiences to make us more understand on these values.
One of the most widely referenced approaches for analyzing variations among cultures was done in the late-1970s by Geert Hofstede. He surveyed more than 116,000 IBM employees in 40 countries about their work-related values. He found that managers and employers vary on five value dimensions of national culture. They are listed and defined as follows:

HOFSTEDE’S FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSING CULTURE
Power distance:
The degree to which people in a country accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally. This ranges from relatively equal (low power distance) to extremely unequal (high power distance). The power distance is a degree to which a society expects there to be differences in the levels of power. A high score suggests that there is an expectation that some individuals with larger amounts of power than others. A low score reflects the view that all people should have equal rights. Power distance is importance and it considers very high values in the Asian countries including in Malaysia.

For example, New Zealand and Denmark expect and accept power relations that are more consultative or democratic. People relate to one another more as equals regardless of formal positions. Subordinates are more comfortable with and demand the right to contribute to and critique the decision making of those in power. In large power distance countries, Malaysia is less powerful accepts power relations that are more autocratic and paternalistic. Subordinates acknowledge the power of others simply based on where they are situated in certain formal, hierarchical positions. As such the Power Distance Index Hofstede defines does not reflect an objective difference in power distribution but rather the way people perceive power differences. (Geert hofstede 2001)
Individualism versus collectivism:
Individualism is the degree to which people in a country prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of a group. Collectivism is the equivalent of low individualism.
Individualism and the collectivism is the two commonly mentioned across-cultural value. The individualism is the extent to which a person values independence and personal uniqueness, while the collectivism is extent to which people value duty to groups to which they belong and to group harmony Individualism and collectivism are cultural traits that describe the common attitude toward the individual as compared to the group (Kim & Hakkoe, 1994).

For example a canonical comparison of individualism and collectivism on the cultural scale are the United States, which ranks as a highly individualist society, and Japan, which ranks as a highly collectivist society.

Individualism is more focus on the personals goal, hard work and individual achievement purpose rather than the groups. Some said that Individualism has a controversial relationship with egoism (selfishness). For example, the Singaporean are likely to be said is very highly individualism which the employees will always fight for the benefit by themselves and they are very egoism intense of sharing skill or knowledge among themselves because want to protect their career.

For info, I had the experience which my friend who are very highly individualism. This person is very self-sufficiency and very personal freedom where he is very independence when doing their assignment alone and didn’t need their friend help. Mean that this person is very high individualism because he don’t like doing the assignment in the group because he want to keep their work in personally with he ability. Some time he gets the low score in their assignment is because the assignments sometime need a group discussion to do better than individual.

In contrast, collectivism is focus on strong association to groups including family and work units. For example, blame for making bad decision is share among group members.
Beside that, I had a experience in this collectivism value where my best friend invite me playing futsal with other friend and during the match our team have a some misleading in the pointed and make the situation come worse and hopefully my friend are able to control the situation to be comedown. So in the case, my friend is very caring with us during the match and asks the result our team wins the match in excited.
Achievement versus nurturing:
Achievement is the degree to which values such as assertiveness, the acquisition of money and material goods, and competition prevail. Nurturing is the degree to which people value relationships, and show sensitivity and concern for the welfare of others.

Achievement-nurturing orientation reflects a competitive versus cooperative of relations with other people. People with high achievement orientation value assertiveness, competitiveness, and materialism. They appreciate people who are tough and favor the acquisition of money and the material goods. In contrast, people in nurturing oriented cultures emphasize relationships and the well being of others. They focus on human interaction and caring rather than competition and personal success.
For example, the people in Norway can be score in low achievement oriented because the Norway People are not materialist as we can see that Norway is the low crime rate in the world. Beside that, I had experience which my friend are very high achievement because he always very greedy in term of material .

In other hand, nurturing is focus on caring with other people who need assistance and support. In our life, our parent is nurturing us until we are able to independence. They always make sure we all are growth in the better life with enough wear, use, eat and protection. Beside that also, nurse also play an importance role when the patient are in sick. Nurse is example of the nurturing person n the human life when the patients need the caring. I had is experience when my uncle are caring by the nurse when we are not around my uncle. They give my uncle a very comfortable service and tool that needed by patient.

Uncertainty avoidance:
The degree to which people in a country prefer structured over unstructured situations. In countries that score high on uncertainty avoidance, people have an increased level of anxiety, which manifests itself in greater nervousness, stress, and aggressiveness. cultures low on uncertainty avoidance are more accepting of ambiguity and are less rule oriented, take more risk and more readily accept change.

Long-term versus short-term orientation:
People who are in cultures with long-term orientations look to the future and value thrift and persistence. A short-term orientation values the past and present and emphasizes respect for tradition and fulfilling social obligations.
A research study was done and here are a few highlights. China and West Africa scored high on power distance; the United States and the Netherlands scored low. Most Asian countries were more collectivist than individualistic; the United States ranked highest among all countries on individualism. Germany and Hong Kong rated high on achievement; Russia and the Netherlands rated low. On uncertainty avoidance, France and Russia were high; Hong Kong and the United States were low. And China and Hong Kong had a long-term orientation, whereas France and the United States had a short-term orientation. The above cross-cultural values are very importance to the all kinds of organizational but they have the difference value across boundary. Difference culture have difference values, and it same to the difference countries too. The successful apply the better value will help the organization more sustainable and gain more profitable than other.

Hosftede | USA | CHAINA | Power distance | Low | High | Individual vs. collectivism | High | Low | Achievement vs. nurturing | High | High[Hong Kong] | Uncertainty avoidance | Low | Low[Hong Kong] | Long term vs. Short term orientation | Low | High |

Globe frame work in assessing culture
Hofstede cultural dimensions have become the basic framework for differentiating among national cultures. This is in spite of the fact that the data on which it based come from a single company and are nearly 30 years old. Since these data were originally gathered, a lot has happened on the world scene. Some of the most obvious include the fall of the Soviet Union, the merging of East and West Germany, the end of apartheid in South Africa, and the rise of China as a global power. All this suggests the need for an updated assessment of cultural dimensions. The GLOBE project provides such an update.
Begun in 1993, the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) research program is an ongoing cross-cultural investigation of leadership and national culture. Using the data from 825 organizations in 62 countries, the GLOBE team identified nine dimensions on which national cultures differ.
Assertiveness: The extent to which a society encourages people to be tough, confrontational, assertive, and competitive versus modest and tender. This is essentially equivalent to Hofstede achievement dimension.
Future orientation: The extent to which a society encourages and rewards future oriented behaviors such as planning, investing in the future, and delaying gratification. This is essentially equivalent to Hofstede long-term / short-term orientation.
Gender differentiation: The extent to which a society maximum gender role differences.
Uncertainly avoidance: As identified by Hofstede, the GLOBE team defined this term as a society reliance on social norms and procedures to alleviate the unpredictability of future events.
Power distance: The GLOBE team defined this as the degree to which members of a society expect power to be unequally shared.
Individualism / collectivism (i): Again, this term was defined as the degree to which individuals are encouraged by societal institutions to be integrated into groups within organizations and society.

Individualism /Collectivism (ii): reflects the degree to which individual express pride, loyalty and cohesiveness in their organizations or Family.
In-group collectivism: In contrast to focusing on societal institutions, this dimension encompasses the extent to which members of a society take pride in membership in small groups, such as their family and circle of close friends, and the organizations in which they are employed.
Performance orientation: This refers to the degree to which a society encourages and rewards group members for performance improvement and excellence.
Humane orientation: This is defined as the degree to which a society encourages and rewards individuals for being fair, altruistic, generous, caring, and kind to others. A comparison of the GLOBE dimensions against those identified by Hofstede suggests that the former has extended Hofstedes work rather than replaced it. The GLOBE project confirms that Hofstede five dimensions are still valid. However, it has added some additional dimensions and provides us with an updated measure of where countries rate on each dimension. For instance, while the United States led the world in individualism in the 1970s, today it scores in the mid-ranks of countries. We can expect future cross-cultural studies of human behavior and organizational practices to increasingly use the GLOBE dimensions to assess differences between countries.
In summary the GLOBE research is designed to contribute the development of empirically based cross-cultural leadership and organizational theory by investigating roles of societal and organizational values and institutionalized practices, organizational contingency variables, and implicit leadership theories as antecedents to cross-cultural variance in leader behavior, leader influence, leader effectiveness and organizational practices and performance.

CONCLUSION
For any culture, it is possible to envision a process in which behaviors favoring one pole are reinforced to a greater degree than behaviors favoring the opposite pole. Thus each can be seen as exhibiting a pattern of preferences about the most desirable ways of thinking and acting.

The ultimate aim of the authors is to link cultural values to three domains of managerial behavior:
- Relating to others
- Accomplishing Work
- Responding to change

Several major cultural issues have been described in this article. These have challenged the comfortable but very culture-bound presumption that there is a right way and a wrong way to do business and to manage.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
E-Books :
- Leadership in a Diverse and Multicultural Environment by Mary L. Connerley, Paul Pedersen
- Managing Across Cultures by Malcolm Warner, Pat Joynt
- When Cultures Collide by Richard D. Lewis
Articles :
- Effectively working with Cultural Differences
'Building a successful relationship is the key to success in a corporate environment. A positive relationship with other cultures requires you to interpret body language, respect culture and customs and understand your audience.' This article gives a brief idea about how one should adjust and adapt to the cultural differences.
- Resolving Conflict in a Multicultural Environment
This is an article summary of 'Resolving Conflict in a Multi Cultural Environment' by Andrea Williams. The author discusses cultural dimension in conflict and resolution in application to local government entities. This article provides information in order to identify cultural conflicts and resolving cross cultural conflicts in three ways.
- Adapting to a Multicultural Environment
'The key to the multicultural sales process is not just developing a print ad with multicultural faces, but it is the dedication by the organization to understand the mindset of those that are being marketed to.' This article shows how major industries managed to integrate their sales and marketing strategies successfully into an existing multicultural environment. Gives a good example of Nike.

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

A PROJECT ON-

VALUES ACROSS CULTURE AND GLOBE FRAMEWORK

NAME-DIPANNITA GHOSH
DEPT-MBA
ROLL-11