How Culture Affects Your Business
How Culture Affects your Business
Ing. Mansoor Maitah Ph.D.
How Culure Affects your Business
The Reasons of Growing Interest in Culture Study
1) The globalization of business,
2) Quantum advances in telecommunications and data processing, 3) The formation of global alliances,
4) The growing diversity in the domestic workforce,
5) The increasing mobility of workforce worldwide.
Culture Definition
• Culture is the collective programming of the mind which
• distinguishes the members of one human group from another
• Culture is patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols
• Culture is the guider of selection of appropriate responses in social situations, social interactions, business interactions
• Culture is a learned behavior. People learn do’s & don’t as they grow up
Culture Definition
• “A system of values and norms that are shared among a group of people and that when taken together constitute a design for living.” • Hofstede, Namenwirth and Weber
Values and norms
• Values: Abstract ideas/assumptions about what a group believes to be good, right and desirable
• Norms: social rules and guidelines that prescribe appropriate behavior in particular situations
Elements of culture
•
•
•
•
•
•
Social structure
Religion
Language
Education
Economic philosophy
Political philosophy
Social structure
• Two dimensions
– The extent to which society is group or individually oriented
– Degree of stratification into castes or classes
• Social mobility
• Significance to business
• Other influences
– Political philosophy
– Economic philosophy
Language
• Spoken
– Verbal cues
– Language structures perception of world
• Unspoken
– Body language
– Personal space
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions
• Four dimensions of culture
–
–
–
–
Power distance
Individualism versus collectivism
Uncertainty avoidance
Masculinity versus femininity
Concept of European culture
Common roots of national cultures in Europe:
1.
Ing. Mansoor Maitah Ph.D.
How Culure Affects your Business
The Reasons of Growing Interest in Culture Study
1) The globalization of business,
2) Quantum advances in telecommunications and data processing, 3) The formation of global alliances,
4) The growing diversity in the domestic workforce,
5) The increasing mobility of workforce worldwide.
Culture Definition
• Culture is the collective programming of the mind which
• distinguishes the members of one human group from another
• Culture is patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols
• Culture is the guider of selection of appropriate responses in social situations, social interactions, business interactions
• Culture is a learned behavior. People learn do’s & don’t as they grow up
Culture Definition
• “A system of values and norms that are shared among a group of people and that when taken together constitute a design for living.” • Hofstede, Namenwirth and Weber
Values and norms
• Values: Abstract ideas/assumptions about what a group believes to be good, right and desirable
• Norms: social rules and guidelines that prescribe appropriate behavior in particular situations
Elements of culture
•
•
•
•
•
•
Social structure
Religion
Language
Education
Economic philosophy
Political philosophy
Social structure
• Two dimensions
– The extent to which society is group or individually oriented
– Degree of stratification into castes or classes
• Social mobility
• Significance to business
• Other influences
– Political philosophy
– Economic philosophy
Language
• Spoken
– Verbal cues
– Language structures perception of world
• Unspoken
– Body language
– Personal space
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions
• Four dimensions of culture
–
–
–
–
Power distance
Individualism versus collectivism
Uncertainty avoidance
Masculinity versus femininity
Concept of European culture
Common roots of national cultures in Europe:
1.