The document discusses organizational behavior across cultures, outlining Hofstede's cultural dimensions model and its analysis of cultures along the dimensions of individualism/collectivism, power distance, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term/short-term orientation. It then analyzes results from the GLOBE study regarding Iranian managerial culture, finding high levels of power distance and in-group collectivism as well as a desire to decrease power distance.

1. Organizational Behavior
S.B.Alavi
Graduate School of Management and Economics;
Sharif University of Technology.

2. What is culture?
 Culture is a social pattern including
shared beliefs, norms, and values.
 According to Hofstede, culture is a
multi-layer phenomenon, and people’s
assumptions and values are at the
centre of the phenomenon.

3. Why studying OB across cultures?
 Working with people in other cultures;
Globalization;
 Development of modified behavioral
models for local management.

4. Level of analysis issue
 Cultural level: comparing cultures
 Individual level: Comparing individuals

5. Why using cultural dimensions?
 Cultures can be compared using
universal dimensions.
 Using cultural dimensions, we can
investigate and understand the impact
of different aspects of a culture on OB.

6. Values across cultures: Hofstede’s studies
 Individualism/collectivism;
 Power distance;
 Femininity/Masculinity (Quality of life/Quantity of life);
 Uncertainty avoidance;
 Long-term/short-term orientation
Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences (2nd edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

7. Individualism/collectivism
 Individualism is the degree to which individuals
are supposed to look after themselves or
remain integrated into in-groups.
 Hedonism, independence, and freedom are
highly valued in individualistic cultures.
 In contrast, interdependence, self-sacrificing,
and loyalty are valued in collectivistic societies.

8. Some consequences of
Ind/Coll on OB
 Verbal Communication;
 Non-verbal communication;
 Privacy issues;
 Conflict management styles;
 Teamwork.

9. Power distance
 The extent to which
people accept that
power in organizations is
distributed unequally.
 When power distance is
high, the ideal boss is a
well-meaning autocrat
or a good father, and
subordinates expect to
be told.

12. Femininity/Masculinity
 Masculinity refers to the extent to which
values such as assertiveness,
toughness, and competition prevail.
 However, femininity refers to the
degree to which employees value
relations and show sensitivity and
emotions for the welfare of others.

13. Uncertainty avoidance
 The extent to which people feel either
uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured
situation.
 Unstructured situations are novel, unknown,
surprising, different from usual.
 High UA: high work stress; expression of
emotions is normal; tendency to stay with same
employer; more resistance to change;
preferences for larger organizations.

14. Short-long term orientation
 the extent to which people accept
delayed gratification of their material,
societal, and emotional needs.
 A long-term orientation culture
encourage people to value thrift,
investment, and persistence. Leisure
time is not so important.

15. Etic and emic approaches
 Etic approach: studies
behavior from a position
outside the system;
examines many cultures,
comparing them; criteria are
considered universal.
 Emic approach: studies
behavior from within the
system; examines only one
culture; criteria are relative
to internal characteristics.

16. Global Leadership and Organizational
Behavior Effectiveness project (GLOBE)
 It was conducted in 61 countries.
 The aim of this project was “to
investigate the existence of
universally acceptable and universally
unacceptable leadership attributes
and to identify those attributes that
are culture specific”.

17. Cultural dimensions in GLOBE
 Uncertainty avoidance
 Gender egalitarianism
 Societal collectivism
 In-group collectivism
 Human orientation
 Power distance
 Performance orientation
 Future orientation
 Assertiveness

18. Iranian sample in GLOBE
 Three hundred Iranian middle
managers from three industries of
banking, telecommunications, and
food processing, participated in the
study.

19. Important results
 Iranian manager reported fairly high levels of power
distance (5.43 compared to the maximum score of
5.80 in the GLOBE list; the ranking was 14 out of 61)
and in-group collectivism (6.03 compared to the
maximum score of 6.36 in the GLOBE list; the ranking
was 3 out of 61).
 However, Iranian managers reported quite a low level
of societal collectivism (3.88 compared to the
minimum score of 3.25 in the GLOBE list; the ranking
was the 13th lowest country).

20. Conclusion for ‘what is’
 Iranian managers reported one of
the highest in-group collectivism with
high power distance, whereas one of
the lowest societal collectivism

21. The ‘should be’ part.
 According to the results, Iranian managers reported
a strong desire to decrease power distance in their
culture. The differences between ‘what was’ and
‘what should be’ for power distance was the highest
difference of all the dimensions (5.43 ‘what was’
versus 2.80 ‘what should be’).
 Iranian managers were also likely to improve
societal collectivism, given the difference between
‘what was’ and ‘what should be’ for societal
collectivism (3.88 ‘what was’ versus 5.44 ‘what
should be’).

22. General conclusions
 Cultural issues of Iranian society must
be included in our leadership models
in Iranian organizational contexts.
 Iranian managers who work in cross-
cultural business contexts must
develop their cultural competencies.