2. Culture
‘the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the
members of one group or category of people from another.’
--- Hofstede (2001)
‘Culture consists in patterned ways of thinking, feeling and
reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly by
symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human
group, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential
core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their
attached values.’
--- Kluckhohn, 1951
4. Hofstede’s Dimensions in culture
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Power Distance
Uncertainty Avoidance
Individualism Vs Collectivism
Masculine Vs Feminine
Short term Vs Long Term
5. Layers of Culture
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National Level
Regional-Ethnic-Religious-Linguistic Level
Gender Level
Generation Level
Social Class Level
Organisational / Corporate Level
6. National Culture
•Culture, in this sense, includes systems of
values; and values are among the building
blocks of culture.
• Although national culture grows with
generations, but still stabilising in patterns
across generations using some mechanisms
7. Outside Influences
Nature
Man
- trade
- scientific discovery
- dominations
Origins
Social norms
Consequences
Ecological factors
-geography
-history
-demography
-economy
-technology
-urbanisation
Value systems of
major groups of
population
Structure and
functioning of
institutions:
-family patterns
-role differentiation
-educational systems
-religion
-political systems
The Stabilizing of Culture Patterns
8. • Models of National culture:
– Single Dimension models
• Countries are classified culturally on the basis of one
variable
– Multiple Dimension models
• Nationalities are classified on the basis of more than
one varilable
– Historical-social models
9. Organisational Culture
• “an objective entity, consisting a set of
behavioural and cognitive characteristics”
– Schein
• includes the organizational structure and
rules, values, feelings, norms, the organizational
‘climate.’
- Lewis(1998)
• Why is it required?
• How it is dependent on National Culture?
10. • Brown’s model divides organisational culture
into three layers:
– Outer layer: values about the strategies, mission
and objectives of organisation
– Middle layer: beliefs and issues of the organisation
which employees talk about
– Inner Layer: things which people find it difficult to
talk about
11. 3 aspects of organizational culture
• The general relationship between employees
and their organization;
• The vertical or hierarchical system of authority
defining superiors and subordinates;
• The general views of employees about the
organization’s destiny, purpose and goals and
their place in it.
12. • Hofstede defines six dimensions to
differentiate between organizational cultures
that have similarities with the dimensions of
Schein:
– Process Vs results-oriented;
– Employee Vs joboriented;
– Parochial Vs professional dependent;
– open Vs closed systems of communication;
– loose Vs tight control;
– normative Vs pragmatic organization
13. Differences in national and
organisational culture
• ‘A nation is not an organisation’
• External signs are usually considered and
people think that National cultures are
becoming same as Organisational cultures
• National cultures and Organisational cultures
are two different phenomena
16. • National Culture
– Shared meanings
– Unconditional relationship
– Born into it
– Totally immersed
• Organisational Culture
– Shared behaviours
– Conditional relationship
– Socialized into it
– Partly involved
17. Questions for discussion
• Share an example where national culture have
impacted the organisational culture of a
company and in what way.
• Share an example where organisational
culture has diluted the national culture.
• What influence the values and behaviour of
employees more in an organisation – National
Culture or Organisational Culture?
