The document discusses several key aspects of culture, including values, norms, symbols, physical objects, and language. It notes that values are learned from one's culture and can vary across cultures, influencing management practices. Successful managers tend to have values that favor pragmatism, dynamism, achievement, and interaction, while less successful managers have more static and passive values. Culture encompasses both material objects and nonmaterial aspects like language and systems.

1. www.StudsPlanet.com
A MODEL OF CULTURE

2. www.StudsPlanet.com
BUSINESS CUSTOMS
• Arrange meeting before discussing business over
phone.
• Make appointments as far in advance as possible.
• Maintain eye contact, shake hands, provide
business card
• Maintain a win-win situation
• Keep presentations short

3. www.StudsPlanet.com
VALUES IN CULTURE
• Values
• Learned from culture in which individual is reared
• Differences in cultural values may result in varying
management practices
• Basic convictions that people have about
• Right and wrong
• Good and bad
• Important and unimportant

4. www.StudsPlanet.com
VALUES IN CULTURE

5. www.StudsPlanet.com
VALUE SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
ACROSS CULTURES
1. Strong relationship between level of managerial
success and personal values
2. Value patterns predict managerial success and
can be used in selection/placement decisions
3. Country differences in relationship between
values and success; however, findings across U.S.,
Japan, Australia, India are similar
4. Values of more successful managers favor
pragmatic, dynamic, achievement-oriented and
active role in interaction with others
5. Values of less successful managers tend toward
static and passive values; relatively passive roles in
interacting with others

6. COMPOSITION OF CULTURE
• Material cultural products
• Nonmaterial cultural products
Material Culture – Formed by the physical objects that people create
• Cars, clothing, books, buildings, computers
• Archeologists refer to these items as artifacts
Nonmaterial Culture – Abstract human creations (can’t touch it)
• Language, family patterns, work practices, political and economic systems
www.StudsPlanet.com

7. COMPONENTS OF CULTURE
• 1. Physical Objects
• 2. Symbols
• 3. Language
• 4. Values
• 5. Norms
www.StudsPlanet.com

8. PHYSICAL OBJECTS
• Not only the “Physical” objects, but also the
RULES for using those objects
• Technology: The combination of objects
AND rules.
• *Also, tools used to manipulate the
environment
• Ex. Computer= Physical
• Surfing the Web= Rules and skills related to
COMPUTER
www.StudsPlanet.com

9. COMPONENTS OF CULTURE: SYMBOLS
• Anything that stands for (or shared meaning
attached to it) something else
• “something to which people attach meaning and
that they then use to communicate with one
another” (Henslin 2007a:39)
• Any word, gesture, image, sound, physical object,
event can serve as a symbol as long as people
recognize that it carries a particular meaning
• - Ex. Class ring, word hello, handshake = all
symbols
• Symbols vary from culture to culture
www.StudsPlanet.com

10. COMPONENTS OF CULTURE: BELIEFS &
VALUES
• Beliefs
• The statements that people of a culture believe
to be true
• Values
• Abstract concepts about the way society should
be
• Standards of judgment
• Shared beliefs about what is good or bad, right or wrong,
desirable or undesirable
www.StudsPlanet.com

11. COMPONENTS OF CULTURE : NORMS
• Shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in specific
situations
• Behavioral boundaries regulating social interactions
• Norms are expectations, not actual behavior – doesn‟t mean
that actions of all individuals will be in line with norms.
o Ex. Norm is to be financially responsible – some don‟t
pay bills
• Lots of norms in society: unimportant (cover mouth when
yawning) to very important (don‟t kill anyone)
• Some apply to everyone while some are specific
o Ex. Nobody in US is allowed to marry more than one
person. Selected groups (some clergy and children) are
not allowed to marry at all
www.StudsPlanet.com

12. CULTURE - TERMS
• Heredity –transmission of genetic characteristics from parents to
children.
• Environment –social and cultural conditions that influence the life of
an individual or community
• Role – behavior – the rights and obligations – expected of someone
occupying a particular status
• Assimilation – blending of culturally distinct groups into a single group
with a common culture and identity
• Stereotype – oversimplified, exaggerated, or unfavorable
generalization about a category of people
• Prejudice – unsupported generalization about a category of people
• Discrimination – denial of equal treatment to individuals based on
their group membership
• „Discriminations prevents someone from sharing their „gifts‟ with
another person.‟
www.StudsPlanet.com

13. CULTURES ARE DYNAMIC: RULES ARE
MADE TO BE BROKEN
• Humans are creative animals and always do not
strictly follow the dictates of their culture.
• There is individual interpretation of each aspect of
culture that is in part due to family and personal
history.
• Real vs. Ideal culture.
www.StudsPlanet.com

14. UNIVERSALITY, GENERALITY, AND
PARTICULARITY
Universal: found in all cultures.
Examples: Exogamy and incest taboo.
Generality: found in many cultures, but not all.
Example: nuclear family.
Particularities: found only in some cultures.
www.StudsPlanet.com

15. WHAT MAKES CULTURES CHANGE?
• Diffusion: borrowing of traits between cultures.
• Acculturation: exchange of cultural features that
results from long-term exposure between cultures.
• Independent invention: Developing to solution to
problems by individual cultures. Example:
agriculture.
www.StudsPlanet.com

16. ACCULTURATION
www.StudsPlanet.com
Acculturation is the
process of adjusting and
adapting to a specific
culture other than one’s
own. It is one of the keys
to success in international
operations.

17. HIGH- VERSUS LOW-CONTEXT
CULTURES
High-context culture
• context is at least as
important as what is
actually said
• what is not being said
can carry more meaning
than what is said
• focuses on group
development
• Japan and Saudi Arabia
are examples
Low-context culture
• most of the information is
contained explicitly in
words
• what is said is more
important that what is
not said
• focuses on individual
development
• The U.S. is an example
www.StudsPlanet.com

18. CULTURAL UNIVERSALS
• Cultural universals are manifestations of the total
way of life of any group of people.
• These include elements such as courtship rituals,
etiquette, concept of family, gestures, joking,
mealtime customs, music, personal names,
status differentiation, and trade customs.
www.StudsPlanet.com