CULTURE

SOME DEFINITIONS
 Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs,
values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles,
spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and
possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations
through individual and group striving.
 Culture is the systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of
people.
 Culture is communication, communication is culture.
 Culture in its broadest sense is cultivated behavior; that is the totality of a
person's learned, accumulated experience which is socially transmitted, or
more briefly, behavior through social learning.
 A culture is a way of life of a group of people--the behaviors, beliefs,
values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them,
and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one
generation to the next.
 Culture is symbolic communication. Some of its symbols include a group's
skills, knowledge, attitudes, values, and motives. The meanings of the
symbols are learned and deliberately perpetuated in a society through its
institutions.
 Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior
acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive
achievement of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the
essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their
attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as
products of action, on the other hand, as conditioning influences upon
further action.
 Culture is the sum of total of the learned behavior of a group of people that
are generally considered to be the tradition of that people and are transmitted
from generation to generation.
 Culture is a collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the
members of one group or category of people from another.

THEORY OF CULTURAL
DETERMINISM
  The position that the ideas, meanings, beliefs and values people learn as
members of society determines human nature. People are what they learn.
Optimistic version of cultural determinism place no limits on the abilities of
human beings to do or to be whatever they want. Some anthropologists
suggest that there is no universal "right way" of being human. "Right way"
is almost always "our way"; that "our way" in one society almost never
corresponds to "our way" in any other society. Proper attitude of an
informed human being could only be that of tolerance.
 The optimistic version of this theory postulates that human nature being
infinitely malleable, human being can choose the ways of life they prefer.
 The pessimistic version maintains that people are what they are conditioned
to be; this is something over which they have no control. Human beings are
passive creatures and do whatever their culture tells them to do. This
explanation leads to behaviorism that locates the causes of human behavior
in a realm that is totally beyond human control.

CULTURAL RELATIVISM
 Different cultural groups think, feel, and act differently. There is no
scientific standards for considering one group as intrinsically superior or
inferior to another. Studying differences in culture among groups and
societies presupposes a position of cultural relativism. It does not imply
normalcy for oneself, nor for one's society. It, however, calls for judgment
when dealing with groups or societies different from one's own. Information
about the nature of cultural differences between societies, their roots, and
their consequences should precede judgment and action. Negotiation is more
likely to succeed when the parties concerned understand the reasons for the
differences in viewpoints.

CULTURAL ETHNOCENTRISM
 Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's own culture is superior to that of other
cultures. It is a form of reductionism that reduces the "other way" of life to a
distorted version of one's own. This is particularly important in case of
global dealings when a company or an individual is imbued with the idea
that methods, materials, or ideas that worked in the home country will also
work abroad. Environmental differences are, therefore, ignored.
Ethnocentrism, in relation to global dealings, can be categorized as follows:
 o Important factors in business are overlooked because of the obsession
with certain cause-effect relationships in one's own country. It is
always a good idea to refer to checklists of human variables in order
to be assured that all major factors have been at least considered
while working abroad.
o Even though one may recognize the environmental differences and
problems associated with change, but may focus only on achieving
objectives related to the home-country. This may result in the loss of
effectiveness of a company or an individual in terms of international
competitiveness. The objectives set for global operations should also
be global.
o The differences are recognized, but it is assumed that associated
changes are so basic that they can be achieved effortlessly. It is
always a good idea to perform a cost-benefit analysis of the changes
proposed.  Sometimes a change may upset important values and
thereby may face resistance from being implemented. The cost of
some changes may exceed the benefits derived from the
implementation of such changes.

MANIFESTATIONS OF CULTURE
Cultural differences manifest themselves in different ways and differing levels of
depth. Symbols represent the most superficial and values the deepest
manifestations of culture, with heroes and rituals in between.

 Symbols are words, gestures, pictures, or objects that carry a particular

meaning which is only recognized by those who share a particular culture.
New symbols easily develop, old ones disappear. Symbols from one
particular group are regularly copied by others. This is why symbols
represent the outermost layer of a culture.
 Heroes are persons, past or present, real or fictitious, who possess
characteristics that are highly prized in a culture. They also serve as models
for behavior.
 Rituals are collective activities, sometimes superfluous in reaching desired
objectives, but are considered as socially essential. They are therefore
carried out most of the times for their own sake (ways of greetings, paying
respect to others, religious and social ceremonies, etc.).
 The core of a culture is formed by values. They are broad tendencies for
preferences of certain state of affairs to others (good-evil, right-wrong,
natural-unnatural). Many values remain unconscious to those who hold
them. Therefore they often cannot be discussed, nor they can be directly
 observed by others. Values can only be inferred from the way people act
under different circumstances.
 Symbols, heroes, and rituals are the tangible or visual aspects of the
practices of a culture. The true cultural meaning of the practices is
intangible; this is revealed only when the practices are interpreted by the
insiders.

Figure 1. Manifestation of Culture at Different Levels of Depth

LAYERS OF CULTURE
People even within the same culture carry several layers of mental programming
within themselves. Different layers of culture exist at the following levels:

 The national level: Associated with the nation as a whole.

 The regional level: Associated with ethnic, linguistic, or religious
differences that exist within a nation.
 The gender level: Associated with gender differences (female vs. male)
 The generation level: Associated with the differences between grandparents
and parents, parents and children.
 The social class level: Associated with educational opportunities and
differences in occupation.
  The corporate level: Associated with the particular culture of an
organization. Applicable to those who are employed.

MEASURING CULTURAL
DIFFERENCES
A variable can be operationalized either by single- or composite-measure
techniques. A single-measure technique means the use of one indicator to measure
the domain of a concept; the composite-measure technique means the use of
several indicators to construct an index for the concept after the domain of the
concept has been empirically sampled. Hofstede (1997) has devised a composite-
measure technique to measure cultural differences among different societies:

 Power distance index:  The index measures the degree of inequality that
exists in a society.
 Uncertainty avoidance index: The index measures the extent to which a
society feels threatened by uncertain or ambiguous situations.
 Individualism index: The index measure the extent to which a society is
individualistic. Individualism refers to a loosely knit social framework in a
society in which people are supposed to take care of themselves and their
immediate families only. The other end of the spectrum would be
collectivism that occurs when there is a tight social framework in which
people distinguish between in-groups and out-groups; they expect their in-
groups (relatives, clans, organizations) to look after them in exchange for
absolute loyalty.
 Masculinity index (Achievement vs. Relationship): The index measures the
extent to which the dominant values are assertiveness, money and things
(achievement), not caring for others or for quality of life. The other end of
the spectrum would be femininity (relationship).

RECONCILIATION OF CULTURAL
DIFFERENCES
Cultural awareness:

 Before venturing on a global assignment, it is probably necessary to identify

the cultural differences that may exist between one's home country and the
country of business operation. Where the differences exist, one must decide
 whether and to what extent the home-country practices may be adapted to
the foreign environment. Most of the times the differences are not very
apparent or tangible. Certain aspects of a culture may be learned consciously
(e.g. methods of greeting people), some other differences are learned
subconsciously (e.g. methods of problem solving). The building of cultural
awareness may not be an easy task, but once accomplished, it definitely
helps a job done efficiently in a foreign environment.
 Discussions and reading about other cultures definitely helps build cultural
awareness, but opinions presented must be carefully measured. Sometimes
they may represent unwarranted stereotypes, an assessment of only a
subgroup of a particular group of people, or a situation that has since
undergone drastic changes. It is always a good idea to get varied viewpoints
about the same culture.

Clustering cultures:

 Some countries may share many attributes that help mold their cultures (the
modifiers may be language, religion, geographical location, etc.). Based on
this data obtained from past cross-cultural studies, countries may be grouped
by similarities in values and attitudes. Fewer differences may be expected
when moving within a cluster than when moving from one cluster to
another.

Determining the extent of global involvement:

 All enterprises operating globally need not have the same degree of cultural
awareness. Figure 2 illustrates extent to which a company needs to
understand global cultures at different levels of involvement. The further a
company moves out from the sole role of doing domestic business, the more
it needs to understand cultural differences. Moving outward on more than
one axis simultaneously makes the need for building cultural awareness
even more essential.
 Figure 2. Cultural Awareness and Extent of Global Involvement

Reference:

Hofstede, G. (1997). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the mind. New York:
McGraw Hill.

SOME RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Culture Shock Challenges Firms Looking Abroad

The U.S. construction industry has always been adept at winning work overseas, but the lure
of reconstruction contracts in places like Afghanistan and Iraq could draw some firms in over
their heads. Large international firms have many resources to deal with the enormous
challenges of working in the global marketplace. But the massive reconstruction of countries
devastated by war could trip up the best of them.

Political and physical risks are the most treacherous and must be reckoned with. Language
and cultural differences can't be ignored either. Addressing them sensibly can unlock many
opportunities for success.

The U.S. government's conference on rebuilding Afghanistan, held in Chicago last week,
went a long way to outline opportunities there. These outreach programs are a good start
because many firms need an education on how to work abroad. The first lesson is to drop
ethnocentric views that the world should accommodate our method of contracting rather than
the other way around.

In a separate meeting, also held in Chicago last week, ENR brought

together construction executives at its annual leadership conference. U.S. firms interested in
China's Olympic building plans and other work, particularly those willing to listen patiently
through translation, heard rich detail from Chinese representatives.

Patience, attentiveness and sensitivity are not common construction traits, but they can help
in cultures different from our own.

Language and cultural differences can be treacherous to negotiate.

[ ENR (2003). Culture shock challenges firms looking abroad. Vol. 250, No. 23. New York:
McGraw Hill.]

Do We See Eye-to-Eye? Implications of Cultural Differences for Cross-Cultural

Management Research and Practice

Abstract

Although observation is a common research technique, little attention has been given to the
effects of culture on observer judgment making. These researches argue that consideration of
cultural differences is critical when applying observation techniques in cross-cultural research
as well as in the applied contexts of performance appraisal and international management. A
laboratory study was conducted to examine the potential for discrepancies in observer
judgment making among Asian American and Caucasian American subjects. The results of
the study affirm the importance of cultural influences in research and management