Introduction
When the Chinese Values and the Search for Culture-Free Dimensions of Culture: The Chinese Culture Connection was conducted in 1987, interest in recent organizational transformation in response to globalization and capital market entry by the command economy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) laid forth new ideas about the cultural consequences of business practices, and especially communications connected to trade transactions.
The Chinese Values Survey (CVS) stands as a landmark document, providing important insight into global-local changes in political economy underway in China during the period. The introduction of change specifically linked to technological innovation has been especially informative since that time, in illustration of how organizational culture is closely aligned with enterprise systems management and user interface.
- Outline Hofstede’s framework of cultural differences and compare it with the Chinese Values Survey.
Hofstede’s (1980, 1988, 1991, 1998) seminal work on cultural difference coincides with the implementation of the Chinese Values and the Search for Culture-Free Dimensions of Culture (CVS, 1987). The survey of Chinese values was designed and administered to university students attending school in twenty two countries.
Hofstede’s theoretical framework outlines six (5) main cultural dimensions where CI dynamics are at play: 1) Power Distance, 2) Uncertainty Avoidance, 3) Individualism/Collectivism, 4) Masculinity/Femininity, 5) Long/Short Term Orientation, and 6) Indulgence/Restraint (Hofstede, 2011). According to Hofstede, the composition of those dimensions within an organization’s CI has much to do with aggregation between employees in an organization, and has little to do with value attributes at the level of the individual (Hofstede, 2011).
Evaluation of the CVS results according to Hofstede’s theory in an ecological factor analysis scaled forty cultural sub-variables representing of cultural differentiation. Coding of the survey resulted in substantial evidence that four of the five dimensions of cultural valuation could be tested for validity and generalizability across the population surveyed.
The four factors correlated in the study are consistent with a replicable model the World Values Survey (WVS) of work-related values initiated by Hofstede, where co-efficient analysis of those variables proved to be statistically significant (Hofstede, 1980). In the outcomes to the CVS test showed a strong correlation with three of Hofstede's four core variables. The results suggest robust correlation with value dimensions characterized as collectivist and compassionate (CVS, 1987).
Deviation from Hofstede’s comprehensive model in the Chinese survey exhibited in “Confucian work dynamism” evidenced correlation of .70 with economic growth in the country from 1965 to 1984 (CVS, 1987). Test validity of the model is argued to be delimited by exogamy; leaving new theoretical and instrumental developments open for Non-Western cultural contexts.
Discussed in Hofstede and Bonds’ (1988) The Confucius connection: from cultural roots to economic growth, the distinctly Eastern model of cultural interpretation of circumstances in collective organization stands in teleological confrontation with Western assumptions about ‘teams’ and individual ‘players’ in the corporate environment. One must presume that the content to Hofstede’s general theoretical proposition about individualistic-collectivist tendencies is modified by this condition, yet the structural interpretation of cultural difference still stands. As China’s methods of business practice become more known in the West, it is widely agreed that a similar phenomenon like the one experienced in Japan’s promulgation of CI leadership in the 1980s, will be seen in its neighbor’s expansion into the near future.
- Using academic research sources only, discuss the way in which management and leadership in organisations is affected by differences that are likely to exist between employees in Individualism/Collectivism and Long Term/Short Term Orientation.
The era of globalization has brought significant change to organizational policies and practice. MNE acquisition or merger in foreign markets provides an apt case for discussion of change management strategies as part of the growing number of transformational leadership models guiding organizational culture. Cultural intelligence (CI) has emerged as a vital force in the acculturation of businesses in foreign contexts.
Research conducted on dimensionality of self-construals and individualistic versus collectivist values in Kam et al. (2012) suggests that acquiescence of biases by the test group to be consistent with self-construal and bi-dimensionality of independence and interdependence (Kam et al. 2012). Moderation of cross-cultural difference in Lee and Li (2008) underscores the learning organization as the most viable method of instituting cooperative values.
Con-joint analysis of independence versus collectivist orientation in ex-patriots living and working in Taiwan and China revealed effectiveness to be linked to perception. Here, degree of perceived cross-cultural difference between host and parent countries affected interest in cultural training programs (Lee and Li, 2008). Where there was lower difference expressed, more interest in training was the outcome.
In Hofstede and Hofstede’s (2005, 2010) Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, the impact of artificial intelligence on business intelligence as a primary mechanism of cultural capital, the researchers show how micro inference of day-to-day user interface are incorporated into the macro strategies of multinational enterprises (MNE) (Hofstede and Hofstede, 2004). For this reason, values reflecting artificial intelligence or machine reasoning are having substantial effect on the international business environment, says Hofstede and Hofstede; and the cultural intelligence (CI) to emerge in response is relevant to both professional and organizational behaviour across the globe (Hofstede and Hofstede, 2004, Hofstede, 2006, 2010).
Since the turn of the 21st century, investigations of cross-cultural online communities such as social network site (SNS) memberships have furthered insights about “universal” or “generalizable” cultural theories generated in response to the Chinese Values Survey. Tacit consent to social rules guiding participation of individuals subscribing to networks online reflects parallel collectivist expression of CI models (Gallagher and Savage, nd.).
In a study of Cultural Differences and Switching of In-Group Sharing Behavior Between an American (Facebook) and a Chinese (Renren) Social Networking Site members, Qiu, Lin and Leung (2013) address the comparative cultural dimensions found in SNS adaptation (Qiu, Lin and Leung, 2013). While some fluctuation was found between the two social network platforms in terms of quality of participation, those findings show tertiary evidence that generalizability between the two national cultures may be at work.
RenRen participants normally exhibiting benevolent in-group sharing were evidenced to be less engaged on Facebook in response to the more individualistic format (Qiu, Lin, Leung, 2013). Frame switching, then, proved to be at work. This has important meaning for proponents of cross-cultural psychological theories targeting CI attribution within global-local business communications.
The SNS phenomenon offers fruitful potential for future studies on cultural difference and particularly, CI. Correlation of artificial intelligence and its contribution to technological innovation and economic growth in China is exceptionally interesting in this light, as comparison of the CVS with the WVS in Minkov and Hofstede’s (2012) Hofstede’s Fifth Dimension has led to at least some prediction that “economic growth and national school success in mathematics” in both China and comparable markets produce similar dimensions of culture (Minkov and Hofstede, 2012).
This is good news for companies searching for international candidates via SNS networks. Shared cultural values mean quicker assimilation in the workplace. Candidates that are prepared to knowledge share, engaging in group discussions and workshops online are accustomed to negotiating the landscape of national differences in language and professional priorities. Exposure to a wide variety of ideas and schools of thought means SNS candidates will be most likely interested in continuous training in a global learning organization.
Conclusion
As MNE organizations invest money and other essential resources in recruiting, selecting, training, and finally adjusting the new employee to their culture, there is increased attention in the ‘global’ selection process of workers (Triandis, 2004). Hofstede’s proposition of cultural dimensions is relevant to this fact, as perception impacts both the individual and the collective. For instance, people from high context cultures such as China, Japan, and Korea are unlikely to provide detailed information on hire as such information is only communicated by context, situation, and nonverbal cues.
For instance, a well-written resume and cover letter are able to offer applicants a chance to have an interview with their future employees. The interview is traditionally considered an even more reliable representation of someone’s professional conformity (Triandis, 2004). However, recruitment by way of SNS methodologies can vastly skew the impression of a candidate’s self-representation.
Depending on reliant a firm is on more traditional methods, SNS candidates can exceed competitors for a position by performing global enculturation scheme in their Self-representation online. The capacity to blend national cultural values with the plastic demands of global business intelligence is pure power.
Artificial intelligence makes it happen suggest many organizational theorists, and the opportunity to engage, observe and learn universal cultural intelligence from the safety of one’s own desktop or laptop has quite literally transformed cultural expectations. Much like the “culture-free” model of the PRC’s earlier command economy of culture, the future of Web-based CI is untold.
References
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