Essays on Collectivism

The three countries chosen for this paper are Jordan, Japan, and Germany. These three countries were chosen because they are among the most developed in their own specific regions. Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions helped establish a positive framework for cross-cultural communications; in fact, part of his theories are implemented in every major international business course in the world. Hofstede’s model is based on six dimensions: the power-distance index, individualism vs collectivism, the uncertainty avoidance index, masculinity vs femininity, long-term orientation vs short-term orientation, and indulgence vs restraint. Each country and each culture has very different levels of ...

Contrasting Two Cultures with a Model of Culture

The model of culture to be used in this part of the paper is Professor Geert Hofstede’s Model of National Cultures. Professor Hofstede is famous for his study wherein he looked at how values in the workplace are influenced by particular cultures. He was a consultant working with IBM in the 1970s and 1980s, and thus he was able to observe various workplace cultures around the world (Geert Hofstede: National Culture). Originally, he came up with four dimensions of culture along which behaviors could be linked and thereafter analyzed. The original dimensions are Individualism-Collectivism, Uncertainty Avoidance, Power Distance ( ...

Different Aspects of Globalization

Globalization represents the integration of societies and economies through migration, capital flows, foreign direct investment and global trade activities. One positive aspect of globalization is that it brings countries and their people closer by connecting them with each other. This is largely supported by the rise of the internet. The second aspect of globalization concerns the capital inflow and foreign investment into the developing countries. Because of such inflows, developing economies are able to prosper economically, get more employment opportunities, and the living standard of the local people increases. The third aspect of globalization is that countries are able ...

Introduction

Industrialization refers to the sustained structural transformation of a traditional agrarian society to a modern economy driven by high productivity in manufacturing society (Szirmai, Naudé and Alcorta, 2013). Industrialization started in the mid-eighteenth century in Britain and then spread to other European countries and the USA in the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, Japan, Singapore, Korea, China, and other East Asian Tigers became industrialized (Szirmai, Naudé and Alcorta, 2013). Gerschenkron (1962) used the term rarly industrializers to refer to countries that were first to industrilze such as Britain. He used the term late industrilizers to refer to countries ...

Introduction

In the contemporary era, there is a need to adopt a mechanism in which one can serve better in the business setting in different cultures. Today’s global business society is composed the various cultures in which people face the various business environments. The manner of doing business in each of the nation affects the manner of doing business (Aslani, Brett, Ramirez-Marin, Tinsley, & Weingart, 2011). Culture is important in business, and it has an impact on the strategic direction of the business; it can also have different effects on the management of the internal structure of the organization as ...

General Aspects of Indonesian Culture

Indonesia is an Asian country that comprises over 17,000 islands and with a population of around 256 million people. The country’s population implies diversity in the ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious domains. Being an island means that Indonesia is basically multi-ethnic with small groups occupying geographic enclaves. Indonesia comprises over six hundred ethnic groups grouped into 31 broad categories based on the 2010 census publication with the majority being the Javanese (40.2%) followed by Sundanese (15.5%) and Bataks (3.6%) (Utomo and McDonald, 2014, p.7). Indonesians speak various languages and observe varying customs and religious beliefs, however, there ...

The world of Anarres in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed is remarkably alien to our world, in that it seems to be a perfect representation of the ideals of political anarchy and collectivism across an entire planet. Ostensibly, everything is meant to be the ideal vision of political and social freedom – there is no governmental authority, for instance. However, as the character Shevek learns in his own study of research into the ansible, the people of Anarres do not like when people deviate from the cultural consensus. Anarres as a society is particularly alien in that its ...

HR CULTURE-CROSS HR STRATEGIES

Hofstede came up with the cultural dimensions which are still being practiced today as a pre-requisite to the understanding of the concept of cross cultural communication. These dimensions are also said to have a strong influence on the values of members of a society and also on how these values link to the behavior. Cultural dimensions give insight into how organizations and businesses would make policies for a specific location. The six dimensions of culture include power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation and indulgence (Hofstede, 1984; Hofstede, Hofstede, and Minkov, 1991). Before actually relating these dimensions ...

This research is devoted to consideration connected with similarities of some national cultures. Geert Hofstede’s studies have greatly contributed to the understanding of the differences and similarities of national cultures and, correspondingly, in peculiarities of organizational cultures. With globalization, social and business processes connected with it, it is critical to be aware of the differences and similarities between different cultures, hence the importance of Hofstede’s research. His model characterizing national cultures emphasizes five dimensions. Each of them defines attitudes towards certain state of things in the society, of course, culturally reasoned. These dimensions are Power Distance, Individualism ...

Factors that Influence Purchasing Relationship in Automobile Industry of China

Introduction The USA, Western Europe, and Japan markets for the automobiles are almost stagnating causing an increased attention and concern to the world automotive industry. They have turned their interest in China market for cars. This is associated with the fast growing economy in China unlike that of European nations and the USA. The Chinese market for cars is indeed the turning point for all auto companies. The environment is conducive to start production in China to supply the potential markets and then export from there to other world markets. This literature will focus on the purchasing relationship in ...

Social science researchers define variations within a culture based on universal traits. Cultural variations are divided into three broad categories. These are; behaviors, values and cognition. Behaviors are the outward observable artifacts of culture (Wunderle, 2006). Such artifacts include language and religion. The culture of any given group of people is greatly influenced by the language spoken by this group of people. People's perspective of the world is dependent on the content and structure of the language they speak. Personally, I perceive the world from a technological perspective based on the high use of technological words in the English ...

Cross-cultural Communication for a White American Catholic

According to House, (2004), the 9 Globe Cultural Dimensions are as follows: Performance Orientation- In my culture, we are brought up with the knowledge that each person has to excel. It is often drummed into us that we come from a family of hardworking farmers, innovators and patriots who work hard to provide for themselves. Each member is encouraged to identify their trade early and perfect it all through their lives. Uncertainty avoidance- To propagate our culture and ensure continuity, the cultural practices such as gender roles are taught to the younger generation by elders, expressed in artwork and ...

Introduction

It is worth acknowledging that the business setting is experiencing tremendous changes, a feature that has influenced the way global workforce is sourced, organized and managed. Besides, globalization has enhanced interaction amid knowledge, trade, and innovation, which are significant factors that influence business. However, different stakeholders are concerned that emerging markets have led to increased number of employees working outside their homes. Besides, there is a shortage of talent in specific disciplines in the market, a feature that has attracted a lot of concerns. Therefore, the mobility of employees has been experienced in the recent past and is expected ...

Introduction

Modern social, political, business and economic contexts make people and groups increasingly aware and concerned with diversity. Access to technology, globalization and growing possibilities in tourism and travel make individuals more mobile and internationalize cultures and societies in general. With that in mind, companies and people face with the complexity of dealing with this personal and professional diversity, focusing on cultural awareness and differences. In view of these trends and growing interest in cultural studies, it is important to define the concept of culture as a whole.

Meaning of Culture

Allan (1998) identifies culture as the set of characteristics and knowledge of ...

Comparing the Anglo and Asian Confucian

The Unites States is part of the Anglo culture cluster while China is the main player in the Confucian Asia cluster, according to the GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness). As expected, the two countries differ in many ways due to such factors like political inclination (where the United States is inclined towards democratic legitimacy while China lies on the end of performance legitimacy), community settings and religious beliefs. This part of the paper will concentrate on the differences between the Anglo and Asian Confucian clusters to create a backdrop of what a manager is moving from America ...

Introduction

In the present-day 21st era, sharing of the gospel is comprehended and acknowledged as a custom, fact, and right bestowing to each precise indulgent and its context. The society is comprised of diverse categories of individuals, different in their spiritual, ethnic, social, political, and economics settings. In such different situations, culture plays the most vital part in all features of human-associated life and in the function of sharing the gospel. This is an indication that every action ought to be arbitrated by culture and the process ought to be religion based understood, and considerate. Addressing the issue of gospel ...

Introduction

The paper is intended to develop a report about different management styles in the context of industrial or employment relations to compare it with the sophisticated paternalist/ HRM (Human Resource Management) approach. The management styles in employment relations may be different from how it is taken or considered. The preferences and choices of the organization directly impact on its strategies to develop a relationship with its employees (Miller, 1987). The preferences are usually aligned with the dominants of the organization that is directly involved in decision making process of the organization. These preferences of the dominants directly result in ...

BUSINESS CULTURE REFLECTION

Introduction International business is becoming more and more diverse and mobility is an essential characteristic of not only business organizations, but social environment, where individuals become more exposed to different cultures in their professional and personal lives. Globalization and technology ay significant role in building this diversity in all aspects of the businesses and companies recognize that in order to be successful in their operations, they should be able to differentiate and personalise their approach to doing business, based on the diversity of the regions and countries, where they establish themselves (Davies, 2006). With the above in mind, academic ...

Introduction

The theory of Hofstede on cultural dimension is a framework for cross-cultural communication. Geert Hofstede developed the theory. It gives an explanation of the effects culture in society on its members` values and how the values associate to behavior using a given structure from factor analysis. The work of Hofstede established the original research tradition in psychology of cross culture. Consultants in various fields relating to global communication and business depend on the theory. Researchers widely utilize the approach in many areas as research paradigm mostly international management and cross-cultural psychology. This paper aims to explain key concepts in ...

Question 1: What is the North American Free Trade Agreement? Has this trade agreement impacted (positively or negatively) the United States and more specifically the state of Georgia? Provide specific examples and a rationale for your response. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was a document used to create a trilateral trade bloc. Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. joined together, effective January 1, 1994, to for a free trade area that unified North America (Alexander, 1993). The NAFTA agreement was designed to create a “comprehensive structure” for trade and for investment among the three principle North American powers, ...

The Name of the Class

Cross-Cultural Experiences in the movie “Outsourced” The customs and cultures of India were developed by the country’s traditions that date back almost a few thousands of years. The significance most of these cultural behavior and traditions have in the people of India can be elusive to the average American. For instance, the picture of Kaali (the goddess of destruction), carrying the severed head of a man, hung on the wall of Todd’s (the protagonist) bedroom, is quite a disconcerting picture for the average American. But in India, it is a picture of relief. Similarly, the intermittent animal ( ...

Ai Weiwei and Zhang Xiaogang are Chinese contemporary artists. While both are leading conceptual artists in the country, they seek to evoke different messages using their art work. Ai Weiwei’s art is motivated by the need to inspire freedom and the expansion of individual space away from government and society. It is therefore the case that Ai Weiwei by virtue of eliciting such emotions practiced artistic activism. On the other hand, Zhang Xiaogang is respected in his own right. His art more or less seeks to evoke memories which he says serve as his greatest inspiration. He especially ...

Introduction

The idea of incorporating the Aristotle’s view that “everybody is a political entity, capable of using language for the sake of their personal gains, and the association between the language and the ideology has been a key point of discussion in the research in the political arena for the last several years. In this essay, the arguments and comparison are going to be based on the information gathered on the political slogans in China from the 1949 People’s Republic of China and the U.S presidential election campaigns from as early as 1920. Meaningful outcomes will emanate from ...

In this essay, we will provide some general information of the importance of taking into consideration the difference between different cultures in everyday life. We will dwell a little on the case of Singapore and how it can be compared with our experience at work or at the university. Also, our own example of the usage of this case will be provided and analyzed due to one of the given Core Cultural Dimensions.

Introduction

All nationalities differ. But still, they can live and interact together without any problems if only both nations will treat each other respectively. And it is ...

Since family has played an important role as one of society’s basic structures, it is important to recognize the factors that are responsible for creating this institution. Some people might argue that a family is a unit connected with genetic factors – that it includes parents, children and other relatives. However, to better understand a family, one must understand that the term ‘family’ is constructed in a social way. The value of family has different meanings in different parts of the world depending on a variety of social and cultural conditions. Even on specific aspects like aging, education, or ...

The society has always considered helping and altruism as a characteristic of what human is. But is the main reason that people help the others written in their genes? Or is it influenced by different factors? The research of helping behavior has shown that there are actually multiple reasons of helping behavior. It appears that in numerous cases the societal norms or gratifications become the driving forces of such prosocial behavior as helping the other people. Basically, people choose to help each other for several reasons that include biological drive to help, receiving some kind of reward and social ...

Introduction

The human resource management plays a critical role in managing human capital in the organization. Human resource manager must understand different aspect of human behavior that influences their output in the organization. An important aspect of the members of the organizations that human resource managers should be more attentive at is the culture. Employees of the organization come from diverse populations with different cultural and communication backgrounds. Culture has a significant impact on the values of each member of the society. Additionally, culture describes the relationship between behaviors and values demonstrated by employees in the organization (Anastacia, 2015). Professor ...

International management in an Asian context: Business life and management in China

Introduction Globalization has complicated the management process. As such, for one to be an effective manager, that individual needs to understand the global context of the management process. Fundamentally, one needs to appreciate the role of culture in the management process (Luthans & Doh, 2014). As such, the paper shall examine several features of the Chinese society and evaluate the ways they will affect the management process.

Discussion

Culture sensitivity is highly linked to effective management (Luthans & Doh, 2014). Considering the Chinese society, the Chinese have been socialized to believe that they are the descendants of Hun. As such, the Hun ...

Chinua Achebe manages, in a highly entertaining and educative way, to present the theme of collectivism in the Nigeria before the merciless yet highly effective occupation of the British in Nigeria. The Ibo society that forms the setting of the book is a microcosm of not just Nigeria but also the rest of the Eastern countries. Chinua Achebe tells the story of the people of Igbo land of Eastern Nigeria before and immediately after their contact with the Western culture. The story revolves around the life of Okwonkwo, a tragic hero, depicting his birth, how he rises from a ...

Political culture is a component of the general culture, a cumulative indicator of political experience, a level of political knowledge and feelings, examples of behavior and functioning of political subjects, the integrated characteristic of a political way of life of the country, a class, the nation, social group of individuals. A feature of political culture is that it makes not policy or political process, but their understanding, an explanation. In the political sphere often the importance is gained not only by real actions and measures of the state but also, by the way they are estimated and perceived in ...

Problem Statement

Understanding the impact of culture on student learning is very critical to the provision of good quality education to learners. The global population is made of people with different cultures. In learning institutions, it is common to find a class made up of students and instructors from different communities with different cultural perspectives. Culture defines people’s way of life and comprises beliefs, knowledge, symbols, values, and behaviors. In a learning environment, there is a student’s culture, instructor’s culture, and the culture of people in the surrounding environment. Culture in such a case can be homogenous (where ...

Abstract

The Irish leadership perspective has a crucial role in its national life due to the impact Irish political leaders have in the economic life of the country. Understanding this national leadership characteristics significantly contributes to the national awareness of its strengths and weaknesses. Based on Hofstede’s leadership categorization model, the commonly held leadership characteristics can be described as small power distance, weakly uncertainty avoidant, collectivist, masculine, and long-term oriented. American leaders who want to engage Irish leaders and population will have to make adjustments in at least three dimensions of differences, namely, individualism vs. collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and ...

Abstract

In the first half of the XX century many countries were led by the authoritarian leaders with the extreme ideologies. The ideologies such as Nazism, fascism and communism contributed to the creation of the very powerful states with strong economies, but no respect of the minorities, some classes of people or countries. As the result, all of the countries with the extreme ideologies participated in the World War II and only the USSR was able to become a victor. The main purpose of this paper is to show why extreme ideologies became popular in some countries. By means of ...

A Case Study of UPS’ expansion strategy in India

  United Parcel Service or UPS is one of the best courier service companies in the world. Founded in 1907 it has grown into a $36 b company through the expansion of its operation in more than 200 countries all over the world. UPS has emerged as one of the largest package delivery companies in the global market and competes with FedEx and DHL in supply chain management activities. UPS extended its operations to South East Asia as a strategy to counter the recession and India offered a lucrative opportunity with a growing market (Arthaud -Day M. L. et al; ...

1.0 Introduction In the recent past, inequality has greatly increased in the United States. Arguably, the inequalities are occurring because the country has become a democracy where the majority and the rich use their power to block the attainment of equality. What essentially instigates inequality? History shows that inequality is as a result of differences in income, wealth distribution, and other social privileges acquired by virtue of societal status. Ideology, in this case, refers to the current underlying school of thought that sustains such levels of inequality among people of different races, ethnicities, and income levels among others. This ...

Introduction

The increasing convergence of global businesses across geographies has made human capital and service exchanges commonplace. By moving across physical and virtual (i.e. web) boundaries, cross-cultural encounters become increasingly a necessary requirement for effective work experiences locally and globally. This emphasis on cross-cultural competence in current business ecosystem is made more necessary in financial service industry. Indeed, of all cross-border services, financial activities are probably one most sensitive to global influence. Notably, by exchanging services via banking-based and non-banking financial systems, influence of not only provided services but also of people offering such services is well embedded in day-to-day ...

Abstract

This dissertation formulates a research dissertation and strategy for a study into the impact of Islamic banking on the economic development of societies within which such banks operates. To this end, the research examines the major tools and impacts of Islamic banks on society by conducting a literature review. This is followed by the deduction of research questions and a hypothesis that will be used to form the parameters of the entire research. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the relationship between the growth of Islamic banking worldwide and economic development of countries wherein this growth is ...

For my market cultural report I have selected the country that shows one of the most rapid developing economics in the world, and that is China. I have always been fascinated by this country and not only by their success in economic growth, but also by the country’s beauty. The nature of China is unique and magnificent as for me, there are nowhere on Earth such places as in this country. Moreover, authentic culture and customs of these people are also very attractive to me. There is the highest mountain on Earth, Everest, there and unique place called ...

The aim of this paper is to compare and contrast cultural peculiarities of China and Germany on the basis of GLOBE study. The findings will be presented in paragraphs each representing one of GLOBE dimensions. In terms of assertiveness, Germany is one of the world leaders. Due to the tendency of Germans to be open and direct, this can sometimes be misperceived as rudeness. However, the actual thing is that Germans being punctual and efficient always try to save time and energy by coming directly to the point and excluding any deviation from the topic (Heidtmann, 2011). China being ...

Abstract

Over the last ten years, changes in organizational culture and globalization have impacted greatly on management of manufacturing and service organizations. Organization culture is formed by the behaviors, beliefs, values and norms practiced by members of an organization so as to align their individual and collective expectations with the objectives of the organization. This paper seeks to explain how these changes in these factors have made current management practices different from those practiced ten years ago.

Globalization has had immense effects on management. It has resulted in changes in the firm’s market and customer base and this has ...

Introduction

Elwyn (2001, pp. 1-2) defines a work group as ‘a number of people who are in face-to-face contact, so that each of them can interact with all the others’ which is usually achieved through a cohesive and solid supervision. Additionally, a work group can be defined as ‘a planned endeavor to develop in a group the forces that lead to a smoothly running co-operative activity’. Work groups in most cases entails a group or an association of individuals who interact and move together regularly, have close and very strong working relationships, share the same objectives, and have a strong reliance and mutual interdependence on each other. Furthermore, work groups are ...