...The Nature of Relationships in Different Cultures Hofstede defined culture as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another”. From research analysis Hofstede was able to classify the different countries on a continuum from extremely individualistic to extremely collectivist. Relationships in individualistic and collectivist societies differ in the degree to which they are voluntary or non-voluntary. Individualistic societies generally have a high degree of social & geographical mobility, allowing frequent interaction with a large number of people and thus a greater choice in romantic relationships. Collectivist societies have less social and geographical mobility thus people have less choice about whom they interact with. Also, Interactions with strangers are rare and are often tied to other factors such as family or economic resources. Cultures also differ in the degree to which relationships reflect the interests of the individual or the family. In individualistic societies, individual interests are deemed more important & romantic relationships are more likely to be formed on the basis of love & attraction. Also, relationships tend to be short-term as one can end the relationship if one is unhappy whereas In collectivist cultures, relationships are more likely to reflect the interests of the entire family and are long-term. This is because, one cannot end the relationship despite being unhappy because they need to...
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...High Context Culture (Collectivistic Culture) – Asian and Spanish The root of conflict avoidance within romantic relationships manifests from cultural influences that shape each partner’s conflict management style. Depending on cultural influences of the individual, his or her disposition of conflict management will differ. Cultural influence can be classified into two groups, low-context individualistic culture and high-context collectivistic culture. In individualistic cultures, the goals, needs, and rights of the individual take precedence over the goals, responsibilities and obligations of the group (137). While members of the collectivistic culture value the goals, responsibilities and obligations of the group over the goals, needs, and rights of the individual (137). Within each culture, lies a certain pattern of responses which aim to manage conflict. Through careful analysis of individualistic and collectivistic cultures, inferences can be made to support the notion that there are systemic correlations between conflict avoidance within romantic relationships and cultural influences. Individualistic cultures consist of primarily Western countries such as the United States. Studies have shown that members of individualistic cultures tend to favour a more integrating conflict style. “The Integrating conflict style is characterized by a willingness to openly exchange information in a direct way, constructively address differences, and to make a true effort to find a mutually...
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...3) Critically discuss how knowledge of process theories of motivation should influence managing the performance of diverse teams within global organisations. Introduction Employee performance has commonly been shown as the function of ability, motivation and situational circumstances, with this one equation it can now be seen that although having talent within an organisation is important, without motivation employee performance can never be optimised. Motivation is considered the be the driving force behind the behaviours we carry out to achieve a goal, finding and creating the right motivational triggers for an employee can prove troublesome, but it is of the upmost importance if a business wants to become successful (Burford et al 1995; Nhat et al 2013). Theories surrounding the mechanism as to how motivation is precipitated within an individual or group are known as process theories of motivation (Ashleigh and Mansi, 2012). Process theories have been largely influential for organisations who are considering how they can optimise motivation; however with the growth and development of multinational organisations can they still be effectively applied? Hofstede’s (1980) work surrounding the pertinence of American motivational theories in different cultural settings identified several key cultural dimensions which should be taken into account. Of this the Individualism Dimension (IDV) was highlighted as having a prominent effect on how motivational theories could be applied...
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..."Diplomatic negotiation consists of a process of communication between states seeking to arrive at a mutually acceptable outcome on some issue of shared concern."[p. 7] This process of communication can be profoundly affected by differing cultural conventions, norms, meanings, assumptions, ideals and perceptions. The problems of inter-cultural communication have received increased attention in recent years, and Cohen reviews briefly some of the main theorists working in this field. Cohen's own approach is to combine these theoretical frameworks with analyses of case studies, focusing particularly on cases of negotiation between Western and non-Western states. Cohen rejects the notion that a single international diplomatic culture has developed, which makes diplomats' native cultures largely irrelevant. He finds that seasoned diplomats reports that cultural differences have a significant impact. Theoretic studies show that culture plays a large role in shaping the individuals' character. This constitutive impact of culture cannot be erased by mere exposure to other cultures. Cohen draws primarily on Lorand Szalay's theory of inter-cultural communication. Szalay begins by distinguishing between the form and content of a message. The form of the message serves to encode its meaning. Understanding a message is a matter of the receiver correctly decoding it, so that the receiver's intention matches the sender's meaning. Szalay says, "Since the encoder and the decoder are two separate...
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...American and Japanese Cultures Culture plays a vital role in defining a group of people, helping to shape the way they live, the traditions they carry out, and how they’re viewed by others. That being said, cultures vary greatly worldwide; some customs that are normal to Americans may seem strange to those living in Japan such as entertainment in America and Japan, Respect for Women in American and Japanese Cultures, and The Individual in America and Japan. To begin with, American and Japanese cultures both place an emphasis on film and video as a form of entertainment. In America, it’s not unusual for the media to pay a great deal of attention to new film releases and upcoming television premiers. Similarly Japanese culture focuses on motion pictures for entertainment, mainly through the promotion of “anime,” the Japanese contribution to the animation industry. Much like animated Disney movies are prominent in American culture, anime films are a common appearance in Japanese culture. Anime films are so popular, in fact, that they’re even viewed in the United States, creating a link between American and Japanese culture. America and Japan may share similar interests regarding entertainment, but one must remember that the two countries are at opposite ends of the world, creating differences in the way people live in the two areas. Perhaps the greatest difference between Japanese and American culture is the fact that Americans seem to have more respect for women...
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...Introduction: Psychological theories assume cultures and cross-cultures as stable and homogenous. But democracy, globalization, and high immigration rate brought a new interest for psychologists to think about cultural diversities in terms of psychology. Culture refers to many characteristics of a group of people, including attitudes, behaviors, customs and values that are transmitted from one generation to the next. (In this term paper I had put more stress on “Emotions in cross-culture”.) Emotions in cross-cultures: Although emotions are universal phenomena, they are affected by culture. While some emotions are universal and are experienced similarly as a reaction to similar events in all cultures but some emotions are particularly culture specific and are experienced, reacted and provoked and perceived by surrounding society in complete different manner. Though Ethnographic studies shoe considerable cultural differences, no general conclusions can be drawn regarding what cultural aspects affect emotion or to how much extend do they influence emotion. It might be the same emotion but the event that revokes that specific emotion may be different in different cultures. The way a person perceives himself in a relation with the society affects his emotions. Primary motives are common across all parts of the world. For example Hunger, Thirst is felt by every individual. But secondary motives such as success etc. depends on what society expects one to do and also external motivation...
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...4.) What are some individually oriented cultures? What are some group-oriented cultures? What are some differences in values that might exist between the two? How might these value differences lead to confusion if misunderstood? The text described many cultural and familial relationships in great detail. This brings us to the idea of individualism and collectivism cultures. All cultures are more or less culturally involved this is why I like to think of cultural involvement as being on a spectrum/continuum. Individualistic cultures follow the principle of being independent and self-reliant. Some example of individualistic culture or individually oriented culture is here in the United States and also places like Australia and Canada. Our society is very egocentric and focused on the individual. Collectivistic cultures follow the principle of working together as a group to get things done. Many Asian cultures follow the collectivistic culture or group oriented culture, such as China, Korea, and Japan. Many of these cultures work as a team to get things accomplished and if one person does terrible they all do terrible collectively. One great example from the book was a study referring to the behavioral differences of African American and Caucasian students....
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...Ms. Yvette Carter CO2520 – Prof. Theal July 28th, 2015 Communication in Individualistic and Collectivist Societies Mostly in the United States and especially in predominantly white Americans they grows up in an individualistic cultures, this is where they grow up being independent. Whereas in Asia and in South America they are in a “collectivist” culture. This is where they worked toward more of the group then being self-sufficient or being on their own. Anyways in this article the Americans were not really to concern over the argument that had occurred between the Korean and the Turkish friend, whereas, Kaori’s which is from Japan felt uncomfortable. She did not understand at first about the response from the Americans and their culture. Kaori has been in the United States for over seven years now and she has adapted to some of the American cultures. As I was growing up we were more geared to a collectivistic culture. As a family unit we are very stronger together. My parents instilled in all us children to be a unit and as today we are still strong as a family. On the other hand my parents taught us to be individuals and prepared us for the world as we entered as young adults. When we finally moved out of the nest, we were somewhat prepared to live on our own. They provided us with the proper knowledge and tools to succeed. As an adult, I still am accustomed to collectivistic values, which I also have instilled in my own children. Even though...
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...Greet Hofstede`s cultural dimensions Hello everybody. My name is Elchin. Today I will talk about Greet Hofstede`s cultural dimensions. Every manager should have deep knowledge about culture because we live in globalization time. What is culture? Culture is a system of values, beliefs, and norms shared among a group of people. People`s culture affect the values in the workplace. That’s why management processes should be different according to cultures and according to the people from different cultures in the workplace. The most famous study about how culture relates to values in the workplace was conducted by Geert Hofstede. From 1967 to 1973 he did a long research among more than 1 million employees in IBM company. He identified 5 dimensions. These dimension are 1) power distance, 2) individualism versus collectivism, 3) uncertainty avoidance, 4) masculinity versus femininity 5) Confucian dynamism or long term orientation. Let`s briefly review all these dimensions. Power distance. Power distance is about how much a culture accepts or doesn’t accept authority. If people in high positions or in high status show his or her power, rank or status and other people from lower levels accept this behavior; it means there is a high power distance. For example my country Azerbaijan is high power distance country. You cannot joke with your boss; you have to be careful while talking with people from high status etc. And the boss working room is separated from others. But it is not...
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...attachment types across different cultures AO1: 1. Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg 1988 Method: meta-analysis of 32 studies. Findings: cultural similarity – secure attachment is most common in both collectivist and individualist societies. Cultural difference – more insecure resistant in collectivist (27% in Japan while 3% in UK). 1.5% greater variation within cultures. Shows there is variation both between and within cultures. 2. Ainsworth Uganda Project 1967 Method: observed different universals in attachment behaviour in SS. Findings: cultural similarity - infants observed in Uganda used mother as a secure base for exploration which is similar to UK and US cultures. Suggests there isn’t cultural variation. 3. Grossman and Grossman 1991 Method: studied German children in SS. Findings: cultural difference – German children found to be more insecure avoidant than securely attached due to individualistic culture and emphasis on independence, unlike collectivist cultures which emphasise dependence and cooperation. Suggests there are cultural differences. AO2: 1. Weakness of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg = small samples. TIAPB only 1 study was in UK, Sweden and China and 2 in Israel, so to base judgement about attachment types of a whole nation on one study is biased not representative of that population. Therefore reliability decreases because findings are hard to generalise as study is not representative or applicable to all children in that culture. 2. Weakness = biased sample...
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...Culturing the Culture: Gate Safe Inc. Renato K. Santos Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Abstract Cultural differences were examined within Gate Safe Inc, elaborating the effects it has on the culture of the organization. The performances of the employees due to these differences were analyzed and solutions were made available to solve some of these issues. The theories of leadership and how managers are able to impact the culture in a successful way avoiding these cultural clashes were also analyzed. Employees from collectivist cultures were evaluated to solve these issues. In contrast, employees raised in an individualist culture were also evaluated. In conclusion, it was determined that in the environment of Gate Safe Inc, the collectivist culture has been shown more effective. Introduction Gate Safe Incorporated is an airline security services company, which provides catering inspections, access control, baggage handling, aircraft monitoring, and cargo screening for major domestic and international carriers around the United States (Gate Safe, n.d.). Gate Safe prides itself in complying with all TSA regulations to provide a safe environment for the flying public. Gate Safe was established after the horrific attacks on 9/11 in a measure to safeguard the flying public and avoid another terrorist attack through the sky. The organization believes that all people shall be treated equally and under its corporate values, it states “Respect – which celebrates the diversity...
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...Intercultural Conflict Management How should we define an intercultural conflict? Is there any difference between a conflict and an intercultural one? The following chapter, which is a summary of the chapter “Constructive Intercultural Conflict Management” (Stella Ting-Toomey, Communicating Across Cultures, 1999, pages 194-197), attempts to answer these two questions. At the end of the chapter, we also include an extract of the “Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory” (Mitchell Hammer, 2002) 1. Definition of intercultural conflicts “Intercultural conflict is defined as the perceived or actual incompatibility of values, norms, processes, or goals between a minimum of two cultural parties over content, identity, relational, and procedural issues. Intercultural conflict often starts off with different expectations concerning appropriate or inappropriate behavior in an interaction episode.” (Ting-Toomey, 1999, p.194). Another author holds a similar view: “Conflicts are always cultural, since we are all cultural beings. Yet the very definition of conflict is challenging because of our cultural ways of seeing”. (Michelle Le Baron and Venashri Pillay, Conflict across Cultures, 2006, page 13). According to Le Baron, conflict occurs at ← the material level, or the “what” of the conflict; ← the symbolic level, the meaning of issues to the people involved, especially those meanings that resonate with peoples' identities, values, and worldviews; ← and the...
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...as Asia. This essay will examine some discussions about this issue to clarify that question. Colvin & Rutland (2008) claimed that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a content of motivation theory which its model identifies five basic needs categories constructed ascending hierarchy order to clarify them as arranged elements to arise employee’s motivation. They are psychological needs, safety need, love and belongings needs, esteem needs and lastly needs of self-actualization. Normally employee’s lower level of needs is requested to be satisfied before the progress of seeking into higher level gratification. Due to the fact that the most difficult part of motivating approach in workplace’s supervision is satisfying the mutual benefits between employee and organisation, the efficient motivational model should be not only achieving employee’s job satisfaction but also accomplishing organisation’s target, as Colvin & Rutland (2008) stated. Therefore, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory helps manager to create a reactive workplace for worker’s particular needs which not only focus on basic psychological needs fulfilment but also push employee reach to top...
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...Communication in Individualistic and Collectivist Societies There are many different ways to communicate in today’s society and understanding how people communicate is a good way to keep lines of communication open. Businesses do not just deal with the countries they are founded in. If they become very successful they may have to be able to communicate globally. One way to do so would be to know and understand how Individualistic cultures and collectivist cultures are defined. Individualism means you are independent and do not interfere with others unless you are asked to. Collectivism means you focus more on the responsibility you have towards the relationships in groups. A good example of a society that is individualistic is the United States of America. The American dream is of Freedom from government control so we have become independent thinkers. Most Americans work to take care of themselves and those in their household. They are taught to work hard and move out of your parent’s house and enjoy the independence of creating your own household. Their parents remain independent and continue to take care of themselves. Collectivist Societies think more of relations to groups and a good example of this would be South American. They live in groups and there focuses are on taking care of a family unit or of a community. They work to take care of parents, grandparents, children and grandchildren. Their incomes are shared or combined to make sure that...
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...Communication in Individualistic and Collectivist Societies There are many different ways to communicate in today’s society and understanding how people communicate is a good way to keep lines of communication open. Businesses do not just deal with the countries they are founded in. If they become very successful they may have to be able to communicate globally. One way to do so would be to know and understand how Individualistic cultures and collectivist cultures are defined. Individualism means you are independent and do not interfere with others unless you are asked to. Collectivism means you focus more on the responsibility you have towards the relationships in groups. A good example of a society that is individualistic is the United States of America. The American dream is of Freedom from government control so we have become independent thinkers. Most Americans work to take care of themselves and those in their household. They are taught to work hard and move out of your parent’s house and enjoy the independence of creating your own household. Their parents remain independent and continue to take care of themselves. Collectivist Societies think more of relations to groups and a good example of this would be South American. They live in groups and there focuses are on taking care of a family unit or of a community. They work to take care of parents, grandparents, children and grandchildren. Their incomes are shared or combined to make sure that...
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