Free Management Dissertations - Critically Assess The Impact Of National Culture On Our Understanding Of
Critically assess the impact of national culture on our understanding of
international and comparative human resource management
Introduction
Different countries manage their workforces in a way that is almost always unique to that particular nation. Managers from a specific country are presumed to have a specific set of traits which make up a style that is unique to their country of origin. These differences are almost always a reflection of differences in national culture that have manifested themselves into a specific way of dealing with people, organization, and ultimately business. The intriguing fact is that despite the variation in management styles, there is arguably still no ‘best-method’ of global international management. In an ever increasing global business environment cultural differences may be less noticeable than before but still remain. Whether they are as important as they used to be remains an issue that is open to question.
Culture and management
Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster (Hofstede, 2003; p1)
Geert Hofstede collected data from IBM employees in 64 countries over a number of years to try and establish a common system of categorising and assessing the impact of culture on behaviour and attitudes and the consequences of this for business within each cultural context.
Hofstede’s ’four dimension’ analysis of culture continues to be recognised today as the academic standard for cultural assessment for business. By way of a postscript to his study, Hofstede continues to offer consultancy on country-specific culture, including countries not included in his original study and has suggested that ‘Long-termism versus short-termism’ could form the basis for a fifth category.
Power distance: Represents the degree to which inequalities of power are accepted. A high power distance represents a society where great disparities of influence have been allowed to grow and imbed.Hofstede recorded that in such societies workers are not upwardly mobile. This suggests that the workforce will be effectively managed by a figure that is deemed to have high authority. Low power distance suggests that all citizens and workers or employees are relatively equal in perception. Under this system all employees should have a reasonably equal change of promotion and opportunities.
Power distance is high in China. The implications of this for foreign multinationals are that they must employ managers who are perceived to be strong. Confucian concepts of power are still prevalent in Chinese society and therefore the workplace. Thus a manager’s power is more often based on their older age, wealth, and education and they are, for instance, expected to drive a better car than their subordinates in order to impress that image (IRS, 1999).
Dissertations - Free Management Dissertations
