International Issues In

Human Resource
Management (BSHR3208)
Sem I, 2022-23
Chapter 3
Cultural foundations of IHRM
Content:
• Definition of culture
• Major cross-cultural management studies :
• Hofstede’s cross-cultural management study.
• The GLOBE study
• The Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner study.
• The cultural dimensions by Hall and Hall.

• Hall & Hall’s 4 dimensions

 Definition of culture
Culture consists in patterned ways of thinking,
feeling, and reacting,
Acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols

Constituting the distinctive achievements of human

groups, including their embodiments in artefacts;
The essential core of culture consists of traditional
ideas and especially their attached values .
Schein’s concept of culture

A culture has 3 levels:

• Artefacts- visible
• Values– intermediate level of consciousness
• Underlying assumptions– invisible, unconscious
Cross-cultural management studies
• Cross-cultural management studies aim to describe and
compare the working behavior in various cultures.
• Suggestions on improving interaction between members
of various cultures can be drawn from these analyses.
Major cross-cultural management studies :
• Hofstede’s cross-cultural management study.
• The GLOBE study
• The Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner study.
• The cultural dimensions by Hall and Hall.
Geert Hofstede’s dimensions of culture

 Geert Hofstede, a Dutch management researcher, conducted a multiyear, multi country

study to identify ways to describe differences in national cultures. His research included
more than 100,000 employees of a global corporation in 40 countries.

 Hofstede identified five important dimensions in national culture :

1. Power distance

2. Individualism vs collectivism

3. Masculinity vs femininity

4. Uncertainty avoidance

5. Long vs short -term orientation

 [Link]
TheDistance
power
distance
dimension
represents the
• Societies marked by high
scale on which the power distance, and high
members of a power inequality, accept
culture accept
that power is not hierarchical organization
distributed structure, in which every
equally in individual can occupy their
institutions. It
expresses the place without any need for
emotional justification.
distance between
employees and
superiors.
Reference :Dowling, P.J., Festing, M. and Engle, A.D. (2013),
International Human Resource Management, 6th Edition, Cengage
Learning. ([Link]-26),Available Online URL:
[Link]
h_edition.pdf
Power Distance –Cont’d

Less Power distance High Power distance

• Hierarchy means inequality • Hierarchy means
of roles established for existential inequality
convenience • Subordinates expect to be
• Subordinates expect to be told what to do
consulted • Income distribution in
• Income distribution in society very uneven
society rather even • Autocratic governments
• Pluralist governments based on co-optation and
based on majority vote and changed by revolution
changed peacefully
 2. Individualism vs. Collectivism
The cultural dimension of individualism vs collectivism describes the
extent to which individual initiative and caring for oneself and the
nearest relatives is preferred by a society as opposed to, for
example, public assistance or the concept of extended family.

In more individualist cultures, there is merely a casual network of

relationships between people. Each person is primarily responsible
for himself.

More collective cultures have closer, more clearly defined systems of

relationships. This applies both to extended families as well as
companies.

Reference :Dowling, P.J., Festing, M. and Engle, A.D. (2013),

International Human Resource Management, 6th Edition, Cengage
Learning. ([Link] 27 -28),Available Online URL:
Individualism vs. Collectivism

Individualism Collectivism

• Everyone is supposed to take • People are born into extended

care of him- or herself and his families or clans which protect
or her immediate family only them in exchange for loyalty
• "I" – consciousness • We" –consciousness
• "Right of privacy • Stress on belonging
• Task prevails over relationship • Relationship prevails over task
3-Uncertainty Avoidance
The cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance represents
the extent to which the members of a culture feel
threatened by uncertain, ambiguous and/or unstructured
situations and try to avoid them.

Cultures with strong uncertainty avoidance are

characterized by strict beliefs and behavioral codes and do
not tolerate people and ideas that deviate from these.

In cultures with weak uncertainty avoidance, the

significance of practice exceeds the significance of
principles and there is high tolerance for deviations.

Reference :Dowling, P.J., Festing, M. and Engle, A.D.

(2013), International Human Resource
Management, 6th Edition, Cengage Learning.
 Uncertainty Avoidance- Cont.
Weak Uncertainity avoidance • The uncertainty inherent in life is
• The uncertainty inherent in life is felt as a continuous threat that
accepted and each day is taken as must be fought
it comes • Intolerance of deviant persons and
• Tolerance of deviant persons and ideas: what is different is
ideas: what is different is curious dangerous
• Comfortable with ambiguity and • Need for clarity and structure
chaos
• Changing jobs no problem • Staying in jobs even if disliked
• Dislike of rules - written or • Emotional need for rules – even if
unwritten not obeyed

Strong Uncertainity avoidance

Reference :Dowling, P.J., Festing, M. and Engle, A.D. (2013), International Human Resource Management, 6th Edition, Cengage
Learning. ([Link]-26),Available Online URL: [Link]
4. Masculinity vs. Feminity
This dimension looks at the relationship between gender and work roles

The masculine orientation comprises the pursuit of financial success, heroism

and strong performance approach

The feminine orientation contains preferences for life quality, modesty and
interpersonal relationships.
Furthermore, role flexibility in the feminine oriented cultures is more clear-cut
than in more masculine cultures, in other words, roles of the genders overlap,
which means that both women and men could be modest and value a certain
quality of life.
The fundamental difference between the two approaches is the form of social roles
attributed to gender by the relevant society.

Reference :Dowling, P.J., Festing, M. and Engle, A.D. (2013), International

Human Resource Management, 6th Edition, Cengage Learning. ([Link]-
27),Available Online URL:
[Link]
 Masculinity vs. Feminity
Masculinity Feminity
• Maximum emotional and • Minimum emotional and
social role differentiation social role differentiation
between the genders between the genders
• Men should be assertive • Men and women should
and ambitious be modest and caring
• Few women in elected • Many women in elected
political positions political positions
• Work prevails over family • Balance between family
and work
 5. Confucianism dynamics (long-term versus short-term orientation)

This dimension essentially reflects a basic orientation in

the life of people, which can be either more long-term or
short-term in nature.

Reference :Dowling, P.J., Festing, M. and Engle, A.D. (2013), International Human
Resource Management, 6th Edition, Cengage Learning. ([Link]-30),Available
Online URL:
[Link]
f
 Short-term versus long term orientation
Short term orientation Long term orientation
• Most important events in life • Most important events in life
occurred in the past or take will occur in the future
place now
• Personal steadiness and • A good person adapts to the
stability: a good person is circumstances
always the same
• There are universal
• There are universal guidelines about what is
guidelines about what is good and evil
good and evil
• Students attribute success to
• Students attribute success effort and failure to lack of
and failure to luck effort
 TABLE 2.1 Examples of the impact of the cultural context on HRM practices

H R M p ra ctice s I m p a ct o f th e cu ltu r a l co n te x t
R e cr u itm e n t a n d s e le ctio n • I n so cietie s l ow on ‘ i n- gr oup col l ect i vi sm ’ in d ivid u a l
a ch ie v e m e n ts re p re se n t im p o rta n t se le ctio n crite ria .
• I n so cie ties hi gh on ‘ i n- gr ou p col l ect i vi sm ’ th e em p h a sis in th e
re cru itin g p ro ce ss is m o re o n te a m - rela te d skills th a n o n
individual competencies.
T r a in in g a n d d e v e lo p m e n t • I n s o cie ties hi gh on gender egal i t ar i ani sm w o m e n h a v e th e
sa m e ch a n ces fo r ve rtica l ca re e r a d va n cem e n t a s m e n .
• I n s o cie ties l ow on gender egal i t ar i ani sm fem a le m a n a g ers
are rare.
C o m p e n s a tio n • I n s o cie tie s h i gh o n u ncer t a i nt y a v o id a n ce e m p lo y e e s ten d to
b e ra th e r risk a ve rse a n d p re fe r fi x e d co m p e n sa tio n p a ck a g e s
or seniority-based pay.
• I n so cie ties l o w o n u ncer t ai nt y a vo id a n ce e m p lo ye e s te n d to
b e ra th e r risk - ta kin g a n d a cce p t h ig h in co m e va ria b ility
through performance-based pay.
T a s k d is tr ib u tio n • S o cie ties h i gh o n col l ect i vi sm te n d to e m p h a size g ro u p w o rk .
• S o cieties hi gh on i ndi vi dual i sm ra th er a ttrib u te in d iv id u a l
re sp o n sib ilitie s in th e w o rk sy ste m .
The GLOBE Study

Uncertainty Power Institutional In-group

avoidance distance collectivism collectivism

Gender
Assertivenes Future Performance
egalitarianis
s orientation orientation
m

Human
orientation
The GLOBE Study
GLOBE expanded the five Hofstede dimensions to nine

The GLOBE project, included 170,000 managers in 162 countries. These studies identified nine dimensions
that describe differences in national cultures.

They maintained the labels Power Distance and Uncertainty Avoidance

They split Collectivism into Institutional Collectivism and In-Group Collectivism,

Masculinity-Femininity into Assertiveness and Gender Egalitarianism.

Long Term Orientation became Future Orientation.

They added two more dimensions: Humane Orientation and Performance Orientation
 The GLOBE Study
1. Institutional collectivism: the degree to which organizational and societal institutional practices encourage
and reward collective distribution of resources and collective action

2. In-group collectivism: the degree to which individuals express pride, loyalty, and cohesiveness in their
organizations or families

3. Uncertainty avoidance: is a society's tolerance for uncertainty

4. Power distance: Describes how people belonging to a specific culture view power relationships -
superior/subordinate relationships

5. Gender equality (Feminity): equality and equal treatment across gender

6. Assertiveness (Masculinity): quality of being self-assured and confident without being aggressive

7. Performance orientation: is characterized by the belief that success is the result of superior ability and of surpassing one's
peers (degree to which societies emphasize performance and achievement
8. Humane orientation: Degree to which an organization or society encourages and rewards individuals for
being fair, altruistic, friendly, generous, caring, and kind to others.
9. Future Orientation: The degree to which delayed gratification and planning for the future are valued over
short-term gains is called future orientation.
Trompenaars and Hampden-
Turner’s Seven Cultural
Dimensions
1. Universalism vs. Particularism
Universalist thought is characterized by the following
logic: ‘What is good and right can be defined and
always applies’.

Particularistic cultures, on the contrary, pay more

attention to individual cases, deciding what is good and
correct depending on relationship and special friendship
arrangements.
Reference :Dowling, P.J., Festing, M. and Engle, A.D.
(2013), International Human Resource Management,
6th Edition, Cengage Learning. ([Link]-36),Available
Online URL:
[Link]
2. Individualism vs. Communitarianism

• The underlying question here is: ‘Do people regard themselves

primarily as individuals or primarily as parts of a group?’

• The other question is whether it is desirable that individuals

primarily serve group aims or individualism. Individualist
cultures, similar to Hofstede’s explanation, emphasize the
individual, who predominantly takes care of himself.

Reference :Dowling, P.J., Festing, M. and Engle, A.D. (2013), International Human Resource Management, 6th Edition, Cengage
Learning. ([Link]-36),Available Online URL: [Link]
[Link] vs. Neutral:
• This dimension describes how emotions are treated and whether they are
expressed or not.
• Neutral cultures tend to express little emotion, emotions are controlled, e.g.
Japan and UK ; business is transacted as objectively and functionally as
possible.
• In affective cultures, an emotional cultural basis is accepted as a part of
business life and emotions are freely expressed across many social
contexts (e.g. Spain and Mexico where people often laugh, talk loudly and
greet each other enthusiastically).
• When people from a neutral culture do business with people from an
emotional culture, they could be discouraged by the other person’s
behavior. A good preparation and taking someone’s culture into
consideration will prevent awkward situations.
Reference :Dowling, P.J., Festing, M. and Engle, A.D. (2013), International Human Resource Management, 6th Edition, Cengage
Learning. ([Link]-36),Available Online URL: [Link]
4. Specific vs. diffuse:
• In diffuse cultures a person is involved in the business
relationship, whereas specific cultures focus more on
contractually regulated aspects .

• Specific cultures demand precision, an objective

analysis of circumstances and presentation of results,
whereas diffuse cultures take other context variables
into consideration.

Reference :Dowling, P.J., Festing, M. and Engle, A.D. (2013), International Human Resource Management, 6th Edition, Cengage
Learning. ([Link]-36),Available Online URL: [Link]
5. Ascription vs. Achievement
• In cultures focused on status achievement, people are judged based on
what they have achieved (performance), in other words the goals they have
fulfilled recently.

• In a ascriptive cultures, the status is ascribed from birth by characteristics

such as origin, seniority, and gender.

Example:
When someone from an achievement-oriented culture does business with
people from an ascription-oriented culture, it is advisable to deploy older, more
experienced people who are familiar with formal customs and manners and
who respect established titles.
Reference :Dowling, P.J., Festing, M. and Engle, A.D. (2013), International Human Resource Management, 6th Edition, Cengage
Learning. ([Link]-36),Available Online URL: [Link]
6. Concept of time:

• Sequential vs. Synchronic concept of time Cultures are differentiated by

the concept of time where they may be more past, future or present
oriented. The different concept of time is also demonstrated by the
organization of work processes.

• Sequential behavior is behavior that occurs successively (Time is money)

and synchronous behavior is the possibility to ‘multitask’ and do a
number of things at the same time (It does not concern itself with time
zones).

Reference :Dowling, P.J., Festing, M. and Engle, A.D. (2013), International Human Resource Management, 6th Edition, Cengage
Learning. ([Link]-36),Available Online URL: [Link]
7. Internal vs. external control:

This dimension describes the concept of nature and refers to the extent
to which societies try to control nature.
In internal-directed versus outer-directed cultures the focus is on how
people experience their environment. Is the environment a threat
(external) or is it sensible to move with the factors that are caused by
society (internal)?
The way in which people experience their environment differs from
culture to culture.
People in western cultures are mainly outer-directed and they want to
control their environment as much as possible.
 In many non-western cultures it is more about living in harmony with the
environment; there are forces that cannot be controlled or influenced and
therefore you have to adapt yourself to these external circumstances.
Reference :Dowling, P.J., Festing, M. and Engle, A.D. (2013), International Human Resource Management, 6th Edition, Cengage
Learning. ([Link]-37),Available Online URL: [Link]
Hall & Hall’s 4 dimensions
The dimensions mainly involve cultural differences in
communication forms and time and space concepts.

1. High vs. low context communication

2. Spatial orientation
3. Monochronic vs. polychromic time
4. Information speed
 Hall & Hall’s 4 dimensions
[Link] vs. Low Context
Communication:

Cultures differ in the way their members communicate with each other.

In High Context cultures, a more indirect form of expression is common, where

the receiver must decipher the content of the message from its context, whereas
in so-called Low Context cultures the players tend to communicate more to the
point and verbalize all-important information.

Examples of High Context cultures are Japan as well as France. Germany is more
of a Low Context culture.
2. Spatial orientation (space):

The focus of this dimension is on the

distance between people of various
cultures when communicating.

Distance that is adequate for members

of one culture, may feel intrusive for
members of another culture.
Cont’d
• [Link] vs. polychronic concept of time: A
monochrome concept of time is dominated by processes
(Only one task at a time), where one thing is done after
the other, whereas in the polychrome concept these
actions occur at the same time (multi-tasks at a time).
• [Link] speed: This dimension focuses on
whether information flow in groups is high or low during
communication. Thus, in the USA people tend to
exchange personal information relatively quickly, while
in Europe such a rate of information exchange would
require a more extended contact.
Vocabulary Bank
• Organizational culture - defined as the sense of common
identity and purpose across the whole organization.
• Artifacts are described as visible organization structures
and processes
• Best practice - technique that has consistently shown
results superior to those achieved with other means,
and that is used as a benchmark
• Cross-cultural management studies aim to describe and
compare the working behavior in various cultures.
Reference
• Dowling, P.J., Festing, M. and Engle, A.D. (2013), International Human Resource
Management, 6th Edition, Cengage Learning. Available Online URL:
[Link]
ement_6th_edition.pdf
 CONTACT INFORMATION:

Name of the Staff : [Link] Mazumder

Office:: BS032
Email: [Link]@[Link]

VERSION HISTORY

Version No Date Approved Changes incorporated

01 Sem. (II)
2022/2023

35