Australia is a very friendly and open culture. However, “Giddy” the informal “hello” is overused by tourists. The Australians expect one’s work to speak for itself, so they are not impressed with your position, title, or status. Don’t arrive in town wearing the latest status symbol to announce how important you think you are. Plus, Australia had a “gold rushes” in the asses and asses. Earlier gold discoveries were kept quiet so chaos didn’t break out.
But the 1 848 California gold rush enticed miners to leave Australia, so the 1850 discovery was not kept quiet. Hefted Analysis – Australia Of note is the high level of individuality Australians hold dear. This is reinforced in their daily lives and must be considered when traveling and doing business in the Country. Privacy is considered the norm and attempts at personal ingratiation may meet with rebuff. Uncertainty avoidance is relatively low with a family centered culture and a stable society.
CANADA The western frontier was “opened” in 1 885 when the Canadian transcontinental railroad completed its peaceful construction process. The railroad offered cheap land so immigrants moved in communities establishing towns with citizens from the same European country. These settlements, along with the Intuit communities, give Canada cultural diversity across its nation, not just in major metropolitan cities. Keep in mind that Quebec, because it is a French province, has a very different value system from the rest of Canada, with its predominately English influence.
Hefted Analysis – Canada The majority of Canadians, as well as citizens of other English speaking countries, (see Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States) have individualism ranked highest. Success is measure by personal achievement. Canadians tend to be self-confident and open to discussions on general topics; over, they hold their personal privacy off limits to all but the closest friends. It should be noted there is tension between the French province of Quebec and other Canadian provinces.
Citizens of Quebec tend to be more private and reserved. Ethnocentrism is high throughout Canada, but particularly in Quebec. CHINA The tradition of digging up “dragon bones” (tortoise and cattle bones) has long been a part of Chinese culture. These bones are often used to predict the future. The bones were inscribed with questions then heated to reveal the answers. The tradition dates back as far as the Bronze Age. Hefted Analysis – China The Hefted analysis for China is similar to that of Hong Kong where Long- term Orientation is the highest-ranking factor.
However, the Chinese rank lower than any other Asian country in the Individualism factor. This can be attributed primarily to the Communist rule and its emphasis on a collectivist culture. INDIA The current leadership of India is implementing sweeping changes to encourage international business in India, from prevarication to the liberalizing of trade. Hefted Analysis – India The Hefted analysis for India shows a large power distance society and all there measures are relatively moderate. This would be indicative of the fact that India is in the midst of change.
The traditional caste systems has been outlawed, however the large power distance score indicates that the attitudes still remains. The role of personality of the Manager in Intercultural Encounters. Hefted himself (1995) explains that his first project on the IBM research reported in Cultures’ Consequences (1980) marks his step from a social psychological interest in the cultural values of the individual in a group towards the cultural behavior of the group itself, in this case national group (from resonantly to NC), his second project on Danish and Dutch firms brought him to the level of CO.
This theoretically interesting concept as he with his co-researchers outlines it, might have implications on human resources management, in particular in relation with NC, such as recruitment of the most effective international managers for a company. This work might lead to awareness tests of different cultural values (NC, CO, etc. ). How to deal with diversity within a company, a nation or worldwide might be seen as an admission of weakness, where culture can be an asset, a challenge ND even a competitive advantage of a business strategy, if it is researched and handled properly.
Hypotheses original dimension of masculinity/femininity has provide a tool to measure how both value sets are distributed in a society according to both men and women. His last work with others (1998) might have implications for the growing role of the female manager with sometimes more cultural and personal sensitiveness and communication feeling and intuition into the perspective of an optimal use of diversity in a company.
Beyond Hypotheses work of categorizing and understanding cultural differences o explain possible and real conflicts and lack of interpersonal trust, the next step might be true intercultural research to reconcile differences and how to deal with them, but also to stress both universals and variants as a source for additional creativity and innovation in management settings. It seems as if the impact of cultures on strategy formulation and implementation in a technology- driven NC (Align, O’Hara, Wagner, 2000) ranges from professional culture (in Hypotheses term occupational) via CO to NC in a decreasing order of importance.
The need of more research is no longer a meaningless commonplace here. This way Hypotheses innovative work to make culture an object of “science”, might even lead to innovation in managing technological innovation on the global scene. The four cultural dimensions of Egger Hefted Model affect corporate working The following explanations of Egger Hypotheses analysis should assist the international Business Manager and Management in better understanding the intercultural differences within regions and between counties.
Hefted defines culture as the “software of the mind” that guides us in our daily interactions. Every person carries within him or herself patterns of thinking; feeling; and attention acting, which were learned throughout their lifetime. Much of it has been acquired in early childhood, because at that time a person is most susceptible to learning and assimilating. As soon as certain patterns of thinking; feeling and acting have established themselves within a person’s mind; (s) he must unlearn these before being able to learn something different; and unlearning is more difficult than learning for the first time.
Using the analogy of the way in which computers are programmed; this model will call such patterns of thinking; feeling; and acting mental programs; or; as the sub title goes: “software of the mind”. This does not mean; of course; that people are programmed the way computers are. A person’s behavior is only partially predetermined by her or his mental programs: (s) he has a basic ability to deviate from them, and to react in was which are new, creative, destructive, unexpected.
Culture is always a collective phenomenon, because it is at least partly shared with people who live or lived within the same social environment, which is where it was learned. It is the collective programming of the mind, which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another. Based on his IBM tidy in 72 different countries, Hefted identifies five of these differences in mental programming, which he calls five dimensions:
Power Distance
Power distance measures how subordinates respond to power and authority.
In high-power distance countries (Latin America, France, Spain, most Asian and African countries), subordinates tend to be afraid of their bosses, and bosses tend to be paternalistic and autocratic. In low-power distance countries (the US, Britain, most of the rest of Europe), subordinates are more likely to challenge bosses and bosses tend to use a consultative management style.
Collectivism Errors
Individualism In individualistic countries (France, Germany, South Africa, Canada, etc. , people are expected to look out for themselves. Solidarity is organic (all contribute to a common goal, but with little mutual pressure) rather than mechanical. Typical values are personal time, freedom, and challenge. In collectivist cultures Clap, Mexico, Korea, Greece) individuals are bounded through strong personal and protective ties based on loyalty to the group during one’s lifetime and often beyond (mirrored on family ties). Values include training, physical condition, the use of skills.
Femininity versus Masculinity
Hypotheses study suggested that men’s goals were significantly different from women’s goals and could therefore be expressed on a masculine and a feminine pole. Where feminine values are more important (Sweden, France, Israel, Denmark, Indonesia), people tend to value a good working relationship with their supervisors; working with people who cooperate well with one another, living in an area desirable to themselves and to their families, and having the security that they will be able to work for their company as long as they want.
Where the masculine index is high (US, Japan, Mexico, Hong Kong, Italy, Great Britain), people tend to value having a high opportunity for earnings, getting the recognition they deserve when doing a good job, having an opportunity for advancement to a higher-level job, and having challenging work to do to derive a sense of accomplishment.
Uncertainty Avoidance
When uncertainty avoidance is strong, a culture tends to perceive unknown situations as threatening so that people tend to avoid them. Examples include South Korea, Japan, and Latin America. In countries where uncertainty avoidance is weak (the US, the Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong, Britain) people feel less heartened by unknown situations. Therefore, they tend to be more open to innovations, risk, etc.
Long-term Versus
Short-term orientation A long term orientation is characterized by persistence and perseverance, a respect for a hierarchy of the status of relationships, thrift, and a sense of shame. Countries include China; Hong Kong; Taiwan, Japan and India. A short-term orientation is marked by a sense of security and stability, a protection of one’s reputation, a respect for tradition, and a reciprocation of greetings; favors and gifts.
