UNIT IV
MEANING OF TRANS-CULTURAL VALUES
Today, let us try to understand the importance of trans-cultural
values.
Points to be covered in this lesson:
• Concept of Organizational Culture and Values
• Trans-cultural values
For understanding the meaning of Trans-cultural values, all of
you have to understand the meaning of Organizational Culture
and Values.
Organizational Culture
It has been described as “the dominant values espoused by an
organization”.
Values
“A specific mode of conduct or end state of existence is
personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse
mode of conduct or end state of existence is important.”
• Values are concepts or beliefs about desirable end states or
behaviors that transcend specific situations guide selection or
evaluation of behavior and events and are ordered by relative
importance.
• Beliefs of a person or social group in which they have an
emotional investment (either for or against something); “he
has very conservatives values”.
• Values are traits or qualities that are considered worthwhile;
they represent an individual’s highest priorities and deeply held
driving forces. (Values are also known as core values and as
governing values; they all refer to the same sentiment.)
• Value statements are grounded in values and define how
people want to behave with each other in the organization.
80
VALUE SYSTEMS IN MANAGEMENT
CHAPTER 6:
VALUES IN MANAGERS
They are statements about how the organization will value
customers, suppliers, and the internal community. Value
statements describe actions, which are the living enactment
of the fundamental values held by most individuals within
the organization.
• The values of each of the individuals in your workplace, along
with their experience, upbringing, and so on, meld together
to form your corporate culture. The values of your senior
leaders are especially important in the development of your
culture.
These leaders have a lot of power in your organization to set the
course and environment and they have selected the staff for your
workplace.
If you think about your own life, your values form the
cornerstones for all you do and accomplish. They define where
you spend your time, if you are truly living your values. Each of
you makes choices in life according to your most important four
– ten values. Why not take the time to identify what is most
important to you and to your organization.
Why Identify and Establish Values?
Effective organizations identify and develop a clear, concise and
shared meaning of values/beliefs, priorities, and direction so
that everyone understands and can contribute. Once defined,
values impact every aspect of your organization. You must
support and nurture this impact or identifying values will have
been a wasted exercise. People will feel fooled and misled unless
they see the impact of the exercise within your organization. If
you want the values you identify to have an impact, the
following must occur.
• People demonstrate and model their values in action in their
personal work behaviors, decision-making, contribution, and
interpersonal interaction.
• Organizational values help each person establish priorities in
their daily work life.
• Values guide every decision that is made once the
organization has cooperatively created the values and the
value statements.
• Rewards and recognition within the organization are
structured to recognize those people whose work embodies
the values the organization embraced.
• Organizational goals are grounded in the identified values.
Adoption of the values and the behaviors that result is
recognized in regular performance feedback.
• People hire and promote individuals whose outlook and
actions are congruent with the values.
• Only the active participation of all members of the
organization will ensure a truly organization-wide, value-
based, shared culture.
11.292
The following are examples of values:
Ambition, competency, individuality, equality, integrity, service,
responsibility, accuracy, respect, dedication, diversity, improve-
ment, enjoyment/fun, loyalty, credibility, honesty, innovativeness,
teamwork, excellence, accountability, empower- ment, quality,
efficiency, dignity, collaboration, stewardship, empathy,
accomplishment, courage, wisdom, independence, security,
challenge, influence, learning, compassion, friendliness,
discipline/order, generosity, persistence, optimism, dependabil-
ity, flexibility.
Although important aspects of your life and attention, these are
not values: family, church, professionalism. If you define what
you value about each of these, you are identifying the core value.
As an example, the core value in family might be close relation-
ships; in church, spirituality.
These managers are not wrong about the importance of shared
values. Shared values lead to consistent behavior. They provide a
basis for trust and minimization of transaction costs within an
organization. Particularly, when work calls for discretion,
judgment, cooperation and relationship - building, values
determine the kind of work management can expect.
But the understanding of values by managers is usually
superficial. In my experience managers can improve their ability
to lead effective change if they will take the trouble to under-
stand the relationship of values to both individual and
organizational behavior.
The process of instilling organizational values requires an
interactive dialogue which:
• Develops a shared logic of what kind of behavior is essential
for the organization’s success.
• Educates people about the organization as a social system so
that recruitment, training, measurements, and incentives can be
aligned with goals,
• Improves communication and trust
• Develops leadership
What makes it difficult for managers to make values work is that
there are three different meanings of the concept: values.
Managers need to understand these different meanings and
address them. One meaning of values describes ideals. Another
describes behavior. And the third describes character. When all
three of these meanings are aligned with an organization’s
strategies, the result is a highly motivated corporate culture. When
they are not, the result is sub-optimal organizational performance,
costly conflict, frustration, and bad faith or cynicism. Aligning the
three meanings of values begins with understanding that each has
its own logic. Each requires different kinds of dialogue.
Values as Ideals
What are the right ideals for an organization? The answer is that
they should motivate customers, employees, and owners (or
other stakeholders) to behave in ways that strengthen the
organization and are essential for its success. These ideals
should inspire the right kind of behavior. Customers should
want your products. Employees should be motivated to work
together to satisfy customers and continually improve the
organization. Their work should be meaningful in terms of
11.292
personal fulfillment as well as organizational success. They
should want to work in this organization. Shareowners should
be motivated to buy and hold equity in the company.
When a company is prospering, little attention is paid to values.
People assume the organizational values must be right. Top
management typically rethinks values only when it becomes
necessary to support a change in strategy and organizational
culture. This may not call for describing totally new values but
rather reinterpreting old values in the light of a changing
business environment. For example, a number of technical
companies are learning that the meaning of customer focus has
changed from selling boxes or meeting specs to understanding
how to customize solutions that help the customer to succeed.
The CEO, consulting with senior executives, typically proposes
new values or ideals. Together they agree on the relationship
between the values and organizational strategy. For these ideals
to be internalized and truly shared, everyone in the organization
should be able to interpret them and through a dialogue, test
that interpretation with the organization’s leadership. The same
dialogue started by the CEO with direct reports must be
cascaded down the organization.
Values as Behavior
Closing the gap between ideal vs. the actual behavior requires
that the team understand that behavior is shaped and sustained
by the corporate culture, which is a social system. If customer
focus is an essential value, the first question to be asked is: What
is the meaning of customer focus? The next question is: what
kind of behavior does customer focus require of us? Does top
management in fact model this behavior? Is this behavior
recognized, measured and rewarded? Does the
behavior require knowledge and skills that are lacking? Does the
behavior require different kinds of information about custom-
ers? Does the structure of the organization; the roles and
authority support this behavior?
At every level, leaders have the opportunity to teach, and to
develop a common understanding of what kind of behavior is
required, so that this behavior is shaped by the whole corporate
social system. Partial solutions like training, or recognition will
not be enough, if other parts of the system are not aligned.
Thus, the interactive dialogue both educates and develops a new
model of leadership. The leader has the responsibility of
facilitating the dialogue, teaching and making decisions about
how to close the value gaps on the basis of full discussion. By
explaining the logic of these decisions, the leader will diminish
resistance and equip those he leads to explain decisions to their
own subordinates.
Values as Character
The difference between a value as behavior and character gets at
emotional attitudes that can resist logic. This can be illustrated in
relation to the value of teamwork. Suppose there is agree- ment
that a certain type of teamwork is essential to reach corporate
goals. The behavior required is described, recognized, and
rewarded. There is training in team skills. Yet, an individual with
a strong value of autonomy and strong drive for control resists
becoming a team player.
81
Suppose this is affirmed by a 360° evaluation by the individual’s
boss, colleagues, subordinates, and, perhaps customer.
Can people change their character values?
This depends on how strong the values are and how much the
person experiences the need to change. Some character values,
which are shaped and reinforced by a national or professional
culture, are particularly resistant to change.
Framework for Assessing Cultures
Five Value Dimensions of National Culture are:
• Power distance: Degree to which people in a country accept
that power in institutions and organizations is distributed
unequally. Ex: Philippines and Mexico have high power
distance and Austria and Denmark have low power distance
• Individualism vs. collectivism: Individualism is the degree to
which people in a country prefer to act as individuals rather
than as members of group.
• Quantity of life vs. Quality of life: Degree to which values such
as assertiveness, the acquisition of money& material goods, &
competition prevail is known as Quantity of life. Quality of life
is the degree to which people value relationships, & show
sensitivity & concern for the welfare of others.
• Uncertainty avoidance: Degree to which people in a country
prefer structured over unstructured situations. Ex: Culture
Of Greece & Japan show high uncertainty avoidance, while
Singapore shows low uncertainty avoidance.
• Long term vs. short-term orientation: People in cultures with
long term orientations look to the future & value thrift
& persistence. A short-term orientation values the past &
present, & emphasizes respect for tradition & fulfilling social
obligations.
The Key Characteristics along which Culture Differ:
• Individual initiative: Degree of responsibility, freedom and
independence that individuals have.
• Risk tolerance: Degree to which employees are encouraged to
be aggressive, innovative and risk-seeking.
• Direction: Degree to which organization create clear
objectives and performance expectations.
• Integration: Degree to which units within the organization
are encouraged to operate in a coordinated manner.
• Management support
• Control: Number of rules and regulations, and the amount
of direct supervision that are used to oversee and control
employee behavior.
• Identity: Degree to which members identify with the
organization as a whole rather than with their particular work
group.
• Reward system
• Conflict tolerance: Degree to which employee’s are
encouraged to air conflicts and criticisms seriously.
• Communication patterns: Degree to which organizational
communications r restricted to the formal hierarchy of
authority.
82
Large organizations have a dominant culture and numerous
sets of subcultures.
Dominant Culture expresses the core values that are shared by
a majority of the organization’s members.
Subculture tends to develop in large organizations to reflect
common problems, situations, or experiences that members
face. Subculture tends to be defined by departmental designa-
tions or geographical separation.
Mergers and Acquisitions
The acquisition of Electronic Data systems for $ 2.5 bn in 1984
by GM has been a mixed blessing for GM. On the positive side,
it has helped to diversify the large automaker & given it a strong
source of automation expertise that GM felt it needs to
modernize its production plants. However GM has had
problems integrating EDS into its operations. The basic
problem seemed to be that while GM’s culture sought to
minimize the conflict, risk & personal independence, the EDS
culture thrived on competitiveness & aggressiveness. This
example illustrates that if the two organizations have strong
culture then the potential for “culture clash” becomes very real.
The two most critical factors determining whether a merger or
acquisition is successful Is the strength of each organization’s
culture & the degree of differences that exist between the
organization’s key cultural diff.
Cultural differences between countries constrain cross-national
diffusion. Corporate culture within an MNC can help in
diffusion of practices across borders through the forging of
shared understandings and values. Performance related pay is an
example of a practice that operates more easily in some cultures
than in others. (Accepted in Anglo-Saxon business cultures but
not in France, Germany or Italy).
Why should you know about Transcultural Values
Globalization: Globalization affects a manager’s people skills
in lot many ways. At the managerial level you have to work with
people who are born and raised in different cultures. What is
right according to you may be is wrong according to them. So
managers have to become capable of working with people from
diff. Cultures and because values differ across cultures, an
understanding of these differences should be helpful in
explaining and predicting behavior of employees from different
countries.
Trans-cultural Values
Trans-cultural values are those beliefs that people across the
world are associating themselves with. These beliefs have come
in various people because of social changes brought by
11.292
globalization, increased mobility and ethnic intermingling.
As you work with people from multicultural backgrounds, you
will find that these differences raise barriers to trans-cultural
communication.
There are some barriers, which are discussed in detail in the
following paragraphs.
Fear: Each person perceives the other person as different and,
therefore, dangerous. Usually as people become better ac-
quainted with each other, the fear gradually dissipates, only to be
replaced by dislike.
Dislike: Group members have a tendency to dislike people
who behave or communicate differently from what is consid-
ered “the norm” in that culture or group. For example, a
working class black person might dislike a middleclass white
person because white people tend to be less vocal and expres-
sive than many black people, and thus appear insincere and
weak.
Distrust: People from different cultures are often suspicious of
each other’s actions and motives because they lack information.
Unfortunately, unless there is pressure to change their attitudes,
some people never do progress beyond fear, dislike, and
distrust to the next stage of acceptance.
Acceptance: Usually if two people from different cultures share
enough good experiences over a period of time, they will begin to
accept each other rather than resent each other. Respect: If
individuals from diverse cultures are open minded, they would
allow themselves to see and admire qualities in one another.
Trust: Once people from diverse cultures have spent enough
quality time together, they usually are able to trust each other.
Like: For people to like each other, they must share many
things in common. To reach this final stage, individuals from
diverse cultures must be able to concentrate on the human
qualities that bind people together, rather than the differences
that pull people apart
Racism
Individual racism: Individuals are discriminated against
because of their visible biological characteristics; for example,
black skin or the epicanthic fold of the eyelid in Asians.
Cultural racism: An individual or institution claims that its
cultural heritage is superior to that of other individuals or
institutions.
Institutional racism: Institutions (universities, businesses,
hospitals) manipulate or tolerate policies that unfairly restrict the
opportunities of certain races, cultures, or groups.
One of the flaws in the profession is an unwillingness to
recognize that racism is endemic. This unwillingness results in a
lack of discussion about racism and leads to responses that
exacerbate the problem.
Bias and Ethnocentrism
Whatever their cultural background, people have a tendency to be
biased toward their own cultural values, and to feel that their
values are right and the values of others are wrong or not as good.
Many people are surprised to discover that the values and actions
people so admire in their own culture may look them
11.292
upon with suspicion from other cultures, which are equally
biased.
The belief that one’s own culture or traditions are better than
those of other cultures is called ethnocentrism. The person who
is ethnocentric tends to antagonize and alienate people from
other cultures.
Cultural biases can distort your perception of other people’s
values and behavior, and thus damage your ability to communi-
cate. To overcome your biases, you must first acknowledge that
they exist.
Stereotyping
A cultural stereotype is the unsubstantiated assumption that all
people of a certain racial and ethnic group are alike.
For example: All sindhis are businessmen. A son of a doctor is
a doctor.
Stereotyping is particularly destructive when negative traits or
characteristics are imposed on all members of a cultural group.
Ritualistic Behavior
A ritual is a set procedure for performing a task. Every culture
has its own ways to perform a task. It might happen that
different people may do same things differently. For example
we can see that management style of U.S.A differs from Indian
management style, this happens just because of rituals taught
to Indians by their family members and the society.
Language Barriers
Language provides the tools (words) that allow people to
express their thoughts and feelings. Thus, language barriers
present a grave threat to transcultural communication among
different individuals.
Conflicting Perceptions and Expectations
When people from different cultures try to communicate, their
best efforts may be thwarted by misunderstandings and even
serious conflicts. Misunderstandings due to cultural differences
commonly arise in situations involving food and drink.
To prevent conflicts and misunderstandings, make sure that the
message you send is the same message that the receiver receives.
When there is a language barrier, you will need to work closely
with an interpreter.
So, I hope now you must have understood that what are trans-
cultural values and what are the barriers faced by them at the
time of implementation.
Overview
• Organizational Culture has been described as “the dominant
values espoused by an organization.”
• Values imply “a specific mode of conduct or end state of
existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or
converse mode of conduct or end state of existence is
important.”
• Trans-cultural values are those beliefs that people across the
world are associating themselves with. These beliefs have
come in various people because of social changes brought by
globalization, increased mobility and ethnic intermingling.
Activity
Discuss the barriers to cross-cultural communication?
83
For useful Documents like
this and
Lots of more
Educational and
Technological Stuff...

Visit...

www.thecodexpert.com