Organizational culture is defined in many ways by different scholars. It is a shared phenomenon among organizational members that includes shared values, basic assumptions, and patterns of behavior. It is learned and passed down over time. Culture influences many aspects of organizational functioning like change, strategy, and performance. There are multiple levels of culture from national to organizational. Understanding cultural differences is important for effective cross-cultural communication and management.

2. Despite popular beliefs to the contrary, the
single greatest barrier to business success is the
one erected by culture” E.T. Hall and M.R. Hall
Culture is
Metaphor
Way of seeing and
analyzing organization
Potential perspective

3. Peters and Waterman
(1982)
Deal Kennady (1982)
Kanter (1983)
Culture is a shared
phenomenon, and in
the case of
organizational culture
that sharing takes place
at the level of
organization.

4. Culture - ‘is a body of learned behavior, a
collection of beliefs, habits and traditions,
shared by a group of people and successfully
by people who enter society’
Mead (1951)

5. Hofstede (1984) ‘the
collective programme of
mind, which distinguishes
the members of human
group from another……
culture, in this sense,
includes systems of values’
A set of basic
assumptions, shared
solutions to universal
problems... handed
down from one
generation to another
(Edward Schein, 1985)
A system of shared
meaning or
understanding (Claude
Levi-Strauss, 1971;
Clifford Geertz, 1983)
A shared pattern
of behavior
(Margaret Mead,
1953)

6. Organizational culture has far reaching consequences for
management and all the manner of organizational activity including
Change
Corporate strategy
Financial and other measure of performance

7. 6
5
4
3
2
1
SUPRANATIONAL CULTURE
SUB CULTURE
PROFESSIONAL CULTURE
ORGANIZATION OR CORPORATE
CULTURE
INDUSTRY CULTURE
NATIONAL CULTURE
L
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S
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F
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8. LEVELS OF CULTURE
SURFACE LEVEL
INTERMEDIATE
LEVEL
CORE
LEVEL
ASSUMPTIONS AND BELIEFS
(INVISIBLE, UNCONSCIOUS)
VALUES
EXPLICIT, DECLARED)
BEHAVIOR
(OBSERVABLE, MANIFEST)

9. STRUCTURAL VIEW OF CULTURE
Power culture: (Small,
Entrepreneurial
organization)
Power lies on the
centre of web
Informal
communication
Power source are
valued and trusted
Power relations are
clear
Role culture:
(Departmentalized
organizations)
High level bureaucracy
Coordination provided by
small, elite, senior
management
Clear function and area of
specialization
Roles are clarified
Provide security for
employees
Task culture:
(Common Matrix
organizations)
Power lies on
intersections
Team culture along with
autonomy
More flexible
Person culture:
(Professional
organization)
Individuals are paramount
Limited formal control
Informal communication

10. Cultural webCultural web
Rituals
Stories
Symbols
The
paradigm
Control
systems
structure
Power
structures

11. Organizational Culture
GIVES A SENSE OF
IDENTITY
PROMOTES
COMMITMENT
ENHANCES STABILITY
MAKES SENSE
OF BEHAVIOR

12. FACTORS AFFECTING CULTURE
LANGUAGE
LEGAL
SYSTEMS
VALUES
EDUCATION
RELIGION
POLITICAL
SYSTEMS

13. CULTURAL INFLUENCES
Work Patterns
Socializing Outside of Work
Views of Gender-appropriate Behavior
Concepts of Right and Wrong
Ways of Handling Problems or Disagreements
Interaction between Leaders and
Subordinates
Communication and Meeting Styles

14. Challenges of Working across Cultures and
Borders
12
3
4
5
6
7
Language Barrier
Different Expectations about Team Work
Building Relationships across cultural differences
Business Protocol
Achieving an Effective Global-Local Balance
Virtual Communication
Solving Problems and Conflict resolution
8 Decision Making
9 Meeting Deadlines and following agreements

15. Significance of Cross-Cultural Management and Implications
Not only do’s & don’ts; also to know yourself & others and uncover the “why” behind the
behavior
Individuals interacting, not countries
Recognizing similarities and differences, then applying appropriate
solutions and strategies
Soft issues in management
People Management
Talent development and Retainment
Cultural know-how as a core competence of a company
Cultural and communicative competence as a key-competence of human capital
Factor of effectiveness and competitiveness of the company
Localization of products

16. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES: MANAGERS’ WORK VALUES BASED ON
NATIONAL CULTURE
The
willingness
to bypass
lines of
hierarchy
Managers
attitudes
towards
hierarchy
Managers’
relationship
with
subordinates
The
importance
of managers
in the
society
‘The main reason for a hierarchal structure is so
that everybody knows who has authority over
whom’ (Statement 1)
‘In order to have efficient work relationship it is
often necessary to bypass the hierarchical line’
(Statement 2)
‘It is important for managers to have at hand
precise answers to most of the questions that their
subordinates may raise about their work’
(Statement 3)
‘Through their professional activity, managers play
an important role in society’ (Statement 4)
1 2
3 4

17. CROSS CULTURE ANALYSIS: GEERT HOFSTEDE
Power distance (PDI): The social distance between people of
different rank or position
Individualism (IDV): Preference to act as individual instead of
members of group
Masculinity/ Femininity (MAS): Degree to which masculinity
prevails over femininity values
Masculinity values- Assertiveness, Competitiveness, Result
orientation
Femininity values-Cooperative, Personal relationship, Quality of
life, Caring
Uncertainty avoidance (UAI): Preference for structured rather
than unstructured situations
Long term orientation: Emphasize on future as opposed to short
term values
Indulgence: Dealing with natural drives – enjoying life or living
within limits

18. Organizational culture in MNCs
Based on three aspects of organizational functioning:
The general relationship between the employees and their
organization
The hierarchical system of authority that defines the roles
of managers and subordinates
The general views the employee hold about the MNC’s
purpose, destiny, goals and their places in them

19. Organisational culture in MNC’s
Family culture
Guided missile culture Incubator culture
Eiffel Tower culture
Characterized by a strong emphasis on
hierarchy and orientation to the person
Example: Turkey, Pakistan, China, Hong
Kong, Singapore
Characterized by strong emphasis on
hierarchy and orientation to the task
Example: Denmark, Germany, Netherlands
Characterized by strong emphasis on
equality in the work place and orientation
to the task
Example: US, UK
Characterized by strong emphasis on
equality and orientation to the person
Example: California, Scotland

20. DIFFERENCES IN ECONOMIC CULTURES
Individual rights
contracts Heterogeneity
(micro cultures)
Social welfare Cultural
identity Heterogeneity
(micro cultures)
National belonging
Cultural identity
Heterogeneity
High-trust contracts
Legal institutions
Low trust
Negotiation
High trust within
groups
Shareholders State, shareholders Banks
Cross shareholding
Identity
(What makes
society stick
together)
Social capital
(How trust is
created)
Ownership
(Who owns
enterprises)
Anglo/American French and Latin
European
Japan

21. COUNTRY
CLUSTERS
Based on:
The importance of work
goal
Need deficiency,
fulfillment and job
satisfaction
Managerial and
organsational variables
Work role and
interpersonal orientation

22. Cultural Implications on Management of
organization and people
CULTURE

23. MANAGER’S ROLE
Organizational Leadership
Managing Change
Innovating
Transferring Knowledge
Strategic Planning
Group Negotiating
Selling
Training & Development
Building Global Teamwork
Interpersonal Evaluating People
Obtaining Information
Giving & Receiving Feedback
Establishing Credibility
Relationship building

24. GLOBAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

25. Information technology
(Plugged in):
The speed and accuracy of information
transmission
Availability of competitive information
Accuracy of decision making
Creation of awareness about consumers
Propelling Electronic commerce
Electronic linkages- employees, customers,
suppliers, partners etc.

26. Human capital (Global sourcing)
Political risk
Nationalization:
Forced sale of MNC’s
Expropriation: Local
Govt seizes& provide
inadequate
compensation
Macro political:
Event that affects all
foreign firms business
Micro political: Govt
gradual & subtle
action against foreign
firms
Economic risk
Changes in
domestic
monetary policy
or fiscal policies
Modification of
foreign-
investment
policies
Legal
Common law
Civil law
Islamic law
Technology(
Technoglobalism)
E-Business
E-Commerce

27. COMMUNICATION ACROSS CULTURES
The ability of a manager to effectively communicate across the cultural boundaries
will largely determine the success of international business transactions or the output of a
culturally diversified work force.

28. COMMUNICATION MODEL FOR MANAGERS
RECEIVER

29. VERBAL COMMUNICATION STYLES
• Context plays a key role in
explaining many
communication differences.
• Context means information
that surrounds a
communication and helps
to convey message.
High context: Messages are often
highly coded and implicit (Japan,
Arab countries)
Low context: Message is explicit
and the speaker says precisely i.e
Explicit (United States, Canada)
CLASSIFICATIONOFCONTEXT

30. High
Context
Low
Japan
Middle East
Latin America
Africa
Mediterranean
England
France
North America
Scandinavia
Germany
Switzerland
Low Explicitness of communication High
SOURCE: DERESKY
(2006)

31. VERBAL COMMUNICATION STYLES
INDIRECT AND DIRECT STYLES
In high context cultures, messages are implicit and indirect because the emphasis is on
personal relationship.
In low context cultures, the messages are explicit and direct, because the emphasis is on
objectives.
Example: In high context culture a person asks, “Who will be at this meeting?’
In low context a person asks, “What is the meeting going to be about?”

32. ELABORATE AND SUCCINCT STYLES
Elaborate style is common in high context cultures that have moderate degree of
uncertainty avoidance (Arab nations).
Exacting style is common in low context, low certainty avoidance cultures (England,
Germany, Sweden)
Succinct style is common in high context cultures with considerable uncertainty avoidance
(Asia)
VERBAL COMMUNICATION STYLES

33. Contextual and Personal styles
Contextual style focuses upon the speaker and relationship of parties and often
associated with high power distance, collective, high context cultures (Asian culture)
Personal style focuses on speaker and reduction of barriers between the parties and
often associated with low power distance, individualistic, low context cultures (USA,
Canada, Australia)
VERBAL COMMUNICATION STYLES

34. Affective and Instrumental styles
The Affective style is characterized by the language that requires the listener to carefully
note what is being said and observe how the sender is presenting the message. It is
common in collective, high context cultures (Middle East, Asia)
The Instrumental style is goal oriented and focuses on sender. It is commonly found in
individualistic, low context cultures (Switzerland, Denmark, and USA)
VERBAL COMMUNICATION STYLES

35. Managing cross-cultural communication
Developing cultural
sensitivity
what kind of behaviors does the message imply, and
how will they be perceived by the receiver?
Careful encoding Words, pictures, or gestures appropriate to the
receiver’s frame of reference.
Selective transmission what medium to choose?
Careful decoding of
feedback
Decoding is the process of translating the received
symbols into the interpreted message.

36. ACHIEVING COMMUNICATION EFFECTIVENESS
IMPROVE
FEEDBACK
SYSTEMS
PROVIDE LANGUAGE
TRAINING
INCREASE
FLEXIBILITY
AND CO-
OPERATION
PROVIDE CULTURAL TRAINING