Culture and Gender

Describes " a mode of thinking people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when team members striving for unanimity overrides their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action. Refers to a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgement that results from in-group pressures. A major source of ineffectiveness in teams.

• 1. Overestimating the teams' power and morality
• 2. Closed-mindedness
• 3. Pressures toward uniformity

incompletely surveying objectives and alternatives, failing to examine the risks inherent in preferred choices, failing to reappraise initially rejected alternatives, conducting poor information searches, introducing selective bias in processing available information, and failing to work out contingency plans.

reflects a view of things in which one's own group is the center of everything and that all others are scaled and rated with reference to it. Believing that their way is the best way to live and to work and all other approaches are inferior.

refers to judging other groups as inferior to ones own

is the behavior of whole systems that cannot be predicted by the behavior of any parts taken separately. In order to really understand what is going on we have to abandon starting with parts and we must work instead from whole to particular. Cultural synergistic organizations recognize both the similarities and differences among the cultures that compose a global organization and suggest that we neither ignore nor minimize cultural diversity but rather view it as a resource in designing and developing organizational systems.

Means viewing the world solely through one's own eyes and perspectives. A person with a parochial perspective neither recognizes other people's different ways of living and working nor appreciates that such differences can offer significant opportunities or create serious consequences. Believe that their way is the only way and do not recognize any other way of living or working.

involves a form of categorization that organizes our experience and guides our behavior toward various groups within society. Never accurately describe individual behavior rather they describe the behavioral norm for members of a particular group. Can be helpful or harmful depending on how we use them.

When it is consciously held, when it is descriptive rather than evaluative, when it is accurate , when it is the first best guess and when it is modified.

exists when people define themselves primarily as separate individuals and make their main commitment to themselves. Implies loosely knit social networks in which people focus primarily on taking care of themselves and their immediate families.

explains the behavior of people in organizations around the world and shows people how to work in organizations with employee and client populations from many different cultures. Describes organizational behavior within countries and cultures; compares organizational behavior across countries and cultures; and, most important, seeks to understand and improve the interaction of coworkers, managers, executives, clients, suppliers, and alliance partners from countries and cultures around the world. Expands the scope of domestic management to encompass international and multicultural dynamics.

Seen as "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs and any capabilities and habits acquired by a... persons as a member of society." Alternatively it is viewed as "a way of life of a group of people, the configuration of all the more of less stereotyped patterns of learned behavior, which are handed down from one generation to the next through the means of language and imitation." Consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts. Culture therefore is something that is shared by all or almost all members of a given social group, something older members of a group pass on to younger members and something (as in the case of morals, laws, and customs) that shapes behavior, or... structures one's perception of the world.

choosing not to see cultural differences-limits our ability to benefit from diversity; that is, it precludes our ability to minimize the problems caused by cultural diversity and to maximize the potential advantages it offers.

Characterized by tight social networks in which people strongly distinguish between their own groups (in-groups, such as relatives, clans, and organizations) and other groups. Hold common goals and objectives, not individual goals that focus primarily on self-interest.

that which is explicitly or implicitly desirable to an individual or group and which influences the selection from available modes, means, and ends of action. Can be both consciously and unconsciously held. Therefore reflect relatively general beliefs that either define what is right and wrong or specify general preferences.

the second fundamental dimension of global firms, means that people from many countries and/or cultures interact regularly. pg 17

involves the exchange of meaning: it is my attempt to let you know what I mean. It includes any behavior another person perceives and interprets: it is your understanding of what I mean. Includes sending both verbal messages (words) and nonverbal messages (tone of voice, facial expression, behavior, physical settings, etc.). It includes consciously sent messages as well as messages that the sender is totally unaware of having sent. Involves a complex, multilayered, dynamic process through which we exchange meaning.

is selective, learned, culturally determined, consistent, and inaccurate. We perceive what we expect to perceive. We perceive things according to what we have been trained to see, according to our cultural map.

the belief that all people are basically the same.

societies emphasize relationships among people, concern for others, and the overall quality of life.

reflects the extent to which people in a society feel threatened by ambiguity and therefore try to avoid ambiguous situations by providing greater certainty and predictability. Organizations reduce uncertainty by establishing more formal rules, rejecting deviant ideas and behavior, accepting the possibility of identifying absolute truths and attaining unquestionable expertise, and providing their employees with greater career stability.

reflects the extent to which less powerful members of organizations accept an unequal distribution of power.

refers to the spread of global organizations' operations over vast distances worldwide. pg 17

of a society reflects the complex interaction of values, attitudes, and behaviors displayed by its members. Individuals express culture and its normative qualities through the values they hold about life and the world around them. These values in affect their attitudes about the form of behavior considered most appropriate and effective in any given situation. The continually changing patterns of individual and group behavior eventually influence the society's culture, and the cycle begins again. pg. 19-20

When we only perceive those images that may be meaningful to us. We group perceived images into familiar categories that help is to simplify our environment, become the basis for our interpretations, and allow us to function in an otherwise overly complex world. Help us distinguish what is most important in our environment and how to behave accordingly. pg 75-76