Summary Chapter 4: The Meanings and Dimensions of Culture - Comprehensive Chapter

Chapter 4: The Meanings and Dimensions of Culture Learning Objectives and Chapter Summary 1. DEFINE the term "culture," and discuss some of the comparative ways of differentiating cultures. Culture is acquired knowledge that people use to interpret experience and generate social behavior. Culture also has the characteristics of being learned, shared, transgenerational, symbolic, patterned, and adaptive. There are many dimensions of cultural diversity, including centralized vs. decentralized decision-making, safety vs. risk, individual vs. group rewards, informal vs. formal procedures, high vs. low organizational loyalty, cooperation vs. competition, short-term vs. long-term horizons, and stability vs. innovation. 2. DESCRIBE the concept of cultural values, and relate some of the international differences, similarities, and changes occurring in terms of both work and managerial values. Values are basic convictions that people have regarding what is right and wrong, good and bad, important and unimportant. Research shows that there are both differences and similarities between the work values and managerial values of different cultural groups. Work values often reflect culture and industrialization, and managerial values are highly related to success. Research shows that values tend to change over time and often reflect age and experience. Recent research undertaken by the GLOBE project has attempted to extend and integrate cultural attributes and variables as they relate to managerial leadership and practice. These analyses confirm much of the Hofstede and Trompenaars research with greater emphasis on differences in managerial leadership styles. 3. IDENTIFY the major dimensions of culture relevant to work settings, and discuss their effect on behavior in an international environment. Hofstede has identified and researched four major dimensions of culture: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and masculinity. Each will affect a country’s political and social system. The integration of these factors into two-dimensional figures can illustrate the complexity of culture’s effect on behavior.