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Analysis of Academic Literature on a National Culture
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The national background
3. Hofstede’s factors
4. The successful work of the manager in India
5. The effectiveness of UK practices
6. Conclusion
7. Bibliography
Introduction
Traditionally, the impact of a socio-cultural background is
extremely important in the life of people, to the extent that
it can even define their behvaiour, lifestyle, habits, and
professional work. It is not a secret that each culture is
unique and different from any other. Naturally, people representing
different cultures are also quite different. At the same time,
the development of the modern world increases the necessity
of the closer cooperation of people representing different
socio-cultural background. On the one hand, there is the growing
impact of the process of globalization which makes many, if
not to say all, countries of the world get integrated into
one world market where each country could take its own niche.
As a result, the globalization contributes to the higher integration
of people from different cultures and their close cooperation
in their professional work.
On the other hand, communities, which used to be ethnically
solid with a low level of ethnic minorities, nowadays become
more and more culturally diverse since people from other countries,
and, thus, different culture flow to these communities. In
such a situation, developed countries such as the UK turn
to be the Promised land for people from many developing countries.
As a result, the local society becomes culturally diverse
as local population deals with such national groups which
have an absolutely different socio-cultural background.
At the same time, representatives of developed countries also
quite often have to work in developing countries, for instance,
British work in India, since companies originating from developed
countries expand their markets and network on developing countries.
In such a situation, it is extremely important to remember
that the successful work of the manager substantially depends
on his profound knowledge of the cultural background, traditions
and norms of people he is supposed to work with. This means
that cultural factors should be taken into consideration not
only in a foreign country but also in his native land if he
is working in an organization where people are culturally
diverse or represent different community. In terms of this
paper the work of the manager in India and Indian-based community
organization will be discussed.
The national background
Before speaking about the perspective of a work of the manager
in India or an organization with predominantly Indian workers,
it is necessary to briefly dwell upon the national background
of India. First of all, it should be said that India is a
country with a great history and not less great traditions
that have not been radically changed for centuries. This is
why the local traditions and norms are extremely important
to Indians regardless the country they are currently living
in.
On analyzing Indian cultural and national background it should
be pointed out that it is quite a conservative country where
the traditional caste hierarchy of the society still persists
and influences practically all spheres of life of all Indians
(1). The main religion of Indians is Hinduism that is actually
also very important to them since, as a rule, Indians are
religious people and are very respectful to the religious
and cultural norms of their country(2). However, it is worthy
of mention that other religions, such as Islam, are lasso
spread in India that actually causes some serious conflicts
within the country. In general, it should be said that Indian
society is characterized as strictly structure so that the
social position of a person in India is of a paramount importance
that, to a significant extent, define the behaviour of Indian
people (1). Basically, Indian culture is different from Western
one and is more conservative that means that many social biases
are still extremely wide spread and strong in India while
in the UK they play less and less significant role, such as
gender roles implying the total dominance of men and obedience
of women. At the same time, Christian traditions are rather
weak in India but it is important to underline that Indians
are well acquainted with Western civilization since for a
long period of time the country was under the control of the
UK that naturally influenced the historical development of
the country, created certain contradictions and affected relations
between Indian and British people.
Hofstede’s factors
Naturally, in order to achieve positive results in the work
of the manager in a different culture it is necessary to take
into consideration its norms and traditions. Practically,
it means that the UK manager should perfectly understand the
mentality, culture, traditions and norms of India if he is
supposed to work in this country or in an organization where
Indians constitute a substantial part. At the same time, it
is necessary to use a systematic approach and take into consideration
a variety of factors that actually define the cultural differences
between representatives of different national groups.
In this respect, it is possible to refer to Geert Hofstede’s
works in which he analyzed various socio-cultural factors
that influence behaviour, norms and perception of representatives
of different nations. Basically, he defines five major factors,
which should be taken into consideration and which traditionally
differ representatives of different national groups.
First of all, it should be said that Hofstede develops a concept
of Power Distance Index, which is defined by the researcher
as “the extent to which the less powerful members of
organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and
expect that power is distributed unequally” (2:7). It
is worthy of mention that this inequality in relation to power
is defined from below. Practically it means that it is not
only the leaders that have the power in the community or organization
but they possess this power because of the recognition of
their higher position by the rest of the community. In other
words, the community, notably follower, provides its leaders
with the power and recognizes the existing inequality. In
such a way, the follower and leaders are both conscious of
the exiting inequality of power which may vary depending on
a country and its culture.
Another important factor is individualism. Hofstede defines
individualism as “the degree to which individuals are
integrated into the group” (2:8). In actuality, the
concept of individuals is based on the opposition of individualism
and collectivism typical for different culture in a different
degree. Practically, it means that some cultures are more
susceptible to individualism while other are less and rather
tend to collectivism where the role of individual is less
significant compared to the interests of the community.
Furthermore, masculinity may be also an important factor that
can have a profound impact on behaviour and belief of representatives
of different cultures. According to Hofstede, masculinity
refers to “the distribution of roles between the genders”
(2:9), Similarly to the previous concept, masculinity is also
based on the opposition, notably, on the opposition to femininity.
As a rule, this factor reveals the gaps that exist between
men and women in different societies. It is not a secret that
the position of females and males in different cultures varies
and may be quite unequal mainly due to the substantial differences
in male and female values. The wider is the gap the more is
the difference in gender roles in society.
Also, it is necessary to pay attention to uncertainty avoidance
index. Hofstede estimates that uncertainty avoidance index
indicates “to what extent a culture programs its members
to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured
situations” (2:10). In this respect, it is possible
to distinguish uncertainty avoiding cultures and uncertainty
accepting cultures which differ substantially since the former
tend to avoid uncertainty by setting strict rules and regulations
that define their behaviour, beliefs, etc., while the latter
tend to accept uncertainty that means that they do not really
need any strict rules and accept the possibility of the pluralism
of opinions, views, beliefs, etc. without any strict regulations.
The successful work of the manager in India
On analyzing the work of the manager in India, using the factors
above, it is necessary to underline that the UK manager will
have to adapt to quite a different cultural norms and mentality.
It is obvious that the UK and India are quite different countries
that have different cultures, religions and philosophies.
The UK manager is a representative of a typically Western
culture, while Indian people personify Oriental culture. Naturally,
in order to achieve positive results in his work, the manager
should not violate the rules and norms that exist in Indian
society and, thus, he will need to refuse form his traditional
manner of behaviour, change or revaluate his views so that
he will not violate the norms accepted in India.
First of all, speaking about the difference between the UK
and India that the manager should pay a particular attention
to, it is necessary to underline that power distance index
in Indian community is substantially higher than in the UK.
It means that the manager should realize the fact that the
social and organizational hierarchy in India is stricter than
in the UK. In other words, the level of recognition of the
inequality of ordinary employees and the organization’s
leaders will be incomparably higher in India than in the UK.
As a result, the manager would hardly be able to successfully
apply the democratic and liberal methods of work since, he
would rather need to create the image that could correspond
to the traditional perception of Indians concerning authority.
In practice, he should keep destine between himself and his
subordinates who occupy lower position in the organizational
hierarchy and the lower an employee is the larger should be
the distance.
Furthermore, the traditional Western individualism would hardly
be appreciated by Indian since this country rather tends to
higher level of collectivism than individualism (3). As a
result, the role of the organization, its interests and progress
are more important to Indian than their individual success.
Unquestionably, it will be difficult for the UK manager to
change his individualistic style but still, to achieve success,
he will need to change his style of work and show to employees
that the success of the company is prior to his own interests
and career growth. Otherwise, employees will never accept
the UK manager as a reliable and well-qualified professional.
Even more difficult will be the position of the female manager
from the UK in India because traditionally, the local culture
is male dominated, while the role of women is often considered
to be secondary. However, it is necessary to underline that
the caste division of Indian society with its strict structure
can be quite helpful for the UK female manager as the high
social position is more important to Indians than the gender.
In other words, the respect of the power of the female manager
can outweigh gender-related biases.
Also, it will be quite difficult but necessary for the UK
manager to get used to Indian high rate of uncertainty avoidance
index. In fact, it is really difficult to reject traditional
Western readiness to accept pluralism of views and opinions
and be tolerant at large, while in India the manager should
rather stick to the local traditions and norms that could
not be violated. Otherwise, his authority and respectful position
will be undermined because if the manager listen to and accept
a different opinion, Indian will more likely to interpret
it as his weakness.
Finally, it should be said that the UK manager should take
into consideration the same factors even though he is supposed
to work in an organization with predominantly Indian workers
in the UK because they keep their traditions and the standards
and norms established in Indian culture are very strong. Nonetheless,
the difference is that in the UK the manager will have an
opportunity to avoid extremes and rather modify his behaviour
than change it completely as he would have to do being in
India.
Conclusion
Thus, it is possible to conclude that the role of national
culture is extremely important and the successful work of
the manager is based on the knowledge of the cultural background
of his employees. In such a way, the more integrated the manager
is in the cultural background of his employees the more successful
his work will be.
Bibliography:
1. Country Profile: India. Retrieved April 2, 2007 from <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/country_profiles/1154019.stm>
2. Taylor, Stephen J. IBC FOCUS ARTICLE: How do Hofstede’s
Dimensions correlate with the World’s Religions? Retrieved
April 2, 2007 from <http://www.international-business-center.com/international_newsletter/april_2003/april_03_web.htm#article>
3. Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions. Retrieved April 2,
2007 from <http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_india.shtml>
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