Cross Cultural Awareness

In nowadays modern, rushed world cultural diversity has grown widely. Globalization seems pervasive. There is a well seen difference between the value systems of rich and poor countries or people even. And so, value systems and the culture of a country are tightly connected. In order to be a good manager outside your ‘comfort zone’ – the country you are living in, with its culture, people, and all of it sides (that you are pretty acknowledged of), you should be ready to go deeper in the new place’s culture, people’s values, habitude, manners or even dress codes and food manners. Using the bedrock of cultural theory and comparison are the keys to manage within a culture. The importance of knowing a country’s culture helps understanding the motivation of the individuals towards work and rewords. As employee leave the company and replacements are hired the company culture will change, as the environment in which the company operates (the laws, regulations, business climate, etc.) changes, the company culture will also change. So, as stated – a countries culture and value systems are crucially important. Let us now start with the country we will be talking about – India.

It is located In Southern Asia with capital: New Delhi. The mildness of the Indians has continued till date, despite the aggressiveness of the Muslim conquerors and the reforming zeal of the British, the Portuguese and the Dutch. The Indians are noted for their humanness and calm nature without any harshness in their principles and ideals. India is a conglomeration of men and women of various castes and creed. It is a fusion of old traditional values and the modern principles, thus satisfying all the three generations in the present India. The influences of Hinduism and the tradition of the caste system have crea90ted a culture that emphasizes established hierarchical relationships. All relationships involve hierarchies. In schools, teachers are called gurus and are viewed as the source of all knowledge. The patriarch, usually the father, is considered the leader of the family. The boss is seen as the source of ultimate responsibility in business. Every relationship has a clear- cut hierarchy that must be observed for the social order to be maintained. People typically define themselves by the groups to which they belong rather than by their status as individuals.

Someone is deemed to be affiliated to a specific state, region, city, family, career path, religion, etc. Differences in culture, history, economy, and political and management systems may lead to differences in employee job attribute preferences across countries. To the extent that this is true, managers and designers of motivation systems must understand the preferences of local employees. Now, I will present data from the Pew Research Center (2003, 2007), which asked this question twice: in 2003 and 2007 and the data is the average percentages for each country. 69.0 per cent of the India’s population strongly agrees that their national cultures are superior to those of other nations. The country is, in fact, on the 1st place here. However, Bulgaria is not much behind with 36.0 percentages, which leaves her on the 9th position. And these is the expresses strong position, you can probably imagine what the real percentages are. And so, countries whose citizens are mostly poor, travel infrequently abroad, and are not knowledgeable about foreign cultures have the highest percentages of people who are strongly convinced that their national culture is superior.

What is more here should be noted that both countries have strong belief in their own culture, which means problems could arise. For example, the different food manners, the etiquette in job meetings, etc. All participant from both nations, have to be prepared about each other’s culture and habits, and be aware that compromises have to make in order the cooperation to work. Another thing to consider is the Peter Smith, Fons Trompenaars, and Shaun Dugan (1995) – the study of locus of control. The first dimension created a very clear contrast between Eastern Europe and Asia. Which means, Bulgaria found at the positive pole of the dimension, whereas India at the negative pole. People from the positive pole tend to agree that people can influence political decisions through their actions (supposedly an indication of internal locus of control) but did not believe in a fair exam system where students’ efforts bring success (indication of external locus ot control). In Asia, the opposite situation was observed: a belief that individual effort results in academic success, but a lack of belief that people’s efforts can influence politics, Smith, Trompenaars, and Dugan (1995) called this dimension ‘personal versus political’

This dimension links personal inefficiency in task setting with political idealism at the positive pole (BG), while at the negative pole(Asia) there are items accepting responsibility for one’s personal fate but discounting political or organizational efficacy.(pp. 886-388) ‘Since the later 1980s the idea of dimensions of national cultures has become what Kuhn called “normal science”.’ (Hofstede, 2002) Another comparison between the two countries could be made using the crucial innovation in Hofstede’s analysis – the dimensions approach. He found that answers by individuals were aggregated to the level of their countries – focusing on societies rather than on individuals, on national cultures rather than on personalities. This according to M.Minkov ‘implied a switch to an anthropological frame of mind.’(p.205) the ecological dimensions approach became a new paradigm in the study of national cultures. The ecological dimensions approach produces scores for each country on each dimension and if explored through the lens of the 5-D Model of Hofstede, a good overview of the deep drivers of the India’s culture could be made in relative to other world cultures – in our case Bulgaria.

To start with, Power distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed inequally. India scores 77 in this dimension and Bulgaria scores also high – 70, which indicating an appreciation for hierarchy and a Top – Down Structure in society and Organizations. Parents teach children obedience. Older people are both respected and feared. In both countries is seen teacher-centered education. Power is a basic fact of society antedating good or evil: its legitimacy is irrelevant. Employees expect to be directed clearly as to their functions and what is expected of them, which means the managing system should not be different. The dimension Uncertainty Avoidance has to do with the way that a society deals with the fact that the future can never be known: should we try to control the future or just let it happen? India scores 40 on this dimension and thus has a medium low preference for avoiding uncertainty.

In India there is acceptance of imperfection;nothing has to be perfect nor has to go exactly as planned. India is traditionally a patient country where tolerance for the unexpected is high ; even welcomed as a break from monotony. There is a saying that “nothing is impossible” in India, so long as one knows how to “adjust”. It is this attitude that is both the cause of misery as well as the most empowering aspect of the country. However, Bulgaria scores 85 on this dimension and thus has a very high preference for avoiding uncertainty. Countries exhibiting high uncertainty avoidance maintain rigid codes of belief and behaviour and are intolerant of unorthodox behaviour and ideas. In these cultures there is an emotional need for rules (even if the rules never seem to work) time is money, people have an inner urge to be busy and work hard, precision and punctuality are the norm, innovation may be resisted, security is an important element in individual motivation. The fundamental issue addressed by the dimension of Individualism is the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members.

Both, India (with a score of 48) and Bulgaria (with a score of 30) are a societis with clear collectivistic traits. This means that there is a high preference for belonging to a larger social framework in which individuals are expected to act in accordance to the greater good of one’s defined in-group(s). The employer/employee relationship is one of expectations based on expectations – Loyalty by the employee and almost familial protection by the Employer. Hiring and promotion decisions are often made based on relationships which are the key to everything in a Collectivist society. And this strategy could be used in the management in both countries. In the dimension ‘masculinity versus femininity’ India scores 56 on this dimension and is thus considered a masculine society. Even though it is mildy above the mid range in score, India is actually very masculine in terms of visual display of success and power. Even though it is mildy above the mid range in score, India is actually very masculine in terms of visual display of success and power. In more Masculine countries the focus is on success and achievements, validated by material gains.

Work is the center of one’s life and visible symbols of success in the work place is very important. Here, Bulgaria has a score of 40 and is thus considered a relatively feminine society. In feminine countries the focus is on “working in order to live”, managers strive for consensus, people value equality, solidarity and quality in their working lives. Conflicts are resolved by compromise and negotiation. Incentives such as free time and flexibility are favoured. Focus is on well-being, status is not shown. Company culture is important because it can make or break your company . As a conclusion, I could state that India and Bulgaria are not that different in the terms of understanding and work management. There are parts that both cultures are pretty much alike, but in some other dimensions they are at the two opposite extremes, which leaves the manager with the hard task to manage. Something crucially important about India is that In India there is an acceptance that there are many truths and often depends on the seeker. However, Bulgarians ‘are working in order to live’ and there is an emotional need for rules. Only a company culture that is aligned with your goals, one that helps you anticipate and adapt to change, will help you achieve superior performance over the long run.

Bibliography:

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[ 1 ]. Schwartz, S.H. (2011). Studying Values: Personal adventure, Future directions. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 42(2), 307-319 [ 2 ]. Browaeys, M.-J., & Price, R. (2008), Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 1st Ed, Prentice Hall, 20-46 [ 3 ]. French, R. (2010), Cross-Cultural Management in Work Organizations, 2nd Ed, London: CIPD, 120-160 [ 4 ]. India – Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette (2012), Retrieved January 28, 2013, http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/india-country-profile.html [ 5 ]. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, What motivates employees? A comparison of US and Chinese responses, (June 1998), Retrieved January 30, 2013,