Culture and cultural dimensions

2.1. Culture and cultural dimensions

The popular literature on corporate cultures, following Peters and Watemnan (1982), insists that shared values represent the core of a corporate culture. This study, however, empirically shows shared perceptions of daily practices to be the core of an organization's culture. Culture is conceptualized as shared symbols, norms and values in a social collectivity such as a country. The most popular cultural theory that has been adopted in information systems (IS) research is Hofstede’s model. Hofstede (1980) defined culture as ‘‘the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another... it is the values, norms, beliefs and customs that an individual holds in common with other members of a social unit or group …’Ogbonna (1992) According to Hofsteide there are majorly five factors which influence the culture of the workplace.Power Distance, Masculinity vs. Feminity, Individualism, Uncertainty Avoidance Index, Long Term Orientation and Indulgence versus Restraint (Minkov, 2007).

Historically, there are numberless definitions about organizational culture, which is defined in many different ways in the literature. Perhaps the most commonly known definition is “the way we do things around here” (Lundy & Cowling, 1996). Organizational culture is manifested in the typical characteristics of the organization, in other words, organizational culture should be regarded as the right way in which things are done or problems should be understood in the organization. It is widely accepted that organizational culture is defined as the deeply rooted values and beliefs that are shared by personnel in an organization[1].

Hofstede also divided culture into four layers (or four main elements): symbols, heroes, rituals and values. Far researching at the four layers is critical for organizational managers, because it can affect business or operation at different degree and in different ways. An onion diagram model of organizational culture developed by Hofstede et al. (1997) is presented here (Figure 1)[2].

Figure 1. Onion Diagram Source: Hofstede (1997), P9.

 As we can see, values form the core of culture, which are the deepest level of culture, values are intimately connected with moral and ethical codes (Brown, 1988), and determine what people think ought to be done, and identify ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’ for both employers and employees. Rituals are collective activities which are considered socially essential, and heroes are persons who possess characteristics which are highly prized and are often the “winners” or those who get on in an organization. According to Deal and Kennedy (1982): ‘the hero is a great motivator. The magician, the person everyone will count on when things get tough …’ Symbols are the most overt element of culture and are the gestures, objects, words or acts that signify something different or wider from the others, and which have meaning for individual or group.

Hofstede (1997) said that culture influence how people behaviour and think, so, it is important to understand culture within an organization; In terms of an organization’s development, organizational culture can be used as different tools to help the organization reach success. First, organizational culture is a powerful tool for improving business performance (Brown, 1995), it can also be a competitive advantage against the organization’s competitors. Every organization has its own unique culture or value set, and different organization may have its own comprehension of culture meaning. The culture of the organization is typically created unconsciously, based on the values of the top management or the founders of an organization. In order to achieve a successful culture, managers shouldn’t ignore organizational culture and its themes, because culture can be used as a competitive advantage during organizational development, and a strong culture (one in which beliefs and values are widely shared and strongly held) can also offer many advantages, such as cooperation, control, communication or commitment. Meanwhile, the importance of organizational culture is growing as the result of several recent developmets, and the cultural themes can be used constantly to measure the culture of the organization.[3]

Firms that manage adaptation effectively are able to achieve congruence in the various cultures where they operate while extending their main sources of advantage across borders, and in some cases even making cultural diversity itself a source of advantage. More profitable and positive market valuation is associated with adoption of stringent environmental standard.

High power distance also correlates with consumers making purchase decisions based on emotion rather than information, which has clear implications for advertising as well as other aspects of marketing communications. Shifting to public relations, research indicates that in countries with high power distance and collectivism, public relations focuses more on building and maintaining relationships whereas in low power distance and individualistic cultures, it entails more explicit dissemination of information. The link between marketing and innovation/new product development seems to work better when managed in a centralized way in cultures with high power distance[4]. Consumers are more likely to want products that help them demonstrate their status, but there are also less obvious correlates.

National culture has also been shown to have an impact on manufacturing and supply chain practices, which can be useful to consider in a variety of contexts: analyzing manufacturing footprints, managing multi-plant operations, assessing competitors and suppliers and different countries, and so on. Consider the adoption of quality management practices. One European study indicates that in cultures with low power distance and uncertainty avoidance, implementation of formal quality management systems may require external market pressure, versus internal management initiative.[5] Finally, there are important organizational or human resources implications of national culture. In countries with high (versus low) power distance, employee selection tends to give more emphasis to social class (over education), training tends to emphasize conformity (versus autonomy), evaluations focus on compliance or trustworthiness (over performance), wage differences between managers and workers are larger, leadership is more authoritarian (instead of participative), motivation is based on the assumption that subordinates dislike work and hence is more coercive (rather than assuming employees like work and trying to strengthen their motivation through intrinsic and extrinsic rewards), and organizations are more hierarchical (versus flat)[6]. Externalization, e.g. via joint ventures, is a way that companies can reduce the cost of adapting to local cultures. Partnering with a local firm can provide access to local cultural understanding, business networks, and so on, that would be costly and time-consuming for a foreign company to develop on its own.

Differences in values among matched populations of employees of national subsidiaries of a multinational should be a conservative estimate of differences among the national populations at large, as respondents are supposed to share the same worldwide corporate culture. Differences found among IBM subsidiary personnel

Hofstede proposed that each culture has a preferred coordination mechanism, implying that workers from each nation deliver a better performance if they use their own preferred management practices.

1.       Power Distance, related to the different solutions to the basic problem of human inequality;

2.       Uncertainty Avoidance, related to the level of stress in a society in the face of an unknown future;

3.       Individualism versus Collectivism, related to the integration of individuals into primary groups;

4.       Masculinity versus Femininity, related to the division of emotional roles between women and men;

5.       Long Term versus Short Term Orientation, related to the choice of focus for people's efforts: the future or the present and past.

6.       Indulgence versus Restraint, related to the gratification versus control of basic human desires related to enjoying life.

Neman and Nollem (1996)	empirical examination of the effect of Hofstede’s (1980, 1991) five national culture dimensions and analogous management practices.	data from 176 work units in one large U.S.-based corporation
Pheng and Yuquan (2002)	comparing Chinese and Singaporean cultures	questionnaire-based survey
	Statistical analysis of ownership and usage of technological products confirms that convergence of technology is not the same as convergence of people’s values and habits
Thatcher et al. (2003)	National culture (UA, IC, PD, MF),  innovativeness with information technology	Survey of U.S. college students, cultural indices by Hofstede
Galliers et al. (1998)	Rate of technology adoption	Single site case study, culture not explicitly measured
Galliers, Madon, & Rashid, 1998; Garfield & Watson, 1998; Hasan & Ditsa, 1999; Thatcher, Srite, Stepina,&Liu, 2003)	the rate of technology adoption, technology transfer, and personal innovativeness	national culture with the structure of national information infrastructure[7]
Huff and Kelly (2003)	impact on its internal and external trust propensities	firm’s national culture[8]

Power Distance

Table 1 lists a selection of differences between national societies that validation research showed to be associated with the Power Distance dimension

Table 1. Ten Differences Between Small- and Large- Power Distance Societies

Small / low	Large / high
is subject to criteria of good and evil	legitimacy is irrelevant
Parents treat children as equals	Parents teach children obedience
Older people are neither respected nor feared	Older people are both respected and feared
Student-centered education	Teacher-centered education
Hierarchy means inequality of roles, established for convenience	Hierarchy means existential inequality
Subordinates expect to be consulted	Subordinates expect to be told what to do
Pluralist governments based on majority vote and changed peacefully	Autocratic governments based on co-optation and changed by revolution
Corruption rare; scandals end political careers	Corruption frequent; scandals are covered up
Income distribution in society rather even	Income distribution in society very uneven
Religions stressing equality of believers	Religions with a hierarchy of priests
	implement new, innovative technologies; change power structures with the organization	Gales (2008)

UA

Research has shown that people in uncertainty avoiding countries are also more emotional, and motivated by inner nervous energy. The opposite type, uncertainty accepting cultures, are more tolerant of opinions different from what they are used to; they try to have fewer rules, and on the philosophical and religious level they are empiricist, relativist and allow different currents to flow side by side.

weak	strong
accept higher levels of risk and do not attempt to control uncertainty	controlling future events,  reducing uncertainty and risk accept a new technology	diffusion factors[9]
negative correlation between UA and innovation		national innovation
Ease, lower stress, self-control, low anxiety	Higher stress, emotionality, anxiety, neuroticism
Higher scores on subjective health and well-
Lower scores on subjective health and well-being
being
Tolerance of deviant persons and ideas: what is Intolerance of deviant persons and ideas: what is
different is curious	different is dangerous
Comfortable with ambiguity and chaos	Need for clarity and structure
Teachers may say ‘I don’t know’	Teachers supposed to have all the answers
Changing jobs no problem	Staying in jobs even if disliked
Dislike of rules - written or unwritten	Emotional need for rules – even if not obeyed
In politics, citizens feel and are seen as	In politics, citizens feel and are seen as competent towards authorities incompetent towards authorities
In religion, philosophy and science: relativism	In religion, philosophy and science: belief in
fear of uncertainty in uncertainty-avoiding cultures results in a resistance to adopt new technologies in the first place	153 companies in 24 countries	Png et al (2001)
uncertainty-avoiding cultures need more time than uncertainty-accepting cultures to adopt new technologies[10]		Sundqvist et al, 2005; Garfield and Watson, 1998; Hansen and Ditsa, 1999; Kiel et al, 2000; Veiga et al, 2001; Doktor et al, 2005

long-term orientation (LTO)

High / Long	Low / Short
emphasizes values such as persistence, building relationships, thrift, loyalty and trustworthiness	emphasizes values such as personal steadiness and stability	diffusion factors[11]
low innovation effect but a high imitation effect of diffusion		diffusion factors[12]
traditions and commitments become impediments to change; however, once a change is socially accepted, the speed of change is extremely fast.
Supposed to be proud of one’s country	Trying to learn from other countries
Social spending and consumption	Large savings quote, funds available for investment

Na osnovu istraživanja Mellahi i Vilkinson, 2004 str. 31) distribuiranje asimetričnih informacija [LUM1] o tehnologiji ka donosiocima odluke, vodi do market neuspeha. Tako, zadatak istraživanja je da sagleda odnosa manadžera-kupca, određivanjem položaja preduzeća u odnosu na jedan od tri predložena modela.

moramo istražiti specifične izvore ove razlike i efekat takvih razlika o odnosu između tržišne nestabilnosti i informacija traži. Neki noviji radovi ukazuju na to da će globalna integracija tržišta i prekogranično širenje MNC oslabiti efekte na nivou država [Ohmae 1990; Mueller 1994]. Firme reaguju intenzivnijem traženjem informacija [Galbrajt 1973; Tompson 1967], kada su suočeni sa povećanom neizvesnošću u okruženju,  dok nesigurnost pokreće veću diversifikaciju proizvoda i nestabilnost cene.

Osnovna premisa je da: “Što veći rizik investitor želi da preuzme, veći je povraćaj uloženog kapitala” (Horvitz, 2007 str. 3). Ako firma ima dug, rizik je veći zbog toga što investitori mogu izgubiti novac. Pozitivan odnos između finansijskog učinka kompanije i tržišne vrednosti, treba da ima pozitivan uticaj na stvaranje zajedničke vrednosti.

Pored društveno odgovornog poslovanja i CSV, pitanje legitimnosti donošenja odluka, moć, hitnost i dugoročna orijentacija treba da budu predstavljeni u cilju sprečavanja izbegavanje odgovornosti. Menadžeri moraju pretpostaviti da se stavovi i praksa jedne kulture dimenzije ne odnose uvek na drugu dimenziju kulture. Hiperkonkurencija diktira da ove kompanije koriste strategiju preokreta i fokusiraju svoju proizvodnju na proizvode koji koriste alternativne izvore energije. U nastojanju da reše ovaj nedostatak, menadžeri su predstavili energetski efikasniju opremu i poboljšali proces proizvodnje smanjenjem upotrebe energije fosilnih goriva (Frondel i dr., 2010 str. 4055). Na žalost, balansiranjem interesa, menadžeri distribuiraju asimetrične informacije [LUM2] o tehnologiji ka donosiocima odluke, što vodi do market neuspeha (Mellahi i Vilkinson, 2004 str. 31).

Tako, zadatak istraživanja je da sagleda odnosa manadžera-kupca, određivanjem položaja preduzeća u odnosu na jedan od tri predložena modela. Tri pretpostavke opisuju analizu hipoteze: (1) firma koja razvija EMS može istovremeno da smanji uticaj na životnu sredinu i poboljša konkurentnost; (2) tip standarda u upotrebi i broj patenata mogu uticati na rast produktivnosti; i (3) različit odnos između snage udaljenosti i izbegavanje neizvesnosti X[LUM3]  mogu uticati na buduću profitabilnost kompanije.

Information failure is another, significant, market failure and can occur in two basic situations. Firstly, information failure exists when some, or all, of the participants in an economic exchange do not have perfect knowledge. Secondly, information failure exists when one participant in an economic exchange knows more than the other, a situation referred to as the problem of asymmetric, or unbalanced, information

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Furthermore, cultural differences across countries have been linked with differences in managerial attitudes and behaviors [Hofstede 1980; 1994; Tayeb 1988; Earley 1989; Adler 1991]. In part, research on country-level effects has emerged as a reaction to convergence theory [Dunlop, Harbison, Kerr and Myers 1975], which proposed that the effects of technology and economics together would drive countries toward convergence in patterns of work organization. Some recent work suggests that the global integration of markets and the cross-border diffusion of practices within MNCs will weaken countrylevel effects [Ohmae 1990; Mueller 1994]. Market volatility is a powerful source of environmental uncertainty and ambiguity [Duncan 1972], particularly for firms in the financial service industry. When faced with increased uncertainty in the environment, organizations respond by engaging in more intensive information seeking [Galbraith 1973; Thompson 1967]. Cyert and March [1963] note the use of problemistic search by organizations striving to reduce the uncertainty in their operations.In our research context, uncertainty in the environment is driven by volatility in currency prices

Institutional Factors and Information Seeking In this subsection, we take the discussion of country-level effects to the next stage: if in fact overall country-level effects are to be found in the informationseeking behavior of firms, we need to investigate the specific sources of these differences and the effect of such differences on the relationship between market volatility and information seeking. We examine both national industry arrangements and national cultural factors as sources of country differences

In particular, we look at national cultural differences in the extent of uncertainty avoidance and individualism-collectivism [Hofstede 1980; Earley 1989; Hofstede 1994; Triandis 1995] and examine their effects on banks' information-seeking behavior. As with industry arrangements, we also examine the differences between the overall pattern of relationships between the institutional factors and the extent of information seeking across national cultural environments.

We conceptualize national culture as shared by the nationals of a particular country. While the banks in different countries may be either foreign owned or locally owned, practically all the traders tend to be nationals of the country of location [Hambros Bank 1993].1 Accordingly, we frame the following hypotheses relating national culture to the behavior of banks in the country of location.

U tom smislu, kulturne karakteristike Hofstede model - izbegavanje neizvesnosti, snaga distance, i dugoročna orijentacija - odabrani su kao faktori koji mogu da objašnjenje dvosmisleno vezu izmedju finansijskih performansi i perfomansi zaštite životne sredine. Dok su neke studije pokazale značajnu vezu između ukupne dobiti i izbegavanja neizvesnosti (Dodor & Rana, 2007); druge studije nisu pronašle vezu između izbegavanja neizvesnosti i održivosti životne sredine (Tang & Koveos, 2008; Husted, 2005).

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[1] Sun, Shili. "Organizational culture and its themes." International Journal of Business and Management 3.12 (2009): 137.

[2] Sun, Shili. "Organizational culture and its themes." International Journal of Business and Management 3.12 (2009): 137.

[3] Sun, Shili. "Organizational culture and its themes." International Journal of Business and Management 3.12 (2009): 137.

[4] Tony C. Garret, David H. Buisson, and Chee Meng Yap, “National Culture and the Use of R&D and Marketing Integration Mechanisms: A Cross Cultural Study Between Singapore and New Zealand,” Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 35, Issue 3, April 2006, pp. 293-307.

[5] Brian P. Matthews, Akiko Ueno, Tauno Kekale, Mikko Repka, Zulema Lopes Pereira, and Graca Silva, “International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management,” Vol 18 (7): 16, Oct 1, 2001. (Note: This study is based on research conducted only in the U.K., Finland, and Portugal)

[6] This paragraph is drawn from the Powerpoint slides that accompany Chapter 2 of John B. Cullen and K. Praveen Parboteeah, Multinational Management: A Strategic Approach¸ Third Edition, South-Western College Publishing, 2005. Some material is quoted directly while other material is paraphrased (not marked to improve readability).

[7] Lee, Sang-Gun, Silvana Trimi, and Changsoo Kim. "The impact of cultural differences on technology adoption." Journal of World Business 48.1 (2013): 20-29.

[8] Lee, Sang-Gun, Silvana Trimi, and Changsoo Kim. "The impact of cultural differences on technology adoption." Journal of World Business 48.1 (2013): 20-29.

[9] Lee, Sang-Gun, Silvana Trimi, and Changsoo Kim. "The impact of cultural differences on technology adoption." Journal of World Business 48.1 (2013): 20-29.

[10] Barron, Andrew, and Dirk Schneckenberg. "A theoretical framework for exploring the influence of national culture on Web 2.0 adoption in corporate contexts." Electronic Journal of Information Systems Evaluation 15.2 (2012): 176-186.

[11] Lee, Sang-Gun, Silvana Trimi, and Changsoo Kim. "The impact of cultural differences on technology adoption." Journal of World Business 48.1 (2013): 20-29.

[12] Lee, Sang-Gun, Silvana Trimi, and Changsoo Kim. "The impact of cultural differences on technology adoption." Journal of World Business 48.1 (2013): 20-29.

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 [LUM1]Dve recenice iznad vec sam slicno napisao

 [LUM2]Dve recenice iznad vec sam slicno napisao

 [LUM3]Kod krajnjih kupaca