Managers are required to recognize that generalizations in cultural profiles will produce only an approximation of national character. Many countries comprise diverse subcultures-whose constituents conform only in varying degrees to the national character. Above all, good managers treat people as individuals, and they consciously avoid any form of stereotyping.
However, a cultural profile is a good starting point to help managers develop some tentative expectations—some cultural context—as a backdrop to managing in a specific international setting. It is useful, then, to look at what cultural variables have been studied and what implications can be drawn from the results.
To understand the culture of a society, we need to recognize that there are subsystems in a society that are a function of where people live. These subsystems influence or are influenced by people’s cultural values and dimensions and so affect their behaviors, both on and off the job. This systems approach to understanding cultural and national variables—and their effects on work behavior.
Those categories are: the kinship system of relationships among families; the economic and political systems; the associations that make up formal and informal groups; the education system; the health system; attitudes toward recreation and leisure; and religion.
Dimensions of Cultural Value
Cultural variables result from unique sets of shared values among different groups of people. Most of the variations between cultures stem from underlying value systems, which cause people from different cultures to behave differently under similar circumstances. Values are a society’s ideas about what is good or bad, right or wrong—such as the widespread belief that stealing is immoral and unfair. Values determine how individuals will probably respond in any given circumstance.
As a powerful component of a society’s culture, values are communicated through the eight subsystems previously described and are passed from generation to generation. Interaction and pressure among these subsystems (or more recently, from foreign cultures) may provide the impetus for slow change.
The basis of a culture and religion is the shared beliefs, values and institutions. They are closely aligned with the accepted underpinnings of societal culture; thus religion and culture are inextricably linked. As such, religion underlies both moral and economic norms and influences everyday business transactions and on-the job behaviors.
The connections between culture and work behavior for employees and managers in various countries are very important in terms of business strategies. Managers in the home country or abroad must recognize both the legal religious and cultural rights in the workplace and also the value of such diversity in the workplace.