Exercises for Practical Session 1
I. Comment on the following quotations:
“Share our similarities, celebrate our differences” (M. Scott Peck, American author).
“When overseas you learn more about your own country than you do the place you are writing” (Clint Bargen, American activist).
“Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, that is not difficult”. (Charlotte Whitton, late mayor of Ottawa).
What do you understand from these quotations? Do you agree with them?
Exercises 1A Match the words A-E to their meanings 1-5
1. Willingness to allow people to do, say, or
believe what they want without criticizing or
punishing them; A) anxiety
2. The state of being unclear, confusing, not B) tolerance
certain or things that produce this effect
C) ambiguity
3. The feeling you get when you are afraid or
worried that something bad is going to happen; D) uncertainty
4. The state of being uneasy or worried about what E) fear
may happen;
5. The state of being uncertain;
Exercises 1B Match the following Ukrainian words 1-5 with their English
Еquivalents A-E
1 занепокоєння, неспокій А) fear
2 двозначність, неясність В) tolerance
3 невизначеність невпевненість С) ambiguity
4 терпимість, толерантність D) uncertainty
5 страх Е) anxiety
Exercise 2 Choose the most appropriate word or word partnership from the
Box to complete the following sentences
famine value, the issue of the equality and inequality, high UA, uncertainty avoidance (2), lessen anxiety, high suicide rates
5. … …. is taught so managers can have an idea what sort of rules and practices are accepted and necessary in different cultures.
6. It is very important to … … when communicating with someone of an unfamiliar culture.
7. … …. … and alcoholism are possible outcomes of anxiety in a society
8. Eliane Karsolian concludes that … … has a deep role in shaping consumer's attitudes towards brands.
9. In human thinking … … … between the sexes is as old as religion, ethics and philosophy themselves.
10. People in cultures with … … … tend to be more emotional.
11. The idea that small is beautiful is a … … .
Exercise 3 Activity 'Learning stations'
There are 2 learning stations (LS) with some exercises to the topic. The class is divided into equal groups according to the number of students. Each group rotates and visits each learning station for a set of time to do tasks.
Learning Stuation 1 There are three texts about different countries (the UK, the USA, Ukraine) in terms of Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) and Masculinity versus Femininity Index (MAS).
Task 1 Read the texts and complete the table below your articles. What do these scores mean to each country? Work in a group.
Student A: Read the textAStudent B: Read the text B
Student C: Read the text C
Country UAI score MAS score
1.
2.
3.
Text A
What about the UK? http://geert-hofstede.com/ukraine.html
If we explore the British culture through the lens of the 6-D Model©, we can get a good overview of the deep drivers of British culture relative to other world cultures.
Uncertainty Avoidance
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? This ambiguity brings with it anxiety and different cultures have learnt to deal with this anxiety in different ways. The extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these is reflected in the score on Uncertainty Avoidance.
At 35 the UK has a low score on Uncertainty Avoidance which means that as a nation they are quite happy to wake up not knowing what the day brings and they are happy to ‘make it up as they go along’ changing plans as new information comes to light. As a low UAI country the British are comfortable in ambiguous situations - the term ‘muddling through’ is a very British way of expressing this. There are generally not too many rules in British society, but those that are there are adhered to (the most famous of which of of course the British love of queuing which has also to do with the values of fair play).
In work terms this results in planning that is not detail oriented – the end goal will be clear (due to high MAS) but the detail of how we get there will be light and the actual process fluid and flexible to emerging and changing environment. Planning horizons will also be shorter. Most importantly the combination of a highly Individualist and curious nation is a high level of creativity and strong need for innovation. What is different is attractive! This emerges throughout the society in both its humour, heavy consumerism for new and innovative products and the fast highly creative industries it thrives in – advertising, marketing, financial engineering.
Masculinity
A high score (Masculine) on this dimension indicates that the society will be driven by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by the winner/best in field – a value system that starts in school and continues throughout organisational life. A low score (Feminine) on the dimension means that the dominant values in society are caring for others and quality of life. A Feminine society is one where quality of life is the sign of success and standing out from the crowd is not admirable. The fundamental issue here is what motivates people, wanting to be the best (Masculine) or liking what you do (Feminine).
At 66, Britain is a Masculine society – highly success oriented and driven. A key point of confusion for the foreigner lies in the apparent contradiction between the British culture of modesty and understatement which is at odds with the underlying success driven value system in the culture. Critical to understanding the British is being able to ‘’read between the lines’’ What is said is not always what is meant. In comparison to Feminine cultures such as the Scandinavian countries, people in the UK live in order to work and have a clear performance ambition.
Text B
What about the USA?
If we explore the US culture through the lens of the 6-D Model©, we can get a good overview of the deep driving factors of American culture relative to other cultures in our world. By supplying you with this information please realise that culture describes a central tendency in society. Everybody is unique, yet social control ensures that most people will not deviate too much from the norm. Moreover, within every country regional cultural differences exist, also in the States. Americans, however, don’t need to go to a cultural briefing before moving to another state successfully.
Uncertainty Avoidance
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? This ambiguity brings with it anxiety and different cultures have learnt to deal with this anxiety in different ways. The extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these is reflected in the score on Uncertainty Avoidance.
The US scores below average, witha low score of 46, on the Uncertainty Avoidance dimension.As a consequence, the perceived context in which Americans find themselves will impact their behaviour more than if the culture would have either scored higher or lower. Thus, this cultural pattern reflects itself as follows:
2. There is a fair degree of acceptance for new ideas, innovative products and a willingness to try something new or different, whether it pertains to technology, business practices or food. Americans tend to be more tolerant of ideas or opinions from anyone and allow the freedom of expression. At the same time, Americans do not require a lot of rules and are less emotionally expressive than higher-scoring cultures.
3.At the same time, 9/11 has created a lot of fear in the American society culminating in the efforts of government to monitor everybody through the NSA and other security organisations
Masculinity
A high score (Masculine) on this dimension indicates that the society will be driven by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by the “winner” or “best-in-the-field”. This value system starts in childhood and continues throughout one’s life – both in work and leisure pursuits. A low score (Feminine) on the dimension means that the dominant values in society are caring for others and quality of life. A Feminine society is one where quality of life is the sign of success and standing out from the crowd is not admirable. The fundamental issue here is what motivates people, wanting to be the best (Masculine) or liking what you do (Feminine).
The score of the US on Masculinity is high at 62, and this can be seen in the typical American behavioral patterns. This can be explained by the the combination of a high Masculinity drive together with the most Individualist drive in the world. In other words, Americans, so to speak, all show their Masculine drive individually. The British, however, have the same culture in this respect. The question, therefore, should be: is the same drive not normally to be seen on the surface? This difference is a reflection of the higher score of the US on Uncertainty Avoidance than of the UK. In other words, in both societies we find the same drive, but Americans show it up-front whereas the British will take you by surprise.
This American combination reflects itself in the following:
· Behavior in school, work, and play are based on the shared values that people should “strive to be the best they can be” and that “the winner takes all”. As a result, Americans will tend to display and talk freely about their “successes” and achievements in life. Being successful per se is not the great motivator in American society, but being able to show one’s success
· Many American assessment systems are based on precise target setting, by which American employees can show how well a job they did.
· There exists a “can-do” mentality which creates a lot of dynamism in the society, as it is believed that there is always the possibility to do things in a better way
· Typically, Americans “live to work” so that they can obtain monetary rewards and as a consequence attain higher status based on how good one can be. Many white collar workers will move to a more fancy neighborhood after each and every substantial promotion.
· It is believed that a certain degree of conflict will bring out the best of people, as it is the goal to be “the winner”. As a consequence, we see a lot of polarisation and court cases. This mentality nowadays undermines the American premise of “liberty and justice for all.” Rising inequality is endangering democracy, because a widening gap among the classes may slowly push Power Distance up and Individualism down.
http://geert-hofstede.com/ukraine.html
Text C
What about Ukraine?
If we explore the Ukrainian culture through the lens of the 6-D Model©, we can get a good overview of the deep drivers of Ukrainian culture relative to other world cultures.
Uncertainty Avoidance
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? This ambiguity brings with it anxiety and different cultures have learnt to deal with this anxiety in different ways. The extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these is reflected in the score on Uncertainty Avoidance.
Scoring 95 Ukrainians feel very much threatened by ambiguous situations. Presentations are either not prepared, e.g. when negotiations are being started and the focus is on the relationship building, or extremely detailed and well prepared. Also detailed planning and briefing is very common. Ukrainians prefer to have context and background information. As long as Ukrainians interact with people considered to be strangers they appear very formal and distant. At the same time formality is used as a sign of respect.
Masculinity
A high score (Masculine) on this dimension indicates that the society will be driven by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by the winner / best in field – a value system that starts in school and continues throughout organizational behavior.
A low score (Feminine) on the dimension means that the dominant values in society are caring for others and quality of life. A Feminine society is one where quality of life is the sign of success and standing out from the crowd is not admirable. The fundamental issue here is what motivates people, wanting to be the best (Masculine) or liking what you do (Feminine).
Ukraine’s relatively low score of 25 may surprise with regard to its preference for status symbols, but these are in Ukraine related to the high Power Distance. At second glance one can see, that Ukrainians at workplace as well as when meeting a stranger rather understate their personal achievements, contributions or capacities. They talk modestly about themselves and scientists, researchers or doctors are most often expected to live on a very modest standard of living. Dominant behavior might be accepted when it comes from the boss, but is not appreciated among peers.
http://geert-hofstede.com/ukraine.html
Learning Stuation 2 Activity My cultural styles
B. Peterson (2004) notes that knowing our own cultural styles means knowing the strengths and weaknesses that are connected with it. He offers 11 traits or competences that are crucial to dealing successfully with people from other countries and cultures: cultural self-awareness, cultural awareness of others, cultural sensitivity, cross-cultural communication skills, tolerance for ambiguity, flexibility, open-mindedness, humility, empathy, outgoing personality, self-reliance.
Task 1 Read the description of the eleven cultural competences below. If you have any questions, ask your partner from the group.(Handouts 5.4A are enclosed)
Task 2 Circle the number on the chart that shows how well you think this trait describes you. If you think it describes you well, then circle 5. If you think you don't have the trait at all, circle one.(Handouts 5.4B are enclosed) Share your answers with your partners.
Un 6. Uncertainty Avoidance (UA) and Masculinity versus Femininity.