Cultural dimensions and dilemmas

Value orientations and dimensions

Kluckhohn & Strodtbeck define value  orientations as:

•                       being complex principles

•                       resulting of interaction between three elements:

-Cognitive, affective, directive

Three assumptions:

–      Universal nature of value orientations

–      Many ways of solving problems

–      Preferences in choosing solutions

Five orientations

Five problems common to all human groupings

1. Human nature orientation (goodness or badness of human nature)

2. Man–nature orientation (harmony-with-nature/mastery-over-nature)

3. Time orientation (past/present/future)

4. Activity orientation (being, being-in-becoming and doing)

5. Relational orientation (man’s relation to other men)

Trompenaars’ dimensions

Trompenaars goes beyond the framework of anthropology/sociology

He shows how the following dimensions affect the process of managing cultures:

–      relations with other people

–      relations with time

–      relations with nature

Trompenaars standpoint:

–      Each culture has its own specific solutions for universal problems

Seven dimensions

Dr Fons Trompenaars on Culture

                1. Universalism versus particularism

                2. Individualism versus collectivism

                3. Neutral versus affective relationships

                4. Specific versus diffuse relationships

                5. Achievement versus ascription

                6. Relation to time: sequential/synchronic

                7. Relation to the environment: inner- versus     outer-directed

Relations to the others

1. Universalism/particularism: societal versus     personal obligation

2. Individualism/collectivism (Communitarianism):           personal versus group goals

3. Neutral/affective relationships: emotional      orientation

4. Specific/diffuse relationships: contract versus               contact

5. Achievement/ascription: legitimating power and         status

Relations to time and the environment

Management dilemmas & dimensions

In practice dilemmas are typically between:

1. Universalism–particularism

–      Legal contracts and loose interpretations

–      Low cost strategies or premium strategy

–      Extending rules or discovering exceptions

2. Individualism–collectivism (Communitarianism)

–      Profit or market share strategy

–      Originating ideas or refining useful products

3. Neutral or affectivity

–      Long pauses or frequent interruptions

–      Being professional or engaged

4. Specific–diffuse

–      Data and codification or concepts and models

–      Being results-oriented or process-oriented

5. Achieved or ascribed status

–      Pay for performance or vindication for worth

Head-hunting or developing in-house

6. Sequential or synchronic time

–      Highly rational, standardised production or just-in-time production

–      Keeping to schedule or being easily distracted

7. Inner or outer directed

–      Strategically oriented or fusion oriented

–      Dauntless entrepreneur or public benefactor

Trompenaars versus Hofstede dimensions

The nature of Trompenaars’ dimensions and Hofstede dimensions is very different in approach:

Trompenaars:

–      cultures are more like circles with ‘preferred arcs joined together’

–      seen as a ‘model-to-learn-with’

Hofstede:

–      linear forms where cultures are positioned high or low or in the middle

–      seeking ‘the perfect model’

Reconciling cultural dilemmas

•       The dilemmas in each of the seven dimensions require some kind of resolution

•       Trompenaars’ methodology aims to reconcile what appear to be opposing values within the dimensions

•       Cultures are seen as ‘dancing’ from one preferred end of a dimension to another

How does reconciliation
work?

Reconciliation results in the integration of values through synergy

There are many ways of achieving synergy:

1. Processing: a dilemma is made into two processes

2. Contextualising: what is text and what is context

3. Sequencing: every process of reconciliation is a                             sequence

4. Synergizing: adding the word through between the   two opposite alternative orientations

The reconciliation process

Conclusion

•       The Trompenaars’ dimensions reflect the value-orientation concept proposed by Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck

•       The cross-cultural manager has to face universal dilemmas, but the way they are resolved is culturally determined

•       Rather than the dimensions themselves, it is the concept of reconciliation which distinguishes the work of Trompenaars (and Hampden-Turner) from that of Hofstede