Post on 19-Dec-2015
Culture Issues in Global IT Management
What is Culture “culture provides members with images of their basic
concerns, principles, ethics, and bodies of manners, rituals, ideologies, strategies, and tactics of self-survival including certain notions of good deeds and bad, various form of folklore and legends… The way we give logic to world begins at birth with gestures, words, tone of voice, noises, color, smells, and body contact we experience… Our culture is what is familiar, recognizable, habitual, It is ‘what goes without saying’”.
Van maanen, J. and Laurent, A. The flow of cultures: some notes on globalization and the multinational corporations, New York, NY, St. martin’s Press 1993.
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
Global Village Is there a universal Business Culture that is
independent of surrounding culture?
Business is business all over the world
The computer subculture is the same all over the world
Cultural differences explain everything
Cultural differences explain everything
The continuum of “does culture matter”
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
Stereotype Normal distribution cluster around a hypothesis.
American stereotypes Indian stereotypes British stereotypes Finnish stereotypes German African
Cultural experts claim that most successful managers are those that use these cultural mental files as starting points and continuously update them with new information
Less successful managers are those who deny having any stereotypes and those who rely strictly on stereotypes.
Culture
Some notions about culture The idea that culture can be managed is “itself cultural” American managers understand culture as something an
organization has
Europeans understand culture as something as organization is
Americans believe in controlling their destiny and their ability to change corporate cultures, even in relatively short time spans.
Corporate cultural change is something not highly stressed in Europe compare to America
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
Do Cultural Differences Affect Global Software Development and Management
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management Different Types of Culture
Within a national boundary (Canada or India or even US) Across boundaries (Arab or Arabic) Organizational culture (corporate culture)
IBM, Microsoft, Toyota, Ford, etc Professional culture
Lawyers, military, academic, programmers etc. Team Culture
emerges from bonding through common work experiences, disaster and success, from cliquish jokes, team symbols or icon.
Individual Multiple caps “I’m more American now than Indian”
Which of these cultural norms is the strongest?
What is the future of a true corporate culture?
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
Managing Cultural Differences Awareness Knowledgeable Understand fundamental differences
There is no general theory of cultural difference so what can we do?
People who speak:
3 languages: trilingual
2 languages: bilingual
1 language: American
In Heaven, The Police are British,The Cooks are French,The Lovers are Italian, and It’s all Organized by the Germans
In Hell,The Police are French,The Cooks are British,The Lovers are German, andIt’s all Organized by the Italians.
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
Key Cultural Dimensions Data for these research was collected between 1967-
1978 By Geert Hofstede, a Dutch scholar, an industrial
psychologist at IBM. Survey of IBM personnel in 40 countries Sample size was over 100,000
Good data resource for our purpose but not perfect for social scientist in general because of the data was from a control group (IT professionals).
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
Result Revering Hierarchy (or Power distance) Individual versus Collectivism Taking Care of Business Risk Avoidance Long term orientation.
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
Revering Hierarchy (Power Distance) How people think about equality and relationship with
supervisors and subordinates In some culture
Large gaps between levels of organizational hierarchy Individuals are careful about expressing their opinion to
superiors Show proper respect to their boss Superior issue directives and expect subordinates to
speak only when allowed and unpleasantly surprised when subordinates freely air their opinions
Vice-versa
Implication
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
Israel 13 Rank and class are less important
Germany 35
Netherlands 38
USA 40
Japan 54
France 68
Hong Kong 68
India 77
West Africa 77
Indonesia 78
China 80
Russia 95 Rank and class are very important
Revering Hierarch. How unequal between rank and class is normal? Low scores represent little reverence of hierarchy.
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
Individualism vs. Collectivism The extent to which a person sees herself as an individual
rather than part of a group In individual culture people are:
Expected to have there own opinion Concern with personal achievement Individual right Independence
In collectivism culture people are: Opinions are determined by group members People see themselves first as part of the group and are
concern with the welfare of the group
Implication
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
USA 91 Highly individualistic
Netherlands 80
France 71
Germany 67
Israel 54
Russia 50
India 48
Japan 46
Hong Kong 25
China 20
West Africa 20
Indonesia 14 Rank and class are very important
Individual-Collectivism. The degree to which individuals prefer to act as individual rather than members of groups (I.e. collectivistic). High score indicate high individualism and low scores imply high degree of collectivism.
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
Taking Care of Business (masculinity/femininity) “Toughness” needed in taking care of
business (“masculine”) “Softer values” of taking care of people and
being concerned with quality of life (“femininity”)
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
Japan 95 Tough values
Germany 66
USA 62
Hong Kong 57
India 56
China 50
Israel 47
West Africa 46
Indonesia 46
France 43
Russia 40
Netherlands 14 Paternalistic value
Taking care of Business. To what degree are tough values such as assertiveness valued against paternalistic values such as relationships and quality of life.
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
Risk Avoidance Attitude towards risky situations, ambiguous
behaviors, predictability and control High risk avoidance culture places greater emphasis on
Stability rather than innovation or change Resistance to outsiders or starting a company
Low risk avoidance culture Embrace change more easily Tend to be more entrepreneurial More likely to break rules and Accepts new ideas faster
Implication
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
Japan 92 Avoid risk
Russia 90
France 86
Israel 81
Germany 65
China 60
West Africa 54
Netherlands 53
Indonesia 48
USA 46
India 40
Hong Kong 29
Risk Avoidance. To what degree do people prefer structured, low risk situation versus ambiguous, higher risk.
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
Long Term Orientation (Confucianism dynamism) Relative importance of here-and–now versus the
future – long-term. Confucian – is a type of the Chinese philosopher
Confucius. Persistence Diligence Patience The Confucian tradition, also implies strong patriarchal
authority, which is family centered, and it is also close to the “taking care of business” dimension
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
China 118 Future orientation
Hong Kong 96
Japan 80
India 61
Netherlands 44
Germany 31
France 30
USA 29
Indonesia 25
West Africa 16
Russia 10 Past and/or present orientation
Israel N/A
Long-term orientation. Based on values of Confucianism. To what degree do people value the future (e.g., in persistence and thrift) versus the past or present
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
Do Cultural Differences Affect Global Software Development and Management No, there are essentially no cultural differences
amongst software professionals Scientific culture dominates national culture I.e. Programmers in Moscow is more similar to his
American peers than to other Russians. Engineering or Scientist stereotypes
Is there a computer professional sub-culture that overpowers national culture?
E.g Low social needs and high achievement Software development tools internationally Technical language and jargons
Cultural Issues in Global IT Management
Do Cultural Differences Affect Global Software Development and Management Yes, there certainly are cultural differences
amongst software professionals Different development method are used in
different countries French are better in OO Japan are better in metrics American code first and then design later Contract and requirement interpretations