Post on 09-Apr-2018
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Is National CultureA Myth?
A critique of the claims of GeertHofstede
Research Seminar 12 November 2003 at RoyalHolloway
Professor Brendan McSweeney
School of Management
Royal Holloway
University of London
The data obtained from within a single MNC does have the
power to uncover the secrets of entire national cultures
Geert Hofstede, 1980:44
Tread softly for you tread on my dreams W. B. Yeats
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The notion of the enduring uniqueness ofeach nation people has a long history
In 1797 the French counter-revolutionary Joseph de Maistredeclared I have seen Frenchmen, Italians, Russians. But for man,
I declare I have never in my life met him.
W. B. Yeats claimed that there was a national "CollectiveUnconscious or Anima Mundi of the race" (1922)
Immigrants seem to be flooding into Germany nowadays; I dontknow why, because history suggests that if they wait around longenough, Germany will come to them Jay Leno, Tonight Show
The problem with Hitler was that he was GermanA.J. P. Taylor
(in Davies, 1999)
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so too has rejection Samuel Beckett repudiated Yeats notion of "collective unconscious" as
"sanctimonious clap-trap".
Slater says that the idea of an individual or a group as a monolithictotality is delusional and ridiculous (1970)
Benedict Anderson has vividly described nations as imagined communities(1991)
Anthropologists Akhil Gupta and James Ferguson (1992) have written: "weare now recognising that the territorially distinct cultures anthropologistsclaimed they were studying were never as autonomous as they imagined".
Philip Bock unhesitatingly states We must conclude that the uniformity
assumption is false (1999)
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Wider SignificanceIn most arenas attributing unity and continuity to race is no longeracceptable it has been replaced with the notion ofnational culture.
W. W. M. Eiselen the intellectual architect of apartheid - stated in 1929thatculture not race was the true basis of difference, the sign of destiny
The policy and analytical significance ofnational culture largely depends onwhat degree of causal power is attributed to it - from a mere epiphenomenon,a powerless superstructure to, at the other extreme, a supremely independentvariable, the superordinate power in society.
The homogenizing effects or notofglobalization Potential for transnational developments e.g. EU Basis for acceptance as a citizen Education policy Universal human rights Conceptions of national identity National guilt Etc.
Multiple organizational management, locational, and marketing implications
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Significance of Hofstede A National Cultural Determinist little or no causal role for
other cultural or non-cultural factors. It shapes everything Hickson andPugh (1995: 90).
Claims to have: Demonstrated the existence of, and measured, and compared enduring and
systematically causal national cultures in scores ofnations i.e. countries
Shown how multiple characteristics of those countries (educational systems,ways of doing business, architecture, cuisine, etc.) reflectand can beunderstood through the relevant national culture
To have done so scientifically (117,000 questionnaires, etc.)
Huge Following Significant following in all management disciplines
Widely used by management training companies
The most cited non-US author in the entire Social Science Citation Index
By 1998 Hofstede was able to claim thata true paradigm shift has occurred
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OVERVIEW
Briefly describe Hofstede's claims about national
cultures including the sense in which he uses thenotion ofculture and national culture specifically
Describe and critique his identification
Describe and critique his attempts to illustrate theexplanatory value/usefulness/predictive ability of hisnational cultural descriptions
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Hofstedes Conception ofNational Culture
Territorially Unique
Nationally Shared(common component or statistical average
(central tendency) inconsistently applied)
Subjective: software of the mind; mentalprograms
Determinate (not merely an influence, but the influence
Identifiable Characteristics and PredictableConsequences
Enduring (for many centuries past and to come)
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The dimensions used by
Hofstede The dimensions can be useful in structuring analysis
they have a long history in the social sciences
They are thus notHofstedes dimensions but thedimensions he uses
Discussed at length in the 1952 magisterial review ofthe anthropological conception of culture by AlfredKroeber (Berkley) and Clyde Kluckhohn (Harvard)(alegacy unacknowledged by Hofstede)
More extensive and subtle (not bi-polar) dimensions inthe literature (e.g. Schwartzs work)
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117,000 IBM questionnaires
Not as many used as is suggested
g Combined figure for two surveys
g
66 countries, but only 40
yielded
scoresg As a result, the number of IBM employees whose
responses were used: less than one-third of 117,000
Unrepresentative
In only 6 (out of the 66) countries were there more
than 1,000 in both surveys In 15 countries reported on - less than 200 respondents
First survey in Pakistan 37 employees and second 70
Only surveys in Hong Kong, Taiwan (pop. 23m) and
Singapore 88, 71 and 58 respectively
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IBM questionnaires Not designed to identify national culture but
by IBM for corporate purposes in response to
its concern with declining morale Not independently administered
Often completed in groups withoutconfidentiality safeguards
Respondents knew of possible consequencesof their answers for them thereforegaming
Blue collar workers responses excluded
marketing and sales staff only
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5 Crucial Assumptions (each
necessary each problematic)
1) Every micro-location is typical of the national
2) Every respondent had already been permanentlyprogrammed with three non-interactive culturalprograms
3) National culture creates response differences4) National culture can be identified through the
response differences
5) Its the same in every situation in a nation
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1. National Identifiable
from the local
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1. National Identifiable in the Local
b Version 1 (the national is uniform) presupposes thatevery national individual carries the same national culture - what isto be found is presupposed (catastrophic circularity): Something is
presupposed and imposed, and yet depicted as an empiricalachievement.
v Version 2 (an average tendency is the averagetendency)
In principle there is always an average tendency e.g. in the world,
continent, country, region, cycling club, brothel or whatever butwhy assume that an average tendency in one micro-location is thenational tendency? Would anyone seriously suggest that thecentral tendency in one of Australias 573 Aboriginal societies thesame as the Australian national culture (as measured in IBM
Australia by Hofstede)?
( Atypicality of IBM
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Assumption 2 Every respondent had alreadybeen permanently programmed with three non-
interactive cultureshOnly one organizational culture in any and every IBM subsidiaryh So a cultural monopoly, no harmonious, dissenting, emergent, contradictory, organizational
cultures in IBM
hOne global occupational culture for each occupation
hNo interaction between the three cultureshNo other cultural (or other) influences on the responses
(OrC + OcC + NC1) (OrC + OcC + NC2) = NC1 - NC2
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(O
rC +O
cC + NC1)
(O
rC +O
cC + NC2) = NC1 - NC2
(OrC + OcC + NC1) (OrC + OcC + NC2) = NC1 - NC2
Very convenient! But reductive, mechanical, impoverished,and absurd
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2. Cont. Three distinctive
Components Organizational: There is only one inter and intra subsidiary
organizational culture (not cultures) in IBM (Hofstede):Plausible? Dogmatic! Pronounced to exist. Hofstede fails to
engage with extensive multiple organizational cultures literature Occupational: Throughout the world members of the same
occupation share an identical world-wide occupationalculture (Hofstede). Matching desirable (mundane), but criticismof implications drawn; occupational culture ofTurkish laboratory
clerk same as Texan laboratory clerk; British accountant =German accountant etc. Nil effect of different accounting: courses;professions (ICAEW; CIMA, ACCA; CIPFA; ICAS, etc.); differenttypes and significance of capital markets; post qualifying coursesand work;etc.;
Individuals as cultural
blotting paper
who have been immersedin homogeneous occupational fluid (Fraber, 1950)
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2. Three distinctive ComponentsCont.
Values are acquired in onesearly youth, mainly in thefamily and in the neighbourhood, and later atschool. By
the time a childis10 yearsold, mostofitsbasicvalueshave been programmedintoitsmind Foroccupationalvaluesthe place ofsocialisationistheschooloruniversity,andthe time isinbetweenchildhoodandadulthood (Hofstede, 1991:182)
My criticism is not of the possible enduring impact earlyinfluences but of the claims that (a) these experiencealone are significant, and (b) that the content andimpact ofoccupational experiences are globallyuniform and unchanging
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3. National Culture Creates Questionnaire
Response Differences
Classification: Nationally classified data isnot evidenceofnational causality.Almost every classification wouldproducedifference - but what is thatstatusofsuch differences?Where the unexplainedvariance isratherlarge we caneasilyfoolourselvesinto believingthatwe knowsomethingsimplybecause wehave aname forit JimMarch, 1966:69
e Dopes: Individuals as mere relays of national culture
Q. To whichone of the above types [described]would you say yoursuperior most closely corresponds?
Completion often in groups and with foreknowledge that managerswere expected to develop corrective actions. Would confidentialresearchundertaken by independent researchers have obtained thesame responses?
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4. National Culture Can Be Identified By
Response Difference Analysis
Assumption 3 is a necessary but not sufficient condition of 4
The links between the questions analysed and the dimension theyare supposed to indicate are often unclear, sometimes bizarre.Robinson (1983) describes the dimensions as hodgepodge of items fewof which relate to the intended construct (See Dorfman & Howell, 1988;Bond, 2002, also)
Different questions have revealed different dimensions e.g.Schwartz identified seven dimensions quite different thanHofstedes (1994).
Bi-polarity of dimensions e.g. either individualism or collectivism butthe two can coexist and are simply emphasised more or lessdepending on the situation Harry Triandis, 1996:42
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5. Situationally Specific i.e. its the sameeverywhere within a nation
Claims to have identified national culture (or differences) thatare nationally pervasive in the family, at school, at work,
in politics
(1992) hence his claim that just about everyhuman construct (institution, architecture, etc.) areconsequences ofnational culture
Survey (with all its other limitations) was only of employees,indeed only some categories of employees; undertakenwithin the workplace which was in a specific location within
each country; the question were almost entirely work-related; they were administered within the formal-workplace
No parallel surveys were undertaken in non-workplaces
Ironically Hofstede is committed to one situational specificity:the nation, but blind about all others
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SECOND TYPE OF
JUSTIFICATION@Hofstede peppers his books and articles with
descriptions of events which he employs to validate
his measurements of
national cultures
and todemonstrate that they affect human thinking, feeling,and acting, as well as organizations and institutions, in
predictable ways (2001: xix).
@ No part of our lives is exempt (1991:170)
Again methodological critique
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If descriptions of historical/contemporary events are toserve as validity tests of determining influence they
should meet the following criteria:(a) no counter events in the same country;
(b) the occurrence of similar events - and nocounter-events - in other countries withcomparable Hofstedeian cultural configurations;
and(c) no similar events in countries with very
dissimilar cultural configurations.
Hofstede did not apply these tests in conducting hisresearch and his stories fail these tests
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ExampleFreudwasanAustrian; andthere are goodreasonsinthe cultureprofile ofAustria inthe IBM data whyhistheorywouldbeconceivedinAustrianratherthanelsewhere Feelingsofguiltand
anxietydevelop [accordingtoFreud]whenthe egoisfelttobegivingintothe id. The Austrianculture ischaracterizedbythecombinationofaverylowpowerdistance withafairlyhighuncertaintyavoidance. The lowpowerdistance meansthatthere isnopowerfulsuperiorwhowilltake awayouruncertaintiesforus;One hastocarrythese oneself. Freudssuperegoisaninner
uncertainty-absorbingdevice,aninteriorizedboss
[Austria's]veryhighMAS [masculinity]score shedssome lightonFreudsconcernwithsex (Hofstede, 2001:385)(emphasisadded).
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No uniform attitude to authority in Austrian
writing
Some Austrian Writers were/are suspicious of authoritybut some are very supportive
The Austrian Hitler* urged complete submission to a
powerfulsuperior in Mein Kampf;
As did the Viennese born prolific and influential writer Guido vonList whom in Der Unbesiegbare (The Invincible) and otherbooks prohesised and unquestioningly supported the arrival ofthe 'strongman from above'.
In 1905 Freud published Three Essays on the Theory ofSexuality. Around the same time Austrian writer Leopold vonSacher-Masoch's novel Venus im Pelz (Venus in Furs) whichfocused on voluntary submission to humiliations administered byfur-clad women and the ultimate fantasy of submission to the allpowerful man - was re-published.
* Hitler lived in Austria until he was 24 years old longafter Hofstede claims that anindividual has indelibly acquired a national culture
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The [Austrian]lowpowerdistance meansthatthere isnopowerfulsuperiorwhowilltake awayouruncertaintiesforus (Hofstede, 2001:385)
90% ofAustriansvotedforunificationwithfascistGermanyinthe 1938 Anschlussandso
tobe underthe controlofapowerfulleader
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Sex Fellow Austrian, Felix Salten, wrote the pornographic best-seller Josefine
Mutzenbacher: Die Lebensgeschichte einer weinerischen Dirne, von ihrselbst erzhlt(Josefine Mutzenbacher: A Viennese Whore's Life Story, ToldBy Herself). This is further validation in Hofstede's terms, but like the restof his stories it's just an isolated untested anecdote.
Many Austrian writers - contrary to the implication in Hofstede's story - arenot 'concern[ed] with sex' (Hofstede, 2001:385). There is, for instance, littlemention of sex in Austrian Adolph Hitler's Mein Kampfor in the writings ofthe Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Felix Salten also wrote the
extremely successful asexual animal novelBambi
- later adopted by WaltDisney.
Countries with radically different Hofstedian MAS scores from Austria (2nd
most masculine) - such as Sweden (the least masculine) produce just asmuch literature about sex as does Austria.
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Seeking to explain the sources of someone's scholarly ideas ischallenging mechanically attributing them to some allegedcharacteristics in a national culture is startlingly stupid.
A genuinely open exploration of the conditions of possibility and thepossible influences on Freud's theories would surely consider -amongst many other possible factors - his birth and early years in
Moravia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire but now in theCzech Republic); his family and school backgrounds; his latereducation; his class; his Jewishness; the extensive anti-Semitism inVienna, his relationship with his wife and children; those he analysed;his network of friends - Austrian and non-Austrian; the significant agegap between his parents; his non-religious upbringing in a turbulent
turn of the century imperial city (Vienna); the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; what he read; his mentors, and so on, and so on.
Linking a national cultural dimension with the views of a writer is aneasy but facile 'game' to play. It is as intellectually spurious andequally invalid as the statement that Freud developed his theories
because he was born on 6th May and therefore a Taurus.
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Another Example
In masculine cultures like the UK and the RepublicofIreland there isa feeling thatconflictsshouldbe resolvedbya goodfight ... Theindustrial relationsscene in these countriesismarkedbysuch fights.Ifpossible management tries to avoidhaving to deal with labor unions
at all, the labor union behaviour justifiesthisaversion Hofstede(1991:92)Rankingin HofstedesMasculinity Index: Ireland (joint 7th); GB (9th)
Only one section (labor unions) are said to influenced by that which issupposed to be national
Management is treated as immune to n.c. and influenced by something non-
cultural In Hofstede's 'masculinity' index, Japan is the most masculine country and
Germany has the same score as Great Britain, yet throughout the post-2nd -World War period their industrial relations has been the exemplar of co-operation.
Roche and Geary (2000) found 'team-working in 57% of Irish workplaces;direct employee participation in one-third of them; and that Ireland is in thetop league for employee participation'.
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Working Days lost in industrial disputes
per 1000 employees (annual averages)
1961-65 1966-70 1971-75
Masculine Ireland 337.5 625.6 292.7
Masculine GB 127.0 222.6 538.6
Feminine Spain 14.1 37.1 95.6Source: ILO Labour Relations Yearbook
So Hofstede is correct!!!??Ranking: Ireland 7th
GB 8th
Spain 30th
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Working Days lost in industrial disputes
per 1000 employees (annual averages)1961-65 1966-70 1971-75
Masculine Ireland 337.5 625.6 292.7
Masculine GB 127.0 222.6 538.6
Feminine Spain 14.1 37.1 95.6
1976-80 1981-85 1986-90
Masculine Ireland 716.1 360.6 183.7
Masculine GB 521.7 387.4 117.5Feminine Spain 1,089.8 400.9 433.6
Source: ILO Labour Relations Yearbook
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Steps towards a real analysisEven a preliminary analysis of industrial relations'masculine' Ireland would need to consider: thecommon educational background of many of the
employees and managers; the dominant position ofone trade union; the series of national payagreements and partnership deals betweengovernment, employers and trade unions; employeeappointment of one third of the main board of state
companies; the effects of changes in fiscal policy ontake-home pay; the rivalries between craft unionswholly based in Ireland and those with continuingaffiliations to largely UK based trade unions; and so
forth.
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3 Further Criticisms
1)The influence of other cultures
2) Non-cultural influences
3) Change
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1. The influence of other
cultures Ifculture is theorized as influential
why should such influence be restricted
to national culture?
If other cultures are accepted aspotentially influential how can uniform
national actions/practices (across timeand space) be their consequence?
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2. Non-cultural influencesa Why should cultural-causation (national
or non-national) be privileged over
administrative, coercive means of socialaction? Hitlers NewOrder was an order(Gellner, 1987).
Would it [have been] meaningful, for example, to talk
of the religiosity of the Spaniards without adescription of the monopolistic position of the[Catholic] church in Spain [under Franco], or of theirreligiosity of the Russians without considering theattitude of the Soviet government towards religion
Maurice Farmer (1950:301)
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3. Temporal variabilityX Hofstede claims that the national cultural configurations he
found will last for a long time, at least for some centuries(1991:47)
X His Evidence to pronounce upon centuries past andfuture?: Comparison of two IBM surveys not for all of thecountries and maximum gap of 4 years i.e. BA
X Yet again, Hofstede just knows but thats not good enough! And thereare counter-indications, e.g.
X Is the national culture of Germany the same now as it was during theNazi period despite defeat, destruction, division and awareness of thehorrors of the Holocaust.
X The national culture of Ireland is the same as it was prior to the GreatFamine (pop. 9 m.) as it is now among the 3m. Celtic Tigers. In thedark 1950s Louis McNiece said that the Irish lacked commercialculture; by the late 1990s it had the highest growth rate in Europe
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Conclusion 1Extreme, singular, theories, such as
Hofstede's model of national culture are
profoundly problematic. His conflation anduni-level analysis precludes consideration of
interplay between macroscopic and
microscopic cultural levels and between the
cultural and the non-cultural (whatever wechose to call it).
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Conclusion 2Scholarship, requires of its practitioners avital minimum of intellectual independence -
the capacity to achieve some distance fromones prejudices; to discard previously heldinterpretations that do notpass tests ofevidence; the unwillingness to ignoreavailable counter-evidence; and the readiness
to enter into and openly engage with rivalviews. Hofstede's writings and hisantagonistic, partisan promotion of his workrepeatedly fail these tests.
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Conclusion 3
We may think aboutnational; culture; we may believe innational culture; we may act in the name ofnationalculture; but it has not been plausibly demonstrated thatnational culture is how we think.
Instead of seeking an explanation for assumed nationaluniformity from the conceptual lacuna that is the
essentialist notion of national culture, we need to engagewith and use theories of action which can cope withchange, power, variety, multiple influences - including thenon-national - and the complexity and situational variabilityof the individual subject.
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Is national culture a myth? Functionalist, symbolist and structural uses
Yes in the performative sense that as an inventedtradition it has been central in the construction andmaintenance of national identity
Yes in the sense that it is unreal or its existence has notbeen validly demonstrated
In this presentation I have sought to show that
Hofstedes claims to have identified and measureddistinctive, enduring, and systematically causal nationalcultures rely on fundamentally flawed assumptions andthe evidence of the predictive capacity of those depictionsis contrived (confirming not validating).
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Further readingMcSweeney, B., 'Hofstede's Identification ofNational Cultural Differences and Their
Consequences: A Triumph of Faith - A Failure ofAnalysis, Human Relations, 55(1), 2002, 89-118.
Hofstede, G. Dimensions Do Not Exist: A Reply to
McSweeney, Human Relations, 55(11), 2002
McSweeney, B., 'The Essentials of Scholarship: AReply to Hofstede' Human Relations, 55(11),
2002 1363-1372