Cross-Cultural Management

Conceptual Overview

To fully appreciate the role and importance of crosscultural management in a global economy, it is important to understand what culture is and how it impacts the attitudes, assumptions, and behaviors of individuals that identify with that culture. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the word culture, from the Latin root colere (to inhabit, to cultivate, or to honor), generally refers to the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought as an expression of a particular period, class, community, or population. However, there is no definitive definition of culture. Though most often associated with the fields of anthropology and sociology, the adoption and modification of the concept by various fields and disciplines has produced hundreds of definitions of culture that reflect the many perspectives and theories for understanding human activity.

From an anthropological perspective, culture most commonly refers to the human capacity to classify, codify, and communicate experiences symbolically. Culture is typically viewed as something that is learned rather than genetically inherited. It is infused in one's environment and maintained by the members of that culture. What is less certain is whether or not culture is easily changed. While culture may be passed from generation to generation, some researchers hold that culture is modified and adapted to the circumstances of the current generation. Cultural changes in the former Soviet bloc countries or differences between generations are instances of such societal change. Others, like Hofstede, maintain that culture is deeply embedded in both individuals and society and is resistant to change. They would likely argue that changes in the former Soviet bloc countries were political and economic, not cultural.

Another characteristic of culture is that it has both objective and subjective elements. Objective cultural elements can be thought of as the explicit products of a group or society. Examples of the elements include language, food, mode of dress, architecture, behavior, and other similar manifestations. These objective elements are often reflective of the underlying subjective culture, which includes the assumptions, norms, and values of a society. These social “rules” and expectations serve as a kind of framework to varyingly influence the behavior of individuals within the society. Furthermore, this subjective component is the primary “lens” through which cultural members perceive their environment.

Culture can also be examined from a layered typology. For example, Trompenaars has suggested three layers of culture, including an outer layer, middle layer, and core. The outer layer includes explicit cultural products such as language, food, fashions, art, and other material examples. The opinions that an individual [Page 336]forms regarding elements of explicit culture often reveal more about his or her own culture than that of the community being judged. The middle layer is composed of the culture's norms and values. Norms are described as the commonly held set of beliefs about right and wrong. A culture is relatively stable when norms reflect the values of the culture. When explicit examples of culture are not in alignment with espoused underlying values, conflict and unrest are likely to occur. Lastly, the core is formed of the basic assumptions underlying culture. These assumptions include fundamental beliefs about human nature, reality, time, space, and the environment. Other researchers and scholars have offered similar layered models of culture.

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