1. Why do you think your boss behave this way?
2. What would you answer to your boss?
3. Do you believe it is reasonable to check with your colleagues even if you are sure in the correctness of your decision?
4. What would you do in this situation? Would you like to have a frank discussion with your boss and tell him your vision of situation?
Part 4. All cultures can be subdivided into two types: collectivist cultures and individualist ones. People from collectivist cultures believe that their own security and well-being ultimately depend on the well-being and survival of their group. A group is only as strong as its weakest members, so dividing the spoils evenly – increasing the well-being of everyone in the group equally – offers the greatest protection for all members.
People from individualist cultures believe rewards should be directly commensurate with one's level of effort.
No culture, of course, will be exclusively individualist or collectivist; all cultures will have elements of both poles – but cultures do tend to be more one than the other.
What culture do you belong to? Why do you think so?
Situation 1
You are a new employee in a company and eager to become a strong professional and a good friend for your coworkers. In dealing with your colleagues, you have tried to work collaboratively, offering assistance wherever you saw it was needed – assistance that was often very much appreciated – and expecting assistance in return. You have noticed, however, that whenever you have asked for help, your colleagues have been somewhat surprised and reluctant. One day you confronted one of your colleagues on this issue. You pointed out that you helped her a few days ago when she was behind on a project, but this week when you asked for her help, she said she was too busy. You asked her why she thought it was okay to take help but not to give it in return. She looked surprised and said, "But I never asked for your help. I thought you were just being kind. I certainly don't expect that kind of help."
What should you do in this situation?
Answer the questions
1. Do you feel surprised or offended? Why?
2. Why do you think your colleague behaved this way?
3. What would you say to the colleague in this situation?
4. Do you believe the success of the team guarantees the well-being of the individual members? Do you think that a group of people is more likely to succeed if they work as a team than if they work independently? Can you prove it with any example?
5. Do you believe it is reasonable to depend on yourself and succeed or fail based on your own individual actions? Why?
6. What culture – collectivist or individualist – would you prefer to live and work, if you had choice? Why?
Situation 2
You are working in a culture where people tend to be more collectivist, especially in the sense that group harmony and saving face are highly valued. You, on the other hand, feel that while harmony and saving face are good things in general, they can sometimes be more trouble than they're worth. You've noticed, for example, that people tend to tell you what they think you want to hear rather than the truth, especially if the truth isn’t particularly pleasant. This bothers you because you take people at their word; you assume they mean what they say, or they wouldn't say it. You're not sure anymore if you can trust what people are telling you, if you can act on what they say. At the same time, you're beginning to sense that you may be rubbing some people the wrong way by "telling it like it is." Today, any doubts you had about this were removed when your manager called you into his office. He said several colleagues had complained that you weren't "very careful" in how you spoke, that you said things "more strongly" than was necessary, and that you didn't take people's feelings into account. What would you do if you were in this situation?
Answer the questions
1. Do you feel surprised or offended? Why?
2. What would you say to the manager in this situation?
3. What do you prefer – to tell people the truth in any situation or to tell the truth omitting strong words?
4. How would you continue the conversation with the manager? Would you argue or confess your impoliteness?
Part 5. All cultures can be subdivided into two types: monochrome and polychrome cultures.
Monochrome: Time is a commodity; it isquantifiable and there is a limited amount of it. Therefore, it is necessary to use time wisely and not waste it. There is a premium on efficiency, hence a sense of urgency in many matters. Time is the given and people are the variable; the needs of people are adjusted to suit the demands of time (schedules, deadlines, etc.). It is considered most efficient to do one thing at a time or wait for one person at a time. As far as possible, you shouldn't let circumstances, unforeseen events, interfere with your plans. Interruptions are a nuisance.
Polychrome: Time is limitless and not quantifiable. There is always more time, and people are never too busy. Time is the servant and tool of people and is adjusted to suit the needs of people. Schedules and deadlines often get changed. People may have to do several things simultaneously, as required by circumstances. It's neither necessary to finish one thing before starting another, nor to finish your business with one person before starting it with another. You always have to take circumstances into account and make adjustments. Strictly speaking, there's no such thing as an interruption.
Situation 1
You live in a polychrome culture. One of your colleagues is an immigrant from a monochrome culture and he is having problems adjusting to what he calls "unprofessionalism" in the workplace. He complains about how inefficient people are: they don't come to meetings on time; they come very late to appointments with him or they make him wait a long time when he has an appointment with them; when he is meeting with someone, that person will take telephone calls or talk to people who drop by and interrupt the conversation. "This is not the way to do business," he told you yesterday. Apparently he has complained to other people in your office as well, for just today some of them have come to you to complain about him. You are his closest friend in the office. What should you do?
Answer the questions
1. What would you say to your friend in this situation?
2. Would you try to persuade him to accept this situation or ask him to try to change people who behave in an inappropriate way?
3. Would you ask your colleagues to avoid the things that could be called as «unprofessionalism»?
4. Would you ask your friend to get used to this way of behavior?
5. Would you try to persuade your friend to be more tolerant to the behavior in other cultures? Why?
6. What culture – monochrome or polychrome – do you belong to?
Why do you think so?
Situation 2
Yours is a monochrome culture. A nurse in an elderly-care home where you are the nursing supervisor comes from a more polychrome society, and her work habits are beginning to bother a lot of people, including several physicians and numerous residents. The latter complain that she is always late for her tasks, whether bathing them, helping them to the toilet, or taking them down to the dining room at mealtime. They say she’s too friendly, by which they mean she spends too much time chatting with people (who nevertheless appreciate it a lot), and this puts her behind schedule. Physicians and other nurses complain that she’s late to meetings and often reports late to work, which means someone on the shift before hers has to stay on until she arrives. Everyone likes this woman—she’s outgoing and very compassionate—but she can be exasperating when it comes to managing her time. What’s your next move?
Answer the questions
1. Why do you think your colleague behaves this way?
2. What would you say to the colleague in this situation?
3. Would you try to explain to her the difference between countries?
4. Would you make an attempt to explain to her how she has to behave? Do you think she will follow your advice?
Part 6. All cultures cаn be subdivided into two types: femininity and masculinity cultures. Masculinity and femininity dimension describes how cultures differentiate on not between gender roles. Masculine cultures tend to be ambitious and need to excel. Members of this culture have a tendency to polarize and consider big and fast to be beautiful. In workplaces employees emphasize their work to a great extent (live in order to work) and admire achievers who accomplished their tasks.
Feminine cultures consider quality of life and helping others to be very important. Working is basically to earn money which is necessary for living. In business as well as in private life they strive for consensus and develop sympathy for people who are in trouble. Small and slow are considered to be beautiful.
Situation
You are working in a company which is ruled by a woman. She has no family and children. She devoted her life to this company to flourish and develop. In contrast, you have a small family: a husband and a little baby. You can work only on week-days and at weekends you take care of your family. But your employer isn’t satisfied as she needs a worker who is capable of working at weekends. And she is ready to pay more than usual. You are on good terms with your colleagues and you are always ready to help those who are in a difficult situation, that’s why everybody respects you in this company. But your boss said you would have to leave your place in the company if you wouldn’t agree to work at weekends. What would you do in this situation? Why?
Answer the questions
1. Do you feel surprised or offended in this situation? Why?
2. Why do you think the boss behaves this way?
3. Do you think we should live in order to work or earn money only necessary for living?
4. What culture – feminine or masculine – would you prefer to live and work? Why?
5. Can culture possess both feminine and masculine features at the same time? Specify it.
Part 7. All cultures can be subdivided into two types: achievement and ascription ones. Status describes the positioning of individuals in their society. In achievement culture a person’s status is indicated by what someone DOES, and in ascription culture status is indicated by what someone IS. In achievement culture status is taken by people because of their skills, knowledge and talents. In ascription culture people’s behavior is measured taking into account the groups into which they were born or attributed to birth right, gender, caste, or age but also to your interpersonal relationships and your ranking in society.
Situation
You are working as a manager of personnel department in a big company. You’re reported that there is a vacancy and a new employee required. There would be testing and this place would get a person whose final results would be the best. At the end of the testing it is proved out that two results were equal. One of them was a young talented and erudite person who achieved success in his job, while the other was an older and more experienced person. The main thing is that he was the owner’s wife’s brother. What candidate would you choose?
Answer the questions
1. Do you believe that people should be measured by how successful they are in their jobs and what an individual has done, or by what they are, and their interpersonal relationships and their ranking in society?
2. Do you think it is reasonable to lay your personal relationships aside and look at the situations objectively? Why?
3. What culture do you prefer to live and work in: achievement or ascription one? Why?
4. What culture do you belong to? Explain why you think so.
Part 8. Cultures differ greatly in their view of the individual's place vis-à-vis the external world, especially on the question of to what degree human beings can control or manipulate forces out themselves and thereby shape their own destiny. While all cultures believe that certain things happen outside of one's control, they differ as to what extent they believe this and on how much one can do in response. The two poles of this dimension, internal and external, are defined below.
Internal: The focus of control is largely internal, within the individual. There are very few givens in life, few things or circumstances which have to be accepted as they are and cannot be changed. There are no limits on what you can do or become, so long as you set your mind to it and make the necessary effort. Your success is your own achievement. You are responsible for what happens to you. Life is what you do; hence, these represent more activist cultures.
External: The focus of control is largely external to the individual. Some things in life are predetermined, built into the nature of things. There are limits beyond which one cannot go and certain givens that cannot be changed and must be accepted. ("That's just the way things are.") Your success is a combination of your effort and your good fortune. Life is in large part what happens to you; thus, these represent more fatalist cultures.
Situation
You are an activist working in a fatalistic society. The company you work for has hired you to help it expand its business and get new customers. You have designed a campaign that should result in a 5 percent increase in market share in six months if you can get all the resources you need. You have been spending the last few weeks drumming up enthusiasm and support for your master plan, but to be honest, colleagues and upper management haven't been responding the way you would like. They're quite pessimistic about your estimates; to get that kind of increase, they say, will take a lot longer than six months. "Things just don't happen that fast here," you were told by one manager. Your reply was that things can happen as fast (or slow) as people want them to; they just have to make the necessary effort.
Everyone seems to have a reason why the plan won't work, why the potential stumbling blocks are more serious than you think. You realize there will be some obstacles, of course, but you have faced these kinds of obstacles before and know that if people rise to the occasion, they can overcome them. If the company isn't serious, however, if it doesn't commit the personal and other resources required, this expansion won't happen in six years, much less six months.
You're starting to doubt whether these people are really committed to this effort or if they're just making the right noises. And you weren't encouraged today when your boss told you that some department heads have been complaining about the demands you're making of them, saying that you're not being very realistic. What should you do?
Answer the questions
1. Why do you think your colleagues behave this way?
2. What would you say to your boss in such a situation?
3. Do you think it is reasonable to continue the project?
4. Do you believe it is possible to cope with these obstacles to achieve success?
5. What culture do you belong to? Explain your point of view.
Situation 2
You work for an advertising firm in an activist culture to which you emigrated two years ago. While you like your adopted homeland very much, it has been difficult to adjust your more fatalist inclinations to the prevailing mindset, especially at work. You work as hard as anyone else, but you have been accused of giving up on prospective new accounts when you might have won them with more effort. You feel that after you have pitched to and courted clients for a certain period, the rest is up to them, that beyond a certain point there's nothing more you can do. You have even been accused of being defeatist for saying that certain goals were unrealistic.
Last week your boss called you in for your yearly performance review. He pointed out that you needed to be more aggressive in pursuing business and not be so eager to adopt a wait-and-see stance after you have pitched to clients. "Things happen because you make them happen," he said, "not because they're meant to happen." You don't necessarily agree, but you obviously need to adjust your style if you're going to succeed in this organization.
Answer the questions
1. Why do you think your boss behaved this way?
2. What would you say to your boss? Would you promise to work harder or prefer to explain the situation to him as it was?
3. How would you react? Would you now always try to persuade your clients? Why?
4. What could you do to be more effective in this environment?
Part 9. All cultures can be subdivided into two types: affective and neutral cultures. People from affective culture express their emotions more naturally. Reactions are shown immediately verbally or non-verbally by using mimic and gesture in the form of body signals.
In contrast, people from a neutral culture tend to hide away their emotions and don’t show them in public. Neutral cultures don’t express precisely and directly what they are really thinking which can lead to misunderstandings and certain emotions are considered to be improper to exhibit in certain situations. It is also considered as important not to let emotions influence objectivity and reason in decision making.
Situation
You and your family have immigrated to another country. You entered university to continue your studies. At the university you were said to choose the subject of the thesis which you would write during the studies and defend it to graduate from the university. For this purpose there was organized a faculty meeting. Unfortunately, your child got ill and you asked your husband to stay with the child. He missed his work day in order that you had a chance to participate in the meeting. When you went to the meeting, there were only several students as the others hadn’t come. The professors presented their research and gave some information about it. You were glad to choose the subject you liked. But several days later you found out that the subject you had chosen was transferred to another student who was not even present at the faculty meeting. What would you do?
Answer the questions
1. Would you feel surprised or offended? Why?
2. Why do you think this situation could happen?
3. How would you react? Would you show your emotions or not?
4. Do you think we shouldn’t express certain emotions precisely and directly what we think, which can lead to misunderstandings or certain emotions are considered to be an inappropriate way of behavior in certain situations?
5. What culture – affective or neutral – do you belong to? Prove your point of view.
Appendix 13. Tests
Test 1.
