...Unilever…………………………………………………...2 3. Hofstede culture dimension theory ……………………………………..3 4. General culture of Unilever……………………………………..…………4 5. Hofstede Culture model of Vietnam, UK and Unilever Vietnam ……5 6. Issues of Labor in Vietnam Operations…………………………………8 7. Efforts taken by the company to deal with the labor issue…………9 8. Advantages of establishing a good culture policy …………………..10 9. Conclusion………………………………………………………………….11 10. Reference………………………………………………………………….12 Introduction Cross-cultural relationships are imperative for businesses to expand operations. It is imperative to understand the nuances of each culture. Only then can businesses thrive in a new environment (Hofstede, 2011) The Hofstede culture analysis determines the traces of each work culture. From this the differences between the cultures can be worked out. For the purpose of this analysis the organizational culture of Unilever in Vietnam has been studied. The global Unilver culture and the culture of Unilver Vietnam will be examined in this report. The Culture of Unilever, its Corporate Social Responsibility practices will be be studied. It will compare with the existing theoretical models like the Hofstede culture models. The labor issues operation supply in Unilever Vietnam operations has been discussed in this analysis. The rectification process undertaken by the company has also been discussed. From the changes the impact of the company in the markets has been reviewed in this analysis. Background...
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...Geert Hofstede said “culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.” Culture is an important factor in Business, cultures will differ from one another and its hard to compare, this makes it difficult for managers of multinationals to be able to be knowledgeable about these cultures and how they can put this into practice when dealing with organisational structures and processes. From a young age a child will start to develop work related values, this can be picked up from their parents and each child’s values will depend upon their culture. From this the child will then grow up and enter the working world with their values still being used, this can cause clashes within business as different cultures will have different values. Originally working for IBM, Hofstede sent out a questionnaire to 117,000 people. The aim of the questionnaire was that they wanted to find out how to manage subsidiaries and how culture impacted this. IBM was aiming to find out if they had to be different. In Hofstedes original theory he developed four dimensions; Indivusalism/Collectivism, Masculinity, Power Distance and Uncertainty Avoidance. Individualism is the extent to which people define themselves as individuals or part of a larger group, which would normally come under as countries such as the United States. Individualism consisted of decision-making, reward systems, ethics and organisational concern....
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...Mexico: Cultural Analysis This paper is a cultural analysis of the Mexican culture through the lens of the 5-D Model developed by Professor Geert Hofstede. The five dimensions of the model include: Power Distance (PDI), Individualism versus Collectivism (IDV), Masculinity versus Femininity (MAS), Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI), and Long term versus short term orientation. In recent years a sixth dimension named Indulgence versus Restraint has been added. There are no rankings for this dimension as it has only been recently added and researched (Hofstede, 2012). This Model gives one an important tool for gaining insights into given cultures which can improve business opportunities and interactions (International business etiquette, manners and culture, 2012). Power Distance Index (PDI) is the degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. The issue is how a society handles inequalities. Mexico, ranking 81on the PDI, is a hierarchical society. Regionally, Mexico ranks higher on PDI than the United States (rank 39) and Canada (rank 40), whose ranks indicate that their cultures strive to equalize the distribution of power and demand justification for inequalities of power. Globally, however, countries vary greatly in PDI, (average PDI rank of 60; Clearly Cultural, 2012). One must consider the PDI rank when doing business with a given country in a certain region. For example, Mexican businesses hoping to successfully...
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...categorized as Communication, Religion, Ethics, Values and Attitudes, Manners, Customs, Social Structures and Organizations, and Education”. In the late 1960s and early 1970s an IBM sociologist named, Geert Hofstede, studying the diversity of his company, concluded that aside from individuals, a country can have a culture or personality that can be scored and compared with other countries. His theory of cultural dimensions includes only five categories: Power distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance and Long Term Orientation (Dimensions of national cultures, 2015). MAJOR ARTICLE SUMMARY The article I selected is from the December, 2011, issue of the journal Online Reading in Psychology and Culture: International association of Cross-Cultural Psychology. The article is titled, ‘Dimensionalizing Cultures: The Hofstede Model in Context’ by Geert Hofstede. The article begins with Mr. Hofstede describing his work at IBM. In the 1967 to 1973 time period, Mr. Hofstede was given access to a large database of 100,000 surveys from IBM and IBM contractors. Since IBM and its subsidiaries were multinational, this information gave Mr. Hofstede a unique picture of how people from ~50 different countries characterized themselves, their country, and their employer. His analysis led him to develop the five categories of his theory of cultural dimensions. The article details the five categories...
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...AN ANALYSIS OF THE CULTURE OF AN ORGANIZATION The Student’s Name The Name of the Class Professor The Name of the University The city and State where it is Located The Date Contents 1.0 Background to the Organization...........................................................................................4 2.0 Theoretical Framework.........................................................................................................5 3.0 Discussion of Central Topic..................................................................................................8 4.0 Conclusions and Recommendations.....................................................................................13 References..................................................................................................................................14 List of Figures Fig: 2.0 Diagrammatic representations of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions...............................7 AN ANALYSIS OF THE CULTURE OF AN ORGANIZATION 1.0 Background to the Organization Organization culture is a predominant aspect of an organization’s internal environment Azhar (2003). Culture, to some extent, influences performance and efficiency in an organization Rousseau (2000). Every organization has its unique culture that differs from that of other corporate Schein (2004). For purposes of this report I chose IKEA group, I will conduct an in-depth analysis of its culture using the appropriate...
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...04hofstede (ds) 27/8/02 1:46 pm Page 1 Human Relations [0018-7267(200211)55:11] Volume 55(11): xx–xx: 028921 Copyright © 2002 The Tavistock Institute ® SAGE Publications London, Thousand Oaks CA, New Delhi Dimensions do not exist: A reply to Brendan McSweeney Geert Hofstede In January 2001 Human Relations invited me to write a response to an article by Brendan McSweeney which was a critical examination of my 1980 book Culture’s consequences, to coincide with the forthcoming publication of the books’ second edition. I reacted enthusiastically, but my enthusiasm quickly faded away when I saw McSweeney’s diatribe. I pointed out that the appearance of a re-written and updated edition of my 1980 book would make many of McSweeney’s comments obsolete. Also, I reacted to his style, which I found unnecessarily abrasive. Human Relations decided to publish McSweeney’s article anyway, in a somewhat mollified version. My response to his comments follow below. The second edition of Culture’s consequences contains a section: ‘Support and Criticisms of the Approach Followed’ which reads as follows (endnotes omitted): The first edition of this book’s disrespect for academic borderlines paid off in a multidisciplinary readership. It also caused very mixed reviews: Some enthusiastic (e.g. Eysenck, 1981; Triandis, 1982; Sorge, 1983), some irritated, condescending, or ridiculing (e.g. Cooper, 1982; Roberts & Boyacigiller, 1984). I had made a paradigm shift...
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...The longtime Bishop of Buenos Aires, the new Pope spent the majority of his career at home in Argentina with his roots in the Jesuit Order. As the Cardinal of Buenos Aires, he was known for humility, doctrinal conservatism and a commitment to social justice. Argentina is a country of wide-open pampas and ancient forests, in addition to very sophisticated cities, such as its capital, Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires, has the largest number of Jews in Latin America; they are commonly referred to as los rusos (the Russians) because most of the early Jewish settlers emigrated from Czarist Russia. Argentina was the first Latin American country to send a contingent to the Middle East during the Persian Gulf War. Geert Hofstede Analysis for Argentina The Geert Hofstede analysis for Argentina is similar to it’s Latin American neighbors. Uncertainty avoidance ranks highest which...
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...International Management EA ------------------------------------------------- Assignment 12407210 - Hang Nguyen Title Compare and contrast cultural frameworks developed by Geert Hofstede and Fons Trompenaars. I - Introduction Different national cultures comprise different cultural value systems. The value systems are generated from a conception, or as noted previous beliefs, of existing means or resources, and necessities. Cultures have various standards and some factors such as behaviors, traditions or communication of one culture can be observed as irrelevant or sometimes even threatening by other cultures. These uncertainties can bring into being cultural gaps between people within a workforce. Not only do the variety of cultural structure interacting together increase the potential for conflict or disagreement, but also methods of control disputation among the cultures. The project manager must be able to handleconfrontation using different styles, depending on the circumstances, in order to effectively manage a diverse team. This paper discusses the most well-known and accepted theories of cultural differences and illustrates them with cases from international project management. Two leading studies of cross-cultural management have been conducted by Geert Hofstede and FonsTrompenaars. Both frameworksoffer a set of cultural dimensions along which core values can be obtained. These structures influence on human thinking, feeling, performance, and...
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...AN ANALYSIS OF THE CULTURE OF AN ORGANIZATION The Student’s Name The Name of the Class Professor The Name of the University The city and State where it is Located The Date Contents 1.0 Background to the Organization...........................................................................................4 2.0 Theoretical Framework.........................................................................................................5 3.0 Discussion of Central Topic..................................................................................................8 4.0 Conclusions and Recommendations.....................................................................................13 References..................................................................................................................................14 List of Figures Fig: 2.0 Diagrammatic representations of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions...............................7 AN ANALYSIS OF THE CULTURE OF AN ORGANIZATION 1.0 Background to the Organization Organization culture is a predominant aspect of an organization’s internal environment Azhar (2003). Culture, to some extent, influences performance and efficiency in an organization Rousseau (2000). Every organization has its unique culture that differs from that of other corporate Schein (2004). For purposes of this report I chose IKEA group, I will conduct an in-depth analysis of its culture using the appropriate...
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...An Analysis of the Culture of an Organization Student’s Name University Contents 1.0 Background to the Organization...........................................................................................3 2.0 Theoretical Framework.........................................................................................................4 3.0 Discussion of Central Topic..................................................................................................6 4.0 Conclusions..........................................................................................................................13 References..................................................................................................................................15 An Analysis of the Culture of an Organization 1.0 Background to the Organization Every organization has a personality that is unique, that individual character in the society is its culture (Barker, 2010). My company of choice for analysis is The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC). I have used this bank to discuss the central topic in my report.As I have found it to have a strong corporate culture that has continued to improve its efficiency, value, performance and ratings over the years. HSBBC is a privately based organization; it was incorporated in 1865 with a primary objective of increasing trade and commerce between Europe and China. The headquarters of HSBC are located in London...
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... Empirical works from other scholars also suggest that several forces like institutional pressure, ecopolitical conditions and history etc. are more influential than culture in directing the course of management control practices in Bangladesh. The major limitation of this study is its usage of limited data sets. The findings will be useful in understanding different forces that are shaping management control practices in a transitional economy, Bangladesh. 1 1.0 Introduction Previous researches (Hofstede 1991; Schneider and Barsoux, 2003) confirm that management control is practiced differently in different parts of the world and the development of national management practices is a function of its environmental factors. Although it is hoped that globalization, technological development and improved methods will make harmonization of management control practices all over the world, it is not yet happened due to the intercultural differences among nations. The Hofstede seminal work (1980) ‘Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work Related Value ’is a ground breaking concept in studying those underlying cultural structures that causes differences in work related values. It triggers...
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...Journal of Comparative International Management 2009, Vol. 12, no.2, 73-89 ©2009 Management futures Printed in canada Cross-cultural Communication and Multicultural Team Performance: A German and American Comparison by Steven W. Congden University of Hartford, U.S.A. Alexei V. Matveev College of Staten Island – CUNY, U.S.A David E. Desplaces College of Charleston, U.S.A. This study builds on work by Matveev & Nelson (2004) which investigated the relationship between cross-cultural communication competence and multicultural team performance using American and Russian managers. This study examines the impact of national culture on German and American subjects. While a relationship between cross-cultural communication competence and multicultural team performance was found, it did not differ by overall national culture. Of the four dimensions of cross-cultural communication competence, only Cultural Empathy was found to be significantly different between Germans and Americans. No differences were found for the dimensions of Interpersonal Skills, Team Effectiveness, and Cultural Uncertainty. 1. Introduction Worldwide intercultural cooperation drives corporate growth and development across the globe resulting in a heightened demand for a qualified but diverse workforce. researchers have documented that the successful performance of multicultural teams is a vital and contributing factor to organizational success (Jackson, may, & Whitney, 1995; Snow, Snell, davison, & hambrick...
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...Methodological Issues Subunit 1 Conceptual Issues in Psychology and Culture 12-1-2011 Article 8 Dimensionalizing Cultures: The Hofstede Model in Context Geert Hofstede Universities of Maastricht and Tilburg, The Netherlands, hofstede@bart.nl Recommended Citation Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing Cultures: The Hofstede Model in Context. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, Unit 2. Retrieved from http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/orpc/vol2/iss1/8 This Online Readings in Psychology and Culture Article is brought to you for free and open access (provided uses are educational in nature)by IACCP and ScholarWorks@GVSU. Copyright © 2011 International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology. All Rights Reserved. ISBN 978-0-9845627-0-1 Dimensionalizing Cultures: The Hofstede Model in Context Abstract This article describes briefly the Hofstede model of six dimensions of national cultures: Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism/Collectivism, Masculinity/Femininity, Long/ Short Term Orientation, and Indulgence/Restraint. It shows the conceptual and research efforts that preceded it and led up to it, and once it had become a paradigm for comparing cultures, research efforts that followed and built on it. The article stresses that dimensions depend on the level of aggregation; it describes the six entirely different dimensions found in the Hofstede et al. (2010) research into organizational cultures. It warns against confusion with value differences at the individual...
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... the crux for every international manager is to understand the differences in the ways employees, suppliers and clients think, feel and act in different business settings (Hofstede, 1997, p.4). International managers, being capable of managing this challenge, possess a set of intercultural competencies, allowing them to turn cultural diversity into a competitive advantage (Browaeys and Price, 2008, p.215). This information pack provides substantial information about Danish and Brazilian business practices. The subsequent analysis is based upon the theories of the Dutch anthropologists Geert Hofstede and Fons Trompenaars. In particular, Hofstede’s “Uncertainty Avoidance” and Trompenaars’ “Ascription vs. Achievement” have been applied. 2. Theoretical Background Hofstede and Trompenaar are proponents of the ‘etic’ approach. They hold that culture is linked to people’s values. Furthermore they argue that these values can be transferred into universal cultural characteristics. Underpinned by empirical and experimental evidence, both anthropologists developed their set of bi-polar dimensions. According to Browaeys and Price (2008, p.92) these dimensions serve to differentiate national cultures. Moreover they provide implications on the impact of culture in business and management. 2.1. Geert Hofstede Hofstede’s work is based on research conducted at the multinational computing company IBM. Surveys were conducted amongst 116.000...
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...employee involvement’ you need to add the full title of the topic as given in the handbook Autumn Semester 2011-12 December 5th 2011 Dayana Lima Rodriguez Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 2 Summary of the case study......................................................................................................... 3 Theories .................................................................................................................................... 34 Criticism ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Analysis of the case study .......................................................................................................... 7 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 7 References ................................................................................................................................ 10 Page | 1 Introduction Globalisation has forced markets to be in constant development and with that companies are also becoming more knowledge-based than ever before. Therefore, it is of great importance for any company who wants to be a part of a leading market to adapt and to keep pace with the rapid changes of the environment...
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