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Business culture in the Germanic Europe cluster
The Germanic Europe cluster includes Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and German speaking Switzerland (French and Italian speaking Switzerland are part of the Latin Europe cluster). Germanic societies are defined by: a low-context communication style; a monochronic approach to time management individualistic traits a doing orientation (Germanic cultures value productivity, efficiency, high-performance and competitiveness); a dislike for…
Category : Business culture around the world 19-10-2022 by Maria Antonietta Marino
The challenges of cultural diversity in international business
Dear readers, Following the introductions to cultural dimensions and culture clusters, it is now time to discuss about business practices (and business etiquette) around the world. As briefly mentioned in the post about the Iceberg Model of Culture, some elements of culture are visible and easily accessible to everyone, while some other…
Category : Articles 31-05-2022 by Maria Antonietta Marino
Overcoming the challenges of cross-cultural recruitment and selection
In some of our previous articles on global leadership we’ve discussed about the meaning of “effective leadership” across cultures, about local preferences for certain traits ideal leaders should possess in order to be successful in their role: to continue the conversation, this week we’re going to talk about the “ideal…
The Concepts of Happiness and Well-being Across Cultures
"Happiness is dependent on unhappiness, while unhappiness is hidden in happiness." - Chinese proverb - *** What ideas, thoughts, and feelings do you associate with the word "happiness"? Have you ever considered the possibility that the definition of happiness might depend on one's cultural background? Today we're going back to the topic of individualistic…
Category : Articles 04-03-2021 by Maria Antonietta Marino
The cultural context in business communication, a cross country comparison
One of the most effective ways to learn about oneself is by taking seriously the cultures of others. It forces you to pay attention to those details of life which differentiate them from you - Edward T. Hall, The Silent Language - *** To continue with the topic of cross-cultural differences in outsourcing…
Category : Articles 03-02-2021 by Maria Antonietta Marino
Leadership styles across cultures, an overview
Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. But with the best leaders, when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say 'We have done this ourselves'. - Lao Tzu - *** In last week’s article…
Category : Articles 26-01-2021 by Maria Antonietta Marino
West meets East: the impact of organizational culture on outsourcing projects
As soon as we start putting our thoughts into words and sentences everything gets distorted, language is just no damn good—I use it because I have to, but I don’t put any trust in it. We never understand each other - Marcel Duchamp - *** An article published by Software Mind indicates India…
Challenges and misconceptions in intercultural negotiations
Where two principles really do meet which cannot be reconciled with one another, then each man declares the other a fool and a heretic. - Ludwig Wittgenstein, On Certainty - *** Negotiation, “an interaction and process between entities who compromise to agree on matters of mutual interest, while optimizing their individual utilities”, has…
Category : Articles 11-01-2021 by Maria Antonietta Marino
Time Tracking - Best Practices and Mistakes to Avoid
He who every morning plans the transactions of that day and follows that plan carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life. - Victor Hugo - *** Maria ’s intro: The readers who have been visiting this blog over the past few months might have noticed that…
Category : Articles 01-12-2020 by Maria Antonietta Marino
Narcissism and competitive communication in individualistic cultures
"When the healthy pursuit of self-interest and self-realization turns into self-absorption, other people can lose their intrinsic value in our eyes and become mere means to the fulfilment of our needs and desires." - P.M. Forni, The Civility Solution: What to Do When People Are Rude- *** Conversational Narcissism, described by sociologist Charles Derber…
Category : Articles 04-11-2020 by Maria Antonietta Marino
The Sub-Saharan Africa Cluster
If everyone helps to hold up the sky, then one person does not become tired. - Askhari Johnson Hodari, Lifelines: The Black Book of Proverbs - The Sub-Saharan Africa cluster - that, according to the Globe Project, includes Namibia, Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa (Black population. White population considered as part…
Category : Introductions to culture clusters 02-11-2020 by Maria Antonietta Marino
The Middle East Cluster
This Proto-Indo-European term ghosti referred to a kind of unspoken etiquette, a notion that on seeing strangers on the horizon, rather than choose to fell them with spears or sling-shots, instead we should take the risk of welcoming them across our threshold – on the chance that they might bring…
Category : Introductions to culture clusters 21-10-2020 by Maria Antonietta Marino
Global Leadership and Time Management Skills
Everyone talks about building a relationship with your customer. I think you build one with your employees first. - Angela Ahrendts - *** The findings of studies conducted over the years suggest that cultural diversity and the misunderstandings that often arise as a result of different temporal perspectives have an impact on staff retention: workers will either…
Category : Articles 29-09-2020 by Maria Antonietta Marino
The Latin Europe Cluster
I had forgotten how gently time passes in Paris. As lively as the city is, there's a stillness to it, a peace that lures you in. In Paris, with a glass of wine in your hand, you can just be. - Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale - *** The Latin Europe cluster includes France, Israel (considered…
Category : Introductions to culture clusters 01-09-2020 by Maria Antonietta Marino
The Germanic Europe Cluster
I remember learning German - so beautiful, so strange - at school in Australia on the other side of the earth. I liked the sticklebrick nature of it, building long supple words by putting short ones together. Things could be brought into being that had no name in English -…
Category : Introductions to culture clusters 04-08-2020 by Maria Antonietta Marino
The Eastern Europe Cluster
But they could neither of them persuade me, for there is nothing dearer to a man than his own country and his parents, and however splendid a home he may have in a foreign country, if it be far from father or mother, he does not care about it. - Homer, The…
Category : Introductions to culture clusters 25-06-2020 by Maria Antonietta Marino
The Nordic Cluster
The Swedish system is best understood not in terms of socialism, but in terms of Rousseau, he continued: Rousseau was an extreme egalitarian and he really hated any kind of dependence --depending on other people destroyed your integrity, your authenticity-- therefore the ideal situation was one where every citizen was…
Category : Introductions to culture clusters 08-06-2020 by Maria Antonietta Marino
The Latin America Cluster
Yes, Latinos dream more. When you live in poverty, when your president is imposed upon you, when they kill someone and no one gets indicted, and when only a few get rich, of course you dream more. It's no coincidence that magic realism happens in Latin America, because for us…
Category : Introductions to culture clusters 12-03-2020 by Maria Antonietta Marino
The Southern Asia cluster
India lives in several centuries at the same time. - Arundhati Roy, Power Politics - After the Anglo- and the Confucian-Asia cluster, this series about effective global leadership continues with the Southern-Asia cluster. - How important is hierarchy in Indian business culture? - What does the Filipino concept of “Pakisisama” (a term that comes from…
Category : Introductions to culture clusters 04-03-2020 by Maria Antonietta Marino
The Confucian-Asia cluster
The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions. - Confucius - The shame-based Confucian-Asia cluster - that includes China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan - is home to high-context, polychronic cultures, that prefer an indirect communication style (context is more important than words) and that see time as…
Category : Introductions to culture clusters 24-02-2020 by Maria Antonietta Marino
The Anglo Cluster
This is the story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do. - Jack Kerouac, On The Road - As anticipated in the previous article , the Globe Project - a study on cross-cultural leadership - groups the societal cultures object of the research into ten major culture clusters,…
Category : Introductions to culture clusters 20-02-2020 by Maria Antonietta Marino
Global Leadership, an introduction to culture clusters
Dear readers, Those of you who’ve been following this blog for the past few months might be already familiar with Hofstede’s framework and with the concept of cultural dimensions (infographics available here): let me now introduce you to Project GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research), a study about Leadership…
Category : Introductions to culture clusters 11-02-2020 by Maria Antonietta Marino
Uncertainty Avoidance
You never know these days. Uninvited guests may force you to take an unplanned trip to an unknown destination; doesn’t hurt to be in your Sunday clothes. - Anurag Shourie - *** Uncertainty Avoidance, one of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, is the degree to which members of a specific culture are comfortable with uncertainty and…
Category : Introductions to cultural dimensions 23-12-2019 by Maria Antonietta Marino
Masculinity-Femininity (Tough-Tender)
I have an extremely strong, masculine mind and a feminine sensibility level, which is kind of an unusual combination. Both men and women tell me things and I can relate on two levels simultaneously - Truman Capote - According to Hofstede’s definitions, masculinity is “a preference in society for achievement, heroism, assertiveness…
Category : Introductions to cultural dimensions 18-11-2019 by Maria Antonietta Marino
Consumer segmentation: the influence of cultural factors on purchasing behaviour
Authors Thomas Petit and Alan Zakon once observed that "Advertising must be compatible with the values of the consumer if it is to influence behaviour. Advertising is an educating and not a forcing process. It interprets the want-satisfying qualities of the product for the consumer. To do this, it must…
Category : Articles 30-08-2019 by Maria Antonietta Marino
Space planning: a cultural matter
According to anthropologist E.T. Hall, proxemics is "the spatial dimension of non verbal behavior", the study of man's perception and use of space : social research suggests that people from different cultural backgrounds do not share the same preferences in relation to space management, and that what may appear as…
Category : Articles 07-08-2019 by Maria Antonietta Marino
Communication: High- and Low-Context Cultures
Always be careful, as they say, 'Text without context is usually pretext - Ted Mallory - In 1976, anthropologist E.T. Hall developed the iceberg analogy of culture: he theorized that if culture was an iceberg, some of its aspects (above the water line) would be visible and obvious to everyone, while most…
Category : Introductions to cultural dimensions 17-09-2019 by Maria Antonietta Marino
Power Distance
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. - Abraham Lincoln - "Power Distance ", one of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, indicates the extent to which societies and organizations accept power inequality among their members. In societies characterized by a high index of…
Category : Introductions to cultural dimensions 17-09-2019 by Maria Antonietta Marino
Monochronic and Polychronic Time
Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do - Jean-Paul Sartre - Chronemics is the term that indicates the study of the role and use of time in communication: it includes both individual perceptions about time, and the ways time affects interactions (e.g., punctuality, speed…
Category : Introductions to cultural dimensions 17-09-2019 by Maria Antonietta Marino
The iceberg model
Culture hides more than it reveals, and strangely enough what it hides, it hides most effectively from its own participants. - E.T. Hall - *** What do people value the most, a legal document or an informal agreement? Words they can hear/read or the meaning in what is not said? How likely is…
Category : Introductions to cultural dimensions 17-09-2019 by Maria Antonietta Marino
Individualism-Collectivism
Why should people in one part of the globe have developed collectivist cultures, while others went individualist? The key is how culture is shaped by the way people traditionally made a living, which in turn is shaped by ecology. In East Asia it' s all about rice. Rice requires massive…
Category : Introductions to cultural dimensions 10-09-2019 by Maria Antonietta Marino