In: Operations Management
Explain individualistic culture, collectivist culture, and “tight or loose” culture, providing the main characteristics for each culture and supporting your answer with examples and citations from recent published articles (950-1000 words, 60 marks)
Solution:-
individualistic cultures are those that stress the needs of the individual over the needs of the group as a whole. In this type of culture, people are seen as independent and autonomous. Social behavior tends to be dictated by the attitudes and preferences of individuals. Cultures in North America and Western Europe tend to be individualistic
Individualistic Culture Traits
Chances are you have probably heard the terms individualistic and collectivist cultures before, often in the context of noting behavior and attitude differences between the two types of societies. So what exactly makes individualistic cultures different from collectivist ones?
A few common characteristics of individualistic cultures include:
The Effects of Individualistic Cultures on Behavior
The effect that culture has on individual behavior is a major topic of interest in the field of cross-cultural psychology. Cross-cultural psychologists study how different cultural factors influence individual behavior. They often focus on things that are universal among different cultures of the world, as well as differences among societies.
One interesting phenomenon that cross-cultural psychologists have observed is how people from individualist cultures describe themselves compared to how those from collectivist cultures describe themselves.
People from individualist societies have self-concepts that are more focused on independence rather than interdependence. As a result, they tend to describe themselves in terms of their unique personal characteristics and traits.
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Collectivist cultures emphasize the needs and goals of the group as a whole over the needs and desires of each individual. In such cultures, relationships with other members of the group and the interconnectedness between people play a central role in each person's identity.
Cultures in Asia, Central America, South America, and Africa tend to be more collectivistic. Countries considered collectivistic include Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Venezuela, Guatemala, Indonesia, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, and India.
Collectivistic Culture Traits
A few common traits of collectivist cultures include:
In collectivistic cultures, people are considered "good" if they are generous, helpful, dependable, and attentive to the needs of others. This contrasts with individualistic cultures, which often place a greater emphasis on characteristics such as assertiveness and independence.
How Collectivist Cultures Differ
Collectivist cultures are usually contrasted with individualistic cultures. Collectivism stresses the importance of the community, while individualism is focused on the rights and concerns of each person. Where unity and selflessness are valued traits in collectivist cultures, independence and personal identity are highly stressed in individualistic cultures.
These cultural differences are pervasive and can influence many aspects of how society functions. How people shop, dress, learn, and conduct business can all be influenced by whether they are from a collectivist or individualist culture.
For example, workers who live in a collectivist culture might strive to sacrifice their own happiness for the greater good of the group. Those from individualistic cultures, on the other hand, may feel that their own well-being and goals carry greater weight.
Influence on Behavior
Cross-cultural psychologists study how these cultural differences impact various aspects of behavior. They see effects in many areas of behavior.
Self-Perception
Culture influences how people behave, as well as their self-concept.1 Those in individualistic cultures might describe themselves in terms of personality traits and characteristics (e.g., "I am smart, funny, athletic, and kind"). Those from collectivist cultures, on the other hand, would more likely describe themselves in terms of their social relationships and roles (e.g., "I am a good son, brother, and friend").
Relationships
Research shows that collectivist cultures are associated with low relational mobility, a term to describe how many opportunities individuals in a society have to form relationships with people of their choosing.2
Low relational mobility means that the relationships people have are stable, strong, and long-lasting. These relationships are usually formed due to factors such as family and geographical area, rather than personal choice.
In a collectivist culture, it's difficult to build relationships with new people, partly because it's generally more difficult to meet them. Strangers are more likely to remain strangers to those from a collectivistic culture than they would be to people from individualistic cultures.
Maintaining harmony within interpersonal relationships is of utmost importance in a collectivistic culture. This is likely because these relationships are so long-lasting and extremely difficult to change. Failing to keep the peace can mean long-term unhappiness for everyone involved.
Paradoxically, this means that people in individualistic cultures devote more effort and energy toward actively maintaining close relationships, often through increased self-disclosure and greater intimacy. Unlike collectivist cultures where stable relationships are more expected, relationships in individualistic cultures tend to be more fraught and fragile. People must make a greater effort to maintain these relationships.
Conformity
Cultural differences also influence the motivation to either stand out or fit in with the rest of the group.3 In one experiment, participants from American and Japanese cultures were asked to select a pen. Most of the pens were the same color, with a few options in different colors. Most American participants chose the rarer colored pens.
The Japanese participants, on the other hand, were much more likely to choose the most common colored pen, even though they preferred the rarer pens. This may have been because, coming from a collectivistic culture, the Japanese participants instinctively valued interpersonal harmony above personal preference and thus chose the unoffensive behavior of leaving the rarer pens for others who might want them.
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Tight and Loose Cultures
Tight cultures, as defined by Gelfand in her book, “Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World,” are those in which social norms are clearly defined and reliably imposed, leaving little room for individual improvisation and interpretation. Examples of countries with tight cultures include China, France, India, Japan and Singapore.
Loose cultures are those in which social norms are flexible and informal. They propose expectations but permit individuals to define the range of tolerable behavior within which they may exercise their own preferences. Thus, enforcement in loose cultures is left to interpersonal mechanisms. Examples of countries with loose cultures include Australia, Belgium, Israel, New Zealand and the United States.
Institutional mechanisms govern behavior in tight cultures, according to research by Brian Gunia. Individuals from these cultures rely on institutional trust more than interpersonal trust to control behavior and sanction deviance. Because interpersonal mechanisms govern behavior in loose cultures, the exact opposite is true. People from tight cultures, therefore, do not need social intelligence to find out who is trustworthy as trust is not needed to conduct business, whereas those in loose cultures must find out on their own.
Applying these concepts to the case of American executive Robert Z., it is clear that the Indian man he was attempting to partner with just had little competence in the skills required to build trust with an American. This had not been required of him within Indian social norms. He had relied on the family name and reputation of a partner, connections, institutional affiliations, third parties and so on. American social norms are looser, requiring the American to apply skills of personal trust-building in one-on-one situations.
Building Trust Across Cultures
In these intercultural situations, the onus is on those from loose cultures to take the initiative to build trust with those from tight cultures. It is a big mistake to just assume that trust means the same thing in different countries. Here are some guidelines:
Applying the HV Model of Global Leadership
A powerful way to develop a personal trust competency is to apply the Horizontal, Vertical Model illustrated below.
Instilling trust is one of the nine competencies assessed by means of the Global Leader Tucker Assessment Profile in the horizontal part of the model. The vertical part of the model shows how the competencies can be addressed through a cognitive development process. This is done by applying a behavior change mapping plan that can be used with leaders responsible for building relationships and partnerships with those from other cultures.
Instilling Trust: Behavior Change Map
The ability to instill trust in a global organization and among international teams is a hallmark of successful global leaders. Being trusted and trusting others also leads to more successful international business relationships. Here is a sample map for instilling trust:
Bridge the Gap
Instilling trust in a relationship with an international business partner is a challenging process that requires going beyond business strategy, financing, marketing, staffing, etc. Time and effort must also be expended to focus on the guidelines above. Applying the tight and loose cultures concept can provide insight into the gap between cultures and how to bridge that gap.