Define ethnocentrism, and explain what Hofstede concluded about applying American management theories in other countries.
Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s native country, culture, language and most of their behaviors are superior to all others (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2009). Is it considered ethnocentrism if you are proud of your country but your travel experience is limited so you really do not have firsthand experience to compare it to, is that the same as ethnocentrism? We shape our ideas based off of family values, influences from friends, our experiences in general and most people I know are open-minded about other people from different cultures. Maybe there is a certain level of concern that two people from different country’s may not be able to work together but if both people make an effort to understand where the other person is coming from than that is better.
Geert Hofstede in his research paper Motivation, Leadership, and Organization: Do American Theories Apply Abroad? Points out that the four parts of management theories include power distance, individualism-collectivism, and masculinity-femininity and uncertainty and voidance (Hofstede, 1990). The result was that management theories need to be adapted to local cultures because not every culture follows the beliefs that we do (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2009). The second is we need to be aware of each other’s culture, we just cannot pretend that we are different from other people we need to do research so we can avoid mistakes.
While I was surfing the web I found the paper noted above that Hofstede wrote and it is very interesting and so long I had to print it up although I will probably only use the first ten pages. There was so much interesting information in one place that if this topic interests you I would recommend checking it out.
Power distance is when a society accepts the fact that power in institutions and organizations are distributed unequally (Hofstede, 1990).
Here are a couple of examples from his research that will help give an example of the difference between small power distance and large power distance.
Two examples from small power distance are:
All should have equal rights and that the system is to blame
Two examples of large power distance are:
Power-holders are entitled to privilege and the underdog is to blame.
Individualism-collectivism
In an individualism country like the United States where people are taught to take care of themselves and their immediate families where collectivism groups to take care of others outside their immediate family (Hofstede, 1990).
Two examples from individualist society are:
Identify is based on the individual and that autonomy, variety, pleasure, and individual financial security are sought in the system (Hofstede, 1990).
Two examples from the collectivist society are:
Identity is based on the social system and that expertise, order and duty, and security are provided by organization or clan.
These are some of the examples that Hofstede provided in his research and with so many examples to read it really helped me to learn the difference between each.
Next we move on to uncertainty avoidance which means that people in certain society’s will try to avoid things that feel uncomfortable, some have rules and strong ideas about what types of behaviors are acceptable and accepted by members of that group (Hofstede, 1990) .
Two examples from weak uncertainty avoidance are:
Hard work is not a virtue and that there should be as few rules as possible.
Two examples from strong uncertainty avoidance are:
There is an inner urge to work hard and that there is a need for written rules and regulations.
This makes me wonder if other countries have the same introduction to a new job as we do where we are given mountains of paperwork to sign off on and booklets on what the rules and regulations are for that company.
Lastly is masculinity-femininity I will skip right to the examples that Hofstede gave because we all know the different gender rules and some apply in other countries more than just being male and female.
Two examples of masculine are:
Men should dominate society and you live in order to work.
Two from feminine are:
There should be equality between the sexes and you work in order to live.
Hofstede, G. (1990, Summer). Motivation, leadership, and organization: Do american theories apply abroad ?. Retrieved from http://alangutterman.typepad.com/files/motivation-ldrshp-and-orgn-do-american-theories.pdf
Kinicki, A., & Kreitner, R. (2009). Organizational Behavior: Key Concepts, Skills & Best Practices (customized 4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin
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