A Brief Note On The National Culture Of Norway And South Korea

Each country is different as each has a different set of beliefs, traditions, and values that they follow and are of importance to them. Within and across different cultures, there is some consistency in the standards of desirable gender role behavior. Males are expected to be independent, straight forward, and competitive whereas females are expected to be more emotional, sensitive, and supportive. These beliefs have changed little over the years in the United States and apparently around the world also. However there is some variation in cultural gender role standards across cultures not just the United

Hofstede uses the words masculinity and femininity to refer to the degree to which masculine or feminine traits are valued or revealed (Samovar, Porter and McDaniel). The United States rates as a moderately masculine. Countries that favor masculinity stress equity, competition, and performance(Yates). They also strive for material success and expected to respect whatever is big, strong, and fast. France values femininity and stress equality, solidarity, and quality of work life (Yates). A feminine worldview maintains that men can assume nurturing roles while promoting sexual equality. One major difference in masculine/feminine cultures is the role of the woman in the workplace and at home. Feminine societies expect women to work and often provide the necessary social support systems. Although the United States is more masculine than France both countries treat females as equals.

Refers to how society accept or does not accept the differences between people, as per hierarchies at workplace, also in politics and so on. Culture with high power distance accept that a boss is “higher” so deserve more authority and respect. Countries like Mexico, Philippines, and Japan are high power distance countries.

“Both within and across different cultures, we find greater consistency in standards of desirable gender-role behavior. Males are expected to be independent, assertive, and competitive; females are expected to be more passive, sensitive, and supportive. These beliefs have changed little over the past twenty years within the United States and apparently around the world as

Page 4 17) "He does it everywhere, he does it all the time, and no one else does it." Which attribution is the speaker likely to make? A) Dispositional B) Self-serving C) Actor-observer effect D) Temporary situation E) Situational 18) Which of the following statements about the cultural value of power distance is FALSE? A) In high power distance cultures the unequal distribution of power is acceptable to members of the culture. B) High power distance cultures tend to also be individualistic, rather than collective, cultures. C) Japan has higher power distance than Canada. D) Superiors tend to be accessible in low power distance cultures. E) Denmark has lower power distance than Mexico. 19) In a collective culture A) it may be a good idea to reward groups rather than individuals. B) loyalty to one's family or clan are downplayed. C) interdependence is

Hofstede’s study indicated that South Korea is a high power distance country which can be reflected in the organizational structure of Samsung. Prior to the acquisition, power distance in the workplace is high because there are ten hierarchical titles in Samsung. In this centralized organizational structure, there will be a large gap in the relationship between management and employees. Most decision and made by management who tends to have greater power and authority over the decision-making process and employees are expected to respect their manager. In contrast, Sweden is a low power distance country and value egalitarian. Therefore, after acquiring Samsung, Volvo flattens their organization structure by reducing the hierarchy from ten to three which consist of executives, managers and staff members, in order to identify employee by their jobs instead of by their titles.

Masculinity-femininity: Nigeria scores 60 on this dimension and is thus a masculine society. In masculine countries people “live in order to work”, managers are expected to be decisive and assertive, the emphasis is on equity, competition and performance and conflicts are resolved by fighting them out.

The world average for the Masculinity Dimension is 50, with both the United States and Australia having a higher ranking. Traits associated with masculinity are assertiveness, material success, and individual achievement. The female population has adapted these traits and begun to shift toward a more traditional male role, with an increasing number of women continuing to enter the workforce. The direct communication style of the United States illustrates the masculine traits. The U.S. places heavy emphasis on getting their point across rather than getting to know those they are doing business with. This dimension is closely related to both countries’ rankings in the individuality dimension.

For a long time the people of the world have been divided and identified as either male or female. The differentiation on the basis of a person’s gender has also developed gender roles that are what the society expects the men and women in the community to do. When growing up a child is taught to behave, dress or think according to the expectations the society holds on his gender. The society derives the expectations of gender from everyday norms and acceptable standards that are created by the community. The ethnicity of a person plays a role into creating the behavior expectations of men and women from the culture and traditional beliefs the community holds. In most societies, the men are expected to show masculine behaviors such as dominance, strength, aggression and others. The women on the other hand are expected to exhibit feminine behaviors associated with subordination, nurturing and passivity (Grusec, 2014).

The dimension of power distance affect the HR activities by reactions to management authority differently among cultures. There will be greater status and authority differences between superiors and subordinates if the power distance increases. The next factor is individualism which it can up to which people in a country prefer to act as individual in the group. Asian countries more toward to group-oriented meanwhile United Stated more prefer to individualism. The last factor are masculinity and femininity which means masculine is for men and femininity is for women. The person with assertiveness, success, and competitiveness well known as masculine meanwhile feminine known by quality of life, close personal relationships, and

In high power-distance culture, people accept disproportionately allocated power (Hofstede, 1991) and tolerate inequality with natural assumption (Sagie & Aycan, 2003) while those in the low-power distance find “important to minimize or even eliminate social class differences” (Hofstede, 1991); there is uneasy acceptance of the privileges connected with the position (Mead, 2003). Particularly in business, people have a fear of punishment in the event of disagreement with the management’s decision in high-power distance cultures, but less strong in the low-power distance ones. (Mead, 2003). Kazuhiro is an example of people living in the high power-distance culture since he accepts more power along with higher status of his boss though his boss orders him to sing and chant in a ridiculous way as “Ribbon of shame” for his previous poor performance. However, as an American, whose country is considered low-power distance (Hofstede, 1991), Hunt takes it easy when his workers call him just last name in a host of scenes. In addition, his communication manner in conversations with his Japanese manager, Kazuhiro is relatively open and informal despite his lower status in the plant. He even fights against Kazuhiro when having conceptual contrast with Kazuhiro in worker evaluation with no fear of punishment. All of his above features depict a Western person belonging to a low- power distance

This paper will be about the relation between the cultural dimension ‘power distance’ and three management principles we chose and will also be about the applicability of these management principles. This is quite interesting because even though we know that the cultural dimensions, by Geert Hofstede, and the management principles, by Fayol, have something to do with each other, the more the cultural dimensions differ, the more the ranking of the management principles will differ in the compared countries. We will now try to find out if some of these principles are more linked to a certain cultural dimension, in our case Power Distance, than others and we will find out whether these

| * India scores high on this dimension, 77, indicating an appreciation for hierarchy and a Top – Down Structure in society and Organizations. dependent on the boss or the powerholder for direction, acceptance of un-equal rights between the power-priviledged and those who are lesser down in the pecking order, immediate superiors accessible but one layer above less so, paternalistic leader, management directs, gives reason / meaning to ones work life and rewards in exchange for loyalty from employees. * Real Power is centralized even though it may not appear to be and managers count on the obedience of their team members. * Employees expect to be directed clearly as to their functions and what is expected of them. * Communication is top down and directive in its style and often feedback which is negative is never offered up the ladder

Masculinity refers to society’s en which the social roles of each gender (male and female) are clearly differentiated. It is expected that the man should be strong, hard and that his interests should be focused in the material and professional success. On the contrary, the woman has to be tender and focused in maintaining her quality of life and her social status. In high masculine cultures, ambition is rewarded. Having success means progress. Job is almost always the first and most important option.

It is necessary to establish that Norway’s society was patriarchal. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, patriarchy is a “social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family”. Norway’s industrialization in the early part of the century had caused gender roles to form; The man of the household was seen as the provider, whereas the woman was seen as a housewife