20/2

The cultural context of HRM

Tuyau
Which of the following are global workers?
a. Corporate expatriates.
b. Short-term assignees.
c. Interna0onal business travelers.
d. All of them above.
Need to differen/ate different group of workers, difference btw expatriate and non-expatriate!
Both groups are part of “global worker”

Which is not a characteris0c of a global virtual team?

a. They usually relocate but work in teams.
b. They are from diverse na0onal context.
c. They use technology.
d. They hardly ever meet in person.
Usually do not relocate (move to another country), move to a different country

How can organiza0ons mi0gate the risks (and associated costs) related to expatriate failure?
a. Inpatria0on, or the transfer of subsidiary managers to the headquarters for a specific
period of 0me.
b. Relying on short-term assignments of about 1-12 months.
c. Make use of virtual assignments to address work processes in a more flexible and cost-
efficient way.
d. All of them above.
Different strategies to … way to reduce cost, another form of expatria/on,

Which of the statements below about interna0onal HRM is incorrect?

a. Interna0onal HRM is an umbrella term for HRM that includes all aspects of an
organiza0on’s HR, payroll, and talent management processes opera0ng on a global
scale.
b. The challenge of interna0onal HRM is to manage people within organiza0ons and to
achieve the goals of that organiza0on.
c. Compared to HRM, interna0onal HRM is associated with a broader set of ac0vi0es such
as reloca0on and taxa0on.
d. Interna0onal HRM considers how local cultural norms impact an organiza0on’s current
way of working.

5
Strategic HRM considers how to achieve the goals of the organiza/on by managing people
inside that organiza/on. IHRM focuses on the interna/onal component of people management
and the challenge related to globaliza/on.

Culture and cross-cultural management

3 dis0nct yet related fields:

- Cross-cultural management (impact of cultural norms, values, etc. on decision making)
- Interna0onal HRM (opera0onaliza0on of HRM strategies across different countries
within a single organiza0on)
- Compara0ve HRM (different ways in which countries manage employment rela0ons
and HR prac0ces)

Take a few minutes to discuss what the term “culture” evokes or means to you.
Culture is a set of (coutumes), tradi0ons, etc.
Organiza0on culture difference btw a small company than a bigger company, hierarchiza0on,
HR processes, different feel and experience in difference companies.
Culture is a complex term:
- From biology: to grow (microorganisms, 0ssues, etc) in or on a controlled or defined
medium.
- From social/cultural anthropology: studying different ways of living within countries of
by ethnic groups.

Culture exists at different levels:

6
 Global level — Globaliza/on has allowed economically
strong countries to (abempt to) export their own cultural
principles to other countries (e.g., freedom of choice,
individual rights, free market)

Na/onal level — Culture within a na/on state; received

most aben/on by researchers (e.g., Hofstede, GLOBE)

Organiza/onal level — Degree to which an organiza/on

emphasis certain aspect (e.g., hierarchy, innova/on, risk-
taking)

Group level — Shared values of a team (e.g., trust, performance norms, /me management)

Individual level — Internalized aspects of culture due to being exposed to different group,
organiza/onal or na/onal cultures

Schein’s concept of culture

Level 1 ‘ARTIFACTS’ – Visible structures and processes such as its architecture, furniture,
uniforms, technology, etc. in addi/on to non-tangible structures and processes like
vocabularies, stories, or rituals (e.g., role /tles, stories about failure or success, annual
Christmas party, …)

Level 2 ‘VALUES’ – Values of a company or society; visible on the surface and just below, i.e.,
partly conscious and partly unconscious (e.g., extraversion, conformity, power, tradi/on).

Level 3 ‘ASSUMPTIONS’ – Deeply rooted assump/ons, usually not visible, ohen unconscious,
and considered as self-evident (e.g., convic/ons about reality or truth, percep/ons of /me,
ideas about the nature of human rela/onships)

The majority of culture is immerged

Schwartz’s taxonomy of individual values

Values = trans-situa/onal goals, varying in importance, that serve as guiding principles in the
life of a person or group.
Inherent in Schwartz’s defini/on is the fact that values apply to various situa/ons and not only
to very specific ones.

7
These values are believed to be universal and to exist (to a greater or lesser extent) across
cultures in general.

important the understand our own value system (ex value for animal well-being, etc but s0ll
choose the cheaper steak at the store a non-organic one because financial is more important)
Work in an implicit ways.

Difficulty of culture is to be aware of it because it is implicit so difficult to grasp.

Role of management is to understand the phenomenon to be able to control it further.

8
Intercultural management studies
Geert Hofstede’s (1928-2020, The Netherlands) cross-cultural management study
• Most comprehensive analysis of this subject ever conducted by means of one
ques/onnaire.
• 116,000 IBM employees represen/ng every hierarchical level of the company and
possessing various qualifica/ons, from unskilled workers to university graduates.
• 38 different professional groups.
• 20 different languages.
• Out of 150 ques/ons, 60 were based on the convic/ons and values of the
respondents.
Because only individuals employed at subsidiaries of the same company were surveyed,
Hofstede reasoned that determined differences were the result of na/onal differences to which
these employees were exposed (as opposed to differences in org culture).

9
tuyau
Power distance = distance btw leader/manager and employee,
Individualism = high (united states, Australia, put themselves first) OR Low (Japan, Asia,
collec0ve)
Masculinity = low (country where quality of life is very important) OR high (in the US where a
lot of compe00on)
Uncertainty avoidance = low (China a lot of avoidance, long term planning company) OR high
(US very uncertainty)
Long term orienta0on = low (see what happens, not just thinking ahead just here and now)
Indulgence = high (based on pleasure, fun, short term entertainment, instant gra0fica0on) OR
low (confidence, more sober and strict, follow the plan)

Source: hrps://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=PhT5Q0sJP9Q
Key ideas of those dimensions, need to understand what they are and how to use them!

Read the case development plans for a German mul/na/onal in the US and answer following
ques/ons:
• How can you interpret Peter Hansen’s surprise from a cultural point of view?
In Germany ppl don’t leave the company that fast, even if Hansen try the polycentric approach
he sort of forgot the different culture differences and was ac0ng on the belief that the US
workers would integrate these values, some level of culture sensi0vity, he was surprise, he s0ll
missed that difference btw culture Germany vs US.

• Relate the described situa/on to one of the cultural dimensions iden/fied by

Hofstede. Using Hofstede’s framework, can you explain Peter Hansen’s surprise?

10
Individualism vs collec0vism = decide to leave, because he thinks for himself first
Short term vision vs long term vision = Hansen vision more long term
Indulgence = take whatever I can take, take more money

• What are the limits of a na/onal cultural explana/on?

Different btw values of the two countries. Cross cultural management cannot explain
everything. Interna0onal layer (na0onal culture, differences) addi0onal layer that comes on
top to other things we need to look out for HR.

Voir slide sur ecampus (correc0on + qcm)

Results of the Hofstede study (example):

The figure to the leh demonstrates the extent of cultural distance between different countries
regarding the dimensions “power distance” and “individualism vs. collec/vism”.
For example, some Asian cultures tend to score high on uncertainty avoidance and on power
distance. Among them are Singapore (SIN) and Hong Kong (HOK). On the contrary, German-
speaking countries such as Germany (GER), Austria (AUT) and Switzerland (SWI) represent a
cluster (together with others) that can be described by a comparably strong tendency toward
uncertainty avoidance and a rela/vely low power distance.

Power distance = hierarchy in the company

11
Understand what the examina0on means, explain what does it mean in terms of values and
norms.

Globe’s study
Global Leadership and Organiza/onal Behavior Effec/veness (GLOBE) study
• Transna/onal project ini/ated by Robert J. House in 1991.
• 170 researchers from 62 countries; expanded to 500 researchers from 150 countries
at present.
• GLOBE project concerns the effec/veness of leadership and behavior in organiza/ons
at a global level, with special considera/on given to cultural influence factors.
o Phase 1 (1993-1994): development of research dimensions.
o Phase 2 (2004-2007): gather data on these dimensions.
o Phase 3 (2012-2013): analysis of effects of leadership behavior on the
performance and attudes of employees.
o Phase 4 (underway): societal drivers of cultural change.

The GLOBE study ques0ons (no need to know by heart)

• Are there leadership behaviours, abributes, and organiza/on prac/ces effec/ve
across all cultures?
• Are there leadership behaviors, abributes, and organiza/on prac/ces effec/ve in
some cultures only?
• How much do behaviors and abributes in specific cultures influence the well-being of
members in the researched socie/es?
• What is the rela/onship between these socio-cultural variables and an interna/onal
compe//ve capacity of the various sampled socie/es?

12
• How much do leadership abributes affect the effec/veness of specific leadership
behavior and its acceptance by subordinates?

Globe study is, to some extent, based on

Hofstede’s dimensions (e.g., uncertainty
avoidance and power distance).

However, many of the dimensions are modified

and expanded, leading to some confusion when
the Hofstede and GLOBE results are assessed and
compared.

Moreover, value dimensions are measured on the

societal and organiza/onal level.

Globe study results

• Quan0ta0ve data collec0on in 62 countries;
17,370 people from middle management, 951
organiza0ons and 3 industries (finance, food
and telecommunica0on services) were
surveyed.
• Analyzed countries and cultures were
assigned to different regional clusters, which
differed with respect to the underlying cultural
dimensions.
• Unique profiles emerge when combining
cultural dimension characteris0cs for different
cultures.

13
US pay by performance! Not arrac0ve if same HR prac0ce than in Belgium.
In Europe (especially in Belgium) paying more when people are gexng older in order to value
reten0on in the same company

14