Culture

Luthans & Doh – culture is acquired knowledge that people use to interpret experience and generate social behavior.






How does your picture or proverb tell about the country's culture?



What are the characteristics of culture? - Luthans & Doh
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Role of Culture in IM.

Luthans & Doh contend that learning about culture is important to the study of international management at the individual level. In other words understanding the culture will inform interactions you have with individuals in that culture. The story in the text about Chinese business problem would demonstrate this view.

Others suggest that culture is a group level descriptor and should not be used as a basis for prescribing how to deal with individuals. For example just because someone is from a collectivist culture we can’t assume they won’t be motivated by individual rewards. The contention of this view is we are promoting stereotypes based on culture.

Question: Are all Americans focused on individual over group goals?


Management approaches affected by culture Luthans & Doh

Can you come up with an example of how each of these approaches would be reflected in specific situations encountered by managers?

• Centralized vs. decentralized decision making
• Safety vs. risk
• Individual vs. group rewards
• Informal vs. formal procedures
• High vs. low organizational loyalty
• Cooperation vs competition
• Short-term vs. long-term horizons
• Stability vs. innovation