Page 37 - DMGT548_GLOBAL_HRM

Global HRM

Notes is different in different countries due to different cultures. This is a major issue which organisation
faces in cross-border deals.

Table 2.1: Kluckhohn-Strodthbeck’s Criterion for Comparing Culture

S. No. Orientation of People Pattern of Behaviour or Thinking
1. What is the nature of people? Good, evil or mixed
2. What is a person’s relationship to nature? Dominant, harmony, or subjugation
3. What is a person’s relationship to individual? Hierarchical, collectivist or others
4. What is the modality of human activity? Doing, being or containing
5. What is the temporal focus of human activity? Future, present or past
6. What is the conception of Space? Private, public or mixed

1. The task of management is to change organisational structures, management practices
and the human resource practices including organisational culture to allow individual
potential to be released. This corresponds to assumptions that human nature is basically
evil and therefore people at work require controlling. Team-building is easy and delegation
of authority is more common in countries where the orientation to people and organisations
is good. Democracy is a preferred way of life in such countries.
In countries where the orientation to human nature is ‘Mixed’, there is more use of
middleman and business contracts are made more specific. In such countries legal
profession is a flourishing trade.

Example: America and India are nations with mixed orientation while Saudi Arabia and
Japan are countries where orientation towards human nature is good. Americans are optimistic
about other people’s motivations and capacities.
2. The second orientation is about relationship to nature, which relates to locus of control –
whether it is internal or external.

Example: Americans with an orientation for being ‘dominant’ believe that man can
control nature and spend huge amounts on space research, weather control, and biotech, etc. In
such dominant countries, conflict is not disapproved of and differences in views are encouraged.

The eastern countries, with an orientation towards harmony, believe that there should be
peace between man and nature. There is also a desire to avoid conflicts. Countries in the
Middle East and India, with an orientation for subjugation, believe that destiny and God
control everything. People believe in astrology and assign all success and failure to God.
3. The third orientation – a person’s relationship to others – is about the importance of
hierarchy or respect for seniority on the basis of age, sex, familial or official position.

Example: Countries like Thailand, China and Indonesia have more follower-ship than
leadership.
4. The fourth orientation is the modality of human activity. When it is towards doing as in
the case of Americans, Germans or the English, self-identification is achieved through
action and performance. Where the orientation is towards ‘being’, people are more
philosophical and spend time in abstract thinking.

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