1 Emphasizing Cultures, Ethics, and NormsChapter 3 Emphasizing Cultures, Ethics, and Norms

2 After studying this chapter, you should be able to:LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this chapter, you should be able to: Define what culture is and articulate its two main manifestations: language and religion Discuss how cultures systematically differ from each other Understand the importance of ethics and ways to combat corruption Identify norms associated with strategic responses when firms deal with ethical challenges Participate in three leading debates on cultures, ethics, and norms Draw implications for action

3 WHERE DO INFORMAL INSTITUTIONS COME FROM?informal institutions - cultures, ethics, and norms socially transmitted information and are part of the heritage that we call cultures, ethics, and norms ethnocentrism - self-centered mentality within a society; people tend to perceive their own culture, ethics, and norms as “natural, rational, and morally right”

4 CULTURE culture - national identity of nation-states- conducted perhaps the most comprehensive study of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture: “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another”

5 LANGUAGE lingua franca - dominance of one language as a global business language English-speaking countries contribute the largest share of global output globalization calls for the use of one common language nonnative speakers of English who can master English increasingly command a premium in jobs and compensation expatriate manager not knowing the local language misses a lot of cultural subtleties and can only interact with locals fluent in English

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8 RELIGION set of common beliefs and practices generally held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and mystic experience leading religions: Christianity (approximately 1.7 billion adherents), Islam (1 billion), Hinduism (750 million) and Buddhism (350 million)

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10 CLASSIFYING CULTURAL DIFFERENCEScontext - underlying background upon which interaction takes place low-context cultures - culture in which communication is usually taken at face value without much reliance on unspoken context high-context cultures - culture in which communication relies a lot on the underlying unspoken context, which is as important as the words used

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12 CLASSIFYING CULTURAL DIFFERENCEScluster - countries that share similar cultures together as one cluster approach groups countries that share similar cultures together as one cluster three influential sets of clusters: Ronen and Shenkar, GLOBE, and Huntington civilizations civilization - highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity people have

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14 DIMENSION APPROACH dimension approach has endeavored to overcome limitations: context only represents one dimension cluster approach has relatively little to offer regarding differences among countries within one cluster

15 DIMENSION APPROACH power distance - extent to which less powerful members within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally individualism - perspective that the identity of an individual is fundamentally his or her own collectivism - idea that the identity of an individual is primarily based on the identity of his or her collective group masculinity - sex-role differentiation femininity - sex-role differentiation uncertainty avoidance - extent to which members in different cultures accept ambiguous situations and tolerate uncertainty long-term orientation - emphasizes perseverance and savings for future betterment

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18 ETHICS ethics - principles, standards, and norms of conduct governing individual and firm behavior code of conduct - set of guidelines for making ethical decisions ethical relativism -“When in Rome, do as the Romans do” ethical imperialism - absolute belief that “there is only one set of Ethics (with a capital E), and we have it” corruption - abuse of public power for private benefits usually in the form of bribery Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) - US law enacted in 1977 that bans bribery to foreign officials norms - prevailing practices of relevant players that affect the focal individuals and firms

19 Lista de los más corruptos del mundo, aquí van los diez primeros:Somalia: en la práctica, el gobierno sólo controla una parte del país. Myanmar: antiguamente conocido como Burma, ha sufrido en las últimas décadas un gobierno militar, una guerra civil y catástrofes económicas. Afganistán: lleva desde 1970 con guerra civil y ocupaciones extranjeras. Iraq: la supervivencia del gobierno y el país todavía depende de las fuerzas norteamericanas. Uzbekistan: se considera una república presidencial, pero tiene importantes límites a los derechos individuales. Turkmenistan: su gobierno es considerado como uno de los más represivos. De facto, utiliza un sistema político de partido único. Sudán: una de las naciones más pobres del mundo. Chad: país africano con petróleo. Ha habido recientes intentos de golpes de Estado. Burundi: tiene el PIB per capita más bajo de todas las naciones del mundo, según CIA Factbook. Guinea Equatorial: su principal vía de ingresos es el petróleo. Se le critica regularmente por abusos a los derechos humanos.

20 Y los diez países menos corruptos del mundo, los que reciben mejor nota:Dinamarca: varios 'rankings' lo ponen como uno de los países con mayor grado de felicidad entre sus habitantes. Nueva Zelanda: tiene uno de los PIB per capita más altos del mundo. Singapore: el gobierno tiene una ley muy dura contra la corrupción. Finlandia: el país con el mejor sistema educativo del mundo. Suecia: políticamente estable desde la mitad del siglo XVII. Canadá: tiene un sistema legal avanzado, con una economía fuerte y con una población bien educada. Holanda: una de las democracias más antiguas del mundo. Tiene la sede del Tribunal Internacional de la Haya. Australia: una de las mayores democracias del mundo. Suiza: neutralidad, población homogénea y bien educada. Noruega: el cuarto país escandinavo entre los diez mejores

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