HRM 101 – Service culture

HRM 101 – Service culture.

submitted to: DR. MELINDA DEL MUNDO – DE GUZMAN. SUBMITTED BY: GROUP 3 Apilado, Loren C. Barro, Juliza L. Caparal, Michelle Dequina, Roxanny B. Jardeleza, Chriscellen Montilla, Hannah Rachelle G. Rosello, Jeffersonn B..

philippines. FOUR PROBLEM AREAS REPRESENT FOUR DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE • POWER DISTANCE Extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. • COLLECTIVISM VS. INDIVIDUALISM Key differences between collectivist and individualist societies exist and focus on the extent to which individuals are integrated into groups. • FEMININITY VS. MASCULINITY Where there is a distribution of roles and values between genders. • UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE Pertaining to society’s tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity..

LONG TERM ORIENTATION VS. SHORT TERM ORIENTATION.

Short-term Orientation is when you are focused on the present or past and consider them more important than the future. If you have a short-term orientation, you value tradition, the current social hierarchy and fulfilling your social obligations. You care more about immediate gratification than long-term fulfilment. You should note that the concepts of long-term orientation and short-term orientation address the different ways culture’s view time and the importance of the past, present and the future. Cultures demonstrating a short-term orientation will be more concerned with the past and present and will focus their efforts and beliefs on matters related to the short-term, while cultures demonstrating a long-term time orientation will be more concerned with the future and focus their efforts on future-oriented goals..

POWER DISTANCE. The Philippines is a hierarchical society. The definition of hierarchical is something that is organized in terms of rank, or where rigid distinctions of power are identified and complied with. This means that people accept a hierarchical order in which everybody has a place and which need further justification. Hierarchy in an organization is seen as reflecting inherent inequalities, centralization is popular, subordinates expect to be told what to do and the ideal boss is a benevolent autocrat. Power distance is one of the dimensions of Geert Hofstede's cultural dimension theory. The other dimensions include individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance index, and long-term orientation..

Geert Hofstede is a Dutch social psychologist who focuses his work on the study of cultures across nations. He has published books on culture entitled Culture's Consequence (1980) and Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind (1991). His original study of cultural dimensions involved a study of IBM employees from across the world that formed the basis of his cultural dimension’s theory. He's important because he helped introduce the idea of cultural differences between people in the business context. Understanding the differences in cultures is becoming ever more important as we continue to become an integrated global economy. Specifically, how one views power relationships will affect how that person will act in business negotiations, as managers, and as employees. Using a low power distance management or negotiation approach on someone accustomed to a high-power distance viewpoint may very well backfire and be counterproductive. The reverse is also true. Power distance is based upon answers to a questionnaire filled out by business employees in each country. A score can range from 1 to 100. A score of greater than seventy is considered being high, and a score below forty is considered low. For example, the United States scored at forty, which is considered a low score for power distance, while Guatemala scored an amazing ninety-five, indicating a very high score for power distance..

COLLECTIVISM VS. INDIVIDUALISM. The Philippines is considered as a collectivist society. Highly collectivists cultures believe the group is the most important unit. The characteristics are the following: expect absolute loyalty to the group (nuclear family, extended family, caste, organization), group orientation, decisions based on what is best for the group, identity based on the social system, shame culture, dependence on organization and institutions (expects organization / institution / group to take care of individual, “we” mentality, emphasis on belonging, private life “invaded” by the institution and organizations to which one belongs. At work, relatives are preferred in hiring, hiring and promotion take in-group status into account, and fewer working hours..

The theory behind collectivism is that people are integrated behind a common bond; for example, the success of your company. Collectivism can create strong ties of loyalty. In the workplace, collectivism can mean focusing on more intrinsic rewards, such as mastering a new skill or technique. Less emphasis is placed on maintaining and promoting personal opinions: instead, management emphasizes harmony and cooperation. With individualism, people are expected to look after themselves and no one else. Individualistic workplaces value freedom, challenge and personal time. Motivators to perform well can be extrinsic; for example, workers may focus on earning material awards such as raises or promotions. Individualism in the workplace can also mean that employees have high standards for privacy and maintain strongly held opinions. One benefit to collectivism is its emphasis on cooperation and teamwork. As some businesses shift away from traditional, hierarchical structures with clearly defined and maintained roles and responsibilities for workers, workplaces have become more collaborative. Multiple employees may work together to achieve satisfaction and quality for customers, rather than tending to their own clients and ignoring the needs of other customers. On the downside, shared responsibility may mean that the workplace engenders "free riders" who don’t fully complete duties, knowing that others will pick up the slack. Workers may feel less confident about suggesting innovations and may be less inclined to increase contributions knowing that their individual efforts might not be recognized and rewarded..

FEMININITY VS. MASCULINITY. The Philippines scored 64 on this dimension and thus a masculine society. This dimension focuses on how extent to which a society stresses achievement or nurture. Masculinity is seen to be the trait which emphasizes ambition, acquisition of wealth, and differentiated gender roles. Femininity is seen to be the trait which stresses caring and nurturing behaviors, sexuality equality, environmental awareness, and more fluid gender roles. The social norms in a masculine society is ego oriented, money and things are important and live in order to work. At work, there is a larger gender wage gap, fewer women in management, and preference for higher pay..

UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE. The Philippines scored 44 on this dimension and thus has a low reference for avoiding uncertainty. Societies that have low uncertainty avoidance are more relaxed in attitude, in which practice counts more than principles and deviance from the norm is more tolerated. In these societies, people believe that there should be no more rules that are necessary, and if they are ambiguous or do not work, they should be abandoned or changed. Schedules are flexible,hard work is undertaken when necessary but not for its own sake, precision and punctuality do not come naturally, and innovation is not seen as threatening. Low uncertainty avoidance cultures feel comfortable in unstructured situations. They can deal with unplanned situations. They are comfortable with ambiguity, take risks and prefer flexible approach. Examples of low uncertainty avoidance cultures are United States, United Kingdom, India, and China..

CHINA. Power Distance Power distance, the extent to which a society accepts that power is distributed unequally, is established through subordinates and superiors. In societies with high power distance, such as China, individuals with power enjoy greater status and privilege than those without power, and subordinates are less likely to challenge or express disagreement with superiors. In other words, the rank structure is clearly delineated between management and subordinates, and disagreement with management is frowned upon. At 80, China sits in the higher rankings of PDI - for example, a society that believes that inequalities amongst people are acceptable. The subordinate-superior relationship tends to be polarized and there is no defense against power abuse by superiors. Individuals are influenced by formal authority and sanctions and are in general optimistic about people’s capacity for leadership and initiative. People should not have aspirations beyond their rank..

Individualism At a score of 20, China is a highly collectivist culture where people act in the interests of the group and not necessarily of themselves. In-group considerations affect hiring and promotions, with close in-groups (such as family) getting preferential treatment. Employee commitment to the organization (but not necessarily to the people in the organization) is low. Whereas relationship with the colleagues are cooperative for in-groups, they are cold or even hostile to out-groups. Personal relationships prevail over task and company. Masculinity/Femininity At 66, China is masculine society-success oriented and driven. The need to ensure success can be exemplified by the fact that many chinese will sacrifice family and leisure priorities to work. Service people (such as hairdresser) will provide services until very late at night. Leisure time is not so important. The migrated farmer workers will leave their families behind in far away places in order to obtain better work and pay in the cities. Another example is that Chinese students care very much about their exam scores and ranking as this is the main criteria to achieve success or not..

UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE At 30, China has a low score on uncertainty avoidance. Truth may be relative though in the immediate social circles, there is a concern for truth with a capital T and rules (but not necessarily laws) abound. Nonetheless, adherence to laws and rules may be flexible to suit the actual situation and pragmatism is a fact of life. The Chinese are comfortable with ambiguity, the Chinese language is full of ambiguous meanings that can be difficult for western people to follow. Chinese are adaptable and entrepreneurial. At the time of writing, the majority (70%-80%) of chinese businesses tend to be small to medium sized and family owned. LONG TERM ORIENTATION With a score of 118, China is a highly long term society in which persistence and perseverance are normal. Relationship are ordered by status and the order is observed. Nice people are thrifty and sparing with resources and investment tends to be in long term projects such as real estate. Traditions can be adapted to suit new conditions. Chinese people recognize the government is by men rather than as in the low LTO countries by an external influence such as God or the law. Thinking ways focus on the full or no confidence, contrastingwith low LTO countries that think in probabilistic ways..

JAPAN. Power Distance At a score of 54, Japan is a mildly hierarchical society. Japanese are always conscious of their hierarchical position in any social setting and act accordingly. However, it is not as hierarchical as most of the other Asian cultures. Some foreigners experience Japan as extremely hierarchical because of their business experience of painstakingly slow decision-making process: all the decisions must be confirmed by each hierarchical layer and finally by the top management in Tokyo. Paradoxically, the exact example of their slow decision making process shows that in Japanese society there is no one top guy who can take a decision like in more hierarchical societies. Another example of a not-so-high power distance is that japan has always been a meritocratic society. There is a strong notion in the Japanese education system that everybody is born equal and anyone can get ahead and become anything if he works hard enough..

Individualism Japan scores 46 on the individualism dimension. Certainly, Japanese society shows many of the characteristics of a collectivist society: such as putting harmony group above the expression of individual opinions and people have strong senses of shame for losing face. However, it is not as collectivist as most of her Asian neighbors. The most popular explanation for this is that Japanese society does not have an extended family system which forms a base of more collectivists societies such as China and Korea. Japan has been a paternalistic society and the family name and asset was inherited from father to the eldest son. The younger siblings had to leave home and make their own living with their core families. One seemingly paradoxical example is that Japanese are famous of their loyalty to their companies, while Chinese seem job hops more easily. However, company loyalty is something which people have chosen for themselves, which is an individualistic thing to do. You could say that the japanese in-group is situational. While in more collectivist culture, people are loyal to their inner group by birth, such as their family and their local community. Japanese are experienced as collectivists by Western standards and experienced as individualistic by Asian standards. They are more private and reserved than most other Asians..

MASCULINITY/FEMININITY At 95, Japan is one of the most masculine societies in the world. However, in combination with their mild collectivism, you do not see assertive and competitive individual behaviours which we often associate with masculine culture. What you see is a severe competition between groups. From very young age at kindergartens, children learn to compete on sports day for their groups. In corporate Japan, you see that employees are most motivated when they are fighting in a winning team against their competitors. What you also see as an expression of masculinity in Japan is the drive for excellence and perfection in their material production (monodukuri) and in material services (hotels and restaurants) and presentation (gift wrapping and food presentation) in every aspect of life. Notorious Japanese work holism is another expression of their masculinity. It is still hard for women to climb up the corporate ladders in Japan with their masculine norm of hard and long working hours..

Uncertainty Avoidance At 92, Japan is one of the most uncertainties avoiding countries in the world. This is often attributed to the fact that Japan is constantly threatened by natural disasters from earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons to volcano eruptions. Under these circumstances, Japanese learned to prepare themselves for any uncertain situation. This goes not only for the emergency plan and precautions for sudden natural disasters, but also for every other aspect of society. You could say that in Japan anything you do is prescribed for maximum predictability. From cradle to grave, life is highly ritualized and you have a lot of ceremonies. For example, there are opening and closing ceremonies of every school year which are conducted almost exactly the same way everywhere in Japan. At weddings, funerals and other important social events, what people wear and how people should behave are prescribed in great detail in etiquette books. School teachers and public servants are reluctant to do things without precedence. In corporate Japan, a lot of time and effort is put into feasibility studies and all the risk factors must be worked out before any project can start. Managers ask for all the detailed facts and figures before taking any decision. This high need for uncertainty avoidance is one of the reasons why changes are difficult to realize in Japan..

Long-term Orientation At 80, Japan scores as one of the long-term oriented societies. Japanese see their life as a very short moment in a long history of mankind. From this perspective, some kind of fatalism is not strange to the Japanese. You do your best in your lifetime and that is all what you can do. Notion of the one and only Almighty God is not familiar to Japanese. People live their lives guided by the virtues and practical good examples. In corporate Japan, you see long term orientation in the constantly high rate of investment in R&D even in economically difficult times, higher own capital rate, priority to steady growth of market share rather than to a quarterly profit, and so on. They all serve the durability of the companies. The idea behind it is that the companies are not here to make money every quarter for the shareholders, but to serve the stakeholders and society at large for many generations to come (e.g. Matshuhista)..

UNITED STATES. Power Distance Imagine walking on your first day of work. People are sitting quietly in their cubicles, quickly typing away on their computers. As you finish setting up your workstation, your new boss stomps into the room and begins yelling at you. After what seems like hours of unfair and judgmental remarks being said to you, he walks away, and you are left there to silently turn back to your work, unable to say a word. While this scene may be considered overdramatic, this example portrays what it would be like to work in a company with a high-power distance. Another example, in a lower power distance culture, if one was to want a promotion at their job, they would be willing to confront their boss and ask for one..

This dimension deals with the fact that all individuals in societies are not equal - it expresses the attitude of the culture towards these inequalities amongst us. Power distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. It has to do with the fact that a society’s inequality is endorsed by the followers as much as by the leaders. The United States scores low on this dimension (40) which underscores the American premise of “liberty and justice for all”. This is also evidenced by the focus on equal rights in all aspects of American society and government. Within American organizations, hierarchy is established for conveniences, superiors are always accessible, and managers rely on individual employees and teams for their expertise. Both managers and employees expect to be consulted and information is shared frequently. At the same time, communication is informal, direct and participative..

Power Distance Conclusion To conclude what we've learned about power distance, we now know that power distance is the amount of power distributed to authority and subordinate figures in their respective cultures. While some countries, such as the United States, have lower power distances, others like Saudi Arabia, have a high-power distance. Certain cultural rules, traditions and expectations are based off of the culture's power distance, such as being able to confront a boss about a specific issue, or having to be passive and indirect with a person in a high authority position. Knowing the different power distances in cultures will help one form and maintain intercultural knowledge and understandings. Without this knowledge and understanding, confusion, frustration and even anger may occur. By recognizing and respecting the power distance of a certain culture, the transition of adapting and acclimating to the new culture will be much easier, more efficient and understandable..