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Today, let us try to understand the importance of trans-cultural values.

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For understanding the meaning of Trans-cultural values, all of you have to

understand the meaning of Organizational Culture and Values.

!"#$%&#%$# ucc!' It has been described as ³the dominant values

espoused by an organization´.

#c' ³A specific mode of conduct or end state of existence is personally or socially

preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end state of existence is
important.´

à Values are concepts or beliefs about desirable end states or behaviors that
transcend specific situations guide selection or evaluation of behavior and events
and are ordered by relative importance.
 à Ñeliefs of a person or social group in which they have an emotional investment
(either for or against something); "he has very conservatives values".

à Values are traits or qualities that are considered worthwhile; they represent an
individual¶s highest priorities and deeply held driving forces. (Values are also
known as core values and as governing values; they all refer to the same
sentiment.)

à Value statements are grounded in values and define how people want to behave
with each other in the organization. They are statements about how the
organization will value customers, suppliers, and the internal community. Value
statements describe actions, which are the living enactment of the fundamental
values held by most individuals within the organization.

à The values of each of the individuals in your workplace, along with their
experience, upbringing, and so on, meld together to form your corporate culture.
The values of your senior leaders are especially important in the development of
your culture.

These leaders have a lot of power in your organization to set the course and
environment and they have selected the staff for your workplace.

If you think about your own life, your values form the cornerstones for all you do and
accomplish. They define where you spend your time, if you are truly living your values.
Each of you makes choices in life according to your most important four ± ten values.
Why not take the time to identify what is most important to you and to your organization.

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Effective organizations identify and develop a clear, concise and shared meaning of
values/beliefs, priorities, and direction so that everyone understands and can contribute.
Once defined, values impact every aspect of your organization. You must support and
nurture this impact or identifying values will have been a wasted exercise. People will
feel fooled and misled unless they see the impact of the exercise within your
organization. If you want the values you identify to have an impact, the following must
occur.

à People demonstrate and model their values in action in their personal work
behaviors, decision-making, contribution, and interpersonal interaction.

à Organizational values help each person establish priorities in their daily work life.
 à Values guide every decision that is made once the organization has cooperatively
created the values and the value statements.

à ëewards and recognition within the organization are structured to recognize those
people whose work embodies the values the organization embraced.

à Organizational goals are grounded in the identified values. Adoption of the values
and the behaviors that result is recognized in regular performance feedback.

à People hire and promote individuals whose outlook and actions are congruent
with the values.

à Only the active participation of all members of the organization will ensure a truly
organization-wide, value-based, shared culture.

The following are examples of values:

Ambition, competency, individuality, equality, integrity, service, responsibility,

accuracy, respect, dedication, diversity, improvement, enjoyment/fun, loyalty, credibility,
honesty, innovativeness, teamwork, excellence, accountability, empowerment, quality,
efficiency, dignity, collaboration, stewardship, empathy, accomplishment, courage,
wisdom, independence, security, challenge, influence, learning, compassion, friendliness,
discipline/order, generosity, persistence, optimism, dependability, flexibility.

Although important aspects of your life and attention, these are not values: family,
church, professionalism. If you define what you value about each of these, you are
identifying the core value. As an example, the core value in family might be close
relationships; in church, spirituality.

These managers are not wrong about the importance of shared values. Shared
values lead to consistent behavior. They provide a basis for trust and minimization of
transaction costs within an organization. Particularly, when work calls for discretion,
judgment, cooperation and relationship - building, values determine the kind of work
management can expect.
 Ñut the understanding of values by managers is usually superficial. In my
experience managers can improve their ability to lead effective change if they will take
the trouble to understand the relationship of values to both individual and organizational
behavior.

The process of instilling organizational values requires an interactive dialogue which:

à *evelops a shared logic of what kind of behavior is essential for the

organization's success.

à Educates people about the organization as a social system so that recruitment,

training, measurements, and incentives can be aligned with goals,

à Improves communication and trust

à *evelops leadership

What makes it difficult for managers to make values work is that there are three different
meanings of the concept: values. Managers need to understand these different meanings
and address them. One meaning of values describes ideals. Another describes behavior.
And the third describes character. When all three of these meanings are aligned with an
organization's strategies, the result is a highly motivated corporate culture. When they are
not, the result is sub-optimal organizational performance, costly conflict, frustration, and
bad faith or cynicism. Aligning the three meanings of values begins with understanding
that each has its own logic. Each requires different kinds of dialogue.


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What are the right ideals for an organization? The answer is that they should
motivate customers, employees, and owners (or other stakeholders) to behave in ways
that strengthen the organization and are essential for its success. These ideals should
inspire the right kind of behavior. Customers should want your products. Employees
should be motivated to work together to satisfy customers and continually improve the
organization. Their work should be meaningful in terms of personal fulfillment as well as
organizational success. They should want to work in this organization. Shareowners
should be motivated to buy and hold equity in the company.

When a company is prospering, little attention is paid to values. People assume

the organizational values must be right. Top management typically rethinks values only
when it becomes necessary to support a change in strategy and organizational culture.
This may not call for describing totally new values but rather reinterpreting old values in
the light of a changing business environment. For example, a number of technical
companies are learning that the meaning of customer focus has changed from selling
boxes or meeting specs to understanding how to customize solutions that help the
customer to succeed.

The CEO, consulting with senior executives, typically proposes new values or
ideals. Together they agree on the relationship between the values and organizational
strategy. For these ideals to be internalized and truly shared, everyone in the organization
should be able to interpret them and through a dialogue, test that interpretation with the
organization's leadership. The same dialogue started by the CEO with direct reports must
be cascaded down the organization.


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Closing the gap between ideal vs. the actual behavior requires that the team
understand that behavior is shaped and sustained by the corporate culture, which is a
social system. If customer focus is an essential value, the first question to be asked is:
What is the meaning of customer focus? The next question is: what kind of behavior does
customer focus require of us? *oes top management in fact model this behavior? Is this
behavior recognized, measured and rewarded? *oes the behavior require knowledge and
skills that are lacking? *oes the behavior require different kinds of information about
customers? *oes the structure of the organization; the roles and authority support this
behavior?

At every level, leaders have the opportunity to teach, and to develop a common
understanding of what kind of behavior is required, so that this behavior is shaped by the
whole corporate social system. Partial solutions like training, or recognition will not be
enough, if other parts of the system are not aligned.

Thus, the interactive dialogue both educates and develops a new model of
leadership. The leader has the responsibility of facilitating the dialogue, teaching and
making decisions about how to close the value gaps on the basis of full discussion. Ñy
explaining the logic of these decisions, the leader will diminish resistance and equip those
he leads to explain decisions to their own subordinates.


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The difference between a value as behavior and character gets at emotional

attitudes that can resist logic. This can be illustrated in relation to the value of teamwork.
Suppose there is agreement that a certain type of teamwork is essential to reach corporate
goals. The behavior required is described, recognized, and rewarded. There is training in
team skills. Yet, an individual with a strong value of autonomy and strong drive for
control resists becoming a team player.
 Suppose this is affirmed by a 360° evaluation by the individual¶s boss, colleagues,
subordinates, and, perhaps customer.

Can people change their character values?

This depends on how strong the values are and how much the person experiences the
need to change. Some character values, which are shaped and reinforced by a national or
professional culture, are particularly resistant to change.

FëAMEWOë FOë ASSESSING CULTUëES: Five value dimensions of national

culture are:

à Power distance: *egree to which people in a country accept that power in

institutions and organizations is distributed unequally. Ex: Philippines and
Mexico have high power distance and Austria and *enmark have low power
distance

à Individualism vs. collectivism: Individualism is the degree to which people in a

country prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of group.

à Ëuantity of life vs. Ëuality of life: *egree to which values such as assertiveness,
the acquisition of money& material goods, & competition prevail is known as
Ëuantity of life. Ëuality of life is the degree to which people value relationships,
& show sensitivity & concern for the welfare of others.

à Uncertainty avoidance: *egree to which people in a country prefer structured

over unstructured situations. Ex: Culture Of Greece & Japan show high
uncertainty avoidance, while Singapore shows low uncertainty avoidance.

à Long term vs. short-term orientation: People in cultures with long term
orientations look to the future & value thrift & persistence. A short-term
orientation values the past & present, & emphasizes respect for tradition &
fulfilling social obligations.

The key characteristics along which culture differ:

à Individual initiative: *egree of responsibility, freedom and independence that

individuals have.

à ëisk tolerance: *egree to which employees are encouraged to be aggressive,

innovative and risk-seeking.

à *irection: *egree to which organization create clear objectives and performance

expectations.
 à Integration: *egree to which units within the organization are encouraged to
operate in a coordinated manner.

à Management support

à Control: Number of rules and regulations, and the amount of direct supervision
that are used to oversee and control employee behavior.

à Identity: *egree to which members identify with the organization as a whole

rather than with their particular work group.

à ëeward system

à Conflict tolerance: *egree to which employee¶s are encouraged to air conflicts

and criticisms seriously.

à Communication patterns: *egree to which organizational communications r

restricted to the formal hierarchy of authority.

Large organizations have a dominant culture and numerous sets of subcultures.

*%$#$ucc!' expresses the core values that are shared by a majority of the
organization¶s members.

c)ucc!' tends to develop in large organizations to reflect common problems,

situations, or experiences that members face. Subculture tends to be defined by
departmental designations or geographical separation.

'!"'!#$*#u c%%%$ The acquisition of Electronic *ata systems for $

2.5 bn in 1984 by GM has been a mixed blessing for GM. On the positive side, it has
helped to diversify the large automaker & given it a strong source of automation expertise
that GM felt it needs to modernize its production plants. However GM has had problems
integrating E*S into its operations. The basic problem seemed to be that while GM¶s
culture sought to minimize the conflict, risk & personal independence, the E*S culture
thrived on competitiveness & aggressiveness. This example illustrates that if the two
organizations have strong culture then the potential for ³culture clash´ becomes very real.

The two most critical factors determining whether a merger or acquisition is

successful Is the strength of each organization¶s culture & the degree of differences that
exist between the organization¶s key cultural diff.

Cultural differences between countries constrain cross-national diffusion.

Corporate culture within an MNC can help in diffusion of practices across borders
through the forging of shared understandings and values. Performance related pay is an
example of a practice that operates more easily in some cultures than in others. (Accepted
in Anglo-Saxon business cultures but not in France, Germany or Italy).

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")#%&#%$ Globalization affects a manager¶s people skills in lot many ways.

At the managerial level you have to work with people who are born and raised in
different cultures. What is right according to you may be is wrong according to them. So
managers have to become capable of working with people from diff. Cultures and
because values differ across cultures, an understanding of these differences should be
helpful in explaining and predicting behavior of employees from different countries.

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Trans-cultural values are those beliefs that people across the world are associating
themselves with. These beliefs have come in various people because of social changes
brought by globalization, increased mobility and ethnic intermingling.

As you work with people from multicultural backgrounds, you will find that these
differences raise barriers to trans-cultural communication.




 


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 Each person perceives the other person as different and, therefore, dangerous.
Usually as people become better acquainted with each other, the fear gradually dissipates,
only to be replaced by dislike.

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Group members have a tendency to dislike people who behave or communicate
differently from what is considered ³the norm´ in that culture or group. For example, a
working class black person might dislike a middleclass white person because white
people tend to be less vocal and expressive than many black people, and thus appear
insincere and weak.

* People from different cultures are often suspicious of each other¶s actions and
motives because they lack information. Unfortunately, unless there is pressure to change
their attitudes, some people never do progress beyond fear, dislike, and distrust to the
next stage of acceptance.

 
  Usually if two people from different cultures share enough good
experiences over a period of time, they will begin to accept each other rather than resent
each other.

ë  If individuals from diverse cultures are open minded, they would allow
themselves to see and admire qualities in one another.

!Once people from diverse cultures have spent enough quality time together, they
usually are able to trust each other.

á For people to like each other, they must share many things in common. To reach
this final stage, individuals from diverse cultures must be able to concentrate on the
human qualities that bind people together, rather than the differences that pull people
apart

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 Individuals are discriminated against because of their visible
biological characteristics; for example, black skin or the epicanthic fold of the eyelid in
Asians.

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An individual or institution claims that its cultural heritage is superior
to that of other individuals or institutions.

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 Institutions (universities, businesses, hospitals) manipulate or
tolerate policies that unfairly restrict the opportunities of certain races, cultures, or
groups.

One of the flaws in the profession is an unwillingness to recognize that racism is

endemic. This unwillingness results in a lack of discussion about racism and leads to
responses that exacerbate the problem.

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Whatever their cultural background, people have a tendency to be 

toward
their own cultural values, and to feel that their values are rightand the values of others
are rong or not as good. Many people are surprised to discover that the values and
actions people so admire in their own culture may look them upon with suspicion from
other cultures, which are equally biased.

The belief that one¶s own culture or traditions are better than those of other
cultures is called
 

. The person who is ethnocentric tends to antagonize and
alienate people from other cultures.


ltral biases can distort yor ercetion of other eole¶s vales and behavior, and
ths damage yor ability to commnicate. o overcome yor biases, yo mst first
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A cultural 


is the unsubstantiated assumption that all people of a certain racial
and ethnic group are alike.

For example: llsindhisarebsinessmen. A son of a doctor is a doctor.

Stereotyping is particularly destructive when negative traits or characteristics are imposed

on all members of a cultural group.

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A ritual is a set procedure for performing a task. Every culture has its own ways
to perform a task. It might happen that different people may do same things differently.
For example we can see that management style of U.S.A differs from Indian management
style, this happens just because of rituals taught to Indians by their family members and
the society.

  
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Language provides the tools (words) that allow people to express their thoughts
and feelings. Thus, language barriers present a grave threat to transcultural
communication among different individuals.

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When people from different cultures try to communicate, their best efforts may be
thwarted by misunderstandings and even serious conflicts. Misunderstandings due to
cultural differences commonly arise in situations involving food and drink.

To prevent conflicts and misunderstandings, make sure that the message you send
is the same message that the receiver receives. When there is a language barrier, you will
need to work closely with an interpreter.
So, I hope now you must have understood that what are trans-cultural values and what are
the barriers faced by them at the time of implementation.




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V Organizational Culture has been described as ³the dominant values espoused

by an organization.´

V Values imply ³a specific mode of conduct or end state of existence is

personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct
or end state of existence is important.´

V Trans-cultural values are those beliefs that people across the world are
associating themselves with. These beliefs have come in various people
because of social changes brought by globalization, increased mobility and
ethnic intermingling.


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*iscuss the barriers to cross-cultural communication?