Example Of Essay On The Trompenaars Dimensions Of Management Culture

Comparison of Trompenaars’ Management Culture

Section 1: Trompenaars Dimension of Management Culture Comparison Chart.
Section 2: Analysis of Section 1 Results
How do the dimensions of management culture of the 3 foreign nations differ from each other?
Although the three foreign nations; Germany, France, and Netherlands come from the same region of the world (Western Europe), they have a number of noticeable differences as can be observed from the above chart. This is attributed to the fundamental differences in the cultures of their people. The Netherlands has the highest level of universalism of 90 percent, while France has the lowest level of universalism of 73 percent. A high level of universalism means a lower level of particularism (Hodgetts, 2005). This means that the people of Netherlands abide to formal rules more than those from Germany and France. On the other hand, the level of letting formal rules guide societal norms is least amongst France nationals. However, the degree of conformity to such universal rules may differ depending on the significance of those rules to each society (Trompenaars & Humpden-Turner, 1997, p.36).
In terms of individualism versus communitarianism, Netherlands still has the highest level of acceptance to individualism of 65 percent, while France has the lowest level of individualism amongst the three countries of 41 percent. Consequently, people of Netherlands believe in individual performance more than the other two; Germany and France. The French people are actually communitarian. They believe in group ideology rather than individual approach. On the other hand, Germany is a relatively individualistic society, recognizing individualism at 53 percent.
Neutral versus emotional comparison amongst the three countries indicate that Netherlands’ culture still enjoys a higher level of neutrality against the cultures of its two regional members. In a neutral society people try to control their emotions such as anger in the work place, whereas in an emotional society peopled tend to let their emotions guide their activities in the work place. Therefore, from the above chart, people from France are more likely to show their emotions at the work place, followed by Germany. The Netherlands people will least express their emotions.
Data on specific versus diffuse dimension of cultures in the three countries equally shows a few differences. The Netherlands is the most specific nation at 91 percent, followed by France at 88 percent. Germany has the least specification level. Specific cultures believe that issues of work place should not be entangled with personal issues. On the other hand, diffuse cultures have a common practice of mixing workplace and out of workplace issues.

How do the dimensions of management culture of the 3 foreign nations differ from the USA?

The biggest difference between the three countries and the USA is in the individualism aspect. The American society is very dynamic compared to the three foreign nations. For example it is more multi-ethnic compared to the three nations. The immigrant system of the US also means that new members continue to be incorporated into the society. As a result, tolerating such continuous influx of new members, people tend to be individualistic to avoid collisions. Germany and Netherlands are slightly individualistic, whereas France is actually communitarian.

How are the dimensions of management of the three foreign nations similar to each other?

The three countries; Germany, France, and Netherlands have very many similarities in many of Trompenaars’s cultural dimensions. Perhaps it is because they are located in the same region. First, all the three countries have a high level of universalism. The least level of universalism is that depicted in France of 73 percent. This is an impression that the culture of Western Europe endorses practice of formal regulations.
In terms of neutrality, all the three countries seem to perform dismally. Indeed, they all lie in the emotional side of the scale. The score above shows the percentage of those people who will not show emotions openly. On interpreting the score, one will realize that a large percentage of their people will rather express their opinions openly. Trompenaars and Humpden-Turner, in their book, ‘Riding the Waves of Culture,’ they claim that people in South Europe are very expressive and do not separate their emotions with their actions.
Observable also, is the degree of similarity in the dimension of specification. They all tend to register high levels of specification. In such cultures, official happenings in the work environment are shielded from diffusing into personal socializations. For example if a manager meets a client in a golf sport event, they will avoid discussing official affairs and concentrate on purely social issues like how they can help each other improve performance in golf.
Achievement is highly appreciated by all the three foreign nations. Achievement is a way of exemplifying people on the basis of their individual accomplishments. It is a common practice in many cultures today that ability to perform is the most accepted way of identifying extraordinary people in the society. Unlike achievement, ascription requires people to be recognized for they are rather than what they are capable of.

How are the dimensions of management culture of the 3 foreign nations similar to the USA?

Universalism is a common practice amongst the three foreign nations and the USA. In realization of the need to control behavioural patterns of people, there is need to enforce formal laws. This helps determine what is legal and illegal. It is suggested that most systems today resemble America’s universalistic system (Trompenaar & Humpden-Turner, 1997, p.35).
Just like the three countries, the USA is also neutral and specific. People in the four countries exercise a lot of caution in the way they express their opinions in the workplace. They subdue their feelings and express them in a very controlled manner. Likewise, all the countries have high levels of specification. People treasure leaving personal issues out of the workplace, and vice versa. In terms of time management orientation, similarity is observable in relativity of concern for short-term solutions.

Section 1: Trompenaars Dimensions of Management Culture Comparison Chart.

Section 2: Analysis of Section 1 Results
How do the dimensions of management culture of the 3 foreign nations differ from each other?
The level of universalism is very high in Canada culture compared to the other two countries; Mexico and Japan. Canada has a 93 percent conformity level, compared to Mexico’s 64 percent and Japan’s 68 percent. The proximity of Canada to the USA is the reason why it has such a high level of universalism. Mexico and Japan have a relative level of universalism. It implies that the level by which people attach significance to laws in Canada is high compared to the level people attach significance to rules in Mexico and Japan.
The management culture of Canada is individualistic while that of Mexico and Japan is communitarian. Individualistic cultures tend to believe that personal goals are more important than overall societal goals, while communitarian societies believe that group goals are more important compared to individual goals.
In terms of neutralism, Canada and Mexico cultures are neutral while Japan’s culture is emotional. Canada’s score of 49 percent indicates that it lies on the neutral side of Trompenaars’ neutral versus emotional scale. Likewise, Mexico’s with a score of 41 percent falls in the same category. These countries tend to believe subduing personal feelings when in the workplace. On the contrary, people in Japan find ways to express personal feelings even in formal places.

How do the dimensions of management culture of the three foreign nations differ from the USA?

The most observable differences are between the USA, Mexico, and Japan. The USA and Canada generally have common traits. Whereas the USA culture exemplifies individualism, Japan and Mexico exemplify communitarianism. Mexico’s inclination to communitarianism can be attributed to its belonging to Latin America. Countries in this region together with Japan have been established to tend towards communitarianism.
Whereas the USA shares similar traits with Canada and Mexico in terms of neutrality, Japan is an emotional culture. People in USA practice restraint in their expression of feelings. In Japan, the tendency is that people try to express their feelings openly. Trimponaars’s observation was that people in a neutral culture tend to control their feelings vigorously, avoid letting body signs relay their emotions, avoid letting personal feelings interfere with professional conduct, and watch out variations in other people’s emotions. On the other hand people in Japan or any emotional culture are allowed spontaneous expression of personal feelings and even the use of sign language (Balan & Vreja, 2013, p.100).
Time management differences are evident between the USA and the three foreign nations. Trompenaars’ analysis on a scale of zero seconds to seven years found out that the USA practice was more concerned about the present and the most immediate future. For this reason, they tend to be very short term oriented. The above score of 4.73 by USA vindicates this supposition (Trompenaars & Humpden-Turner, 1997, p.130). On the other hand, the scores by Canada, Mexico, and Japan indicate that they tend to be a bit more futuristic.

How are the dimensions of management culture of the three foreign nations similar to each other?

The similarity of the three nations’ dimensions of management culture can be established in five major fronts. They all tend to be universal, specific, achievement oriented, futuristic, and internal oriented. The degree of tendency to universalism differs as evidenced by the scores of the three nations. However, the similarity of them being in the universal side of Trompenaars’ universalism versus particularism scale cannot be disputed. Therefore, all the three countries believe that there is need to establish laws to guide functioning of their systems. Such countries are guided by specific principles, rules, and obligations (Balan & Vreja, 2013, p.98).
All the three nations tend to be specific oriented. In a specific culture, people believe that they are separate entities of a system. As a result, it is better for them to leave the issues of workplace and personal life distinct. Further, relationships with other people are well defined in such cultures. This system is gaining preference because it enables individuals to work together even though they are experiencing personal differences.
Achievement is another common trait in the three countries. In such cultures, status of an individual is a reward of personal accomplishments or success. Performance is measured from time to time to establish who is on top of the hierarchy. In addition, titles are earned through extraordinary performance, unlike in ascribed cultures where it is awarded to specific people who do not prove themselves. Canada is one of the nations noted as being a typical achievement oriented culture (Trompenaars & Humpden-Turner, 1997, p.119).
Being futuristic is another common attribute amongst Canada, Mexico, and Japan. The scores by the three nations on a scale of zero seconds to seven years indicate they are all inclined to a relative long-term. On a broader basis, they are synchronous in their perception of time, because they see the past, the present, and the future as an interlocked grid. That is why they are able to establish relatively long-term projects, while still taking care of the present.
The last similarity that can be observed amongst the three nations is that they are all internally-directed. People in such cultures believe they are in control of their lives regardless of the effects of the external environment. They are driven by optimism that the external environment will not frustrate their efforts.

How are the dimensions of management culture of the three foreign nations similar to the USA?

Similarity between the USA and the three foreign nations; Canada, Mexico and, Japan can be observed in three main aspects, namely; universalism, specific orientation, and achievement. Universalism apparently is a common trend amongst many cultures. Various cultures believe that what is right at any given situation can be represented in form of a set of rules. This is the practice in the USA culture, as well as the three other nations. In fact, the USA and Canada have a tie in their score of 93 percent. As noted earlier, their closeness is shaping their cultures into sharing common traits.
Secondly, all the four nations have specific form of relationships. However, the degree by which their people separate professional and personal issues differs slightly. Canada’s culture records the highest specific level, whereas Japan recorded the lowest level of 79 percent. The relativity of Japan and Mexico in their specific scores has been attributed to their communitarianism tendencies.
The entire four nations attach significance to achievement. Notably, the degree of achievement is generally high in all four nations, with Japan registering the least at 79 percent. The USA and Canada tie at 87 percent. This is evidence that these countries reward exemplary achievers in specific fields. They do not attach significance to what an individual is, but rather what the individual is capable of. As a result, status or title comes with a certain level of achievement.

Section 1: Temponaars Dimensions of Management Culture Comparison Chart

Section 2: Analysis of Section 1 Results

How do the Dimensions of management of the 3 foreign nations differ from each other?

The three countries differ in two major aspects, namely; neutrality and achievement. Japan is highly emotional, whereas Brazil and Saudi Arabia are highly neutral. The scores represented in the chart above represent the percentage of respondents who could show emotions openly. At 74 percent, Japan is therefore a highly effective culture. People here tend to express their emotions more openly. Brazil and Saudi Arabia, scoring 40 and 20 percent respectively, represent very high levels of neutrality.
Achievement differs across the three nations slightly. Whereas Japan and Brazil are outright achievement based cultures, Saudi Arabia’s culture is not an outright achievement or ascription based system. Therefore, titles and rewards in Japan and Brazil will be accorded to outstanding performers. Away in Saudi Arabia, evaluation of people seems to be dangling. A score of 50 percent means that both achievement and ascription receive equal degree of support.
How do the dimensions of management culture of the 3 foreign nations differ from the USA?
The USA differs from the three foreign nations in terms of tendency to individualism and time orientation. All the three foreign nations, namely; Japan, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia ascribe to communitarianism, whereas the USA ascribes to individualism. A research by Berkley Electronic Research of 2011, established that the USA is a multifaceted society; hence individuals tend to aspire for different goals. People will be motivated by personal goals rather than group goals. In the communitarian systems, people are usually less differentiated. They are united by commonness hence tend to be driven by group goals rather than individualistic goals.
In terms of time orientation, the USA seems to be more short-term oriented, but with more emphasis on the present problems. To this extent, the US time orientation is sequential. The other three foreign nations tend to be synchronous in their approach. This is due to incorporation of many programmes at any particular time. It is the reason they tend to have a relatively long-term approach.

How are the dimensions of management culture of the 3 foreign nations similar to each other?

The cultures of the three foreign nations have a very high measure of similarity. They resemble in six aspects, namely; universalism, communitarianism, specific, achievement, time orientation, and internal orientation. Universalism is highly accepted across the three cultures as a way of guiding behaviour of people. All the three have their own set of laws that define what is legal and illegal.
Communitarianism is another similarity in the cultures of Japan, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia. The three countries have commonness in their social compositions which increases their urge to be more unified. Hence they tend to attach more significance to group aspirations rather than individual aspirations (Peter & Shaun, 1996, p.231).
The cultures of the three nations have a similar characteristic of being specific. People of these nations try to separate personal issues from professional issues. Relationships are therefore much disciplined and every situation dictates a particular code of conduct. The degree of being specific is relative, ranging from Saudi Arabia’s 67 percent to Brazil’s 77 percent. Japan has a specific level of 71 percent.
Japan and Brazil have relatively high levels of achievement inclination of 79 percent and 70 percent respectively. Saudi Arabia has a score of 50 percent, an indication of having equal preference levels of achievement and ascription. Despite this dilemma, 50 percent is a threshold enough to conclude Saudi Arabia culture is achievement oriented.
The three cultures are also synchronous. Their development systems indicate they attach importance to very many issues which cross-cut many time zones. They all generally have a long-term plan. Lastly, these cultures tend have internal orientation. Their people believe that they can make progress regardless of the environmental or social conditions.

How are the dimensions of management culture of the three foreign nations similar to USA?

There are two conspicuous similarities between the USA and the three foreign nations, namely; tendency of universalism and achievement orientation. Universalism is not unique to these nations only; in fact it is a common trait of many cultures across the world. It is the general practice of establishing rules that guide behaviour. In such systems, individuals know what those laws dictate; hence they should adhere to them. It is clear that both communitarian and individualistic cultures practice universalism.
The last similarity between the US and the three nations is the practice of achievement in their cultures. Compared to the three foreign nations, the US has a higher degree of tendency to achievement. This is because the US values achievers more than title holders. Individual brilliance is the greatest aspect of achievement because it is the mechanism that such systems use to award unique achievers. Communism in countries such as Saudi Arabia is the reason why they have a weak achievement percentage.

References

Balan, S., & Vreja, L. O. (2013). The Trompenaars' Seven-Dimension Cultural Model and Cultural Orientations of Romanian Students in Management. International Management Conference, (pp. 95-106). Bucharest.
Draguns, J. G. (2007). Culture's Impact at Workplace and Beyond. Taylor & Francis Group.
Hodgetts-Luthans-Doh. (2005). International Management. The McGraw-Hill.
Hodgetts-Luthans-Doh. (2005). The Meanings and Dimensions of Culture. In The Role of Culture (pp. 110-119). The McGraw−Hill Companies.
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Trompenaars, F., & Humpden-Turner, C. (1997). Riding the Waves of Culture. London: NICHOLAS BREALEY PUBLISHING.