Being Different Yet Feeling Similar: The Influence Of Demographic Composition And Organizational Culture On Work Processes And Outcomes

Drawing from self-categorization theory, we tested hypotheses on the effects of an organization's demographic composition and cultural emphasis on work processes and outcomes. Using an organizational simulation, we found that the extent to which an organization emphasized individualistic or collectivistic values interacted with demographic composition to influence social interaction, conflict, productivity, and perceptions of creativity among 258 MBA students. Our findings suggest that the purported benefits of demographic diversity are more likely to emerge in organizations that, through their culture, make organizational membership salient and encourage people to categorize one another as having the organization's interests in common, rather than those that emphasize individualism and distinctiveness among members.(.)Managemen

Follow the Crowd in a New Direction: When Conformity Pressure Facilitates Group Creativity (And When It Does Not)

Adopting a person by situation interaction approach, we identified conditions under which conformity pressure can either stifle or boost group creativity depending on the joint effects of norm content and group personality composition. Using a 2 x 2 x 2 experimental design, we hypothesized and found that pressure to adhere to an individualistic norm boosted creativity in groups whose members scored low on the Creative Personality Scale (Gough, 1979), but stifled creativity in groups whose members scored high on that measure. Our findings suggest that conformity pressure may be a viable mechanism for boosting group creativity, but only among those who lack creative talent

Appointing Women to Boards: Is There a Cultural Bias?

Companies that are serious about corporate governance and business ethics are turning their attention to gender diversity at the most senior levels of business (Institute of Business Ethics, Business Ethics Briefing 21:1, 2011). Board gender diversity has been the subject of several studies carried out by international organizations such as Catalyst (Increasing gender diversity on boards: Current index of formal approaches, 2012), the World Economic Forum (Hausmann et al., The global gender gap report, 2010), and the European Board Diversity Analysis (Is it getting easier to find women on European boards? 2010). They all lead to reports confirming the overall relatively low proportion of women on boards and the slow pace at which more women are being appointed. Furthermore, the proportion of women on corporate boards varies much across countries. Based on institutional theory, this study hypothesizes and tests whether this variation can be attributed to differences in cultural settings across countries. Our analysis of the representation of women on boards for 32 countries during 2010 reveals that two cultural characteristics are indeed associated with the observed differences. We use the cultural dimensions proposed by Hofstede (Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values, 1980) to measure this construct. Results show that countries which have the greatest tolerance for inequalities in the distribution of power and those that tend to value the role of men generally exhibit lower representations of women on boards

Cultural Differences in Perceptions of and Responses to Sexual Harassment

14 To be considered pervasive, the conduct must be repeated, continuous and concerted, and not merely an isolated incident or occasional occurrence.15 Moreover, to sustain a hostile environment claim, the conduct must have been unwelcome-that is, the conduct was neither invited nor incited by the complaining party-and the complainant must have clearly indicated that the conduct was unwelcome.16 Hostile environment sexual harassment encompasses a wide range of behaviors including, inter alia, displays of sexually-explicit materials, sexuallycharged or demeaning jokes, derogatory names or epithets, physical advances, repetitive requests for dates, repeated comments on physical appearance, and sexually-charged body language or facial expressions.17 The terms and conditions of employment need not have been tangibly affected, even if the offending conduct had the purpose of unreasonably interfering with the victim\u27s work performance.18 To be actionable, the conduct at issue must have been tinged with offensive sexual content and must have demonstrated discrimination based on sex.19 The range of circumstances considered includes the frequency, severity, physical nature, associated humiliation, and job interference inherent in the harassing behaviors.20 As a precondition to an actionable harassment claim, would-be plaintiffs must first utilize any procedures established by the employer for prevention and correction of sexual harassment.21 The concept of hostile environment is both complicated and imprecise, leaving many issues for the courts to resolve

Does Collectivism Inhibit Individual Creativity? The Effects of Collectivism and Perceived Diversity on Individual Creativity and Satisfaction in Virtual Ideation Teams

One particular problem CSCW and HCI scholars have sought to address through the design of collaborative systems is the issues associated with diversity and creativity. Diversity can promote creativity by exposing individuals to different perspectives and at the same time make it difficultfor teams to leverage their differences to be more creative. This paper asserts that through the promotion of cooperation, collectivism will help ideation team members overcome the challenges associated with diversity and promote creativity. To examine this assertion, we conducted an experimental study involving 107 individuals in 33 idea-generation teams. Collectivism was promoted through priming. The results confirm our assertion: collectivism created conditions that facilitated creativity when teams were high in perceived diversity. Collectivism also facilitated more satisfaction among teammates by offsetting negative perceptions of diversity. These results offer new insights on collectivism, perceived diversity and creativity.National Science Foundation CHS-1617820UM Rackham Graduate SchoolPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/133953/1/CSCW356-revision Sep 27 2016 -final.pd

Unlocking the gender diversity-group performance link: the moderating role of relative cultural distance

PurposeThis study aims to shed light on the relationship between gender diversity and group performance by considering the moderating role of relative cultural distance. Drawing from the categorization-elaboration model (CEM), the authors hypothesize that gender-diverse collaborative learning groups perform better when a low level of relative cultural distance in country-level individualism-collectivism or power distance exists among group members.Design/methodology/approachTo test this hypothesis, the authors conducted a study on 539 undergraduate students organized into 94 groups. The assessment of group performance was based on scores given by external raters.FindingsThe authors found that relative cultural distance significantly moderated the gender diversity-group performance relationship such that gender diversity was positively related to group performance when the collaborative learning group included members who similarly valued individualism-collectivism or power distance (i.e. relative cultural distance was low) and was negatively related to group performance when the collaborative learning group comprised members who differently valued individualism-collectivism or power distance (i.e. relative cultural distance was high).Originality/valueThis study contributes to understanding when gender diversity is positively associated with group performance by expanding the range of previously examined diversity dimensions to include relative cultural distance in country-level individualism-collectivism and power distance

A Preliminary Study Of Workgroup Dynamics: A Critique And Reconceptualization Of Oetzel\u27s Effective Intercultural Workgroup Communication Theory

The primary focus of this research was to critique and reconceptualize Oetzel’s (2005) Effective Intercultural Workgroup Communication Theory (EIWCT). The research explored the foundational research concepts in Oetzel’s theory: situational features (history of unresolved conflicts, equal/unequal status, and ingroup/outgroup), self-construals, face-concerns, interaction climate, and task and relational group effectiveness and satisfaction. The central critique of Oetzel’s theory was the operationalization of group diversity through self-construals, face concerns and ethnic identification. The current study proposed that relational models and horizontal/vertical individualism/collectivism may more completely and accurately capture diversity dimensions because they are considered deep-level diversity features (Fiske, 2004; Triandis & Gelfand, 1998). Even though not all hypotheses were supported, several variables were significantly correlated with the tested outcomes, i.e. interaction climate, group satisfaction and group effectiveness. Specifically, the relational model of market pricing, and the cultural dimensions of vertical collectivism and vertical individualism were significantly related to some outcomes variables

The cultural models in international business research: A bibliometric study of IB journals

Culture has been a widely researched topic in the International Business (IB) literature over the last decades. To better understand what culture actually means and its implication in firms? IB operations, several cultural models and taxonomies have been put forward. In this paper we seek to scrutinize the use of three well known cultural models - Hall?s (1976), Hofstede?s (1980a) and Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner?s (1993) - in the extant research. Using bibliometric techniques of the papers published in the top ranked IB journals, we performed a citation and co-citation analysis to find out the most influential model and to examine the possible linkages between models and to the issues being researched. We conclude that Hofstede?s (1980a) taxonomy is the most cited and his taxonomy has strong linkages to several streams of research. Nonetheless, we also find that there are noticeable differences on how research in different journals make use of the cultural models, probably reflecting not surprising disciplinary emphases.Cultural models, Hofstede, Trompenaars, Hall, bibliometric study

Kazakhstani management culture : perception of french managers

The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of how French managers perceive major aspects of the business culture of Kazakhstan. This country, rich in natural resources, recently became open to the world. To succeed in a highly competitive environment of foreign companies installing in Kazakhstan, one should be aware of how to deal with a new market, how to deal with people, how to cope with cross-cultural differences. To describe culture, the paper uses the cultural dimensions developed by the best known researchers (Hofstede, Schein, Hall, Trompenaars, Adler, etc.) and summarized by Schneider and Barsoux (1997) in general schema. The study uses a qualitative research method - an adaptation of the critical incident technique (Flanagan, 1954) - to explain the peculiarities of Kazakhstani management culture that create problems and difficulties for French managers. The results support the argument that the most important differences for French managers are differences in language and nature of reality and truth dimensions. The findings of this study indicate that French managers consider Kazakhstani management culture as a being rather than doing culture with a higher degree of uncertainty avoidance; a more collectivist (family-oriented) and more particularistic culture where social orientation prevails over task orientation. The differences in human nature are significant. Results also suggest that Kazakhstani management culture is considered by French managers as a diffuse rather than specific involvement culture. Lastly, the differences in hierarchical dimension are only moderately significant for French managers.Culture; management; Kazakhstan; France

Examining the moderating effect of individual-level cultural values on users’ acceptance of E-learning in developing countries: a structural equation modeling of an extended technology acceptance model

In this study, we examine the effects of individual-level culture on the adoption and acceptance of e-learning tools by students in Lebanon using a theoretical framework based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). To overcome possible limitations of using TAM in developing countries, we extend TAM to include subjective norms (SN) and quality of work life constructs as additional constructs and a number of cultural variables as moderators. The four cultural dimensions of masculinity/femininity (MF), individualism/collectivism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance were measured at the individual level to enable them to be integrated into the extended TAM as moderators and a research model was developed based on previous literature. To test the hypothesised model, data were collected from 569 undergraduate and postgraduate students using e-learning tools in Lebanon via questionnaire. The collected data were analysed using the structural equation modelling technique in conjunction with multi-group analysis. As hypothesised, the results of the study revealed perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), SN and quality of work life to be significant determinants of students’ behavioural intention (BI) towards e-learning. The empirical results also demonstrated that the relationship between SN and BI was particularly sensitive to differences in individual-cultural values, with significant moderating effects observed for all four of the cultural dimensions studied. Some moderating effects of culture were also found for both PU and PEOU, however, contrary to expectations the effect of quality of work life was not found to be moderated by MF as some previous authors have predicted. The implications of these results to both theory and practice are explored in the paper