Individualism and Collectivism
Introduction
The need to expand activities in the geographical areas beyond national borders puts the company and their managers in the difficult conditions of doing business in different countries. This gives rise to diverse and multifaceted problems caused by the existence of cultural differences between countries. Therefore, studies of effects of job satisfaction and high quality job alternatives, in different cultural contexts, on desire of employees to exit, neglect, voice or to stay loyal, are very crucial components in today's cross-cultural business environment. Actually, there are two ways of cultural influence on organizational life. Firstly, culture and behavior are inter-rellated, and influence each other. Secondly, culture affects not only what people do, but also how they do it. Next paragraph will be explaining the difference in behavioral responses to low job satisfaction and job alternatives in different cultural contexts, followed by the factors affercting behavioral responses in horizontal individualism and vertical collectivism cultures. The last chapter will consist of summary of factors, recommendations for global managers how to enhance cross cultural work, and conclusion.
Individualism and collectivism
According to Hoftsede, there are six dimensions that differ countries among each other. They are: power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, pragmatism and indulgence. However, this proposal is mainly focusing on two of them, which are power distance and individualism, since they are closely connected. The term individualism refers to the belief that every person is unique and should care about him/herself, while collectivism is it's antonym and stands for the belief that people should act in interests of societies instead of achieving personal goals. Several research were conducted on relationship between power distance and individualism, and they have shown that there is negative relationship between them.
The need to expand activities in the geographical areas beyond national borders puts the company and their managers in the difficult conditions of doing business in different countries. This gives rise to diverse and multifaceted problems caused by the existence of cultural differences between countries. Therefore, studies of effects of job satisfaction and high quality job alternatives, in different cultural contexts, on desire of employees to exit, neglect, voice or to stay loyal, are very crucial components in today's cross-cultural business environment. Actually, there are two ways of cultural influence on organizational life. Firstly, culture and behavior are inter-rellated, and influence each other. Secondly, culture affects not only what people do, but also how they do it. Next paragraph will be explaining the difference in behavioral responses to low job satisfaction and job alternatives in different cultural contexts, followed by the factors affercting behavioral responses in horizontal individualism and vertical collectivism cultures. The last chapter will consist of summary of factors, recommendations for global managers how to enhance cross cultural work, and conclusion.
Individualism and collectivism
According to Hoftsede, there are six dimensions that differ countries among each other. They are: power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, pragmatism and indulgence. However, this proposal is mainly focusing on two of them, which are power distance and individualism, since they are closely connected. The term individualism refers to the belief that every person is unique and should care about him/herself, while collectivism is it's antonym and stands for the belief that people should act in interests of societies instead of achieving personal goals. Several research were conducted on relationship between power distance and individualism, and they have shown that there is negative relationship between them.