Page 213 - Cultures and Organizations

What Is Different Is Dangerous 189

tries differ in their tolerance of the ambiguous and the unpredictable. In
the IBM research, Britain and Germany score exactly alike on the two
dimensions of power distance (both 35) and masculinity (both 66). On
individualism, though, the British score considerably higher (89 versus 67).
The largest difference between the two countries, however, is on a fourth
dimension, labeled uncertainty avoidance.
The term uncertainty avoidance has been borrowed from American
organization sociology, in particular from the work of James G. March. 3
March and his colleagues recognized it in American organizations. Ways
of handling uncertainty, of course, are part and parcel of any human insti-
tution in any country. All human beings have to face the fact that we do
not know what will happen tomorrow: the future is uncertain, but we have
to live with it anyway.
Extreme ambiguity creates intolerable anxiety. Every human society has
developed ways to alleviate this anxiety. These ways belong to the domains
of technology, law, and religion. Technology, from the most primitive to the
most advanced, helps people to avoid uncertainties caused by nature. Laws
and rules try to prevent uncertainties in the behavior of other people. Reli-
gion is a way of relating to the transcendental forces that are assumed to
control people’s personal future. Religion helps followers to accept the uncer-
tainties against which one cannot defend oneself, and some religions offer the
ultimate certainty of a life after death or of victory over one’s opponents.
Anthropologists studying traditional societies have spent a good deal
of their attention on technology, law, and religion. They have illustrated
the enormous variety of ways in which human societies deal with uncer-
tainty. Modern societies do not differ essentially from traditional ones in
this respect. In spite of the availability of the same information virtually
anywhere around the globe, technologies, laws, and religions continue to

vary. Moreover, there are no signs of spontaneous convergence.
The essence of uncertainty is that it is a subjective experience, a feel-
ing. A lion tamer may feel reasonably comfortable when surrounded by his
animals, a situation that would make most of us almost die from fear. You
may feel reasonably comfortable when driving on a crowded freeway at

fi fty-five miles per hour or more, a situation that, statistically, is probably
riskier than the lion tamer’s.
Feelings of uncertainty may also be partly shared with other members
of one’s society. As with the values discussed in the past three chapters,
feelings of uncertainty are acquired and learned. Those feelings and the