Page 270 - Cultures and Organizations

Yesterday, Now, or Later? 243

TABLE 7.2 Key Differences Between Short- and Long-Term Orientation
Societies Based on CVS Data: General Norm and Family

SHORT-TERM ORIENTATION LONG-TERM ORIENTATION

Social pressure toward spending Thrift, being sparing with resources
Efforts should produce quick results. Perseverance, sustained efforts
toward slow results
Concern with social and status Willingness to subordinate oneself for
obligations a purpose
Concern with “face” Having a sense of shame
Respect for traditions Respect for circumstances
Concern with personal stability Concern with personal adaptiveness
Marriage is a moral arrangement. Marriage is a pragmatic arrangement.
Living with in-laws is a source of Living with in-laws is normal.
trouble.
Young women associate affection Young women associate affection
with a boyfriend. with a husband.
Humility is for women only. Humility is for both men and women.
Old age is an unhappy period, but it Old age is a happy period, and it
starts late. starts early.
Preschool children can be cared for Mothers should have time for their
by others. preschool children.
Children get gifts for fun and love. Children get gifts for education and
development.

In the overseas Chinese environment, family and work are not sepa-

rated. Family enterprises are normal. The values at the LTO pole sup-
port entrepreneurial activity. Persistence (perseverance), or tenacity in the
pursuit of whatever goals one has set, is an essential asset for a beginning
entrepreneur. Ordering relationships by status and observing this order refl ects
the Confucian stress on unequal relationship pairs. A sense of a harmoni-
ous and stable hierarchy and complementarities of roles makes the entre-
preneurial role easier to play. Thrift leads to savings and to the availability
of capital for reinvestment by oneself or one’s relatives. The value of having
a sense of shame supports interrelatedness through sensitivity to social con-