Page 365 - Cultures and Organizations

330 CULTURES IN ORGANIZATIONS

Theory T could be as follows:

1. There is an order of inequality in this world in which everyone has his
or her rightful place. High and low are protected by this order, which
is willed by God.

2. Children have to learn to fulfill their duties at the place where they
belong by birth. They can improve their place by studying under a
good teacher, working with a good patron, and/or marrying a good
partner.
3. Tradition is a source of wisdom. Therefore, the average human being
has an inherent dislike of change and will rightly avoid it if possible.

Without contradicting Theory T, Theory T would affi rm these
premises:

1. In spite of the wisdom in traditions, the experience of change in life is
natural, as natural as work, play, or rest.
2. Commitment to change is a function of the quality of leaders who lead
the change, the rewards associated with the change, and the negative
consequences of not changing.
3. The capacity to lead people to a new situation is widely, not narrowly,
distributed among leaders in the population.
4. The learning capacities of the average family are more than suffi cient
for modernization.

Thus, a Southeast Asian equivalent of human resource development might
be based on something like Theories T and T , and not on an irrelevant
import like the Theory X–Theory Y distinction.
National differences in motivation patterns are reflected in different

forms of compensation. Wages and other conditions are established by
comparison with others in the same national labor market. A study across
twenty-four countries found significant correlations between compensation

practices and our culture indexes, as follows: 44

■ Employers in small-power-distance countries more often provided
on-site child care for managers and professional and technical staff
and stock options for nonmanagers.
■ Employers in individualist countries more often paid for individual
performance and provided stock options for managers.