Page 367 - Cultures and Organizations

332 CULTURES IN ORGANIZATIONS

Philippe d’Iribarne (see Chapter 3) showed that the consensus principle was
precisely the essence of the success of the Dutch plant. The Dutch “pol-
der” consensus model is supposed to have been a keystone of the country’s
economy. Imposing a foreign leadership model (believed to be universal) in
such a situation is a destruction of cultural capital.
Two U.S. researchers, Ellen Jackofsky and John Slocum, analyzed
descriptions of chief executives in the management press in fi ve countries.
French CEOs were described as taking autocratic initiatives (high PDI);
Germans as stressing the training and responsibilities of their managers
and workers (low PDI, high UAI); Japanese as practicing patience and let-
ting the organization run itself, aiming at long-term market share (high
LTO); Swedes as taking entrepreneurial risks and at the same time caring
for their people’s quality of working life (low UAI, low MAS); and the one
Taiwanese CEO in the sample as stressing hard work and the family (high
LTO, low IDV). 47
Ingrid Tollgerdt-Andersson, from Sweden, compared more than 1,400
job advertisements for executives from eight European countries. She
looked for whether the ads mentioned personal and social abilities, such as
ability to cooperate. This was the case in 80 percent or more of the ads in
Sweden, Denmark, and Norway but only in some 50 percent in Italy and
Spain. Weak uncertainty avoidance explains most of the differences. Abil-
ity to cooperate is a soft criterion considered more valid in low-UAI coun-
tries. Femininity explains nearly all the remaining differences: cooperation
is a more important value in feminine than in masculine cultures. 48
Studies of the satisfaction and productivity of subordinates under dif-

ferent types of leaders show the influence of national cultures. French IBM

technicians were most satisfied when they saw their boss as persuasive
or paternalistic, unlike their British and German colleagues, who more

often liked consultative and democratic bosses. Workers from Peru liked
close supervision, unlike similar workers from the United States. Indian
assistants showed the highest satisfaction and performance when working
under foremen who behaved like elder brothers. What represents appropri-
ate leadership in one setting does not have to be appropriate for a differ-
ently programmed group of subordinates. 49
Leadership behaviors and leadership theories that do not take collec-
tive expectations of subordinates into account are basically dysfunctional.
Harry Triandis described how the U.S. leadership style was dysfunctional
50
in Greece and vice versa. What usually happens when foreign theories
are taught abroad is that they are preached but not practiced. Wise local