Page 439 - Cultures and Organizations

404 IMPLICATIONS

of saying, “Oui, Monsieur,” as he expected her to do, the Danish woman
looked at him, smiled, and said, “Why do you want this to be done?”
Countries with large-power-distance cultures have rarely produced
large multinationals; multinational operations demand a higher level of
trust than is normal in these countries, and they do not permit the central-
ization of authority that managers at headquarters in these countries need
in order to feel comfortable.
Differences in uncertainty avoidance represent a serious problem for
the functioning of multinationals, whichever way they go. This is because if

rules mean different things in different countries, it is difficult to keep the
organization together. In cultures manifesting weak uncertainty avoidance
such as the United States and even more in Britain and, for example, Sweden,

managers and nonmanagers alike feel definitely uncomfortable with systems
of rigid rules, especially if it is evident that many of these rules are never
followed. In cultures with strong uncertainty avoidance such as most of the
Latin world, people feel equally uncomfortable without the structure of a sys-
tem of rules, even if many of these dictates are impractical and impracticable.
At either pole of the uncertainty- avoidance dimension, people’s feelings are
fed by deep psychological needs, related to the control of aggression and to
basic security in the face of the unknown (see Chapter 6).
Organizations moving to unfamiliar cultural environments are often
sorely unprepared for negative reactions of the public or the authorities to
what they do or want to do. Perhaps the effect of the collective values
of a society is nowhere as clear as in such cases. These values have been
institutionalized partly in the form of legislation (and in the way in which
legislation is applied, which may differ considerably from what is actually
written in the law); in labor union structures, programs, and power posi-
tions; and in the existence of organizations of stakeholders such as consum-

ers or environmentalists. The values are partly invisible to the newcomer,
but they become all too visible in press reactions, government decisions,
or organized actions by uninvited interest groups. A few inferences from
the value differences exposed in Chapters 3 through 7 with regard to the
reactions of the local environment are listed here:

■ Civic action groups are more likely to be formed in low-PDI, low-UAI
cultures than elsewhere.
■ Business corporations will have to be more concerned with informing
the public in low-PDI, low-UAI cultures than elsewhere.