Managing People and Organisations

Questions: 1. What is meant by the cultural values of individualism and masculinity or femininity? 2. How might these values affect organisation design and management processes? Answers: (1). Greet Hofstede, has studied very carefully the interaction that is there between the cultures. The definition of the culture of individualism is a definition that has been propounded by him. According to this Dutch psychologist those cultures that follow the individualistic culture or rather individualistic in nature then, they actually focus more on the personal goals (News.telelangue.com 2016). According to Greet Hofstede, there are certain, characteristic, which are typically male masculine characteristics. Thus, these characteristics are termed as the masculine characteristic and this include characteristics such as, assertiveness, ambition, materialism and power. On the other hand, there are certain characteristics that are considered as stereotypically feminine in nature. The feminine characteristic includes, values, such as, human values. The culture, or rather those cultures who give more importance to masculinity, there always lays a gender inequality (Samson and Daft 2016). Moreover, the masculine cultures are generally more ambitious and at the same time, these cultures are more competitive in nature and characteristic. On the other hand, the characteristic of that culture that are giving more emphasis to the feminine cultures tends to give higher values on building relationship as well. The feminine cultures do not have that much of gender inequality at the same t ime. (2). The culture of individualism, masculinity and femininity that is there in each country determines the culture of the organization. For instance, the culture of Japan has such a business ethos that give more emphasis to the things like fixed gender roles. Apart from giving importance on the fixed gender roles the organizations established in Japan, give importance to the structure of the organization at the same time. The organizations in Japan also set the long-term orientation at the same time (Bashir et al 2013). Most of the big multi national corporations are operating all over the world; therefore, these MNCs should be aware of the cultural structure of the countries that are there in different parts of the world. According to many scholars and critics, the big corporations or the MNCs, should actually develop a high cultural index or CQ. In unknown countries the managers, many face unfamiliar situation and to combat this unfamiliar situation it is important that the managers should have high cultural index. The cultural index is made up of different components and this includes not only the physical components but at the same time, it includes the emotional component and at the same times the cognitive component at the same time. The social as well as the cultural patterns are different in different countries; therefore, the leadership style of the manager too changes with the pattern at the same time. Therefore, it is important for the manager to be aware of the cultural index of different countries. Thus, the Greet cultural values of individualism and masculinity or femininity, are important for the organizations as these effect the culture of the organization. Especially in the era of globalization, the effect is more than anything else is (Gallant 2013). References Bashir, M., Jianqiao, L., Abrar, M. and Ghazanfar, F. (2013). The organizations cultural values: A study of public sector universities in Pakistan. 1st ed. Gallant, M. (2013). The Business of Culture: How Culture Affects Management Around the World. Halogen Software Talent Management Blog. News.telelangue.com. (2016). Geert Hofstede and cultural-dimensions theoryan overview | WorldSpeaking. Samson, D. and Daft, R. (2016). Management.