National Culture and IT Management

ECIS591

Culture…isn’t everyone basically the same?

• Japanese prefer fax to email…• Israelis are not big users of word-

processing packages• Indian programmers are too polite…• In Spain, the “OK” symbol is considered

vulgar• Malaysian programmers may be fluent in

English but have no idea of slang terms….

What is Culture?

• “…culture is defined as an integrated system of learned behaviorlearned behavior patterns that are characteristic of the members of any society. It includes everything a group thinks, says, does, and makes – its customscustoms, languagelanguage, materialmaterial artifactsartifacts, and shared systems of attitudesattitudes and feelingsfeelings “- Czinkota, et al (1996), p.298

Researchers agree that…

• Culture is learnedlearned and sharedshared from generation to generation

• Cultural norms may be acquired through parents, schools, religious organizations, and social organizations

• Elements of culture include both verbal and non-verbal language, religion, values and attitudes, perceptions, and protocols

Dimensions of Culture

• Hofstede– Power Distance– Individualism/Collectivism– Masculinity/Femininity– Uncertainty Avoidance– Confucianism/Dynamism

• Hall– Space– Material Goods– Friendship– Time– Agreement

Hofstede’s Dimensions of Culture

• Conducted between 1967-1978

• Collected over 100,000 surveys from IBM employees around the world

• Single, consistent control group

• National differences emerge despite strong corporate culture

Power distance

• Also referred to as Revering HierarchyRevering Hierarchy

• Extent to which subordinates expect and accept the fact that power is distributed power is distributed unequallyunequally in a firm

• Some cultures see large gaps between hierarchical levels

• Panama scores highest, Israel lowest

Individualism/Collectivism

• Extent to which individual sees themselves as part of a group

• Individualistic Cultures– Expected to have opinions– Stress personal achievements– Independence– Individual rights

• Collectivist Cultures– Harmony– Welfare group

Implications for IS Management?

• Systems Design– Inherently group effort– Process designed for conflict

• Incentive Schemes– Reward individual or group?

Masculinity/Femininity

• Taking care of business– “toughness” in meeting goals– “softness” in taking care of people and quality

of life

• Japan ranks as highly masculine• Scandinavian countries rank low• Implications?

– Work hours

Uncertainty Avoidance

• Attitudes towards risk, ambiguity, predictability, and control

• “High avoidance” cultures place emphasis on stability

• “Low avoidance” countries embrace change and innovation

• Japanese high on Uncertainty Avoidance• Hong Kong low on Uncertainty Avoidance

Confucianism/Dynamism

• Recent addition to cultural dimensions• Here-and-now vs. future• Confucian traits

– Thrift– Persistence– Diligence– Patience– Patriarchal authority

Hall’s Dimensions of Culture

• Space– Close-talker?– Queues

• Materialism– Danish CEO admired for driving old car– Americans fight for corner office with biggest desk– Japanese manager may sit with other employees to

downplay role of status and material goods

Hall’s Dimensions

• Friendships– Some western cultures make and lose friends

quickly (due to high mobility)– Other cultures may take longer to develop

relationship but long-lasting– Holds for businesses as well … relationship

first, then business

Hall’s Dimensions

• Time– Monochronic cultures

• See time as linear• Events taken one at a time• Stress on punctuality and deadlines

– Polychronic cultures• See time as non-linear, simultaneous, unlimited• Plans constantly change• Delays less important

• Germans considered monochronic, French are polychronic

High Vs. Low Context Cultures

High contextHigh context(Implicit details)(Implicit details)

Low contextLow context(Explicit details)(Explicit details)

Japanese, Chinese,Japanese, Chinese,Mediterranean, Latin, IndianMediterranean, Latin, Indian

American, German, English,American, German, English,ScandinavianScandinavian

Opinion 1: Culture Does Not Matter

• Cougar et.al (1990)– Compared motivation and personal growth

needs of systems analysts– Compared US, Austria, Singapore, Israel– Found great similarities between all countries– Suggests overpowering effects of professional

culture

Culture not important….

• 1996 study of software development tool preferences between Europe, Japan, US… no significant differences

• 1989: Danish and Canadian analysts had similar design values– First technical values– Second, economic values– Sociopolitical values (concern for users)

Opinion 2: Culture matters

• Mostly anecdotal evidence…– French better at object-oriented design– Japanese better at metrics– British know about Jackson Methodology…

unknown in US– Belgians more “process-oriented”– Americans code first and design later

Consider Japan

• Quality assurance– Japanese fixed all bugs… regardless of severity

• Meaning of requirements– Americans see the requirements as a contract

negotiation… Japanese do not charge for minor changes

• Designers– Americans tend to take a top down approach… Japan

takes bottom up approach

Global Information Systems

• Information Technology (IT) facilitates the global transformationglobal transformation of business

• Crossing border poses challenges to technology managers– geographic– legal– cultural– temporal

• need radical changes to existing technology infrastructures and management

Types of global enterprises

• Devised by Bartlett and Ghoshal (1989)

• International

• Global

• Multinational

• Transnational

The International Strategy

• Subsidiaries leverage parent competencies

• Coordinated federation

Global

• R&D, manufacturing done at HQ

• Strategic decisions are centralized

• Central hub

Multinational

• Multidomestic

• Aims at local responsiveness

• Knowledge developed/retained at subsidiary level

• Decentralized federation

Transnational

• Shared decision-making

• Complex coordination

• Centers of excellence

• Dispersed resources

• Integrated network

Jarvenpaa and Ives (1993)

• Built on work by Karimi and Konsysnki

• Based their work on Information Processing Theory (Galbraith 1973)– Good fit when information processing

capacities of firm match requirements of environment and technology

• Jarvenpaa and Ives develop typology of 4 global IT management configurations

The Global IT Strategies

• Intellectual Synergy

• Headquarters Driven

• Independent IT Operations

• Global Integrated IT

• IS managers strive for best fit between above strategy and perceived global strategy

Intellectual Synergy

• Includes several global systems• Each likely to be tailored for individual use• Each run independently by the subsidiary• Subsidiary-HQ IS relationship

characterized by – Personal contacts– Cooperation– Shared learning

Headquarters Driven

• All IT-related decisions made by headquarters

• Goal is– To achieve efficiency– To avoid duplication of development effort

Independent IT Operations

• Independent systems initiatives in each subsidiary

• Focus on local responsibility

• Few, if any, common systems through the firm

• Fosters sense of systems ownership

Global Integrated IT

• Strives for worldwide integration of IT that supports core competencies of firm

• Dispersed resources

• Numerous common systems

• Applications for non-core areas run locally