Why Does This Matter?
•	Culture affects all behaviour and beliefs
•	At work
•	In relationships
•	In purchasing decisions

Agenda
Part I: What Is Culture?
•	Determinants of Culture
•	Geography, Religion, Language, History
•	Elements of Culture
•	Social Structures, Attitudes and Values, Language, Religion

Part II: How do I deal with it?
•	Measuring Culture
•	Hall’s Low/High Context, The Big Five, Hofstede’s Dimensions
•	Managing Across Cultures
•	Behaviour, Motivation, Leadership, Decision-Making, Group Dynamics
1. Determinants
•	Geography
•	Climate
–	Clothing, sports and recreation, habitat, diet
•	Topography
–	Mountains and bodies of water are barriers
•	Location
–	Political & economic relationships, quantity of resources 
•	Waterways
–	Relates to transportation, affects urban development patters
•	Arable land
–	Self-sufficiency, diet
1. Determinants
•	Religion
•	Effects are endless, continuous, and far reaching
•	Morals and laws are directly and indirectly affected by religion
•	Source of much of world’s attitudes and conflict
•	Language
•	Can be a barrier to spread of new ideas
•	Can unite or isolate cultures
1. Determinants
•	History
•	Major events can entrench ideas, attitudes, even customs
•	War, conquest, occupation, famine, etc. can shape your demographics as well as attitudes
•	Developing independently versus being a former colony

Take the following example…

The Source of Diversity
ROME
Perhaps history’s most inflvential empire
Resvlt of dvration, vastness, bvreavcracy
fovndation of western civilization
Politically ~ Legally ~ Lingvistically
ROME

Agenda
2. Elements
•	Social Structures
•	Values and Attitudes
•	Language and Communication
•	Religion

2. Elements
a). Social Structures

•	Role of the family
•	Nuclear, extended, or clan?
•	Degree of involvement in work life
•	Groups vs. Individuals
•	Societies have different emphasis

2. Elements
a). Social Structures

•	Social Hierarchy
•	Race, occupation, religion, etc.
•	Importance of these traits varies 
•	Hiring decisions are affected by these roles
•	Degree of Mobility
•	Can you change you “station” in life?
•	Affects ambition in work and education

b). Values and Attitudes

•	Towards Time
•	Anglo-Saxon culture teaches ‘Time is money’ 
•	Latin and Arabic cultures don’t share this sentiment
•	Content of meetings will also differ
•	Towards Age
•	Youthfulness is not a virtue everywhere
•	In Arab and Eastern societies age is revered
•	This affects decision-making

b). Values and Attitudes

•	Towards Education
•	Education systems serve different purposes
•	The skills and attitudes of business contacts will therefore vary
•	Towards Status
•	How it is achieved and what constitutes it
•	Inherited, intellect, number of children, money, etc
•	Affect methods of compensation

c). Language and Communication

•	Language
•	Acts as a bond or a brick wall
•	Filters ideas and influences thought
•	Cannot be directly translated
•	Signals important clues about the culture itself
–	Formal relationships, historical origins, nature of language itself

c). Language and Communication

•	Non – Verbal Communication
•	At least 80% of communication is unspoken
•	These subtleties usually never mean the same thing across cultures
•	Gift Giving
•	Giving gifts and hospitality are important
•	Wide variations of protocol

d). Religion

•	One doesn’t have to search long to discover its importance

•	A quick glance at the flags of the world is enough to see the significance and endurance of religion. 

d). Religion

d). Religion

•	Judaism
•	One of smallest but the foundation of many
•	Monolithic faith
•	God’s desire for human conduct revealed to Moses
•	Mosaic law and Ten Commandments at root of ‘legal principles’ of many nations
•	Laws are sacrificial in nature
•	‘An eye for an eye’

d). Religion

•	Judaism
–	Three Main Types:
•	Orthodox: Observe the traditional dietary and ceremonial laws of Judaism 
•	Conservative: More emphasis on the historic and religious aspects of Judaism than on principle of a Jewish political state 
•	Reform: The liberal wing of Judaism

d). Religion

•	Christianity
•	Did away with sacrificial laws
•	Jesus is centre of faith
•	Has broken into three main sects
–	Catholicism
–	Orthodoxy
–	Protestantism
•	This has influenced history and political development

d). Religion

•	Christianity
•	Impacts western life in many ways
•	Attitudes towards charity, tolerance, and democracy
•	Seasons and holidays
•	Protestant work ethic
–	Luther, Calvin and British: Glorify God through hard work and thrift

d). Religion

•	Islam
•	Received Koran from Archangle Gabriel
–	It is the literal word of God
•	Was not accepted in Mecca, and fled to Medina
•	This ‘Hijrah’ is start of Islamic Calendar
•	Five Articles of Faith
–	God, Angels, Scripture, Prophets, Last days
•	Five Pillars of Faith:
–	Creed, Prayer, Almsgiving, Fasting, Pilgrimage

d). Religion

•	Islam
•	On Muhammed’s death, a major division occurred
•	Shia and Sunni
–	Sunnis are less authoritarian, free to interpret their religion
–	Shi’ites believers must put themselves under the authority of a holy man (Ayatollah)
•	As in Northern Ireland, much conflict in Middle East is related to Shia – Sunni conflict
–	Even Sunni nations like Kuwait or Iraq have large Shia populations.

d). Religion

•	Islam
•	Pillars themselves problematic for westerners
–	Fatigue during Ramadan
•	Other differing attitudes
–	Supportive of capitalism
–	But greater emphasis on obligation to society
–	Firm’s profits may not arise from exploitation or deceit
–	Interest is illegal in many Muslim countries
–	Role of women

d). Religion

•	Animism
•	A kind of spirit worship
–	Includes magic and witchcraft
–	Africa and Latin America
•	Believe dead relatives are ever present
–	They in turn are pleased if the living emulate their ancestors
•	Makes change difficult

d). Religion

•	Buddhism
•	Based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama
•	The Four Nobel Truths
–	Suffering exists.
–	The cause of suffering is the desire for pleasures of the senses, 
–	To be free of suffering one must extinguish this desire
–	The ending of all pain is by way of the Eightfold Path.
•	Striving for no desires is important
•	Buddhist monks are also political

d). Religion

•	Hinduism
•	Oldest and most complex of major religions

d). Religion

•	Hinduism
•	Oldest and most complex of major religions
•	No founder or single theology
•	Samsura: constant cycle of rebirth
•	Karma
•	Cycle is broken only by
–	Yoga
–	Worship, or 
–	Good deeds

d). Religion

•	Hinduism
•	From Hinduism comes the Caste System
–	Brahmins: priests
–	Kshatriyas: soldiers, king-warrior class 
–	Vaishyas: merchants, farmers, labourers, craftspeople
–	Harijahns: "untouchables"
•	Officially abolished, but sentiments deeply entrenched due to nature of Hinduism
•	Caste determines all societal roles

Agenda

Individualism Orientation
Power Orientation
Uncertainty Orientation

Goal Orientation
Time Orientation
Canada and China
Canada and Sweden
The Interpretation
Hall’s Low/High Context
•	In high context cultures, the “context” in which words are spoken is just as important as the words themselves.
•	High context cultures place greater emphasis on relationships before business, or contract terms
•	Marketing in high context cultures is more emotion oriented than fact oriented
The Big Five
Agenda
Managing Across Cultures
Managing Across Cultures
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Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, online at www.religioustolerance.org.  April, 2005

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