Management & Culture: a
sociological perspective
Pr Jean-Pierre SEGAL (CNRS)
Hoa Sen University
1. Culture & Management :
classical business perspective
• The way we do things here
• The way we want our customers and staffs to
see us
• Corporate membership as an identity provider
• Dissidents are not wellcomed
2. Is this business perspective fitted to
cross-national approaches?
• One country, many different firms
• Are we sure staff’s values are those of the
management?
• Are we sure that the code of conduct (if
any) is fully applied?
3. Leaving cultural stereotypes to
tourist guides
• A stereotype tells us more on the categories of judgement of the
one who formulates it than on the country he pretends to describe
• This is a rapidly changing and globalized world (new generations,
higher education, Internet, and so on)
• The willingness of staff to be commited to their work depends
largely of the local relevance of the way their firm is managed.
• What needs to be analyzed is the conditions requested locally to
obtain such cooperation and efficiency
4.What do (so different) people
share in the same cultural area?
• Local content of universal values (what do
« respect », « justice », « liberty » mean in
this area?)
• How values conflict are locally dealt with?
• Can we identify locally unbearable
5. Unbearable situations
• Oceania: losing membership and respect
in one’s community
• USA: losing control of its own destiny
• France: subordination to an illegitimate
6. How do these dimensions interfere with the
functionning and the management of firms?
• Management international standards were
historically « made in the USA » giving « fair »
answers (in the way local people see it).
Globalization of education and
internationalization of firms have spread these
references
• What is expected from a fair boss is still different
in the USA, in Océania, in Malaysia or in France:
a leader who decides, a Grand Chef who gives
and protect, a Leader who guides and inspires,
a « patron » you can follow because he is so
great you can forgive him being your superior
.
7a. North/North misunderstandings
on management
• Management refers to the local understanding of
« leadership », « membership », « fairness » and so on.
It’s not only a matter of techniques. It is also a matter of
culture.
• French and American different views on business
ethics: secularism versus moral community:
• Japonese and Amercian different views on corporate
culture
7b Japonese and Amercian different views
on corporate culture
• An American understanding
We have a non-stop running battle with the president. We simply
cannot get him to specify a performance target for us. We have all the necessary reports and numbers, but we can’t get specific target from him. He won’t tell us how large a dollar increase in loan volume or what percent decrease in operating costs he expects us to achieve over the next month, quarter, or even year. How can we know
whether we’re performing well without specific targets to shoot for ?
• A Japanese understanding
If only I could get these Americans to understand our philosophy of banking. To understand what the business means to us – how we feel we should deal with our customers and our employees. What our
relationship should be to the local communities we serve. How we should deal with our competitors, and what our role should be in the world at large. If they could get that under their skin, then they could figure out for themselves what an appropriate objective would be for any situation, no matter how unusual or new, and I would never have to tell them, never have to give them a target.
