Environmental Issues: Changing value perspectives

As per the University Grants Commission Scheme of things we teachers have to undergo two refresher courses between promotions. Some of the courses are multidisciplinary like Environmental Science which people from all or any discipline can attend. Well it is not entirely alien to me as I engage Environmental Management as a paper for the MBAs and MHRMs.



So the mandatory paper that I prepared was around the principle that it should be relevant both frm the environemtnal perspective and the Management perspective. Here is the article.......


Environmental Issues: Changing Business Value Perspectives


INTRODUCTION


Business as the applied aspect of Economics puts together the factors of production. They are land, labour, capital and entrepreneuship. While the first three are tangible, the last mentioned is the particular talent of the business man that puts all the other together for achieving the organizational mission and objectives.

The concern for environment is relatively new although awareness of the effects of human activities on the surroundings is not new. Traditional economics conveniently categorized the concern under the term ‘externalities’ and following suit, the firm hoodwinked itself to avoid any cognizance of the environmental degradation that it was causing.

Out of the factors of production, land is the term that comes to mean the environment although in a much restricted sense and the same was rewarded a rent. Labour was rewarded wage, capital was rewarded interest and entrepreneurship was rewarded profit. Although land was rewarded rent, the restricted sense in which the term land was used ignored its real value in its actual expanded meaning of environment.


In addition, the environment actually was treated as ‘the other’ in a mutually exclusive way from ‘the firm’.

To some extent this exclusion was justified in that in the initial days of industrialization, the waste or the environmental impact was minimal and the earth was supposed to be capable of taking up unlimited amounts of the discards of production. In fact historians note that people thronged after the motor cars to get a whiff of the exhaust because anyway it was far better than the horse dung it replaced.

VALUE IN USE AND VALUE IN EXCHANGE

While in the factor market the environment was restrictively valued thus, in the product market there were two types of values; value in use and value in exchange. Among those things that were valued in use but not valued in exchange was air and water according to Adam Smith himself. Modern man knows better; that he can bottle water and appropriate a value in exchange as well but not before he has polluted much of it. Thus we see that the conceptualization of value in the heydays of industrialization was different from the present one.

Further, land was intrinsically valued more as a community denoting location rather than instrumentally as a commodity for exchange.


The commodity aspect came in much later with notions of private property and private rights. Private rights also automatically attached duty upon the title holder to protect, preserve and maintain the land. Much worse was the commons which theoretically being everybody’s were grazed and otherwise used to degradation with responsibility upon none.

Even so there were communities who managed this issue in ingenious ways by creating layers of rights as in the case of country ponds in certain rural villages. There were rights of recreational fishing, annual harvest of fish, drinking water, water for bathing and washing and also as community centres for information exchange. In a similar way, the sacred groves of Kerala often attached to temples served rights limited to worship for the community. The wisdom of preserving a land as forest and attaching religious significance to them so that people dare not disturb them served the environmental interest in a creative way.

THE TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS

The commons refers to anything that is held in common such as the air, water or a pasture. The human tendency is to benefit from the common, but when it comes to tending the same, since it belongs to nobody and since tending does not give any private gains no one is inclined to do it until enforced by law.


Eventually the benefits are stripped and the common becomes barren. Obviously with lesser populations and self restricted use it would still be possible to gain without much of a destruction but the industrial revolution and massive scale operations changed that.

With the industrial era with its massive scale of use of resources especially energy, the global commons also started getting affected. These include the atmosphere, oceans, space, communication spectrum, the moon, Mars and other future destinations. The global commons is thus a very specific outcome of industrialization and globalization which required responses of a global nature such as the Kyoto protocol and the Montreal protocol. Here again the responses gave different results. For instance the Montreal protocol relating to ozone depleting substances was largely a success since there was a technological alternative and also the substances were confined to the refrigeration and air conditioning industry alone. The Kyoto protocol on the other hand is not so much a success because of its spread into different sectors especially the fossil fuels and in a fossil fuel economy any attempt at mitigation of emissions would seriously affect the economic growth.






FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY AND NATURAL CAPITAL

Factor productivities have the advantage of being calculable. For labour this would depend on whether the operation was labour or technology intensive and could be calculated in terms of manpower cost per unit of production or manhours per unit of production. Contribution of capital could be calculated in terms of cost of capital or return on investment. Contribution of Entrepreneurship was calculated in terms of Efficiency, Profits, Market share, Company valuation, Market capitalization and Equity appreciation. While all these would find their rightful place in the books of accounts and statements, the contribution of environment, if calculated, would be a function of the ecosystem services that nature provides. In fact environmental contribution to production is not a revenue head but a capital base on which all other investments are made. The benefits that mankind derives from nature include provisioning services such as food, timber and water , regulating services such as climate, floods, and disease control, supporting services such as the nutrient cycle and pollination , cultural services such as physical and aesthetic enjoyment, and our community diversity based on geographic and topographical peculiarities. Even this classification of benefits does not provide the clear picture since if there is no environmental capital there cannot be any other investment.




In other words if we want more of wealth at the expense of the earth and eventually if the earth is stripped there is no economy at all. This would mean the realization and recognition of nature as the first capital which was definitely not the case earlier.

A spate of unexpected industrial disasters of a massive scale brought the global communities’ attention to the damage that business was doing to the environment. These were the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Bhopal Gas tragedy, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear disasters. These also gave rise to ethical questions regarding business itself. Ethics in general refers to the questions of right and wrong especially in as much as someone or society is affected. These disasters raised the question of whether nature or environment itself was to be treated as some ‘other’ or should it be included in the question of who is being affected adversely. Thus these disasters extended the concerns to not only other people but also to the environment in general.

ECONOMIC SOLUTIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

The economic responses to the environmental issues in the true tradition of market forces vs government regulation was the incentive based approach, the private rights approach and the regulatory approach.


The incentive based approach provided rewards for good environmental practices, but the downside were also obvious; the incentives became licenses to pollute, costs were passed on to the consumer and it was difficult to regulate with attached room for corruption.

Property rights necessitated that the pollution be solely and directly felt by those who pollute and in this way discourage and disincentivise pollution in one’s rightful property. But while accountability was an advantage, the problem still remained as when the commons being privatized was problematic. How could air and rivers be privatized!

The regulatory model required enforcement but as with anything regulatory, was disliked by industry. Although the science of global warming was largely agreed upon there were some who treated it not so much in an anthropogenic way, rendering the science insufficient to develop consensus.

THE PROBLEM OF EXTERNALITY

Economics in its march considered certain issues as externalities as collateral effects outside the purview of the discipline. Externalities are defined as any unintended consequence whether negative or positive paid for or enjoyed by the society at large and sometimes even into the future as well. Environmental impacts qualify aptly as the most severe of those negative externalities. In the earlier days, the assumption was that environment was capable of assimilation of any amount of waste. Environmental Externalities were augmented by the fossil fuel based industrial economy and expressed themselves in pollution, habitat destruction, biodiversity loss and resource depletion. These were results of industrial scale activities but did not appear in the expenditure column and the task remains unfinished even today to make externalities into ‘internalities’ at firm level. However, externalities did appear as subtracted from calculations of GNP in a different measure termed Net Economic Welfare (NEW). But they remained at the macro economic level.

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Simultaneously another measure termed ecological footprint also developed as an indicator of environmental effects. It is defined as the amount of ecosystem required for human support OR as the amount of environmental demands by a certain population at a certain consumption level.

Similarly, environmental Impact of a country was measured as a product of the Population, Affluence (Consumption patterns) and Technology. This recognized that population alone was not the culprit in the environmental debate but consumption patterns of a society and the technological stage at which the country was as well.


As technology improves to take into consideration environmental performance, this equation might require modification.

BUSINESS RESPONSE

Business approached the environmental issue in different ways. The compliance based approach took on a minimal compliance of various laws or one step further demonstrated the environmental commitment as with an Environmental Management System (EMS) such as ISO 14001.

At a different level, businesses resorted to the measurement of environmental efficiency of a firm in a measure termed Eco – Efficiency. It was defined as a ratio of the Environmental impact per product or service value and considered measures such as the Energy consumption, Water consumption, Greenhouse gases, CFCs and Solid wastes to unit production.

The third and the latest approach is Environmental issue as an opportunity in which Environmental performance is a new parameter of Strategic Differentiation as in the qualifications of a green company, green product, green processes. Further Environmental products , alternate business models such as defining business as service not product, businesses of renewable energy, or plastic degrading micro organisms figure well as trends in business.



CONCLUSION
Thus we see that the earliest approach was one of negligence where environment was left unattended, because nature was abundant. The next approach was to treat environment as commons where when it is everybody’s, it rapidly degraded. Later, environment was merely an externality where economics could not /need not concern.

Still later, environment was recognized as a ‘problem’, because the excesses started becoming obvious. The recognition that the environment was the real capital gave rise to the concept of natural capital.

For business in its lookout for opportunities the ‘environmental issue’ gives a new direction. The general view is ‘if it cannot be ignored can we make use of it’? Still further environment got prominence in design and life cycle of product as against end of pipeline treatment because there is savings in environment. Generally the movement was from environment as necessarily degrading in the march of economic progress to environment as a partner for business and economic development.






In summary, the attitudes of business have undergone a sea change from considering the environmental issue as something to live with to as an opportunity. The general direction of the future would be to take advantage of environment in a way that taking care of environment becomes a good business proposition itself.

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REFERENCES


Hardin, Garret. (1968). Tragedy of the Commons.

Reinhardt, Forest. Bringing the environment Down to earth

Natural Capitalism, California Management Review.

Industrial Ecology

Smith, Adam. Wealth of Nations

Business and international environmental treaties

Liking India

It takes an outsider to enlighten you on the place where you are. Liking India has never been easy although liking Kerala was not so problematic. I saw India first around age five and then Kerala henceforth so much so it was a contrast from the barren north to see kerala in its spring and showers.

Apart from the physical absence sometimes and near total emotional absence always of parents which sure was a problem for me at a tender age, coming back to Kerala kept the rest of India at a distance. In fact I am sure all Indians consider them as Punjabis, Tamilians, Bengalis and so on first and then only as Indians. So a question of the love of the land is true only in the abstract and evokes different meanings to the Indian in him.


My sojourns first to Chennai (then Madras) gave a different picture of the world but the next one to Bihar was a complete shock. I could like these places only in the abstract and in hindsight away from the din, smells , noise and the dust first and then the caste, colours, tastes and irrationalities thereafter. It took much of the ethnocentrism (malluness) away from me, but gave greater insights into how a person can forget that he is blessed until he is taken away to some place else.

Coming to the topic at hand I had an accidental receiving of a book “Into India” by John Keay in 1999 or 2000 which I read only in May 2010. Surprisingly the mundane things that the Indian pushes to the background of perception comes alive when given a treatment by a foreigner. Will I be able to stand back and look at the daily scenes as if I am a foreigner. The answer is YES and I do!!

It is only that when I actually started reading the book I realized so. Also many things that I did not know came alive. The treatment of the subject is as an introduction for the foreign traveler to the country. So it comes as no surprise that one can hear names like Mathew, Joseph and John plenty in Kerala is what the book says. Well I belong to that very minority of communities the Syrian Catholic puts me immediately in a special place. Have I ever looked at me that way ? Have I ever tried to consider my identity? Sometimes I also wonder it is because we are not so different from some other communities as well. For instance Sakaria in his article on ‘Appol Christhuvine enthu cheyyum’ (Thereafter what will we do with Christ?) in Mathrubhoomy weekly says that Christians were a sort of ‘melekkida nainmar’ (upper class Nairs) two millennia ago until they were persuaded to be reorganised by the Portuguese into the Roman Catholic fold in the 17th century or so.

The book is a delight in its organisation and simplicity. I liked India better. I saw India in a different light without much traveling. In fact I had started liking India after I left Bihar. But that was when I started traveling again when I knew that I would come back to Kerala. There is something about the vibrancy, in the resilience that others speak so much about. There is also a certain Indian that I feel one with than my own cousins back home.

Some sort of leveling is taking place due to education , greater interaction and so forth. The next of such surprises was when I read about cultures and organisations in an academic way with Hofstede. And lo and behold a movie true to the letters of what India is as described from a cultural perspective appears. ‘OUTSOURCED’ is more than true and shows the transformation of the foreigner once he surrenders to this incorrigibly impossible land. Without pandering to the love of the false exotic as Satyajit Ray would say….

And then there was Amartya Sen with his ‘Argumentative Indian’. I had not come across the book and had thought it to be one of his academic prose. Sen is difficult in his essays, interviews and speeches. But here it was well conceived and well stringed around a single word ‘argumentative’. Discourse would be a better word but that would be too Greek, like Socrates. Well for India no other word suits other than argumentative. Just watch any crowd in a public place in India.

Shashi Tharoor has written something similar from midnight to the millennium. But with his cattle class, loose words and Sunanda Pushkar I will read it later when he matures. Well I did not mention Nehru in the same genre with 'Discovery of India' which was surprise to me in 1998. No politician in India today qualifies as such. Perhaps I will wait for Rahul Gandhi.

Clash of the titans

The western man’s burden is himself. Having watched the Clash of the Titans I have come to conclude that zero imagination is better than poverty of imagination. If Bollywood can be accused of being masala or formula this one was a hotchpotch of all those archetypes that are of the western man. He, especially the Anglo Saxon stock put to use all inventions to subjugate others. His monolithic view fills his mind with imagined enemies too big for him to handle and therefore he builds defences all the time.

Consider the various scenes evocative of the Greek, the Roman, the exodus, the medieval witches and shapeless monsters, gods and demigods, god who demands unconditional obedience, hideous monsters all put into precipitous dim, cavernous, mad max model of landscape plus monstrous water and land animals out of proportion all against the reluctant protagonist who finally comes around to taking up his mission at the goading of many others and ends up fighting what appears to be his own inner fears in postures defying gravity and any semblance of reality at all. In comes a Pegasus from nowhere. Friend or foe he makes noises and has no role except transportation of the hero. There is not even passion which otherwise movies from the US are famous for.

I am reminded of the twilight of the American Empire. Only this time the gladiators and lions are not spectator worthy, and no less due to the repetitive treatment. Why could not they make movies at least to slow down and enjoy the 3D images!

Tracing back and forth from the doctoral dissertation abstract

One of the assignments Prof M R Dixit gave us on the Management paper was to trace back and forth from a paper. I prepared the following one.

It was on

Tracing back and forth from the doctoral dissertation abstract
“Do as the Romans?
Intercultural influence processes in Intercultural Work Relationships”

By Donald L. Ferrin
Department of Strategic Management and Organization
University of Minnesota

Introduction


The most important boundaries in the world today are often subtle but all pervasive differences in cultural perspective that shape how managers from different societies conceive their role and their work.

Culture is a concept in the realm of Anthropology and Sociology. It has a material facet and a non material facet. It has an unchanging element as also a changing element. It permeates our lives every moment whether we are conscious of it or not. It is an important determinant that distinguishes an individual from another individual. Culture is the personality of the community. It is also the collective programming of the mind; in which sense it has tremendous influence in determining the personality and behavior of the individual.

Many nations harbor different cultures within it; on the other hand many cultures are now spread in different nations. Many nations share a common cultural bond; also many nations share a common culture across the borders more common than many a culture in some remote corner of the same nation. There can be subcultures within the mainstream culture as well.

What happens when two cultures meet? One can imagine a certain remote tribe on a remote island which has never been in contact with any other culture as also the modern ‘organization man’ shuttling across cultures with considerable ease.

Between these two is the fuzzy area where the ambiguities presented by differing cultures leads to functional or dysfunctional relations. Modern

industrial culture is distinguished by its uncanny desire to configure itself and retain the patterns into the most functional one in line with its predominant themes of value addition, continuous improvement and gain.

Cross cultural management is a form of negotiation, whereby persons in interactions acquire participative competence for working in a multicultural team.

Culture: definition and metaphors

Culture refers to the distinctive collective mental programming of values and beliefs within each society. It is the shared ways of thinking, feeling and reacting; shared meanings and identities; shared socially constructed environments; common ways in which technologies are used; and commonly experienced events. It is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another. In the broad sense it refers to the social context within which humans live. Culture has been defined as a fuzzy set of attitudes, beliefs behavioral conventions and basic assumptions and values that are shared by a group of people and that influence each member’s behavior and his/her interpretation of the other people’s behavior.

The predominant metaphors used are the ones of programming and the lens. The former was proposed by Hofstede and the latter by Triandis. Triandis opined that “our collective experiences within our culture provide a lens through which we see the world. This cultural lens is a metaphor of being able to put on special goggles that show the world as it appears to someone from a different cultural group”.

Culture and trade relations

Culture has been a relatively new addition to the OB literature. Increasing world trade and recent trends towards globalization has necessitated new ways of dealing with the cultural differences in business settings. The trend in the colonial days was towards cultural subjugation or least of all, an indifference towards the host culture. An attitude of ethnocentrism by the colonial power was counterbalanced by the compliance/acceptance or incipient reaction by the subject.

Modern day commerce and business involves democratic ways of negotiation, dialogue, confidence building and workable relationships. These necessitate understanding major differences and nuances of the culture of the other and hence an interest in cultural studies.

The place of Ferrin’s dissertation in the literature on culture:
It is the concern with greater understanding for the sake of functionality that drives many a researcher to the study of processes within and across organizations. Ferrin has chosen the common assumptions in the intercultural research literature to test whether cultural norms do indeed influence, influence processes in leader- subordinate relations.

An understanding of intercultural processes gains all the more relevance in the context of increased mobility of organizations and people brought about by the irreversible trend of globalization. Organizations are more and more likely to be populated by people from different nationalities and culture. Organizations are to negotiate and enter into contract with each other from different cultures. Insights into cultural nuances of the interacting cultures both at the stage of contract building as also subsequent maintenance of the contract relations would help organizations in eliminating costly misunderstandings.

In a very broader sense any insight into interacting cultures are likely to bring about long term benefits in the sense of cultural understanding and exchanges even outside organizations in the arena of world integration. This could prevent belligerent posturing that many a nation has entered into. Many attribute the emergent fundamentalist trends to a dissatisfaction with the onslaught of western culture that globalization has subtly brought in.

Content analysis of Ferrin’s dissertation.

The area of study for Ferrin is the “subtle region of interpersonal influence tactic at the intersection of cultures in dyadic intercultural environment”. Most intercultural studies examine how managerial beliefs, norms and behaviors differ across cultures, but Ferrin examines how people perceive individual beliefs and culture norms in intercultural settings, and how their perceptions are manifested in their behavior.

Inter personal influence is a key element of leadership which in turn involves compliance from another person. It is natural on human’s part to desire to reduce the uncertainty inherent in any setting and especially in a new setting. In the intercultural context, the uncertainties are accentuated by the new behaviors that might be “required or expected and old behaviors that would be considered unacceptable or inappropriate”.

Ferrin used the following ‘appropriateness cues’ and set out to study which of them actually emerged in the intercultural dyadic situation:

Individual’s beliefs. Norms of individual’s national culture.

Interaction partner’s beliefs. Norms of interaction partner’s national culture.




Findings

The options available to an actor in the intercultural setting are intercultural adjustment, interpersonal adjustment or no adjustment.

Findings from Ferrin’s study indicated that ‘people focus on balancing their own beliefs with their counterpart’s beliefs. People consistently view adjustment in their intercultural relationships as balancing own and other’s beliefs rather than own and other’s cultural norms’.

Further, ‘people in dyadic cultural work relationships inhabit coherent, socially constructed worlds in which they view behavior as a function of their own and the other’s beliefs, not their own and the other’s cultural norms’.

This supports , according to Ferrin, an earlier perspective advanced by Mc Call and Simmons ‘that people do manage to attain some fumbling consensus on the situation and thus go on to conduct their respective businesses’.


This reminds one of the situation in a train compartment, where people come together from different walks and after the initial withdrawal get on well till the end of the journey in certain tacitly accepted ways. In other words there develops certain norms of space, courtesies and boundaries till the end of the journey that is sufficient for the immediate purposes of the travelers.

‘All that is needed is a sufficient lack of disagreement about one another for each to proceed in some degree, with his own plans of action’.

Ferrin’s major contribution is breaking the assumption of adjustment being conforming to foreign culture norms or simply intercultural adjustment.

In its place the study finds out interpersonal adjustment and no adjustment as alternatives in the repertoire of behavior available to the culturally different superior and subordinate. In other words the study finds out that in inter cultural relations, ‘behavior is a function of one’s own and the other’s beliefs, not one’s own and the other’s cultural norms’.

In a way, Ferrin’s findings negate the influence of culture almost completely and leaves the individuals themselves in dyadic settings to work out an acceptable space and culture of their own to pursue their goals.

The place of culture’s influence in Management and OB literature: the past


In general all study can be traced as an attempt to provide clarity with the ultimate objective of efficiency and eliminating waste by the use of the

insights gathered from the study. This can be traced to the scientific management spirit of finding a better fit, better approach etc. However culture in organizational theory belongs to the realm of management of people.

The human relations school in particular looks at interpersonal behavior and group dynamics and its influence on organizational processes. With increasing instances of interacting cultures it has been observed that culture is a major variable influencing the domain of human relations. Specially so, since cultural environment is a determinant of personality and is in turn defined as the collective programming of a community, implying culture is the personality of the community.

Understanding the relationships leads to better prediction and control over situations involving intercultural interactions. Culture can also be related to the inductively arrived at classic fourteen principles of management, proposed by Fayol.

Some of the principles of Fayol may be related to culture by hindsight although Fayol may not specifically have linked them to culture.

For instance developing sensitivity to the importance of cultural differences creates greater understanding and therefore order as against haphazardness among practitioners. By creating the least friction possible due to cultural insensitivity there can be created an environment for greater espirit de corps. Greater discipline may also be achieved by an understanding of the human and cultural processes at work

Even culturally equitable processes and rewards may be extrapolated by hindsight. Further studies may also relate cultural determinants of initiative, another principle enumerated by Fayol.

Also by hindsight were we not watching certain (sub)cultural processes at work during the Hawthorne experiments where the group under study developed norms distinct from those set by the supervisors, when they developed terminologies such as ‘rate buster’ and ‘rate chiseler’ ?

We see therefore rudimentary references to culture and its implications implicitly in Fayol and Hawthorne experiments.

Culture per se
Hofstede’s dimensions of culture

The legacy of culture being studied as a specific management concept begins with the seminal work of Geert Hofstede in the 70s. Hofstede conducted extensive studies in IBM company spread over nearly 50 countries and arrived at the four dimensions which he claimed universal and comprehensively explaining the domain of culture. These dimensions are as follows:

Power distance: Refers to the extent to which the members of a society accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally. The basic problem involved is the degree of human inequality that underlies the functioning of each particular society. In high power distance cultures power and authority are accepted as part of life and consequently high value is placed on obedience to superiors and following orders. In low power distance culture, individuals value equality and may question the orders of superiors before following them.

Uncertainty avoidance: Postulates that a fundamental dimension of any culture is the level of tolerance it has for uncertainty and ambiguity. It is the extent to which a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations. Unstructured situations are novel, unknown, surprising and different from usual. Cultures high in this dimension value conformity, maintain rigid codes of belief and behavior and do not tolerate deviation, while cultures low in the dimension maintain a more relaxed atmosphere where deviance is more easily tolerated. Basic problem involved is the degree to which a society tries to control the uncontrollable.

Individualism-Collectivism: It is the degree to which individuals are supposed to look after themselves or remain integrated into groups, usually around the family. Individualistic cultures place emphasis on the achievements, initiative and goals of the individual, while collectivistic cultures subordinate those to group membership and the goals of the group. Positioning itself between these poles is a very basic problem that is faced by all societies.

Masculinity-Femininity: This dimension addresses the fundamental issue of the way a society allocate social roles to the sexes. Cultures high in masculinity tends to maximize the social differentiation between the sexes. Men have outgoing and assertive roles and women have caring and nurturing roles. Culture high in femininity tended to minimize the social
differentiation between the sexes. Women can take assertive roles and men can take the caring roles. Fundamental problem is the distribution of emotional roles between the genders.

A fifth dimension long term vs short term orientation was also introduced recently. This refers to the extent to which a culture programs its members to accept delayed gratification of their material, social and emotional needs.

Culture: an alternative framework by Edward T. Hall

Three important dimensions about cultural differences that Hall described include: time, context, and space.

Time: "Time is one of the fundamental bases on which all cultures rest and around which all activities revolve. Understanding the difference between monochronic time and polychronic time is essential to success..." Monochronic time is characterized as linear, tangible, and divisible. In monochronic time, events are scheduled one item at a time and this schedule takes precedence over interpersonal relationships.

Polychronic time, on the contrary, is characterized by "the simultaneous occurrence of many things and by a great involvement with people".
Context: High and low context refers to the amount of information that a person can comfortably manage. This can vary from a high context culture where background information is implicit to low context culture where much of the background information must be made explicit in an interaction.


People from a high context culture often send more information implicitly, have a wider "network," and thus tend to stay well informed on many subjects. People from low context cultures usually verbalize much more background information, and tend not to be well informed on subjects outside of their own interests.

Space: Here, space refers to the invisible boundary around an individual that is considered "personal." This sense of personal space can include an area, or objects, that have come to be considered that individual's "territory." This sense of personal space can be perceived not only visually, but "by the ears, thermal space by the skin, kinesthetic space by the muscles, and olfactory space by the nose"

The grip of Hofstede’s dimensions on the cross cultural management literature is almost complete. In the many academic programs dealing with cross cultural studies Hofstede is essential reading and Hall is recommended reading.

Culture’s influences: other studies

One of the fundamental and dominant themes in OB, motivation, has upon empirical validation, suggested cultural influences. Motivation is one of the basic processes at the individual level. Yet upon examination has been found to vary in detail across cultures.

For instance the ‘self actualization’ postulate of Maslow hinges heavily on the idea of the individual and the self as something that is sacrosanct and unique and something that should be driven towards actualization. However, the actualization of the individual in some cultures different from the milieu

from which Maslow himself comes, was found to be viewed as something to be subordinated to the collective interests. Indeed, had Maslow come from a collectivistic society, he would not have chosen the individual as the unit of analysis, but the collective! In studies conducted among Japanese for instance, the belongingness needs were found to be preponderant over the esteem needs.

This implied that the universality of the theories emanating from the individualistic west was suspect and some other factor moderated the hierarchy or precedence of motivating factors (and possibly other aspects of behavior) and clearly this factor was the context of the individual namely, culture. Therefore culture became something as fundamental as the individual himself in understanding and predicting human behavior.

Another effort which studied motivation in the context of culture was that of David Mc Clelland. He studied achievement motivation and postulated that the same leads to success in business. Carrying the notion forward he suggested that the same is true for the economy a country or the world as a whole. He summarized his findings in his book titled “The Achieving Society”. Mc Clelland’s methodology was a content analysis of children’s books.

In a replication study of Hofstede on relationship between national culture and Customer Relationships Management (CRM) training in aviation industry conducted among 9000 male commercial pilots in 18 countries, power distance and uncertainty avoidance were identified as the most correlated with theoretical predictions.

In the same study, individualism scores were higher than the respective country scores. Explanation being that modernization may have produced shift towards more individualistic values in their countries or may be only pilots because of the self selection of pilots into a very individualistic profession. Also some supports were established for the perception that pilots the world over share the same values. In all countries pilots are at the forefront of their culture with regard to technology and global communication.

Hofstede’s dimensions have also been used as a guideline for first contact situations with foreign law enforcement agencies across cultures for special agents of the Air Force office of special Investigations(AFOSI) during military contingency operations.

For instance, law enforcement agencies high in uncertainty avoidance may establish tight network of reliable informants. Conversely law enforcement forces willing to tolerate a great deal of uncertainty and ambiguity may assume a more reactive posture.

The above illustrates a few instances where the study of culture was made to provide practical tips to practitioners. Almost in all the studies, the grip of the Hofstedian dimensions is palpable.

Hofstede’s main contribution is in providing a theoretical framework for applying the influence of culture in managerial phenomena across countries. Before Hofstede, until 1980 most of the work were atheoretical, simply comparing managerial phenomena in different countries.


The underlying assumptions of culture studies

One of the interesting features of the dominant paradigms in cultural studies is the assumption that the whole gamut of culture with its innumerable diversity is possible to be captured in just four or five dimensions. Does it not leave out many other aspects that may still need explanation?

Application of culture in the work context implicitly assumes that people do not abandon their societal values and attitudes upon entering the office or the factory. While what is implied in the concern with compartmentalistion of modern man’s existence is to some degree the opposite.

Another strong assumption, almost a truism, is the recognition of international management as an activity which has evolved into some form of work requiring interactive global networking, team working and organizational learning.

The unfilled gaps: themes for the future

An analysis of culture studies suggests the following themes for the future of the domain.

1.Future work should bring about better theories about culture identifying which aspects of Management phenomena are “universal and which are culture specific”.

Much work remains to be done in developing cultural dimensions in such a
way as to serve as parameters to describe specific phenomena such as

leadership so that one is able to predict, say, X leadership style fits well with Y culture. Similarly fit between person, task and managerial phenomena with culture can also be developed.

2.The development of a new paradigm which can be more easily amenable to practical application is warranted. Indeed one of the comments on Hofstede is that the work is too broad as to be open to more day to day applicability.

There is an ever louder voice among the practitioners for a ‘shift from the essentialist approach of Hofstede which make it hard to develop new approaches and therefore a plea for new cultural frameworks’.

For instance there is a vague precipitation around the idea of knowledge and an emanating explicit distinction between the more self seeking American styles of learning, knowledge sharing and the Asian and continental European cultures whose practices are group based.

One new dimension which probably is relevant is the doing orientation vs being orientation.

3.The cross cultural studies still originate from the individualistic west. More studies from the rest of the world should throw better light on cross cultural aspects. The individualistic west still sees through the individualistic goggles.

4.The discourse on culture is “preoccupied with the properties of individual

elements than with the product of their combinations, assumption being that end result in combining is something unpleasant”. Increasingly it has been observed that such situations produce a third culture which is a functional cultural hybrid. Study of individual cultures is comparative whereas what is warranted is a study of the hybrid. This would require an “embracing of culture in all its diversity as a resource rather than a threat for responding to the demands of a global economy and for reaping the full benefit of cross boarder alliances and for enhancing organizational learning”.

This would also necessitate a study of the elements of culture and the development of a “cultural periodic table” in much the same way as the periodic table of chemistry, from which it should be able to predict the characteristics of the hybrid.

5. Increasingly a third culture cutting across ethnicities, languages and religion is precipitating around the youth at the technical and modernized forefront of different nations. This is distinct from the subcultures within societies. In fact members of this third culture tend to gravitate towards each other and away from their cousins in their own culture. More studies need to be done in this area.

6.What about the cultures that are outside the purview of the industrial– business complex? Most studies are concentrated around these. Will the marginalization of the rest create newer issues for the world or is the world moving irreversibly towards a dominant business culture where efficiency in work and consumption are the only concerns?


Within the industrial – business complex there is an increasing need to regard actors against concrete background of organizational functions, real industries and real problems away from the broadly definable cultural terms of Hofstede.

7.It is high time for a new paradigm for explaining more subtle differences within a large country such as India. Some of the dimensions tentatively put forward are:

Entrepreneurial orientation,
Intellectual orientation,
Progressiveness vs conservatism,
Isolation vs assimilation,
Individual orientation vs social orientation
Toughness.

8. In terms of practical application cultural studies still hover around the nominal differences rather than the systematic divergence region. An example of the nominal differences problem is that of the name NOVA given by general Motors to one of its products and sent to Mexico. Inquiries on the reason for poor sales revealed that in the Spanish language the name means “it does not go”.

The emic-etic dilemma is inherent in cross cultural research as to be cultural requires the emic perspective and cross requires the etic perspective. However both offer their own problems.



The emic perspective implies one looks from one’s own paradigm much like the fish looks at himself through the medium of water. The etic perspective means the perspective of the outsider.

The natural born who looks at his own culture from the outside lives the precarious life of an outcast. Whereas the fish analogy implies that the fish is aware of the water only when it is out of it!

Till such time such problems are resolved (which is indeed difficult), the cross cultural research will have to content with resolving problems of the nominal differences rather than the systematic differences.

--------------------

India not one but many cultures- A proposal

I prepared a research proposal while doing the FDP at IIM Ahmedabad in 2002 Feb. The same was submitted to the MG University, Kottayam, Kerala and never saw light.

Prof. Mampilly of CUSAT came to know about it somehow but when I proposed it to him he suggested to do it as a post doctoral one. My post doctoral proposal attracted approval even before the doctoral! I corresponded with Prof. Hofstede and he was encouraging in his response too. I think I dont want to do the research but would rather be happy with the speculation and imagination and an open mind. Here is the proposal with reasons.

Cross cultural comparison of Indian states on the Hofstedian dimensions of power distance(PDI), uncertainty avoidance(UAI), individualism – collectivism(IDV) and masculinity-femininity(MAS).

-With special reference to Kerala and the rest of the states


1.Introduction: A case for studying various states in India as different cultural units.


Culture studies have proliferated in the last three decades especially since Hofstede came out with his landmark book ‘Culture’s Consequences’ after the famous IBM studies.

Hofstede conducted the study taking country as the unit of analysis. Taking off from Hofstede, this study holds on to nation as the unit of analysis, however assumes that India is a confederation of nationalities and hence treats states as units of analysis.

It has been suggested that a vast country like India is a collection of different nationalities. Israel for contrast had a strong sense of nation even while its people were scattered around the globe eventually resulting in the formation of the present day Jewish state in 1948.

But what is striking is the differences in values, norms and beliefs within a country. How do we capture these distinctions? We tend to say Gujaratis are more enterprising. We say Gujarat, Maharashtra, TN, AP and Karnataka are progressive states. We talk about Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh as BIMARU states. How can these differences be explained? Are there underlying values that distinguish one state from the other in spite of being part of the same larger political entity? Are the differences only due to differences in terrain and latitude? These differences are too apart to be explained merely in economic terms either. Moreover it has been suggested that culture influences economics as well. Attempts have been made to explain a country’s economic destiny by referring to the underlying cultural patterns. For instance David Mc Clelland’s study correlated achievement motivation with economic development of nations.

India has been described as a collection of various nationalities. Although there is much in common between them, the Indian states can be considered as separate cultures. There is the famous argument by Churchill that indeed if India was given freedom it would not be sustainable because of the contradictions within and would disintegrate. The country’s first Prime Minister, Nehru is said to have requested Lord Mountbatten to take back India in the wake of widespread communal riots post nascent independence.


Culture “consists of patterns, explicit and implicit of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture system may on the one hand be considered as products of action and on the other as conditioning elements of further action.” (Kroeber and Kluckhohn, 1952 p 180)

“Cross culture study implies the empirical study of members of various culture groups who have had different experiences that lead to predictable and significant differences in behavior. In majority of such studies the groups under study speak different languages and are governed by different political units”. (Brislin, Lonner and Thorndike; CCRM, 1973 p.5) There is no reason why linguistic groups within large political entities should not be studied as different cultural units especially when the political subdivision of the larger entity is on linguistic lines and also since language is an important determinant and carrier of deeply embedded cultural values.

In fact language is at once a product of culture which in turn shapes culture. Linguistic analysis can reveal underlying thought processes reflective of deep mental programming. If culture has been defined by Hofstede as the collective mental programming then the code language in which the programming is done is one’s own mother tongue.


2.India in the Hofstedian framework: Critique and an alternate proposition

Literature on culture in relation to India: A few issues of non-generalizability to states with special reference to Kerala derived from empirical observation appearing as periodically collated data and journalistic literature. ( The arguments for treating states separately are given in bold)


The cross cultural study involving India as a unit is the Hofstede study and the country scores are available for 53 countries on each of the four dimensions of culture that Hofstede describes.

These dimensions are power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism-collectivism and masculinity-femininity. Studies from the assumption that the various states themselves can be considered as separate nationalities from the cultural point of view are not known.

The proposed research considers the inadequacy of treating a large nation with over 20 states and nearly 15 officially recognised languages as a single nationality. The metaphors used to describe US and India are striking in this respect. The US is referred to as a melting pot whereas the corresponding metaphor for India is the jigsaw. The difference is remarkable since the melting pot implies homogeneity whereas the jigsaw implies uniqueness in the pieces however fitting together.


The following section examines the references to India in relation to the Hofstedian dimensions and using the same logic points out the striking contrasts in the case of Kerala to derive a different set of postulates. This can logically be extrapolated to build a case for considering all the states or at least some regions of India as unique and therefore requiring further exploration for significant differences.


General

Beteille (1977, p 25) has commented on the “remarkable stability over time of the basic structure of ideas and values in India and China”. This is understandable from the longevity of the Indian civilization, which has been unbroken for more than 5000 years. Whereas other civilizations have emerged and vanished, the predominantly Hindu culture of India has withstood the tests and still continues as the largest unbroken civilization existing today.

The fifty three countries in the IBM study were clustered to produce 12 branches. (See dendrogram p 64, Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences.) India falls into a cluster with Malaysia, Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore and Jamaica. Remarkably Hofstede comments that all were either British or American Colonies. What has been left out by Hofstede is that India had a predominant influence as an empire in the far east dating a couple of centuries. ( Jawaharlal Nehru, Glimpses of World History.)

While this may explain the reason for the clustering together of most of these countries, the same clustering technique can be used to group Indian states into related groups based on cultural commonalities. One observed cluster has already been shown in the previous section the BIMARU states. Though the classification has been made in terms of economic and social indicators, underlying cultural similarities between them is possible. One more appellation to the same cluster is the “Hindi heartland”.

Another possible cultural cluster could be the four southern states of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh which are Dravidian racially and linguistically. Yet another possible cultural cluster could be the northeastern states with mixed Mongoloid lineage of culture.


India in the light of the power distance (PD) dimension of Hofstede.

Power distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of organisations and institutions accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. The basic problem involved is the degree of human inequality that underlies the functioning of each particular society.

“Societies differ in their implications of rank inequalities for social functioning”. (Bohannan 1969 pp 198 ff). In terms of power distance the most determining feature of India is undoubtedly the caste system. Caste is an “organized association of extended families, membership of which determines a person’s rank in all areas of life”. Castes are now formally abolished, but continue to affect daily life very deeply.

Other such classifications include the estate and the class. Stratification in terms of estates in western Europe (nobility, clergy and the serfs) were legal categories with rights and obligations.

Classifications in terms of classes are not necessarily organized as such or legally identified, but share characteristics on which they can be ranked in terms of prestige, wealth and power. Usually classes are identified by economic activity and educational background and are shown to share the same values forming subcultures. (Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2001 p 81)

Class can further be constructed based on the central concept. Construction with the central concept of the deference present in the mind of the individual member of the lower classes has been termed the “nominalist” view. Construction of class with the central concept of a collective consciousness of members of a class belonging together has been termed the “realist” view.

In terms of differences based on religion, Islam as a religion is more egalitarian and therefore low in PD and Hinduism is high in PD. In India, Muslims and Christians have become absorbed in the castes and has acquired the status of new castes (Srinivas, 1969)

Classifications may also contain unintegrated groups or ‘pariahs’ (eg. untouchables of India), sometimes racial minorities (e.g. Jews in Nazi Germany) or even majorities and migrant workers in wealthier countries (expatriate population in Gulf countries). In this case the “inequality is total ”. In other words power distance is total.

The influence of power distance is evident in the following anecdote cited by Negandhi and Prasad (1971) about a senior Indian Executive with a Ph D from an American University (p 128). “What is more important for me in my department is not what I do or achieve for me and my company, but whether the masters approve or not. To say ‘no’ is to search for another job. I left my freedom of thought in Boston”. In a nutshell in India power distance is very large regardless of class.


Interestingly the influence of caste is relatively less or less obvious in certain states of India, (Kerala for instance), where caste may be an issue when it comes to important decisions like marriage, but are less an issue of inclusion and exclusion otherwise.

Moreover, as mentioned earlier, Muslims and Christians are absorbed into caste structure. But there is a fundamental difference in the spread of Christianity and possibly Islam in Kerala. The Kerala Christians have a history of 2000 years when St. Thomas, disciple of Christ landed at Kodungallor in the first half of the first century AD. This means that the Christians in Kerala are as old as Christianity itself. Whereas by and large the northern Indian Christians are relatively recent converts from the lower castes and from the pariah untouchables, for reasons of escaping an oppressive caste structure into the classless Christianity, such was not the case with Kerala. The influence of Christianity (comprising 33% of the population) through the various Christian educational institutions have created a distinction with the rest of the country where such influences are relatively weak especially in rural India.

This has implications for both the power distance dimension and the individualism dimension.

Individualism, Protestant ethic and achievement have been correlated together (Weber, 1904).One may speculate that the influence of Christianity, especially through the educational institutions and through cultural assimilation has its influence on power distance and individualism. (Christianity and Islam are more egalitarian than Hinduism).

Society can be conceived in terms of power distance, a welfare society on the low PDI side and a class society on the high PDI side. To students in high PDI especially India, wealth and power were conflict ridden issues, the conflict being greater power distance and implicitly basic mistrust. In a study comparing the cognitive structures of male students from UK, Greece, Japan and India, India ranked high in Power distance.(Hofstede, Cultures’ Consequences)


There is a difference in the way inequality is seen in the high and low PDI systems. In high PDI, inequality is seen as the basis of societal order. In low PDI, inequality is seen as a necessary evil that needs to be minimized. Conceptually this makes sense to suggest that the communist leanings of Kerala (the tendency to throw the inequitable societal order) is an attempt to discard the high PDI which is so easily accepted in the north.

In high PDI hierarchy is existential. In low PDI hierarchy is an arrangement of convenience. (Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2001)

There is a strong conjecture that Kerala is low on PDI due to its relative insulation from the rest of the country earlier and possibly the long influence of Christianity which is the seed of present day individualistic west, and one reason for the inclination towards Marxism/communism could be the incipient low power distance inclinations. This conjecture needs to be tested.

That the leaning towards communism of Kerala is also a leaning towards collectivism may be a tempting argument. However this does not go with the observed reality as will be discussed under Individualism-Collectivism head. Instead the associated belligerence of the trade unions is more indicative of a strong underlying desire for low power distance.

In a study conducted in India and Latin America, it was concluded, in high PDI countries the underdog is the first to be blamed for anything wrong in the system. In low PDI the system is blamed (Negandhi and Prasad 1971, p 105). However, the blame may revert to the powerful which is the instance of a revolution. It is not coincidental that revolution is at the core of at least a few of the varieties of communism. The whole idea of reverting the blame back in the form of revolution suggests that there is a basic mistrust in high PDI. Once again the revolutionary leanings of trade unions indicates low Power distance for Kerala.

In India the guru is weighty and honorable. In the high PDI of India what is transferred is not impersonal truth but the personal wisdom of the teacher. (Hofstede, Culture’s consequences. p 101)

Cascio (1974) has proposed after a study between India and western Europe that satisfaction with a participative superior decreased with increasing power distance. One of the implicit objectives of trade unions’ is to accrue to themselves greater participation in decision making. Hence once again the case is for considering this particular aspect as indicative of lower power distance.

One apprehension in the earlier cultural studies relating to India was that the high power distance was a remnant of the colonial legacy. However it has been now agreed that large power distance is innate in India and is not just a relic of the colonial rule. (Heganbotham, 1975)

India in relation to the uncertainty avoidance (UAI) dimension of Hofstede.

Uncertainty avoidance is the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknown situations.

India scores 40 on the uncertainty avoidance dimension in the IBM studies. Elsewhere it is also suggested that Hindu India is low on UAI. Kashima and Kashima (1998) has shown that the stronger system of rules and norms apply to language learning. Languages in more uncertainty avoiding cultures usually require learning to chose between different modes of address such as ‘tu’ and ‘vous’ in French. In short languages in higher UAI cultures involve the making of more choices according to tight cultural rules.


The sequence of the pronouns ‘nii’, ‘ningal’, and ‘thankal’ in Malayalam are in the order from less respectful to more respectful. However, the use of the very deferential and respectful ‘thankal’ is limited to formal situations whereas in most or all of the northern Indian languages the deferential pronoun is used more frequently in day to day informal interactions. This indicates tighter rules for other Indian languages and by extension higher UAI for northern India relative to Kerala.

In terms of power distance also the greater deference reflected in day to day language is indicative of greater power distance and vice versa. By extension power distance is lesser for Kerala.


India in relation to the individualism - collectivism (IDV) dimension of Hofstede.

US anthropologist Ruth Benedict (1946/1974) distinguished between cultures that rely heavily on shame and those that rely heavily on guilt. Shame requires an audience, an external sanction of good behavior. Guilt on the other hand is an internalized conception of living up to one’s standards. Conceptually this relates to the definition of collectivism and individualism respectively.

Individualism is the degree to which individuals are supposed to look after themselves or remain integrated into groups, usually around the family. Positioning itself between these two poles is a very basic problem all societies face.

By extension collectivistic societies have social support mechanisms that reduces the stress and guilt feelings of its members. High suicide rates (except the altruistic form of suicide) can therefore be said to be characteristic of individualism. Hence the proposition that Kerala is high on individualism than the other states. Kerala tops the Indian states in suicide rates.

Collectivist societies emphasize mastery of changing situations whereas individualistic societies emphasise changing the environment.

Collectivism implies greater extent to which one conforms to the norms and values of his in group. (Triandis 1972 p 38) . Delaying one’s marriage till his sisters’ marriage is a fine example. This example is very relevant in the Indian context.

Employers in collectivist countries who do not respect the societal norm to treat their employees as in group members are an exception, but then employees in turn do not repay them in terms of loyalty. Labour unions replace the work organization as an emotional in group and there can be violent union management conflicts. Similarly there are individualist societies establishing strong group cohesion with their employees with same protection vs loyalty balance norm of collectivist societies. (Hofstede , 2001)

Here cohesion however is externally brought about through training programmes and group building exercises unlike the cohesion in collectivist ‘in groups’ which is culturally in built.

Low collectivism (high individualism) does not allow the employees as ‘in group’ with the organisation ( as in lifelong employment of Japan) prompts the alienated employees to form unions, creating their own ‘in group’. The underlying proposition is that the high unionism of Kerala is an attempt by the otherwise individualistic labourers in the alienating atmosphere of the organisation to form strong ‘in groups’ in trade unions. In turn there are violent union management conflicts. This could be an explanation for the high militant unionism in Kerala.

De Mooij (2001) has suggested that those in high IDV countries than those in low IDV to live in detached houses and less likely to live in apartments and flats.

Quite strikingly the dwelling pattern in Kerala is detached even in villages where houses are detached from one another and widely spread unlike the village clusters of northern India. Prof . M P Appan has suggested that the word ‘thantedam’ (literally ‘own place’) used to denote a bold person (referred to admiringly) is strikingly related to the Keralites’ tendency to dwell apart and have their own space. Even while flats eventually came to the cities and suburbs they were constructed to provide the maximum privacy to the dwellers. Proposition is that the individualism is high for Kerala.

In a study conducted in India among adolescents, they predominantly reported emotionally adapting to the situation in stressful situations and also reported acceptance, passivity and seeking social support while individualistic adolescents tried to change the environment to their advantage. (Olah, 1995)

By extension the high suicide rate of Kerala (including among adolescents) can be considered as due to failure or frustration in changing the environment. Suicide suggests neither acceptance, passivity nor social support seeking behaviour characteristic of collectivistic societies. Hence a strong inference of high individualism among Keralites is proposed.

Todd speaks about exogamous community family structures characterized by cohabitation of married sons with parents, sharing of inheritance by all brothers, taboo on marriage between children of two brothers. Todd claimed similar traditional structure for Russia and some other countries including northern India and suggested these countries were attracted to communism since the same is a transference to the party state of the moral traits and regulatory mechanisms of the exogamous community family structure. However the labour unrest in Kerala is more reminiscent of rugged and rash individualism than collectivism.

Family (conceptually related to collectivism) is implicitly the organisational model for India.(Kumar and Singh, 1976) just as for the French it is the pyramid, for the Germans, a well oiled machine, and for Britain the village market.

India in relation to the masculinity-femininity (MAS) dimension of Hofstede.


Masculinity vs femininity refers to the distribution of emotional roles between the genders, which is another fundamental problem for any society to which a range of solutions are found; it opposes tough masculine to tender feminine societies.


It has been suggested that the female /male ratio in the population is higher in feminine cultures than in masculine cultures like India. Taking India as a whole the female to male ratio is less, the historical reason being the dowry system making girl children a difficult proposition.

In this instance also this generalization is true for the rest of the country but not for Kerala. Kerala is the only state where the females outnumber the males. Hence the proposition that Kerala is less MAS than the other states.

Kerala was one of the first states from where women entered the workforce in which way the gender roles were less distant from a very earlier time.



3. A comparative illustration of two Indian states.


The state of Gujarat

The western Indian state of Gujarat is highly industrialized among the Indian states and is considered as one of the progressive states in seizing the opportunities thrown open by the forces of liberalization, privatization and globalization. By and large the people of the state are considered highly entrepreneurial and risk taking.

The population comprises of predominantly Hindu and Muslim with Christians and other minorities forming a miniscule minority. The state is medium in social indicators such as health, education and literacy, but strong in economic indicators. Gujarati language is a derivative of Sanskrit an Indo-European language.

The state of Kerala

The southern Indian state of Kerala is low in industrialization, has leftist leanings and history and is credited with being the first place in the world where a Marxist government came to power through the ballot. The people are risk averse a tendency, reflected in the lack of entrepreneurial culture. However in Social indicators (primary education, healthcare, life expectancy, female to male ratio) the state is far ahead of the other states a fact which has been commented by social scientists. In terms of the profile of industrial activity, the state has more service industries. The economic indicators are however paradoxically low and the state depends on the remittances from the expatriate community in the gulf countries.

The state has an almost equal distribution of Hindus, Christians and Muslims and is famous for the communal harmony relative to the rest of the country.

The language is Malayalam which is the youngest of the Dravidian languages. The state has no history of external aggression and does not share any border with (hostile) countries, being protected on the one side by the sea and on the other by the western ghats.


4.A theoretical model for India

The main criticism against Hofstede is his treatment of nationality as the unit of analysis. The issue is further aggravated by the generalization to the nation based on studies in one organisation, IBM. There is a bias in terms of the sample selection itself. The trade off is however in terms of matching of samples at the expense of questionable representativeness of the sample.

Hofstede’s main contribution is his development of a framework to analyse culture. Once again the dimensions are criticised, this time for its derivation exclusively from anthropology.

A third criticism of Hofstede is the treatment of culture as the determining factor in explaining many a phenomena of collective human behaviour. Culture may be one of the factors to be read in conjunction with so many others.

Nevertheless Hofstede’s dimensions serve as the pioneering and geographically comprehensive work which has triggered interest for further study.

The issue of generalizability could be minimized if one could conceive of layers of culture progressively breaking down the collectives to a layer where further division would only expose the subcultures. This study proposes such division to the level of the commonality of language. Language is the single most important indicator, product and carrier of the deep rooted shared attitudes, beliefs, norms, values and meanings of the collective.

For a country like India the division into states (sub political units) on linguistic line historically, this model is more meaningful than any other generalization for the whole vastness ignoring the cultural, historic, geographic and racial diversity. The differences are at the value level and not merely at the level of identity.


5.Significance of the study

A parallel in precedence can be drawn in Hofstede and Bond’s (1988) study of the relationship between the staggering economic growth in East Asian countries and the influence of Confucian values. India is a vast country and the remarkable disparity in economic and social indicators is fascinating to merit a similar cross cultural examination as explained in the literature survey. While it is not proposed to bring out the reasons for the disparity, this study would attempt to bring out the significance if any in the four Hofstedian dimensions between the Indian states which would serve as the stepping stone for further quest for reasons. Some of the differences mentioned in the literature survey may serve as either antecedents or consequents.

Once significant differences are established they can serve as important guideposts in wide social science applications including advertising, consumer research, product positioning, human resource management, change interventions, resource allocation and program evaluation etc.


6.Methodology

The study is an ecological level research although the responses are obtained from individuals. The Hofstedian dimensions are chosen so as to discriminate among national and may be regional and ethnic cultures but not for discriminating according to other (sub) cultural distinctions such as gender, generation, social class and organization. The Indian states correspond to the regions mentioned in the previous sentence.

The levels issue

The states are the units of analysis to which generalizations will be made. The issue of levels is important to be clarified at the outset. The level of theory in Hofstede’s seminal research(1980) on cross cultural work related values is at the national cultural group level; this is the level to which generalizations are intended to be made (Alvin M Chan, Seventh Cross cultural Research Conference, December 12-15, 1999). However the present study intends to consider the linguistically demarcated Indian states as culturally divergent nationalities.


7. Definitions

Theoretical definitions

Culture
“Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture system may on the one hand be considered as products of action and on the other as conditioning elements of further action.” (Kroeber and Kluckhohn, 1952 p 180)


Culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes th emembers of one group or category of people from another (Hofstede).


A note on the contruct of culture and climate : It is necessary to differentiate between (organizational or national) culture and climate. Culture is an integration into one construct of different concepts and the current predominant term is culture.

Power distance
Power distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of organisations and institutions accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.


Uncertainty Avoidance
Uncertainty avoidance is the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknown situations.

Individualism- Collectivism
Individualism is the degree to which individuals are supposed to look after themselves or remain integrated into groups, usually around the family. The bipolar opposite is collectivism.

Masculinity-Femininity
Masculinity refers to the degree to which roles are distributed between the genders. The bipolar opposite is femininity.


Operational definitions

Operationalization is an issue of how to capture the theoretical constructs in self report survey method. Operationalization in this study involves the process and the product of developing the VSM 94.

The IDV has been operationalised in terms of sufficient time for person and family, good physical working conditions, security of employment, variety and adventure on job.

The PDI has been operationalised in terms of the preference for good working relationships with superiors, preference to be consulted by direct superior and whether subordinates are less fearful for disagreement with superiors and avoidance of dual superiors.

The UAI has been operationalised in terms of precise answers to questions, the attitude towards competition between employees, attitude towards rules being broken and the frequency with which one feels nervous at work.


8.The instrument: The Values Survey Module 1994 (VSM 94)

Out of the original IBM study by Hofstede, a separate Module called the Values Survey Module was developed especially for replications. The results of comparing two or more cultures are only marginally interesting. However, large scale replications ( more than 10 or 15 countries ) are likely to give more interesting results. One issue is that the study has to be conducted temporally adjacent times in large number of countries which poses resource and logistical problems. However, they are not impossible theoretically.

The VSM is a test designed for comparing mean scores of matched samples of respondents across two or more countries, regions or ethnic groups. The reliability of cross- country test can be tested only across countries, but this presupposes data from at least 15 countries (in the present study, the Indian states.) The instrument is developed by the IRIC, University of Tilburg, P.O Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands.

Validity is shown through significant correlations of test resuls with outside criteria related to test scores by some kind of theory or logic. Thus the reliability of the VSM can be proven indirectly. (Cultures’ Consequences, Hofstede, 2001. p 460 ff).

The questionnaire and the formulae to be used for calculation of the indexes are provided along with the questionnaire (see appendix)


9. The sampling technique

For each of the states the population is the entire state. This means that there will be as many populations as there are states in India The sampling technique is purposive random sampling matched by organisation.


The issue of matching of samples.

Samples need to be matched similar in all respects except nationality.

In the proposed study, the matching is to be done by administering the instrument (VSM 94) to officers in a public sector bank (SBI) or an organisation like LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India) that has operations in all states. This would provide matching by the type of work organizations at the same point of time when the survey is conducted.

Other controls that are to be ensured is that the sample will be chosen from those who were born and brought up and had their early education in vernacular (mother tongue), working in their respective domicile state in the selected public organization. This is to ensure avoidance of contamination as much as possible from cultural transference through education in the lingua franca (usually English) and from culturally contaminating influence of being domiciled in other states.



The sample size

At least 20 and preferably 50 per country ( Hofstede, p 463)


10. Proposition and hypotheses.

Proposition

The different states of India differ on the Hofstedian cultural dimensions of PDI, UAI, IDV and MAS.

Hypotheses (for the state of Kerala in comparison to the other states)

The PDI is lower for the state of Kerala compared to the other states of India.
The UAI is lower for the state of Kerala compared to the other states of India.
The IDV is higher for the state of Kerala compared to the other states of India.
The MAS is lower for the state of Kerala compared to the other states of India.


(Note)

PDI- Power distance
UAI –Uncertainty avoidance
IDV- individualism- Collectivism
MAS- Masculinity- Femininity



11. Expected scenario and analysis of the results

The indexes for the different states arrived at can be compared for differences. Possible scenario includes insignificantly low differences between the states in which case the hypotheses are disproved.


12. Limitations

The major limitation is the criticism of the Hofstedian method of sample selection from one single organisation and generalizing to the collective.

However the gain in the trade off is that of ease of matching the sample.
Appendix

VSM 94 ( Hofstede)

Please think of an ideal job (disregarding your present job)

(please circle one answer in each line across):

1. of utmost importance
2. very important
3. of moderate importance
4. of little importance
5. of very little importance or no importance.

In choosing an ideal job how important would it be to you to .........

1
Have sufficient time left for your personal or family life
1
2
3
4
5
2
Have good physical working conditions (have good ventilation and lighting, adequate work space, etc.)
1
2
3
4
5
3
Have a good working relationship with your direct superior
1
2
3
4
5
4
Have security of employment
1
2
3
4
5
5
Work with people who cooperate well with one another
1
2
3
4
5
6
Be consulted by your direct superior in his/ her decisions
1
2
3
4
5
7
Have an opportunity for advancement to higher level job
1
2
3
4
5
8
Have an element of variety and adventure in the job
1
2
3
4
5
In your private life, how important is each of the following to you? (please circle one answer in each line across
9
Personal steadiness and stability
1
2
3
4
5
10
Thrift
1
2
3
4
5
11
Persistence( perseverance)
1
2
3
4
5
12
Respect for tradition
1
2
3
4
5
13. How often do you feel nervous or tense at work?

1 never
2 seldom
3 sometimes
4 usually
5 always

14. how frequently in your experience, are subordinates afraid to express disagreement with their superiors?

1 very seldom
2 seldom
3 sometimes
4 frequently
5 very frequently

How much do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements? (please circle one answer in each line across):

1- strongly agree , 2- agree, 3- undecided, 4-disagree, 5- strongly disagree


15
Most people can be trusted
1
2
3
4
5
16
One can be a good manager without having precise answers to most questions that subordinates may raise about their work
1
2
3
4
5
17
An orgnisation structure in which certain subordinates have two bosses should be avoided at all cost
1
2
3
4
5
18
Competition between employees usually does more gore harm than good
1
2
3
4
5
19
A company’s or organisation’s rules should not be broken- not even when the employee thinks it is in the company’s best interest
1
2
3
4
5
20
When people have failed in life it is their own fault
1
2
3
4
5

21 Are you male/ female
22 How old are you ?
23 No of years of formal education starting with primary school
24 Your occupation?
25. Which state of India / country do you come from?



Formulae

PDI= -35m(03)+35m(06)+25m(14)-20m(17)-20
UAI=25m(13)+20m(16)-50m(18)-15m(19)+120
IDV=-50m(01)+30m(02)+20m(04)-25m(08)+130
MAS=60m(05)-20m(07)+20m(15)-70m(20)+100
LTO=-20m(10)+20m(12)+40

In these formulae, m(03) is the mean score for question 03 and so on.

Social Psychology from College street.

The streets of Calcutta are crowded. My first visit was in 1996 for a training programme arranged for some of us officers at NIIT in view of the computerisation of the Time Office in IOC Barauni. I liked the place. It teemed with history at every corner . To be in a street with say a name like J C Bose road was honoring them as well as the walker on the street. The food habits were closer to the Kerala one. They ate fish and rice. Keralites did too. The difference was that the Keralite did plentily when he had fish. The Bengali ate one piece every day. The latter practice is closer to a nutritional one.

The classes were nothing to speak about. The food they arranged was a welcome respite from the Bihari dal , sabji, roti routine. In the evening we went about on the METRO rail. Good to see such well organized system in INDIA. The stations were named Rabindra Sadan, ESPLANADE etc. Each station had frescoes suiting the names too. It was a piece of art in tubular form running underground.

There was this street called college street. College street sold old books in neat little hutments miles on. In my next visit sometime in 1998, just out of curiosity I asked a little boy whether I can get Krech and Cruchfield . He said 300 Rs. I did not expect such a quick reply. I mean the pricing was immediate before even I could ascertain whether the little lad of 13 or 14 really did understand the identity of the book. I said show me the book and I will say. He said no. If I assure I will buy the book for Rs 300 then he would bring it from the shop a few metres away! I got shocked. Not only this lad knew the book on Social Psychology but he sure knew the exact shop where it would be readily available.

I surrendered at such pragmatism and produced the 300 Rs. He ran and came back in about 5 minutes with the exact book which was out of print since 1959. My next visit included one of the tests for VSNL when I met Indrani Chaliha from Assam. To imagine that there were young women venturing into the world from such places considered backward was sort of cute. Yet another of my visits was to Haldia Refinery as part of the benchmarking study conducted by the Solomon associates of Singapore. Once again I was in Cal with J W Kujur , my colleague of the Oraon tribe to collect gold coins for the long service award. And my last visit was in 2008 when I attended the Strategic Management Teacher’s Course Mergers , Acquisitions, restructuring and Alliances at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, in April 2008. Prof. Sougata Roy whom I had met 6 years before in IIM Ahmedabad recognized me as the one who presented the HLL case 6 years back. Recognition good enough for a lone wolf who does not care to be recognized or not!

Calcutta has sort of deteriorated especially in its older parts. The infrastructure to the airport etc seems to be the places that are developing. I visited the Victoria memorial, one of the remnants of the British Raj and a 100 year old BAR which prides in exactly that and even the waites were lethargic and resigned. The autorikshaw wallah whom we tried to hire said why there are buses to that place why hire autos? The leftist state provides employment security until the employee is bored to indifference of the customer. Krech and Cruchfield speaks about the functional selectivity of perception. I am inclined to observe certain things because of some of my predispositions as an HR professional. I may have omitted to observe many other things had I been someone else. But I cannot be someone else. That redundancy is built into the very act of writing. Such is social construction of reality which Krech and Cruchfield barely mentioned and later developed by the likes of Carl Weick of the University of Michigan.

The death and sideshows

One of the sure inevitables in this world is death. It is at times of these events that man is reminded of his littleness. All the rituals especially in the Christian Syrian Catholic one is designed in a way as to remind the living the inconspicuousness and momentary nature of human lives. It no longer matters to the dead but to the living it is a reminder and even a lesson.

My maternal grandmother expired on 8/05/2010 after nearly two months in the hospital. She had a cardiac problem aggravated by pneumonia on a body weakened by medicines and antibiotics. She died a meaningful life. She had 5 children AND 11 grandchildren and 3 great grand children all including me looked after well by her through their first days on this planet. Besides, she suffered the untimely death of her third daughter who left two children one three and another barely born. We cousins all chipped in with the little bit to look after the dying child whose birth left the mother our aunty dead.

She was contributive as the de facto head of the family as the grandfather was less of a leader. She was helpful to many around as a sort of a local doctor in those days who was sought after when someone was ill nearby. She even developed a small herbal garden in the fag end of her life. She had a kind word for everyone and hence the home was resting halt for the tobacco merchant, the recycler, the ‘karippetty’ (unrefined sweetener made of palm tree extracts) seller.

For her education she did more contribution in a direct way to many. Amidst such, the little follies are pardonable. I mean being at the juncture of the feudal order giving in to the wage agricultural and then the industrial it was a little tough on that generation to leave the old order yet embrace the new order of give and take and more and more of take in a manner profitable. Her generation saw too much too fast.

She was the eldest daughter of a semi feudal landlord who acted as a local judge in the very early part of the twentieth century. Naturally she had the remnants in her own psyche and perhaps played the compassionate side of the feudal lord. The downside came to her children. Being strictly reminiscent of such lineage the children either had to have the same command or be ready to take up other work. Unfortunately they did have neither. This left them sort of proud but incompetent. The one who may be had a good combination of the two died an early death. The next generation that is the one that includes me find it difficult to match the expectations of such pedigree of moral uprightness , compassion and effectiveness combined together especially in a world that values only the third at whatever cost on the other two.

Coming to the events down on earth, the sideshows of the living in a death situation are all the more attractive. I mean if one has a certain tendency to it. They turn out to be exhibition grounds for the folly or the semi consciousness of the living. No doubt the money aspect of the death like who spent more on the treatment of such a loved one and underwent all the other sacrifices is one of them. And depending on the commentators’ own life stage this can take a real interesting aside. I mean if one knows a little bit of the background of the commentator, then one can even say what makes him behave so.


For example one has retired and is now owning a business of one’s own. And the elder son is doing the final part of the professional education which one has not had the good fortune to have and one is generally comfortable financially then one may like to make comments on who did more and less.

On the seventh day of demise there is the custom of a ritual which is more for a psychological sense of closure for the living. There were eight candles on the grave. One of them got blown in the wind and the nun was quick to relight it. The nun’s occupation or profession gave her an exceptional proclivity to perceive the blown out candle. The nuns do most of the rituals in the belief that doing them adds to the book of recordings of merits and demerits which finally decides their going to heaven or hell. This is quite palpable in their behavior. It is nonetheless wonderful to have such a belief inculcated so deeply into them that the end result intentionally or not is that the dead are taken care of and respected.

It is true that only the nun saw / perceived the blown out candle. One might theorise that the framework was incomplete without that one candle and only the one trained did see the gap in the framework, which takes us to extrapolate onto others similarly trained in other professions. Does the academician see the incomplete framework of the theory? Does the teacher see the incomplete formation of the student? Does the nurse see the missing life support? Does the philosopher see the incomplete philosophy?

Does the student acknowledge therefore that the teacher knows better not everything but better in the sense that he sees what others have not seen? And so on with every profession. Does everyone gain the humility to acknowledge the others thus? It is the profession or the occupation that gave them a particular predilection to see some things that others have not seen. There may be others who are gifted and not necessarily trained. AND therefore everyone has some contribution to the seeing.

Would it not be enough if one does the duty and remains silent without blowing the trumpet and without making comments about others? Know and Do ones duty, be ready to chip in at others’ request or hint. Keep doing until one’s days are over. Is that not enough? I think to me these are more important. A little bit of altering the time scale would give a glimpse of our lives as little windows of time in the march of eternity. Is it not enough to have a philosophy that one leaves the place a little better than one found it. And leave the scene in silence?