Lecture 14

Question 1

The term East European refers to:

Answer 1

Central Europe

Baltic States

The Balkans

Russia and Commonwealth of independent States (CIS)

Question 2

The CEE have their own cultural traits which are distinct from the rest:

Answer 2

Socialism was imposed by the Soviet rule, as a result, the majority of the EEC citizens never accepted the ideas of socialism/communism.

The era of socialism lasted shorter (1945-1989)

CEE were geographically and historically connected with West Europe

Question 3

CEE and Balkan countries were culturally influenced by

Answer 3

Ottoman, Austro-Hungarians and later by Russian rules

After the II World War, local puppet and repressive governments rule the countries until 1989

A good portion of East European population is Ethnic Slavic (Czech Rep, Slovaks, Poles, Slovenians, Serbs, Croats, Macedonians, Bulgarians, Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusian)

Question 4

EEC, the Baltic States, Slovenia and Slovakia managed to establish a sound economic reform

Answer 4

Have become members of EU

Russia, and the CIS countries have ailing economy and are politically shaky.

Question 5

East Europeans tend to demonstrate pessimistic view about the future

Answer 5

The prevalence of oppressive regimes and foreign domination, and wars make East Europeans to be skeptical of the future.

These experiences have given them little hope that human beings can control their own fate

An average day is worse than yesterday but worse than tomorrow (Hungarian saying)

Question 6

While individuals manifest subjugative behavior, the societies collectively are known for being stubborn and attempting to control nature:

Answer 6

Polish resistance war during the II World War

Collectivization of the farm in Russia

Soviet space program

Win or lose negotiation style practiced in Russia (during and after communism)

Question 7

Historically time has been fluid in the former East European countries as communism protected individuals from being fired due to

Answer 7

mismanagement of time.
By contrast the Baltic States, Hungary, Czechs and Slovaks have relatively more fixed time attitude than Russia and the other CIS

Question 8

East European time management

there is a general disconnect between past, future and present time frame, the future is

Answer 8

carefully planned as the past brings bad memories.

Question 9

East European time management (cont.)

time to socialize with business partners is part of the

Answer 9

business procedure.

Question 10

East European time management (cont.)

as one moves north and west of the CEEs and the Baltic States, the time allocated for socialization process

Answer 10

diminishes. Socialization is geared toward business discussion

Question 11

East European time management (cont.)

it is important to notice that the former socialist nations, especially EEC are slowly moving from wasting to

Answer 11

rationalizing time.

Question 12

East European time management (cont.)

__ has been the legacy of communism

Answer 12

high context communication

Question 13

East European time management (cont.)

both EEC and Russia with CIS are known for their __, but Russia and Ukraine are more direct than others

Answer 13

direct communication style

Question 14

East European time management (cont.)

__ is commonly used in Russia and the CIS countries (business negotiators should be aware of the fact that it may not mean any thing)

Answer 14

promise or positive response

Question 15

Post communism and communist socio-economic system have projected

Answer 15

hierarchy within the society

Question 16

Communist leaders were known for their charismatic image, but in order to earn respect they need to be

Answer 16

knowledgeable about their job

Question 17

On the other hand, egalitarian lifestyle promotes

Answer 17

flat organizational structure.

Question 18

One will see __ coexisting in many of East European countries.

Answer 18

structured and unstructured social relationships

Question 19

For Russia and other East European, engaging in a business which profits at the expense of others is considered

Answer 19

selfish and not ethical. (contradicts with the spirit of entrepreneurship)

Question 20

The definition of profit according to Marx is

Answer 20

“unpaid surplus value created by workers”. (contradicts with the idea of capitalist system)

Question 21

The negation of profit was less practiced in some of

Answer 21

the EEC and CIS countries due to earlier privatization (after 1956)

Question 22

It is important to stress that relative cultural conversion will be more visible in

Answer 22

EEC than in the Euro-Asian countries to which part of Russia and the CIS belong.

Question 23

Do international employees who work for similar organizational functions manifest similar cultural behavior? The case of United States, Poland, Russia, Mexico and India

HYPOTHESES TESTED: Cross-country cultural differences

Answer 23

H1 - Every nation has its own historical heritage which is uniquely manifested by its citizen’s value system; therefore all nations represented in this study will culturally differ from one another.

H1a - The communist and capitalist systems have indoctrinated their respective citizens in their respective ideologies, therefore the U.S. and Russian respondents will manifest two extreme cultural value systems.

H1b - India and Mexico, are neither pure capitalist nor socialist, therefore both countries will be culturally more similar to each other.

H1c - Poland has always resisted communist ideology, but had lived under the Russian regime for almost half a century, therefore its cultural value system will be somewhere between East and West.

Question 24

CULTURAL DIMENSIONS USED IN THE STUDY

Answer 24

Activity-Thinking (AT)

Activity-Doing (AD)

Collective Relational Behavior (RC)

Hierarchical Human Relational Behavior (RH)

Human relations to nature-Good/evil (HNG)

Human relations to nature-Harmonious (RNH)

Human relations to nature-Subjugation (RNS)

Question 25

Activity-Thinking (AT)

Answer 25

Believing that business decisions should always

be based on analysis not intuitions.

Question 26

Activity-Doing (AD)

Answer 26

The preference material possession to spiritual and

relations expecting rewards.

Question 27

Collective Relational Behavior (RC)

Answer 27

To believe that what is good for all is good for one.

Question 28

Hierarchical Human Relational Behavior (RH)

Answer 28

To believe that hierarchy of authority is the best form of organization.

Question 29

Human relations to nature-Good/evil (HNG)

Answer 29

To believe that behavior can be naturally good or bad. As a result, employees in the work place have to be distrusted and monitored constantly.

Question 30

Human relations to nature-Harmonious (RNH)

Answer 30

We should strive to maintain a balance among the elements of the environment, including ourselves.

Question 31

Human relations to nature-Subjugation (RNS)

Answer 31

To believe that every person or organization is destined to be the way it is by nature.

Question 32

Do international employees who work for similar organizational functions manifest similar cultural behavior? The case of United States, Poland, Russia, Mexico and India

CULTURAL DIMENSIONS USED IN THE STUDY

Answer 32

Survey based on standardized questionnaire was conducted in the respective countries

Cronbach reliability coefficient was applied to test the validly of the 11 cultural dimensions.

Only 7 out of the 11 cultural differences that had reliability coefficient above .62 (62%) were accepted for analysis in this study.

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) followed by Student-Newman-Keuls test at significance level a=0.05 was used to test cross-country and Intra-group cultural differences.

Question 33

Do international employees who work for similar organizational functions manifest similar cultural behavior? The case of United States, Poland, Russia, Mexico and India.

Answer 33

The study contributes positively to management science:

From the outcome of the study, one learns that the American national culture is different than the national cultures of the countries included in the research.

The fact that the Polish and the Russian value systems differ in all except in one dimensions tells how the East European nations are culturally apart from each other.

The study also indicates that, nations regardless of their socioeconomic development level and political orientation, value high harmonious relations to nature and doing activities.

This implies that nations’ value systems might have been converging towards harmonious life style and seeking prosperity.

The study reaffirms the works of earlier findings (Hofstede, Laurent, Adler), that neither political orientation nor geographical proximity but socio-economic conditions determine how individuals in contemporary times value.