Addresses the cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance (UA), of US and German staffing decisions – but uses a different viewpoint. Discusses and challenges the hitherto…
Abstract
Addresses the cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance (UA), of US and German staffing decisions – but uses a different viewpoint. Discusses and challenges the hitherto accepted meaning of individual positions of countries UA, using Höfstede’s guide. Adumbrates the concept of UA at the two levels of society and organization, linking the two levels. Concludes that low Höfstede UA index does not necessarily mean no or little need for certainty even in France and Denmark.
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In spite of decades of focus on decision making and decades of research on cross‐cultural management, few authors have devoted attention to the combination of decision making and…
Abstract
In spite of decades of focus on decision making and decades of research on cross‐cultural management, few authors have devoted attention to the combination of decision making and specific cultural settings. The focus of this paper is the decision‐making processes in French and Danish companies. Results from empirical data indicate that there are clear differences in the ways decisions are arrived at in terms of how managers emphasize different phases of the decision‐making process. The analysis also shows what happens when different stages become the responsibility of people in different roles within the organisation. In the analysis, the importance of decision rationality is discussed, and the different cultural styles are linked to the classical theories in decision making such as economic man, administrative man, and muddling through. Since these are found inadequate to characterize French and Danish actual behaviour, new models are suggested under the labels of emotional man and action man.