Cross-Cultural Models, HRM Context, and Strategic HRM: Hofstede, GLOBE, Meyer, RBV & VRIN

Which cultural model (1984) compares NATIONAL cultures on 6 dimensions, including power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity vs. femininity?

Hofstede. His 6 dimensions: individualism/collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity, long/short-term orientation, indulgence/restraint.

In Hofstede's model, what does POWER DISTANCE measure?

How much a society accepts that power is distributed unequally. High power distance = bosses are not questioned. (Also appears in GLOBE.)

In Hofstede's model, what does UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE measure?

How uncomfortable a culture is with ambiguity and risk. High = preference for rules, structure, and job security. (Also appears in GLOBE.)

Which Hofstede dimension contrasts competition and achievement with caring and quality of life?

Masculinity vs. femininity. Scandinavian countries score 'feminine'; Japan scores 'masculine'.

Which Hofstede dimension asks whether people see themselves as an 'I' or as part of a 'we'?

Individualism vs. collectivism. The U.S. is highly individualist; many East Asian cultures are collectivist.

Which Hofstede dimension contrasts freedom to enjoy life and gratify desires with strict social norms that regulate them?

Indulgence vs. restraint.

Which cultural study focuses on culture AND LEADERSHIP and has 9 dimensions, such as humane orientation and future orientation?

GLOBE (2009 on the slides). Its 9: performance, assertiveness, future, humane, institutional collectivism, in-group collectivism, gender egalitarianism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance.

Which cultural model splits collectivism into 'institutional' and 'in-group' collectivism?

GLOBE. Institutional = society/institutions encourage collective action. In-group = loyalty and pride within families and organizations.

Which two dimensions appear in BOTH Hofstede and GLOBE?

Power distance and uncertainty avoidance. If a question only mentions these, look for other clues to tell the two models apart.

What does GLOBE's HUMANE ORIENTATION measure?

How much a society rewards fairness, altruism, generosity, and caring for others.

What does GLOBE's GENDER EGALITARIANISM measure?

How much a society minimizes differences in gender roles.

Which author created 'The Culture Map' (2014) with 8 scales for how people communicate, lead, decide, and trust at work?

Erin Meyer. Her 8 scales: communicating, evaluating, persuading, leading, deciding, trusting, disagreeing, scheduling.

What is Meyer's key idea about where cultures sit on her scales?

Position is RELATIVE. What matters is the distance between your culture and another's, so you must know your own cultural vantage point. Personality matters too.

Which Meyer scale is about LOW-CONTEXT vs. HIGH-CONTEXT messages?

Communicating. Low-context (U.S.) = explicit, taken at face value. High-context (Japan, Korea) = layered, read between the lines.

Which Meyer scale is about how bluntly NEGATIVE FEEDBACK is given?

Evaluating. Direct (Russia, Netherlands, Israel) = blunt, may be public. Indirect (Japan, Thailand) = softened and private.

Which Meyer scale contrasts CONCEPT-FIRST with APPLICATION-FIRST arguments?

Persuading. Concept-first (France, Italy) builds theory before the conclusion. Application-first (U.S., Canada) gives the conclusion first.

Which Meyer scale contrasts EGALITARIAN with HIERARCHICAL bosses?

Leading. Egalitarian (Denmark, Sweden) = boss as facilitator, flat structure. Hierarchical (Japan, India, China) = strong director, status matters.

Which Meyer scale contrasts CONSENSUAL with TOP-DOWN choices?

Deciding. Consensual (Japan, Sweden) = group agreement. Top-down (India, Nigeria, China) = the boss decides.

Which Meyer scale contrasts TASK-BASED with RELATIONSHIP-BASED trust?

Trusting. Task-based (U.S., Denmark) = trust earned through reliable work. Relationship-based (China, India, Saudi Arabia) = trust earned through meals and personal time.

Which Meyer scale asks whether open debate helps or harms a team?

Disagreeing. Confrontational (Israel, Germany, France) = debate is healthy. Avoids confrontation (Japan, Indonesia) = debate breaks harmony.

Which Meyer scale contrasts LINEAR with FLEXIBLE time?

Scheduling. Linear (Germany, Japan) = sequential, deadlines. Flexible (India, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia) = fluid and adaptable.

On Meyer's scales, Japan is hierarchical on Leading. Where does Japan sit on Deciding?

CONSENSUAL. Leading and Deciding are separate scales, and Japan is a classic example of a culture that is high on hierarchy yet decides by consensus.

A Japanese colleague writes: 'It would be good if you could look at the report when you have time.' What is likely meant, and which Meyer scale explains it?

It is probably a real, possibly urgent request phrased politely. This is the Communicating scale: high-context speakers imply meaning; low-context readers may take it literally.

Denmark is egalitarian and India is hierarchical on Meyer's Leading scale. What risk does this create for a Danish firm imposing flat teams in India?

Employees may expect clear direction and status, so a 'facilitator' boss can read as weak or confusing. This is a cultural-distance risk.

What are the THREE scales of analysis for HR management practices?

Macro (environment outside the org), meso (the organization itself), and micro (individuals and relationships).

What belongs at the MACRO scale?

The sociocultural, legal-political, economic, and technological environment: national laws, national culture, prices, exchange rates, technology trends.

What belongs at the MESO scale?

Organization-level influences: org type, structure, corporate culture, company policies, HR systems.

What belongs at the MICRO scale?

Person-to-person interactions, workplace behavior, employee voice, and individual attitudes or perceptions.

Quick test: how do you decide if a factor is macro, meso, or micro?

If it would still exist if the company disappeared, it's MACRO. If a specific organization created or controls it, it's MESO. If it's about one person or a relationship, it's MICRO.

Macro, meso, or micro: a country's minimum wage law

MACRO. It's a national law that exists outside any single company.

Macro, meso, or micro: a company's internal pay scale

MESO. It's an organization's own policy.

Macro, meso, or micro: an employee feeling underpaid

MICRO. It's an individual perception.

Macro, meso, or micro: global neodymium (rare-earth) prices

MACRO. Prices are set by the economy and market.

Macro, meso, or micro: a manager who avoids criticizing employees in public

MICRO. It's one person's behavior, even though it reflects national culture.

Macro, meso, or micro: a company's flat organizational structure

MESO. Org structure is organization-level.

Macro, meso, or micro: social norms discouraging women from technical training

MACRO. They're societal and cultural.

Macro, meso, or micro: an employee raising a safety concern with a supervisor

MICRO. It's employee voice in a person-to-person interaction.

Macro, meso, or micro: advances in automation and remote-monitoring technology

MACRO. It's a technology trend. A company's DECISION to adopt the technology would be meso.

How does CLASSIC HRM practice view employees and goals?

Shareholder interests come first; orgs are mechanical; HRM is 'hard'; employees are rational actors who respond to incentives and exist to create value for the org.

How does the CONTEXTUAL approach (1990s) view employees and goals?

Multistakeholder; orgs are organic and complex; HRM is 'soft'; employees are culturally situated people with agency, and managers should create value FOR employees.

Does globalization make national culture LESS important for HRM, according to Week 1?

No. The originating culture's influence on an org stays powerful. Some practices can still work across very different contexts, though.

What are the 4 categories of the organization's macro-environment (the PEST-style slide)?

Legal & political, economic, sociocultural, technological.

What is the progression of people management from least to most strategic?

TPM (traditional personnel management: bureaucratic, reactive), then HRM (tactical), then SHRM (strategic, managing change).

Who listed the key characteristics of SHRM as strategic, labor-centered, integrative, commitment-based, and focused on firm-level results?

Armstrong (2006), Strategic Human Resource Management.

Is SHRM commitment-based or control-based?

Commitment-based (contra control-based), according to Armstrong.

Which theory, by Barney (1991), says INTERNAL resources are the key to sustained competitive advantage?

The Resource-Based View of the firm (RBV).

What does VRIN stand for in the Resource-Based View?

Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, Non-substitutable: the qualities a resource needs to create sustained competitive advantage.

In SHRM's version of RBV, what is the key resource?

Human capital. The goal is to attract talent, cultivate it, and deploy it.

Who said resources are leveraged through organizational CAPABILITIES?

Leonard-Barton (1992).

What is Human CAPITAL Advantage (HCA)?

Advantage from WHO you employ, meaning having better people than competitors.

What is Human PROCESS Advantage (HPA)?

Advantage from HOW people work together: processes, systems, and cooperation that are hard to copy.

Why does RBV matter so much for HR?

Through org capabilities and HPA, it draws a direct line between HR systems and organizational success.

What is the 'HR-strategy fit'?

The idea that management systems must correctly align with a firm's competitive goals. The open question is what counts as the 'correct' alignment.

Which HR-strategy fit theory says some practices are best EVERYWHERE, regardless of context?

Universal theory, or BEST PRACTICE. In MNCs this means integration/standardization.

Which HR-strategy fit theory says the right practice DEPENDS ON CONTEXT (local culture, law, strategy)?

Contingency theory, or BEST FIT. In MNCs this means differentiation/localization.

Which HR-strategy fit theory uses coherent internal BUNDLES of policy that are internally consistent AND fit external strategy?

CONFIGURATIONAL theory (an inside-outside hybrid). In MNCs this means hybridization.

Sort the System: 'All suppliers worldwide must meet the same sustainability sourcing standard.'

BEST PRACTICE. One uniform standard is applied everywhere as universally correct.

Sort the System: 'Store staffing levels are tied to local retail wage benchmarks.'

BEST FIT. The policy is adapted to the local labor market.

Sort the System: 'Employee scheduling is shaped by local family and festival obligations.'

BEST FIT. The policy is adapted to local culture.

Sort the System: 'Performance reviews use a global template with locally adjusted delivery.'

CONFIGURATIONAL. A global core is combined with local delivery.

Sort the System: 'Standardized Scandinavian service-style training for all staff in India.'

BEST PRACTICE. The same training is exported unchanged, which carries a Walmart-Germany-style misfit risk.

Sort the System: 'A global gender target for technical roles, with each site designing its own recruitment plan.'

CONFIGURATIONAL. The target is global; the delivery is local.

Sort the System: 'Worker-voice councils at every site, modeled on Danish co-determination but structured to fit each country's laws.'

CONFIGURATIONAL. The principle is global; the structure is locally adapted.

Sort the System: 'Parental leave set at each country's legal minimum.'

BEST FIT. The policy varies with each local legal context.

Sort the System shortcut: if a policy has BOTH a global element and a local element, which category is it?

Usually CONFIGURATIONAL. Best fit changes WHAT the policy is; configurational keeps the frame and changes the delivery.

What is the main critique of the BEST PRACTICE approach?

It universalizes what worked in mostly Western, large-firm data.

What is the main critique of the BEST FIT approach?

It can excuse regime shopping (seeking low wages or lax rules) as 'context'.

What is the main critique of the CONFIGURATIONAL approach?

It sounds rigorous but still can't say WHO defines 'best'.

What does 'positivism without proof' mean as a critique of SHRM?

SHRM claims HR drives performance, but the 'how' question (exactly how HR causes results) remains unresolved.

Which MNC staffing policy uses HOME-country nationals (HQ expats) to run subsidiaries?

ETHNOCENTRIC.

Which MNC staffing policy lets HOST-country nationals manage their own subsidiaries?

POLYCENTRIC.

Which MNC staffing policy draws managers from within a REGION, such as Asia-Pacific?

REGIOCENTRIC.

Which MNC staffing policy picks the best person from ANYWHERE in the world?

GEOCENTRIC.

Who advocated that MNCs give subsidiaries high local autonomy, integrate activities horizontally, and produce knowledge cooperatively?

Bartlett & Ghoshal (1989, 1995).

Which Bartlett & Ghoshal pillar would likely meet the most resistance in a Western MNC, and from whom?

Usually high local autonomy, resisted by headquarters, because it means HQ gives up control.

Which company FAILED in Germany (1997-2006) by importing U.S. practices like cheerleading chants and grocery bagging?

Walmart. It overstandardized with poor local fit and exited the market.

Which company is the course's HYBRID SUCCESS: standardized supply chain and kitchen tech, but localized menus like the Maharaja Mac?

McDonald's. It is configurational: internally consistent and externally responsive.

Which company's RenDanHeYi model, with about 4,000 self-managing microenterprises, is the course's 'IDEAL STATE'?

Haier. It shows local autonomy, horizontal integration, and cooperative knowledge production.

What is POWER ASYMMETRY in MNCs?

An imbalance of geopolitical stature, economic power, and social development between home and host countries. It produces ethical dilemmas at multiple scales.

What is the 'RACE TO THE BOTTOM'?

MNCs regime-shopping for low wages, lax regulation, and weak environmental oversight, sometimes colluding with corrupt states. Example: GM in Mexico during NAFTA (1994-2020).

Which theorist proposed CROSS-VERGENCE theory (1997), the idea that cross-cultural operation can create new hybrid values and innovation?

Ralston (1997).

Who described 'GLOBALLY INTEGRATED ENTERPRISES' (2016), meaning MNCs using polycentric staffing, horizontal networks, and a unique shared org culture as a competitive advantage?

Tarique et al. (2016).

Who wrote 'Making Globalization Good' (2003) and argued for Responsible Global Capitalism?

John Dunning. He rejected the single-stakeholder view, treated ethics as strategy rather than PR, and saw MNCs as part of global governance.

Which case asks 'How far should local compliance go?' (censored search engine in 2006, withdrawal in 2010, Project Dragonfly in 2018)?

Google in China.

Which case shows LOCAL conditions reshaping GLOBAL standards (2014 Delhi assault, then new safety features worldwide)?

Uber in India.

Which case asks how to balance seemingly incompatible value systems, such as Confucian hierarchy vs. expectations of dialogue, plus low pay and unsafe conditions?

Chinese MNCs in Africa (Zambia, Ethiopia, Kenya).

According to the slides, is diversity something an organization 'does'?

No. Diversity is a social CONDITION of a workforce, an on-the-ground fact that must shape practice. It is multi-layered and contextual.

What is the difference between a DIVERSE workforce and an INCLUSIVE workplace?

Diverse = composition (who is there). Inclusive = whether those people are valued, heard, supported, and able to advance.

What is TOKENISM?

Hiring for representation without structural support for inclusion, which leaves marginalized employees isolated or excluded.

Which sociologist wrote 'The Division of Labour in Society' (1893), contrasting mechanical and organic solidarity?

Émile Durkheim.

What is MECHANICAL solidarity?

Cohesion in traditional societies based on SIMILARITY: strong shared beliefs, low division of labor, repressive law.

What is ORGANIC solidarity?

Cohesion in modern societies based on INTERDEPENDENCE: high division of labor, individualism, restitutive law.

What is ANOMIE?

Durkheim's term for dysfunction: normlessness, a breakdown of social regulation.

Which approach to diversity (1960s-70s) used Title VII and the EEO Act and made HR REACTIVE and compliance-driven?

The SOCIAL EQUITY approach (Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action).

Which approach to diversity (1990s) treats a diverse workforce as a COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE and makes HR proactive?

The BUSINESS approach, also called Diversity Management.

What is DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT?

A voluntary, proactive approach integrated into corporate strategy that aims at firm-level goals by deepening employee commitment and harnessing diversity's business advantages.

What is the difference between EQUALITY and EQUITY?

Equality = everyone gets the same tools. Equity = custom tools that address unequal starting points.

Who made the 1991 'business case' for diversity?

Cox & Blake (1991).

What are the 5 benefits in Cox & Blake's business case for diversity?

Lower costs of discrimination, acquiring and retaining talent, cross-cultural marketing, team creativity, and better problem solving and org flexibility.

What is the main LIMITATION of Cox & Blake's business case?

It is strictly utilitarian and says nothing about external social equity goals. If diversity stopped paying off, it offers no reason to keep it.