Cultural Analysis of German and Indian Culture
Power distance
The Geert Hofstede analysis for India shows a large power distance society and all other measures are relatively moderate. This would be indicative of the fact that India is in the midst of change. The traditional caste systems has been outlawed, however the large power distance score indicates that the attitudes still remain.
India has Power Distance (PDI) as the highest Hofstede Dimension for the culture, with a ranking of 77 compared to a world average of 56.5 and Germany at 35. This indicates that India has a high level of inequality of power and wealth within the society where the power is not necessarily held by the most qualified. This condition is not necessarily subverted upon the population, but rather accepted by the population as a cultural norm.
India’s Caste System
The caste is a closed group whose members are severely restricted in their choice of occupation and degree of social participation.
Table: India’s Caste System.
Individualism vs. Collectivism
Germany scored 67 points on individualism, the tendency of people to look after themselves and their immediate family only. That score is 56% higher than the world average score for individualism, where as India has a score of 48 points.
Alfons Trompenaar agrees that Germans place high priority on looking after themselves and their immediate family. At work, however, Germans jointly assume responsibilities and achieve goals in groups.
Cited in German Business Culture; Trade Intelligence from Geert Hofstede Cultural Model on Germany Daniel Workman February 20, 2008
“Trompenaar conducted a survey that asked managers from different cultures: "Do you prefer working in a group or working on your own?"
- A majority of 88% of Germans favour working in a group over solo efforts.”
It can be seen that even though Hofstede’s analysis illustrates that Germans are strongly individualistic , Tromenaar’s survey have shown that the cultural distance between the two are converging as the Germans may in fact favour working in groups.
Masculinity vs. Femininity
Germany scored 66 points on masculinity, a cultural characteristic in which success, money and material possessions form the dominant values in society. That score is 32% higher than the world average score for masculinity. India can be termed as moderately masculine in nature as they scored 56 points
Uncertainty Avoidance
Germany scored 65 points on Hofstede’s uncertainty avoidance index. This index measures the extent to which people feel threatened by ambiguous situations and have created beliefs and institutions to avoid such risks. That score is only 2% above the world average score [64] for uncertainty avoidance.
Germans insist on written rules and detailed codes of conduct that counteract their need for security as they work “by the book”
Long Term V Short Term
Brendan McSweeney is one of the many that argued against Hofstede’s findings. He insisted that Hofstede’s findings were all assumptions and that these assumptions are all flawed and therefore makes his national cultural descriptions invalid and false.
In my opinion, you can’t base culture and behavioral attributes on findings from just one company, over 100,000 people and forty different countries compared to the billions of people in the world. The fact that one person acts a certain way under certain circumstances does not mean that others from the same country act the same way.
The current scenario has changed. The bosses are not authoritative they used to be five years ago. In the recent past, a good number of multinationals have commenced their operations in India. The work culture at these offices is almost the same as in America. The salaries have risen to the extent that the recent survey suggests that India received the maximum salary hike compared to all other Asian countries. This made finding the right human resource for the organization very difficult. Now, the offices operate with less staff providing ample of opportunities to do major work and handle responsibilities to the staff members. Though the class divisions that had been embedded in the society is getting extinct as people are accepting EQUALITY FOR ALL the way of their life.
India's Long Term Orientation (LTO) Dimension rank is 61, with the world average at 48. A higher LTO score can be indicative of a culture that is perseverant and parsimonious.
The economy growing at the rate of over 8% per annum and the agriculture production being excellent in the last few years has created a lot of wealth for rural as well as urban India. The average Indian is on the spending spree viz the entry of five low frill airlines has assisted more than 500,000 first...
Table: Cross-cultural Implications – India and the West
Source: http://www.geocities.com/krisnossamone/west_versus_india.htm
Cultural Implications of Germans integrating with India
Intercultural communication takes place when participants, who communicate, represent a different communication system. Differences may occur in verbal and nonverbal communication – eye contact, gestures, touch, pauses, turn-taking or use of time. They are potential source of conflicts in intercultural communication. In a case of an intercultural communication clash there may occur feelings of confusion, tension, embarrassment and frustration.
Language and Culture
The influence and power of language is meaningful to cultural and ethnic group members.. Each speech community has its norms, forms and codes for communication. The interactions of a group of people vary in many respects: in frequency and value of speaking, interpretation of speaking performances. For instance is the Germans pronounce incorrectly the Indian’s dialect, they see it as a form of disrespect and can cause inconsistency within Volkswagen’s operations.
The group members share a speech code, a system of symbols, signs, meanings and rules in a specific situation and interaction. Several aspects, like the relationship, age, gender, social status and generation affect communication. Likewise, the proportion of verbal and nonverbal communication varies in different speech communities.
Rules of speaking determine what is appropriate and inappropriate in a situation with particular communication partners. We are automatically aware of what to say and not to say, and in what a way.Rules of interaction help a person to know how to act towards others in a particular situation.
Language is not only used as a means of communication, but also as a marker or indicator the speaker’s cultural identity. The identity is communicated through a particular language use during interaction (discourse markers). Certain type of expressions is used to express belonging to a group, but likewise they are sometimes used to exclude, separate or discriminate.
VERBAL AND NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
Verbal and nonverbal communication are part of the whole interaction process and in practice inseparable. For research purposes, verbal and nonverbal communication can, however, be looked at distinctive objects of study. Verbal communication, i.e. what is being said or written, has traditionally been the focus of Linguistics. Nonverbal communication, i.e. how something is being said or written, or done, is one of the focuses of Communication science.
In Intercultural Communication Edward T. Hall was the first scholar to carry out systematic empirical studies and classification of nonverbal communication. He also emphasized the out-of-conscious level of information-exchange. Hall defined nonverbal communication as communication that does not involve the exchange of words.
Table: Communication: Verbal and Non verbal
CULTURAL VALUES AND COMMUNICATION
In this section we will discuss values in different cultures.
Relationship to nature
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Time orientation
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Personal space
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Different patterns of communication
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Attitudes to arguments
Theme 3: Cross-cultural studies
In studies comparing cultural groups various indicators of value differences and values orientations have been found. The relation to time varies along cultural line. Cultures have also been found to differ, for instance, in dimensions of power distance, individualism and collectivism, femininity and masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and in the relation of human beings to self, society and nature.
Some of the best known cross-cultural value studies are:
- Parsons & Shils (1951); pattern variables
- Kluckhohn & Strodtbeck (1961); value orientations
- E.T. Hall (1966); contact & low contact; (1976) monochronic & polychronic time concept; (1976) low & high context
- Hofstede (1980; 1983; 1991; 2001); work-related values
- Chinese culture connection (1987); "Confucian work dynamism/long term orientation"
- Schwartz (1987/1992; 1994; 2002); Schwartz Value Inventory
- Trompenaars (1993: 1997); cultural dimensions
http://moniviestin.jyu.fi/vanhat/viesti/ics/32
A Critical Analysis of German and India Culture.
Table to Show Cultural Implications of Germany and India
Conflict -German working in a group once completed his assigned task would not assist the entire team in order to meet the group’s objective. Productivity may not be at its highest in terms of group work.
The table above shows the cultural dimensions applied to the cross cultural dimensions .With this analysis Volkswagen would be able to identify the possible problems that would arise from the merging of these two vastly different cultures.
Through inter-cultural management of German and India, Volkswagen needs to consider several issues like communication, HRM techniques, religion issues, motivation and
After the cultural analysis between Germany and India ,It can be seen that there would be several problems that would arise that would hinder the Volkswagen’s future growth and success.
Bibliography
Articles
German Business Culture; Trade Intelligence from Geert Hofstede Cultural Model on Germany Daniel Workman February 20, 2008
