8.1 – Trompenaars’ and Hampden-Turner’s cultural factors
Fons Trompenaars is another Dutch culturalist who is into international culture. Teamed with Charles Hampden-Turner (a dilemma enthusiast), they talk these days not so much of country stereotypes as the need to understand individuals.
Universalism vs. Particularism
Universalism is about finding broad and general rules. When no rules fit, it finds the best rule.
Particularism is about finding exceptions. When no rules fit, it judges the case on its own merits, rather than trying to force-fit an existing rule.
Analysing vs. Integrating
Analysing decomposes to find the detail. It assumes that God is in the details and that decomposition is the way to success. It sees people who look at the big picture as being out of touch with reality.
Integrating brings things together to build the big picture. It assumes that if you have your head in the weeds you will miss the true understanding
Individualism vs. Communitarianism
Individualism is about the rights of the individual. It seeks to let each person grow or fail on their own, and sees group focus as denuding the individual of their inalienable rights.
Communitarianism is about the rights of the group or society. It seeks to put the family, group, company and country before the individual. It sees individualism as selfish and short-sighted.
Inner-directed vs. Outer-directed
Inner-directed is about thinking and personal judgement, ‘in our heads. It assumes that thinking is the most powerful tool and that considered ideas and intuitive approaches are the best way.
Outer-directed is seeking data in the outer world. It assumes that we live in the real world and that is where we should look for our information and decisions.
Time as sequence vs. Time as synchronisation
Time as sequence sees events as separate items in time, sequence one after another. It finds order in a serried array of actions that happen one after the other.
Time as synchronisation sees events in parallel, synchronised together. It finds order in coordination of multiple efforts.
Achieved status vs. Ascribed status
Achieved status is about gaining status through performance. It assumes individuals and organisations earn and lose their status every day, and that other approaches are recipes for failure.
Ascribed status is about gaining status through other means, such as seniority. It assumes status is acquired by right rather than daily performance, which may be as much luck as judgement. It finds order and security in knowing where status is and stays.
Equality vs. Hierarchy
Equality is about all people having equal status. It assumes we all have equal rights, irrespective of birth or other gift.
Hierarchy is about people being superior to others. It assumes that order happens when few are in charges and others obey through the scalar chain of command
Reference: Charles Hampden-Turner and Fons Trompenaars, Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business, McGraw-Hill, 1997
For further information on Trompenaars/Hampden-Turner, please see http://www.7d-culture.nl/
Critical Review of Trompenaar’s Study
• Similar to Hofstede’s model, there are also doubts, about whether there has not been a distortion of results by the choice of recipients. In the case at hand, the survey of participants of a management training course, it could be about employees who already had a comparably high intercultural awareness and who should only be further sensitized with the help of intercultural issues.
• lt remains uncertain how Trompenaars exactly derived the seven identified dimensions and whether he did not “mix” elements of other cultural models to an own model.• lt stands out positively that Trompenaars’ results of the study have been met with great interest by managers, trainers and students, since he shows, in opposite to authors in management research who assume a cultural independence of management, that the behaviour in and of companies is – or at least can be – characterized by culture.
• Trompenaars also provides results for countries that have not been considered by Hofstede, especially many countries in Central and Eastern Europe.