The task culture – This is where management is basically concerned with the continuous and successful solution of problems. Performance is judged in terms of results and problems solved.

　　Although a structure exists it is flexible and capable of being formed and reformed depending upon the task in hand. The organisation is therefore more loosely bound than the role model. Power and respect come from individual knowledge rather than rank or position. People describe their positions in terms of the results they are achieving. These cultures are suited to organisations that are concerned with problem solving and short-term one-off exercises – often found in rapidly changing organisations, where groups are established on a short-term basis to deal with a particular change.

　　Structurally this culture is often associated with the matrix structure. Examples: market research organisations, entertainment industry, computer software design.

　　The person culture – this is where the structure and the culture is built around individuals. Although not a common culture for an entire organisation to be based on, it is none the less found in small areas of large companies. The culture is that of educated and articulate individuals – solicitors, academic researchers, consultants etc. They may use some common office services but generally operate independently. In some instances, a key individual heads a support team of different skills.

　　Test your understanding 3

　　Describe what Handy meant by a task culture. Can you think of two disadvantages this may create for an organisation?

　　3.3 Hofstede

　　Hofstede looked for national differences between over 100,000 of IBM’s employees in different parts of the world, in an attempt to find aspects of culture that might influence business behaviour.

　　He found five traits.

　　§ Individualism vs. collectivism – some cultures are more cohesive than others. Anglo Saxon cultures are generally more individualistic than the collectivist cultures of South America.

　　§ Uncertainty – some cultures, e.g. France and Japan use bureaucracy to reduce uncertainty because they dislike it.

　　§ Power distance – the degree to which cultures are willing to accept an inferior position. In South American societies, differences in power were tolerated more than in North European cultures.

　　§ Masculinity vs. femininity – a masculine role is one where the distinction between the roles of the genders is large and the males focus on work, power and success, e.g. in Japanese culture, whereas in feminine cultures such as Finland, there differences between the gender roles is much smaller.

　　§ Confucianism vs. dynamism – this looks at the attitude to change over the long term, e.g. does a culture embrace globalization?

　　Test your understanding 4

　　Looking at the Hofstede traits, choose the classification that most closely fits Great Britain.

　　Individualistic or collective?

　　Large power distance or small?

　　Masculine or feminine roles?