HMD407 Exercise 5: Team Culture

HMD 407: HOSPITALITY ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR

Exercise 5: Team Culture Case Study [10 points]

Please work on this exercise as a team. If you are not in class today, you can submit this exercise individually.

Your names and student ID numbers:

Purpose : The purpose of this exercise is for you to apply the Hofstede culture dimensions to understand employee’s attitudes.

Overview:

Hostage and manager. These two words that you would not usually expect to hear spoken in the same breath. However, during the first few months of 2009, workers at manufacturing facilities of 3M Company, Sony Corporation, and Caterpillar Inc. in France took managers as hostages. French workers have long been known for their aggressive and radical responses to what they feel is wrong or harsh treatment. Although kidnapping your boss isn’t legal, a French sociologist who surveyed 3,000 companies found that 18 of them had experienced an “executive detention” in the prior three years. These french employees took their managers as hostages because 1) they are angry with the layoff decision, 2) they want to negotiate better severance (separation) packages and benefits for laid-off employees.

Yet, these hostage situations are rarely seen in China. Even when employees face layoff, they move on without taking aggressive actions.

Consider one Hofstede culture value, explain why French employee, compare to Chinese employees, are more likely to take extreme actions when they are being laid-off.

Check culture value score at https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/

 

Question:

1. Pick ONE cultural value – you will focus on applying this cultural value to this case for this exercise

Individualism/ Collectivism

Power distance

Masculinity

Uncertainty avoidance

Short term/ Long term orientation

2. Define the culture value in Q1. (1 points)

 

Country	Score
China
France

3. What is the cultural value score for China and French, respectively? (2 points)

4. Does China or France have a higher cultural value score? (1 point)

China

Australia

5. What is the implication of the cultural value in Q3 for Chinese and French, respectively (2 point)6. Based on the cultural difference in Q3, explain French employees’ and Chinese employees’ differential reactions towards laid-off? (4 points)