Cultural Reflection in Management. Lukasz Sulkowski

indicators¹¹⁶:

      • Structure should be steep,

      • Inequalities between positions are indispensable,

      • There should be a large wage differential,

      • An organisation needs an authoritarian management style,

      • An organisation needs centralisation,

      • Hierarchy reflects very significant individual differences between employees in lower and higher positions in an organisation; employees in lower organisational positions usually have lower skills and abilities than the employees at higher levels,

      • Hierarchy should be stable,

      • Subordinates are dependent on their superiors,

      • Employees at higher levels in an organisation should receive privileges,

      • An organisation is dominated by concepts emphasising the significance of superiors and the process of managing employees.

      The drive for equality results from the belief that people deserve similar rights and an organisation is a reflection of such fundamental equality. Thus, ←70 | 71→organisations should have a flat structure and limit the number of management levels as much as possible. Large diversification of employees’ rights, privileges and benefits is unwelcome. Equality gives rise to the following attitudes in organisations: (1) emphasising similarities between employees, (2) favouring egalitarian thinking, (3) orientation towards spontaneity, flexibility of structures and power relationships.

      Hierarchy is juxtaposed with equality, which can be described with the use of the following methodological indicators:

      • Structure should be flat,

      • An organisation should strive for equality between different positions,

      • The wage differential should be limited,

      • An organisation needs a participatory management style,

      • An organisation needs decentralisation,

      • Hierarchy is related to playing different roles, for pragmatic purposes,

      • Hierarchy should be flexible and undergo changes,

      • Superiors and subordinates are interdependent,

      • Everyone in an organisation should have equal rights,

      • The dominant concepts in an organisation emphasise the significance of employees and their involvement and participation in the managerial process.

      The dimension of hierarchy vs. equality is primal in relation to the dimension of authoritarianism vs. democracy (participation). Authoritarianism means striving for a one-person, unquestionable way of making decisions in an organisation, while democracy means striving for a group (fully participatory) decision-making process. The dimension of hierarchy vs. equality is also primal in relation to the dimension of power centralisation¹¹⁷. In G. Hofstede’s concept, the dimension of hierarchy-equality corresponds to the distance in power relations. A large distance means orientation towards hierarchy, while a small distance means equality¹¹⁸.

2 Individualism – community

      Individualism means putting the value of an individual before the interests of a social group. This is related to striving for the freedom of individuals and a ←71 | 72→belief that individual interests are most important. According to this belief, organisations should focus on the motives and competences of individuals, rather than teams. Fulfilling individual interests can lead to organisational success, as this favours rivalries and competitive attitudes, as well as nonconformist behaviour. An organisation is perceived as a group of individuals who have conflicting interests. S. Lukes emphasises the following basic elements of individualism: human dignity, self-determination and the autonomy of individuals, respect for privacy and the possibility to fulfil oneself¹¹⁹. In organisations, individualism is manifested by: (1) treating individual freedom as the priority value, (2) the acceptance of individual attempts at independence, (3) a preference for individual interests, (4) orientation towards rivalries and (5) creating the cult of personality (lone heroes or charismatic leaders). Individualism in an organisation may be determined with the use of the following methodological indicators¹²⁰:

      • Individual interests are more important than the interests of the organisation,

      • The organisation is a group of individuals who have different interests,

      • Rivalry between employees is indispensable,

      • The organisation is based on eminent individuals,

      • Interests of the organisation and individuals diverge,

      • The organisation functions thanks to the freedom of individuals,