Ronen and shenkar country clusters

Discussion Instruction

Prior to beginning work on this discussion, review the illustration of 10 clusters of world culture below according to GLOBE in Northouse (2018).

Choose one of the 10 clusters and identify key elements a leader needs to understand to be effective in leading an organization in that country cluster

Clusters of World Cultures

GLOBE researchers divided the data from the 62 countries they studied into regional clusters.1 These clusters provided a convenient way to analyze the similarities and differences between cultural groups (clusters) and to make meaningful generalizations about culture and leadership.

To create regional clusters, GLOBE researchers used prior research (e.g., Ronen & Shenkar, 1985), common language, geography, religion, and historical accounts. Based on these factors, they grouped countries into 10 distinct clusters: Anglo, Germanic Europe, Latin Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Confucian Asia, Southern Asia, Latin America, and Nordic Europe (Figure 16.1). These 10 regional clusters are the groupings that were used in all of the GLOBE studies.

To test whether the clusters, or groups of countries, were valid, researchers did a statistical analysis of questionnaire data collected from individuals in each of the clusters. Their results indicated that the scores of respondents within a cluster correlated with one another but were unrelated to the scores of respondents in different clusters. From these findings, they concluded that each cluster was unique. In sum, these regional clusters represented a valid and reliable way to differentiate countries of the world into 10 distinct groups.

Figure 16.1 Country Clusters According to GLOBE

Figure 39

Source: From Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies, by R. J. House, P. J. Hanges, M. Javidan, P. W. Dorfman, and V. Gupta (Eds.). Copyright 2004 by SAGE Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission.

However, further research has pointed out that there are limitations to the clusters developed by the GLOBE studies (Brewer & Venaik, 2014). For example, India, which falls into the regional cluster of Southern Asia, has been found to have nine distinct subcultural regions, some of whose values are in contradiction to others (Dheer, Lenartowicz, & Peterson, 2015).

Characteristics of Clusters

In an effort to characterize the regional clusters, GLOBE researchers analyzed data from each of the regions using the dimensions of culture described earlier. Table 16.1 provides a classification of the cultural clusters in regard to how they scored on each cultural dimension. In the table, the nine cultural dimensions are listed in the left-hand column; the high-score and low-score regional clusters are provided in the next two columns. These are the regional clusters that were significantly higher or lower on particular dimensions than other regions. From these data, several observations can be made about the characteristics of these regional cultures.

Table 42

Source: Adapted from Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies, by R. J. House, P. J. Hanges, M. Javidan, P. W. Dorfman, and V. Gupta (Eds.). Copyright 2004 by SAGE Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission.

Anglo

The Anglo cluster consists of Canada, the United States, Australia, Ireland, England, South Africa (White sample), and New Zealand. These countries or populations were high in performance orientation and low in in-group collectivism. This means it is characteristic of these countries to be competitive and results oriented, but less attached to their families or similar groups than other countries.

Confucian Asia

This cluster, which includes Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea, and Japan, exhibited high scores in performance orientation, institutional collectivism, and in-group collectivism. These countries are results driven, and they encourage the group working together over individual goals. People in these countries are devoted and loyal to their families.

Eastern Europe

Included in this cluster are Greece, Hungary, Albania, Slovenia, Poland, Russia, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. These countries scored high on assertiveness, in-group collectivism, and gender egalitarianism. They scored low on performance orientation, future orientation, and uncertainty avoidance. People in this cluster tend to be forceful and supportive of their coworkers and to treat men and women equally. They are less likely to be achievement driven, to emphasize strategic planning, and to stress rules and laws as a way to maintain order.

Germanic Europe

The Germanic Europe countries, which include Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany, scored high in performance orientation, assertiveness, future orientation, and uncertainty avoidance. They were low in humane orientation, institutional collectivism, and in-group collectivism. These countries value competition and aggressiveness and are more results oriented than people oriented. They enjoy planning and investing in the future and using rules and laws to give them control over their environment. At the same time, these countries are more likely to be individualistic and less group oriented. They tend not to emphasize broad societal groups.