UUNZ PG Cert. in Business: Organizational Behaviour Essay

This essay delves into the field of organizational behaviour, focusing on the application of Hofstede's cultural dimensions to understand and manage volunteer groups from diverse countries assisting in a disaster relief effort. It explores how cultural differences, including individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance, influence team dynamics, communication, and leadership styles. The essay analyzes the cultural profiles of countries like Korea, India, Malaysia, China, New Zealand, UK, Japan, and Australia, highlighting the importance of adapting leadership approaches to effectively manage these varied cultural perspectives. It emphasizes the need for leaders to understand and accommodate these differences to achieve common goals, foster effective communication, and motivate team members. The analysis provides insights into how these dimensions impact team cohesion, decision-making, and overall organizational effectiveness, offering recommendations for building a successful multicultural team. The essay concludes by stressing the importance of cultural sensitivity and adaptability in organizational settings.

Organizational behaviour

Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions..................................................................................................3
Group Dynamics........................................................................................................................8
Culture........................................................................................................................................8
Motivation to team members.....................................................................................................9
Communication........................................................................................................................10
Conclusion and Recommendation............................................................................................11
Reference..................................................................................................................................12

Introduction
Organizational behaviour is the study of the behaviour of a human being in organizations.
The analysis of individuals, groups and structure behaviour is done in an organization for
improving the performance of the organization. It is common nowadays to help the countries
who have suffered from natural disasters like earthquake and Tsunami. Multicultural groups
are used for helping the countries and volunteer members are from different regions and with
different lifestyle and thinking. In order to manage the groups, it is necessary to maintain the
understanding and accommodation of members to achieve the common goal. Cultural
differences may occur in groups as a communication barrier during the work. Motivational
theories help in influencing the behaviour of people at the workplace.
For solving the problems and preventing them before they occur, a leader can play a role as a
problem solver. It is necessary for leaders to understand and analyze the culture, attitude, and
behaviour of group members (Beugelsdijk, 2017). In this report, we will study the Hofstede’s
cultural dimensions theory for understanding the volunteer group behaviour. In order to
provide help to Indonesia’s tsunami-hit region, a volunteer group needs a leader to manage
and organize volunteer’s work of different eight countries. The countries which are included
in work are Korea, India, Malaysia, China, New Zealand, UK, Japan, and Australia.
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions
Individualism-Collectivism
When the culture is individualistic, it is expected that people will portray themselves as
individuals for accomplishing the individual’s goals and needs. In collectivist cultures,
leaders have to manage the entire group and their needs and want to reach common goals. It
is an important factor to form a constructive group to help the country. If the goal is given to
each group than the group will be able to perform the task and reach the goal. It is necessary
to give the task to all the groups for maintaining cooperation in-group members and reach to
the goals in the team. In the culture of North America, The tendency of individualism is
strong where people prefer to work as an individual. The culture is to respect the
responsibility and respect the freedom of individuals. In the case of a collectivist culture, the

emphasize is to work in a group. People who can work in a group are from Japan and Korea
as they represent the culture of collectivist (Croucher, et al., 2015). In some similar culture
also there are cultural differences. When we talk about the strong collectivist culture, the
Arab is the strongest in all. According to Hofstede's theory, it is necessary to consider the
culture of individualism and collectivism. When we compare the culture of different
countries that are helping Indonesia, according to Hofstede’s theory, the countries that have
strong individualism are the UK, Australia, and New Zealand and the people from Japan,
India, are in middle and can adopt collectivism as well as individualism. But the countries
like Korea and China are classified as strong collectivism. Japan and India are in middle
culture where Korea has an almost similar culture like Japan. There is a strong collectivist
culture in other countries than the UK, Australia and New Zealand (Favaretto, et al., 2016).
People who are considered as a strong individualism, they can view the relationship between
the team members and Leader as can make a mutual benefit for each other. The contracts
between the team leaders and members are made on the basis of rules and technology which
can be adapted to take mutual benefits. People from different cultures need independence in
the group while making the decisions but managers have to emphasize the diversity and
leadership within a group (Osabiya, 2015). For setting the goal and motivation for team
members it is necessary to emphasize the challenges and freedom to team members. For the
effective organizational culture during the work, it is necessary to construct effective
thoughts and communicate with team members effectively. People from different culture
have a different state of mind (Holden, 2002). In collectivism, it is necessary to identify
strong collectivism to create a social network with the people who belong to individualism
(Nistor, et al., 2014). It is necessary for managers to maintain unity and focus on forming a
team effectively by considering the work and their cultures. It is necessary for leaders and
team members to form an effective team and build a good relationship with each other. The
countries which have strong collectivism must be given a coordinative team and culture
where they can work effectively.
Masculinity vs. Femininity (MAS)
In Hofstede’ theory, masculinity vs. Femininity includes the role of men and women which
are distributed. In MAS, the social roles are divided as the tendency of a culture. In order to
achieve the goals and assertiveness, it is necessary to follow the culture. In Japan, the
masculine culture is considered and in Thailand, feminine culture is more preferred than

masculine. In masculine culture, it is considered as a strong culture whereas femininity is
considered as a quiet life (Oliver, 2014). Masculine culture is considered for maintaining
ownership and achieving the success and feminist culture is considered for maintaining good
relations with others. It is important in life to consider quality. In order to consider the
masculine culture of different countries which are helping Indonesia in a difficult situation to
make an effective team. It is analyzed that the most masculine country is Japan and the
feminine country is Korea. At the time of distinct division, Japan and Korea must be divided
as masculinity and femininity (Hofstede, 2009). The other six countries must be classified as
the characteristics of the culture of different countries. It is analyzed that the UK and China
have the same index as the strong masculinity because these countries make equal efforts in
providing remuneration and jobs to men’s and women’s. The countries like Australia and
New Zealand are considered as the high index with high femininity also. In these countries,
people have materialistic thoughts and thinks about money more. It is necessary for leaders to
resolve the conflicts in the team by defeating competitors and achievements. In a highly
masculine society, it is necessary to have strong leadership. For granting the jobs, it is
necessary to distinguish the role of men and women and the factors must be considered for
achieving success. The task must be decided on the basis of the clear and quantitative task-
oriented system and they must not be subjective. A feminine society is a type of society
which includes taking care and protecting others. Leaders have to make decisions like people-
centered thinking by using intuition. For the effective group, it is necessary not to interfere in
the privacy of team members (Hofstede, 2009).
Power Distance Index
In this dimension of Hofstede’s theory, it is stated that members of an organization must have
the willingness to accept the culture and status along with the power. In case of low power
distance in a different culture, it is expected that in people the power will be distributed
equally and the power will be distributed to less powerful individuals. When the high power
is given to an individual’s they are most likely to accept the inequalities and steep hierarchies.
When the power distance is big, it means that the power of leader and team member is high.
It is expected that the team leader and members of the team must be considered as the same
and the power to them must be same (Elfenbein and Ambady, 2003). When there is large
power distance in societies, it may be possible because of the autocracy in leadership and the
leaders have to treat the members equally. Authority must be centralized and must follow the

authority rules and regulations for effective leadership. There is a number of hierarchy levels
in team and leaders expectation is inequality and power differences. It is analyzed that in the
mentioned countries, Malaysia is the country in which the power distance index is the largest
and the country with the smallest power distance index in New Zealand. The various
countries who have low power index members can be motivated by giving compensation to
members on the basis of their performance (Maleki and De Jong, 2014). It is necessary to
work in a team to achieve the goal of the whole team because an individual will not be able to
achieve the common goal of team individually. The countries who has large power distances,
leaders can decide the different compensation and objectives of the team and an individual. In
case of team, if there is no respect and intimacy for the leaders than the whole team can
collapse and it is necessary for the team to follow their leaders rules and regulations. In some
countries and societies with large power has a tendency for human inequality is natural and it
is perceived as desirable for team members (Leonard, 2004). Those who have power are
believed that they have a right to privilege and the difference in the salary of team members
and leaders is great. It is necessary at the workplace to have a different system to manage and
operate the organization and motivate the employees in an effective manner to make their
performance effective. Organizations who have small power distances and the inequalities
between people must be minimized. There must be a difference in the incentive on the basis
of the performance and the base rate must be the same as per the position of the team
members (Samaha, et al., 2014).
Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI)
When the members in the team are threatened by some uncertain or unknown circumstances
it is defined as an Uncertainty Avoidance Index. The feeling by team members is expressed
in a way of tension, stress and any need for predictability or some unwritten sentence also. It
can be expressed in a numerically way and the numerical value is high, the avoidance level of
uncertainty will also be high of that country (Hofstede, 2009). It is analyzed that Japan has
the highest level of avoiding uncertainty tendency and the UK has the least avoidance for any
uncertainty. People from the UK will not be able to avoid uncertainty. And the other
countries than the UK and Japan are in the middle and have a medium level of tendency.
Countries who are less afraid of uncertainty and are able to avoid uncertainty is because of
the cultural differences between the countries. Out of eight countries who will help Indonesia,

Japan and Korea are the countries who are able to pursue stable things and fell resistance to
new things and remaining countries tend to pursue new things (Tung and Verbeke, 2010).
Countries who have a low tendency to avoid uncertainty can work hard in an urgent situation
when needed but it does not make a pressure on an individual to work continually. In this
culture, it is assumed that in a comfortable situation people will work hard and can make
enough leisure time also (Lunenburg, 2011). For the motivation, people are rewarded and
given rest after reaching goals which are set for them.
In some countries, the uncertainty avoidance level is strong where the compensation systems
and setting of goals are established and operated clearly. The rules and regulations for the
group are established clearly for preventing the conflicts in advance and in the team, the
stability and self-worth will be synchronized. As in some societies the uncertainty avoidance
level is considered as a strong and tries to overcome the situation analytically (Guss, et al.,
2017).
Long team orientation vs. Short term orientation
In societies, it is necessary to maintain a link to the past while challenging the present and
future. It is necessary to maintain a tendency for short term orientation vs. long term
orientation. Short-term orientation is emphasized for the norms and tradition in social change.
Long term orientation is made when the practical methods are adopted rather than the norm
and tradition while preparing for the future (Ramdhani, et al., 2017). In societies, for the
future benefits, they aim for the compensation benefits likeability for adopting sustainability
and conservation. In the case of short term oriented society, which is created for the present
and future are inspired by the reciprocity, tradition, compliance with the social
responsibilities for the team members. When we compare the LTO by Hofstede's theory,
China is considered as the longest oriented country and the UK is the shortest oriented
country and the other countries India is also categorized in long term oriented and others are
short term oriented. While doing the work in the team, the members of the society are
committed to long term interest and are interested in the short term. In long term orientation,
the focus is made on the success of future and short term success is delayed for achieving the
long term success. For the long term growth, the decisions are taken. For the short term
success, it emphasizes the quick results and considering the traditions also. There is a
connection between the present and future challenges with the past. The U.S. has a short term

orientation in all the countries (Betancourt, et al., 2016). Long-term orientation includes the
persistence, ordering relationships by status, and having a sense of shame and in short-term
orientation, personal steadiness and stability is included along with respecting own tradition.
It is analyzed that the short term orientation can also be said with truth where long term
orientation is said with virtue. When the LTO is low in developing nation, and have more
connectedness with its past than looking for future challenges for the growth it will lead to
economic stagnation. The developing countries with high LTO have fast economic growth up
to a level of prosperity. In the US, LTO rating is low and it is considered as a normative
culture and it is analyzed that new information must be analyzed and evaluated for truth and
it makes the culture not very pragmatic. It is essential for leaders to consider the countries
low or high LTO while making a team for work together as the high LTO culture are most
likely to ask What and How. An individual who is from high LTO culture is willing to
compromise more as compare to low LTO.
Group Dynamics
In order to deal with the attitude and behavioral pattern of the group, it is necessary to
consider the group dynamics. It includes how the groups are formed and its structure and
process which is to be followed for their functioning. There are various factors which
influence the workforce in multicultural dynamics. The various international companies use
cultural diversity as their strength within an organization. It is necessary for the leader to
consider the workforce and their problems for the effective results and achieving common
goals (Huczynski, et al., 2013).
When the groups are formed from different countries and with their different culture, it is
mandatory that problems will occur during the process and it depends on the various factors.
For the group development, group dynamics includes the process which is to be followed:
forming, storming, forming, performing and adjourning. In multicultural structure theory of
individualism-collectivism and Masculinity-femininity, there are various factors which
influence the most are a cultural, professional, linguistic and multicultural group. It is
necessary for the leader to help in forming a group and ensure to analyze the performance and
provide the rewards for achieving the goals of groups.

For forming a group, it is essential to consider Individualism-collectivism and Masculinity-
femininity as the multicultural structure theories as it is important to work in together in a
group to achieve a common goal by gathering the different culture peoples. In order to work
together, it is necessary to understand the culture of different people and Language is also
essential to understand to keep the things right and do the work properly.
Culture
Every country has a different culture which they follow and Hofstede cultural theory is a
framework for cross-cultural communication. Hofstede’s cultural theory states that when
forming a multicultural group it is necessary that every country has a different culture which
they follow. The culture of western countries is different like the United States and Britain. In
order to remove the barrier in the team or dividing the groups into masculinity-femininity,
individualism-collectivism as stated in Hofstede theory, all the issues and problems can be
resolved by the leader. It is necessary for a team to organize the multicultural group to
achieve a common goal (Schein, 2014). In order to reach a goal by providing the services in
the damaged area, it is vital for a team member to achieve their goals together. In Hofstede’s
model, it is stated that technology helped in bringing people together. While communicating
when the culture is different it is necessary to understand the different situation and their
culture (Nelson and Quick, 2013).
Motivation to team members
According to Hofstede's theory, it is necessary for a group to consider the interest of them
while forming a multicultural group. Team members must be motivated to achieve the
common goals of the team. For the motivation and satisfaction of team members, it is
important to fulfill their desires. Maslow’s Need Hierarchy is a motivational theory which
includes the five-tier model of human needs. In this theory, the lower needs in the hierarchy
must be satisfied before satisfying the needs of the upper level. The hierarchy includes
Physiological needs, safety needs, Love and belongingness, self-esteem and Self-
actualization needs. Hertzberg’s two-factor theory and, McClelland’s need theory support for
the motivation and satisfaction of team members. For motivating the employees it is
necessary to identify and motivate the tendencies of people in team members of each country
(Arifin, 2015). For the motivation of people of different countries, It includes two methods;

Goal setting and compensation to people. Hofstede’s theory must be considered for the
motivation of team members which includes power distance index, long-term direction-short
term direction, and uncertainty avoidance index. Motivation helps in influencing the
behaviour of team members and motivation theories help in focusing and satisfying the needs
and desires of groups. Leaders can adopt the process of motivational theories for the team
members. Herzberg’s two factor theory includes the hygiene factors and motivation factors.
Hygiene factors are related with the work environment and motivators at the work place. It is
necessary for leaders to motivate the team members to make the members satisfied in cross
cultural work environment (Suter, et al., 2009). Hygiene factors include the pay, security,
relation with other team members, policies, equality and quality of supervision. Motivation
factors include the achievement, responsibility, recognition and personal growth of team
members. It helps in supporting the team members in cross cultural work environment
(Alshmemri, et al., 2017).
Communication
In multicultural groups, the leader has to consider the factors to form effective groups and
factors must be considered for motivating the members of different countries.
Communication is about to share the meaning with team members and by means of verbal or
nonverbal communication. In order to communicate with team members effectively it is done
by listening effectively, communication skills, barrier, and non-verbal communication. Every
country has their own religion and culture which they follow. Leaders can adopt the various
communication methods to communicate with different countries team members (Jenifer and
Raman, 2015).
Leader and team members may face the communication barrier because of cultural
differences. Every country has a different culture to follow and communication barrier may
happen while working together (Flood, et al., 2000). Communication barriers can be an
interpersonal, intrapersonal, and intergroup barrier. Intrapersonal barrier occurs when the
person’s attitude, behaviour, knowledge and personality and in the interpersonal barrier is
when the inappropriate transaction of words happens between people. In the case of helping
Indonesia, team members from different countries may face the intrapersonal and

interpersonal barrier. Team members from different countries have a different culture and
language barrier may occur between the team members while working together (Lăzăroiu,
2015). The attitudes, behaviour, and personality of team members are different from each
other and intrapersonal barrier may occur while working together in a team. Every member
will react with the team in a different manner because of different personality and values.
There are causes of intrapersonal barriers; it can be wrong assumptions, wrong inferences,
differing background, and categorical thinking. The reasons for the interpersonal barriers are
limited vocabulary, poor listening skills, communication selectivity, cultural variations. In
order to resolve the communication barriers in the team, the leader has to take the initiative to
overcome the barriers (Karin Andreassi, et al., 2014). Interpersonal barriers can be overcome
by keeping the composure while communication as the interpersonal barrier is more effective
and it is necessary to keep the exposure while talking to the team and keeping the track for
reaching towards the goals. It is necessary to provide constructive criticism as it is the best
way to communicate with the team. Leaders can take the feedback from the team for effective
interpersonal communication. In the national and international level, it is necessary for people
to communicate with them in their own manner. Culture difference affects the
communication, attitudes, motivation and group dynamics with the team. It is recommended
for the leader to make the team members comfortable at the workplace and can make the
teams by choosing the people who have some similar culture (Johnson, et al., 2006). Cross
cultural communication must be effective for the leaders and team members to achiev the
common goal on time (Beebe, et al., 2000)
Conclusion and Recommendation
In this report, we had studied that in the multicultural group, people are gathered from a
different culture for doing work together and to work together it is necessary to understand
the common goals. When people from different cultures stay and work together, they find
difficult and feel uncomfortable to work. Leaders are those who control the team members by
understanding their culture and solving the issues and problems. It is analyzed that the group
dynamics help in forming the groups. Communication barriers may occur when people from
different cultures work together.

It is studied that barriers may occur even in the people of the same culture and countries and
it can happen even with the other country of another region. It is necessary to work in a team
to achieve the goal of the whole team because an individual will not be able to achieve the
common goal of the team individually. In order to conclude the report, it is necessary to
consider the factors to organize a group and motivation must be given to the group for
working together. In order to help the other country, it is necessary to form a group
effectively, motivate them and communicate with them without any barriers. Leaders must be
aware of the different culture and behaviour of people to understand and handle the different
situation which may occur during the work and must be able to solve the problems due to the
cultural difference among the members of groups. It is essential for the leader to make
effective decisions for the team to motivate and setting the goals for individuals and team.
People from different countries can help Indonesia hit region in an effective manner in a team
with the strategies and effective decisions by leaders.
Reference
Alshmemri, M., Shahwan-Akl, L. and Maude, P., (2017) Herzberg’s two-factor theory. Life
Science Journal, 14(5), pp.12-16.
Arifin, H.M., (2015) The Influence of Competence, Motivation, and Organisational Culture
to High School Teacher Job Satisfaction and Performance. International Education
Studies, 8(1), pp.38-45.
Beebe, S.A., Beebe, S.J. and Redmond, M.V., (2000) Interpersonal communication.
Scarborough, Ont.: Prentice-Hall Canada.
Betancourt, J.R., Green, A.R., Carrillo, J.E. and Owusu Ananeh-Firempong, I.I., (2016)
Defining cultural competence: a practical framework for addressing racial/ethnic disparities
in health and health care. Public health reports.

Beugelsdijk, S., Kostova, T. and Roth, K., (2017) An overview of Hofstede-inspired country-
level culture research in international business since 2006. Journal of International Business
Studies, 48(1), pp.30-47.
Croucher, S., Sommier, M., Rahmani, D. and Appenrodt, J., (2015) A cross-cultural analysis
of communication apprehension: A comparison of three European nations. Journal of
Intercultural Communication, 2015(38).
Elfenbein, H.A. and Ambady, N., (2003) Universals and cultural differences in recognizing
emotions. Current directions in psychological science, 12(5), pp.159-164.
Favaretto, R.M., Dihl, L., Barreto, R. and Musse, S.R., (2016) September. Using group
behaviours to detect hofstede cultural dimensions. In 2016 IEEE International Conference on
Image Processing (ICIP) (pp. 2936-2940). IEEE.
Flood, P.C., Dromgoole, T. and Carroll, S.J. eds., (2000) Managing strategy implementation:
An organizational behaviour perspective. Oxford: Blackwell.
Güss, C.D., Burger, M.L. and Dörner, D., (2017) The role of motivation in complex problem
solving. Frontiers in psychology, 8, p.851.
Hofstede, G., (2009) Geert Hofstede cultural dimensions.
Holden, N., (2002) Cross-cultural management: A knowledge management perspective.
Pearson Education.
Huczynski, A., Buchanan, D.A. and Huczynski, A.A., (2013) Organizational behaviour (p.
82). London: Pearson.
Jenifer, R.D. and Raman, G.P., (2015) Cross-cultural communication barriers in the
workplace. Internafional Journal of Management, 6(1), pp.348-351.
Johnson, J.P., Lenartowicz, T. and Apud, S., (2006) Cross-cultural competence in
international business: Toward a definition and a model. Journal of international business
studies, 37(4), pp.525-543.

Karin Andreassi, J., Lawter, L., Brockerhoff, M. and J. Rutigliano, P., 2014. Cultural impact
of human resource practices on job satisfaction: A global study across 48 countries. Cross
cultural management, 21(1), pp.55-77.
Lăzăroiu, G., (2015) Work motivation and organizational behaviour. Contemporary Readings
in Law and Social Justice, 7(2), pp.66-75.
Leonard, M., Graham, S. and Bonacum, D., (2004) The human factor: the critical importance
of effective teamwork and communication in providing safe care. BMJ Quality &
Safety, 13(suppl 1), pp.i85-i90.
Lunenburg, F.C., (2011) Goal-setting theory of motivation. International journal of
management, business, and administration, 15(1), pp.1-6.
Maleki, A. and de Jong, M., (2014) A proposal for clustering the dimensions of national
culture. Cross-Cultural Research, 48(2), pp.107-143.
Nelson, D & Quick, JC (2013) Organizational Behaviour, 8nd edn, Federation Press,
Annandale, New South Wales.
Nistor, N., Lerche, T., Weinberger, A., Ceobanu, C. and Heymann, O., 2014. Towards the
integration of culture into the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. British
Journal of Educational Technology, 45(1), pp.36-55.
Oliver, R.L., (2014) Satisfaction: A behavioural perspective on the consumer: A behavioural
perspective on the consumer. Routledge.
Osabiya, B.J., (2015) The effect of employees motivation on organizational
performance. Journal of public administration and policy research, 7(4), pp.62-75.
Ramdhani, A., Ramdhani, M.A. and Ainissyifa, H., (2017) Conceptual Framework of
Corporate Culture Influenced on Employees Commitment to Organization. International
Business Management, 11(3), pp.826-830.
Samaha, S.A., Beck, J.T. and Palmatier, R.W., (2014) The role of culture in international
relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 78(5), pp.78-98.
Schein, E.H., (2014) Organizational culture and leadership(Vol. 2). John Wiley & Sons.

Suter, E., Arndt, J., Arthur, N., Parboosingh, J., Taylor, E. and Deutschlander, S., 2009. Role
understanding and effective communication as core competencies for collaborative
practice. Journal of interprofessional care, 23(1), pp.41-51.
Tung, R.L. and Verbeke, A., (2010) Beyond Hofstede and GLOBE: Improving the quality of
cross-cultural research.