Transcript Human Issues in IT

Human Issues in IT
National Culture
• What is Culture? “Culture is a system of
collectively held values.” -- Geert Hofstede
• Think about how different you (US) are from
somebody else from a different country (say,
France)
• Can we measure culture?
• What could be the dimensions of culture?
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions
1. Power Distance (power is distributed unequally)
2. Individualism vs. Collectivism (everyone looks
out for himself or herself)
3. Masculinity vs. Femininity (social gender roles
are distinct)
4. Uncertainty Avoidance (feel threatened by
uncertain or unknown situations)
5. Long Term Orientation (quick results, social
pressure to keep up with others)
Examples….
Hofstede Framework Comparisons
140
120
100
U.S.A.
80
Canada
Japan
Netherlands
60
P.R.C
40
20
0
PD
ID
MA
UA
LT
Does National culture effect work?
1. Power Distance (hierarchy, centralization)
2. Individualism vs. Collectivism (promotions,
task vs relationship)
3. Masculinity vs. Femininity (equity vs
equality)
4. Uncertainty Avoidance (punctuality,
necessity of rules and procedures)
5. Long Term Orientation (quick results vs
perseverance)
Organizational Culture?
• Innovation and risk taking – willing to experiment, take
risks, encourage innovation
• Attention to detail – paying attention to being precise
vs saying its “good enough for chopped salad”
• Outcome orientation – oriented to results vs oriented
to process
• People orientation – degree of value and respect for
people. Are people considered unique talents, or is
an engineer an engineer an engineer.
• Individual vs Team orientation – are individuals most
highly noted, or are collective efforts
• Aggressiveness -- taking action, dealing with conflict
• Stability – openness to change
Organizational Culture
Why talk about culture?
• Do you think culture has an effect? Why/why
not?
• Do you think culture has an effect in IT
context? Why/why not?
Communication
• In an organizational setting, we communicate
via various media. Ex computer conference,
email, phone, face to face etc.
• What is different about these media in terms
of communication?
Media Richness
• Media richness is the value of a medium in a given
communication situation. Richness is determined by a
medium’s ability to convey a message via more than
one informational cue, facilitate feedback, and
establish personal focus.
• Face-to-face communication is the richest medium
because it is personal, it provides both immediate
verbal and nonverbal feedback, and it conveys the
emotion behind the message. Unaddressed
documents, such as fliers, are the leanest media.
• Which media to choose?
Media Richness
Richer
Leaner
Notes, Letters,
Memos
Face-to-Face
Telephone
E-mail
Fliers, Bulletins,
Standard Reports
Questions to ponder
• Are IT employees different from other types? Is
there an IT type? Are they different from the
engineering type?
• If IT employees are different, will the same
techniques used to motivate other employees
work on IT employees?
• What kind of leadership will be effective?
• Is there anything special about IT work that
requires richer media?
• What is the effect of outsourcing on IT work, in
terms of culture and communication?