From morale to productivity and finance, workplace culture plays an important role for businesses operating in any niche. While some people prefer to work as a team, others demonstrate impressive productivity and results by acting alone. According to Gallup, global companies lose $8.8 trillion annually due to badly motivated employees. To assess the real negative effects of a poor - and often toxic - work culture, there is still a lot of research to be done in the future.
When building a work culture, one of the biggest challenges is choosing between two different approaches: collectivism or individualism. Teamwork with its synergy can bring powerful results. However, some people like the variety and the opportunity to feel more free offered by solo work. This article takes a closer look at the two different approaches with a comparative analysis and a list of tips on how to choose the right work culture for your company.
Workplace culture is an important part of the work process that influences how we behave during working hours. As mentioned above, there are two - seemingly different - approaches to work organisation: collectivism and individualism. However, as research by psychologists shows, these approaches are not antagonistic to each other.
Differences in the political order of states and national culture are reflected in differences in approaches to work organisation. While the USA shows a high level of self-centredness (individualism), in China people put the good of groups above personal achievements. This is easily verified by looking at the Hofstede model scale. Thus, the values dominating social and professional relationships in Western and Eastern cultures are strikingly different.
According to Professor Geert Hofstede, differences between national cultures can be explained using six dimensions including power distance, uncertainty avoidance, satisfaction vs restraint and others. However, individualism vs collectivism is the most intriguing dimension for us since it shows the influence of culture on values in the workplace.
Hofstede's model is valuable because it helps companies understand how cultural differences affect employee motivation, decision-making, work practices, and perceptions of leadership in different countries. Understanding cultural differences helps to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts in the workplace. Moreover, it improves cross-cultural communication and promotes harmonious work in international companies. Ultimately, this has an impact on overall productivity, which is essential in an increasingly competitive business environment.
In simple terms, collectivism is an approach to organising work where collective interests and goals are at the forefront. There are several countries in the world with a distinctly collectivist approach to organising various processes where conformity to social ideals and internal groups comes to the fore. The Chinese corporate environment with each team working in close cooperation and making decisions together is an excellent example of this approach.
To maintain team harmony, employees often compromise while remaining loyal to the company. A collectivist culture is all about common goals and sharing responsibility for both the success and failures of the company. Although it promotes strong team dynamics, multi-faceted cooperation, stability and conflict reduction, it has the disadvantages of low decision-making speed and limited individual initiative.
In contrast to collectivism, this approach is built around individual achievement, independence and responsibility. The individualist culture encourages initiative, innovation and leadership where success is measured by personal achievement. The contrast to Chinese collectivism is the US work culture where self-expression, the ability to make decisions on one's own and to actively promote one's ideas are at the forefront.
Is individualism ideal for modern people who want to express themselves? Of course not, as it also has its drawbacks and pitfalls. Productive and self-motivated employees often suffer from stress, feelings of alienation, emotional burnout, anxiety and other side effects. Although an individualistic workplace culture brings opportunities for career advancement and makes the work environment more competitive, collective interests are often sidelined, which affects the performance of teams as a whole.
Nothing in the world is perfect, and therefore you will never find pure individualism or collectivism in a company. Corporate cultures do not stand still: they are constantly evolving, adding collectivist or individualist features depending on current needs and goals.
Let's look at the key takeaways:
· While the individualist approach focuses on personal goals and needs, the collectivist one puts the interests of the group at the top of the agenda.
· Collectivism values harmony and a spirit of co-operation while individualism focuses on independence and freedom.
· Individualism promotes the ideas of self-sufficiency and personal accomplishments while its antipode is based on long-term relationships within a team.
· Individualism makes you personally responsible for mistakes and failures while in collectivist teams it is all shared among the members.
There are two important criteria for assessing individualism vs collectivism: how autonomous people consider themselves and how equal or unequal group members are. One of the best assessment methods is the Culture Orientation Scale (COS) designed to better understand employees' cultural orientations. By utilising COS, business leaders can better manage diversity and improve communication within the team for more outstanding business success.
It should be said at once that this question does not have an unambiguous answer due to various reasons. Let's say your team is characterised by frequent confrontations and lacks cohesion. Then you can solve these problems by emphasising collectivism. However, natural leaders who don't want to push themselves to the limit also often play an important role in business success. In teams where individual successes take a back seat, employees can feel less meaningful and disengaged. This is where a bias towards individualism may be the answer.
So, does the group prioritise each member or does the principle of independence and autonomy prevail? Consider the 8 factors below to get an answer to the exciting question.
To understand whether employees gravitate towards collectivism or individualism, you need to look at their cultural values and norms. For example, people from an Eastern culture will traditionally be drawn to collectivism.
In the collectivism vs. individualism opposition, management practices play an important role. While some leaders favour cohesiveness and teamwork, others encourage individualism and autonomy in decision-making.
When it comes to choosing a workplace culture, a lot depends on how your business is structured from the inside out.
Different systems are used to measure the effectiveness of teams: those focused on individual achievement and those that assess the team's contribution to the overall result.
Open channels of interaction and communication can stimulate both collective discussion and individual self-expression. Either way, established communication channels play an important role in business development.
Whether your company tends towards individualism or collectivism may depend on the number of people from different cultures.
Your employees are not robots created equal. Depending on their personalities, some may gravitate towards individual self-expression while others may want to blend in.
Regardless of the niche in which your company operates, common goals and mission statement can influence which qualities - shared team effort or personal success - are a priority for you.
Let's say you are analysing a company or a particular team. How do you understand whether it tends towards individualism or collectivism? Look closely at the decision-making process to find the answer. Collectivist teams strive to find consensus and unity within the group while individualist ones allow each member to make decisions on their own.
If you aim for your team to be like one friendly family where each member takes care of each other, then the collectivist approach is more suitable for you. And if individual initiative and the ability to make decisions independently of your employees are paramount to you, you are a fan of individualism. However, in practice, finding a balance between these approaches can be the best choice for many businesses. By encouraging both teamwork and the desire to be creative and take the initiative, you will come closer to addressing a problem that has no one-size-fits-all solution.
Pay attention to things like managing communications, employee rewards, and decision-making. For example, collectivist groups emphasise collective rewards and consensus in decision-making.
Instead of personal ambition and individuality, it is dominated by social ties, peer support and a sense of importance to the group. Although this approach increases cohesion, personal initiative may decline.
With greater freedoms for self-expression and decision-making, it can foster innovation, creativity and personal career development. Individualism is a good choice in teams where encouraging the development of unique skills is important.
With greater freedom of choice and self-expression, employees in individualistic teams perform better. In collectivist teams, productivity depends on cohesion, mutual support and common purpose.
In a team with a strong focus on personal achievement, there can be excessive competition resulting in an unwillingness to share knowledge and work together.
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