2015-08-21
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Before we move on to review and assess the effectiveness of Traits theories application in Kazakhstan we must draw national profile of the country to understand certain specifics that may affect applicability of Traits theories.
All countries in the world could be divided into two broad dimensions: relationship oriented and task oriented. Relationship oriented countries value good relationships in workplaces and have high level of interaction and warm atmosphere, while task oriented cultures work for results and achievements that are considered to be more important than work relationships. Among the relationship oriented countries are Italy, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, and China. Task oriented countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, USA and Canada.
Kazakhstan is closer to a group of relationship oriented countries rather than task oriented, which can be explained by “eastern mentality” that values relationship and connections in the first place.
Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GlOBE) is another framework for assessing cultures based on 9 parameters: assertiveness, future orientation, gender differentiation, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, individualism/collectivism, in-group collectivism, performance orientation and humane orientation.
In GLOBE’s studies by House et. Al (2004) Kazakhstan was categorized in a same group as Eastern Europe countries and was thoroughly observed during several years. That particular study is an ongoing research project of more than 160 separate investigations. They published the 800 page “Culture, Leadership and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies”. The goal is to increase our understanding of cross cultural interactions and the impact of culture on leadership effectiveness. More than 17, 000 managers in 950 organizations have participated to date of 2004 and the numbers is constantly growing as the project is continuing its ongoing studies.
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From the results of analysis conducted by GLOBE studies Kazakhstan has the following score distribution:
Table 1 – Kazakhstan’s GLOBE Framework assessment
| High score | Middle score | Low score |
| · Assertiveness Degree to which people in a culture are determined, assertive, confrontational and aggressive in their social relationships. | · Power Distance Degree to which members of a group expect and agree that power should be shared unequally. | · Future Orientation Degree to which people engage in future oriented behaviors such as planning, investing in the future and delaying gratification. |
| · Gender Egalitarianism Degree to which society/organizations minimize gender inequality. | · Institutional Collectivism Degree to which society or organization values collective actions. | · Performance Orientation Extent to which a society or organization encourages and rewards people for improved performance and excellence. |
| · In-group Collectivism Degree to which people express pride, loyalty and cohesiveness in their organizations/families. | · Humane Orientation Degree to which a society or organization encourages and rewards people for being fair, altruistic, generous and caring to others. | · Uncertainty Avoidance Extent to which society or organizations rely on established social norms and procedures to avoid uncertainty. |
From the table above it can be concluded that the role of person and personal relationships is more important in Kazakhstani society than performance and results. While performance and results oriented countries prefer formal relationships in workplaces, fully detailed and clearly constructed tasks, and focus on competency and abilities of a person; relationship oriented countries, like Kazakhstan, tend to value more informal relationships, open and on-going communications with superiors to clarify details when needed, and formal status and position of a person. In Kazakhstan the focus is firstly on official qualifications, status and symbols, only then people are measured by personal characteristics, skills and abilities, and competency.
Kazakhstan scored pretty high in such cultural dimensions as assertiveness, gender egalitarianism and in-group collectivism. Even though our culture should have scored high in power distance due to adherence to traditional hierarchical social structure of nomadic society, the GLOBE claims that we are in middle-score cluster in this particular dimension. This suggests that further studies should be done in much deeper level to more accurately display our society in a matrix of cross cultural dimensions. The culture scored low on performance and future orientation along with uncertainty avoidance which proves that Kazakhstan is not task oriented country, it is more relationship oriented.
