Face, Harmony, and Social Structure: An Analysis of Organizational Behavior Across CulturesFace, Harmony, and Social Structure continues author P. Christopher Earley's investigations of the differences among people within organizations in different cultures. The concept of "face," as set forth by Earley, is a reflection of the individual's struggle for self-definition and understanding, of which a key component is a positioning of self relative to others is a social setting. Face is at the heart of social behavior and provides a consistent linking mechanism to understand behavior across cultures. Earley uses this concept of face as a basis for examination of cross-cultural organizational behavior from an individual's personal perspective. In this work, he develops a mid-range theory of individual behavior, self-concept, and interpersonal process in an effort to explain cultural differences in organizational settings. He sets up a cross-level model, and then attempts to provide a single coherent force--"face"--as an engine driving the entire system that can be used to integrate various social and organizational mechanisms in predicting people's behavior. This understanding of how and why people behave certain ways is a critical tool for studying the impact of individual behavior on the functioning of organizations. Earley's work represents a new theory of self-presentation and face within a cross-cultural context, integrating a cross-level approach ranging from the individual to the organization and to the societal levels of discussion. Face, Harmony, and Social Structure is a truly interdisciplinary work that brings elements of psychology, sociology, and anthropology to organizational studies. It will be illuminating reading for professionals and scholars of management and organizational behavior, as well as to academics in cross-cultural psychology and anthropology. |
Contents
| 3 | |
2 General Framework and Model | 19 |
3 Face and Social Context | 42 |
4 Mianzi as a Form of Face | 67 |
5 Lian as a Form of Face | 80 |
6 The Social Actor | 95 |
7 Harmony and Face | 119 |
8 Societal Context | 141 |
9 Organizational Context and Content | 173 |
10 Resulting Patterns and Consequences | 191 |
11 Conclusions and Research Agenda | 207 |
References | 214 |
Index | 240 |
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Common terms and phrases
actions analysis argue aspect of face behavior capture cetera chaebol chapter characteristic charismatic authority Chinese cognitive collectivism collectivistic concept concerning Confucian construct cultural dimensions Czech Republic define described differentials discussion dynamic emphasis employee environment equilibrium Erez & Earley etic example external face regulation facework focus focused function Gecas goals Goffman guilt harmony high power distance Hofstede Hong Kong impact important in-group individual individual's individualistic influence institutional internal interpersonal Japanese lian and mianzi means membership Michael Bond moral nature norms one's organizational behavior organizational context organizational field organizations orientation perceptions person perspective position potential power distance culture Professor X psychological refers reflects relationship relative role rules self-concept sense shame shame-based social actor social context social exchange social structure social system specific status suggests Sweden theory tight culture tion Triandis uncertainty avoidance understanding various whereas
Popular passages
Page 84 - Rokeach (1973, p. 6) defines a value as "an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end state of existence.
Page 96 - A. value is a conception, explicit or implicit, distinctive of an individual or characteristic of a group, of the desirable which influences the selection from available modes, means, and ends of action" (Clyde Kluckhohn, "Values and Value Orientations," in Talcott Parsons and Edward A.
Page 122 - An economy is in equilibrium when it generates messages which do not cause agents to change the theories which they hold or the policies which they pursue.
Page 126 - Persons that give much to others try to get much from them, and persons that get much from others are under pressure to give much to them. This process of influence tends to work out at equilibrium to a balance in the exchanges. For a person engaged in exchange, what he gives may be a cost to him, just as what he gets may be a reward, and his behavior changes less as profit, that is, reward less cost, tends to a maximum. Not only does he seek a maximum for himself, but he tries to see to it that...
Page 29 - By organizational field, we mean those organizations that, in the aggregate, constitute a recognized area of institutional life: key suppliers, resource and product consumers, regulatory agencies, and other organizations that produce similar services or products.
Page 123 - By the duality of structure I mean that the structural properties of social systems are both the medium and the outcome of the practices that constitute those systems.
Page 50 - In each of these contacts, he tends to act out what is sometimes called a line — that is, a pattern of verbal and nonverbal acts by which he expresses his view of the situation and through this his evaluation of the participants, especially himself. Regardless of whether a person intends to take a line, he will find that he has done so in effect.
Page 158 - First, it is assumed that there is a limited number of common human problems for which all peoples at all times must find some solution.
Page 42 - The term face may be defined as the positive social value a person effectively claims for himself by the line others assume he has taken during a particular contact.1 Face is an image of self delineated in terms of approved social attributes...
Page 158 - The second assumption is that while there is variability in solutions of all the problems, it is neither limitless nor random but is definitely variable within a range of possible solutions.