 In this topic we are going to discuss the cultural dimension of a national culture that affect the soft aspects of the organization. Previously we had discussed what soft aspects of the organization are influenced by the national culture. Now we are going to talk about what aspects of the national culture actually affect the soft aspects of the organization. So in this topic we are basically going to discuss the various different aspects and elements of the national culture and how does it affect the soft aspects of the organization. So number one is attitude to power and authority. If you have more power distance in the national culture and the authority has more formal exercise, that will affect how your human resource management is managed. Then second thing is tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty. In some national cultures tolerance, risk tolerance is high and some are low. So in such situations how does your human resource tolerate risk, change, uncertainty, that comes from the national cultural values. Then attitude to risk and risk taking, that is also linked to tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty. Then another aspect is individualism and collectivism. If individualism is there in the national culture then people would be self-oriented, they would be considered about their own benefits, they would be considered about their own success, their own performance. Whereas if there is a collectivist culture people would be concerned about group orientation, concerned about the success of those people as a group. Then in the national culture you see that people have a shared understanding of acceptance of responsibility. For example if you look in western culture, you see that their teenage children start taking responsibility for their life. Even you see that in pre-school children start taking basic care of themselves, taking responsibility for their training. So you see that in western culture children wash their clothes, cook their own food, wear their own clothes. And then as they go into adulthood they move out of their parents' houses and take responsibility of their own self. And then they also work with their parents. And similarly they have an approach for accepting responsibility. Whereas if you look in Pakistani culture people are reluctant. We are reluctant to give responsibility to our children and that is why the younger generation starts accepting responsibility very late. That would definitely then affect how people respond in your organization. Then another aspect of your culture is interpersonal trust. People trust each other so much. There is a national culture in which people know that they will not betray each other. They will not lie. In general there is an environment of honesty but in some places this does not happen. So there is lack of interpersonal trust. Then what is a very important aspect of a national culture is the attitude to other people's opinion. How important are the opinions of other people and how much space do you provide them? How much do you give them the margin that they can hold different opinions? There are some cultures in which there is no basis to implement their own opinion. It is very important to follow traditions. Even in Pakistani culture you get the impression that it is very important to follow traditions. We cannot hold our personal opinion. So this kind of a cultural value would then obviously be affecting your dynamics. Then attitude to sharing information and knowledge with others. This is also a very important aspect of your culture. Some cultures share knowledge and information with others easily. But in some cultures sharing information and knowledge is considered very difficult. Then is the recognition of the rights of the others to be consulted with. So the consideration of other people's rights is also an important aspect of a national culture. Then preference for certain leadership behavior. For example, in France there is a pattern art culture of leadership behavior in which there is a patternistic leadership. In such a situation, participative leadership cannot be successful. Then in certain cultures there is preference for independence and autonomy. For example, in American culture there is a lot of preference for independence and autonomy. And people want to do things on their own. And it is difficult for them to depend on others. So that then translates into how people work. In such a situation people want to work independently. And they want to give autonomy to them so that they can work with their own will. Then another aspect of your national culture is how self-confident and self-reliant people are. This is very much related to the acceptance of responsibility. Because when you accept responsibility quickly you become confident. You become self-confident and you rely on your resources. So that is also linked with the individualistic, collectivistic aspect of the culture. Because when you are in an individualistic culture you have more self-confidence because you have a history of doing things on your own. And that leads you to have self-confidence on yourself and be self-reliant. Then in some cultures there is more achievement orientation or ambition. More achievement is highlighted and ambition is highlighted. Some cultures are more passive towards this aspect. Then attitude to conflict and harmony. Some cultures prefer harmony. Some cultures prefer conflict or do not mind conflict. So in such a situation your conflict management strategies and your crisis management strategies will definitely vary. Then how much work ethic and honesty is there in your professional environment. How much work ethic people follow and honestly work with transparency. That will also lead to how you manage your human resource policies. And finally attitude to the nature of human beings. What do you think of people? What do you think of people's nature? Do you think that people can be worked with coercively? Do you think that they have to be worked with forcefully? Or do you think that people should be given autonomy? Should they be given responsibility? Should they be given authority? Should they be included in decision making? So this is a general aspect of your culture. Do you think that they work with themselves and take responsibility? Or do you think that they have to be worked with forcefully? So if you have a mindset to work with forcefully, then definitely your human resource policies will have a lot of supervision and monitoring aspects. But if you think that people take responsibility themselves, then you will be given autonomy and they will be delegated authority. So this is how various different aspects of your culture affect the soft aspects of your organization.