 We are discussing national cultures and in this topic we are going to discuss the dimension of individualism versus collectivism Individualism collectivism is something which we have discussed minutely Here and there in different topics, but in this topic we are going to look at its minute dimensions and detailed description An individualistic culture is generally characterized by a a high-value placed on one's independence The most important part of individualistic culture is that people like to live independently They do not want to depend on anyone and they do not want people to depend on them second thing is a high-value placed on autonomy autonomy means Having the discretion to make your own decisions and do your own work So autonomy is preferred in individualistic cultures then a high-value placed on privacy people do not want others to encroach upon their private lives their Private space so they don't want them to talk about their personal issues or to Come and visit their home and come unannounced So the value is placed on privacy Then in an individualistic culture there is a high-value placed on a belief in one's own worth so people believe that they are worthy of Being treated well of being treated fairly of being treated Independently they don't have to depend on other They don't need to give them any permission, they don't need to give them any reference They have so much ability and confidence that they can make a mark and they can make their own worth so believe in one's own worth is their in individualistic culture and Confidence in one's own ideas and opinions so people are not Affected by the opinion of other people. They are not affected by that They are confident that their ideas, their opinions, their style are okay and they are okay for them It doesn't matter and they don't care what other people are thinking about that because they are confident about their own thinking So on all these dimensions according to McFarlane and individualistic person is someone who is at the center of his or her own world So an individualistic person is at the center of his own world he or she is the most important person in the world and He has to make decisions on his own and is confident that he can make the decisions on his own And is independent to make the decisions on his own So that kind of a mindset when that occurs collectively in a culture in a society Then that is that culture becomes an individualistic culture On the other hand in the collectivist group Culture the group to which a person belongs for example the family or the community Or even the work organization that is the center of his or her world So in collectivist culture for example, Pakistani culture is a collectivist culture So you would be hearing this kind of statements Family is the most important thing or in Japanese culture even the work organization That is a part of your of your in-group and that is considered to be a close You know influence on how you behave and that is the center of his or of your world So here in a collectivist culture people put their groups interest before their own So for example in Pakistani culture we say that family is the most important thing So anything can be sacrificed for the family, anything can be sacrificed for the children You can sacrifice your interest, you can sacrifice your freedom, even you can sacrifice your independence And then people you know they sacrifice their entire lifetime's earnings They teach the children, they get married, they save for them You know there's so many things in our Pakistani culture that are that show that Pakistani culture may family co-subsidize our importance Even if you know the sacrifice has to be done even if it entails serious personal sacrifices So the group interest comes before even if it comes at the cost of personal sacrifices So that happens in the collectivist culture So in individualistic culture employee organization relationship that are held differently Whereas in a collectivist culture employee organization relationship they are held differently So in an individualistic culture the relationship between the employee and the organization is more of a contractual nature That is the employee offers their labor and they are paid for a salary Then employees specially lower level employees they do not work beyond the daily office hours And if they work beyond the daily office hours they are paid over time And then employee company relationship does not spill over to their private lives These two are completely separate lives and people live separately in their lives So it doesn't matter what you do in your private life, what you do in your organizational life That is something which is completely separate and does not spill over to your home life or to your private life So that happens in the individualistic cultures Whereas in the collectivist culture the employee workplace relationship is something which is emotional as well as contractual Contract is there but in the collectivist culture employees invest their emotions in their workplace So there is lesser boundary between private and professional life so it is blurred So your private life or professional life they are mixed and kind of blurred So your co-workers they are kind of your family friends and you invite them at your place And you mix together and you go for family get-togethers and they are kind of a part and parcel of your life So people who are your co-workers are a part of your private life as well And that has positive influences as well as that has negative influences That people are always looking at what you are doing in your private life and you do not have any privacy to have your own life And then in such kind of collectivist culture the superior is not just a manager But could be a father or mother figure to seek advice from or to get guidance from Even in for example in Japanese culture which is a highly collectivist culture and in which the organization or the workplace That is considered to be a part of your group as well or part of your in-group as well Whereas in Pakistan the organization or the workplace is not that much of that in-group So in Japan even in the organization if you are facing some kind of troubles in your private life Or you are facing some kind of loan or debts the manager that is going to come to your rescue That is not just going to sit there and give you some piece of advice or that person would do something actually To get you out of that trouble Alright so and then in a collectivist culture employees are prepared to work beyond the official working hours if required And that is also that happens without expectation for an overtime or expectations for something extra So people show OCB or organizational citizenship behaviors a lot more in the collectivist cultures But over here it is very important to make the distinction between the in-group and the out-group In some cultures the workplace or the organization is considered to be a part of your in-group So in-group are closer emotionally and for which one is willing to pay Is willing to offer a great deal of loyalty and personal sacrifices And the size of in-group the numbers involved and the kind of people who are in it that vary from culture to culture So in some cultures only the family is the in-group So you are ready to sacrifice and give a great deal of effort to only your family But in some cultures and then what how the family is defined in some cultures the family is You know the close the father mother and the siblings only But in some cultures and the extended family is also considered to be a part of your in-group So your uncles or aunts, nana, nani, dada, dadi, buppi, taya, tata All these relationships are in our culture and you get their names And they show that this is an important aspect of your social culture Whereas in western culture there is the single word aunt, uncle and cousin So it doesn't matter whether that is a person the person is your uncle or uncle Or uncle or uncle or uncle So that kind of a difference is reflected in the words that you use for that in-group So in Pakistan the in-group is wider And then in for example Japanese culture the in-group is again even more wider So it is family as well as the work life So in Pakistani culture the workplace is not considered to be that much of an in-group So you do not take care of your employees and your workplace members The way you take care of your family but in Japanese culture you take care of your employees Like your own children and like your own very close keth and kin So that varies So if the workplace is considered to be an in-group Then the persons will be ready to make the sacrifices for the workplace And if that is considered to be an out-group Even if the culture is collectivist For example in Pakistan, Iran or such kind of in India That is even the culture is collectivist People they give a lot of importance to their in-groups Because the organization is not considered to be in-group That is why the sacrifice level or the emotional attachment of people is not that high As it is there in for example the Japanese culture So the culture varies on two dimensions Individualistic and collectivist dimension And then what mediates the effect of individualism or collectivism Is what and what is the size and the extent of the in-group To which you consider to be a collectivist part of your social circle So that is how the distinction is made between organizational dynamics That happen in different kind of cultures So in Pakistani culture although it is a collectivist culture But because work, your organization is not a part of the in-group You will not expect people to be highly emotionally evolved Or ready to make sacrifices for the organization So that distinction needs to be made That has got some very important implications for the human resource manager Who is working in who is trying to manage different type of cultures