Short Term Orientation Case Study

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i. Long term orientation versus Short term orientation According to the Hofstede’s theory, “Long term orientation stands for fostering of virtues oriented towards future rewards, in particular perseverance and thrift. In opposite, short term stands for the fostering of virtues related to the past and present, in particular, respect for tradition, preservation of face and fulfilling social obligations.” (Hofstede, Culture's Consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations, 2001) For example, Billy does not like Arab Saudi’s workers because they are not productive and not doing work properly. Billy became annoyed with the delay caused by the local workforces. He wants the task is accomplished as soon as possible and emphasis on quick results. The differences between these two countries can be seen from their time orientation. USA more concerned with the past and present and will be concentrate on their job to gain huge returns to in short period. Billy thinks that any delay happened in construction project will cause a loss for company. The strong efforts can lead to get benefits and instant reward. For Arab Saudi, they focused on the future-orientated goals and more consider time commitments …show more content…

There are lesser legal documentation are used in high context culture (Saudi Arabia) compared to low context culture (USA) where legal documentation and contracts are considered crucial to a particular cooperation. For example, Billy was very annoyed by the delay caused by the local workforces. This shows that there must be a deadline agreed upon the construction tasks which means that Billy was put accountable to make sure that the job are being done in time. However, the culture of local workforces where he supervised (Saudi Arabia) does not really concern on the agreement, their kind of agreement is more flexible or

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