What is the difference between individualism and collectivism What is the relationship between government and business under each orientation?

Countries vary greatly in the individualism they exhibit. Individualist societies emphasize autonomy, assertiveness, freedom and independence. Societies with a more collectivist bent, in which the group takes precedence over personal needs, predicate behavior based on social obligations, harmony and cooperation. Transposed to the workplace setting, individualism and collectivism inform how different industrial actors engage with each other in the pursuit of disparate objectives.

Collectivism, Individualism and Culture

1. Different cultures espouse values that are reflected in how people relate to one another in varied contexts, such as the workplace. According to the sociological research of Geert Hofstede, the extent to which a society is oriented individualistically or collectivistically is a key dimension of that culture. He found the individualism/collectivism framework to underlie basic assumptions and views held by those in a given culture. For example, group precedence in a collectivist society may manifest as reluctance to voice opinions. Individual workers will not speak up unless the group supports it, or people may avoid expressing criticism to maintain group harmony.

Individualism and Collectivism in the Industrial Context

1. In an individualistic society, Hofstede contends the employer/employment relationship is contractual and based on self-interest, whereas such a relationship would be moral and family or group-oriented in collectivist ones. However, the book "Industrial Relations: Theory and Practice" says associating individualism with unitarism and collectivism with pluralism doesn't do justice to the complex nature of workplace relations. Individualism and collectivism have come to characterize different yet related dimensions of the interaction between employers, employees and unions. Individualism reflects how employers pay attention to workers, while collectivism involves how employers deal with organized labor.

Employer Management Styles

1. Industrial relations researchers John Purcell and Bruce Ahlstrand created a matrix illustrating the different types of management styles that could emerge through different approaches to individualism and collectivism. Along the collectivism axis, management might have no dealings with a union, or have adversarial or cooperative relations. On the individualism axis, managers may be involved with employees along a gradient of commitment to employee concerns. When a non-union environment combines with varying modes of addressing the employee, management styles could range from "traditional" and cost-cutting and hostile to unions; "paternalistic" to employees, where the latter is dependent; to "sophisticated human relations," in which the establishment would meet all the needs of its workers.

Employees and Unions

1. Worker participation in unions brings forth the question of how the individualism dimension plays a part in an individual's decision to join a collective such as a union. While individualism in the union context tends to be equated with joining a union for the latter's ability to procure individual services, and collectivism is seen in the historical sense of unions pushing for better employment terms and conditions, evidence of the rise of a cooperative partnership model of union and employee relations should not make unnecessary assumptions about what union members want out of the dynamic.

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