Cross-Cultural Inequality in IS: A Preliminary Exploration of Scandinavia and France

This essay broadly addresses the issue of how differences in two national cultures, French and Scandinavian, shape the way multinational businesses in those cultures use Information Systems, in particularly collaborative technologies. The thesis of this paper is that differences in low-high context, monochronic/polychronic (Hall, 1990) and power-distance (Hofstede, 1980; 1991) constructs shape the use of IS in France and Scandinavia. Drawing upon a historical anecdote of cross cultural royalty, previously presented by Gerte Hofstede in Software of the Mind, fundamental dynamics of hierarchy and inherent levels of equality versus inequality are illuminated from the perspective of the early governance of Scandinavia by a French king. Readers are asked to reflect upon the fundamental differences in cross cultural parameters as they manifest themselves both in the respective societies’ early perceptions of royalty and in the respective countries’ overall use of information systems in the 21 century. In particular, participants in the Cross Cultural workshop at ICIS 2003 are invited to discuss their thoughts about what these differences in cross cultural inequality mean, in terms of design and managerial implications of IS for geographically distributed collaboration in contemporary multinationals. 1. Prologue “In a peaceful revolution--the last revolution in Swedish history--the nobles of Sweden in 1809 deposed King Gustav IV whom they considered incompetent and surprisingly invited Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, a French general who served under their enemy Napoleon, to become King of Sweden. Bernadotte accepted and he became King Charles XIV; his descendants occupy the Swedish throne to this day. When the new King was installed, he addressed the Swedish Parliament in their language. His broken Swedish amused the Swedes, and they roared with laughter. The Frenchman who had become King was so upset that he never tried to speak Swedish again. In this incident, Bernadotte was a victim of culture shock: never in his French upbringing and military career had he experienced subordinates who laughed at the mistakes of their superior. Historians tell us he had more problems adapting to the egalitarian Swedish and Norwegian mentality (he later became the King of Norway as well) and to his subordinates’ constitutional rights. He was a good learner, however, (except for language), and he ruled the country as a highly respected constitutional monarch until 1844. One of the aspects in which Sweden differs from France is the way its society handles inequality.” Gerte Hofstede in Software of the Mind, 1991, p.23.