Organizational culture and human resource management practices - The modelof culture fit

The Model of Culture Fit postulates that the sociocultural environment affe cts the internal work culture, which in turn influences human resource mana gement practices. This model was tested by two independent cross-cultural s tudies comparing Indian and Canadian managers and employees. In assessing s ociocultural environment and internal work culture, the "participant" techn ique was used in Study 1 (the respondents indicated their own beliefs and a ssumptions), and the "observant' technique was used in Study 2 (the respond ents indicated beliefs and assumptions of the majority of individuals in so ciety). In both studies, India scored higher than Canada on paternalism, po wer distance, uncertainty avoidance, loyalty toward community, reactivity, and futuristic orientation. Indian employees reported having less enriched jobs than did Canadian employees. Mediated multiple regression analyses sup ported the Model of Culture Fit. Results suggest that the paternalism, self -reliance, and employee participation constructs merit further exploration, as does participant methodology.