Who is more humble?

Last week one of my students at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC stated that Canadians are more humble and humane oriented than Americans. Then she proceeded to ask my opinion. I have not answered her yet but her question has been on my mind every day since. I believe her question is an important one for those reading this blog so I will deal with it first here.

Comparison between Americans and Canadians in terms of leadership tendencies is important for both countries. The two nations have the longest shared border of any two countries in the world. They conduct a great deal of commerce and spend considerable time in one another’s countries on vacation. Understanding the leadership profile of one another is imperative for successful business ventures and maintaining friendship.

Humane-Oriented Leadership is one of the nine behaviors and attributes that House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorman, and Gupta (2004) stated were found in the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) study. They define this behavior as, “A leadership dimension that reflects supportive and considerate leadership but also includes compassion and generosity. This leadership dimension includes two subscales labeled (a) modesty and (b) humane orientation” (p.12).

House et al. (2004) stated that in society practices English speaking Canada has a 4.49 rating on humane orientation behavior, the 12th highest, with Zambia being first at 5.23. Germany is the lowest at 3.18. The U.S. has a rating of 4.17 putting it at 27th in rating. GLOBE studied 62 countries. That means that Canada is at the high of end of humane orientation and the U.S. just slightly above the middle in practice. As far as the ideal is concerned English speaking Canada ranks 10 at 5.64 and the U.S. 24 at 5.53. Both countries believe that humane orientation is more important than then actually practice. The highest rank on the ideal of this behavior is Nigeria at 6.09 and the lowest is Thailand at 5.0.

So, the answer to my student is that from the scientific data of House et al. is that Canada has a more humane orientation with the difference being greater in actual practice than it is in the ideal. What does this mean? House et al. gave a chart on the differences between higher humane orientation and lower humane orientation on page 570 where they listed 16 differences. I won’t reproduce the whole chart but here are the five examples for the chart:

High Humane Orientation Societies

1. Others are important (i.e. family and friends).

2. Fewer psychological and pathological problems.

3. Values altruism, benevolence, kindness, love, and generosity have high priority.

4. Need for belonging and affiliation motivate people.

5. Personal and family relationships induce protection for the individuals.

Low Humane Orientation Societies

1. Self interest is important.

2. More psychological and problems.

3. Values of pleasure, self love, and employment have higher priority.

4. Power and material possessions motivate people.

5. Welfare state guarantees social and economic protection of individuals.

It important to remember that both Canada and the U.S. are in the upper half of humane orientation countries but Canada is 14 spots higher than the U.S. in practice. My take on this is that when people from the two countries communicate for business or whatever over reason they can expect the other to act in a fairly similar fashion but that each should expect the Canadian to place greater emphasis on the group and the American on the individual.

What does all of this say about humility? Well, there’s more to come. Remember, we are making a comparison on just one cultural dimension. When looking at the humane orientation dimension what do you see as the implications for your work as either a Canadian or American as you deal with the other country?

Reference:

House, R.J., Hanges, P.J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P.W. & Gupta, V. (2004). Culture, Leadership and Organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 societies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.