The deposit of collectivism in organizational culture in Russia

Purpose The aim of this paper is explore how organizational culture is influenced by collectivism in Russia and draw some recommendations from human resources perspective because Russia differs from most Western countries in several ways, one of the key ones being a much higher tendency to collectivism. Design/methodology/approach The survey questionnaires were used in order to discover interrelations between characteristically collectivism and organizational culture. Organizational culture was turned into the task and relationship orientations approach and three levels of collectivism were distinguished. A total of 586 employees working for various organizations in Russia participated in this study. Findings First, it was discovered that Russians hold collectivistic attitudes (familism and patriotism) showing correlation with both orientations (task and relationships) of organizational culture. The results show that familism is negatively correlated with task orientation, while Patriotism is positively correlated with task and relationship orientations. These findings make it possible to develop recommendations for human resources management (HRM). Research limitations/implications The limitations of the study are related to organizational culture approach and the Russians' multifaceted ethnic and cultural background. Nevertheless, this study illuminates various issues that may influence HRM practices in Russia. Practical implications The Russian organizations have some specific characteristics and this paper explains how those might be better managed. Special attention is paid on the HRM strategy and policy in the Russian context. Originality/value The main value of the paper is related to the contribution to the understanding which cultural factors may influence the HRM practices in Russia.