Question

Discuss Hofstede’s dimensions of culture

                  

Of considerable importance for a multinational corporation, or any company—small, medium or large—with operations in different countries is how a society’s culture affects the values found in the workplace. Management processes and practices may need to vary according to culturally determined work-related values. For example, if the cultures of Brazil and the United Kingdom or the United States and Sweden result in different work-related values, a company with operations in both countries should vary its management processes and practices to account for these differences.

The most famous study of how culture relates to values in the workplace was undertaken by Geert Hofstede. As part of his job as a psychologist working for IBM, Hofstede collected data on employee attitudes and values for more than 116,000 individuals. Respondents were matched on occupation, age, and gender. The data later on enabled him to compare dimensions of culture across 50 countries.

Answer 1

HOFSTEDE’S DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE

• Hofstede's structure is the most broadly used national cultural system in psychology, human science, marketing, or management studies(Sondergaard, 1994; Steenkamp,2001). Hofstede utilized 116,000 surveys from over 60,000respondents in seventy nations in his observational study(Hofstede, 1984, 1991, 2001).
• He made five dimensions, assigned lists on each to all countries, and connected the dimensions with demographic, geographic, financial, and political parts of the general public (Kale and Barnes, 1992), a feature unmatched by different systems.
• It is the most comprehensive and vigorous regarding the quantity of national societies samples(Smith et al., 1996). In addition, the system is valuable in formulating speculations for near diverse examinations.

Hofstede identified six categories that define culture:

1. Collectivism.
2. Uncertainty Avoidance.
3. Power distance
4. Femininity vs. Masculinity/Gender Association
5. Short-Term vs. Long-Term Orientation
6. Restraint vs. Indulgence

collectivism/Group Attachment

• Group Attachment portrays the relationships individuals have in each culture.
• In individualistic societies, people take care of themselves and their immediate family just though in collectivistic societies, individuals belong to bunches that take care of them in return for loyalty.

Uncertainty avoidance (Vulnerability shirking)

• Uncertainty avoidance alludes to "The degree to which people feel compromised by vulnerability and equivocalness and try to keep away from these situations"(Hofstede, 1991: 113).
• This dimension manages the requirement for very much characterized rules for prescribed behavior.

Power distance

• This measurement mirrors the results of power inequality and authority relations in the public arena.
• It impacts the chain of command and dependence connections in the family and organizational contexts.

Masculinity–femininity/ Gender Association

• The manliness versus womanliness measurement is additionally alluded to as "extreme versus delicate," and thinks about the inclination of society for accomplishment, disposition towards sexuality balance, conduct, and so on.
• Predominant qualities in manly nations are accomplishment and success and in female nations are thinking about others and quality of life and the mentality to care for others.

Long-Term Orientation vs. Short-Term Orientation

• The Long-Term Orientation vs. Short-Term Orientation measurement considers the degree to which society sees its time skyline.
• Long haul direction/long-Term Orientation shows center around the future and include postponing transient achievement or delight so as to make long haul progress. Long haul direction accentuates steadiness, persistence, and long haul development.
• Transient direction/short-Term Orientation shows center around the not so distant future, includes conveying momentary achievement or delight and places a more grounded accentuation on the present than what's to come. Momentary direction underlines fast outcomes and regards for the convention.

Indulgence vs. Restraint

• Indulgence vs. Restraint measurement thinks about the degree and propensity for the general public to satisfy its wants. As it were, this measurement spins around how social orders can control their driving forces and wants.
• Indulgence shows that a general public permits moderately free satisfaction identified with getting a charge out of life and having a great time.
• Restraint shows that a general public stifles the satisfaction of requirements and manages it through social standards.

PRAGMATIC ILLUSTRATIONS/EXAMPLES

Individuals in collectivistic social orders, for example, the greater part of Latin American, African, and Asian nations, and the Middle East, underscore the commitments they have toward their ingroup individuals and are eager to forfeit their individual needs and wants for the advantages of the gathering. Collectivists accentuate fitting in; they esteem a feeling of having a place, amicability, and similarity, and are bound to practice restraint over their words and activities since they think of it as youthful or impulsive to openly communicate one's musings, assessments, or feelings without considering their effect on others. They care about their associations with ingroups, frequently by treating them uniquely in contrast to outsiders or outgroup individuals, which is otherwise called particularism.