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Cultural Difference: Hofstede Framework

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Culture, in my own opinion, is a unique system of values and norms that are believed by a group of people who live in the same society. Since culture is unique, Geert Hofstede tried to study the differences. After the study, he proposed five dimensions to measure the cultural difference between nations. The following parts will explain Hofstede Framework briefly. The first dimension is Power Distance. It is a tool to measure the power difference between levels in organization. In a group with high power distance, the majority of people would tend to respect in authority and establish hierarchy. When observing their behavior, they would have a great esteem on the class of social level. By contrary, a society with a low power distance …show more content…

So, management can change the culture easily in this situation. However, in the low-index nation, it will not only hard to build up, but also hard to break down the culture as they emphasize to view themselves as equal with equal, especially to rebuild. Therefore, management should follow these three advices when they change to culture. Firstly, form a discuss group and invite staff to show their views and concern before decision making. Secondly, try to use more statistics to seek their support within the discussion. The most important is the management must keep the eyes on the behaviors and emotion of the staff the change started. If the negative reaction was found, the management should stop the change and review. If the management follows it, it is easy to change the culture. The second angle is Individualism vs. Collectivism. As the said before, the society would have strong group concept if there is Collectivism. On the other hand, they would emphasize the self-benefit when they prefer Individualism. For this, the main focus should be “Benefit”, there are two different reactions when they meet the change of culture. In the Individualism society, “Self-Benefit” is their main focus. If changing the culture will bring the “Self-Benefit”, they will support the change. Then, Culture is something easy to build up and break down. However, if

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