Cultural Differences Between Hofstede 's Six Dimensions

Geert Hofstede is a professor who came up with a theory after researching how people from different background/ countries interact with each other, he based this on six different types of dimensions. Which were, power distance, individualism vs collectivism, masculinity vs femininity, uncertainty avoidance and long and short term orientation. This theory was created so that society could come into terms with issues that needs to be organized. Geert Hofstede theory has become more important as society is continuing to become an integrated global economy.

Those that go into the business world quickly recognize that each work environment they find themselves in can be total different from another. This can especially be said even of environments within the United States, from region to region. There is definitely a disparity of workplace environments from country to country. Not only can culture drive a varied atmosphere, but the diversity of the personnel making up that environment can equally create a challenge that a leader must be prepared to manage. Recognizing that special care needs to be placed on communication and perception skills is crucial in our present professional domain. Managers of today need to employee tools from the psychological and sociological field to be successful. Having a deep understanding in the differences in culture and diversity in the workplace is critical, especially when debating about accepting a position overseas or assigning an employee to an embedded position abroad. With a broad knowledge of cultural differences and diversity, success as a manager and the stability of a positive work environment can be achieved and maintained without unnecessary effort and focus.

Hofstede’s five dimensions of culture are power distance, individualism v collectivism, masculinity v femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term v short-term time orientation. In the film the five dimensions are present, in the dimension of power distance it clear with the powerful positions that all the characters have within their professional lives. The way they live and own lavish houses leads to believe that they don’t believe they are equals to everyone else because of their status. Most of the couples demand respect and expect not to be question in their motives, which is a higher power context. Next is individualism versus collectivism, in

The measurements of Geert Hofstede that are going to be examined are power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity, individualism/ collectivism and long term orientation. Power distance in a culture is the degree to which people accept unequal distribution of power. In high power distance societies people feel dependent on those in power and expect direction from them. It is important to understand this when

Globalization and technological advancement have dictated the need for managers to deal with multiple ethnic groups with different culture in their day to day interactions. According to Kulkarni (2012), cultures play critical roles in individuals, including values, beliefs, humor, worries, fears, hopes, opinions, attachments, and anxieties.

Dr. Hofstede performed a comprehensive study of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture. In the 1970’s, as a Dutch researcher Dr. Geert Hofstede, collected and analyzed data from 116,000 surveys taken from IBM employees in forty different countries around the world. From those results, Hofstede developed a model that identifies four primary dimensions of differentiate cultures. These include: Uncertainty Avoidance (UA), Masculinity-Femininity (MAS), Individualism-Collectivism (IND), Power and Distance (PD). After a further study of the Asian culture by researcher Michael Bond in 1991, Hofstede added a fifth dimension in his theory, Long- and Short-term time orientation (LTO), also referred to as the Confucian Dynamism. His research has framed how cultural differences can be used in professional business transactions. Geert Hofstede 's dimensions analysis can assist the business person in better understanding the intercultural differences within regions and between countries.

Using Hofstede’s four cultural dimensions as a point of reference, what are some of the main cultural differences between the United States and France?

The importance of understanding cultural, ethnic and gender differences by managers and professionals in a business setting is essential to make the work environment comfortable. In every culture there are basic standards of thinking, and acting and these cultural differences strongly influence workplace values and communication. What may be considered acceptable and natural in the workplace for one person may be unacceptable for another person. People from diverse cultures bring new ways of thinking, creativity and language skills needed to survive in today’s work force. In many

This paper will be about the relation between the cultural dimension ‘power distance’ and three management principles we chose and will also be about the applicability of these management principles. This is quite interesting because even though we know that the cultural dimensions, by Geert Hofstede, and the management principles, by Fayol, have something to do with each other, the more the cultural dimensions differ, the more the ranking of the management principles will differ in the compared countries. We will now try to find out if some of these principles are more linked to a certain cultural dimension, in our case Power Distance, than others and we will find out whether these

​In this era of globalization, people from different countries, cultures, languages and backgrounds are now communicating, meeting and doing business with one another more than ever before. As people are starting to move together, it is necessary for them to have cultural sensitivity. Cultural sensitivity is being aware that both cultural differences and similarities exist between people. These differences and similarities involve attitudes, behaviors and communication styles. This need for cultural sensitivity has become even more important in today’s society as many countries are starting to expand globally. This essay will explore three reasons why cultural sensitivity is an important characteristic in today’s globalized education institutes and workplace. It will mainly focus on international commerce, work etiquette and growing global education.

Geert Hofstede is an influential Dutch researcher in the fields of organizational studies and more concretely organizational culture, also cultural economics and management. He is a well-known pioneer in his research of cross-cultural groups and organizations and played a major role in developing a systematic framework for assessing and differentiating national cultures and organizational cultures. His studies demonstrated that there are national and regional cultural groups that influence behavior of societies and organizations.

Professor Hofstede has studies that show how values in the workplace are influenced by culture. Today’s leaders often encounter employees and peers that come from different cultures. Looking into these studies helps find valuable information that can be used for effective leadership. Recognizing, accepting, and altering leadership styles based on these differences will make everyone’s job easier and mostly importantly the company will thrive.

When a business decides to venture internationally into different countries with its products, services, and operations, it is very important that the company gains an understanding of how the culture of the different societies affects the values found in those societies. Geert Hofstede conducted one of the most famous and most used studies on how culture relates to values. Hofstede study enabled him to compare dimensions of culture across 40 countries. He originally isolated four dimensions of what he claimed summarized different cultures — power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism versus collectivism, and masculinity versus femininity (Hill, 2013, p.110). To cover aspects of values not discussed in the original paradigm Hofstede has since added two more dimensions — Confucianism or long-term orientation and indulgence versus self-restraint (Hofstede, n.d.). Because of the way Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are given an index score from 0-100, it is easy for a company to get a general comparison between the cultures they are expanding into and the culture they are already in.

Every country has their way of thinking when it comes to working. Some country work and think differently from others. Using Geert Hofstede Six Dimension’s of Cultures, I’ll compare and contrast the differences between China and the United States on how they impact work relationships.

The United States and China boast the two largest economies in the world but, despite this fact, these two countries have very little in common. At first glance, this may seem very obvious to most people but, what exactly is it that makes these two countries so different? How is it that such different perspectives and approaches can both lead to great success? Hofstede’s six dimensions of culture are an attempt to answer these questions and more. Dr. Geert Hofstede, studied employees of the computer firm IBM in over fifty different countries. When he examined his findings he found “clear patterns of similarity and difference along the four dimensions” (Manktelow, Jackson Edwards, Eyre, Cook and Khan, n.d.). The fact that he focused his research on solely IBM employees allowed him to eliminate company culture as a differentiating factor and “attribute those patterns to national and social differences” (n.d.). He used his findings to originally identify four dimensions, later expanded to six, that could “distinguish one culture from another” (n.d.). The six dimensions all on a scale from 0 to 100 are: