France's Role As A Member Of The United Nations Security Council

Today, there are 195 countries in the world, but none of them are as unique as (or even similar to) France. It holds claims to some of the richest traditions and cultural heritages that have ever existed. But, these facts are not even the most impressive thing about this country: its language is way more awe-inspiring. French is the only language that is spoken on every single continent, and it has the capability to bring different countries and the world together.

The French Republic is a sovereign state comprising territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. As a member of G7 France ranked as the world’s seventh largest economy. It also has the mixed economy which combines private enterprise and government intervention. France’s economics are unstable, but it is still very competitive in the world. The reason why its economics is denounced is because its high unemployment rate and its extremely unstable CPI.

There are many cultural differences between the United States and France. Some of these are simply social and others are cultural. Hofstede’s Value Dimensions can be used to highlight the differences between the cultures. Individualism vs collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity, power distance, and long-term vs short-term orientation are all characteristics that differ between France and the United States.

For example, taking into account Nisbett, Cohen and Hofstedes studies, we assume how a specific cultural belief, tradition and attitude become part of the person and not just of his/her surroundings. For example, Hofstedes dimension called “Power Distance Index” (PDI), is concerned with attitudes towards authority and hierarchy. This cultural perception makes a huge difference in how people feel with their superiors and how they react to control-authority, -father like figures.

1. Location - Most people associate French culture with Paris, which is a center of fashion, cuisine, art and architecture, but life outside of the City of Lights is very different and varies by region. Historically, the French culture was influenced by Celtic and Gallo-Roman cultures as well as the Franks, a Germanic tribe. France was initially defined as the western area of Germany known as Rhineland but it later came to refer to a territory that was known as Gaul during the Iron Age and Roman era.

The IBM study of employees from the 70 countries was the basis for the dimensions and has been critized since there was only one company in the data set however, Hofstede’s belief was that using just one company would better reveal the national differences. According to the authors Phatak, Bhagat, and Kashalk (2009), he believed this because the IBM employees were the same in other respects like type of work, job descriptions, and education. This study has been stated to be the most comprehensive study of how values are influenced in the workplace (Itim International, 2012). Itim International, (2012) noted that Hofstede’s work established a paradigm in international economics, communication, and cooperation, from which Hofstede developed the first emphirical model of “dimensions” for national organizational culutre.

The first dimension in Hofstede’s theory is power distance, which is considered high in Brazil, and the strong belief in power distance means that the power is distributed unequally, where the less powerful members of organizations within the country accept the difference. With a high distance, Brazilians believe that everyone has a place in the social hierarchy and accept inequalities amongst people; thus, the power holders have more benefits than the less powerful in society. In organizations, authorities and responsibilities in the Brazilian work environment are often centralized. Therefore, the decision-making need to make by the high-ranking people, which evident what hierarchical business is in Brazil. Also, it is important to show status symbols of power to indicate the social position and get respect from others. In contrast, the US score is low which indicates

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.

BP is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and operates in many other countries around the globe. Their commitment to globalization highlights their ability to operate in countries with various cultures and values. Their foreign operations have to align with the social, political, and economic norms of these countries in order to effectively and efficiently run. Geert Hofstede’s work alludes to the difference in societies of countries around the world. His work studies the differences in society through measuring power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity vs femininity, individuality vs collectivism, and time orientation. BP is a great expression of Hofstede’s work as it effectively highlights the main differences of operations in the UK, compared to operations in Canada. In the UK, operations are similar to Canada in regards to power distance. This is evident as workers understand that power is divided unequally within society. The power distance is measured by the PDI indicator and is used to evaluate the distribution of power. Countries with high PDI’s have a tendency to have more distinct roles within a firm, and more power is given to those with higher positions. Conversely, in countries with low PDI’s, it is the opposite. Both the UK and Canada are countries that emphasize a capitalistic society and more wealth to those who have higher positions. This is based on a hierarchal structure which enables more pay for those at the top. As BP is based in the UK,

The dimension of power distance affect the HR activities by reactions to management authority differently among cultures. There will be greater status and authority differences between superiors and subordinates if the power distance increases. The next factor is individualism which it can up to which people in a country prefer to act as individual in the group. Asian countries more toward to group-oriented meanwhile United Stated more prefer to individualism. The last factor are masculinity and femininity which means masculine is for men and femininity is for women. The person with assertiveness, success, and competitiveness well known as masculine meanwhile feminine known by quality of life, close personal relationships, and

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

Dear United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, I would first and foremost like to thank you for entertaining my countries proposal to become a permanent sitting member of the United Nations Security Council. The United Nations leads an invaluable expedition to attain peace and international security throughout the world. On behalf of the people of the Republic of Ireland, I can assure you that we honor our membership by maintaining goals, policies and values that serve only to promote this mission. Ireland has always been famed for its neutrality in times of war, its freedom of press, expression and civil liberties, and it has been a strong proponent of the UN’s promotion of universal standards for human rights. This memo will consist

| * India scores high on this dimension, 77, indicating an appreciation for hierarchy and a Top – Down Structure in society and Organizations. dependent on the boss or the powerholder for direction, acceptance of un-equal rights between the power-priviledged and those who are lesser down in the pecking order, immediate superiors accessible but one layer above less so, paternalistic leader, management directs, gives reason / meaning to ones work life and rewards in exchange for loyalty from employees. * Real Power is centralized even though it may not appear to be and managers count on the obedience of their team members. * Employees expect to be directed clearly as to their functions and what is expected of them. * Communication is top down and directive in its style and often feedback which is negative is never offered up the ladder

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.

In 2012 on September 19th the United Nations Security Council met for its 6838th meeting to address the issue of Children in Armed conflict around the world and the role that the United Nations would play in the event of a Country utilizing children soldiers. The Security Council voted in favor 11 to 0 with only 4 countries abstaining such as China, Pakistan, Russia and Azerbaijan and their abstainment only came from issues with the Resolutions text and not the resolution itself. The Security Council sought to address this issue reiterating “its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security and, in this connection, its commitment to address the widespread impact of armed conflict on children”.