Over the last few decades, psychologists, and psychiatrists, in addition to researchers in other fields have been involved with several studies pertaining to the differences of cultures encountered in many countries. One of the most interesting researches was by Geet Hofstede who began his studies in the 1965 (Jan, n.d). He published his first book on his findings in the 1980s. It included four cultural dimensions: individualism-collectivism; uncertainty avoidance; power distance (strength of social hierarchy) and masculinity-femininity (Jan, n.d). He added a fifth dimension, the long-term versus short term orientation later on, and in 2010 he added a sixth dimension, the indulgence versus self-restraint (Jan, n.d). In 1993, Dr. Robert J. House at the University of Pennsylvania started a huge research called the GLOBE project which stands for: Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research (Wikipedia, Global leadership, n.d.). The GLOBE project studied the findings of Hofstede and expanded its investigation to cover 62 countries, 170 co-country investigators and over 17000 managers worldwide (Wikipedia, Global leadership, n.d.). The GLOBE project includes 9 cultural dimensions also called cultural competencies which are:
Performance Orientation
Uncertainty Avoidance
Humane Orientation
Institutional Collectivism
In-Group Collectivism
Assertiveness
Gender Egalitarianism
Future Orientation
Power Distance
In the textbook, McLean lists 9 divergent
Understanding the differences and similarities inherent in other cultures may provide opportunities when working with individuals (or groups) who may have different cultural values, beliefs, and/or norms. There are multiple ways to explore different cultures. One way is through Hofstede’s (2017) cultural dimension; which are currently made up of six broad categories, including high-low power distance, individualism-collectivism, masculinity-femininity, uncertainty avoidance, long-short term orientation, and indulgence-restraint. It is beyond the scope of this paper to explore all these cultural dimensions in great detail; however, it is important to understand some of the implications of these scores. The scores for both the US and China can be seen in Table 1, along with the differences between each score.
Communication is what the employees need from their employers. Employees look for organizations where communication and process are transparent.
Geert Hofstede believed that national cultures were potentially homogenous with organisational cultures, and that national cultures could be quantitatively identified and compared (King and Lawley, 2013). Hofstede over a four-year period carried out 116,000 morale surveys, from 72 countries, using IBM subsidiaries (Kirkman, Lowe and Gibson, 2006) and from his findings derived a four fold dimensional framework for measuring national cultures. His first dimension, Power Distance, is the extent to which people within a nation are accepting of the unequal distribution of power within institutions and organisations (Hofstede, 1980). This dimension also helps to explain the way in which leaders and subordinates interact and under what pretences (King and Lawley, 2013). His second dimension is Uncertainty Avoidance, which measures the
Coca-Cola is a brand that can be found everywhere. Coca-Cola has been around since 1892 and is stronger than ever. Everyone knows of their products and with over 500 non-alcoholic beverages executed to date, they are highly recognizable as one of the world’s most popular carbonated beverage companies. The Company 's segments include Europe, Asia. Africa, Europe, and Latin America as well as North America (Reuters, 2016).
The model of six dimensions of national culture, one of the most powerful studies to describe cultural differences, is the result of the detailed research by Geert Hofstede and Geert Jan Hofstede between 1967 and 1973. By measuring the six dimensions on a scale from 0 to 100 the model helps to differentiate cultures as well as explaining work-related values. Hofstede identified the following six dimensions including the Power distance index (PDI), Individualism (IDV), Masculinity (MAS), Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI), Long term orientation versus Short term normative orienta-tion (LTO), Indulgence versus Restraint (IND) which will be analyzed now. (Griffin & Pustay 2015 p.127); (de Mooij 2010, pp.74-75); (Hofstede, Hofstede & Minkov 2010 pp. 55-296)
In any organization, it’s extremely important for the people in leadership roles to possess a strong leadership role. According to the text Organizational Behavior, “leadership is the process of developing ideas and a vision, living by values that support those ideas and that vision, and influencing others to embrace them in their own behaviors, and making hard decisions about humans and other resources” (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011). Regardless of what type of leader an individual is, their main goal is to lead an organization’s employees to the desired goal. Each leader is different, and may approach how they get employees to achieve the organization’s goals in a number of different manners. Three extremely popular leadership styles that are found in organizations around the globe are Transactional, Transformational, and Authentic leadership.
Hofstede defined the culture as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from that another”. His five types of cultural dimensions are the most popular in many cultural area studies, include: (1) power distance; (2) individualism vs. collectivism; (3) uncertainty avoidance; (4) masculinity vs. femininity; and (5) long-term vs. short-term orientation. These dimensions offer an insight towards behaviors and standards in the cultural context which are useful for many motivators to explore the people in different culture. The text suggested that countries with high uncertainty avoidance will lead to more job security, whereas people with low uncertainty avoidance (for example, U.S.) are motivated by new ideas and innovation. People with high power distance are motivated by relationships between subordinates and their boss, while people with low power distance are motivated by team work and relationships with their peers. On the other hand, individuals from high individualism are motivated by opportunities and autonomy; collectivism (for example, Japan) suggests that motivation should be done with group goals and support. Individuals from high masculine culture are comfortable with the tradition and division of works and roles; in a feminine culture, the motivators help people through flexible roles and work
The most famous researcher of prevailing cultures in different countries goes by the name of Geert Hofstede. “He conducted one of the most comprehensive studies of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture” (). With the help of his research team, Professor Geert Hofstede created a model of national culture consisting of six dimensions. “The cultural dimensions represent independent preferences for on state of affairs
The Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research Program, or GLOBE, is an extensive research program devoted to understanding how culture influences leadership and different organizational processes (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, Gupta, 2004, pp. 9). This program consists of three separate phases, the first being an empirical study focused on developing research instruments (House et al., 2004, p. 9). The second phase is primarily geared toward the “assessment of the nine core attributes of societal and organization cultures” which are referred to as cultural dimensions (House et al., 2004, p. 9). And the last phase is currently underway as an investigation of the impact and effectiveness of specific leader styles
The GLOBE research program recognized nine cultural dimensions: uncertainty avoidance, power distance, institutional collectivism, in-group collectivism, gender egalitarianism, assertiveness, future orientation, performance orientation, and humane orientation.
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.
This report is comparison between Hofstede and GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organisation Behaviour Effectiveness) research on Culture and Leadership. Hofstede and GLOBE is similar, they both investigation the behaviour of organisations in different countries and across culture. But the way and research scope still quite different. In this report we will summarized and reviewed the theoretical dimension of various culture and leadership. Include the deficiencies in Hofstede’s work which the GLOBE study sought to address.
Dr. Geert Hofstede created the first four dimensions of culture in the 1970’s after analyzing statistical data from IBM over the course of many years. In the 1990’s he created the fifth dimension after noticing specific cultural differences in Asian countries and their ties to Confucian philosophy. (www.mindtools.com) The five dimensions are as follows: Power/Distance (PD), Individualism (IDV), Masculinity (MAS), Uncertainty/Avoidance Index (UAI), and Long Term Orientation (LTO). I will only discuss a few of these as they seem more prominent to this case. First, let’s talk about the Power/Distance (PD) dimension as it pertains to Ms. Myers in South Korea.
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.
As Millennials continue to grow and dominate the workplace, leaders must identify the factors that will create the next generation of global leaders and how to effectively tap into the vast reservoirs of technological knowledge Millennials bring to the table. This speech will outline the relationship of cause and effect as it relates Millennials, the next generation of global leaders.