Introduction This Report will outline Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions (see Appendix A) for Walmart within the US, Germany, Japan and UK respectively than identify mistakes and recommend solutions. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Analysis Power Distance The USA’s power distance approach is low, that being ‘40’ on the power distance scale (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.). This low power distance indicates that subordinate employees of Walmart – USA would be more willing and have greater encouragement to challenge those in higher positions within the firm, and question managerial decision making without the fear of losing their position (Taylor & Curtis, 2013). Germany scored 35on the power distance scale. This denotes that firm decision making is highly decentralised, and managerial leadership is challenged. (Hofstede, G. n.d.). This is very similar to the USA which scored 40 which is closely linked to Germany’s score; this denotes that power distance concerns would have been limited. Japan has a median score of 54 on the power distance scale, this means that employees of Wal-Mart will have some level of decision making power. However not as much as employees in the USA chain as they scored a 40. This shows us that the USA is not as hierarchal as Japan and that power distance may have been somewhat of an issue in the expansion into Japan but much less serious than other areas. The UK has a low level of power distance, scoring a 35 on the power distance Hofstede model
I feel that we have a low power distance, because though we all have our specific roles, some holding more power than others, we all collectively voice our options and have a collective decision making process. We all work together and we all trust each other to do well.
Question 1. How might the troubles with the tourism company be explained by Hofstede’s dimension of culture. Make sure to look at both Japanese and American cultures.
It is this gap in cultural understanding and increase in globalization that makes cultural models, such as Hofstede’s, that much more important to learn and apply during business relations. Many companies that try to expand beyond their current borders end up failing due to refusing to recognize the differences between cultures. An American company that expands into foreign markets, yet tries to run their operations and marketing as they would in America, is going to have a difficult time. Products and well as company practices need to be adapted to suit the country’s business culture, current market climate, taste/preferences of the citizens, etc.
After reading through the chapters there is one thing that really suck out to me and it came from Chapter 1. It was the idea that culture has really changed the way we look at our relationships. If you were to skim over the first few pages you would see how they are different now days compared to 50-60 years ago. It also talked about what might be causing the change in our culture. Even though some of our parents and grandparents don’t like to hear about this “new” style of relationships, this information is true and how generations are now dating.
My biggest concerns as an ECE candidate are my language barrier and my cultural background. I think Korea is a very conservative country because it seems that there are only one standard of success, beauty, and etc. It has been continuously changed as the generation changes, but still, there is not enough understanding of diversity. Since there is one standard for each area, most people think different with others means something is wrong. There is a lack of understanding and acceptance of differences, so many people compare themselves with others to identify themselves and judge others with their own perspective easily. I have lived in that culture for 30 years. If someone asks me, “What cultural competence specifically means to you,” I could
Relatedness is the socially recognized ties that connect people in a variety of different ways. It attempts to understand and record the ways in which people in specific ethnographic contexts articulate and engage in the relationships that are important to them in everyday life. Relatedness can take many forms such as friendship, marriage, parenthood, shared links to a common ancestor, workplace association, just to name a few. These forms can be shared via many different means as well. They can be shared physically by a body substance such as blood, semen, genes, or mother’s milk. It can be through spiritual means such as soul, spirit, nurturance, or love. You can also have cases where more than one substance is shared.
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?
There are several different challenges for Human Resource Management teams in organizations throughout the world. The HR strategies of these various organizations are very dependent on the culture of the country in which the organization resides. Hofstede’s theory of cultural dimensions is a great way to distinguish between the traditional HR aspects of organizations in different parts of the world. Although both the United States and Japan have very successful companies, there are differences in the way these organizations handle HR issues.
Power/Distance (PD), “refers to the degree of inequality that exists- and is accepted- among people with and without power. A high PD score indicates that society accepts an unequal distribution of power, and that people understand “their place” in the system. Low PD means that power is shared and well dispersed.” (www.mindtools.com) As an example from the article, Myers goes on to say, “there were basically four levels: VP, director, manager, and worker bee. You only talked to people at your level.” SK Telecom boasted that
In addition to the above institutional differences there are some cultural differences between countries that effect MNCS and HRM. The work of Hofstede focuses on how perceptions and values influence the way people interact and react to each other with the help of five cultural dimensions. Cultural difference namely power distance is the degree to which people in a society perceive the power to be distributed unequally. The high score of PD represents countries with the more organizational hierarchy and more power held by the people at the top levels of the hierarchy. Countries with a high Score of PD include India, China and South American countries. On the contrary, U.S can be one example of countries with low power distance (Hofstede, 2001). The second dimension is of Uncertainty Avoidance. It is the degree to which the individuals in a society are threatened by uncertainty risk. Countries like Saudi Arabia with high power distance and uncertainty avoidance tend to have rigid rules and leaders have more power. For example, India has a unique and diverse culture with a set level of hierarchies. The employees at the top level of hierarchy have more power that can be misused as those in power are backed by governments and unions. The social inequality, poverty and unstable political environment explain the high uncertainty avoidance in the Indian culture. Therefore, HRM uses training and career development programs as means of improving this high level of uncertainty
Communication is one of the most important aspects of our lives. It is a process that ties us together and helps us to get most of our work done. Communication plays a big role in transmitting cultural values from one generation to the next. Communication can be categorized as two; verbal and non verbal. In a multiracial country such as Malaysia good communication can be considered as a savior to keep everyone united. Being a multiracial country, it shows the existence of cultural diversity in Malaysia. Cultural diversity often leads to society’s biggest challenge.
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.
Most people in the United States of America, and many in other countries, are very familiar with Disney Land, in California and the long standing boat ride through Walt Disney’s vision of a world coming together as children from across the globe sing “It’s a small world.” In no other place are these four powerful words more prominent than in the shrinking world of business today. As the world’s corporations seek to expand their brands to the far reaches of the planet, diversity in the work place is becoming copious with people from differing personal beliefs, religious beliefs, nationalities, races, sexes, and genders. It is; therefore, of absolute importance that every person develop a strategy that will enable him/her to embrace strong and professional relationships with each and every person within the organization regardless of their differences. It is the intention of this paper to explore Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Model and to determine how interpersonal relationships with a coworker, who happens to be a native of Japan, can either be positively or adversely affected.
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.
Past experiences have demonstrated that cultural diversity in an organization can lead to issues. For instance, the implementation of a strategy in a context different from where it has been created can be difficult, conflicts between subsidiaries and the headquarters can exist, or management of intercultural teams can be problematic. Walmart in Germany is a relevant example of the cultural context importance when it comes to HRM. In fact, in 1997 and 1998, Walmart acquired two companies in Germany but it was a failure. It can be explained by the fact that feedback of the employees was ignored by managers. For example, in the morning they had to do exercise while singing the name of the brand. This practice may be a morale booster in the United States but in Germany it was seen in a really bad way, such as the practice of spying on colleagues, what can surely be related to the country’s history, among others examples. The US management practices was not in accordance with the German cultural context. (Macaray, 2011)