Gerard Hendrik Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory

Culture is an observable, powerful force in any organization. “Made up of its members’ shared values, beliefs, symbols, and behaviors, culture guides individual decisions and actions at the unconscious level. As a result, it can have a potent effect on a company’s well-being and success” (One Page, n.d.).

Over the years the concept of culture has shaped people and what they believe in. According to the textbook culture is defined as a set of beliefs, traditions, and practices. The conception of culture can be described as material or nonmaterial. Material culture is described as everything that is a part of our constructed, physical environment. On the other hand, nonmaterial culture refers to values, beliefs, behaviors, and social normal. I believe culture can be defined and shaped in many ways. I feel that culture differs from one location to another because the natural environment has an impact on the culture. Also, some people come up with their own ideas and values. There are changes within cultures across time because people grow and develop

Culture plays a paramount role in our lives. “It is what shapes who we are and how we view the world” (Thorp & Sanchez, 1998,

Prince George’s Annual Traditional POW Wow is an event put on by the Prince George Friendship Centre, it takes place at the Carrie Jane Gray Park. It is rich in energy and historical popular culture. Hosting the powwow is a way of ensuring the rich heritage of the aboriginal people is preserved. The word Pow Wow, or pau wau, means a gathering of people coming together to trade. Explorers misinterpreted the ceremony of medicine men dancing, thinking all natives gathered to sing and dance in this manner.

The identities that each person possesses is influenced according to their attitudes, values and beliefs embedded in their culture. When people hear the word cult, the images of satan worshipping, animal sacrifices and evil, pagan rituals automatically come to mind. However, in reality, the majority of cults do not involve these things and are in fact simply a religious system with alternate beliefs. The word though refers to an unorthodox sect whose members distort the original doctrines of the religion. Heaven’s Gate is a cult that is centred in California, founded by Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles in 1993. They are a UFO based ‘destructive doomsday’ cult who believed that evil space aliens called ‘Luciferians’ had kept

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.

T. S. Kord, in a 2016 article for Cultural Dynamics, stated that he had a new theory for why our culture enjoys horror films in that “horror films primarily seek to elicit not fear, but guilt” (69). He said this because he felt that horror films acted as a way for people to feel the guilt that they should be feeling about various issues in life but are not. Kord also felt that violence was a vehicle through which this genre caused people to wrestle with the guilt they should be feeling. While this may be the case for the horror genre, it may be different for a newer genre that, although normally categorized in the science fiction class of movies, takes some cues from horror. This genre is that of the dystopian future, a normally violent, somber

I like to think I see the world as a place with many different people who all have something to offer. When reading the article List of the Five Dimensions of Culture & How Each Affect Employee Behavior by Marilyn Lindblad, I agreed with all five dimensions in the article. I have experienced the power distance dimension before in the workplace. I have felt that I am only there to do the work no one else wants to do and my opinion does not matter. I also have experienced the individualism approach in the work place and believe that I am a collectivist employee that is dedicated to the organization that I work for. The company that I currently work for has a feminine culture and truly does care about their employees. I believe everyone

The attitude, values, ideals and beliefs of individuals are greatly influenced by the culture in which they live. Precisely, culture is the sum total of the ways of life of people in a particular society.

Culture is the definition of a person, like the prologue to your favorite story. The not so scientific DNA that makes you, you. The influences and people that shape your behavior, and change your characteristics. It is the environment in which you are surrounded by. The reasons behind your peculiarity. Your culture is the most important thing, your culture is you. My culture is the constant of support that my family gives me, even if I do screw up sometimes. My culture is pureness of the love that I receive, and knowing how genuine it really is. My culture is the reliability of my friends, and the constant reassurance that they have my back. I am extremely family oriented and this allows me to succeed in tackling my dreams, one at a time.

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.

The world we live in is such a unique and diverse place, and with new technological advances being made every day, we are becoming more intertwined and in tune with each other. With a click of a button, we have to ability to view and chat with others that live on the opposite side of the world. With that being said, we are also being exposed to a multitude of cultures, beliefs, and traditions that may be quite different from our own, and some cultural practices can be seen as immoral when viewing them from an outsider’s perspective. In order to evaluate these practices practically and properly, there are three theories that can be used when evaluating the morality of practices from other cultures. These three theories include ethical relativism,

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.

1. Power distance index (PDI): The degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.