Hofstede's Dimensions Of The Organizational Culture

In essence this dimension deals with the relationship between the individual and the collectives in a given society. It is reflected in the way in which people live together. For example, nuclear families, extended families, tribes and other larger communities. It directly effects peoples values and behaviours. In some cultures individualism is sometime to be sought after but in others it is seen as alienation.

The organization culture as a leadership concept has been identified as one of the many components that leaders can use to grow a dynamic organization. Leadership in organizations starts the culture formation process by imposing their assumptions and expectations on their followers. Once culture is established and accepted, they become a strong leadership tool to communicate the leader 's beliefs and values to organizational members, and especially new comers. When leaders promote ethical culture, they become successful in maintaining organizational growth, the good services demanded by the society, the ability to address problems before they become disasters and consequently are competitive against rivals. The leader 's success will depend to a large extent, on his knowledge and understanding of the organizational culture. The leader who understands his organizational culture and takes it seriously is capable of predicting the outcome of his decisions in preventing any anticipated consequences. What then is organizational culture? The concept of organizational culture has been defined from many perspectives in the literature. There is no one single definition for organizational culture. The topic of organizational culture has been studied from many perspectives and disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, organizational behavior, and organizational leadership to name a few. Deal defines organizational culture as values,

Looking at the chart the first dimension of culture plotted is individualism-collectivism. This dimension addresses how people define themselves and their relationships with others. Cultures that fall on the individualism side of the continuum share four characteristics. First, such cultures consider the individual to be the most important entity in any social setting. Second, individualistic cultures stress independence rather than dependence. Third, individualistic cultures reward individual achievement. The last characteristic is; individualistic cultures value each individual’s uniqueness.

Organizational culture is not a new concept in the world of organizational behavior. Yet despite its age, it still has many varied definitions as well as philosophies on its importance and impact to the success of a company. One definition is that organizational culture is a cognitive framework consisting of attitudes, values, behavioral norms, and expectations shared by members of an organization (Greenberg, 2013, p. 368). Greenberg (2013) further explains organizational culture through an analogy of a tree. Organizational culture are similar to the roots of a tree.

The organizational culture can encourage or discourage effectiveness, depending on the nature of the values, beliefs, and norms” (Ivancevich, Konopaske, & Matteson, 2011). Organizational culture can be very friendly, very task oriented, competitive or driven to be highly productive or it can be disorganized and unproductive. The culture is based on the history of the company and the atmosphere that is created and nurtured over time. This culture guides the language the employees use their loyalty and many more areas. Organizational culture is an important social characteristic that influences organizations, group, and individual behavior with in a company (Hartnell, Ou, & Kinicki, 2011). The Culture of an organization affects the way people behave, how they address customers, the atmosphere, perception, values, and beliefs. Employee’s performance and effectiveness can also be determined by an organization’s culture. Every organization has its own culture based on shared expectations, values and attitudes and its influence on individuals and groups (Ivancevich et al., 2011). People inside of an organization have a big effect on the culture because of their values, beliefs, and ideology. Companies try to hire people who have the same values as the company so that they will fit into the organization. People stay with organizations that have a

Organizational culture comprises the fundamental values, assumptions, and beliefs held in common by members of an organization (O’Hagan, & Persaud, 2009). What is known is that employees often impart the organizational culture to their colleagues whereupon the culture effects how employees relate to one another and their work environment. What can be said is that the development of an organization’s culture is dependent on elements such as structure, change and policies (Urrabazo, 2006). Furthermore, according to Griffin, Moorhead and Gregory (2009), it is recognized that employee’s behaviours and attitudes can be influenced in a

The culture of an organization is as unique and diverse as the individuals are who live and work within it. In fact, the above definition of organizational culture provided by Schein (1985a) suggests an image of a living, breathing and influential force engaged in a series of reciprocal interactions with its members. Furthermore, the culture of an organization does not simply appear but is one that is constructed and developed over a period of time. For example, Stackman, Pinder and Conner (2000) describe organizational culture as being comprised of a system of layering or as a “deep construct.” The idea being that the culture of an organization is similar to the skin of an onion encompassing layers of values, beliefs, assumptions,

Every organization operates and functions in a different way. Rather it be the employees, the structure, or the products and services they provide, each organization will have their own unique way of performing tasks and reaching their goals. All organizations have a set of values and norms by which they go by, which sets them apart from other organizations. These values and norms are part of an organization’s culture. According to the textbook, organizational culture is “the set of shared values and norms that control organizational members’ interactions with each other and with suppliers, customers, and other people outside the organization” (pg. 179). Culture is one of the key ways an organization can increase its effectiveness. Organizational culture shapes and controls behavior within the organization. It influences how people respond to a situation and how they interpret the environment surrounding the organization. Therefore, an organization’s culture directly affects its performance and position within the competitive environment. With that being said, an organization with a well-established culture will tend to be more successful than an organization with a poor culture. Employees often spend 40 hours or more per week at their work place, which means organizational culture not only affects their work lives, but their personal lives as well. In attempt to better understand organizational culture, I will take a look at Chick-fil-A, a fast food restaurant

Masculinity values are those who are determined, fierceness, performance, and the acquisition of money and material objects. Whereas for femininity values are focus on quality of life, maintaining personal relationship, and care for the weak and the environment are emphasized (Rees & Edwards, 2011). In Hofstede et al. (2010), masculinity are high in Japan, German, Italy, and Mexico. According to Hofstede 's analysis, if you were to open an office in Japan, you might have greater success if you appointed a male employee to lead the team and had a strong male contingent on the team. In country like Sweden, there are more to feminine side. They will focus a group which can balance in terms of skills rather than gender significance.

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

Power distance is a value that is essential to differentiate individuals, groups and organisations based on the distance between the leader of a group or head of the organisation, to those present on the lowest rung of the organisational hierarchy. Power distance also relates to the degree to which inequalities are acceptable within the organisational hierarchy. Hofstede (1984) defines power distance as “the degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally”. In organisations where power distance is large, hierarchies are accepted and create social orders where each member has a very specific role. Conversely, in societies where power distance is low, people tend to strive to distribute power equally and question any kind of inequalities.

The term power distance as defined by (De Vito, 2006) is the extent which ordinary people in organizations accept that power in the institution is unequally distributed. Many cultures which have a low power distance do accept power relations which are more democratic in nature. In such organizations, people who hold inferior positions feel free to question their superiors and challenge them when it comes to decision making or policy suggestion. A good example of a country with low power distance is the United States and a country with high power distance is Saudi Arabia (De Vito, 2006).

Uncertainty avoidance refers to the level of anxiety about the future (Hofstede 1980, 2001). Societies that are high in uncertainty avoidance continuously feel the inherent uncertainty in life as a threat that must be

Culture affects and governs all facets of life by influencing values, attitudes and behavior of a society, while organizational culture relates to the unique modes of carrying out their activities (Dartey-Baah, 2013). Furthermore, the nature of organizational culture is largely influenced by the cultural orientation of the individual forming

Power Distance refers to whether individuals accept inequality in power, including within the organisation. Low power distance means individuals expect equality in power and do not accept a leader's authority just because of the leader's position.