IHRM culture

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

Hofstede’s dimension of culture offers a gauge to measure the similarities and differences that are dominate among people of different cultures. Therefore, the three countries selected for this analysis are China, India and the United Kingdom (UK), as Hofstede’s dimensions of culture, examines individualism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, power distance and long-term orientation, associated with the management culture in these nations.

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

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

Geert Hofstede conducted different studies for business culture; most of the comprehensive studies are based on how the values in the workplace are influenced by culture. This paper briefly describes how the Hofstede four dimensions of national cultures distinguished between two countries. The four dimensions that Hofstede discovered were: Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, and Uncertainty Avoidance. He used four dimensions to show the difference between each country culture. It shows how cultures are different by 1) less powerful members of institutions and organization within countries. 2) acknowledge people`s hard work 3) the society will be driven by men or women can do anything a man can do. 4) Issues people face in the organization within the society. The four dimensions of national culture were based on research being done by Geert Hofstede. On the basis of these national culture dimensions, countries used these methods to compare the different values with countries around the world.

An Organization success depends on how employees, leaders, groups, and individuals work together. Now a company is usually ran on a set of foundations that have been laid out in terms such as, but not limited to, values, beliefs, norms, language, and habits. In order to have a successful working environment, one must reach out to get to know their employee beliefs, values, most importantly get to know their employees personalities. Happy leaders, lead happy workers, who in turn are more dedicated, and willing to put the work in to make the company a success. In order to maintain a successful running business, you must learn to train, and maintain happy employees. In this paper we are going to look at Geert Hofstede, social psychologist and foremost authority on global and organizational cultures, and how he defines six dimensions: Power Distance, Individualism, masculinity, Uncertain Avoidance, Long Term Orientation, and Indulgence and how all these dimensions tie into a successful business. I intend to give you the two countries that I choose to compare using the Hofstede Six Dimensions of culture, to show you have different cultures impact their work relationships.

Another popular theory, postulated by Hofstede (1994), draws on national culture. Hofstede’s theory defines culture along four main dimensions of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism-collectivism, and masculinity-femininity. Power distance is the level of inequality among people within a country that are considered normal. For example, in America where the culture is predominantly centered on equality would score low for power distance. Uncertainty avoidance is the level in which people prefer structured (having clear rules in which one is to follow) to unstructured situations. A low score for uncertainty avoidance would indicate a country with easygoing and flexible people, whereas high score would mean a more rigid and inflexible character of people. Individualism is the level in which people within a country prefer to work as individuals rather than as members of a group. Collectivism, on the other hand, is where people want to be part of a group. The final dimension is masculinity

Hofstede defines culture as 'the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another '”. (Kirkman, Lowe &Gibson, 2006, p. 286). He started his research in the 1960’s, by examining the concept of culture within one of the largest multinational companies in the world – IBM. Thousands of interviews were held across 66 countries, although results were only used from only 40. As a result of his investigation, four dimensions of culture were identified: individualism-collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity-femininity. Years later Hofstede and Bond added another dimension, long-term orientation. (Hofstede and Bond 1988). First dimension, power distance is defined as the extent of willingness that societies accept the hierarchical power structure (Morrison 2006). Cultures, which are considered low power distance, tend to have preferences towards equality and decentralization of terms of power and

The leading study of cross-cultural management conducted by Dr. Hofstede became a framework for cross-cultural communication. It is the effects of a society’s culture on the values of its members and how these values relate to behavior, using a structure derived from factor analysis. Dr. Hofstede’s theory identified five cultural dimensions: power distance (PDI), uncertainty avoidance (UAI), individualism (IDV) vs. collectivism, masculinity (MAS) vs. femininity, and long term orientation (LTO), which allows one to compare any two or more countries with each other and quickly illustrates what cultural differences exist, which are aligned, and which are uniquely different. Each of the five cultural dimensions are nationally scored on a scale from 1 to 120 and allows for international comparison between cultures, which can be utilized to select the most aligned countries when evaluating and considering which countries should be involved in the project. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

Hofstede’s dimension of culture offers a gauge to measure the similarities and differences that are dominate among people of different cultures. Therefore, the three countries selected for this analysis are China, India and the United Kingdom (UK), as Hofstede’s dimensions of culture examines individualism/collectivism, high/weak uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity, power distance and long-term orientation, associated with the management culture in these nations.

What if I told you culture has a bigger role in your life than you think? Well according to Gerard Hendrik Hofstede, a Dutch social psychologist, culture is an enormous factor when it comes to analyzing a society’s values and behavior. Hofstede traveled all over the globe and interviewed several employees on their values and with that he developed an immense database that analyzed the ways cultures differ from one another. Hofstede’s culture dimensions theory consists of six dimensions: power distance index, individualism vs. collectivism, uncertainty avoidance index, masculinity vs. femininity, long-term orientation vs. short-term orientation, and indulgence vs. restraint. Culture is more than one’s heritage; culture determines and justifies a society’s behavior and values.

Some of the most influential research on cultural values has been done by Geert Hofstede. His empirical studies of work-related values have been extended to 74 countries. He has identified five major dimensions along which cultural values vary: high vs. low power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, uncertainty avoidance vs. uncertainty acceptance, and short-term vs. long-term orientation.

Subsequent studies by others covered students in 23 countries, elites in 19 countries, commercial airline pilots in 23 countries, up-market consumers in 15 countries, and civil service managers in 14 countries. Together these studies identified and validated four independent dimensions of national culture differences, with a fifth dimension added later. He has found five dimensions of national culture in his study. These dimensions of national culture are Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty avoidance, Long term orientation. These cultural differences describe averages or tendencies and not characteristics of individuals

The world is an ever-changing place. Advances in technology are being made everyday. How people are communicating is evolving everyday. More companies and organizations develop globally everyday. Now that so much of the work force is global how are people suppose to deal with different cultures? By studying actions of different countries Geert Hofstede has developed five dimensions of culture. The five dimensions are; power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and pragmatism (MindTools, n.d). By utilizing the five dimensions people can have a better understanding of why cultures do things one way. Also, people can figure out the best way to interact with other cultures. Australia and Spain are opposite but, also similar in the five dimensions.

Hoifstede (1984) asserts to have formulated the focal scopes of the notion of culture that affect work practices in varying countries. These differentiating components of culture are: Power distance, uncertainty avoidance, collectivism vs individualism, femineity vs masculinity and short vs long term orientation.