Applying Hofstede

AS and A Level Business Studies

ORGANIZATIONS AND

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Assignment 2

Chapter case: Applying Hofstede

Student:

Kennari: Einar Svansson

Case situation:

A manager is in charge of a team working on a project that has very clear guidelines and a clear

plan. It depends on specified suppliers delivering different materials on time; otherwise the

whole project is seriously delayed. The company will face severe financial penalties if it does

not complete particular stages on time. The manager reports to a project director, who must

authorise any changes to the plan.

One stage of the project is almost complete and is on schedule. The project director is called

back to the distant head office for a critical meeting. He must leave at once, and needs to

prepare some urgent reports for the meeting on the way. He, therefore, leaves the manager in

complete charge of the project. Just after the director has left, the manager hears that a

machine at one of the suppliers has failed and cannot resume production for at least a week.

Another supplier has heard about this, and telephones to offer an alternative supply that would

probably overcome the difficulty and avoid delaying the work. However, for technical reasons,

using this supplier will require some temporary changes to other aspects of the project.

Case question 1

Consider what the implications of the differences on Hofstede’s first two dimensions of culture may be for management in the 10 countries concerned in a) and b).

Question a)

This is a preview of the whole essay

using this supplier will require some temporary changes to other aspects of the project.

Case question 1

Consider what the implications of the differences on Hofstede’s first two dimensions of culture may be for management in the 10 countries concerned in a) and b).

Question a)

For example for the first dimension of power distance, what would Hofstede’s conclusions lead you to predict about the method that a French or Venezuelan manager would use if he or she wanted a subordinate to perform a task, and what method would the subordinate expect his or her manager to use? How would your answers differ if the manager and subordinates were South-Korean, Austrian or Polish? What would Hofstede’s conclusions predict the reactions of the manager would be if he was Brazilian, Greek, British, German or Icelandic

French or Venezuela bought had around 70% in power distance. From that you can conclude that the subordinate is not likely to show independent work ethics. And is probably not willing to take risks and be held responsible for his/here actions. So the manager would probably levee clear instructions step by step on how things should be done and tell the subordinate to contact him if there was any unclearly. I believe that this is also the way the subordinate expects to get the instruction because he/she dose not won’t to be hold responsible if something goes wrong. But it is likely that the manager won’t make any decision and what for the project director to come back and let him make the necessary decisions.

South-Korean, Austrian or polish. South-Korean and the polish were very similar in power distance or around 50 %, the Austria was very different there the power distance was only 9%. So the method they would use is probably very different. It can be concluded from this that the South-Korean and Polish managers will use a similar method as the French and Venezuelan. They too are not likely to show independent work ethics but not as resilient as the French and the Venezuelan. So the managers would probably call the project director and ask for his opinion on the mater. The subordinate would want clear message like the ones from French or Venezuela, although they are more likely to make independent decisions if a problem arises and will not have to ask the manager about every little thing.

Like stated earlier Austria cannot be placed in the same category from the power distance we can conclude that Austrians are the opposed of the other managers that I have talked about. They are likely to show independent work ethics. They are willing to take risks and take responsibility for their actions. So the Austrian manager will take the necessary decision whit out hesitation. He will trust the subordinate so he will tell him what needs to be done in short. That is also what the subordinate would want.

Brazilian, Greek, British, German, Icelandic. Brazilian and the Greek were very similar in power distance or around 60 %, the British and the German were quite different there the power distance was 30%. So the method they would use is probably different. Then we have the Icelandic one, I think he is similar to the Austrian and the discussion in class supports that. It can be concluded from this that the Brazilian and Greek managers will use a similar method as the French, South-Korean, Polish and Venezuelan. They too are not likely to show independent work ethics but not as resilient as the French and the Venezuelan but more that the South-Korean and the polish. So the managers will use a method in between the ones they used.

It can be concluded that the British and the German are likely to show independent work ethics but not as much as the Austrian. The managers will not dodge the responsibility and wait for the project director to return or call him. The managers will tell the subordinate what is expected of them without outlining every little thing but they will be much clearer then for the Austrian for example.

Like stated earlier the Icelandic one is in my opinion much like the Austrian. He is likely to show independent work ethics, willing to take risks and take responsibility for their actions. So the Icelandic manager will take the necessary decision whit out hesitation. He will trust the subordinate so he will tell him what needs to be done in short. That is also what the subordinate would want. The project manager would probably not be informed un till he came back, the manager would just have done what he taught was necessary to keep the product line going.

Question b

Repeat your answer based on the case situation and the Hofstede model and measures for the second dimension of uncertainty avoidance for the 10 nations in a)

There seems to be a connection between Uncertainty avoidance and power distance. When the power distance is high the uncertainty avoidance is high as well. So the answers won’t have changed.

In my opinion is that the uncertainly avoidance is a result of power distance.