Cultural dimensions

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University Degree Business and Administrative studies


000522638       Pitthayaporn Thanapanphuwadech 

Assignment 3

Part1

Hofstede’s 5 Cultural Dimensions

  1. Power Distance means the less powerful members of organizations accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. In high power distance countries, such as India, Mexico and South Korea, employees always accept and obey superior therefore the organization’ structure is centralized and tall. On the other hand, the structure of low power distance countries, for instance Finland, Ireland and Austria, is flat and decentralized.
  2. Individualism refers to every person is expected to look after himself or herself and immediate family only. The high individualism countries, for example Canada, Sweden and the United State, usually are wealthy and more relevant to Protestant work ethic. In addition, there is more individual initiative and promotions depend on market value. On the collectivist side, people in communities are integrated and cohesive in groups and extended families, consisting of grandparents, aunts and uncles, always look after each other. The high collectivism countries, such as Pakistan and Indonesia, generally are poorer countries and concern Protestant work ethic less than high individualism countries. Furthermore, these countries also less individual initiative and promotions based on seniority.
  3. Masculinity is the societies that women’s values are less than men’s values therefore the gap between women’s values and men’s value are wide. Masculinity countries, such as Japan and Germanic countries, are highly assertive, competitive and high job stress. In contrast, the women’s nurturing values in femininity countries, for example Norway, are the same as men. Femininity countries regularly underline in quality of life and caring for others. Besides, these countries have friendly atmosphere and low job stress.  
  4. Uncertainty avoidance is the feeling people that dislike and avoid ambiguous situations. According to Hofestede studied, many people in some countries such as Japan, France and Germany are likely to avoid uncertainty conditions and also more emotional. Whereas, most people in uncertainty acceptance cultures, for instance the United States, Singapore and Hong Kong, are more contemplative and phlegmatic but less emotional expression.
  5. Confucian dynamism in long term oriented countries, for example Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea, normally emphasizes and concerns with future, persistence, thrift and a sense of shame. On the contrary, short term Confucian nations, which often find in English speaking countries such as England, the United State and Australia, are tend to orient toward past and present and respect for tradition, however present is more important.

Trompenaar’s 7 Cultural Dimensions

1.        Universalism versus Particularism, universalism search for general rules and applies judgment to every circumstance. While, particularism look for finding exemption and judgments are influenced by relationships and environments.

2.        Individualism versus Collectivism, individualism emphasizes self, the right of individual and competitiveness whereas collectivism focuses on interest of group and social responsibility.

3.        Neutrality versus Emotionalism, Neutral culture people do not display one’s feeling obviously and they also prefer calm and rationality. Emotionalism, people in affective culture favor a display of emotions.

4.         Specificity versus Diffuseness, people in specific individual cultures see and analyze each element separately and specific cultures have public sphere larger than private sphere while diffuseness see elements as a whole and has massive private space and smaller public space.

5.        Achievement versus Ascription, in an achieved society, social position depends on achievement of individuals however in an ascription community, individuals derive their status from external factors such as birth, gender and wealth.

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6.        Sequential Time versus Synchronous Time, people in sequential culture regularly strict to time, do one thing at a time and arrive on time. In synchronical culture, time is flexible and people often do several activities at the same time.

7.        Internalistic and Externalistic, inner-directed people believe that nature can be controlled but outer-directed people have more harmony with the environment.

Cultural dimensions of Hofstede and Trompenaars are very useful for management practices and preparing expatriate managers. Both power distance and individualism strongly impact the suitable type of effective leaderships in each culture. In high power distance cultures, the ideal ...

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Cultural dimensions
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    Business and Administrative studies
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