Hofstede's Cultural Framework
Geert Hofstede, a Dutch social psychologist, developed a widely used platform that established the dimensions of culture. Read this chapter to better understand these dimensions and see how they can be applied to different countries and cultures.
Hofstede's Cultural Framework
- What is culture, and how can culture be understood through Hofstede's cultural framework?
As the business world becomes more global, employees will likely face someone from another country at some point in their careers, companies will negotiate with companies from other countries, and even employees of domestic companies will likely encounter someone from another country.
Furthermore, trends suggest that immigration, the movement of people from their home country to other countries, will continue to grow worldwide, a process that will contribute to making companies' workforces increasingly diverse. Additionally, many multinational companies rely on expatriates to run their local operations. An expatriate is foreign employee who moves to and works in another country for an extended period of time. All of these trends mean that during your career you are likely to encounter someone from a different culture and that the potential for cross-cultural tensions is high. It is therefore important for any international management student to understand culture to better prepare for dealing with such tensions.
According to Geert Hofstede, a Dutch social psychologist, culture is "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the member of one group or category of people from another". It tells people who they are, which behaviors are appropriate, and which are not acceptable in any society. It affects almost everything we do, see, feel, and believe. In fact, if you have heard of the "American dream," where if one works hard, one can achieve one's dream, you are aware of one characteristic aspect of American culture.
Consider any aspect of your life, and it is likely influenced by your culture. The food you eat, the clothes you wear, and even how you address your boss or teacher are influenced by your culture. Societies develop cultural norms, values, and beliefs to assist their members in adapting to their environments.
Why is an understanding of culture critical to a manager in a global environment? As you have already seen, anyone from any country is likely to encounter someone from another country at the workplace. Such interactions can result in misunderstanding or tensions if not properly managed. Business magazines are full of examples of cross-cultural misunderstandings that have doomed relationships and business. For another example, U.S. managers sent to Beijing, China, get frustrated because they find that their hosts are more interested in socializing than concluding a deal. Understanding Chinese culture would have prevented the latter misunderstanding because the U.S. managers would understand that it is very important for Chinese companies to get to know who they are working with before signing any deal. In this section, you will learn about one of the most powerful tools for understanding cultural differences: Hofstede's model of national culture. (See (Table 1))
| Table 1: Hofstede's Model of National Culture | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Countries | Power Distance | Individualism | Uncertainty Avoidance | Masculinity |
| Australia | Low | High | Low | High |
| Canada | Low | High | Low | High |
| China | High | Low | Medium | Medium |
| Germany | Low | High | Medium | High |
| Mexico | High | Medium | High | High |
| France | High | High | High | Low |
| Spain | Medium | Medium | High | Low |
| Greece | Medium | Medium | High | Medium |
| Denmark | Low | High | Low | Low |
| Finland | Low | High | Medium | Low |
| Brazil | High | Medium | Medium | Medium |
| India | High | Medium | Low | Medium |
| Japan | Low | Medium | High | High |
| U.K. | Low | High | Low | High |
| U.S.A. | Low | High | Low | High |
Although there are several frameworks to understand cultural differences, one of the most powerful is Hofstede's model.
Hofstede is a Dutch social scientist who developed his model by surveying over 88,000 employees in IBM subsidiaries from 72 countries. Hofstede developed this cultural model primarily on the basis of differences in values and beliefs regarding work goals. Hofstede's framework is especially useful because it provides important information about differences between countries and how to manage such differences. Recent reviews of research have shown the utility of Hofstede's framework for a wide variety of managerial activities, such as change management, conflict management, leadership, negotiation, and work-related attitudes.
Source: OpenStax, https://opentextbc.ca/principlesofmanagementopenstax/chapter/hofstedes-cultural-framework/
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