Strong leaders are those who take the time to learn about cultural differences between themselves, their staff and even their customers. For those looking to hone their skill set, reading Hofstede’s six dimensions of culture is an excellent place to start. The six dimensions present the similarities and dissimilarities in an easy to read format. Of course, simply reading the text will not make an expert. Two interesting countries on the index are Angola and Belgium. Angola is a South African country that was first colonized in 1575 by the Portuguese monarchy. Slowly, the monarchy crumbled and Angola began developing their hierarchy (Sajtova, 2011). Belgium was also ruled by other countries before the revolution that ended in 1839 (about Belgium, …show more content…
Angola scores relatively low in individualism, which is the dimension that determines whether people value groups over individuals (Hofstede, 2018). Angola is a collective society which prefers groups. This creates an environment of family, even in the workplace. Managers manage groups, not individuals and loyalty prevails (Hofstede, 2018). Nonetheless, Belgium favors individualism. They take care of themselves and their immediate families. At work, this translates to each individual being responsible for their own work and the urge to receive recognition as an individual. Each person wants to feel important even though they know they are not equally important. These differences set the stage for successful very differently. The next dimension that is culturally different is masculinity. Angola is considered a feminine society that focuses on working in order to live and enjoying what career they choose (Hofstede, 2018), whereas Belgium is considered masculine and is driven by competition, achievement, success and being the best (Hofstede, 2018). Lastly, There is a huge difference in the final dimension, long-term orientation. Angola places much importance on the absolute truth while maintaining great respect for their traditions while Belgium people are more pragmatic in their thinking (Hofstede, 2018). In the workplace, Angola may have issues solving problems because they are not comfortable looking outside
To be a great leader one mustn’t be egoistic rather they should be assertive and considerate for their people’s benefit. For example, the Portuguese lusted after the slaves because they needed them to work on the sugar plantations in Brazil, and saw Ndongo as a valuable entree into this lucrative trade, however, Queen Nzinga risking her own life did whatever she can to protect her people from being enslaved. Although Queen Nzinga fought many battles, however, she did try to keep alliances w...
Culture – Culture is defined as the common language that is shared and is what makes diverse individuals able to communicate with each other. Due to the different origins that America has grown upon, the study of culture is highly important. Just as the lecture notes for week 1b says, culture is what hold people together, and what allows them to figure and fight out how the world should be. Without all the different cultures, America would not be diversely rich as it is today. Gary Columbo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle the authors of “Thinking Critically, Challenging Cultural Myths” on page three, do an amazing job at explaining culture as holding people together by sharing customs, ideas, beliefs and values. American culture was shown
Constant technological and global changes create challenges that forces leaders to manage different cultures in different countries. People, goods, services, and ideas are moving today at greater speeds which mean our labor force is becoming more diverse and multicultural by the day. Effective leaders need to understand such global dynamics in order to successfully manage organizational cultures. The cultures of leaders and their core assumptions might be different from the values and assumptions of employees in a different country. Two managers working for the same global company might see things differently due to their backgrounds and cultural values. The different countries, in which the organization operates, will have different cultures depending on the social, economic, and political history of the country. Managing and understanding these differences need an effective cross-cultural thinking leader (Yukl, 2013). Some research questions that Yukl, 2013 suggests are: 1) how behavior differs across cultural values and for different countries? 2) How values and behaviors are influenced by personality across company and country? 3) What types of traits, skills, and experience are most useful to prepare a leader being assigned to a new country? 4) How does the fast-changing culture in developing countries affect and relate to
Geert Hofstede performed the most lauded research on The Dimensions of Culture theory. His findings and the model that he created were outlined in his 1980 book “Cultures Consequences.” The work was met with both acclaim and disregard from fellow academics. Hofstede’s work is generally quoted and cited without any hesitation even today and his model is still widely used the main guideline for dealing with human resources from a cultural perspective.
In the website provided I do not found the name of my country in the in the section available to select country, even if I can’t provide any data from the website, I will try to speak about the 6 traits (power distance, Individualism, Masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, Long term orientation, indulgence) considered to analyze the countries culture.
Culture can be defined as customary beliefs or ways of an origin. Characteristics that can define culture are that culture is learned, shared, based on symbols, integrated and is dynamic (EarthLink). Culture is something that can be passed down from generation to generation, it is not inherited or in our genes. We are taught culture from everyone around us and being taught culture means we will share it as well. Starting from young ages, elders of family and friends share their experiences and knowledge of the culture. Symbols can be different from all other cultures. All symbols have meaning behind them such as their language, artistic pieces and in some cases, currency. Integration of culture is known as holism, or the various parts of culture being interconnected (EarthLink). Every aspect of culture must all be learned to understand the complete meaning within the culture. Not everything within a culture can stay the same, it can adapt to the new times and changes within the society.
The purpose of this paper is to do a personal assessment of Indian culture. I will also be explaining Hofstede's five dimensional model, will use it to analyze the Indian culture and talk about the five dimensional model from my own observations.
Globalization has many implications for leadership today and in the future. Global perspectives are being spread to the farthest points in the world and to the most isolated people. People of different cultures come to the United States daily to live, travel, or engage in business. Leaders must respond to this challenge of globalization so they can effectively reach out to as many people as possible. Opening themselves to the world's changes allows leaders to compare and contrast their culture with the arts, language, beliefs, customs, philosophies, and ways of living of other people. By observing and questioning another culture, leaders can understand the origin of an individual's viewpoints and become more sensitive to the cultural needs of that individual. By continually exposing themselves to other cultures, young leaders can thoroughly develop this global perspective and devote themselves to making connections with the entire world.
Robbins, S., Odendaal, A. and Roodt, A. (2007). “Organizational Behaviour: Global and Sothern African Prospect”. 7th edition. South Africa: Pearson Education.
The affect the four dimensions by Hofstede, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculine/femininity and individual and collectivism have on organizational show in all cultures and cross culture.
For instance, in the Ivory Coast, the group goal prevails. Indeed, individuals share a common goal and work for the group or organization’s success. Oscar Rudenstam in his article “Individualism vs Collectivism” points out that in a collectivist culture as the one in the Ivory Coast, the workplace is prioritized higher than the individual self. This mindset means that individuals are more likely to put the institution’s interests before their own and work together to achieve the institution’s goal. In fact, the Ivory Coast motto “Union- Discipline- Work’’ best illustrate this point. On the other hand, in the United States, the individual goal and the “self-made man’’ concept are pronounced. In the same article “Individualism vs Collectivism”, Rudenstam comments that “it is typical of an individual who is relatively individualistic to prioritize individual ambitions to a higher degree and strive to fulfill such ambitions’’. Rudenstam believe that an individualistic individual tends to value self accomplishment more. The individual is the only person responsible for his success and achievements. A collectivist culture which promotes and work for the institution’s success opposes an individualist culture where individuals are focus on achieving their personal
...Harris, Sarah V. Moran (2011). Managing Cultural Differences, Leadership Skills and Strategies for Working in a Global World. 8th ed. UK: Elsevier Inc.. 10-25.
It represents the distribution of emotional roles between the genders. Masculine cultures are valued as competitiveness, assertiveness, materialism, ambition and power. In contrast, femininity cultures are inclined to relationships and quality of life. Masculinity culture is more obvious in larger organization as the management is more decisive and aggressive, thus, it shows a relatively lower share of working women in professional jobs. In femininity organization, the employees work in order to live and prefer leisure time than money. The resolution of conflict in masculinity is letting the strongest win but in femininity, the employees solve conflict in a harmonious way by compromising and
In Clyde Kluckhohn's passage, adapted from his book, Mirror for Man, we are given an illumination of anthropology on the concept of culture. He explains that culture is not only derived by "the way we are brought up," but also personal past experiences and the biological properties of the people concerned. As humans we have learned to adapt to our own personal surroundings and have conditioned ourselves and our life styles to revolve around such surroundings by the most comfortable means possible.
Individualism and collectivism are essential terms that researchers use to help one understand culture differences and the impact they have on group behavior. It is important that one obtain the knowledge of both attributes because it can help individuals understand and recognize the different attitudes and behavior of other cultures. Although each attribute has its own advantages and disadvantages, they do share some similarities; and are believed to be the opposite of each other. However, for one to understand the full concept of individualism; one must first have an understanding of collectivism.