3.6 Indulgence v/s restraint
This dimension indicates the level of indulgence or restraint in society. Some societies are more restrained than others are.
4.0 Cultural differences between Australia and Pakistan based on Hofstede cultural dimensions.
4.1 Power distance
Western countries are low power index countries, while non-Western countries are usually high power distance index countries. Australia is culturally western and therefore it would be expected to score low on power distance index. According to data by Hofstede, Australia has a 36 percent of power distance index. Pakistan on the other hand scores 55 percent (The Hofstede Center). In essence, Pakistan has a higher power distance index. Australian culture in this regard is more
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Western countries and especially west, including Australia and northern Europe score low on uncertainty index. Australia has an uncertainty index of 51 percent, while Pakistan has 70 percent. The index suggests that an Australian has a higher risk tolerance and therefore is likely to take risks such as starting a new business. The culture allows people to question rules and even challenge authority. Organizations therefore tend to be loosely structured and relationship among employees is informal. In Pakistan, however, people are more averse to taking risks. In an uncertain situation, a Pakistani will prefer to go back to what is familiar (Mooij, 1998 p. 33). Unfamiliar situation generates …show more content…
In such a highly competitive environment, success is defined by winning and being the best in a competitive environment. This system of competition is usually inculcated in school where students or pupils are ranked based on performance. The candidate who ranks top is considered the best or a winner. A high score is therefore masculinity and a low score is femininity. A low score under this dimension means that the society values caring for others. Emphasis is given on the overall quality of life as a sign of progress instead of standing out from the rest. While a high score indicates an underlying motivation to be the best, femininity is the desire to achieve good results for the sake or for the betterment of everyone. Australia scores 61 percent on this dimension and Pakistan 50 percent. Compared to Pakistan, Australia is a masculine society. In Australia, therefore the value system is based on being the best or demonstrating personal competence even if doing that is harmful for the society or group. The winner in Australia takes it all. The opposite is true in Pakistan, where the value system is based on group interest instead of pursuing personal glory. The ability to work with others is valued in Pakistan, but in Australia, what matters is personal achievement and successes. In case of conflict at work, the goal of solving the conflict is to resolve good working relation at work of foster
Uncertainty in organizations is a key element to be dealt with in the areas of technology, rules and rituals (Hofstede, 1980). The notion of uncertainty is frequently connected to the perception of environment as the ‘environment is taken to include everything not under direct control of the organization as a source of uncertainty for which the organization tries to compensate’ (Hofstede, 1980: 155). The organization deals with uncertainty in the way in which uncertainties are observed inside the business. According to Torrington, uncertainty avoidance is the degree to which the future is always unknown (1994). Some cultures socialize their participants to accept this idea and take risks. Whereas members of other cultures have been socialized to be made worried or threatened by this and therefore, search for reparation through the ‘security of law, religion or technology’. (Torrington, 1994:
Yet, it was generally established that women are proceeding to develop an equivalent opportunity to their male counterparts, such as the example of Australia’s first female prime minister in 2010. This case displays the mounting support towards women within Australian society. With further emphasis of women in society, Australian women may soon become equal to their male counterparts, and then allowing equal power among the
Uncertainty avoidance is the next cultural value to be considered. Joe’s owe culture, Sub-Saharan Africa, tends to be somewhere between low and high uncertainty avoidance. Low uncertainty avoidance being more comfortable with the uncertainty of outcomes and high uncertainty avoidance seeking to know the results from the onset of a course of action. Joe, personally, leans toward high uncertainty
For a long time, the popular myth of success and that of gender have shaped humans’ minds and behaviors in a certain way. They set up a certain behavior model and provide people with an idealized reference for living their lives. However, people put too much emphasis on the bright side of these two widespread but outdated beliefs, and surround themselves in ideal images constructed by the myths. With humans and society marching on, the age-old and deep-rooted myths are not completely suitable anymore. The old fashioned myths have become certain clichés. They sometimes conceal important social realities and convey a false image of what people really think and do. The dissonance between myth and reality sometimes disillusions people and may bring worse outcomes to the society. Wayne Dyer, an internationally renowned author declares, “What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds.” Although part of the myths is still valuable and instructive, in order to make them more tenable, people need to be cautious and critical and be aware of their weakness. Success should be defined not only by wealth and reputation, as the current myth states, but also by personal happiness, which can be achieved through the combination of honesty, hard work, opportunities and s...
China’s weak uncertainty avoidance is similar to that of individualistic cultures mentioned below. The Chinese, much like the individualistic cultures, do not interpret competition and conflict as a threat (Mooji, 2014, p. 100). However, the Japanese have a high uncertainty avoidance combined with a high-power distance culture Mooji (p. 102) characterizes the culture as having “externalized” rules that people within society do not follow. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines externalize as “to attribute to causes outside the self” referring back to the importance of the group before oneself. Japan culture does not favor ambiguity and is perceived as intolerant and inflexible (Mooji, 2014, p.100). Japan is susceptible to natural disaster and has put in place safety measures for such occurrences which attributes back to its weak uncertainty avoidance characteristic (Country Comparison.
1. My result for hostile sexism was between zero and one, while my score for benevolent sexism was between one and two. My scores were closest to the average female and male in England and Australia for benevolent sexism. However, my hostile sexism was very low compared to all the countries that were listed. My scores surprised me, because I did not expect my benevolent sexism score to be closest to England or Australia. More simply, I did not expect other females and males to have similar scores, so the graphs were shocking. My results were furthest from Cuba, Nigeria, and Syria. My scores for hostile and benevolent sexism were very low compared to average women and men in Nigeria, Syria, and Cuba. I was not surprised by these results, because these countries are known to practice traditional gender roles. In other words, I was not surprised that
Saudi Arabia scores high relative to the USA in regards to Power Distance, highlighting their country's emphasis on hierarchical order in which individual subordination is accepted and unchallenged. This is very different from the American ideals of equal rights in all societal aspects. For Individualism, the rank is reversed with the USA scoring much higher than Saudi Arabia. Individualism is popular in our culture, with independence highly valued and members tend to be responsible only for themselves and their direct family. Saudi Arabia is considered a collectivist society where loyalty and long-term relationships are held in high regard with collective responsibility for group members.
The power distance in Singapore is 74 where in Canada it is 39, power distance shows the equality of people in society or culture and the distribution of power (Hofstede Centre, 2016). In Singapore, the distribution of power is not equal everyone is not treated same but in Canada the power is mostly distributed equally. Another metrics in the model is individualism vs collectivism, from the graph above we can see the Singapore is more in collectivism whereas Canada is more in individualism (Hofstede Centre, 2016). Uncertainty avoidance affects a human behavior or a culture in large hugely. In uncertainty avoidance Singapore’s score is 8. In Singapore people abide too many rules not because they have need for structure but because of high Power distance (Hofstede Centre, 2016).
In many cases, women’s achievements are measured according to male oriented standards. I would like to argue with a more diverse approach to this cause. If humanity is comprised of both men and women, and we are equally dependent on each other for humanity’s survival, why are men and women not viewed as equals? These old attitudes are drilled into us from birth. If boys were taught mutual respect as they grew up, gender equality becomes a natural way of life. In the same way girls would need to be taught to set high goals; that they can reach as high as humanly possible. Unfortunately, typically male values and traditions have, over time, shaped the culture in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) fields. This has created, in many ways, a hostile learning and working environment for women. From time immemorial, women have been regarde...
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
According to Sledge, Miles, and Coppage (2008) power distance is “the degree to which control and influence are distributed unequally in society” (p. 1670). In a country with a high power distance employees would not feel comfortable voicing their opinions or disagreeing with their managers. Empowering employees would not work well because employees would be scared to take actions on their own. Employees would feel more comfortable with structure and strict procedures. In countries with low power distance managers could benefit from empowering employees. Employees are free to voice their opinions and develop and express new ideas or plans. Empowerment would motivate employees more in a country with low power distance.
“Women have talent and intelligence but, due to social constraints and prejudices, it is still a long distance away from the goal of gender equality” (Pratibha Patil). A common misconception that is prominent in many modern day ideologies, is that gender does not have as much of an effect on workplace experience as it did several decades ago. This is untrue. “Most occupations remain skewed toward either men or women” (Jacobs 32). This occupational gap is an unmistakable reason for men and women being treated so vastly differently. Many people tend to believe that after women gained the right to vote and became eligible for many workforce positions,
According to our main source of Gender in Cross Cultural Perspective the book along with lecture gave us many examples of barriers and preconditioned notions of man’s work or woman’s work and how these barriers and outlines have been broken and rewritten over the course of time and throughout the years.
Society has females and males alike typecasted into roles which have basic characteristics that are the reverse of each other. Although this has begun to change over the past thirty years, typically the man was seen as superior to the female. This superior image is one that today, is slowly on its way to being reduced to one of complete equality between the two genders.
This becomes a major problem when it comes to occupation. Theres is a phenomenon around the world known as occupational isolation, which is the segregation of jobs due to gender. Often, there are occupation which are target the male gender and others the female gender. Female are not considered for male jobs, such as prosecutors or front-line police officer. Women compete for jobs that pay less than their male counterparts. The perception is that a woman’s best occupation is being a housewife, and there is a generalization that her attitude at home will transfer to her work place. This is why women are being paid lower rates while men fight over high income jobs. When such segregation maintains itself, it leads to women becoming less progressive, while male continue to develop and acquire new skills, which leads to higher social life status and position. A consensus has been created by society and globalization policies in most countries where a woman’s work has been devalued, which removes women from the contention of new job’s available. It is also well known the the female wage and development projects do not receive the same fund compared to women, which leaves women in the