The first of the four dimension of Hofstede’s theory of national culture is power distance. Hofstede stated that, ‘the essential issue involved, to which different societies have found different solutions, is human inequality’ (1980; 92). An outstanding aspect of inequality is the amount of power each individual exercises or can apply over others with power being illustrated as the amount in which an individual is able to impact other individual’s thoughts and performance (Hofstede, 2015). Within societies, inequality in power is expected. This inequality in power is typically characterized in hierarchical employer-employee relationships. Power distance, is the degree that less powerful members of organizations inside a nation anticipate and …show more content…
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: …show more content…
Individualism outlines the link between the ‘individual and the collectivity which prevails in a given society’ (Hofstede, 1980: 213). The main distinction amongst individualism and collectivism is the way that people of various cultures classify themselves (Di Cesare and Sadri, 2002). They recognize themselves as either an individual or a member of a group. Individualism is the extent in which societies look after themselves and their immediate family while in collectivist societies, individuals belong to groups that tend to them in exchange for wholehearted allegiance (Torrington, 1994; Hofstede, 2015). Individualist actions are motivated by their own attitudes and customs, while collectivists are focused by collective norms (Kulkarni et al, 2010). Also, individualists are more focused toward undertaking a personal task, while collectivists are driven more in the direction of achieving balanced relationships (Kulkarni et al, 2010). In certain societies, being an individualist is seen as an advantage while in other societies it can be viewed as isolating. The amount of individualism or collectivism in a particular society will influence the essence of the relationship among the individual and the organization they belong (Hofstede, 1980). From the viewpoint of the organization, individuality can be looked at as the worker’s independence in distinction to the organization. The level of
Collectivism is any philosophic, political, religious, economic, or social outlook that emphasizes the interdependence of every human. Collectivism is a basic cultural element that exists as the reverse of individualism in human nature (in the same way high context culture exists as the reverse of low cont...
This article provides me a detailed research on a group of American and Chinese adults with plenty of data and analysis. They provided a lot of real and objective opinion on the comparison between individualism and collectivism. The fact of the whole respondents are students gives me an advantage on finding better ways to understand and use this research in my
“Society in its unified and structural character is the fact of the case; the non-social individual is an abstraction arrived at by imagining what man would be if all his human qualities were taken away. Society, as a whole, is the normal order, and the mass as an aggregate of isolated units is the fiction (Dewey). ” I do not agree with this aspect of collectivism because I find it to be extreme. I have stressed the importance of caring about the people in one’s community.
Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations. Second Edition, Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications, 2001
Individualism and collectivism are conflicting beliefs with the nature of humans, society, and the relationships between them, however, these ideologies are not diametrically opposing since both are essential towards balancing beliefs from becoming extremes. The first source represents the idea of collectivism and suggests that the society must focus on moving their viewpoint from ‘me’ into ‘we’ in the interest of survival and progression. This perspective presents the idea that the individual’s advantage belongs not only to the person, but to the group or society of which he or she is a part of, and that the individual’s values and goals are for the group’s “greater good.” Likewise, Karl Marx’s principle of communism emphasizes in the elimination
The next communication gap concerns with the individualism- collectivism dimension, which is the degree an individual is integrated into groups in a society (Hofstede, 2001). Individualistic cultures like the U.S put a strong emphasis on individual autonomy and independence, whereas collectivist cultures like Vietnam believe in belonging, obligation
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.
In the article, Cultural constraints in management theories, Geert Hofstede examines business management around the globe from a cultural perspective. He explains how he believes there are no universal practices when it comes to management and offers examples from the US, Germany, France, Japan, Holland, China and Russia. He demonstrates how business management theories and practices are very much subject to cultural norms and values and by understanding these differences, it can give managers an advantage in global business practices.
Cultural Differences in Hofstede’s Six Dimensions According to Professor Geert Hofstede, dimensionalizing a culture requires a complex analysis of a multitude of categories including differing nations, regions, ethnic groups, religions, organizations, and genders. Hofstede defines culture as "the collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of people from another". Throughout his many years of contribution as a social scientist, he has conducted arguably the most comprehensive study of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture, leading to the establishment of the Six Dimensions of National Culture. From this research model, the dimensions of Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, Long Term Orientation, and Indulgence are defined according to their implication on individual countries, which when comparatively examined provide a broad understanding of cultural diversity as it relates to the workplace. Identification and Definition of the Six Dimensions In initially defining each of Hofstede's dimensions, a foundational understanding of the six categories is established, from which a greater understanding of different cultures can be built off of.
The dimensions of culture came as a result of a research conducted by Greet Hofstede. The study investigated how culture in a workplace can be influenced by values of the people. In his view, culture is defined as the collective programming of the human brain that helps in distinguishing a group from another one. Moreover, the programming of the human mind influences the patterns, values and perspectives that define a certain community or nation. Hofstede developed a model of the national culture that is made of six dimensions. In addition to that, the cultural dimensions demonstrate the personal preferences on affairs that can be easily distinguished from that of individuals from another nation. Using the model, it is easy to identify systematic differences between the selected nations in terms of values (Hofstede). This paper discusses the cultural dimensions to compare the United States of America and China. The dimensions include Power Distance, Masculinity versus Femininity, Uncertainty Avoidance Index, and Individualism versus collectivism, Indulgence versus Restraint and long-term orientation versus short term normative orientation.
The members of this society are portrayed to attempt to cope with anxiety by minimizing uncertainty. People in cultures with high uncertainty avoidance tend to be more emotional as they try to minimize the occurrence of unknown and unusual circumstances by implementing rules and planning. However, in low uncertainty avoidance cultures, individuals accept and feel comfortable in unstructured situations. They are more pragmatic and tolerant of change. In a high uncertainty avoidance society, the employees are restricted under rules and regulations and a structured working environment. However, in low uncertainty avoidance, the employees accept uncertainty and adapt more quickly to abrupt changes. They will be more able to make wise decisions and improve efficiency of
Sledge, Miles, and Coppage (2008) explain uncertainty avoidance as “the degree of risk aversion” (1670). In a country with high uncertainty avoidance there may be more policies and procedures in place. In a culture with low uncertainty avoidance companies could empower employees to develop new ideas.
Some cultures encourage individualism while other cultures encourage collectivism. In most collectivist cultures, people are interdependent within their group, whether it involves family, tribe, or nation (Suh ...
Individualism is the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members (cia.gov). Individualism deals with individual’s self image in the forms of “I” Or “we”. When people in this dimension belong to group in exchange for loyal this is called collectivist societies. Ireland scored high when it came to individualism culture with a score of 70. Irish employees are expected to show initiative and self reliance when it comes to the industry. Ireland has an exchanged-based industry, for one to advance or be hired into an industry one must have evidence of their skill level.
Hofstede ,G. (1980). Hofstede’s Culture’s Consequences- International Differences in Work Related Values. Cross- Cultural Research & Methodology, 5, 18-21.