Greet Hofstede: The Cultural Dimensions Of American Culture

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.

To begin with Power distance, it is the degree to which the less powerful participants of firms and organizations admit and presume that authority is shared equally.

It is a representation of inequality. The level of inequality in a community is influenced by the leaders and the members as well. In relation to America and China, the culture can clearly be distinguished. In the US, there is a gap between the leaders who are powerful and the normal citizens. The people with authority, especially in the government, give instructions to the people at the lower levels. The citizens are expected to obey the orders given by the leaders (Kęstutis). On the contrary, the Chinese culture demonstrates a sense of equality among all members of the society. Although the leaders are powerful, they are seen as equal to the

citizens.
Secondly, Uncertainty avoidance. According to Erich and Blaise, it is concerned with how the community is tolerant of ambiguity and uncertainty. It shows the degree to which culture makes people feel comfortable or uncomfortable in situations that are unstructured. The unstructured situations include the surprising or unknown things that are not usual for a person. The uncertainty avoiding happens when people minimize the possibility of such occurrences. A person may avoid a country that has strict laws or religious beliefs. The individuals in uncertainty avoiding are usually influenced by intrinsic energy. On the contrary, the individuals are more tolerance to different opinions and situations. For instance, the Chinese people find it hard in the western nations due to religious and linguistic differences. On the other hand, the Americans are open to exploring new adventures. However, those in uncertainty avoidance suffer.
Thirdly, individualism versus collectivism. This is the extent to which individuals are grouped. The individualism represents a community where people have weak ties, and the expectation is that each person is responsible of him or herself and family. On the contrary, the collective societies are integrated into groups that have strong ties between individuals. In most cases, it involves the extended families, clans, and other cohesive groups. For example, the Chinese are grouped in clans or extended families that have strong ties and protect each other. Nevertheless, the US has no strong ties between clans or extended families (Ana, Minoo, and Aviv). To do business in China, a foreigner has to be trusted by the family while in the US, only professionalism and achievement matters.
Masculinity versus femininity is where emotional roles are distributed among the genders that serve as an important factor to find solutions to a range of duties. The study revealed that the value of women has less difference in comparison to that of men. On the contrary, men are seen as competitive and assertive while women are seen as caring to complete their roles in society. In the feminine nations, women have equivalent caring values like the men while the masculine nations are more competitive and assertive so that the gap between the roles of men and women is visible (Xiumei). The US is a feminine nation where women can hold competitive and high-value positions as men. China is a masculine nation where men hold high positions in government and other organizations while women hold lower positions or do not even work.
Fifth, the long-term orientation versus short term normative orientation. The long-term oriented communities foster pragmatic values that prepare for the future in terms of persistence, adaptation to changes in circumstances and saving. The short-term oriented nations are concerned with the past and present issues such as the preservation of tradition, the fulfillment of social obligations and national pride (Erich and Blaise). In relation to China and the US, China is short-term while the US is long-term oriented. China engages in deals that protect their pride and cultures as well as religion and language while the US engages in the invention of technology and development of the economy.
Finally, Indulgence versus Restraint. Indulgence involves a community that is concerned with the natural and basic human drives as well as having fun. A restraint society is regulated by very strict social norms (Xiumei). For instance, recently the US legalized homosexuality as a human right while China cannot tolerate same-sex marriages at all.