Canada is a very diverse country, having many quality attributes that make it an ideal place for you tO participate in business and make investments. The business culture of a country pertains to the way people physically and mentally act when engaging in business with other people. An individualistic society is present in Canada, meaning people keep more to themselves. Having different provinces, which include a English and French speaking side. This means when attending a business meeting or just visiting Canada, it is important to speak English or French; or have someone with you that does. With a population of 34 million people, Canada is a huge country with so much to do and larn. It is important that I inform you on the ways you need …show more content…
to behave when doing business and making executive decisions when visiting the great country of Canada. Geert Hofstede coordinated one of the leading in-depth studies on how the values of business and workplace are affected by culture, specifically pertaining to business.
Hofstede defines culture as the “collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of people from others.” (geert-hofstede.com) Through Hofstede’s six dimensions of culture he comprehensively describes the cultural aspects of a society. These six dimensions include; power distance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation versus short term, and indulgence versus restraints. These cultural dimension rank each country on a scale from one to one …show more content…
hundred. Canada ranks reasonably low in power distance,meaning you need to address everyone with due process and equal respect. Everyone has the right to voice their own opinion, surpassing the importance of status and rank. Reasoning why power distance is ranked below average in Canada. The next cultural aspect that Canadians ranks reasonably low in is long term orientation. This implies that Canadians focuses more on the short term future. This correlates to the very important cultural trait that Canadians have, which is making final decisions based only on facts. When they make a final decisions for the short term future, they make sure it is the right decision. There is no assuming anything when it comes to business. If someone doesn't know what they are saying is true, they wont say it. Canadians rank reasonably high in individualism, meaning that they are very independent people with a limited amount of people whom they keep close to them. This relates to the high standard of living that they have. Having the normal working hours of 9:00 am to 5:00 pm enables them to spend so much quality time with the people that mean the most to them ; friends and family. This not only can bring morality up, but allows people to enjoy life when they get to spend it with the people they love. Indulgence and restraints has a very average ranking on Hofstede’s cultural dimension index in Canada.
This relates to the high standard of living due to the amount of time they spend with their family enjoying life to the fullest as stated before. This is why when you are visiting Canada you should not rely on anyone to go out of their way and trust you. To them you are a stranger from the U.S with one objective, which is to do business. The next cultural aspect of Canada that you need to be fully aware of when visiting for business is on Masculinity. Hofstede used this as one of his cultural dimensions, describing this as when a country is very assertive giving major responsibilities to people who focus more on material prizes. Canada ranks reasonably above average on this cultural dimension index. This is shown when a Canadian has a business meeting and is very orientated in giving a firm handshake, looking eye to eye, and standing within two feet when negotiating. The assertiveness that a person carry with them, whether it be in business or in life, characterizes a way a person lives life through the masculinity dimension that Hofstede
describes. The last cultural dimension that is ranked on a scale based on Canada’s cultural aspects is the Uncertainty and Avoidance index. Canada ranks just under average in UAI, which means that most Canadians have a different opinion on whether they worry about the ambiguity of the future. Or, many Canadians are impartial and don't mind the thought of not knowing what could happen, but rather live in the present. When you visit Canada I strongly suggest you do not bring up business plans from the past that have failed, but rather focus on the present and how you can make a new business or investment succeed. Another cultural aspect that is very important, that is not included in Hofstedes dimensions is being orientated with the language. When you visit Canada for business, make sure you either speak the language, or bring a translator that does with you when discussing business with others. It can be very rude to show up to a business meeting and speak a language that someone in the room does not understand. This is due to the strong nationalism that Canada has, indulging their country to the fullest. This also correlates to another aspect, when you visit it is important to not compare Canada to the U.S in the slightest when around others. In addition to this, it is also important when talking business in a room enclosed with others to not wear any strong scent of perfume or body odor as a high percentage of Canadians have bad allergies.
According to citizen and immigration Canada statistics, (Immigrating to Canada, 2009), each year, Canada welcomes more than 200,000 new immigrants. It creates a diverse of multiple nationalities. Most immigrants from Europe or their descendants have religious backgrounds which respect universal fraternity. Also the multiculturalism makes Canada a "melting pot" for every member in the "pot". People respect each other and live together peacefully. People with different backgrounds live together peacefully without discrimination.
Tim Horton's is a typical Canadian coffee shop. By observing and interpreting this setting, we can understand Canadian culture as it's expressed in that setting. Understanding this small part of Canadian culture can then be applied, in a broader way, to the culture of Canadian society. A certain language that is special to customers of Tim Horton's serves a purpose that most are not aware of, big business is changing and confusing our traditional culture with a new culture that is run and concerned with money by large corporations. Canadians are generally friendly and polite to one another but are not community oriented, they are more individualistic.
...nguage, and religion all make up Canada’s human face, but also front how the cultural accommodation will continue with the risk of losing Canada’s main traditions. Faultlines again come into perspective within demographic issues, especially with newcomers/old-timers, aboriginal population expansions, and French/English language. The core/periphery model is also represented. The end of the chapter places a focus on Canada’s economic face as well, dealing with stresses inside the global economy as well as its strong dependency on the U.S markets (Bone, 169) especially with the stimulating global recession. Canada’s economic structure leans on the relative share of activity in the primary (natural resource extraction), secondary (raw material assembly), tertiary (sale/exchange of goods and services), and quaternary (decision-making) sectors of the economy (Bone, 166).
The culture of Canada refers to the shared values, attitudes, standards, and beliefs that are a representative of Canada and Canadians throughout Canada's history, its culture has been influenced by American culture because of a shared language, proximity, television and migration between the two countries. Overtime, Canadian-American relations have helped develop Canada’s identity during the years 1945-1982; thus introducing changing social norms , media and entertainment. In support of this, due to the United States being approximately 9.25 times larger in population and having the dominant cultural and economic influence it played a vital role in establishing Canada’s identity. With Canada being its neighbour, naturally, the United States would influence their way of life upon Canada. In other words,
One of the core values of Canada is diversity. Canada has very diverse cultures that have
Just like any country or nation, Canada posses its own unique culture, language and history. As with other cultures throughout the world, Canada’s culture is a result from a long history of influences, some peaceful and some arising out of conflict. This essay will discuss some important information about Canada. First and foremost, Canada is the second largest country in the world and is located
Giger (2013) defines culture as a response in behavior that is shaped over time by values, beliefs, norms and practices shared by members of one's cultural group. A person's culture influences most aspects of his or her life including beliefs, conduct, perceptions, emotions, language, diet, body image, and attitudes about illness and pain (He...
Canada is a cultural mosaic. Cultural mosaic is the mixture of different ethnic groups, languages and cultures that living in a society. Canada is one of the countries to declare multiculturism in the world as official state policy. This step showed the path to a resounding and evolving cultural mosaic premised on mutual respect for all the Canadian citizens of the different types of ethnic back ground. The roots of multiculturalism in Canada can be seen in the country's beginnings, as three establishing cultures aboriginal, British and French, who were soon joined by many more cultures from around the continents. Today this can be seen as a benchmark of Canadian national identity and a point of pride for Canadians. Even though of all this multiculturism right after the attacks of 9/11 in America a lot of Muslims who were gathered for praying in mosques and churches were attacked in Canada. Even Sikhs were attacked because they were perceived to be Muslims. Several Muslim schools were closed in major cities of Canada. Women were also attacked for their dressing (Faisal Kutty). History of African labor, Chinese labor, Aboriginal genocide and Japanese entombment are all forgotten over by propagandized multicultural progress, this has created a racialized logic which made it impossible for many Canadian citizens to recognize the racism taking place in the surrounding environment. So, racism is embedded in Canadians and can be seen in form of prejudice and discrimination at workplace.
A person’s culture usually defines their identity, norms and values. I belong to the Canadian culture and will be examining the main elements of this culture such as its symbols, language, norms and values. Canada is considered to be a multiculturalist country, which can reveal why some aspects of my Polish heritage are incorporated into my culture and identity. Therefore, I believe that there is cultural diversity in Canada and that individuals can relate to different cultural identities in this culture, which is not the case for others around the world.
Growing up with a diverse community makes you realize that Canada is growing and slowly becoming a Multicultural society. Multiculturalism as stated in the textbook, is defined as allowing and accepting different cultures and providing them encouragement and support to keep their culture and diverse traditions (Mintz et al. 2015, 34). In 1971, Canada became the first country in the world to adapt the official policy of multiculturalism. (Government of Canada. “Canadian Multiculturalism: An Inclusive Citizenship” 2012). Canada grants all residents of Canadian citizens regardless of their “racial or ethnic origins, their language, or their religious affiliation”. (Government of Canada. “Canadian Multiculturalism: An Inclusive Citizenship”
The United States is a country with a diverse existing population today; this country is known as a melting pot of different cultures, each one unique in its own respect. Culture; differentiate one societal group from another by identification beliefs, behaviors, language, traditions, Art, fashion styles, food, religion, politics, and economic systems. Through lifelong, ever changing processes of learning, creativity, and sharing culture shapes our patterns of behavior as well thinking. The Culture’s significance is so intense that it touches almost every aspect of who and what we are. Culture becomes the telescope through which we perceive and evaluate what is going on around us. Trying to define the perplexing term of culture with varying component of distinguishable characteristics is difficult to restrict. Presenly, culture is viewed as consisting primarily of the symbolic, untouched and conception aspects of human societies.
Hofstede has identified five different cultural dimensions. These dimensions include power-distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance and lastly long term orientation. According to Hofstede, power distance is the first dimension which translates to how all individuals in a society aren't equal and there is a decent amount of inequality when it comes to the division of power. The second dimension involves the theme of individualism which translates to the degree of interdependence as well as how we identify ourselves in terms of "I" or "We". Additionally, Hofstede states that in individualist societies we tend to look only after ourselves and our blood family, however, in collectivistic societies individuals identify themselves as part of groups and take care of each other in exchange for loyalty. The third dimension would be masculinity/ femininity. A high score would translate to a masculine culture which demonstrates a culture driven by competition, achievement and success. On the other hand, a low score which demonstrates a feminine culture shows that the dominant traits involves caring for others and quality of life. The fourth dimension involves uncertainty avoidance which translates to how a society deals with not knowing how the future is going to turn out. This amount of vagueness brings about anxiety and different cultures deal with this issue differently. The fifth and final cultural dimension according to Hofstede is long term orientat...
According to (Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov, 2010) described that the culture can be defined as it is made up of “thinking, feeling, and potential acting” that all people carry within themselves, which he terms as “mental programs.” Likewise, after did a large number of research, Hofstede decided to divide cultural differences into five dimensions, they are power distance, Individualism vs. Collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, Masculinity vs. Femininity and long-term vs. short-term orientation respectively. Putting more details into these five
The word 'culture' is often described in terms of concrete ideas or social artifacts. Gary R. Weaver describes some common conceptions such as "good taste," "art or music," or "something that people in exotic foreign lands had."1 However, culture in the context of international assignments relates to how people perceive the world and the influence this perception has on their actions. It is culture on the interpersonal level. Different cultures can perceive the same thing differently, which leads to miscommunication and misunderstanding when one crosses into another culture not their own.
Basically, Hofstede’s cultural dimension is divided into five dimensions along which national culture could be described: power distance (PDI), individualism-collectivism (IDV), masculinity-femininity (MAS), uncertainty avoidance (UAI) and long-term orientation versus short-term normative orientation (LTO).