Hofstedeapproch to Culture

7/29/2019 Hofstedeapproch to Culture

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Hofstede Approach To Culture And Its Dimensions

Hofstede’s Approach To Culture

Culture is the collection of beliefs, behaviors, customs and attitudes that

distinguish one society form another.

Hofstede defined culture as the collective mental programming of the

people in an environment. Usually, when we talk of culture we refer to: a

group, a tribe, a geographical region, a national minority or a nation.

Culture in itself; being a collective mental programming is difficult to

change and if it does it changes very slowly.

Hofstede pointed out four dimensions of culture which are as follows:

♦ Power Distance

♦ Uncertainty Avoidance

♦ Individualism – Collectivism

♦ Masculinity- Feminity

Now lets see each one in details outlining their characteristics and countries in

which they prevail.

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1. Power Distance

Power Distance refers to the extent to which a society accepts the

degree of unequal distribution of power among institutions and organization s.

thus, two extremes emerge: Low Power Distance and High Power Distance.

A) Low Power Distance

Minimize the unequal distribution of power. All people have

equal rights and should be interdependent. Should diminish in the

hierarchy levels and go for flatter, matrix organizations. Superiors and

subordinates consider their counterparts to be alike while enabling

accessibility to superiors. Power is used legitimately and judiciously.

Some countries include: USA, Denmark, Austria, Israel,

Finland, Germany, Australia, Sweden, Canada and Norway.

B) High Power Distance

There are High hierarchy levels. Most people are dependent only

the powerful one are independent and are inaccessible (e.g. Superiors)Power can be used in any way without anyone questioning about it.

Superiors and subordinates view their counterparts as being different

beings: Example: In India, we have the caste system and the Dalits

and the Sundra caste are among the lowest castes and thus they

cannot occupy high positions and thus cannot go along superiors who

are of a higher caste like the Rajputs in the same office.

Some countries: Philippines, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan,

Venezuela, Brazil, Columbia, Portugal.





2. Uncertainty Avoidance

Uncertainty Avoidance refers the extent to which people tend to

prefer unpredictable, ambiguous situations to structured and straight-forward

ones. Again two extremes emerge: Weak Uncertainty Avoidance and Strong

Uncertainty Avoidance.

A) Weak Uncertainty Avoidance

Uncertainties are taken as being part of life and readily accepted

while experiencing lower stress. Hard work as such is not a virtue and

non-affective behavior is preferred. There is acceptance of deviating

statements, ideas, suggestions and more willingness to take risks and

general belief is kept on common sense whilst rules are changed as

and when required.

Such countries include: Singapore, Hong Kong, Denmark,

Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand

B) Strong Uncertainty avoidance Uncertainty should be fought with as it is a threat to the stability of

our life thus experiencing higher levels of stress. Conflict and

competition should be avoided as well as deviating statements, ideas;

suggestions which are deemed dangerous are thus discarded. There

is a strong need fro rules and regulations; everything should be done

according to rules (like in our public sector), rules being very rigid, they

cannot be changed.

Such countries include: Latin American countries, Taiwan, Italy

and Greece.





3. Individualism – Collectivism

A) Individualism

Individualism promotes the “I” consciousness. It also implies a

loosely knit social framework in which people should be able to

take care of themselves and their immediate relatives. Identity,

initiative, achievement and leadership are all based upon the

individual as well as autonomy and decisions.

Some countries include: USA, Canada, Sweden, Germany,

Finland, Australia, Denmark, New Zealand and Austria

B) Collectivism

Collectivism on the other hand promotes the “we”

consciousness. it is based upon a tight social framework in which

people look after each other in exchange of loyalty it is the social

system that provides identity and not the individual. It also

indulges in emotional dependence of people in organizationwhereby involvement is moral. Achievement, decision-making

initiatives are all done through collectivistic activities.

Such counties include: India, Japan, Hong Kong, Latin

American, Portugal, Mexico, Yugoslavia, Philippines





4. Masculinity- Feminity

A) MasculinityMasculinity refers the extent to which dominant values in

society are “masculine” i.e. assertiveness, clearly differentiated

sex roles in society, acquisition of money and things, good

performance, ambition, independence and men dominance

(patriarchal) society.

Such countries include: India, Australia, USA, Canada,

Austria, Germany, and Mexico.

B) Feminity

Feminity on the other hand expresses the idea of joint roles

of men and women. Thus men need not be assertive but

can assume nurturing roles, while at the same time having

more fluid sex roles in the society; i.e. there are no specific

roles for men and women. Feminity also promotes equality

of sexes, where much emphasis is put on quality of life,

people and environment and interdependence.

Such countries include: Sweden, Denmark,

Norway, France, Brazil, Peru, Spain, and Portugal.





Cultural Relativity in Management

We have numerous management theories of motivation, leadershipand organization. Most of them were developed in the US.

However, all these theories cannot be applied as they are across

the world given the vital culture differences. Thus there is a need

for “customization” of theories. E.g. in USA, which is a mainly

individualistic culture, expectancy theories of motivation may be

applied but the same theory cannot be applied as such in a highly

collectivistic country like India/Japan.

Thus the need of acculturation

Acculturation is the process by which a person not only

understands a foreign culture but also modifies and adapts his/her

behavior to make it compatible with that culture. Thus, for firms

going abroad, there is a strong need of acculturation of the host

country. Also if expatriates will be sent there are a number of issues

to be considered depending upon the policy set by the company.

Training should be given in order to avoid culture shock and

reverse culture shock, pre& post departure training. Care should be

taken of the spouse & children if the latter will be going along as if

the family is not happy then the individual will not be happy which

will impede on work performance.


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Hofstedeapproch to Culture