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Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions and Performance
Hofstede is credited with pioneering the most influential work on cultural measurement. In the earlier versions of his work Hofstedeindentified four dimension of culture which highlighted the differences of the cultural norms in multinational companies, namely individualism versus collectivism; power difference; uncertainty avoidance; masculinity and femininity. In his research Holfstedeanalysed the behaviour of employees and managers across fifty three national subsidiaries of IBM to reach his conclusions (Hofstede, 1980). However in later year further research, with questions prepared by the Chinese Value Survey (Hong Kong) lead to the addition of a http://www.ukassignment.org/dxassignment/ fifth dimension to list, namely long term versus short term orientation (Hofstede et al, 1987). Furthermore the results of the survey showed that the Chinese culture differed from Western culture in terms of its values on masculinity and uncertainty avoidance, it was also noted in the same paper that these was a significant gap in western and eastern countries on issues of power difference, individualism and long term orientation. However critics of Hofstede point out that in his work Hofstede was using the measurement of a single organization to make general claims about national cultural differences (Korman, 1985; Robinson, 1983), whereas other criticise it for focusing too much on attitude surveys (Schooler, 1983; Sondergaard, 1994), despite these critiismsHofstede's work still remains a pillar to the study of cultures (Sondergaard, 1994).
Individualism-Collectivism
Hofstede's research showed that individualism gives arise to a form of selfishness in people that lead them encourage them to prioritise and pursue their interest. In an individualistic society this allows them to take control of their own actions to pursue goals that full fills their utility (Laura, 2011), where as in a collective society people tend to consider the needs of the whole group before their own interests, and fell spiritually obligated to contribute towards further the cause of their group and maintaining a loyalty towards their organzation (Xiao, 2009). For example in countries such as the UK, USA individuals place a stronger emphasis on personal interests over that of others where as in countries such as China and Japan interaction with other members in the society is a very important concept and a person's identity is defined by the identity of the group he or she is a member of (Brislin, 1993).
Power Distance
Ideas such as leadership, decision making, de-centralisation, centralisation are interrelated concepts and are important factors that affect the management of an organisation. In high power distance societies there is a strong reliance on leaders, managers for decision making and guidance in the process setting up a preference for centralised decision making where subordinates execute tasks without too much thought (Xiao, 2009). This trait is more prevalent in Asian countries where as in European countries employees are encouraged to participate in generating ideas and making decision in a bid to ensure that employee talent is fully utilized (Xiang, 2008). For example in France the power distance in society is very high whereas is countries such as Israel and Sweden the converse is true. Furthermore in France where the power difference is high managers keep their distance from subordinates, do not socially with subordinates and offer their subordinates little space in terms of negotiating assignments; whereas in countries such as Sweden where the power difference is very low subordinates and worker groups have a higher influence over their assignments and work environment (Adler, 1991)
Uncertainty Avoidance
People from different backgrounds react differently to the notion of uncertainty as their understand of and knowledge about the term differs significantly (Xiao, 2009). Uncertainty avoidance manifests itself when individuals in a society fear when tasked with a uncertain situation, this leads to anxiety and stress, in some circumstances it is able to force people to look forward to future predictability, and is generally widespread in cultures where people feel they need written rules to perform properly (Hofstede, 2007). In cultures that measure high in uncertainty avoidance individuals tend to prefer stable jobs, desire secure lives, avoid conflict and generally have lower tolerance for ideas, individuals who challenge the norm. As such in countries such as Japan that measure which in this aspect the tolerance for deviation from socially, culturally accepted behaviour (Tosi et al, 2000).
Masculinity-Femininity
Hofstede further argued that ideas of masculinity and femininity have varying levels of influence and generate differing views and opinion in different cultures, furthermore he noted that in societies with high level of masculinity the roles of genders are very well defined where men are perceived as being confident, determined and materialistic and women are required to be modest, gentle and more interest in maintaining their quality of life (Laura, 2011). Whereas Femininity is based on ideas of equality and solidarity. For example in countries such as USA, Japan and Germany ,where the culture is highly masculine, job structures are highly differentiated with roles being filled entirely by women or men. There is more focus on achievements in these countries and jobs roles tend to be more challenging (Hofstede, 1991). In highly masculine cultures individuals tend to be more assertive compared to feminine cultures, in addition there is lesser focus on the quality of the work environment. On the contrary in countries such as Sweden, Norway who score higher in Femininity there is a stronger emphasis on maintaining a quality work environment, ensuring that employees are satisfied with jobs and ensuring that employees participate in decision making processes.
Long-term Orientation v Short-term Orientation
Long-term orientation focuses on the future values that emphasis on the future consideration
with a dynamic view, and pay attention on saving, thrift and reserves (Xiao, 2009, pp. 127-128).
Short-term orientation concerns about immediate interests, respects tradition, regards
social
responsibility (Xiao, 2009, pp. 127-128). In the operation management, it will consider the
short-term profit rather than long-term one (Kim, Wright, & Su, 2010). This dimension is a measure of a culture's views of the future. for example in Western countries who display short term orientation
Organizational Behaviour
Communications Process
Communication is a vital took for the success of business, however the way in which people from different cultures may communicate differ significantly in terms of verbal, written language usage and in terms of the non verbal communication they display. In addition people speaking the same language but from different regions, cultures may communicate in entirely different way. For example even though English is the most prevalent language in the USA and the UK, the communications process in these countries show marked differences, so much so that the same words can mean two different things in these countries. Furthermore different cultures may exhibit different form of verbal communication, namely direct style, where individuals expresses their true feeling through the words they choose to speak, and indirect styles, where individuals 'dilly dally' around the subject in order to hide their true feelings. For example in the USA individuals say 'No' directly http://www.ukassignment.org/dxassignment/ without feeling that they have offended someone, where as in countries such as Korea whre there is a preference for the indirect communication style individuals are more likely to use phrases like 'It might be possible' or 'It is an interesting idea' whereas in reality they are expressing their disagreement to the issue at hand. the direct style communication process in more prevalent in individualistic, low context and vise versa (Brislin, 1993).
The culture in a country also has significant on the non verbal communication process (i.e. facial expressions, eye contact, posture etcetc ) that permeates that society. For example, although smiling is often the sign of happiness, pleasure in some Asian countries a smile may be construed as embarrassment, or a show of discomfort (Porter, 1991).In addition one can easily notice the intensive use of hand gestures while conversing in countries such as Greece, Italy, where as gesture arae less common in the Chinese, Japanese culture (Abbasi et al, 1993).
Conflict Resolution
The ways people sense and deal with conflicts also vary from culture to culture. In low context cultures, where the world is viewed in analytic and liner logic conflicts are often seen as being instrumentally oriented and issues are kept separate from people. Public disagreement on issues are nt frowned upon, and individuals are able to maintain an amicable relationship while still have a disagreement, whereas in high context cultures disagreements are taken personally, and public, open disagreement may be interpreted as an insult and could amount to that personal loosing face in society (Gundykunst et al, 1988). Conflict materialises in these cultures for different reason, in low context culture, where there are less instructions on how to behave appropriately, it manifests itself when one individual fails to meet the expectation of another. In high context cultures where social protocols are more formally defined conflict usually arises when an #p#分页标题#e#http://www.ukassignment.org/dxassignment/ individual fail to maintain cultural expectations. Furthermore in low context cultures where people are more action oriented individuals involved in the conflict want conflicts to be resolved in a swift efficient and quick manner where as in high context customers individuals involved in confrontation are often evasive, and often ignore and avoid the conflict.
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Managing Change
Different cultures how varying levels of sensitivity to change with some cultures actively resisting change, adapting to change very slowly and trying to prevent outside influences in a bid to preserve traditional process, customs and behaviour. Other cultures quickly adapt to change however there may be segments in the those culture that perceive change as a threat, and try to re-establish traditional values. Then again there are culture that are ambivalent. i.e. they embrace, fear and resists change simultaneously (Treven, 2001).
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