Business Essay范文格式：Hofstede Theory of Cultural Differences

Business Essay范文格式-霍夫斯泰德文化差异理论。本文是一篇留学生商业管理方向essay写作范文，主要内容是讲述正如我们所知，今天我们生活在一个全球化的时代，文化对组织的运作有着非常重要的影响。这就是为什么如此多的研究人员过于重视在其运营所在组织的实践和文化之间建立良好的关系，但另一方面，根据Earley的说法，如果管理实践不符合其员工的需求和要求，那么会出现以下问题，例如缺乏激励、，低生产率和高周转率。因此，为了克服这些问题，我们非常重视改善组织的文化，因为它最终会影响人力资源管理战略和政策的制定和有效性。为了更好地理解民族文化对人力资源管理战略发展和有效性的影响，首先必须清楚地理解文化的概念。下面就请参阅这篇essay写作范文的具体内容。

As we know that today we are living in an era of globalization and culture has a very significant impact on the organization in which operates. That’s why so many researchers have placed too much importance to create a good relationship between the practices and culture of an organization in which it operates, but on the other hand according to the Earley (1994), if management practices are not according to the needs and demands of their employees so then the following problems will arise such as de motivation, low productivity and high turnover. So in order to overcome such problems, a very serious attention much is given to improve the culture of an organization as it ultimately effects the development and effectiveness of HRM strategies and policies. For better understanding of the effect of national cultures on development and effectiveness of HRM strategies, firstly the concept of culture must be clearly understood.

“A pattern of basic assumptions – invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaption and internal integration – that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.”

“一种基本假设模式——由特定群体在学习如何应对外部适应和内部整合问题时发明、发现或发展——其运作良好，足以被认为是有效的，因此，可以教给新成员，作为正确的方式来感知、思考和感受这些问题。”

Brewster et al (2008), p.14-15

This definition of culture basically defines that culture is a set of believes, norms and values that people acquire and share with others. The basic feature of culture is that, culture is adaptive. It is helpful for those people who are coming or joining a new place and easily come to know about the existing problems in an organization. Another definition for a culture is:

这种文化的定义基本上定义了文化是人们获得并与他人分享的一套信念、规范和价值观。文化的基本特征是，文化是适应性的。这对那些即将来到或加入一个新地方并容易了解组织中现有问题的人很有帮助。文化的另一个定义是：

“the core of culture is composed of explicit and tacit assumptions or understandings commonly held by a group of people; a particular configuration of assumptions/understandings is distinctive to the group; these assumptions/understandings serve as guides to acceptable and unacceptable perceptions, thoughts, feelings and behaviours; they are learned and passed to new members of the group through social interaction; culture is dynamic – it changes over time”

“文化的核心是由一群人共同持有的明确和默认的假设或理解构成的；特定的假设/理解组合对该群体来说是独特的；这些假设/理解可作为可接受和不可接受的感知、思想、感觉和行为的指南；这些假设和理解通过h社交；文化是动态的，它会随着时间而变化”

(Milliken and Martins, 1989).

This definition by Milliken and Martins basically defines that culture has two characteristics, first is, it’s a collective phenomenon, everybody used to share it and secondly it shapes the way people of that culture thinks and respond.

Milliken和Martins的这一定义基本上定义了文化有两个特征，第一，它是一种集体现象，每个人都习惯于分享它，第二，它塑造了这种文化的人们的思考和反应方式。

As discussed earlier, this is an era of globalization, every single nation has its own culture, their way of thinking, perceiving, responding is absolutely different from different nations. That is why every culture has its own set of values, beliefs and norms. And it easily be seen by different examples of nations like wise: if we see USA the rate of freedom is very much high over there similarly independence, individualism and level of competition tends to be very high in USA but on the other hand let’s take Japan where much importance is given to belongingness, all the work is done on group consensus, seniority is also taken into account and cooperate with each other as much as they can similarly in Arab countries family harmony and parental guidance is high and much of the authority is given to the senior member of the society. In Asian countries like Pakistan, ratio of hospitality is very high, respect for seniors and aged people are also high, mostly a decision is taken by having guidance from a senior member of a family. Most of the cross-cultural researchers like Hodstede and Trompenaars argued that the culture of the society plays a vital role and helps a lot in reshaping the practices of the management. As the society vastly vary in cultures, management has to keep in mind different methods for motivation of the employees from different cultures and sometimes it creates a problem for the management in decision making process.

正如essay前文所讨论的，这是一个全球化的时代，每个国家都有自己的文化，不同国家的思维、感知和应对方式完全不同。这就是为什么每种文化都有自己的价值观、信仰和规范。这一点很容易被像wise这样的国家的不同例子所看到：如果我们看到美国，那里的自由率非常高，类似地，美国的独立性、个人主义和竞争水平往往非常高，但另一方面，让我们以日本为例，那里非常重视归属感，所有的工作都是在群体共识上完成的，同样，在阿拉伯国家，家庭和睦和父母指导都很高，而且大部分权力都授予社会的高级成员。在像巴基斯坦这样的亚洲国家，热情好客的比例很高，对老年人和老年人的尊重也很高，大多数情况下，决策都是由一个家庭的高级成员指导。Hodstede和Trompenaars等大多数跨文化研究者认为，社会文化在重塑管理实践方面起着至关重要的作用，并有很大帮助。由于社会文化差异巨大，管理层必须牢记不同文化背景下员工激励的不同方法，有时这会给管理层在决策过程中带来问题。

Hofstede Cultural Dimension:Hofstede文化维度

Now I will explain in detail that how management practices differs when organization operates in diverse cultures. Taking into consideration the work done by Hofstede (1980), where he carried out a research by analysing the questionnaires filled up by IBM employees in 70 countries. He concluded that cultural differences depend on four factors:

现在我将详细解释当组织在不同文化中运作时，管理实践是如何不同的。考虑到Hofstede的工作，他通过分析70个国家的IBM员工填写的问卷进行了一项研究。他得出结论，文化差异取决于四个因素：

Power Distance:权力距离

Power distance is the extent in which less powerful members of the society or organization enjoys unequal distribution of the power. For instance, Females and Minorities. In organizations where power distance is high, Hierarchy tends to be taller where all major decisions are taken by few members of the top level management and all decision making process is centralised. High power distance also means that low level management cannot challenge the decision taken by upper level management and also it is very difficult to meet them. But on the other hand where power distance is low, decision making process is decentralised, all the big and small decisions are approved by taking help from the low level management. The basic concept over here is the employee empowerment, and these organizations are found with flat hierarchical pyramid. For Instance: Virgin group of companies. Where chairman of the organization have made small departments and they are allowed to take all decisions regarding their department, this helps them out in good decision making skills and also the employee empowerment.

权力距离是指社会或组织中权力较小的成员享有不平等权力分配的程度。例如，女性和少数群体。在权力距离很高的组织中，所有重大决策都由少数高层管理人员做出，所有决策过程都集中在一起，因此层级往往更高。高权力距离也意味着低级别管理层无法挑战高层管理层的决策，而且很难满足他们的要求。但另一方面，在权力距离较低的地方，决策过程是分散的，所有的大决策和小决策都是通过低级别管理层的帮助来批准的。这里的基本概念是员工赋权，这些组织都有扁平的层级金字塔。例如：维珍集团公司。如果组织主席制定了小部门，并且允许他们做出有关部门的所有决定，这有助于他们掌握良好的决策技巧，并增强员工的能力。

Uncertainty Avoidance:避免不确定性

Uncertainty avoidance is the extent to which people feel threatened about a typical situation and have created a set of beliefs in order to avoid these situations. High uncertainty avoidance companies or nations tend to have a strong belief on heir experts and their knowledge and their managers are low risk takers and have a high need for security and these countries are usually developed nations. And countries with low uncertainty avoidance tend to be more risk takers. All activities running in an organization are usually unstructured and there are few written rules, as the managers are willing to accept the risk that is why employee turnover is high in these organizations. From the perspective of HR, all employees are open to accept the new ideas and viewpoints.

不确定性回避是指人们对典型情况感到威胁的程度，并为避免这些情况而建立了一套信念。高度不确定性规避的公司或国家往往对其专家及其知识抱有强烈的信心，其管理人员风险较低，对安全的需求较高，这些国家通常是发达国家。规避不确定性程度低的国家往往更容易冒险。一个组织中运行的所有活动通常都是非结构化的，很少有书面规则，因为管理者愿意接受风险，这就是这些组织中员工流动率高的原因。从人力资源的角度来看，所有员工都愿意接受新的想法和观点。

Individualism versus Collectivism:个人主义与集体主义

Individualism refers to the extent to which people look after for themselves and their immediate family only. People in individualistic society tend to gain individual rewards and want to take all decisions by themselves. As they are responsible for their decisions only, they also rewarded individually. Countries which are high in individualism tend to be wealthier and developed, where all promotions are made on the basis of market value. But on the other hand, societies with collectivism tend to work in a group and take care for each other in exchange of loyalty. Countries which are high in collectivism tend to be poorer, where individual initiatives are low and promotions are given on the basis of seniority. Hofstede argued that countries like America, Great Britain and Australia tend to be individualistic societies. Where employees are running behind the individual recognition and promotion in an organization is the major motivational force. But countries like China, Japan and Pakistan, tend to be collectivist society, where all decisions are made on group consensus. Everybody take care for each other and employees are more focused towards group recognition. And the most important over here is that, management encourages cooperation and loyalty and they are treated as a family rather than an individual working for the organization. In 1992 Holden mentioned collectivist society as:

个人主义是指人们只为自己和直系亲属照顾的程度。个人主义社会中的人倾向于获得个人奖励，并希望自己做出所有决定。由于他们只对自己的决定负责，他们也会单独奖励。个人主义程度较高的国家往往更加富裕和发达，所有的促销都是基于市场价值。但另一方面，具有集体主义的社会倾向于在一个群体中工作，并相互照顾以换取忠诚。集体主义程度较高的国家往往更贫穷，个人主动性较低，晋升是根据资历进行的。霍夫斯泰德认为，像美国、英国和澳大利亚这样的国家往往是个人主义社会。在一个组织中，员工的个人认可和晋升是主要的动力。但像中国、日本和巴基斯坦这样的国家往往是集体主义社会，所有的决定都是在集体共识的基础上做出的。每个人都互相照顾，员工更注重群体认同。这里最重要的是，管理层鼓励合作和忠诚，他们被视为一个家庭，而不是为组织工作的个人。1992年，霍尔登提到集体主义社会：

“Japanese managers spend up to 30% of their time, in and outside normal office hours, educating their younger colleagues and initiating them in the lore and wisdom of the company, preparing them functionally and psychologically for the operations outside the firm”

“日本管理人员在正常办公时间内外，花费多达30%的时间来教育年轻的同事，让他们了解公司的知识和智慧，为他们在公司外的运营做好功能和心理准备”

(Holden, 1992, p.31)

Masculinity versus Femininity:男性与女性

A Masculine culture is the one in which basic social values are success, money and things. A country which is high in masculinity, people laid great importance on recognition, advancement, showing off, material achievement and being outward. But on the other hand countries which are high in femininity, tend to be caring and loving. A great importance is laid on cooperation, group decision making, friendly atmosphere and more employee freedom. Organizations which are working in low masculine society, promotions are made on the basis of merits and all employees are treated as a member of one family, but in organization working in high feminine society, rewards are set in such a way so that more and more competition takes place between employees rather than cooperation.

男性文化是一种基本的社会价值观是成功、金钱和事物的文化。一个男子气概很强的国家，人们非常重视认可、进步、炫耀、物质成就和外向。但另一方面，女性气质很高的国家往往很有爱心。合作、团队决策、友好的氛围和更多的员工自由是非常重要的。在低男性化社会中工作的组织，晋升是根据业绩进行的，所有员工都被视为一个家庭的成员，但在高女性化社会中，薪酬的设置方式使得员工之间的竞争越来越多，而不是合作。

Conclusion:结论

It can easily be concluded that, Hofstede shows that national cultures contain at least four dimensions and every organization has to come up with these dimensions as they are working in diverse cultures. After analysing these dimensions a company can easily operate in diverse cultured society as national culture has a significant impact on the organization. Knowledge of different cultures is very much essential for the organizations which are working as multinationals and also for HR Professionals, as people who are going to hired by the organization have different set of beliefs regarding motivation, loyalty, career development and decision making. So a proper match must be there between the organization practices and the national culture, in this way an organization can easily succeed in a society in which it operates. So that there would be a positive impact of national culture on the development and effectiveness of HRM strategies and policies.

Essay得出结论，霍夫斯泰德表明，国家文化至少包含四个维度，每个组织在不同文化中工作时都必须提出这些维度。在分析这些维度后，公司可以轻松地在不同的文化社会中运营，因为民族文化对组织有重大影响。对于跨国公司和人力资源专业人员来说，了解不同的文化是非常重要的，因为该组织将要聘用的员工在动机、忠诚度、职业发展和决策方面有着不同的信念。因此，组织实践和国家文化之间必须有一个适当的匹配，这样一个组织就可以很容易地在其运作的社会中取得成功。因此，民族文化将对人力资源管理战略和政策的制定和有效性产生积极影响。本文提供各国各专业留学生essay写作指导服务，如有需要可咨询本平台。