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National Culture
Management Scientists are HumansGreet Hofstede, Management Science, Vol. 40, No. 1, January 1994, pp. 4-13.
Outline
Why Culture and Management? Hofstede’s Method The Four Dimensions Later Refinements Trompenaars (1996)’s seven dimensions
Why Culture and Management?
Managers are humans and exist in cultures
They make decisions, have rituals, heroes, and use and understand symbols.
Hence they must be influenced by something other than mere instinct or biology
“Culture”
Patterns of thinking, feeling and acting Mental software, “Software of the Mind.” Source is social environments, almost
certainly from childhood Culture is learned, not inherited
ValuesParents
Concept LadderM
alle
abil
ity
BeliefsPeers, Heroes
AttitudesRelationshipsOpinions
ExperienceKnowledge
ExperienceBehavior
Reality
Per
sona
l Def
init
ion
Hofstede’s View of Culture
Symbols
Heroes
Rituals
Values
Practices
Hofstede’s Question
What are the components of culture, a small set of dimensions or characteristics, that enable us to classify culture-in-the-large (at a national level)? And do nations differ and can they be clustered into culturally-similar nations?
Hofstede’s Method
Late 60s, questionnaires were distributed to thousands of IBM employees worldwide.
They answered the questions about work modes, methods, and meanings on desirable and desired situations and characteristics
The results were subjected to factor analysis. Questions were based on prior work on culture
by Inkeles and Levinson (a sociologist and psychologist)
Factor Analysis
Goal is to reduce, statistically, the number of dimensions it takes to describe a phenomenon completely while losing as little information as possible.
The following example shows how factor analysis would reduce what looks like a two dimensional distribution to only one dimension:
Age+Wealth=?
How OLD are you?
How Much Money are you worth?
Age and Worth are closely related, so much so that if you know one, you can estimate the other…
Age+Wealth=ONE Dimension
The red lines indicate the errors that using one dimension brings about. The longer the sum of these lines, the less well one dimension captures these two dimensions
In other words, there is only ONE dimension called “agewealth” that captures most of the information about both.
The Four Dimensions
Power-Distance Uncertainty Avoidance Masculinity Individualism
And a fifth was added later…
• Time Orientation (Was Confucius Value)
Interpreting the Dimensions
Range is generally 0 to 100, although some countries were surveyed later and hence ended up with scores > 100*
Mean value is 50; consider the standard deviation to be about 15, so the bulk of countries are between 35 and 65.
Hofstede was more interested in ranks rather than ratings; he later grouped countries in several dimensions…
Power-Distance
How a culture handles notions of equality and power (US=40; Japan=54)
High LowMalaysia 104 Austria 11Guatemala 95 Israel 13Panama 95 Denmark 18Philippines 94 New Zealand 22Mexico 81 Ireland 28Arab Countries 80 UK 35
Uncertainty Avoidance
• How a culture handles risk and uncertainty(US=46; Japan=92)
High LowGreece 112 Singapore 8Portugal 104 Jamaica 13Guatemala 101 Denmark 23Uruguay 100 Sweden 29Belgium 94 Hong Kong 29France 86 UK 35
Masculinity
How a culture handles assertiveness vs. modesty (US=62; Japan=95)
High LowJapan 95 Sweden 5Austria 79 Norway 8Venezuela 73 Netherlands 14Italy 70 Denmark 16Switzerland 70 Costa Rica 21Mexico 69 Yugoslavia 21
Individualism
How a culture handles the individual vs. the group (US=91; Japan=46)
High LowUSA 91 Guatemala 6Australia 90 Equador 8UK 89 Panama 11Canada 80 Venezuela 12Netherlands 80 Colombia 13New Zealand 79 Indonesia 14
Israel SE Asia, Latin America
Singapore, Jamaica Latin Europe, Latin America
Nordic Countries Japan
Latin America, SE Asia UK, US
Power-Distance
Uncertainty Avoidance
Masculinity
Individualism
Low High
Implicit Organizational Model
Low Power Distance
High Power Distance
Low Uncertainty Avoidance
Market (UK) Family (Hong Kong )
High Uncertainty Avoidance
Machine (Germany)
Pyramid (France)
Position of 40 countries
Extensions
Later Hofstede added long-term orientation
basically, how a culture treats future (how long in the future).
Currently Hofstede’s four (or five) dimensions are the basis for almost all organizational and national business cultural studies.
Trompenaars (1996)
From a view-point of conflict and dilemmas in relationships with people, time, and natural environment.
Seven dimensions
Universalism vs Particularism Individualism vs Collectivism Neutral vs Affective Specific vs Diffuse Achievement vs Ascription Time-orientation (Future vs Past/Present) Internal vs External Control
Any Questions?
Discussion Questions:
Do you see Hofstede’s argument in 4 (or 5) dimensions of culture logical?
How about 7 dimensions of Trompenaars?
What’s your experience with other cultures?
