Critical Analysis of Hofstede’s Model for Cross-Cultural Management

RUNNING HEAD: BUSINESS ACROSS CULTURE
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Business Across Culture
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Critical analysis of Hofstede’s model..............................................................................................2
Literature review..........................................................................................................................2
Hofstede’s study of cultural dimensions:.................................................................................3
Cultural defined:.......................................................................................................................3
National culture:.......................................................................................................................4
Organizational culture:.............................................................................................................4
Dimensions of Hofstede’s model:............................................................................................4
Criticism of Hofstede’s model:....................................................................................................5
Comparison of alternative model:................................................................................................6
Impact of National Culture on the organization..............................................................................7
Organizational Culture Inventory....................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
Global platforms are changing faster than expected and that increases the need for managers and
organization to understand the concept of cross culture management. The concept of cross
cultural is taking importance due to increased global trade and cross border transactions. Due to
that Hofstede’s model of cultural dimensions culture gets attention. His model is used by the
organizations to develop a proper workshop and training framework. Cross culture management
is done also through knowing the cultural differences that exist between the host country and
domestic country (Kwantes and Glazer 2017). In contrast to this theory, some other theories or
models also contributed to gaining knowledge about cross cultural management. Hofstede’s
Model is a tool to examine the cultural differences between two dimensions on the basis of
different dimensions between the two countries. According to Martin Luther King “The same
boat stands metaphorically for cross border relations and international businesses, and the
different ships for the employees and managers of an organization who come from different
countries, cultures and backgrounds”. The same concept applies to cross border businesses in
order to work effectively there is a need to understand the cultural diversity and take necessary
step for cultural management (Beugelsdijk, Kostova and Roth 2017).
This report consists of critically analyzing the Hofstede’s Model and its comparison with other
models. The six dimensions of culture are explained in this report with some examples. Further
sections of the report concentrate on examining the negative and positive effect of national
cultural differences on the cross border businesses. To understand this aspect a case of Amazon
will be discussed and the problems that the company faces due to national cultural differences
and the positive factors that lead to the success of the organization in many cross border trade.
Critical analysis of Hofstede’s model
Literature review
This section emphasizes the key elements of this study that is how culture affects cross border
businesses. This analysis can be done with the help of a tool that is the Hofstede Model. Further,
the literature review includes criticism of this model and its comparison with other tools to
analyze the cultural differences in the countries (Piepenburg 2011).

Hofstede’s study of cultural dimensions:
The Hofstede cultural dimension was introduced by the Geert Hofstede a Dutch psychologist and
his landmark study is called “culture consequences”. By his cross-cultural studies, he recognized
four important dimensions. In his book, Alvesson and Sveningsson (2015) identified four
dimension of culture initially and then the study later on extended to six dimensions of culture.
These dimensions are uncertainty avoidance, power distance index, feminism and masculine,
collectivism and individualism, level of indulgence and short and long term orientation.
Hofstede model helps in understanding the shifting of the modern world from traditional
methods to modern methods that influence greatly the cultural aspects of different countries. The
study was done by many researchers from different fields and this model was used earlier to
know the cultural differences but in this modern era this model fails to define the cultural
behaviors of the countries in context to organizations.
Cultural defined
The culture is defined as the values and belief of a particular community or country and the way
people perceive or used their rituals, customs and working in the current era. “Culture is derived
from a Latin word cultus”. Alvesson and Sveningsson (2015) define culture as the stable set of
belief and values that are usually seen in or followed by a group of people in countries or the
effect of those beliefs and values on the outside people. The most cited and preferred definition
of culture is provided by Alvesson and Sveningsson (2015) “culture is a collective programming
of the mind which distinguishes the one human group’s members from the other”. The
comparison of different definitions and taking these definitions together, Piepenburg (2011)
recognized some key characteristics of culture:
1. Firstly, culture can be learned from observation and practice as it cannot be inherited.
2. The main characteristic is that culture is shared by the group of people as it is the
common characteristics of a group not an individual.
3. Culture cannot be developed instantly; it is passed from one generation to another
generation.
4. Culture is something that differentiates the countries values and traditions and helps in
recognizing the value of them in their own ways.
5. Culture is patterned and this is integrated with the values and rituals that varied from
country to country and impacted others if applied to them.