Business Culture of the United Kingdom

This essay elaborately discusses the business culture in the UK with special focus on the CSR themes prevalent in the four countries. It explains the concept of culture and the culture predominant in the UK. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are used to highlight the cultural trends in the country. The essay then explains and clarifies the country’s business culture by providing proper arguments and discussions.

Running head: BUSINESS CULTURE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
BUSINESS CULTURE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1
BUSINESS CULTURE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
Introduction
A country’s business culture could be observed by its overall culture that is predominant
in the country. Culture refers to the social behavior, the norms and customs of a particular
country. The culture visible in the United Kingdom is influenced majorly by its history as a
democratic power. Composed of four countries that include England, Wales, Northern Ireland
and Scotland – the UK boasts of varied cultures. Christianity is the predominant religion
followed in the UK and English are Welsh are the two official languages. In terms of business
however, the culture is almost the same in all the four countries. The Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) is followed highly in the UK as it s becoming increasingly important
across the globe. The major themes of CSR in the UK are work life balance, employment and
human rights, contribution to the community and the environment.
In this essay, the business culture in the UK shall be elaborately discussed with special
focus on the CSR themes prevalent in the four countries. Prior to this, the essay will explain the
concept of culture and the culture predominant in the UK. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions will be
used to highlight the cultural trends in the country. The essay will then explain and clarify the
country’s business culture by providing proper arguments and discussions.
Culture in the UK
Culture cannot be defined in a definite way as it has different connotations for different
people. In general, culture is the way of life in a particular society, which includes religion,
education, arts, music and so on. One behaves the way with others, the food choices one makes,
the businesses one does and the clothes one wears – all refer to culture. Many theorists and
scholars have defined culture in different ways but Geert Hofstede’s definition has probably

2
BUSINESS CULTURE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
received the most popularity and it is still relevant. According to Hofstede, culture is “the
collective mental programming of the human mind, which distinguishes one group of people
from another” (Hofstede 1983, p. 76). He further identified six dimensions of culture with which
one could identify the differences in culture. Power distance, individualism, masculinity,
uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation and indulgence are the six dimensions identified
and developed by Hofstede.
By putting the United Kingdom on the cultural dimensions scale, one could understand
the country’s prevalent and dominant culture. As per Hofstede’s cultural dimension index, the
United Kingdom has a high score in individualism, which means that the people are highly
individualistic and private (Hofstede-insights.com, 2018). The country has seen a remarkable rise
in consumerism and the ‘ME’ culture. In the masculinity scale, UK has a score of 66, which
means that the society is highly driven and success oriented. As opposed to Scandinavian nations
that are mostly feminine, the majority population in the UK are obsesses with work and
performance. At 35 in the uncertainty avoidance index, the UK has little rules to follow but those
that are there have to be followed severely. The low score in UAI also means that the people in
the UK focus more on the result rather than on planning and detailing in terms of work. In the
long-term orientation index, the country scores a neutral score of 51, which makes it difficult to
understand the dominant preference. The society is not inclined towards either maintaining time-
honored traditions or following a pragmatic approach. With a high score of 69 in the indulgence
index, the culture in the UK could be identified as possessing a positive attitude and are mostly
optimistic.
With the help of this Hofstede cultural dimension analysis, one can have a clearer
mindset on the ways to do business in the UK. Having a score of 35 in the power distance index,

3
BUSINESS CULTURE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
it is evident that the culture in the UK does not believe in inequality and strives towards
minimizing it. However, a close look at the country’s history, the low score in the PDI seems
contradictory. Research has found that the working class in the UK has a higher score of PD in
comparison to the higher class. Nonetheless, when it comes to business, the UK has a balanced
approach towards all. As apparent from the analysis, the business culture in the UK is highly
influenced by the overall culture.
Explaining business culture in the UK
This section shall explain the business culture in the UK but first it is important to put
some light on business culture in general. After analyzing the overall culture in the UK, it is now
important to explain the business culture. It is a well-known fact that doing business in the
globalized world requires people to have comprehensive knowledge about various cultures
(Urbancova 2013). It is the key element of business in today’s competitive world and
organizations have realized its importance. As Floyd et al. (2013, p. 760) mention, business
culture is important in terms of ethics because it enables businesses to engage professionally with
one another.
The importance of culture is visible from the fact that it influences the decisions made by
the management and one wrong decision costs heavily on the organization. Instances of business
failures in terms of product campaign, launch and so on are in abundance. One example could be
– Tiz Razor manufacturing company based in Iran failed miserable when it exported its product
in Qatar where ‘tiz’ meant ‘buttocks’. The sales plunged drastically and the company had to face
severe loss. When the management decides to send its managers to a different country with
different culture, it must train the manager regarding that country’s culture.

4
BUSINESS CULTURE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
Business culture is associated with ethics, behavior, etiquette and so on demonstrated by
the businesspersons. It encompasses the values, visions, working style, habits and belief system
of an organization and the country in which it operates. Business culture has been categorized
into two types – low context cultures and high context culture. In low context cultures, the
business partners have the tendency to speak out their heart. In simpler terms, they mean what
they say in direct and unambiguous manner. High context cultures are those where attitudes and
circumstances are given more importance than the statements made.
The business culture in the UK is low-context because the people follow rules and
standards strictly and give more importance to words than the surrounding or the context. An
example could explain it better – a signed contract between two parties in business is taken as the
final product. The people in UK take it as the end of negotiations and not the start of it. Further,
as a low context culture, giving or receiving gifts in business is considered unethical in the UK.
In order to achieve maximum results, one must have a strong and effective communication
process because poor communication might result in failure. It is important to learn the business
culture of the concerned country where one aims to do business and hence, an extensive study
has to be done. Low context cultures like the UK make least use of non-verbal communication
and rely heavily on written communication as already mentioned. Relationships are short-term in
the UK as business executives are depended heavily on specifics and evidences for making
decisions rather than on verbal confirmation. To the business class of the UK, relationships are
less valuable than schedules. Apart from that, the culture of UK is flexible and it allows people
to be open and free while conducting business.
Rees-Caldwell and Pinnington (2013, p. 220) identify certain other tendencies of low-
context cultures like the UK that could assist in explaining the business culture further.

5
BUSINESS CULTURE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
Territoriality is one of the tendencies, which explains that people in the UK do not compromise
with their privacy. Hence, they stand far apart from people. In addition, they associate extreme
value to time and believe that time is a product and it must be spent or saved as per demand.
Business culture also refers to the unique dimension of culture that involves starting on
the right note, holding meetings, formalities, negotiations, using social media and many more. As
has been mentioned in the previous sections, business culture includes ethics and etiquette. The
CSR is one important aspect of business that takes care of ethics. In the UK, CSR is given
increased importance, which is evident from the work life balance enjoyed by the employees of
different organizations. Community works and environment protection also hold important
places in the CSR policy of the UK. In the field of environment protection, the UK businesses
along with the government are considerably reducing the amount of waste – both industrial and
commercial – dumped off in landfill sites.
When it comes to work life balance, the UK usually maintains a good balance. Although
there are organizations where employees work for extra hours, most organizations realize the
importance of work-life balance. The business organizations have introduced and implemented
policies that give a better work-life balance to its employees. According to these organizations, a
better work-life balance would result in better production and help all the parties involved. The
employees in the UK have to work for more than 48 hours especially since Britain made its exit
from the European Union. UK employees have long working hours and the intensity of work as
the two main concerns. In order to tackle these concerns, the business culture in the UK
witnessed certain changes. With the introduction of supple working, sustainable commutation
and improvements in technology, employees now have the benefit to plan their working hours
accordingly. The working culture has also seen a shift from previous days with an increased

6
BUSINESS CULTURE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
integration of cultures in the UK from different parts of the world. Technological advancements
have allowed businesses to provide comfortable working environments to the employees in the
UK. They now have the facility to work from home as per their convenience.
Clarifying business culture in the UK
After explaining the business culture of the UK with the help of various terms and
concepts, it is now important to provide clarification for the business culture followed in the
country. Before indulging on clarification of the business culture, it would be better to rewind its
two types especially the high context culture. As opposed to low-context culture, high context
cultures give importance to implicit messages and indirect gestures. The use of non-verbal
communication is very high as compared to low-context culture and intuition and feelings are
trusted more than facts and evidences while making decisions. Further, the countries that have
high context cultures like the Asian, African, central European, Arab and Latin American
cultures are polychromic. It means that these cultures do not put much value to punctuality and
accept interruptions.
In order to understand the reason behind UK being a low-context culture, it is important
to look into its history as a nation. The UK has had a history of dominating over other countries
and its primary aim was to expand its empire as far as possible. Such a huge vision required
acute planning and scheduling. In addition, it required punctuality and fewer adherences to
emotions and feelings while taking important decisions. Furthermore, in the earlier days during
the occupation of countries in the Southeast Asian in particular, the British used trade and
business as the gateway to enter the foreign soil. Therefore, they knew the worth of time,
directness while dealing with countries and giving little importance to emotions.

7
BUSINESS CULTURE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
The six cultural dimensions of Hofstede also provide a good platform from where one
could clarify the business culture of the UK. The individualism, masculinity, the UAI and long-
term orientation indexes in particular provide a clear picture of the work culture in the UK. Apart
from Hofstede’s dimensions, other factors like the low-context cultural factors also provide good
reasons behind the business culture evident in UK.
Conclusion
A detailed analysis of the business culture in UK hence brings forth the fact that it has
seen a shift with the advancement of technology and globalization. The analysis also revealed
that national culture has a great influence on business culture of UK. The historical significance
has also been elaborated in order to understand the reasons behind the business culture followed.
Further, it has also been found that the CSR policy followed in the UK reflects the business
culture. The essay has followed a systematic pattern to explain and clarify the business culture of
the UK. At first, it defined culture and presented Hofstede’s definition of culture and the six
cultural dimensions that he developed. The culture of UK was examined through these
dimensions, which helped in understanding the business culture clearly. It was found that the UK
has low scores in power distance and uncertainty avoidance and high scores in individualism,
masculinity and indulgence. In the long-term orientation index however, the score was
intermediary thus showing that UK is neither inclined much towards maintaining links with past
events nor towards following a pragmatic approach. Further, the description of low-context and
high context cultures has also been provided in order to explain the business culture better. It was
found that UK is a low context culture and hence, its business environment is signified by
punctuality, timely completion of works, scheduling and planning and minimum focus on
relationships.

8
BUSINESS CULTURE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
References:
Floyd, L.A., Xu, F., Atkins, R. and Caldwell, C., 2013. Ethical outcomes and business ethics:
Toward improving business ethics education. Journal of business ethics, 117(4), pp.753-776.
Hofstede, G., 1983. The cultural relativity of organizational practices and theories. Journal of
international business studies, 14(2), pp.75-89.
Hofstede-insights.com 2018. Country Comparison - Hofstede Insights. [online] Hofstede
Insights. Available at: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/the-uk/ [Accessed
27 Jul. 2018].
Rees-Caldwell, K. and Pinnington, A.H., 2013. National culture differences in project
management: Comparing British and Arab project managers' perceptions of different planning
areas. International Journal of Project Management, 31(2), pp.212-227.
Urbancova, H., 2013. Competitive advantage achievement through innovation and knowledge.
Journal of Competitiveness, 5(1).