Culture Assignment 2022

Running Head: CULTURE 0
HRM

CULTURE 1
How national culture affects the organisation own culture: Geert Hofstede’s five
dimensions of national culture
Culture is defined as the collective program of the mind that tends to differentiate the
one group from the other group. It is also seen as the pattern of feeling and thinking. It is
therefore the slow process of the growth in the society. It also includes the collective
activities, dominant attitudes, role models, jargon and myth. Corporate culture is also are
influenced by the factors such as the industry where it operates (Desmarchelier & Fang,
2016).
It is true that the culture across the world is being more connected due to the business
is becoming global. It means that they are able to work with the large number of different
people across the several countries and background. Most of the people are strongly wrapped
up in their own culture. Due to this, they also fail to see how it tends to affect the pattern of
their behaviour and thinking. In order to understand the cultural differences, Hofstede cultural
dimension has proved to be effective. It has included the different cultural dimensions (Raina
& Roebuck, 2016). The first one is power distance. This express the degree to which very
few member of the society tends to expect or accept that power is unequally distributed. The
societies having very less power distance, people tends to equalise the power distribution as
well as demand justification. For example- Saudi Arabia and China are the countries that
have high power distance index. High power distance states that a culture accept the cultural
differences as well as inequality. It also tends to encourage the bureaucracy. The second
cultural dimension is the individualism and collectivism dimension. High side of dimension
is that where individual only take care of themselves or their family. As compare to this,
collectivism dimension is that where individual where person can expect their members as
well as person can expect relatives of the particular group to look upon them in exchange of
attempt in questioning the loyalty. USA is one such country that is considered to be the
individualistic country across the world (Venaik & Brewer, 2016).
Masculinity or femininity dimension reflects the values that are taken significant in
the society. It therefore represents the preference in the society for heroism, achievement,
material reward, as well as assertiveness for the success. Society in the recent time is too

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competitive. As compare to this, feminist means the preference for modesty, cooperation, as
well as quality of life. For example- Japan is seen as the very masculine country (Minkov,
2018). As compare to this, countries such as Sweden and Norway are seen as the highly
feminine country. the dimension of uncertainty avoidance express the degree to which every
member of society feels not comfortable with the ambiguity and uncertainty. Society is
however deal with the fact that future is not known. Due to this, they start thinking that either
to control the future or let it happen as it want. Countries therefore have the high uncertainty
avoidance are more able to maintain the right behaviour and code of belief. As compare to
this, countries that have the low uncertainty avoidance are likely to maintain the relaxing
attitude where practice counts more than the principles. Besides this, organisation that have
the strict code of behaviour do not tolerate the unconventional behaviour and ideas. Countries
of south America such as Peru, Chile as well as Argentina have the high uncertainty
avoidance (Crane, Kawashima & Kawasaki, 2016).
Time orientation is the next cultural dimension. It states that every society is required
to maintain few links with the past at the time of dealing with some challenges in the present
as well as future. Societies prioritise such goals in different manner. Countries that have low
score on such dimension such as prefer to maintain the time related norms and traditions at
the time of seeing changes in societies with the suspicion. Countries that have high score on
such dimension are likely to adopt the pragmatic approach. They are future oriented as well
as encourage the efforts and thrift in the modern education. Asian Countries such as Japan
and China are the countries that known for the long term orientation.as compare to this,
Morocco is the short term oriented country (Helmreich & Merritt, 2017).
Indulgence is the last orientation that states the extent to which people try their best to
control the impulses, and desires on the basis of way they are being raised. Therefore, the
relative weak control is also known as the indulgence. As compare to this, strong control is
known as the restraint. Indulgence stands for that society which allows the natural human
drives in relation to the enjoyment of life (Kim, 2017).
National culture in the country is highly dominant. It tends to shape the culture of the
organisation wherever it functions. As per the Hofstede and Hofstede, national culture is
different in such way that tends to differ not only in terms of the religion, language or any
other factor but also the way people of the particular nation behave, perceives, hold as well as
act the values. In relation to this, Buchanan has point out that the employee behaviour is also

CULTURE 3
shaped by the organisational culture is somehow influences by the national culture. It is also
indicated that the employees of the multinational company also are influenced by the national
culture in terms of the beliefs, values, customers of the country. Therefore, with the help of
several dimensions of the nation culture, organisation culture is being influenced in several
ways. For example- in the high power distance national culture, companies have the
bureaucratic, tall, centralised organisation structure. In this, subordinates are also required to
perform according to the leader’s direction (Raina & Roebuck, 2016).
It is true that the motivation of people is also affected by the organisational as well as
national culture. With the several dimensions of the national culture, organisational culture is
influenced in several numbers of ways. For example- in the high power distance,
organisations have bureaucratic, centralised, and tall organisational culture (Brewer &
Venaik, 2012).
The awareness of current cultural diversity and similarity has become quite essential
for the success operation of any multinational organisation. Managers are also required to be
keeping them aware (López‐Duarte, Vidal‐Suárez & González‐Díaz, 2016). Cultural
diversity also puts the several impacts on the behaviour and operation in the organisation. the
impact of national culture is seen on the organisational culture in terms of marketing, human
resource management, corporate strategies, finances, and business ethics. In the recent time,
competition has also increased to a larger extent that requires the firm to work with creativity.
If any international firm adopts a policy, it directly puts the effect on the organisational
culture. It is because it might be possible that employees switch to that culture. Employees
also have different options available that can prove to be beneficial for them. López‐Duarte,
Vidal‐Suárez & González‐Díaz (2016) argumented that not every time it is significant that
national culture affect the organisational culture. It is because every country have their own
rules and regulations.
However, cultural differences can prove to be the annoying thing for the organisation,
but the ignorance of the national regulations and customs might end in causing the offence to
any foreign client. It also tends to break the negotiations. Due to this, it is also essential for
the organisations and businesses to keep the proper knowledge of the customs and practices
that are applied in the global business. Due to this, being aware put the greater importance in
managing any business across the globe. It is also seen that the national culture has the great
influence on the organisational strategy. In this way, national culture can put the negative as

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well as positive impact that depends on the business. Those companies in recent time are
successful who are able to cope up with the national culture in effective manner. It is because
competition has increased to a greater extent (Bakir, Blodgett, Vitell & Rose, 2015).In this
way, it can be stated that the acceptance and understanding of the national culture with its
beliefs, values, and attitude is essential for the success of business. In the recent time, cultural
differences definitely present the several challenges for the multinational companies. in the
multinational corporations, differences in the national culture is of great concern, the
Chinese, Japanese, Brazillians, Americans, Germans, Nigerians have the different approach
and values. By summing up the whole discussion, it can be said that the national culture put
the greater influence on the strategy of the company. Cultural differences therefor can be
used in positive way. It just requires the deep knowledge regarding the customs and practices
that are applied in the global business. Ignorance and non-observance of a country’s national
customs and set of laws might end in causing unintended offence to a foreign client or even
breaking promising negotiations.

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References
Bakir, A., Blodgett, J. G., Vitell, S. J., & Rose, G. M. (2015). A preliminary investigation of
the reliability and validity of Hofstede’s cross cultural dimensions. In Proceedings of
the 2000 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 226-232).
Springer, Cham.
Brewer, P., & Venaik, S. (2012). On the misuse of national culture dimensions. International
Marketing Review, 29(6), 673-683.
Crane, D., Kawashima, N., & Kawasaki, K. I. (2016). Culture and globalization theoretical
models and emerging trends. In Global culture (pp. 11-36). Routledge.
Desmarchelier, B., & Fang, E. S. (2016). National culture and innovation diffusion.
Exploratory insights from agent-based modeling. Technological Forecasting and
Social Change, 105, 121-128.
Helmreich, R. L., & Merritt, A. C. (2017). Culture at work in aviation and medicine:
National, organizational and professional influences. Routledge.
Kim, S. (2017). National culture and public service motivation: investigating the relationship
using Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions. International Review of Administrative
Sciences, 83(1_suppl), 23-40.
López‐Duarte, C., Vidal‐Suárez, M. M., & González‐Díaz, B. (2016). International business
and national culture: A literature review and research agenda. International Journal of
Management Reviews, 18(4), 397-416.
Minkov, M. (2018). A revision of Hofstede’s model of national culture: old evidence and
new data from 56 countries. Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, 25(2), 231-256.
Raina, R., & Roebuck, D. B. (2016). Exploring cultural influence on managerial
communication in relationship to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and the
employees’ propensity to leave in the insurance sector of India. International Journal
of Business Communication, 53(1), 97-130.
Venaik, S., & Brewer, P. (2016). National culture dimensions: The perpetuation of cultural
ignorance. Management learning, 47(5), 563-589.