How Hofstede’s Dimensions Affect Education in Various Countries

An analysis of how
Hofstede’s dimensions
affect education in
various countries

Table of Contents
INTRDOUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................2

INTRODUCTION
Education is basically the process of imparting attitudes, knowledge, skills and values that
plays a very important role in the organisation. In relation to Learning, it basically involves the
process of adoption of the skills, knowledge and values. In Learning it is considered to be a very
important ongoing process. The process of learning usually starts from the birth of an individual.
In the present report, it involves the different approaches to learning and education. In addition to
that it involves the comparison among the different conceptualisations of key concepts in
education. The present essay involves the analysis of the how Hofstede’s Dimensions can affect
education in various countries.
MAIN BODY
An analysis of how Hofstede’s dimensions affect education in various countries
It is basically a framework which was developed by Geert Hofstede for the aim and
objective to understand the various differences across countries when it comes to culture. In
addition to that the Framework basically involves the different ways and methods of performing
business operations and across different cultures. The main objective of this structure or these
dimensions is to differentiate among the dimensions of the culture and different national cultures
and understand it influence on the business setting. This theory was developed in the year 1980
and major objective was to determine the various cultural dimensions. In relation to the
Hofstede, it involves various theories that helps in illustrating the deeply embedded values of
various cultures. All these cultural values helps in having deeper understanding of how
individuals behave in different cultural backgrounds(Haldorai, K., Kim, W.G., Seo, W.S. and
Cai, X., 2021).
The three countries taken into consideration for the purpose of analysing how the Hofstede
Dimensions can affect the education involves Japan, Romania and France.
Hofstede's categories that define the culture
Power Distance Index :- This method measures level to which power as well as
inequality are tolerated. It basically helps to measure the extent to which less potential members
1

of organization and institutions expect and accept that authorities are distributed unequally. High
power distance index refers that a culture accepts power differences and inequity, and shows a
significant respect for authority and rank(Sharabi, M., Polin, B. and Yanay-Ventura, G., 2019).
Where as Low power distance index refers that a culture must encourage the structures of
organisation that feature a privatized responsibilities for making an effective decisions, place
emphasis on distribution of powers and participative style of the management. People in cultures
who present basically the high power distance are highly admiring to figures of higher power
bodies and generally accept basically an unequal distribution of power, while the persons in
cultures who present a low power distance very less promptly ask question to authority and not
participate in making an effective decision that moreover affect them. This represent inequality
but it is defined from the below not from the above.
Power distance is basically based upon the answers of a developed questionnaire that are filled
by the various level of employees of the company in every country. The score is ranged from one
to hundred, if the score is greater than seventy it is considered as being high power distance and a
score that is below forty it is considered as the low power distance. For an example Germany has
a 35 on the scale of culture of Hofstede's analysis(Alkhowaiter, W.A., 2020).
Individualism vs. Collectivism :- This dimension think about degree to which society are
merged in different groups and their detected dependency on groups and obligations.
Individualism is the theory that favours the freedom of the people actions as many people want
to be granted the independence and allowed to think and act on that basis. A research has been
conducted that depicts those with great level of individualism happens to be more rational than
those of higher level of collectivism. It disagrees with the fact that religion and tradition can
dictate a person limitations. It was observed that the individualism are increasing all around the
world which is proven by the higher household income, proportion of white collar occupations
and education levels( Loyalka, P., Zakharov, A. and Kuzmina, Y., 2018).
Collectivism is the principle or practice indicates that there is a great importance placed on the
well being of the group and on the goals. It prioritize the group cohesion over the individual
2