US-Singapore Communication Comparison

This assignment analyzes the communication landscape between the United States and Singapore, highlighting both commonalities and discrepancies based on Hofstede's cultural dimensions. It explores aspects like power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation, providing recommendations for effective cross-cultural communication in collaborative settings.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Topic: International and Intercultural Communication
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1INTERNATIONAL AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Table of Contents
Similarity Between United States and Singapore............................................................................2
Differences Between United States and Singapore.........................................................................2
Recommendations for Communication...........................................................................................3
References........................................................................................................................................5

2INTERNATIONAL AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Similarity between United States and Singapore
Considering the Hofstede cultural factors, it can be found that United States (US) and
Singapore are having more common aspects in masculinity dimension and indulgence dimension
(Hofstede-insights.com, 2018). According to Ramos and Puccio, (2014), the society of US is
having a wider tendency to accept and recognize assertiveness, achievement and heroism than
caring, modesty and cooperation. Singapore can also be considered having such a society where
women are more competitive and emphatic than the men. On the other hand, Rallapalli and
Montgomery, (2015) pointed out that indulgence dimension is quite favorable for the people of
US as citizen are able to express themselves without being under the bondage of strict cultural
and societal norms. Singapore also does not have strong cultural norm hindrances however,
women are subjected to some restrictions that impacts on corporate undertakers.
Differences Between United States and Singapore
According to Christopher, (2015), power distance dimension indicates the magnitude of
power acceptance in the society. Higher power degree indicates better expectance and
acceptance of power distribution, however as per Ramos and Puccio, (2014), there is huge
difference in degrees between US and Singapore. Therefore, it can be said that unlike US,in
Singaporean companies,authority is well justified and hierarchy is well maintained. Considering
individualism, it is prominent that the people of US faces challenges while working in a team as
unlike Singapore people accepts teamwork rather being individual. On the other hand,
considering uncertainty avoidance factor, it can be said that employees of US industries try to
avoid uncertain events and they prefer to proceed with least risk. People of Singapore are more
likely to accept new ideas and uncertainties along with risk involvements. Finally, considering

3INTERNATIONAL AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
long-term orientation, Singapore embraces its tradition and culture for more time than US. This
also indicates that US accepts latest trends and cultures with more ease than Singapore.
Figure 1: Hofstede Cultural Dimension Comparison between US and Singapore
(Source: Hofstede-insights.com, 2018)
Recommendations for Communication
The earlier analysis highlighted that the main differences were due to unequal power
distribution, unorganized teamwork, poor uncertainty acceptance and poor culture
restoration.Therefore, the alliance organizations need to ensure robust organizational structure
with hierarchical format. This will reduce the biasness among employees and equal distribution
of roles and responsibilities. On the other hand, the main challenge will be teamwork as
culturally diverse associates will need to work with each other. Rallapalliamd Montgomery,
(2015) pointed out that cultural differences can be best sorted once team cohesiveness is justified

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through group formulation consisting of culturally diverse candidates. Similarly, both the
organizations will need to create multiple teams for each department so that differences among
employees are sorted out at the initial stages. Furthermore, risk acceptance mentality has to be
inculcated among US employees by sharing ideas, strategies and success factors from Singapore
associates. This will help in building new strategies and form decision making counterparts for
long-term operations. Finally, code of conduct has to be created and strictly followed where none
of the employees from whatsoever background will be treated equally in terms of practicing own
cultural norms.

5INTERNATIONAL AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
References
Christopher, E. (2015). International management and intercultural communication (1st ed., pp.
1-190). NSW: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hofstede-insights.com. (2018). Compare countries - Hofstede Insights. Hofstede Insights.
Retrieved 18 January 2018, from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-
countries/
Rallapalli, K. C., & Montgomery, C. D. (2015). Marketing Strategies for Asian-Americans:
Guidelines Based on Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions. In Minority Marketing: Research
Perspectives for the 1990s (pp. 73-77). Springer, Cham.
Ramos, S. J., & Puccio, G. J. (2014). Cross-cultural studies of implicit theories of creativity: A
comparative analysis between the United States and the main ethnic groups in
Singapore. Creativity Research Journal, 26(2), 223-228.