Understanding Organisational Culture: The Hofstede Theory

This article explores the Hofstede Theory and its impact on organisational culture. It discusses the dimensions of national culture and how they affect business communication. It also compares the cultural differences between Argentina and the UK.

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Part one: The Hofstede Theory:
After globalisation the country boundaries have been shipped by the spread of
communication networks as well as their development of communication along with
transportation. Therefore countries have been closer than they were before. Through trade,
education, science and Technology where each and every National culture is proving
themselves effective or dominating for the other. This is the reason why in 1970 The Scholars
like greet Hofstede head started to record the importance of cultural differences in the
business life and how the business relates to the communication among the people having
different cultures. According to him the culture is the source of conflict than of synergy
(Hofstede-insights.com 2019).
Culture is intensely rooted in the different aspects of business live where people needs
to interact with others like buyers employees, suppliers and other stakeholders. Therefore
when a company enters the market of another country must respect and gain knowledge the
cultural dimension of that particular country (Beugelsdijk, Kostova and Roth 2017). As
different cultural dimensions regulate the behaviour and understanding of the employees, the
management or the Human Resource Department actually handle the conflicts among the
local and expatriate employees in the organisation. This is the reason why when a company
of UK enters the market of Argentina or China, needs to be aware of the national as well as
organizational culture of the country. This will help it to manage the employees, understand
the demands of the suppliers and other stakeholders.
Hofstede cultural framework is considered to be the most important method of
understanding the national culture and how they affect the organisational culture itself.
According to this theory there are 6 dimensions based on which the people of a particular
Nation prove their values, understanding, expectations and styles of working. These 6

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dimensions include power distance individualism vs. collectivism uncertainty avoidance,
long term orientation, masculinity versus femininity and intelligence versus restraint.
Proper understanding of the culture of the organisation, the understanding of the
values, understanding, motives and working methods must be known. Only then the
organisations after entering the foreign market can effectively operate and create a positive
image in the minds of the employees as well as the other stakeholders like customers most
importantly. Hofstede’ cultural dimension framework is practical for uncovering the facts of
differences and conflicts of the cross-cultural business as well as communication
(Beugelsdijk, Kostova and Roth 2017). Only when the people of the organisation understand
the cultural differences concluded by Greet Hofstede and then take proper measures as well
as communication style, they can management properly and the business will have success in
the foreign lands. It is all about matching the culture of the organisation with that of the
nation or more precisely the market.
However, many intercultural scholars have pointed out different factors which cannot
be explained through the framework of Hofstede. According to these critics, the theory by
Hofstede does not mentions or provide valuable guiding intelligence and regard those as
some absolute assumptions (Beugelsdijk, Kostova and Roth 2017). Various languages or
contents objectively impact upon the understanding of the conversation. It plays an
irreplaceable position in the intercultural communication. In addition to this, the gestures and
body language also play important role in maintaining good relation with the people from
other culture. This is effective in eliminating any type of misunderstanding among the people
from other cultures. What is considered in one culture may not be accepted on the other
(Block and Walter 2017). Therefore, in order to mix with the culture of the market, the
knowledge of language is important as this is the key to enter the minds of the people but
Hofstede’s national cultural dimensions do not detail about it.

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Hofstede culture also does not focus on the time management aspects which are
different in different culture. Some of the cultures do not take much time to consider the
issues or segments but make prompt decisions without thinking the facet on the relationship
(Beugelsdijk, Kostova and Roth 2017). On the contrary, the other cultures do not allow
people to make easy or prompt decisions but focus on the outcome in the future including the
relational factors for that matter. Moreover, the cultural dimension of Hofstede’s theory does
not detail priorities in the goals orientation and relationship orientation cultures of the
organisations. To most of the cultural critics, it is the result of narrow research as the data
collected by Hofstede only focuses on the English speaking people working in IBM and
evaluation of their work attitude as well as values (Degens et al. 2017). Therefore, there are
gaps in understanding of the national as well as organisational culture which may have
negative effect on the decision making process or policy issuing segment.
Part two: Comparison of Argentina and UK
The power distance dimension defines how people of a nation can perceive unequal
power distribution in the society or for that matter in the organisation. This is derived from
the value of less powerful citizens which indicate that the level to which the citizens can
accept the power inequality. The low score define that the members of the society prefer
equality and higher power distance index means that the people are ready to accept larger
power differences in the organisation (Beugelsdijk, Kostova and Roth 2017). In this type of
workplace hierarchy plays an important role where the operations and positions divide among
people. In the power distance dimension, UK scores 35 and Argentina is in 49 (Hofstede-
insights.com 2019).
As mentioned before the lower the score is the preference for equality in the society is
higher. The UK sits in the lower ranking of the PDI that is the society that believes that the

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inequality of power among the people in the society must be minimised. Initially, the society
of Britain was divided into classes but in this present context, the essentiality of the power
inequality among the people has been reducing gradually (Block and Walter 2017). However,
the PDI is higher in the higher class people of the UK in comparison to the lower class. Now
the sense of fair play drives the belief that people must be treated as equals in the nation.
Argentina scores 49 in the PDI ranking which has much higher value that characterises other
Latin American countries other than Argentina. Initially the power distance in this society
was high and the society preferred for the hierarchy but in the last century a huge amount of
migration from differ et European countries has changed the structure of the society
(Mazanec et al. 2015).
The individualism vs. collectivism dimension this closes the fact how people can tie
with the others within their community. The individual is important that the societies have
their members died loosely and are concerned with themselves rather than the entire
community (Peixoto et al. 2018). On the other hand the collectivist society have a strong and
cohesive with their groups and they think about the Welfare of the entire community rather
than themselves for their immediate family.
In the aspects of individualism vs. collectivism, the UK score 89 which is amongst the
highest of the individualist scores. Like other common wealth countries, the people of the UK
are individualist as well as private people. The children are taught to follow their own good
and interest than of the others. These people find their unique ways early in life and follow
the path to contribute in the society. Through personal fulfilment, the people has grown a
‘me’ culture which has led as rampant consumerism (Peixoto et al. 2018). On the contrary,
the society of Argentina scores 46 which is more or less the middle rankings. This is the
reason why the people are not completely interested in the self or the immediate family.
There prevails a collective trail which is the opinion and obligations towards their extend

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families and groups still count (Degens et al. 2017). This trait is more modern and
notwithstanding yet individualistic traits are found in the large urban conglomerates. In this
context, the employer and employee connects are rather calculative and there is a strict
division between the private as well as work life.
Masculinity versus femininity records to whether the emotional gender roles have
been distinct and overlapped. In the masculine societies the people are supposed to be tough,
competitive and assertive. Success means everything to them (Mazanec et al. 2015). On the
other hand the femininity index refers to the quality of the people in the society who are
supposed to be tender, modest and concerned with their quality of life rather than running in
the competition only.
British society is highly masculine in nature where the people are highly success
oriented as well as driven. The success driven values and the cultural modesty of the British
culture often contradict with one another and create confusion among the foreigners. Unlike
the feminine countries, the culture of UK makes people more focussed on the performance of
themselves rather than focussing on the welfare of the others. The society of Argentina scores
56 in this particular dimension therefore, it shows a slight inclination to the masculine
features. Therefore, the society of Argentina shows a strong features of achievement
orientation as well as assertiveness (Bakir et al. 2015). The masculine behaviour of the
female politicians and the company owners are very much common in this society. All of the
employees more or less try to focus on the achievements rather than being liking the things
they are doing. The best practice is to be relaxed and patient o that the work can be done
within the desired time.
Uncertainty avoidance index relates to the extent to which the members of the society
can handle anxiety with their ambiguous as well as unknown situations the stronger

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uncertainty avoidance index of the country the more rigid the codes of belief as well as
behaviour but intolerant of the unorthodox behaviour or ideas. The countries who exhibit
uncertainty avoidance index, actually encourage the practice then the principles with relaxed
attitude.
In the British society, the people have lower score on the uncertainty avoidance index
which means that they are quite comfortable with ambiguity. They plan the objectives
according to the available information with time (Peixoto et al. 2018). With the process of
flexible and fluid to the changing and emerging environment, the British people change their
plans. Another factor is that the culture of the UK is highly individualistic as well as curious
with higher level of certainty therefore, the need for innovation in the business have become
important. This is the reason why with changing situation, change of plans are expected. The
advertising, financial engineering and marketing, have led the society being heavily
consumerist and with innovative products. The society of Argentina scores higher in this
particular segment. This is due to fact that the society needs a strong and strict rules as well
as elaborative legal systems for structuring their lives (Beugelsdijk and Welzel 2018). The
individuals are expected to obey the rules. Corruption in this society is widespread despite the
strict rules and here black market is sizable. In the society of Argentina when one rule is not
kept, another or additional rules are dictated in the country. The abundance of logical
consequences relate to the corrections, mitigations and denial which means in the other
words, people find loopholes to justify their actions both legal as well as illegal.
The long term vs. short term orientation refers to which kind of value has been posted
in the minds of the members. This particular dimension is focusing on the confusion
dynamism. The long-term oriented countries develop the virtues like perseverance and thrift
for the future rewards but the short term orientation countries focus on the roads in present

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and past that means particularly showing respect for the past traditions, provisions of image
and fulfilling the social obligations (Beugelsdijk and Welzel 2018).
British society has scored 51 in the long term vs. short term orientation dimension
hence the dominant preference of the society cannot be determined. Therefore, it can be
stated that the people of the country make decision according to the need of the period rather
than thinking much about the dealing of the challenges of the past, present and future. The
society of Argentina it scores low in this category and show normative culture. The people in
this society have a strong concern with the establishment of the absolute truth. The people are
normative in thinking. The society of Argentina expect greater respect for the traditions as
well as relatively small propensity for saving the future as well as focus on the achievement
of the quick results.
Indulgence versus restraint link to the happiness and permission for relatively free
gratifications of the natural and basic human drives which relate to the enjoyment of life
along with having fun. It is the extent to which the people try to control their desires as well
as impulses. The week control is refer to as indulgence and relatively strong control of the
impulses are termed as restraint in the society (Matzle et al. 2016). On the other hand the
restaurant countries utilizes some strict cultural and social norms so that they can control the
gratification of regulate and needs.
In the society of the UK, scores high in this particular index. This is due to the fact
that the people in this society does not fear to exhibit their willingness for realising their
impulses as well as desires with the regard to enjoy the life as well as having fun. They
possess a positive attitude as well as desires for enjoying their lives properly. They know to
balance their work and life balanced (Beugelsdijk and Welzel 2018). They place higher
degree of importance on the leisure time and spend money according to their wish. Similarly,

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Argentina also scores high in this particular dimension. They possess a positive attitude for
the lives and have a tendency towards the optimism.
Part three: Differences and Potential Problems:
As three members of the company have been visiting Argentina from the UK, they are
going to face the issues of cultural difference in the host country. All of these issues will be
associated with the corporation culture of the company with which it is going to be partner
through joint venture. In this regard, the first issue will be faced by these three sales
representative is with the transparency of the people in the society. As mentioned in the
previous part, the concerns for corruption in the market and society of Argentina is
problematic. Secondly, they will face issues with the preference of the hierarchy in the
society of the host country (Bakir et al. 2015). The British people prefer more flat
organisational structure. In this regard the employees visiting Argentina will not be able to
understand how they will come up with the situation. After entering in the market of
Argentina through joint venture they will face the issues with this organizational aspects. It
may lead top conflicts among the expatriate employees with the local ones (Taras 2017).
Thirdly, the culture of Argentina is slightly collectivist. Therefore, these people prefer to
work in the teams which is completely different from that of the culture of the UK. As UK is
more individualistic and only focus in the growth of themselves, team work will be difficult
for them (Laitinen and Suvas 2016). Finally in aspect of uncertainty avoidance dimension is
different in these two countries. British representatives will be more relaxing and will bring
changes for innovation and needs of the corporation but this will not be allowed from the part
of the partners from Argentina (Khlif 2016). This can affect the decision making process of
the company and its partner.

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Therefore, the company needs to pay attention on the training process of these agree
employees so that they can cope up with the situation effectively and make decisions when
needed. In this regard the training process needs to include some of the most important
factors which are:
Firstly, the three employees of the UK sales team need to get proper training for
building cultural knowledge. In this regard, the company can teach them different cultural
practices so that they learn about the methods of working in the increasingly diversified
global society and economy (Kim 2017). The training might include the business setting of
the host country, communication, negotiation skills, business etiquette and their marketing
skills (Taras 2017). This will increase and promote the cultural literacy among the employees
of the workplace.
Secondly, the good communication skill while dealing with the different cultures is
effectively needed. It is important how the three representatives communicate with the
employees of that particular company. It is related to both verbal and non-verbal
communication process (Khlif 2016). The usage of language, humour and colloquialism of
the people of Argentina needs to be understood by understanding the local culture and work
alongside of the skilled translators in some cases.
Thirdly, celebrating the diversity help to increase of cultural literacy, acceptance and
awareness. This is the reason why the training process of the three representative from the
UK needs the growth of knowledge about the various facets of the culture (Taras 2017). By
introducing the staffs with the traditions new to them can developed efficiency of the
employees.
Fourthly, the employees need to know how to communicate and negotiate with the
foreign customers and colleagues. As they will be going to work in a foreign country, they

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need to how the people working around them conduct themselves (Degens et al. 2017). Only
knowing how to listen, the employees will be able to respond to the cultural differences.
Finally, paying utmost importance to the difference of the culture has to be
incorporated in the training process of the employees from the UK visiting Argentina. For
example, by knowing the local customs, holidays and food habits of the countries, the
employees can create an effective place in the minds of the people of Argentina (Khlif 2016).

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