Assignment: Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

Organizational Culture

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.................................................................................................................................................3
Evaluation of Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions.........................................................................................3
Agree and Disagree....................................................................................................................................4
Suggestions................................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Organizational culture is a values, beliefs, perceptions, assumptions towards organization
that shapes up the behaviours of employees and employers towards organization and its
objectives. Organizational culture is an important part of organization which cannot be separate
from each other. It plays a crucial role in organizational growth. Organizational culture affects by
the decision of organization and it affects the organization too. Organizational culture and
organization both the terms are interrelated and interdependent to each other. Every
organizational culture is different (Favaretto and et.al., 2016). Report will highlight the
evaluation of Hofstede’s Cultural dimensions. It will also tell about agree and disagree aspects of
cultural dimensions. It will also describe the suggestions.
MAIN BODY
Evaluation of Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions
It is a framework for cross cultural communication which tells about the impact of culture
on the members of organization and its behavior (Hofstede, 2017). It was propounded by Geert
Hofstede. It has 4 dimensions –
1. Individualism V/S Collectivism – Individualism approach of culture emphasis on the
single employee rather than team or group. In this approach, employee thinks about his
task accomplishment. Employees are focused on self- development. In short, focus is on
“I”. On the flip side, In Collectivism approach of culture focus on the group
development and team spirit. In this approach, employees are working together to achieve
some common goal. When they achieve their goal, this lead to team recognition. In short,
focus in on “WE”.
2. Masculinity V/S Femininity - It is not related to the gender, it is related to the approach
of motivation. Masculinity means winning. Task oriented motivational approach is also
focus on the winning which means focus on tasks to achieve goals. Femininity means
flexible. People oriented motivational approach is focus on the flexibility according to the
people in order to make relationship with them so that they can contribute their efforts
towards organizational goals.

3. Power Distance – Power distance means power of authority. It refers to the extent to
which low power authority people accept the fact that power is distributed unequal. It is
representing by power distance index (PDI) which measures the power distribution in an
organization. Power distance can be either high or low. High degree of power distance
shows that people in organization understand the hierarchical structure of organization.
Low degree of power distance shows that people are confuse about the organizational
hierarchical structure and demand for equally distribution of power. UK PDI is 35.
4. Uncertainty Avoidance – Uncertainty means unpredictable change. Uncertainty
avoidance refers to the extent to which employees are comfortable and not comfortable
with the change. High degree of uncertainty avoidance refers to the situation where
employees are not comfortable with the changes. They are more likely to rely on
formalized procedures. On the flip side, Low degree of uncertainty avoidance refers to
the situation where employees are comfortable with the changes. They are ready to adopt
new changes. They are likely to take more risks. It is also measure by Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI). UK UAI is 35 (Hofstede Cultural Dimensions, 2013-2018).
Agree and Disagree
I agree with the Power Distance and Masculinity V/S Femininity. I disagree with
Uncertainty Avoidance.
In my opinion, every organizational culture should have power distance dimension.
Because, in every organization, there should be someone who can guide and direct the
employees towards his/her tasks and goals. Without power, everyone will do work according to
themselves which create conflicts and no co-ordination will be there in any activities. This will
lead to distraction from the organizational goals and increases in costs. If there will be
distribution of power in the organization, this will lead to work in that way. Also, communication
flow and reporting will be clear. This lead to no confusions and conflicts in the organization
(Hofstede, Hofstede and Minkov, 2015).
In my view, every organizational culture should have the dimension of masculinity and
femininity. A manager should use both task oriented and people oriented approach of motivation.
Task oriented help employees and manager to achieve organizational goals by completion of
tasks and People oriented help them to build relationship with another people in the organization.

Both approaches help organization, manager and employees to achieve its organizational goals.
This will lead to recognition, earn profits and enhance goodwill.
In my perception, there should be no Uncertainty Avoidance dimension in the
organizational culture. Organization is surrounded by uncertainty and external environment
which is constantly changing with time to time. Thus, organization should also monitor and
adopt the changes according to the environmental changes. This will lead organization to become
competitor for another company and gain competitive advantages. Also, new changes reduce the
risks and costs which is beneficial for the company. For the adoption of new changes, managers,
leaders and supervisors should tell the importance and benefits of changes to the employees
(Bakir and et.al., 2015).
Suggestions
A company should follow Collectivism dimension of organizational culture. Collectivism
focuses on a team. In this culture, employees are working together to the accomplishment of
tasks in order to achieve the goals. This dimension leads to the creation of understanding
between employees. They respect each other. This lead to the creation of a friendly environment
in the company. Employees will be happy and satisfied. This lead to an increase in productivity.
When the team achieves its goal, this will give the team recognition. This recognition boosts the
confidence of the team as well as team members. Also, there will be the development of the team
as well as team members. This will lead to team spirit and co-ordination between every teams,
departments and activities.
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it has been summarized that organizational culture plays an
important role in the success of organization. For the good culture, employees should be happy
and efficient. Every organization should use the combination of dimensions rather than single
dimension because every dimension has its own advantages and disadvantages. Also,
organizational culture is different due to different employees’ natures, personalities, perceptions,
behaviours, values and assumptions.

REFERENCES
Books And Journals
Bakir, A., and et.al., 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.
Favaretto, R.M., and et.al., 2016, September. Using group behaviors to detect hofstede cultural dimensions. In 2016
IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP) (pp. 2936-2940). IEEE.
Hofstede, G., 2017. Why is culture so important?.
Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G.J. and Minkov, M., 2015. Cultures and organizations: pyramids, machines, markets, and
families: organizing across nations. Classics of Organization Theory. 314(23). pp.701-704.
Online
Hofstede Cultural Dimensions. 2013-2018. [ONLINE]. Available through:
<https://www.toolshero.com/communication-skills/hofstede-cultural-dimensions/>