Report: Study Skills for Higher Education and Cultural Dimensions

This report explores the essential study skills required for success in higher education, focusing on how cultural dimensions, as defined by Hofstede's model, impact learning and interpersonal relationships. The report delves into the key dimensions of individualism/collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity/femininity, highlighting the best and least preferred cultural dimensions in the context of academic settings. It emphasizes the importance of individualism and its benefits for student success. The report also provides suggestions for improving the application of the model, including delegating responsibility, encouraging debate, managing emotions, and promoting workplace flexibility. The conclusion underscores the significance of understanding cultural nuances in developing effective study strategies and fostering a conducive learning environment. The report is available on Desklib, a platform offering past papers and solved assignments to aid students.

STUDY SKILLS FOR
HIGHER EDUCATION

Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..............................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Culture provides a guide and directions for how a people think and behave. It provides
five elements of culture as values, rituals, symbols, beliefs, and thought process. For the skills
needed for higher education the report will use the Hofstede’s Culture model. This model
suggests four cultural dimensions which impact the business environment and that are
individualism/ collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity/ femininity.
The report will further analyze the different dimension of the model. Further it will highlight the
best dimension and the least preferred dimensions.
MAIN BODY
Individualism/collectivism- This refers to the force that ties people together within a group or a
community. It plays a high value on the individual achievement and self interest. This deals with
only individual and his goals. Whereas collectivist culture works in direction of the collective
goals and the group harmony and development. In this type of culture here the people need to be
loyal to their group members in which they belong and work.
If the individualism is high then it means that the interpersonal interpersonal connection
between the members is not good because they all think for themselves only (Hofstede, 2003).
Power distance culture- this means the degree of inequality which exists and in what degree
accepted by the people with power and without power. If the power distance is high then it
means that society accepts an unequal and hierarchical distribution of power in the system. And

if the power distance is low then it means that power is shared among everyone and is widely
dispersed and the society members do not accept situations where power is distributed unequally.
Uncertainty avoidance- it refers to how members of a society respond to the uncertainty, risk and
ambiguity. Organization within these cultures may have more rules in place to ensure that the
employees do not get distracted from the set standards. If these cultures are high then people try
to make life as predictable and controllable. And whereas those people who have low uncertainty
avoidance are more relaxed and open and inclusive in nature.
Masculinity/ femininity- it refers to the distribution of the work and the roles among the men and
women. In a masculine society the work of men and women does not overlap because men are
considered to be more powerful and assertive as compared to the women’s. Whereas in the
feminine society greater importance is placed on the good and cordial relations with the superior
and the subordinates and working with people in cooperating and coordinating manner.
Better culture
Cultural norms play a large part in the interpersonal relationships at the workplace. The
society is not uniform and also the individuals are not the same in personality and thinking. But
this model can be used to make the unknown less intimidating, avoid making mistakes and it also
provide a much needed confidence that boosts the person while it is working in an unfamiliar
environment(Huang, and Crotts, 2019). The best culture in Hofstede cultural dimension is the
individualism/ collectivism. This is so because of the following reasons:
This culture places high emphasis on the people’s time and their need for privacy and freedom.
Also the individual enjoys working with the challenging jobs and get rewards for their hard
work.
Here the emphasis is given on building skills and becoming master in what they do.
People also learn how to maintain harmony with other people and also supersede other moral
issues.

With help of these cultures people works very efficiently and effectively and productively
because of earning of intrinsic rewards.
Collectivistic culture encourages team building, increase in coordination level among people.
Suggestions
There are some recommendations and suggestions through which the model Hofstede Cultural
Dimensions can be improvised (Beugelsdijk Welzel, 2018). These suggestions are as follows:
The leader should delegate as much as responsibility to its subordinates and juniors
It should involve all those people in decision making who will be affected by the decision taken.
Also the people should encourage debate and brain storming activities to increase the ability of
people in developing their own ideas.
If working in collective culture people should try to suppress their feelings and emotions which
would hamper the group working, coordination and harmony.
Also people must try to avoid giving negative feedback in the public.
People are motivated by precise targets and they try to achieve those targets either by working on
individual basis or in a team.
People should be taught with principles like negotiation, collaboration and inputs from all levels
in the organization because success lies on these principles only.
Work place flexibility and work life balance should be given more emphasis in terms of job
design, organizational culture and environment and all that ways in which the management can
perform well.
The people must be clear and concise about the expectations and the goals and should set clearly
defined parameters to achieve the desired targets.

Also sometimes there are some unspoken rules or cultural expectations which the society has
from the organizations and companies that should be considered by the employees before
working.
People must also recognize that anger, emotions and vigorous hand gestures may simply be part
of the conversation.
They must ensure that people remains focused and does not create too much structure.
People must not show off their knowledge or experience and rather should cope with others in all
the situations.
The people should behave in a modest way and should avoid talking and praising too much about
themselves only (Hofstede, Hofstede and Minkov, 2005).
People should be more understanding and more willing to compromise with others.
People must try to encourage debates and dialogue in meetings or decision making process.
They should try to prioritize their work, feedback, coaching and mentoring.
They should also emphasize on the flexible working and the proper maintenance of the work life
balance.
At the workplace people should avoid making jokes in formal sessions and meetings and instead
they should behave professionally.
CONCLUSION
In the end it can be concluded that culture plays a very important and crucial role in
developing skills. By using Hofstede Cultural Dimension one can evaluate its approach,
decisions, and the actions affecting those decisions. This model suggests four cultural
dimensions which impact the business environment and that are individualism/ collectivism,
power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity/ femininity. The report will further
analyze the different dimension of the model. Further it will highlight the best dimension and the

least preferred dimensions. At last the report suggests some recommendations with which the
model can be improved.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Beugelsdijk, S. and Welzel, C., 2018. Dimensions and dynamics of national culture:
Synthesizing Hofstede with Inglehart. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 49(10), pp.1469-
1505.
Hofstede, G., 2003. Cultural dimensions. www. geert-hofstede. com, consulta, 13.
Huang, S.S. and Crotts, J., 2019. Relationships between Hofstede's cultural dimensions and
tourist satisfaction: A cross-country cross-sample examination. Tourism Management,
72.pp.232-241.
Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G.J. and Minkov, M., 2005. Cultures and organizations: Software of the
mind (Vol. 2). New York: Mcgraw-hill.