MGT 601 Case Study: Analyzing Hofstede's Dimensions in the UAE Context

This case study examines the application of Geert Hofstede's cultural dimensions to the United Arab Emirates. The assignment analyzes the UAE's cultural profile, focusing on dimensions like power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence. The main idea revolves around understanding the deep-seated cultural drivers within the UAE and how they compare to other cultures, particularly the United States. The study highlights challenges related to these cultural dimensions, especially in the context of business management. Key concepts discussed include individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation, with an emphasis on their implications for business practices. The analysis also draws parallels between the article's concepts and those found in relevant textbooks, particularly concerning power distance and individualism and their influence on organizational structures and business procedures. The conclusion emphasizes the high score of the UAE in uncertainty avoidance and its impact on decision-making processes, summarizing the business concepts discussed in relation to the article and the textbook.

RUNNING HEADER: MGT 601
Case title: Hofstede - UAE Dimensions
NAME:
OCTOBER 3, 2018

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Table of Contents
The main idea of the article.........................................................................................................................2
Three important or interesting concepts from the article.............................................................................2
Ideas of article that are also discussed in the textbook.................................................................................3
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................3
References...................................................................................................................................................4

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The main idea of the article
The main idea of the article reveals the explanation of the various facts associated with the
Emirati Culture, and also the article provides deep drivers of its respective culture with relation
to the other concerned cultures. The author critically reflected various cultural dimensions
throughout UAE; these are power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance,
long-term orientation, and indulgence (Hofstede, 2016). The issue revealed in the masculinity
dimension is regarding the motivation that is provided to people, desiring to be the best stands
for the masculine and liking what people do stands for feminine. There are few of the crucial
challenges related to the cultural dimensions in UAE as one of the problems that confront
humanity is the desired degree towards which smaller children or the kids are socialized. The
indulgence dimension reflects this issue by defining as “the extent to which people try to
control their desires and impulses” (the United Arab Emirates* - Hofstede Insights, 2018).
Three important or interesting concepts from the article
The three critical points from the article are dimensions of individualism, uncertainty avoidance,
and the long-term orientation. The concepts of individualism critically reflect the desired degree
of interdependence which a particular civilization preserves between its respective associates.
The author has helped in making people understand the exact difference between the
individualists and the collectivist’s societies (Minkov, 2018). Individualistic society people take
care of their families directly whereas in collectivist society’s people belongs to various groups
and takes care in exchanges of the loyalty.
The next concept is the uncertainty avoidance, which reveals the way of handling a society like
in the same way where the future remains unknown. It is found that entire Arab scores 80 for
this dimension, and it helps in evaluating their significant growth as compared with the different
parts of the world.
The next concept is the long-term orientation which describes the need for each society to
develop certain links with their respective past though the deal with the issues at present along
with the future and it directly relates with the concepts of business management.
By using these three concepts, the author has tried to reveal that people should think for all of the
people living within the society rather than thinking for their own only. There exists a crucial

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link with the past of each of the society and this need to be understanding while facing
challenges in present and future (Minkov, & Hofstede, 2014). The author explained this main
idea with the help of evaluating the scores of dimensions throughout UAE.
Ideas of article that are also discussed in the textbook
The use of the power distance dimension directly relates to the concept of business management
as presented in the textbook. It effectively reflects the inequality that exists among the people
within the society and the same has also been seen in many of the organization which sometimes
hampers the execution of the business management procedures. Also, the concepts of
individualism links with the implementation of the business management procedures as it
addresses the issues where the degree of interdependence which is maintained by a society with
all its members (Minkov, & Hofstede, 2014). In managing the business it is important to
understand the execution of the work procedures as per the thinking and working styles of the
people, and thus, there need to be proper strategies to address it, and it needs to be practiced in a
group of the concerned members.
Conclusion
The paper effectively highlights the various dimensions that have been practiced throughout
UAE. People living in UAE are found to score 80 in the dimension of uncertainty avoidance
which helps them in concentrating he issues in present and future by working in groups. The
paper summarizes the business concepts related to this article and with the textbook.

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References
Hofstede, G. (2016). Culture's Consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and
organizations across nations. Collegiate Aviation Review, 34(2), 108.
Minkov, M. (2018). A revision of Hofstede’s model of national culture: old evidence and new
data from 56 countries. Cross-Cultural & Strategic Management, 25(2), 231-256.
Minkov, M., & Hofstede, G. (2014). A replication of Hofstede’s uncertainty avoidance
dimension across nationally representative samples from Europe. International Journal
of Cross Cultural Management, 14(2), 161-171.
The United Arab Emirates* - Hofstede Insights. (2018). Hofstede Insights. Retrieved 3 October
2018, from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country/the-united-arab-emirates/