Study Skills: Analysis of Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions in Business

This report provides an overview of Hofstede's cultural dimensions and their impact on the business environment. It explores the significance of individualism/collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity/femininity, highlighting their influence on organizational culture, employee motivation, and international business strategies. The report discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each dimension, offering insights into how cultural differences affect team dynamics and overall business performance. It also suggests strategies for organizations to navigate cross-cultural challenges, such as creating diverse teams, establishing clear norms, and embracing innovation. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding cultural dimensions for effective leadership and global business success, with references to relevant academic sources.

STUDY SKILLS FOR
HIGHER
EDUCATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCE ..................................................................................................................................4
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INTRODUCTION
Culture is a way of likes and social norms and behaviour possessed by human beings.
Culture include everything language, food ,god and cloths that people wear. According to
GEERT HOFSTEDE culture gives a direction of individual thinking and behaviour (What is
Culture, 2018). Four cultural dimensions are explained in the context of business environment
i.e. individualism/collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and
masculinity/femininity. Culture, value, norms plays an important role in organisation and they
are in the form of policies and procedures. Culture is variable in nature because it changes from
place to place and country to country.
MAIN BODY
INDIVIDUALISM/COLLECTIVISM Significance of individualism culture is that it help
the individual person in achieving high value and self interest (Beugelsdijk, Maseland and Van
Hoorn, 2015). On the other hand Importance of collectivism is that it work for the collective
goals and group harmony.
POWER DISTANCE Significance of power distance is that there is inequality between
superiors and subordinates which is important to maintain boss & employee culture in an
organisation. Because if every person working in the company have equal rights will result into
misuse of powers and no discipline.
UNCERTAINITY AVOIDANCE Significance of uncertainty avoidance is that it help the
company in avoiding risk which in result lessens the burden of organisation but doing this will
cut the company from innovative thinking. Organisation can focus on other important things if
they avoid risk or uncertainty.
MASCULINITY/FEMININITY Masculinity is when people want to get success and ready
to win, they are of competitive nature. Significance of this cultural dimension is that
organisational goal can be achieved with this attitude. Significance of femininity on organisation
is that it focuses on stress caring & nurturing behaviour.
It is important for international business because it allow them to compare and contrast
different cultures. Findings from this cultural dimension is helpful for multinational managers
because it help them in increasing their employee's motivation and solving conflict which in
result improve the performance of the organisation internationally (Venaik and Brewer,
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2016).Hofstede's collective cultural dimension is important for international business because it
is a group oriented culture which is working for the common goals. If an organisation is working
globally groupism is required for the compatibility between different teams in different
countries. Uncertainty non avoidance is important for international business because it help them
to bring innovation into their business and working internationally it is important for the
organisation to keep serving new things to their customers. It satisfies customers need and make
them successful. Importance of masculinity for international business is needed because people
have competitive nature and they are ready to compete & win which help globalised business in
achieving what is required.
HOFSTEDE has introduces number of cultural dimensions , some of them is good for the
business and other are not. Every dimension have its own importance and advantages. Different
people have different opinion about it, so do I. I agree with some of the dimensions of Hofstede
while disagree with other.
I agree with the suggestion of diversity of employees because it increases the productivity
of the organisation when different and diverse talent working together. Another reason for
choosing this is that it increases creativity in solving problem. When so many different minds
working together they will get better solutions to solve the problem .Another benefit for this
culture dimension can be that they get to know about different cultures which can also be
beneficial for the company as it attract and retain talent & increases competitiveness of the
organisation. Even if we apply proper diversity plan we can reduce expenses and save money
(Prim and et. al., 2017). It will also help us in increasing market share of the company which
satisfies customers and create a diverse customer base from different backgrounds & cultures.
I disagree with the individualism dimension of Hofstede because it mess up the the
relationship of workers as power is in the hand of individual which create dissatisfaction among
others and it does not allow other person to show their talent and creativity. There is no
cooperation among employees. Other reason because of which I do not prefer individualism is
because it make difficult for workers to find good friends. It lead to difficulty in social life
because every person work individually which make it hard for them to form a team and work
with a group. If you are working in an organisation you need to know how to work in a team
collectively without getting into any conflicts (Vasile and Nicolescu, 2016). Other than
everything sometime it also result into undesirable workplace behaviour which may also affect
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other people who are working with them. It also leads to an unhealthy competition which can
ruin the image of the company. There are so many other reasons for not opting for the
individualism.
Create a cross cultural team organisation should try to create a team with members of
different cultures and backgBeugelsdijk, Maseland and Van Hoorn, 2015)round because it can
help them to deal with every kind of customers. Their will be no language problem which
reduces the chances of any confusion (Najm, 2015). Create clear norms When organisation is
working with multicultural team they have different style of working, in this type of situation
leaders should create norms which everyone need to stick with. These norms should be made
from other cultures which is useful irrespective of any personal default and considered what is
best for the entire team.
Try new things Organisations should try to bring newness in their production process and
product. May be some people doesn't like it but some of them may like because of the difference
in taste, culture & behaviour (Kim, 2017). This may help company to understand the nature of
customers in different culture. Be accommodating It is about accommodating the needs of
employees and co-workers. As there are employees with different cultures are working together
some of them must have their need in work schedule like prayer time or religious holidays etc.
organisation should fulfil these needs of their employees because it make them satisfied and they
give quality performance which is required for achieving organisational goals.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that every cultural dimension play important
role in business environment. It is seen that every organisation have their own culture when they
working internationally. On the other hand organisations are preferring to make team from
different culture's employees for understanding their cultures. Organisations also accommodating
as per the need of their workers. This report is also showing the impact of change in
communication through social media and social sharing on individual and organisation. It has
been also concluded that if values of organisation does not match with values of individual then
company take responsibility of developing it.
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REFERENCE
BOOKS AND JOURNALS
Beugelsdijk, S., Maseland, R. and Van Hoorn, A., 2015. Are Scores on H ofstede's Dimensions
of National Culture Stable over Time? A Cohort Analysis. Global Strategy Journal.
5(3). pp.223-240.
Kim, S., 2017. National culture and public service motivation: investigating the relationship
using Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions. International Review of Administrative
Sciences 83(1_suppl). pp.23-40.
Najm, N. A., 2015. Arab Culture dimensions in the international and Arab models. American
Journal of Business, Economics and Management. 3(6). p.423.
Prim, A. L. and et. al., 2017. The relationship between national culture dimensions and degree of
innovation. International Journal of Innovation Management. 21(01). p.1730001.
Venaik, S. and Brewer, P., 2016. National culture dimensions: The perpetuation of cultural
ignorance. Management learning. 47(5). pp.563-589.
Vasile, A. C. and Nicolescu, L., 2016. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and management in
corporations. Cross-Cultural Management Journal, 18(1). pp.35-46.
Online
What is Culture. 2018. [Online]. Available Through. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture>
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