HOST.6101: A Comparative Study of Indian & New Zealand Cultures

This essay provides a detailed comparison of the cultures of New Zealand and India based on Hofstede's five cultural dimensions: Power Distance, Long Term Orientation, Masculinity/Femininity, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Individualism/Collectivism. It highlights the key differences in social norms, communication styles, and business practices between the two countries. The analysis explores how New Zealand's culture promotes equality and individualism, while India emphasizes collectivism and respect for traditions. The essay also discusses the importance of intercultural communication in business settings and provides recommendations for navigating cultural differences to avoid conflicts and promote mutual understanding. It concludes by noting differences in welcome drinks and food habits, reflecting deeper cultural values. Desklib offers a wealth of similar resources for students seeking academic support.

Harpreet Singh Happy ID- 27033284
Culture
differences and
similarities
Name of student- Harpreet Singh Happy
Student Id- 27033284
Teacher name- Sandra Prebble
Paper- HOST.6101
Word count- 1032
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Harpreet Singh Happy ID- 27033284
1.
Similarities and differences between cultures of New Zealand and India based on Hofstede’ s
five cultural dimensions.
New Zealand India
PDI
(power distance)
Refer to PDI parameter,
New Zealand is ranked at
22. This PDI is indicator of
equality of power in society.
As per PDI ranking, India is
procuring 77th place, while average
rate of world ranking is 56.5.
India’s ranking denotes persistence
of high inequality level of power
related to power and wealth
possession.
LTO
(long term orientation)
New Zealand is procuring
low ranking of LTO which
denotes short term
orientation of culture.
India is procuring 61st position in
LTO which denotes their tendency
towards conservative and
parsimonious attitude.
Masculinity/Femininity
Masculinity rank of New
Zealand is prevailed almost
at par with that of India.
The average global masculinity
rank is 51, whereas that of India is
56; which depicts the assertiveness
and priority on growth and
performance, as well.
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Harpreet Singh Happy ID- 27033284
UAI
(uncertainty avoidance)
The UAI ranking of New
Zealand is 49; which depicts
national trend of avoidance
of new situation as per
trend. This is prevailing for
both genders so far values
are concerned.
The UAI ranking of India is 40
which depict no hard and fast
inclination to regulations and rules
along with difference between
genders.
Individualism/Collectivism
New Zealand is observing
more inclination to
individual freedom so far
culture is concerned.
India has the practice of practising
collective culture with prevalent
belief of restriction in beliefs. This
is due to prevalent boundaries of
the Indian society.
(Hofstede, 2012)
.
2.
As per Hofstede (2012), New Zealand has very low score in the domain of power distance,
which is due to prevalence of more equality in national culture. The exchange of
communication is more on personal level with no impact of social position and wealth. The
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Harpreet Singh Happy ID- 27033284
communication between the team members and elders in any organization seems to be more
informal. The scope of free communication prevails with as per individual belief with
decision making. Employees have the liberty to decide while any uncertainty occurs. As per
Salman(2015), New Zealand has culture which promotes individualism. More emphasis on
individual accomplishment and rights are honoured. The process of recognition goes more to
individuals that the group for any good jobs. The social culture promotes the concept of
loose bondage between the individual and respective society and family. Individuals are more
prone to concentrate on their own objectives instead of group goals. Individuals of New
Zealand have the trend of focusing on own expertise followed by handling of any conflict at
the level of individuals. In general, the people of New Zealand are relaxing in nature and are
more insisting on short term culture, which promotes the belief on traditional values to meet
social obligations.
Indian culture is promoting the concept of collectivistic culture. This concept denotes belief
in relationship instead of aloneness. In general, most of the Indians are possessing strong
level bonding with respective society, which is promoted by the concept of caste system.
Although Indian government has provided freedom in society, Indian people have the
tendency to abide by the concept of social boundaries. In India, marriages are also arranged
on the basis of religion, socio economic position and caste. For any Indian marriage,
permission of parents and near relatives is more important, which denies the concept of love
marriage. Indian people are more oriented to family with the concept of strong bonding of
relationship within the families. Indian people prefer to live in joint families, with the
traditional concept of child care taken up by grandparents in case of parental absence. The
concept of respecting elders is promoted from the early childhood with the preferential list of
families above personal wishes. The children were treated with financial support after the age
of 18 along with other necessary features. The habit of purchase of Indian people promotes
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Harpreet Singh Happy ID- 27033284
the concept of group shopping to get the ideas before purchasing (Wali, 2001). India is
possessing high ranking in PDI in business perspective while the parameter of recognition is
based on the features of age profession and educational degrees. Indians prefer to consider on
skills, qualification along with recognised stamps. General trend of recognition habit
promotes the promotion of leaders and their followers (Patil,2010). The Indian society
believes in gender discrimination. The family women are generally fall under the category of
housewives, and manages the household chores including cooking and taking care of children
and members of the family. Men are working for money. Women are mainly managing the
house and men are arranging for money to run the family. It is prevalently observed that
differences are there in living standards due to holding of wealth (Guha, 2014). Wealthy
people possess more power in every sphere of life than the poor. The trend of Indian people is
tending towards orientation in long term as they believe in value creation on long term
period. The Indians have the culture to honour and respect to their traditions. They also
possess very strong working ethics. They are not lazy and never deny hard working with the
belief of good future result. They believe in patience to get coveted results with goals. Indians
do not get afraid of taking risks for their entrepreneurship to promote innovation.
Lack of proper understanding between cultures of two different countries may lead to
conflict, which is prevalent in case of India and New Zealand, where misunderstanding of
culture may lead to conceptual conflicts (LeBaron, 2003). As per Wali(2001), cultural
differences prevail in different zones of India related to languages and several rituals, which
are hard to understand.
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As per Hult News ( 2017), communication plays a vital role for success of any business
related meeting. In case of attendants of business meetings coming from different culture,
communication needs more attention. The same may be applied if business personnel from
India and New Zealand meet for business.
Traditional communication based on native languages should be welcomed viz., Namaste for
Indians and Kiaora for New Zealanders. This style of communication shows mutual respect
resulting to more comfortable and national pride.
Hand shaking is a very common physical gesture acceptable globally and India and New
Zealand are no exception to this concept. For New Zealanders, gender matters less, while for
Indians it is not acceptable in general. Hence, it is better to start communication from other
end through extending hand when they approach. (Smith, 2014)
It is basic necessity to know the culture of others in course of any international meeting. If
not, it may cause conflict of understanding. Improper communication in the form wrong use
of accent and tone may lead to miscommunication. To avoid such incident, different
procedures can be followed to come over this problem, which include paraphrasing, active
listening, and repeat of understandable sentences which person on the other side delivered.
(Duggan, 2017)
To deal in intercultural mode of communication, all stakeholders should take part in the
process. It is not wanted that anybody should make any faulty assumption about other people
while it relates to background of them. It is appreciable that care of honouring both cultures
should prevail with mutual acceptance. It is advisable that direct approach should be avoided
by adopting indirect approach, e.g., word ‘no’ should be avoided by using ‘I will try’.
(Duggan, 2017)
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The cultural difference of India and New Zealand is seen with the welcome drink. While
Indians prefer tea with milk and much sugar, New Zealanders prefer coffee with lesser sugar.
The other food habits of India promote insistence on vegetarian foods, while New Zealanders
prefer different types of meat in their meals. Beef eating is not welcomed by Indians due to
religious beliefs, whereas same is being generally acceptable by New Zealanders. (Smith,
2014)
References:
Duggan, T. (2017). Strategies for dealing with intercultural communication. Retrieved from
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/strategies-dealing-intercultural-communication-
11875.html
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Guha, H. (2014). Wealth and power in modern India, new republic. Retrieved from
http://ramachandraguha.in/archives/wealth-and-power-in-modern-india-new-
republic.html
Hofstede, G. (2012). India business etiquette & culture. Retrieved from
http://www.cyborlink.com/besite/india.htm
Hofstede, G. (2012). New Zealand business etiquette & culture. Retrieved from
http://www.cyborlink.com/besite/new_zealand.htm
Hult News. (2017). How cultural differences impact international business in 2017.
Retrieved from http://www.hult.edu/news/cultural-differences-impact-international-
business/
LeBaron, M. (2003). Culture and conflict). Beyond intractability. Retrieved from
http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/culture-conflict
Patil, A. (2010). Going local in India. AMEKS Infotech Site Redesign. Retrieved from
http://booksite.mkp.com/barnum/testingessentials/pdfs/06_Going_Local_in_India.pdf
Salman, M. (2015). Hofstede dimensions of culture- a brief comparison between Pakistan
and New Zealand. Academy of Contemporary research Journal. Retrieved from
http://aocrj.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/4-3PAK.pdf
Smith, P. (2014). Understanding India’s culture is key for business. The Telegraph. Retrieved
from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/business/delivering-business/10878290/
cultural-etiquette-india-business.html
Wali, R. (2001). Working therapeutically with Indian families within a New Zealand context.
Australian and New Zealand journal of family therapy.
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http://aucklandpsychology.co.nz/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Working-
therapeutically-with-Indian-families-within-a-New-Zealand-context-2.pdf
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