Hofstede’s Dimensions of Culture

This week in Leadership we discussed two very interesting areas—gender and culture—and how they relate to leadership. For this week’s blog post I will focus on culture and how it is related to leadership.

Culture

Culture describes “learned beliefs, values, rules, norms, symbols, and traditions that are common to a group of people” (Northouse, 2016, p.428). every person has their own culture. We get culture from our religions, nations, regions, states, hometowns, genders, races, and even our individual families have their own culture. Culture permeates every decision we make and almost everything we do—from how we speak, what we eat, and even how we perceive individuals. It all comes back to culture.

So, it is important for leaders (and followers too) to understand differences in culture and how this will affect the workplace or any environment. “Of all the research on [the] dimensions of culture,” Hofstede’s is likely the most cited (Northouse, 2016, p. 431). Geert H. Hofstede is a Dutch academic and business executive whose work “has exerted considerable influence over thinking on the human and cultural implications of globalization” (Hofstede, 2003). Readers are probably familiar with Hofstede’s five dimensions including: power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term/short-term orientation (Northouse, 2016, p.431).

Power distance

Power distance is concerned with “the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions accept and expect that power is distributed unequally” (Moskowitz & Moskowitz, 2009). In countries with high power distance, there is often a strong, central authority that is accepted by followers. However, in countries with low power distance, “people strive to equalize the distribution of power and demand justification for inequalities of power” (Geert Hofstede, 2017). Countries like the United States have a low power distance. We believe in equality and do not accept our place in life just because we are told to do so.

Individualism/Collectivism

Individualism/Collectivism describes how group-oriented a culture is. For example, do people make decisions based on what is best for them or what is best for the group? Do people prefer making decisions alone or discussing them in groups? As Hofstede’s own website describes it, is a person’s self-image defined in terms of “I” or “we”? (Geert Hofstede, 2017).

Masculinity/Femininity

The third dimension is masculinity/femininity which describes “the distribution of roles between the genders” (Hofstede, 2003). More masculine cultures demonstrate “a preference for achievement, heroism, assertiveness and material rewards for success” (Geert Hofstede, 2017). America scores fairly high on this scale.

Uncertainty avoidance

The fourth dimension is uncertainty avoidance. A culture that scores high in this area do not like risks. They value tradition and constancy. A low scoring nation might prefer innovation and change in life.

Long-term/Short-term orientation

The final Hofstede dimension is long-term/short-term orientation. Do members of a society think more in the now or further in the future? Values of the long-term oriented culture include thrift or perseverance while short-term orientation culture’s values include fulfilling social obligations and “saving face” (Hofstede, 2003).

Real-life application

I found an interesting current event article that brought to light Hofstede’s individualism-collectivism dimension. The article was published in the Michigan Daily on July 13, and it describes a recent study conducted by University of Michigan researchers.  You can find the article here: https://www.michigandaily.com/section/research/frog-pond-story-research

The researchers wanted to know if people preferred being a “big frog in a small pond” or a “small frog in a big pond” (Meer, 2017). They surveyed over 600 adults in both China and the United States and found that overall the Chinese preferred being a “small frog in a big pond (Meer, 2017). One example of this from the study reveals that Chinese people would prefer being a below-average student at a top ten college while those of European descent would prefer being a top student at a top 100 college (Meer, 2017). In individualist cultures, people are more concerned with how they feel about themselves while in collectivist cultures, like those of East Asia, are more concerned with how they are judged by others (Meer, 2017).

Conclusion

It’s clear that the spectrum of each of these dimensions can represent a wide range of people. For leaders, it is vital to understand these differences. If you’re operating in a country where collectivism is high, your individualist management style may not be effective. Leaders should be able to adjust to this.

The idea of culture in the workplace has given birth to an entire field of study and business development and training. Understanding our own culture, the culture of others, and how we can adjust to make these two work together are highly valuable skills that we should all strive to attain.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this week’s post. Be sure to check in next week for another discussion of leadership. You can find my blog anytime at http://exploringleadershipinpublicadmin.blogspot.com/

References

Geert Hofstede. (2017). National culture. Retrieved from https://geert-hofstede.com/national-culture.html

Hofstede, geert. (2003). In Capstone Press, Capstone encyclopedia of business. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Retrieved from http://libproxy.troy.edu/login?url=http://literati.credoreference.com/content/entry/capstonebus/hofstede_geert/0?institutionId=3456

Meer, J. (2017). University researcher finds U.S. residents prefer to be a “big frog in a small pond”. The Michigan Daily. Retrieved from https://www.michigandaily.com/section/research/frog-pond-story-research

Moskowitz, and Moskowitz, S. (2009). Hofstede's five dimensions of culture. In C. Wankel (Ed.), Encyclopedia of business in today's world. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Retrieved from http://libproxy.troy.edu/login?url=http://literati.credoreference.com/content/entry/sagebtoday/hofstede_s_five_dimensions_of_culture/0?institutionId=3456

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7^th edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage publishers.