Week 2: CMS 1004: Hofstede’s Model of Culture Hofstede’s model of culture Is ‘culture’ the same as ‘nationality’? Hofstede (2001,p9) defines culture as ‘the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another’. He describes cultures in terms of five dimensions. 1. Power distance refers to the different solutions to the basic problem of human inequality. 2. Uncertainty avoidance refers to the level of stress in a society in the face of an unknown future. 3. Individualism versus collectivism refers to the integration of individual into primary groups. 4. Masculinity versus femininity refers to the division of emotional roles between men and women. 5. Pragmatism versus normative refers to how people in the past, as well as today, relate to the fact that so much that happens around us cannot be explained (Hofstede, 2014). 6. Indulgence versus restraint refers to how a society allows relatively free gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun (Hofstede, 2014). Using survey methods, Hofstede was able to produce number scores for each of these dimensions for many countries. The dimensions are continuums – that is, a particular culture that is associated with a particular nation-state may score at the extremes of a particular dimension or somewhere between those extremes. Similarly, the dimensions average-out data, which means that a culture may score high on certain aspects of a particular dimension but this particular score may be masked by scores on other surveyed items and values. It may also be that values and cultures change over time – a particular society in this current year may not score the same in twenty or fifty years into the future, or twenty or fifty years into the past (although it may if underlying values persist over very long time periods). Power distance was a term originally used to describe organisational settings. In high power-distance settings, the organisation was quite hierarchical, employees feared disagreeing with superiors, and superiors tended to have more authoritarian decisionmaking styles. The concept was then broadened to look at cultures, examining attitudes to power in education, society and the workplace. High power-distance cultures tend to have a fair amount of inequality, and obedience and submissiveness are favoured. Typical characteristics of low and high power-distance cultures are shown in figure 1.1.
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Low power-distance culture
Students put value on independence
Students initiate some communication in class
Freedom more important than inequality
Flat organisation pyramids
Stress on reward, legitimate and expert power
Subordinates expect to be consulted
Consultative leadership leads to satisfaction, performance and productivity
High power-distance culture
Students put value on conformity
Teachers initiate all communication in class
Equality more important than freedom
Tall organisation pyramids
Stress on coercive and referent power
Subordinates expect to be told
Authoritative leadership and close supervision lead to satisfaction, performance and productivity
Figure 1.1 Power distance and culture Source: Adapted from Hofstede (2001, pp96-108). Uncertainty avoidance helps explain how individuals, group, organisations and cultures respond to the uncertain nature of future events. Organisations respond to uncertain events by creating rules, standard operating procedures, rituals and technology; and cultures, in turn, respond to uncertainty by using technology, law and religion, that is, a focus on truth. Uncertainty avoidance is not the same as risk avoidance – uncertainty avoidance is all about intolerance to ambiguity, and the search for structure, security and predictability. A high uncertainty-avoidance individual or culture may, for example, indulge in risky behaviour such as a starting a fight or war rather than sitting back and waiting to see what the future will bring. Typical characteristics of low and high uncertainty-avoidance cultures are shown in figure 1.2.
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Low uncertainty-avoidance culture
Facial expressions of sadness and fear easily readable by others
Individual decisions, authoritative management and competition among employees acceptable
Favourable attitude towards younger people; smaller generation gap
Independence for female students important
Innovators feel independent of rules
Appeal of transformational leader role
Belief in generalists and common sense
High uncertainty-avoidance culture
Nature of emotions less accurately readable by others
Ideological preference for group decisions, consultative management; against competition among employees
Critical attitudes towards younger people; larger generation gap
Traditional role models for female students
Innovators feel constrained by rules
Appeal of hierarchical control role
Belief in specialists and expertise
Figure 1.2 Uncertainty avoidance and culture Source: Adapted from Hofstede (2001, pp 160-170).
Individualism versus collectivism refers to the extent to which a person defines his or her identity according to group or separate and private values. This is the extent to which a culture tolerates individual expression and provides support, the focus is on identity. Both concepts have positive and negative connotations. For example, person A may enjoy living in a country town because everyone knows everyone else and there is a lot of community support; the same person may move to a city and find it alienating and lonely. Person B, however, may find the same country town suffocating, full of busybodies and parochial hicks; this same person may move to the city and revel in the freedom of anonymity and the ability to make friends. Collectivist sentiments may help bind a country together so that everyone feels part of one big family, but equally such sentiments may be used by authoritarian governments to impose conformity and stifle dissent. Typical characteristics of individualist and collectivist cultures are shown in figure 1.3.
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Individualist culture
Individual decisions are better
‘Guilt’ cultures
Hedonism
Weak family ties, rare contacts
Women express emotions more strongly than men
Relationship with union calculative
Incentives to be given to individuals
Media main source of information
More invention patents granted
Moderate to cold climates
Collectivist culture
Group decisions are better
‘Shame’ cultures
Survival
Strong family ties, frequent contacts
Women express emotions less strongly than men
Potential emotional commitment to union
Incentives to be given to work in groups
Social network main source of information
Fewer invention patents granted
Tropical and subtropical climate
Figure 1.3: Individualistic and collectivist culture Source: Adapted from Hofstede (2001, pp 226-245)
Masculinity versus femininity Masculinity and femininity are terms used by Hofstede to describe approaches to sex roles within a culture. His use of the terms, however, suggests that by ‘feminine’ he means ‘androgynous’ or non-traditional; whereas, by ‘masculine’ he means the traditional values of sex role specialisation that have typified most societies until the twentieth century. Traditional sex or gender roles have meant that males have been associated with assertiveness and females with nurturance, with implications for family structure, leadership, organisational design and social norms. Typical characteristics of masculine and feminine cultures are shown in figure 1.4. Again, it needs to be stressed that Hofstede’s dimension are continuums – that is, a country may score at the extreme masculine end of the continuum or at the extreme feminine end or somewhere in between, and the same country might score as masculine on some characteristics and as feminine on other characteristics (Hofstede 2010).
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Masculine culture
Challenge and recognition in jobs important
Belief in individual decisions
Men should be tough and take care of performance; women should be tender and take care of relationships
Sympathy for the strong
Live in order to work
Fewer women in management positions
Resolution of conflicts through denying them or fighting until the best ‘man’ wins
Less sickness absence
Competitive advantage in manufacturing industries, price competition, heavy products and bulk chemistry
Feminine culture
Cooperation at work and relationship with boss important
Belief in group decisions
Men should be tender and take care of both performance and relationships; women should be the same
Sympathy for the weak
Work in order to live
More women in management positions
Resolution of conflicts through problem solving, compromise and negotiation
More sickness absence
Competitive advantage in service industries, consulting, live products and biochemistry
Figure 1.4: Masculine and Feminine cultures Source: Adapted from Hofstede (2001, pp 298-318)
Pragmatism versus normative This dimension, Hofstede (2014) describes as how people in the past, as well as today, relate to the fact that so much that happens around us cannot be explained. In societies with a pragmatic (practical, realistic) orientation, most people don’t have a need to explain everything, as they believe that it is impossible to understand fully the complexity of life. The challenge is not to know the truth but to live a virtuous life. In societies with a pragmatic orientation, people believe that truth depends very much on situation, context and time. They show an ability to accept contradictions, adapt according to the circumstances, a strong tendency to save and invest, thriftiness and perseverance in achieving results.
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In societies with a normative (regularising, standardising) orientation most people have a strong desire to explain as much as possible. People in such societies have a strong concern with establishing the absolute Truth and a need for personal stability. They exhibit great respect for social conventions and traditions, a relatively small propensity to save for the future and a focus on achieving quick results. Typical characteristics for pragmatism versus normative cultures are shown in figure 1.5.
Pragmatism
Children should learn to save money and things
Learn from other countries
Children should learn to persevere
Family pragmatism
Daughters’ ideas of beauty are independent of mothers’ ideas
Students attribute success to effort and failure to lack of it
In East Asia, better at mathematics
Talent for applied, concrete sciences
Large savings, funds available for investment
Investment in real estate`
Appeal of knowledge and education
Appeal of pragmatism
Normative
Service to others is an important goal
Proud of my country
Tradition is important
Family pride
Mothers positively influence daughters’ feelings about themselves and beauty
Students attribute success and failure to luck
No special skills in mathematics
Talent for theoretical, abstract sciences
Small savings, little money for investment
Investment in mutual funds
Appeal of folk wisdom and witchcraft
Appeal of fundamentalism
Figure 1.5: Pragmatic and normative cultures Source: Adapted from Hofstede, 2010
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Indulgence versus restraint This dimension, Hofstede (2014) indulgence stands for a society that allows relatively free gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun. Restraint stands for a society that suppresses gratification of needs and regulates it by means of strict social norms. Typical characteristics of indulgence versus restraint cultures are shown in figure 1.6.
Indulgence
A perception of personal life control
Higher importance of leisure
Higher importance of having friends
Loose society eg gender roles
Less moral discipline
Higher percentage of people who feel healthy
Higher optimism and more very happy people, smiling is a norm
Maintaining order in the nation is not given a high priority. Freedom of speech is viewed as relatively important
Restraint
A perception of helplessness: what happens to me is not of my doing
Lower importance of leisure
Lower importance of having friends
Tight society eg gender roles
Moral discipline
Lower percentage of people who feel healthy
More pessimism and lower percentage of very happy people, smiling is suspect
Maintaining order in the nation is given a high priority. Freedom of speech Is not a primary concern
Figure 1.6: Indulgence and restraint cultures Source: Adapted from Hofstede, 2010
References Eunson, B 2012, Communicating in the 21st century, 3rd edn, John Wiley and Sons Australia, Milton. Hofstede, G 2014, Dimensions, The Hofstede Centre, viewed 12 June 2014, http://geerthofstede.com/dimensions.html Hofstede, G Hofstede, GJ & Minkov,M 2010, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, 3rd edn, McGraw-Hill, New York. 7