Dimensions of Culture (Adapted from G. Hofstede, 1986)

Heaven is...

when the French are the cooks,
the Italians are the lovers,
the British are the police,
the Germans are the mechanics
and the Swiss run the hotels.

Hell is...

when the British are the cooks,
the Swiss are the lovers,
the Italians are the mechanics,
the French run the hotels
and the Germans are the police.

In the next discussion we will look at Dimensions of culture. Dimensions of culture help us to be able to have a rough idea of what makes cultures unique and special, without stereotyping or putting them in a box. Even with Dimensions of culture, we should keep in mind that, that is not all that culture possesses. We should also give room for personality and other external influences on the individuals in the culture. Next to the description of the different , we will also have a few examples. We will however only deal with a few examples which deal with different aspects of the diffrent cultures. I am sure you are all aware by now that culture is much deeper and more complicated that can be explained in just a few words.

Our goal

In learning about the Dimensions of Culture we will be trying to understand what the different characteristics are in the different cultures. This will help to give you an idea of how members of a culture behave so that you can prepare yourself before entering that culture. Dimensions of Culture are not rules of behaviour and do not mean that everyone in that culture behaves in the same way. On the contrary, they act only as a guideline for someone who wants to have a general idea of how a culture distinguishes itself from one's own culture.

At the end of this lesson, we should have an idea of how people behave in a culture that is different from our own and this should prepare us in some way, before we enter that culture.

1. Power distance

This refers to how power is distributed and viewed in institutions. Here we will see mainly how people in two different cultures behave in this dimension. We will notice that the two cultures seem to be opposite to one another.

High power distance refers for example to when decisions are made at the top levels of organisations in a culture. Here, hierarchy is very important and the different levels of hierarchy do not really interact very freely with each other i.e. there is a distance that has to be kept between them in order to show the difference in power more clearly. Decisions are centralised and people in that system respect that and feel quite comfortable with it. Some examples of countries placed here are: Mexico, the Arab countries,West Africa.

Low power distance on the other hand refers to a situation in a culture where the individuals participate together in decision making and have more egalitarian attitudes among themselves and towards the hierarchy existing among them. Some examples of countries are: Austria,Denmark, Sweden.

Here are some attributes in the dimension of power distance

HIGH POWER DISTANCE LOW POWER DISTANCE

2. Individualism vs. Collectivism

In this dimension we deal with the relationship between an individual and the group he is involved in, in a culture.

High Individualism normally means low collectivism (which we will look at next). Members in a culture which is high in individualism strive to be initiative and achieving in what they do for themselves. Their emphasis is on self goal realisation, independence and how to achieve what is best for themselves, even within an organisation. Some examples of countries in this dimension are: USA, Great Britain,Netherlands.

Low Individualism means then, that the members are high on collectivism and they tend to behave in an ‘opposite’ way to those in the high individualism culture. Here, the members look after each other's needs or collective needs or needs of the group first, rather than after individual needs. They see themselves are belonging to a group and strive towards having a harmonious feeling in the group. Examples are: Columbia, Taiwan, Hong Kong.

Here are some attributes in this dimension:

INDIVIDUALISM COLLECTIVISM

3. Masculinity vs. Femininity

This does not refer to the gender (man vs. woman) values as we know them, rather it refers to how the members in the society behave towards acquiring material things, what concern they have for other members and their views towards quality of life in their culture. It is however true that the have been named ‘masculine’ because in the said culture, more men scored high on those values and ‘feminine’ because more women could identify themselves with the said values in that culture as men could.

High (on) masculinity and low (on) femininity. Here, the members in that culture tend to emphasise on achieving their goals, making money, performing well, showing off and considering big as beautiful. Examples of cultures in this dimension are: Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Germany.

High (on) femininity and low (on) masculinity means that the members in that culture pay more attention to the quality of life rather than wanting to make money. They don’t show off, are people oriented and consider small to be beautiful. Examples are: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland.

Here are some attributes:

MASCULINITY FEMININITY

4.Uncertainty avoidance

This refers to how members in a culture behave and react towards the (unknown) future. E.g. some cultures like to plan ahead so that the future is more secure, while some just take things as they come.

Low uncertainty avoidance refers to members of a culture who deal with an uncertain future with little stress and more tolerance. They tend to take things as they come and do not worry unnecessarily about a future that is not there yet. They take more risks and work less. Examples are: USA, Britain, Denmark.

High uncertainty avoidance on the other hand refers to members of a society who tend to get stressed when dealing with thoughts and situations related to the uncertain future.They then tend to work hard, plan a lot and take less risks. Examples of these cultures are: Greece, Portugal, France.

Here are some attributes:

HIGH UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE LOW UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE

5. Monochronic vs. polychronic (Hall, 1998)

Monochronic implies that members in a culture concentrate mainly/only on one thing at a time when doing it. Time in this culture is strictly scheduled and the members plan their activities ahead. People in this culture also take their time commitments very seriously. The following would be a monochronic situation. A person talking on the phone, behind closed doors who does not want to be disturbed. Some examples of this culture are: Germany, Switzerland.

In contrast, the polychronic people have a more relaxed attitude to time. They tend to involve themselves in many things at the same time. They also view commitments not as strictly as the monochronic cultures in that they don’t really keep strictly to their schedule, even though the commitments are taken seriously. Polychronic persons are able to change plans easily and are more concerned with satisfactory results of interactions with others (Berger, 1996). A culture which is polychronic can be seen in an office where a person is having a meeting, is talking on the telephone at the same time and is also talking to his or her employees. Some examples of cultures are: France, Latin America countries and many African countries.

Here are some attributes:

MONOCHRONIC POLYCHRONIC