Dimensions of culture

Résumé du document

Geert Hofestede defines culture as "the collective programming which distinguishes the members of a group and who differentiate them from the others?. According to Hofstede, there are four criteria which determine culture and they are power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity and uncertainty. We will analyze each criterion as four distinct parts based on the studies made by Geert Hofstede

Extraits

[...] Different links There is a relation between the technical level of development and the individualistic culture. In a side the richest countries are those which became most individualistic and in another side the poorest countries are those which preserved a community life. The community spirit appears for people by a need of formation, good physical terms of employment and an adequate use of the professional capacities. These three aspects of work accentuate the dependence of the individual towards the organisation. [...]

[...] Certain cultures support the taking risk, other its avoidance. It is a cultural dimension which measures the degree of tolerance that a culture can accept in front of the anxiety caused by future events. We live in the uncertainly of our future and we are perfectly conscious of this phenomenon, creates in the man spirit. In the cultures with weak control of uncertainty, their members have a natural tendency to feel safe. On the other hand, in the companies with strong control of uncertainty, people teach to seek to defeat the future, the population presents a higher degree of anxiety which appears by a greater nervousness and a stronger aggressiveness. [...]

[...] His integration in the group is often difficult and is conditioned by his own objectives. Individualism indicates a culture in which the links between individuals are lost, each one is supposed to occupy of himself and his immediate family. Collectivism indicates a culture where people since their birth are integrated in a strong and coherent group, which protects them during all their life in exchange from an indisputable honesty. In a culture “collectivist”, the interests of the group are more important than the individual himself. [...]

[...] Dimensions of culture Introduction The shock of the cultures can take several forms. Geert Hofstede, professor of anthropology at the University of Maastricht and which makes since years authority on the matter, was one of the pioneers in this discipline. He led a certain number of great international studies on the cultural differences to the national level, which enabled him to give a certain number of values and characteristics to general criteria. Geert Hofestede defines the culture as collective programming which distinguishes the members of a group and who differentiate them from the others”. [...]

[...] These four cultural dimensions allow making a universal typology of the cultures and constituting a general framework which underlines the more apparent facts and the more striking of cultural relativity. The study of Hofestede on the cultural differences can provide us the tools to understand the cultures, how they distinguished between them and how these differences can influence the intercultural communication. However, we can wonder if these only four points do not limit the study of the various cultures. Sources Books “Cultures and Organisations” by Geert Hofstede. Editions Harper Collins Business “Global Marketing and Advertising” by Marieke de Mooij. [...]