Understanding Cultural Differences —— Hofstadter's Cultural Dimension?

Understanding cultural differences-hofstede's cultural dimension analysis is as follows:

International Comparison of Cultures Based on Hofstadter Dimension

Based on the scores of countries from 1 to 120 (1 stands for the lowest score, and 120 stands for the highest score), the following international cultural comparisons are made: Arab, African, Asian and Latin countries score higher on the power distance index, while Germanic and Anglo-American countries score lower. For example, Guatemala scored 95 points; Israel scored 13, and the strength gap was very small; The United States is somewhere in between, with a score of 40.

As far as individualism index is concerned, there is a big gap between eastern countries and underdeveloped countries, and between western countries and developed countries. Europe and North America are highly individualistic; Latin America, Africa and Asia have low scores on individualism index and strong collectivism values.

Latin American countries, Japan, eastern and southern European countries have the highest uncertainty avoidance scores. China, Northern Europe and countries with British and American cultures scored lower. For example, Germany's uncertainty avoidance score is 65, while Sweden has only 29.

The score of male bias in Nordic countries is low, with Sweden and Norway scoring 5 and 8 respectively. At the same time, men in Britain, Japan, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary and other European countries scored higher.

The score of long-term orientation is higher in East Asia, middle in Western and Eastern Europe, and lower in Latin America and Africa.

Parts of northern Europe, Britain, Africa and Latin America scored higher on the indulgence index, while Eastern Europe and East Asia showed more restraint.

A case study of cultural differences in a building project in Ghana

Developing countries usually lack domestic engineers, so foreign engineers are often sent to deploy sanitation and water supply systems in rural areas. This is an essential part of achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals on access to sanitation and clean water. However, due to the cultural differences between local communities and foreign engineers, it is usually impossible to manage projects effectively.

Under the guidance of a British engineer and project manager, this paper makes a case study of a project in eastern Ghana and discusses some key issues that may arise in cross-cultural projects. It involves four dimensions of hofstede culture, namely, male prejudice and female prejudice, power distance index, uncertainty avoidance index, individualism and collectivism.

Problems encountered:

Engineers want the community to express their opinions on sanitation and water projects, including project process, design or any other aspects of community concern. However, it is found that ordinary members of the community, except elders and leaders, have certain restraint in expressing their opinions.

In this project, people also noticed that if one person expresses his own views, others are unwilling to express their views that conflict with others'. For example, once, an engineer asked the opinions of two women in a family. After the first lady shared her opinion, the second young lady was asked to share her opinion, but she refused to do so. Instead, she said what her mother (the first woman) said.

In another example, an engineer found a woman with walking problems and asked her for advice. Because she is the only lady in the village who has such a problem, she was consulted to customize the design scheme of water collection and sanitation system accordingly. However, this lady doesn't want to make any comments on this, because she feels that considering the whole group, her happiness is not that important. However, when asked about other women in the community, one of them suggested a flat design so that women with walking disabilities could collect water more easily.

At the beginning of the project, engineers can basically arrange the work plan well to ensure good progress. Many community members have also extended a helping hand to this project. However, when the project was coming to an end, local leaders temporarily lost interest in the project for two reasons. First, his mother died, and he is arranging a funeral. Second, he was having an affair with a girl in a neighboring village, and he preferred to get along with her rather than perform his duties.

When community members returned to work, they looked listless, and engineers found it difficult to finish the project within the prescribed time limit.

Based on hofstede's cultural dimension, the explanation of these problems is:

The culture of this community shows a high power distance index. In this culture, subordinates are used to obeying orders from superiors, not in a more democratic way. On the contrary, engineers come from a culture with lower power distance index, flatter power structure and more equal working relationship between superiors and subordinates.

This community tends to be collectivist, while engineers belong to a more individualistic culture. Therefore, the community tends to the opinions of the group, not the opinions of the individual. Therefore, when a woman with walking disabilities is asked to express her opinion, she prefers not to express her opinion, because most community members have no problems with her.

Due to the low score of uncertainty avoidance and high score of power distance in the community, members tend to regard themselves as members of a big family, and the leader is the grandfather of the family. The main power is concentrated on the leader, who should decide the best course of action.

In sharp contrast, engineers' uncertainty avoidance scores are low. Therefore, when the project is coming to an end, engineers want to call other members of the community to participate in the project, although the leaders are not interested in it. However, due to the absence of the leader, the members expressed no interest, and the engineer thought it was listless.

The urgency of cultural differences in human resource management

Managers all over the world are increasingly facing the challenges brought by the interdependence of the global market, and the human resources department in the organization is no exception. When only one culture prevails, personnel management is not difficult, because everyone has a consistent understanding of right, wrong and acceptable behavior. However, when team members come from different cultural backgrounds, or managers and team members have different backgrounds, it may lead to serious understanding deviation. The following is an analysis of some major aspects of how culture affects human resource management.

Recruitment-The definition of a good candidate varies from culture to culture. Those candidates who express strong opinions, are outspoken and confident are considered as excellent candidates in the society of individualism and male prejudice. Similarly, in a collectivist and feminine society, a modest and well-connected candidate is a good candidate. In view of this, employers in the United States (with high male bias) have very different evaluation methods for candidates from Nordic countries and the Netherlands (with low male bias).

Goal setting-In Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, the United States and other low-power distance cultures, goals are set through negotiation, while in Italy, France, Belgium and other high-power distance cultures, goals are set by senior managers.

Training-In high-power distance society, there are teacher-centered learning methods, while in low-power distance society, there are more learner-centered interactive methods.

Evaluation-most evaluation procedures originated in the United States or Britain, which have a high degree of individualism and a low power distance. Therefore, the correct way to improve performance in these countries is direct and frank feedback. However, this evaluation procedure does not take into account countries with high power distance and collectivism culture, where direct feedback is considered disrespectful and humiliating.

If the cultures match, the above cycle of recruitment, goal setting, training and evaluation can be successfully applied to personnel management. Before this, we must do a good job in the corresponding cultural research and corresponding preparations.

conclusion

Cultural differences will actually affect cross-cultural enterprises. Problems caused by cultural differences will appear in many aspects such as work and communication. However, if business leaders and even employees understand hofstede's theory of six cultural dimensions, they can analyze the problems from different angles and take necessary measures to solve them.