Buisness_Law_and_Ethics

| With City Banking Collage Module: CCM Question: * Critically evaluate Hofstede’s contribution to our understanding of cultural differences. What do you think are the strengths and limitations of his research' INTRODUCTION Culture is defined in different ways by different Authors. It is most generalised as the way of life of people and what is there believes and values. There are many theorists who have put forward the meaning or the idea of culture in an organisation. It is defines culture as the “way we do things here” (Handy, 1995 p.83) and (Harrison) simply use the word “Ideology” to explain what culture is about. However, Geert Hofstede created cultural dimensions to provide more understanding at workplace and values around the world. Still, in modern days activities technology has brought the world more closely than ever. Although people of the same culture tend to communicate and understand each other more often at work place. Uncertainty in cultural differences results in frustration and this create an impenetrable business environment. There are many things to consider when communicating one person from another culture. These are refers to the factors that influence culture: In the 1970s a psychologist named Geert Hofstede come up with questions of cross cultural management. And he conclude with five definite dimensions of culture which emerged as a research in a decade that became thousands of interviews of cultural dimensions and it was absolutely recommended as global standard in cross culture management. Hofstede provides incredible database of cultural statistics. By his analysis he came out indications base on comparison and contrast within the similarity responses among his five dimension of culture. In a more exciting way, the research was held in single company’s employees of IBM. This gives a wider broad of knowledge on national culture differences, basically removing the difficulties in understanding culture in an organisation. The purpose of the research is to examine the values and believes of people of different cultures. Culture differs and there is always uncertainty associated within a group of people. The research will critically evaluate the five cultural dimensions. These are the five dimensions of culture 1. Power/Distance (PD) -This shows high sense of imbalance that exists and accepted among people in organisation. A high power distance implies strong hierarchy and authority. A low power distance is more flat and much more team work hence members feel equal. E.g. A country like Malaysia, reports are only send to top management and meeting are held in closed doors in only top managers attending. 2. Individualism (IDV) –It is when people choose to have little connection within an organisation or in a society. Members of a country that have a high level of individualism will only communicate with people of the same culture or only family members or close friends. Besides, societies at low level of individualism tend to create more group work, loyalty and responsibility among members well-being. 3. Masculinity (MAS) – Is the form of society were gender play a role in cultural values and believes. Masculinity refers to how men are expected when it comes to positional or professional roles. Men are expected to be assertive, tough and strong .For e.g. countries like Japan is with a high score of MAS. On the other hand countries like Sweden or Norway where a work is on the balance skills rather than gender. 4. Uncertainty/Avoidance Index (UAI) – Some societies rely on information or rules and regulation in events. People do not want to deal with uncertainty and they always want avoid ambiguous situation. This could happen because of cultural differences e.g. language. You should not expect to discuss a topic or a subject matter to English in the same way to Scottish. 5. Orientation – In the early 1990s hofstede came up with this dimension. It is known as the fifth dimension of culture. He found out that Asian countries have a more assertive cultural philosophy compare to the western world countries. It implies how much a society value in long-term relationship in terms of values and tradition rather than in the short term. Critical analysis to Hofstede’s five dimensions: Hofstede's cultural model was largely criticised by other authors, although it was considered effective because it is held by a single country. While it was valid for many countries, however there are certain things that one has to put in mind. Firstly, he was criticised that it does not discuss countries with assertive subculture that based on ethnic or geographical location. E.g. Belgium where there is a different between the Dutch speaking people compare to those who speaks French in terms of norms. And in Italy the rate of masculinity scores would indicate huge differences between North and South. Another question arises as how correct is the data' Since the data collected is through is attributed to the questionnaires. E.g. where a question is asked in a group of people the question is normally addressed by an individual and that may affect the total accuracy of the question. In countries like the United States the culture is based on individual. Another criticism Hofstede work received was the use of a single company, it was strongly argued by some other authors that sample base on one company is insignificant and cannot represent a whole country. Political influence was also one thing that people feels was used by Hofstede. Uncertainty index and long-time orientation was culturally bias on Asian countries rather than on the other parts of the world. Finally, we live in a dynamic world and how often a country’s culture can change over time is either by external or internal influences. It is obvious culture cannot remain the same way as it change gradually and suddenly this can affect people’s behaviours. His statistic and methodology did not represent for the future. Inclusion, cultural norms contributes a part in day to day business transactions and interpersonal relationships at work place. Managers are bound to understand organisational culture of their employees and customers whether they deal with them locally or abroad. Hofstede draw emphatically dimensions on how managers can put things in terms of effectives. Despite of the criticism of his dimensions it is the most popular approach to assessed culture. REFERENCES: Hofstede, G (1991a) “Culture and organisations” New York, McGraw-Hill Hofstede, G (1991b). Culture and organisations Software of the mind. London, McGraw-Hill Hofstede, G (1980). Cultures consequences: International differences in work related values. Beverly Hill, CA, sage. www.teo-education.com (Access date 08/12/11) www.yma3.com (Access date 09/12/11) www.oecd.org.org (Access date 09/12/11) www.ubra.ac.th (Access date 13/12/11) www.mindtools.com (Access date: 06/12/11) Multi country cross cultural comparison, “” March 8th 2010 (Available from) http://www.guardian.co.uk (Access December 2011)