A Research On Cross Cultural Groups And Organisations

Geert Hofstede is a Dutch social psychologist well known for his pioneering research on cross-cultural groups and organisations. The author, in the book Culture and Organisations, describes national cultures as explainable along six dimensions: Individualism, Power Distance, Masculinity, Long Term Orientation, Uncertainty avoidance and Indulgence vs. restraint. Cultures play an important role in forming our ways of thinking, feeling and behaviour. Cultures differ from nations and regions. The author of the book explains the cultural differences or diversity between nations based on empirical researches. Through the dimensions described by the author, we can understand how national cultures work as the mental programming and why people†¦show more content†¦Culture distinguishes people of different categories or regions from others. In this review, I am going to discuss some of the six dimensions with which the author describes the national cultures along. 1. POWER DISTANCE This is the extent to which the less powerful members of the community or society within a country expect and accept that. In this context, the book looks at how individuals regard their position in terms of power in the society. The power distance reflects in role pairs of authority-citizen, parent-child and boss-subordinate in different countries. In high power distance organisations, organisational hierarchy is obvious. There is a line between bosses and subordinates. Low power organisations have a flat organisational structure. 2. INDIVIDUAL VS. COLLECTIVISM Individualism looks at how the ties between the individuals in the society are loose. Here everyone is expected to look after their own interests. Collectivism looks at societies in which people from birth are integrated into strong and cohesive in-groups. This is where people are continuously protected each in exchange for unquestionable loyalty. (p. 76) Individualism-collectivism refers to how people value themselves and their organisations or groups. Persons with high individualistic values care about their own actualisation and career progress in the organisations whereas people with low individualistic values tend to value