Power Distance: in this dimension, members who have less power in a society accept and expect that the distribution of power takes place unequally. Culture is characterized by a strong hierarchical structure within organizations. In such societies, managers are respected in and out of the organization and are rarely contradicted in public. “The fundamental issue here is how a society handles inequalities among people.”
High Power Distance: Centralised organisations, more complex hierarchies, large gaps in compensation, authority and respect. Examples of high-power distance culture are: Belgium, France, Malaysia, The Arab World.
·Lower Power Distance: Flat organisations. Supervisors and employees are considered almost equals. Examples of low power distance culture are: The Netherlands, the UK, the USA, Germany, Nordic countries.
Individualism is characterized by frequent use of “I”, decisions are made on the spot by representatives, who ideally achieve things alone and assume personal responsibility. People that belong to this category prefer to be left alone to take care about themselves and their families
Collectivism is frequently characterized by “we”, decisions are usually delegated by the people to the organization, so ideally objectives are achieved in groups and thus people assume joint responsibility. They prefer a very tight society framework in which individuals can expect their relatives or members of a specific in-group to take care of them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.
Uncertainty avoidance reflects the degree to which a society feels threatened by ambiguous situations and tries to avoid them by formulating rules and refusing to tolerate deviance. Employees and managers pay attention to precise objectives and clear rules, detailed assignments and schedules set up well in advance.
Examples of high uncertainty avoidance countries are Greece, Belgium, Russia, Italy, Korea, Mexico.
Cultures that have a high level of uncertainty avoidance tend to be collective cultures as everyone knows their proper place and role in society.
Masculinity describes the degree to which society focus on assertiveness and achievement. When in contrary, femininity describes the focus of society to quality-of-life issues, such as caring for others, group solidarity and helping the less fortunate are valued. In other words, society still recognizes a gap between male and female values. This dimension is frequently viewed as taboo in highly masculine societies.
Masculinity: Strong egos – feelings of pride and importance are attributed to status. Money and achievement are important. Examples of masculinity cultures are Slovakia, Japan, Hungary, Austria, Venezuela.
Femininity: Relationship oriented, more focus on quality of life. Examples of femininity culture are Sweden, Norway, Netherlands and Denmark.
Long-term cultures focus on the distant future and emphasize on the importance of preparing the future like modern education. Also, these cultures emphasize on the importance of saving, persistence and achieving goals that may only come to completion after several generations.
Short-term orientation societies focus on the past and traditions and they become suspicious of societal change. There is also respect for fulfilling social obligations and a consistent understanding of morality in these societies.
Cultural Dimensions Thread
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