Geert Hofstede

Geert Hofstede is a Dutch professor, and former IBM employee, who spent the years between 1967 and 1973 conducting research on IBM employees in over 40 different countries. His work was intended to highlight cultural differences so that managers could learn to adapt to different cultures in such a multi-national business climate (The Economist, 2008, p. 1). Hofstede’s initial work created a model of 4 separate dimensions, which is essentially, an empirical and quantitative way to categorize general mindsets of a collective group of people. His work has grown much over the years, and the model has evolved to include two more dimensions. Cultural Dimensions The most recent model of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions is comprised of six separate categories to include Power Distance Index (PDI), Individualism versus Collectivism (IDV), Masculinity versus Femininity (MAS), Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI), Long Term Orientation versus Short Term Normative Orientation (LTO), Indulgence versus Restraint (IND) (the hofstede center, n.d., p. 1). These dimensions can be useful to leaders who need to understand, and connect with employees across diverse cultures; situations where a one size fits all approach is not sufficient. Because of the astounding levels of diversity…

On the surface Brazil and the United States can seem very similar, loud, flashy, rich, built on gold rushes and slave trade. Both consist of big cities on the coast, are the most ethnically/racially diverse countries in the world and the richest country on their continents. However, a closer look shows that their differences are just as great. When considering to open a business in Brazil, knowing their similarities and differences are imperative. The Geert Hofstede study provides a great…

In his seven year research, Hofstede compared cultural dimensions in forty countries and divided this into four (or sometimes five) areas that summarized each culture. The dimensions included: Power Distance Index (PDI), Individualism (IDV) (opposite collectivism), the Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI), and Masculinity (MAS) (opposite femininity), and Long-term Orientation (LTO). Power distance refers to the extent that less powerful members accept and expect inequality. Individualism is the…

Cultural Differences in Hofstede’s Six Dimensions Geert Hofstede is the fourth most quoted social scientist of his time, he is the last one of the top five that is still alive. His notable influence has been in the area of culture. Geert Hofstede defines culture as “the collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of people from another” (Neill, C., 2012). The “Category” can refer to nations, regions, regions within or across nations, ethnicities,…

Power distance relationship is the first of five of Geert Hofstede’s value dimensions. Power distance relationships “measures the extent to which power is distributed equally within a society and the degree that society accepts this distribution” (Herrmann). Countries range from having small-power-distance relationships to large-power-distance relationships. On Hofstede’s cultural comparison, Germany’s power-distance index is 35, which implies that organizations based in Germany follow the ideas…

psychologist Geert Hofstede , who defined culture as a comprehensive set of unwritten rules of behavior that indeed set out what a particular group expects its devoted members to do and believe. Apparently, Hofstede in his model measures, culture in five dimensions and actually emphasizes that cooperation across cultures is quite essential to human survival (Hofstede, 1984). The model elaborates the ultimate effects of the society culture and set of values and how they comprehensively affect…

tools such as those developed by internationally recognised Dutch social psychologist Geert Hofstede (2001) and with colleagues Gert Jan Hofstede and Michael Minkov (2010). Hofstede elaborated a set of six dimensions (4 & 5 with Minkov) for rating cultures: 1. Power Distance: Extent to which less powerful members of organisations accept and expect power is distributed unequally. 2. Uncertainty Avoidance: Societies’ tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. 3. Individualism versus…

various dimensions. The cultural difference between Egypt and the UK were done using the Geert Hofstede, a tool which compares the differences in national and organisational culture. The tool uses five dimensions to compare the cultural differences, namely, power distance, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence, which influence a market’s reaction towards new companies. 2.1 Power distance Power distance has been defined as the degree to which the less…

3.4 Power distance A large distance between power of society is similar to collective society which emphasis on social class and level (Hofstede, 1994). Everyone wants power and desires gap between people(Hofstede, 1994). In this society, people who has low power also want to make friend with high power people that hope to increase their power. There is common phenomenon between different people which was recognized by people who is in large power distance society(Hofstede, 1994). In this…

of their behaviour which can be seen in the dimensions like specific-diffuse, internal-external direction, universalism-particularism, and we can see relationships in individualism-collectivism, achievement-ascription, neutral-affective. On the other hand, Hofstede describes about values present in people and its effect on their behaviour. Therefore, the difference between them is that Trompenaars study lies on the surface of…