Page 47 - F1 - AB Integrated Workbook STUDENT 2018-19

Organisational culture in business

2.3 Hofstede

Hofstede looked for national differences between over 100,000 of IBM’s employees
in different parts of the world, in an attempt to find aspects of culture that might
influence business behaviour.

He found four traits or ‘cultural dimensions’.

Individualism (vs collectivism) – looks at the extent to which people
1
are integrated into groups. Some cultures are more cohesive than
others. High individualism indicates that staff expect to be assessed
on their own achievements and performance.

Uncertainty avoidance (UA) index – deals with a society’s tolerance
2 for uncertainty and ambiguity. High UA cultures will not like to act

outside their normal job descriptions or roles. They prefer to be
directed by management and like formal rules.

Power distance (PD) index – the extent to which the less powerful
3
members of organisations and institutions accept and expect that power
is distributed unequally. High PD cultures expect to answer to powerful
managers and do not expect to have any democratic input into
decisions that are made.

Masculinity (vs femininity) – a masculine culture is one where the
4 distinction between the roles and values of the genders is large and the
males focus on work, power and success whereas in feminine cultures
the differences between the gender roles is much smaller.

More recently, two additional dimensions have been added to Hofstede’s model.

Long-term orientation (vs short-term orientation) – societies with a
1
long-term orientation focus on future rewards, with particular focus on
saving, persistence and the ability to adapt to changing circumstances.

Indulgence (vs restraint) – indulgent societies allow relatively free
2
gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life
and having fun.

41