Hofstede’s Model and Cultural Dimensions

Introduction

Nowadays more and more companies decide to go abroad, to expand their business. This decision brings with itself a necessity to operate in a multicultural environment with a high level of turbulence, which requires flexibility.
Companies have always been limited by environment, which is constituted by people, buildings, culture which has power to affect company’s affairs. The power of a client, a consumer, power of supplier, power of distributor and moreover a power of an employee determines the company’s work and existence in general. These all are people, people who have an influence on company.
In order to be able to compete in such a turbulent environment, companies have to understand the way of thinking, the behaviour, the values of all those people involved in company’s everyday life. The importance to know and understand people is not limited to knowing and understanding customers, it implies also the knowledge of a company’s personnel, people who work for the company. A company have to understand one of its most important resources: human resources.
There have been many studies in this field. The author have decided to describe the cultural model offered by Geert Hofstede, as the author is convinced that it becomes increasingly important to understand cultural differences that have a significant impact on companies’ affairs.
From 1967 to 1973, while working at IBM as a psychologist, Geert Hofstede collected and analyzed data from over 100,000 individuals from 50 countries and 3 regions.
Subsequent studies validating the earlier results have included commercial airline pilots and students in 23 countries, civil service managers in 14 counties, 'up-market' consumers in 15 countries and 'elites' in 19 countries.
From the initial results, and later additions, Dr. Hofstede developed a model that identified four primary Dimensions to assist in differentiating cultures: Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, and Uncertainty Avoidance.
Geert Hofstede added a fifth Dimension after conducting an additional international study with a survey instrument developed with Chinese employees and managers.
That Dimension, based on Confucian dynamism, is Long-Term Orientation and was applied to 23 countries. [1]
The author will give information on primary four dimensions of Hofstede’s model; this will include a definition and the implications for management concerning each particular dimension. The 5th dimension will not be described in this work.
The description will be completed by drawing up conclusions made by the author during the study of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.

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