-Read the extra reading file to get more understanding of the application of
Hofstede cultural dimension model.
-Make a table to analyse typical examples to highlight 5 characteristics of culture:
Culture can be shared-learned-trans generational-patterned-adaptive
Culture can
be
Example
Shared
People want to work for more than a paycheck. They want to be paid fairly and in some
cases the element of salary will be an important aspect of their decision to come to work
for an organization, but perhaps more importantly, people want to work on something
they believe in and they want to do that work with people that share their passion and
beliefs.
This isn’t the same thing as saying, everyone in your organization has to maintain the
same beliefs. However, by creating a set of core beliefs that everyone in the organization
lives by and supports, you create a set of filters for how decisions are made, how people
treat each other, how they treat customers, what’s expected, how to manage and even
how to write a sales letter.
Learned
The aspects of culture are not found in an individual right from his birth. He rather learns
those from others in the society as he follows, observes, and interacts with them. Since
experiences vary among people of different societies, they learn different things resulting
in differences among cultures.
For example, a South-Asian child grows in a European country among the Europeans
and will definitely not learn South-Asian cultural aspects but the European cultural
aspects, influencing his behavior.
It clearly indicates that culture is learned, not present from birth, why people of different
cultures see the same object or situation differently.
The reason is that their learning differs. For example, wearing mini-skirts by females is
seen negatively in South-Asia, where it is seen positively in Western countries. Since
people of two different cultures learn differently, they are likely to view the same object
differently.
Trans
generational
Within the demographic change social work scientist see new interchangeabilities of
generations which can be seen as a result of the relativization of age and secondly the
end of the social and cultural restrictions regarding older persons which lead due to an
increase in numbers to a new claim attitude of participation and activation.
Culture transmission occurs through:

By Birth: Parents inculcate culture into their children. For example, the concept
of samskaras or rites of passage is quite important in Hindu culture. People are
judged based on how well they are acquainted with their culture.


Through Marriage: A person transmits their family culture into the new family.
Certain sociologists even believe that culture is transmitted differently across
different social stratification. For example, a wealthy bureaucrat’s way of
celebrating rituals might be quite different from that of a socially backward
person, even if they belong to the same culture.
Patterned
Clark Wissler, an American anthropologist, specifically interested in the American
Indian culture, suggested that certain cultural traits form patterns. These traits include
language, materials such as food, dress, utensils and weapons, science, religion,
ecosystems, property, art, government and war. Shaking hands, tipping hats, white
clothing at weddings, walking barefoot, growing a beard, touching feet, kissing cheeks in
greeting, drinking water on idols or eating from brass bowls are additional examples of
cultural traits that became part of cultural patterns. This doesn't mean appearing
everywhere else.
Adaptive
Adaptation is how an organism adjusts to its environment. There is biological adaptation,
which involves biological changes. Over time, humans have biologically adapted to their
environment–for example, people who live closer to the equator tend to have darker skin
color, while those who live further from the equator tend to have lighter skin color. The
darker skin color protects people from the higher amounts of UV radiation in areas near
the equator.