For Example: Individual/Collectivism, Power
Distance, uncertainty avoidance, Confucian
dynamism, masculinity/femininity
Heather Monville
Examine
 “Consider an argument or concept in a way that
uncovers the assumptions and interrelationships of
that issue” – Mr.Weisse
Cultural Dimensions
 Asides from Cultural Norms, cultural dimensions is
another components of Culture
 Dimensions-the perspectives of a culture based on
values and cultural norms
Hoefstede’s Classic Study (1973)
 Involved asking the employees of a multinational
company to fill our surveys about morale in the
workplace
 Carried out content analysis on the responses received
 Focused on key differences submitted by employees in
different countries
 His research looked at 40 most represented countries
 Hoefstede’s Arguments
 Understanding cultural dimensions will help facilitate
communication between cultures
Different Dimensions
 There are four main dimensions (talked about in the
book on page 126)
 Individualism
 Collectivism
 Uncertainty
 Avoidance
Individualism/Collectivism
 Individualism
 Definition: The habit or principle of being independent
and self-reliant.
 In an individualist society everyone is expected to look
after himself or herself or his/her immediate family
 Collectivism
 Definition: The practice or principle of giving a group
priority over each individual in it.
 In collectivist societies-from birth and on people are
integrated into strong groups (often extended family)
Markus and Kitayama (1991)
 Characterized a difference between United States and
Japanese culture
 “In America, the squeaky wheel gets the grease; in
Japan, the nail that stands out gets pounded”-Japanese
Proverb
 They argue that perceiving a boundary between the
individual and social environment is distinctly western
in cultural orientation
Uncertainty/Avoidance
 Uncertainty
 The state of being uncertain
 Avoidance
 Keeping away from or preventing from happening
 Deals with society’s tolerance for uncertainty and
ambiguity
 Shows to what extent a culture programs its members to
feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured
situations
 Unstructured situations
 Unknown and Surprising
Confucian Dynamism
 Bond (1988) argues that Chinese culture replaces the
uncertainty-avoidance dimension with Confucian
Work Dynamism
 Confucian Dynamism
 Instead of focusing on the truth, some cultures focus on
virtue
 Example: China and other Asian Countries have a longterm orientation

Value Persistence, Loyalty and Trustworthiness
Hoefstede (He’s Back)
 Found that Finland, France, Germany and US have
short-term orientation
 There is a value of personal steadiness and stability
 Focus on the future instead of the past
 Innovation is highly valued
 Warns against Ecological Fallacy
 When one looks at two different cultures it should not
be assumed that two members from two different
cultures MUST be different from one another. Or that a
single member of a culture will always demonstrate
dimensions of the norm of that culture
Edward T. Hall
 Proxemic Theory (1966)
 Based on a cultures need for “Personal Space”
 The Hidden Dimension
 Different cultures have different perceptions of the amount of
personal space that is required to be comfortable
 Time Consciousness
 Distinguished between monochronic cultures and
polychronic cultures
 Monochronic-Cultures focus on one thing at a time

Focus involved high degree of scheduling and punctuality
 Polychronic- Cultures where many things happen at once
 The focus is more on relationships and interactions