Basic Cultural Types As business goes global,

Basic Cultural Types
   Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I was told that most of you are either engaged or interested in business, and your participation in this series of lectures indicates that all of you may have realized the importance of culture to success in international business. As our lecture today is the first one, we are going to briefly look at some basic types of culture.
   The Dutch researcher and business consultant, Geert Hofstede, has developed a useful framework that il- lustrates the four major issues that define and classify national cultures. Facts show that each issue has a very real effect on how people process information and interact, either personally or with business colleagues. During the remaining part of the lecture, let’s explore these issues one by one.
   First and foremost, we need to look at the conflict between individualism and collectivism. Does a society cherish individualism, the independent thinker, the person who values personal success over group success, or does it function in an orderly fashion only when individuals sacrifice their needs to those of the group? The values that a society holds will determine how an individual defines himself or herself--as free individual or as a member of a group. Determine the answer to this most basic of questions about a society’s cultural values, and you will obtain a valuable clue as to how to proceed in successfully concluding a business negotiation and managing a business relationship in the future.
   Understanding the contrast between the group and the individual is very important for business. In an individualist culture, decision making may be more rapid, but the implementation of a change in policy may be much slower than in a collectivist culture. On the other hand, it may take longer to come to a consensus in a collectivist environment, but once the decision is made, implementation is generally quicker.
   The second issue in the study of cultural types is power distance. Power distance actually refers to how individuals in a society view power as well as their own role in decision making. In cultures with a low power-distance, individual employees will seek a role in decision-making and question decisions and orders that they have made no contribution. By contrast, in high power distance societies, employees seek no decision-making role. They accept the boss’s decision simply because the boss is the boss and is supposed to give orders. Employees in this kind of cultures need direction and discipline, and they look to management to provide it. In low power distance cultures, workers will accept more responsibility. Low power distance cultures tend to be more individualistic in nature.
   OK, so much for the second issue, power distance. Next let’s move on to the third point, uncertainty-a- voidance. It is a measure of a society’s ability to tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty. A Swiss business colleague said that this could be shown in the difference between Switzerland and Germany. Buses and taxis taking visitors from Geneva’s airport to town would repeatedly broadcast the following announcement: "Welcome to Switzerland. Have a good time and remember that in Switzerland everything that is not compulsory is forbid- den." In contrast, the Germans hate the idea of uncertainty, and obviously know something about redundancy planning and clearly state behaviors that are forbidden to avoid any uncertainty.
   The cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance is profoundly exhibited in the workplaces of all societies. For instance, in Japan, the high preference for uncertainty avoidance results in employees’ decision to give up individual freedom and mobility in exchange for a guarantee of lifetime employment. But in societies that have a low measure of uncertainty avoidance, people usually value achievement over security, there is a less structured and more free-flowing style of management, but fewer workplace rules than societies with a high measure of un- certainty avoidance. Besides, it’s easy to understand that countries that exhibit low measures of uncertainty--a- voidance generally experience high rates of employment turnover and job mobility.
   The last issue in Hofstede’s framework is the contrast between masculinity and femininity, which means whether the society manifests more male features or female features. This dimension speaks to both social values and attitudes. Societies with supposedly "masculine" values appreciate aggressiveness and assertiveness, and respect the goal of material acquisition. The more "feminine" cultures, on the other hand, value interpersonal relationships, put quality of life before material acquisition and actively express concern for the less fortunate.
   Understanding this dimension also has important implication for business management. The pace of business tends to be more slow and calm in cultures with a majority of feminine traits. Business hinges more on personal relationships--friends doing business with friends--rather than on pure efficiency and written contracts. In masculine cultures, success is the function of the individual, and society is made up of leaders and followers. If you are a success--or a failure--it is the result of your own actions. Business is a more efficient process than in feminine societies and people plan on enjoying their retirement rather than the present working day.
   Now it’s time to sum up. In a sense, business success builds on correct understanding of culture in which the business takes place. Hofstede’s proposal seems to have caught the core of cultural difference. In his eyes, culture can be classified in terms of individualism versus collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity versus femininity. So long as we pay attention to these issues, we stand much more possibility to success. So, finally, I hope what I said today can be of use to you in the future. Thank you!