The Five Dimensions of Culture

Armed with a large database of cultural statistics, Hofstede analyzed the results and found clear patterns of similarity and difference amid the responses along these five dimensions. Interestingly, his research was done on employees of IBM only, which allowed him to attribute the patterns to national differences in culture, largely eliminating the problem of differences in company culture. The five dimensions are: 1. Power/Distance (PD) This refers to the degree of inequality that exists and is accepted among people with and without power. A high PD score indicates that society accepts an unequal distribution of power, and that people understand "their place" in the system. Low PD means that power is shared and well dispersed. It also means that society members view themselves as equals. Application: According to Hofstede's model, in a high PD country such as Malaysia (104), you would probably send reports only to top management and have closed door meetings where only a select few, powerful leaders were in attendance. Characteristics Tips

Application: Hofstede's analysis suggests that in the Central American countries of Panama and Guatemala where the IDV scores are very low (11 and 6, respectively), a marketing campaign that emphasized benefits to the community or that tied into a popular political movement would likely be understood and well-received. Characteristics Tips

High valuation on people's time and their need for freedom. An enjoyment of challenges, and an expectation of rewards for hard work. Respect for privacy. Emphasis on building skills and becoming masters of something. Work for rewards. intrinsic

Acknowledge accomplishments. Don't ask for too much personal information. Encourage debate and expression of own ideas.

High IDV

Show respect for age and wisdom. Suppress feelings and emotions to work in harmony. Respect traditions and introduce change slowly.

Low IDV

High PD

Centralized companies. Strong hierarchies. Large gaps in compensation, authority, and respect. Flatter organizations. Supervisors and employees are considered almost as equals.

Acknowledge a leader's power. Be aware that you may need to go to the top for answers. Use teamwork Involve as many people as possible in decision making.

Harmony more important than honesty.

3. Masculinity (MAS) This refers to how much a society sticks with, and values, traditional male and female roles. High MAS scores are found in countries where men are expected to be "tough," to be the provider, and to be assertive. If women work outside the home, they tend to have separate professions from men. Low MAS scores do not reverse the gender roles. In a low MAS society, the roles are simply blurred. You see women and men working together equally across many professions. Men are allowed to be sensitive, and women can work hard for professional success. Application: Japan is highly masculine with a score of 95 whereas Sweden has the lowest measured value (5). According to Hofstede's analysis, if you were to open an office in Japan, you might have greater success if you appointed a male employee to lead the team and had a strong male contingent on the team. In Sweden, on the other hand, you would aim for a team that was balanced in terms of skill rather than gender.

Low PD

2. Individualism (IDV) This refers to the strength of the ties people have to others within the community. A high IDV score indicates loose connections. In countries with a high IDV score there is a lack of interpersonal connection, and little sharing of responsibility beyond family and perhaps a few close friends. A society with a low IDV score would have strong group cohesion, and there would be a large amount of loyalty and respect for members of the group. The group itself is also larger and people take more responsibility for each other's well being.

Characteristics

Tips

Characteristics

Tips

High MAS

Men are masculine and women are feminine. There is a well defined distinction between men's work and women's work.

Be aware that people may expect male and female roles to be distinct. Advise men to avoid discussing emotions or making emotionally based decisions or arguments. Avoid an "old boys' club" mentality. Ensure job design and practices are not discriminatory to either gender. Treat men and women equally. Low UAI High UAI

Very formal business conduct with lots of rules and policies. Need and structure. expect

Be clear and concise about your expectations and parameters. Plan and prepare, communicate often and early, provide detailed plans and focus on the tactical aspects of a job or project. Express your emotions through hands gestures and raised voices. Do not impose rules or structure unnecessarily. Minimize your emotional response by being calm and contemplating situations before speaking. Express curiosity when you discover differences.

Sense of nervousness spurns high levels of emotion and expression. Differences are avoided.

Low MAS

A woman can do anything a man can do. Powerful and successful women are admired and respected.

Informal attitude.

business

More concern with longterm strategy than what is happening on a daily basis. Accepting of change and risk.

4. Uncertainty/Avoidance Index (UAI) This relates to the degree of anxiety society members feel when in uncertain or unknown situations. High UAI-scoring nations try to avoid ambiguous situations whenever possible. They are governed by rules and order and they seek a collective "truth." Low UAI scores indicate the society enjoys novel events and values differences. There are very few rules and people are encouraged to discover their own truth. Application: Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions imply that when discussing a project with people in Belgium, whose country scored a 94 on the UAI scale, you should investigate the various options and then present a limited number of choices, but have very detailed information available on your contingency and risk plans. (Note that there will be cultural differences between French and Dutch speakers in Belgium.)

5. Long Term Orientation (LTO) This refers to how much society values long-standing as opposed to short-term traditions and values. This is the fifth dimension that Hofstede added in the 1990s after finding that Asian countries with a strong link to Confucian philosophy acted differently from western cultures. In countries with a high LTO score, delivering on social obligations and avoiding "loss of face" are considered very important. Application: According to Hofstede's analysis, people in the United States and United Kingdom have low LTO scores. This suggests that you can pretty much expect anything in this culture in terms of creative expression and novel ideas. The model implies that people in the U.S. and U.K. don't value tradition as much as many others, and are therefore likely to be willing to help you execute the most innovative plans as long as they get to participate fully. (This may be surprising to people in the UK, with its associations of tradition.)

Characteristics

Tips

High LTO

Family is the basis of society. Parents and men have more authority than young people and women. Strong work ethic. High value placed on education and training.

Show respect traditions. Do not extravagance frivolously.

for

uncertainty avoidance; and 4] quantity versus quality of life. Although this study was conducted a generation ago, I believe that its findings are still relevant because national culture does not change overnight. Hofstede specifically found out that we, Filipinos, were: 1} High in power distance, which means that we show a great deal of respect for those in authority. For us, titles, rank and status carry a great deal of weight. That is why we affix to the name of Juan de la Cruz, for instance, the words Dr. Juan de la Cruz., M.D. It signifies our acceptance that power and prestige in institutions and organizations are distributed unequally. 2 High in quantity of life, which means that we value the acquisition of money and material things. For us, a man who has money and material wealth should be respected and admired. 3. High in collectivism, which means that, as a people, we expect our relatives, neighbors and friends to look after us and protect us when and if things go wrong. For instance, I have seen on cable TV an advertisement of a group of children playing a footrace where one of the competitors stumbled and fell before reaching the finish line. The rest of the children stopped to help their playmate stand, and hand-in-hand they ran together and finished the race all together. This is evident in our value of bayanihan, which incidentally is absent among Americans, who are known for their rugged individualism. 4. Low in uncertainty avoidance, which means that we are comfortable with risk. For instance, we are not afraid to work overseas despite the uncertainty of life in an alien culture. This dimension coupled by the high value we place on quantity of life is, I guess, what causes us to work as OFWs abroad. What, then, are the implications of these cultural dimensions on our educational system? Our colleges and universities have been successful in inculcating knowledge and skills on our students as evidenced by the continuing demand for Filipino professionals abroad. By and large, our schools also have succeeded in internalizing a desirable work ethic on our graduates. It is, for example, known to many that former President GMA spent long hours working in her office. I am sure that there are many like her in the Philippine bureaucracy and in the private sector, who work silently and anonymously for the benefit of our country. But there is still one thing that our schools can put more attention than they probably do now. And that is the internalization of desirable values. We admire the late President Cory for her honesty, for her piety, for her voluntary relinquishment of the presidency of our republic at the end of her six-year term of office, despite the urgings of those around her. Indeed, she was an icon of democracy on our land. And yet, she had no previous exposure to governance, she having been a plain housewife

display or act

Reward perseverance, loyalty, and commitment. Avoid doing anything that would cause another to "lose face." Expect to live by the same standards and rules you create. Be respectful of others. Do not hesitate to introduce necessary changes.

Low LTO

Promotion of equality. High creativity, individualism. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Self-actualization sought. is

For a list of scores by dimension per country and more detailed information about Hofstede's research, visit his website. You can also find out more about his research in the books "Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations" and "Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind." Note: Hofstede's analysis is done by country. While this is valid for many countries, it does not hold in the countries where there are strong subcultures that are based on ethnicity of origin or geography. In Canada, for instance, there is a distinct French Canadian culture that has quite a different set of norms from those of Englishspeaking Canada. And in Italy, masculinity scores would differ between north and south. Dimensions of Filipino Culture: Their Implications on Philippine Education In the 1980s, Geert Hofstede surveyed 116,000 employees and managers in 40 countries, including the Philippines, to determine if national culture had an impact on their values and attitudes. He found that they vary on four dimensions of national culture, namely; 1) Individualism versus collectivism; 2) power distance; 3}

before history brought her, as it were, into the stormy ocean of politics. In short, she had no previous experience in governing a country, unlike her predecessors and those who came after her. She lacked knowledge and skills at governance, but she did relatively well. It can be argued, and probably correctly, that our schools have always put much attention to values formation in our young. True, for one, GMRC is even part of the curriculum in the elementary grades. Some may even argue further that values can only be caught and that it is caught not only in schools, but also in the home and in the broader environment surrounding us. Therefore, others may argue that the Cory phenomenon is a product of composite social forces, not attributable to her school alone. Still, others may argue that there are other Corys out there, although they have not been noticed. These arguments, notwithstanding, the fact remains that in our country, there still are practices that leave much to be desired and that the Philippines, compared with other Southeast Asian countries, has not progressed as fast as it should. Craft and corruption is still rampant, despite the efforts of President Noynoy to minimize it. Vote buying and selling is done even during Sanguniang Kabataan elections, And there are still other practices that escapes my memory right now, that can be avoided had our society been possessed with more desirable values than we have now Our Schools Can Do Much To Help Instill These Desirable Values Among Us By Doing The Following: If we desire an end to the bane of corruption on our country, if we desire a progressive Philippines, then we can start with the internalization of desirable values in our youth in our schools. For starters, we can revise our concept of education from one that fosters individualism to one that engenders bayanihan, consonant with our culture as a nation. Unfortunately, we have been fostering individualism in our educational system that we have copied from educators abroad. For example: For countless generations, we have awarded honors only to the learners who get the highest grades in class. Those who fail in examinations either arent allowed to enroll, or are weeded out. Since childhood, the concept of life as fierce competition where only the academically gifted succeeds has been pounded on us. This concept has bred petty jealousies and even animosity among friends, schoolmates, and even relatives. This has even encouraged the young learners to cheat in examinations and their parents to condone dishonesty among their children. We are made to believe in the wrong idea that the road to the top is narrow and that the room at the end of the road is very small and crowded, so everyone has to elbow and claw his way up that narrow path to find a place in that small and crowded room. Consequently, the process now has degenerated into an inordinate focus on high grades alone, no matter how earned. That TV ad where a group of of children helped one who stumbled and fell so that he could finish the race together with everybody is a beautiful example of how bayanihan among young learners should be done. Therefore, honors should be awarded not to the student who obtained the highest grades in his report card only.

Higher honors should be based on broader criteria and accorded to the group that obtained the highest grade-point average on the basis of these criteria. Partly, this can be made operational by the teach-test-reteach-retest approach in instruction where fast learners are encouraged assist the slower ones via peer teaching. Incidentally, let it be mentioned that it is fallacious to compare learning with a footrace where the fastest runner wins because in a footrace every runner starts from the same starting point; while in a group of learners enrolled in the same grade level, some students may possess knowledge previously obtained elsewhere. In learning, the student starts from different the starting points, unlike competitors in a footrace. By putting more weight on group achievement, our youth shall understand, early on, the importance of working for group welfare and, finally, the importance community welfare and of our countrys welfare. Schools can emphasize the importance of community welfare, and eventually our countrys welfare, by including extension services, not only as a mandatory on-the-job training for graduating students, but as an integral part of the curriculum for all learners in all grade levels. By immersing all learners into the community, the school shall cease being an ivory tower and all learners shall be exposed to the realities of life in their surroundings. In turn this exposure shall lead to the learners first-hand knowledge and analysis of community problems which is but one step away from their development of a deep concern for community welfare and, eventually, true love of country. This concern for community welfare and this love of country, in turn, will breed responsible citizens that will frown on dishonesty, graft and corruption, as well as other shenanigans, in our government. Finally, these will result not only in a united Philippine national identity, but also in a truly progressive country where economic gains are a reality, felt and experienced by the majority, if not all, of our people. Aside from enhancing our national identity, this emphasis on bayanihan in our schools shall transform our country into one where our fellow Filipinos will no longer brave the risks and loneliness of working abroad away from their families and loved ones because they would be able to find quantity of life right here, at home.