Dimensions of Cultural Variability

By Assefa Tsegay
PhD, Candidate, SAM,
PUP
 Culture Defined

 Acquired knowledge that people use to interpret

experience and generate social behavior
 forms values
 creates attitudes
 influences behavior.
 Culture is the sum of total of the learned behavior
of a group of people that are generally considered
to be the tradition of that people and are
transmitted from generation to generation.
 Ethiopian Culture
 Ethiopia owns various cultures
– Unique cultural dressing, clothing, food style, wedding ceremony, and
architecture
– Christians and Muslims live together peacefully
– No Social Class.
– Male present gifts during Wedding
– Respect to elders, and guests
– Ethiopia is safer than the neighboring countries, particularly in urban
areas.
– Division of Labor is divided by gender
– The majority of celebrations are religious and Cultural
Welcome to Ethiopia
Ethiopian Cultural
Food
Ethiopian Cultural Clothes
Male Cultural Clothing
Architectural Design
Houses
New based on
traditional Design
Religion and Cultural Ceremony
 Dimensions of cultural variability
 Dimensions of cultural variability refers to the dominant
values, principles, beliefs, attitudes, and ethics that are
shared by an identifiable group of people that constitute a
culture. These dimensions provide the overall framework
wherein humans learn to organize their thoughts, emotions,
and behaviors in relation to their environment
 Several scholars contributed the establishment of the
cultural dimensions theory, which provides a systematic
framework for assessing the differences between nations
and cultures.
Contributors to Dimension of Cultur

 A number of researchers have devised

frameworks for the analysis of national
cultures and we can now look at some of the
contributors like
– Edward Hall
– Fons Trompenaar,
– Richard Lewis and
– Geert Hofstede,
– others.
 1. Edward Hall
 Edward Hall identify four cultural dimensions based on
– context,
– time,
– space and
– information.
 With reference to Context, Hall classify national culture as high and low
context cultures.
– In the high context cultures, great significance attachment is attached to
status, relationship and trust. Japan, India and middle east countries fall
under this categories. Relationship matters and job is next
– In low-context cultures ideas are expected to be outspoken very
straightforward, most of the things require explanation. Written instructions,
contracts and documents have more value in negotiations. Examples of
countries with low-context cultures are Germany, Switzerland, USA,
Scandinavia. .
 Cont…d
 Based on Time, Hall distinguishes between countries which
he terms monochromic nations like western countries and
USA where time is seen as a precious commodity and
polychromic nations like Africa, Southern European, and
Arab countries, where time is seen as less significant.
Easily distracted and plan and perform with flexibility
 As per Personal space, in cultures with low territoriality
people have less ownership of space and boundaries are
less important to them. Individuals from high territoriality
cultures tend to show more concern for ownership. They
seek to mark up the territory in their possession.
 Cont…d
 Information and the ways it is treated in cultures is
the fourth dimension described by Hall.
– Cultures with slow flow of information plan information
carefully and structure it. They would tend to portion
information, not to give more than absolutely
necessary.
– Cultures with fast flow of information think that the
more quickly the information is spread, the better it is
for all.
 2. Fons Trompenaars
 Fons Trompenaars developed the 7-cultural dimension
model after 10 years of researching in 40 countries.
 In his book, Trompenaars classify culture in relationships to
people, attitude to time and attitude to environment.
 In contrasting cultural approaches to relationships to
people, Trompenaars identified five dimensions
– Universal VS Particular
– Individualism VS Communitarianism
– Neutral VS Emotional
– Specific VS Diffuse
– Achievement VS Ascriptive
 Universalism VS Particularism
 Universalism: belief that ideas and practices can be
applied everywhere in the world without modification
– In countries with high universalism, focus is more on formal rules,
business contracts are adhered to closely, people believe “a deal is
a deal”. Example Canada, U.S., Germany, U.K., Netherlands,
France, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, and Hong Kong.
 Particularism: belief that circumstances dictate how ideas
and practices should be applied and something cannot be
done the same everywhere
– In countries with high particularism, legal contracts often modified,
well-acquainted people often change the way in which deals are
executed. includes China, Ruassia, Latin America and South Korea
Individualism VS Communitarianism
 Individualism: people regard themselves as individuals
– In countries high on individualism, people stress personal and
individual matters, and are more likely to make negotiated
decisions on the spot by a representative, achieve things alone and
assume great personal responsibility. Example: Canada, Thailand,
U.K., U.S., Netherlands, France, Japan, China, Singapore, and
Hong Kong
 Communitarianism: people regard themselves as part of
a group. Group is > individuals
– In countries high on communitarianism, people value group-related
issues, refer decisions to committees, achieve things in groups and
jointly assume responsibility. Example; Africa, Japan, Latin
America, Malaysia and Korea
 Neutral VS Emotional
 Neutral: culture in which emotions are held in/Controlled/
– In high neutral culture countries, people try not to show
their feelings, act stoically and maintain their
composure. Reason and facts affect their action. Japan
U.K, Sweden, Netherlands, Finland and Germany
 Emotional: culture in which emotions are expressed
openly and naturally. They use emotion to communicate
objective.
– In high emotional culture countries, people smile a
great deal, talk loudly when excited and greet each
other with enthusiasm. Mexico, France, Spain, Latin,..
 Specific VS Diffuse culture
 Specific culture: individuals have a large public space
shared with others and a small private space they guard
closely and share only with close friends and associates.
Communication is direct and to the point.
– In high specific cultures, people are more open and extroverted, and
there is a strong separation of work and private life. Austria, U.K.,
U.S. and Switzerland
 Diffuse culture: overlap between work and friendship.
Discuss business during social occasion. They believe that
good relationships are vital for success
– In high diffuse cultures, people often appear to be indirect and
introverted, and work and private life often are closely linked.
Venezuela, China,Aregentina, India, and Spain
 Achievement VS Ascription
 Achievement culture: status is accorded based on
how well people perform their functions.
– People believe that you are what you are. Value
performance no matter who you are. Be a good role model
Austria, U.S., Scandinavian and the U.K.
 Ascription culture: status is based on who or what a
person is
– Valued who you are . Power, title and position matters.
They believe that Role defines behavior
– Example France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Japan, India, and
China
Sequential VS Synchronous Time
 Sequential approach: People like events to happen in
order. They value time, focus on plan, deadlines…
– People do only one activity at a time, keep
appointments strictly, prefer to follow plans as laid out
(US, UK, Germany, Canada, Australia and others)
 Synchronous approach: See the past, present and
future as interweaven period
– People tend to multi-task, view appointments as
approximate, schedules are seen as subordinate to
relationships (Japan, France, Africa, Latin and
Mexico)
 Inner-direction VS Outer-direction

 Inner-directed: people believe in controlling

outcomes by internal locus of control.
– People believe that they can control nature to achieve
objective. Open to conflicts and disagreements. Example
U.S., Switzerland, Australia, Belgium, Indonesia, Hong
Kong, Greece, Singapore, and Japan
 Outer-directed: people believe on letting things take
their own course. Don’t like of conflicts
– They believe that nature controls us. They need direction
and feedback. Example Russia, Saudi Arabia, Africa, China
and many other Asian countries
 3. Richard Lewis
 Lewis developed the model after visiting many
countries/135/ and working in more than 20 countries. He
classified culture based on Behavior irrespective of
religion or nationality
 India is classified as hybrid of the three. Asian Countries
are categorized in reactive culture
– linear active: are task-oriented, highly-organized planners, who
complete action chains by doing one thing at a time. Polite and
direct, speak first,
– Confronts with logic and plan step by step. English speaking
countries, Germany, Netherland….
 Cont…d
 Multi-active: are emotional, talks most of the time
and impulsive people who attach great importance
to family, feelings, relationships.
 They like to do many things at the same time and are poor followers
of agendas. They are impatient
 Plan grand outline only. Display feelings, often interrupt. They mix
social and professional. Middle east, Africa, South Europe, Latin
 Reactive: are good listeners, who rarely initiate
action or discussion, patient, polite and indirect
– preferring first to listen to and establish the other’s position, then react
to it and form their own opinion. Looks at principles. Never confront.
Connect social and professionals. Asian countries
 4. Geert Hofstede
 The theory is based on the idea that value can be placed
upon six cultural dimensions. These are power (equality
versus inequality), collectivism (versus individualism),
uncertainty avoidance (versus uncertainty tolerance),
masculinity (versus femininity), temporal orientation, and
indulgence (versus restraint).
 Hofstede gathered most of his data on world cultural values
through surveys conducted by IBM, a US-based technology
and consulting firm. He then proposed a scoring system
using a scale from 1 to 120 for more than 40 nationalities
with population of 100,000 over 4 years interval.
 1. Power-Distance index
 PDI is the extent to which less powerful members of
institutions and organizations accept that power is
distributed unequally
– High power distance countries: people blindly obey the
orders of their superiors, centralized and tall organization
structures. older people are respected, subordinates are told
what they should do and there is hierarchies. Latin, Africa,
and Asian
– Low power distance countries: flatter and decentralized
organization structures. Power is legitimate and based on criteria. Older
people are neither respected nor feared. corruption is rare . Germanic and English-
speaking Western countries.
 
 2. Individualism vs. Collectivism
 Individualism: Cultures that are individualistic
place importance on attaining personal goals.
– I- Consciousness and value personal development
and decision
– developed and Western countries
 Collectivism: In collectivist societies, the goals
of the group and its wellbeing are valued over
those of the individual.
– We- consciousness and valuing group, and family and
share risks together. Developing countries
 3. Uncertainty-Avoidance index
 “A society’s tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity.” This
is a dimension that measures the way a society deals with
unknown situations, unexpected events, and the stress of
change.
– High uncertainty avoidance countries: people have high need for
security, strong belief in experts and their knowledge, structured
organizational activities, more written rules, less risk taking by
managers. East and central Europe, Japan, Latin
– Low uncertainty avoidance countries: people are more willing to
accept risks associated with the unknown, less structured
organizational activities, dislike written rules, more risk taking by
managers, higher employee turnover, more ambitious employees,
tolerant to deviations. English speaking, Nordic and Chinese culture
 4. Masculinity vs. Femininity
 Masculinity: a culture in which the dominant social values are
success, money and things. Admin is for the strong
 Femininity: a culture in which the dominate social values are caring
for others and the quality of life
– Countries high in masculinity: great importance on earnings, recognition,
advancement, challenge, and wealth. High job stress. Father decides family
size, girl cry and boy don’t cry and the boy fights with the girl. Few woman in
election. Eg Japan, India, German speaking, Italy, Mexico ( English Speaking
countries are moderate)
– Countries high in femininity: great importance on cooperation, friendly
atmosphere, employment security, group decision making, and living
environment. Low stress and more employee freedom. Little difference
between male and female. Mother decides family size. Eg. France, Spain,
Portugal, Chile, Korea, Thailand…
 5. Long vs. Short-term Orientation
 This dimension describes a society’s time horizon.
 Short-term oriented cultures value traditional methods, take a
considerable amount of time to build relationships, and in general view
time as circular.
– Most important events in life occurred in the past or take place now.
– There are universal guidelines about what is good and evil. S
– tudents success/failure is luck.
– Social spending and consumption. Eg U.S.A. and Australia, Latin American,
African and Muslim countries.
 long-term orientation, which sees time as linear and looks to the
future rather than the present or the past.
 It is goal-oriented. Saving and investing. Families are governed by
shared tasks. Success or failure depends on effort and hard work. Eg
Asian, east and central Europe
 6. Indulgence vs. Restraint
 This dimension measures a culture’s ability to satisfy the immediate
needs and personal desires of its members.
 Indulgence stands for a society that allows relatively free gratification of
basic and natural human desires related to enjoying life and having fun.
– Freedom of speech seen as important More people actively involved in
sports . South and North America, in Western Europe and in parts of Sub-
Sahara Africa. (Middle East are moderate)
 Restraint stands for a society that controls gratification of needs and
regulates it by means of strict social norms.
– Lower importance of leisure
– Those that value restraint have strict social rules and norms under which
satisfaction of drives is regulated and discouraged. Eastern Europe, in Asia
and in the Muslim world
 Summary

 Hofstede stresses that the cultural dimensions are

only a framework to help assess a given culture
and thus better guide decision making. There are
other factors to take into consideration such as
personality, family history, and personal wealth.
 The proposed dimensions cannot predict
individual behaviors and do not take into account
individual personalities.
 Doing business matters with cultural variability
 Reference
 Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensional zing Cultures: The Hofstede Model in Context. Online Readings
in Psychology and Culture.
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 http://sk.sagepub.com/reference/identity/n74.xml
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstede%27s_cultural_dimensions_theory
 https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_66.htm
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The Key Word Is….
Balance

Thank you very much!