Analysis culture difference Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Analysis culture difference - Essay Example There are several cultural dimensions theories like the one developed by Geert Hofstede which presents a framework for communication which is cuts across cultures. This theory describes how the culture of a society affects the values of its members and in turn how they affect people’s behavior making use of a structure obtained from the factor analysis method. This theory is especially important in various fields as a research paradigm (Stone, 2007). These fields include international management, cross-cultural psychology, as well as cross-cultural communication. Dimensions of national cultures are very important in expatriate management and their preparedness to interact with a different culture. These dimensions include uncertainty avoidance index, individualism as opposed to collectivism, power distance index, indulgence or restraint, long-term orientation, and masculinity as opposed to femininity. It is of great importance for the person going to work in another country to be aware of the cultural differences that exist among various destinations. Cultural differences are considered in most instances as a means of conflict rather than synergy. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory looks at the increasing diversity and the way in which an expatriate can gain an understanding of the other culture by knowing what they can expect from them and the manner in which they can behave when faced with people of other countries. Hofstede’s model of five dimensions is used widely in various domains of the social life of human beings with most application in the area of business. In the area of business, cultural sensitivity should be promoted in order to enable people to be more effective when working with and interacting with people of other countries in order to ensure success of transactions. In business, communication is taken as one of the most basic concerns. Therefore, this model is important in taking peaks into other cultures. This is espec ially so because the professionals who work on an international level are bound to interact on a daily basis with others from different countries in their company or with other companies which are abroad. This awareness of the differences in culture will help the expatriate to differentiate between the acceptable and unacceptable as such parameters differ from one country to another. Expatriates might be faced with the challenge in communication which is affected by cultural dimensions such as verbal communication, non-verbal communication, written communication or even etiquette which involves the do’s and don’ts. Despite Hofstede’s model being generally acknowledged as the framework of national values and cultures that is the most comprehensive, by the people who study culture of businesses, it has also been extensively criticized. Another model of cultural dimensions is the one developed by Fons Trompenaars whose experience with cultural differences was quite firsthand as he grew up speaking both Dutch and French and has worked in nine different countries with Shell (Stone, 2007). Through this, he was able to study how people resolved cross-cultural dilemmas in specific countries. It is after his analysis that he made notice of seven basic cultural dimensions. The first scale was universalism as opposed to particularism. The second scale entailed individualism versus collectivism. The