Culturally-Based Preferences and Tendencies
The Research Basis for the Culture in the Workplace Questionnaire™
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to the MDB Group Intercultural Competence Section |
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The framework of culturally-based preferences and tendencies (CBTs) was developed by
Dr. Geert Hofstede starting with his pioneering study of IBM affiliates in 50 countries and three regions. This body of work helped form the foundation of the field of comparative management.
Five dimensions of national culture were determined through this work. Each country and region was placed on a continuum for each dimension, thus quantifying important characteristics of each national culture.
In the editions of Dr. Hofstede's work since 2001, scores have been developed for 74 countries and regions, partly based on replications and extensions of the IBM study on different international populations.
Subsequent studies validating the earlier results have included commercial airline pilots and students in 23 countries, civil service managers in 14 countries, 'up-scale consumers' in 15 countries and 'elites' in 19 countries.
Dr. Hofstede’s profound, ground-breaking research defined the following five dimensions of national culture:
Briefly,
the dimensions are defined as follows:
- Individualism. The degree to which action is taken for the benefit of the individual or the group.
- Power distance. The degree to which inequality or distance between those in charge and the less powerful (subordinates), is accepted.
- Certainty. The extent to which people prefer rules, regulations, and controls or are more comfortable with unstructured, ambiguous, or unpredictable situations.
- Achievement. The degree to which we focus on goal achievement and work, or quality of life and caring for others.
- Time orientation. The extent to which members of a society are prepared to adapt themselves to reach a desirable future, or take their guidance from the past and focus on fulfilling their present needs and desires.
Each dimension is a continuum. Dr. Hofstede’s research determined the norms for many countries, which places each country on each continuum. It is essential to remember that these are societal norms that represent the peak of a bell curve or normal distribution for that country. The country norms ARE NOT predictive of any one individual, who may be consistent with or quite different than their country’s norms.
The norms are appropriately used to compare typical differences at the national level. They may also be used to identify differences between individuals or members of a team as a basis for mutual adaptation to boost productivity.
For example, let’s say you have a participative orientation and are working in a high power-distance environment. If your objective is to implement organizational or cultural change, influencing and role modeling may not be effective techniques. Explicit direction from someone at a higher level may be needed to motivate and engage people.
CWQ measures individuals or groups on the five dimensions and provides individual or group profiles with comparisons to country averages. Culture in the Workplace Questionnaire™ (CWQ) provides further detail on the instrument.
Please call
us; we will be happy to discuss how you may realize
the full benefits of the Culture in the Workplace Questionnaire™.
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