Nov 12

Cross Cultural Attitudes to Risk and Uncertainty

Cross Cultural Training, Cultural training for Relocation, Culture, Culture training for Business & Management, Culture training for Human Resources, Culture training for the Public sector No Comments »

Risk and uncertainty are integral elements of doing business, but they are even more present when dealing with international teams and global counterparts. Attitudes to risk and uncertainty can differ widely from one culture to another and can strongly influence the way we are perceived by others. Cross cultural awareness trainingcan provide an understanding of how cross cultural attitudes to risk and uncertainty influence working practices, cross cultural communication and international management.

Businessmen viewed from top sjlocke i Cross Cultural Attitudes to Risk and Uncertainty

© istockphoto.com/ Sjlocke

Cross cultural sociologist Geert Hofstede examined how values in the workplace are influenced by culture. Through the research he conducted in the 60s and 70s, Hofstede collected and analysed data from over 100,000 individuals from forty countries. Using these results Hofstede developed a model of five key categories that cultures can be measured against. One of the dimensions called Uncertainty Avoidance looks at how cultures deal with and are influenced by ambiguity, uncertainty and risk. Understanding your global counterparts’ attitudes to risk and uncertainty will help you to understand why they behave, plan and communicate the way they do in international business.

Cultures showing high uncertainty avoidance have a low tolerance for ambiguity and vagueness in most day-to-day situations. In other words, they tend to be risk-averse and favour rules and a well-structured environment over unknown or unstructured situations. People in cultures with a low tolerance to uncertainty will also tend to establish laws, rules, regulations and control mechanisms to prevent any ambiguity or risk. In a business context, this means that in cultures that have a low tolerance to uncertainty you may find:

  • Employees tend to stay with one employer for a long period of time
  • Decisions are made by consensus
  • Traditional gender roles
  • Job roles often require a very high level of expertise
  • Projects are carefully planned
  • Many rules, laws and regulations in place

Countries in Latin America, Japan and Germany are some examples of where there is high uncertainty avoidance.

Low uncertainty avoidance cultures, on the other hand, are open to new ideas and influences. Flat organisational structures are favoured and people are flexible and more willing to take risks.
In a business context, this would mean that:

  • People will be more open to innovation and change
  • There is an increased willingness and readiness to take risks
  • People approach projects from different angles and have a more flexible attitude to deadlines
  • There is a preference for flexible rules and informal activities

Countries such as the US, the UK and Denmark are examples of where there is a low level of uncertainty avoidance.

Countries with a common history and similar cultural heritage tend to have many of the same value orientations and therefore share many of the same attitudes and behaviours. Cross cultural awareness trainingcourses such as Working Effectively across Cultures will explain why, for example, Latin cultures show similar degrees of uncertainty avoidance and often therefore have many of the same working practices and communication styles.

Working effectively across cultures requires an understanding of cross cultural values and attitudes towards risk and uncertainty. With this knowledge, international working employees will be better equipped to adapt to other cultural working styles and anticipate cross cultural challenges or frustrations that can stem from different attitudes to risk and uncertainty.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

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Mar 10

Does your culture distribute power equally? A cross cultural theory on Power Distance

Cross Cultural Training, Cultural training for Relocation, Culture, Culture training for Business & Management, Culture training for Human Resources, Culture training for the Public sector No Comments »

One of Geert Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions is power distance which looks at the degree of equality between people in a society.  According to Hofstede, the power distance index shows the extent to which people perceive inequality as normal in an organisation or institution.

In countries with a low power distance like Austria, Denmark or New Zealand, egalitarian attitudes are preferred and decisions are made cooperatively.  Conversely, in countries which have a high power distance such as Malaysia, Saudi Arabia or South Korea, a more formal and vertical hierarchy exists in most areas of society including business.  In Europe, power distance tends to be lower in Northern countries and higher in Southern and Eastern countries.

The table below shows some key differences between cultures with a high power distance and low power distance.

High Power Distance Low Power Distance
Inequality is accepted Inequality is minimised
Rigid, authoritative structure More flexible structure
Centralised decision-making Collective decision-making
Those in power have privileges All have equal rights
Respect for authority Respect for individuality

Cultural awareness training programmes such as Doing Business in Japan or Working Successfully Across Cultures look at the impact of power distance on business both in specific countries and on a global scale. A familiarity with this dimension will give you an improved understanding of decision-making processes as well as management styles around the world and how to adapt to them.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

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Mar 05

Cross Cultural Preferences: Individual or Group?

Cross Cultural Training, Cultural training for Relocation, Culture, Culture training for Business & Management, Culture training for Human Resources, Culture training for the Public sector No Comments »

Have you ever considered why in some cultures it’s best to praise a team for their efforts rather than an individual?  Or why connections and networks are more important when doing business than individual achievement?  Or in education, have you noticed that in some cultures children are encouraged to participate and show individual creativity while in others the expectation is for children to recite lessons as a group?  There are many differences like these that can often be explained by a predominant tendency in a culture to place more importance on individuals or groups.

This distinction is often referred to as individualism and collectivism, the degree to which a society reinforces individual or group achievement and interpersonal relationships.  This concept, one of Geert Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions, helps explain many cross-cultural attitudes, behaviours and communication styles.

Societies which emphasise collectivism are those where people’s main concern is their in-group or community rather than their individuality.  Extended families and networks where everyone takes responsibility for fellow members of their group are typical of collective cultures such as China, Mexico and Greece.

Individualism refers to describe societies that are characterised by the importance of individuality and individual rights. In individualistic cultures such as the US or Germany, the self and immediate family come first while social bonds tend to be loosely tied.

Below is a table which summarises the key differences between the cross-cultural preference for individual or group.

Collectivism Individualism
‘We’ conscious ‘I’ conscious
Group comes first Self and immediate family come first
Focus on tradition and precedent Focus on growth and progress
Collaborative Competitive
Success and position are ascribed Individual achievement earned and rewarded

Understanding whether a culture places more emphasis on the individual or the group will help you maximise doing business in that country. These concepts are covered on cross-cultural training programmes such as Communicating Effectively across Cultures as well as cross cultural training for business and management programmes such as Doing Business in India.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

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Feb 12

Cross-Cultural Communication Styles: High and Low Context

Cross Cultural Training, Cultural training for Relocation, Culture, Culture training for Business & Management, Culture training for Human Resources, Culture training for the Public sector 1 Comment »

The concepts of high context and low context refer to how people communicate in different cultures.  Differences can be derived from the extent to which meaning is transmitted through actual words used or implied by the context.

High context implies that a lot of unspoken information is implicitly transferred during communication.  People in a high context culture such as Saudi Arabia tend to place a larger importance on long-term relationships and loyalty and have fewer rules and structure implemented.

Low context implies that a lot of information is exchanged explicitly through the message itself and rarely is anything implicit or hidden.  People in low context cultures such as the UK tend to have short-term relationships, follow rules and standards closely and are generally very task-oriented.

Understanding whether your international colleagues are high context or low context will help you to adapt your communication style and build stronger relationships with them.  These concepts are covered during cross-cultural training programmes such as Communicating across Cultures and Managing International Teams.  Cultural awareness training which focuses on one or more specific cultures like Doing Business in India or Living and Working in China will also address these concepts.

When doing business in a high context culture such as Mexico, Japan or the Middle East, you might encounter the following:

  • Misunderstanding when exchanging information
  • Impression of a lack of information
  • Large amount of information is provided in a non-verbal manner, e.g. gestures, pauses, facial expressions
  • Emphasis on long term relationships and loyalty
  • ‘Unwritten’ rules that are taken for granted but can easily be missed by strangers
  • Shorter contracts since less information is required

When doing business in a low context culture such as Germany, Switzerland or the US, on the other hand, you might find the following:

  • All meaning is explicitly provided in the message itself
  • Extensive background information and explanations are provided verbally to avoid misunderstandings
  • People tend to have short-term relationships
  • People follow rules and standards closely
  • Contracts tend to be longer and very detailed

High and low context cultures usually correspond with polychronic and monochronic cultures respectively.  The table below shows some general preferences of people from high context and low context cultures.

High Context Low Context
Indirect and implicit messages Direct, simple and clear messages
Polycrhonic Monochronic
High use of non-verbal communication Low use of non-verbal communication
Low reliance on written communication High reliance on written communication
Use intuition and feelings to make decisions Rely on facts and evidence for decisions
Long-term relationships Short-term relationships
Relationships are more important than schedules Schedules are more important than relationships
Strong distinction between in-group and out-group Flexible and open

Participating in a cross-cultural training programme such as Doing Business with India and Doing Business in the UK, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of the high or low context preferences in the country or countries where you are working and the impact these preferences have on doing business with them.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

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Dec 14

Cultural Profile: Geert H.Hofstede

Cross Cultural Training, Cultural training for Relocation, Culture, Culture training for Business & Management, Culture training for Human Resources, Culture training for the Public sector No Comments »

Name: Geert Hofstede

Nationality: Dutch

Born: October 2, 1928 in Haarlem, Netherlands

Known for:

  • Five dimensions of culture
  • Small vs. large power distance
  • Individualism vs. collectivism
  • Masculinity vs. femininity
  • Uncertainty avoidance
  • Long vs. short term orientation

Key publications:

Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. Revised and expanded 2nd Edition, New York: McGraw-Hill USA, 2005.

Exploring Culture: Exercises, Stories and Synthetic Cultures. Yarmouth, Maine:
Intercultural Press, 2002 (co-authored with Gert Jan Hofstede and Paul B. Pedersen).

Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nation. 2nd Edition Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications, 2001.

Masculinity and Femininity: The Taboo Dimension of National Cultures. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications, 1998.

Hofstede earned a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1953 and completed his PhD in Social Psychology at the Groningen University in1967. Hofstede started his career at IBM, where he founded and managed the Personnel Research Department.

Hofstede’s experience as a regular company worker combined with an interest in understanding organisational structures and management styles gave him a unique perspective. Between 1967 and 1973 he interviewed approximately 100,000 IBM employees in 53 counties. Based on the data he compiled, Hofstede developed his model of five cultural dimensions which are often used in cross-cultural training to help people categorise cultures in order to understand the differences which exist between them. Hofstede’s work focused on national cultures as well organisational cultures, both of which have an enormous impact on international business.

Following his work and research with IBM, Hofstede lectured at different institutions in Switzerland, Belgium and France before relocating to the Netherlands in 1980. In the same year, he published his first book Culture’s Consequences which paved the way for further activities and teaching in the intercultural field until he formally retired in 1993. Hofstede is still active in the intercultural field and often speaks at business events or at cross-cultural conferences such as SIETAR (Society for Intercultural Training and Research).

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2009

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