I have heard Prof. Geert Hofstede's name couple of years ago when I was trying to understand and define cultural differences in our management team at the company where I am working. There were 7 different nationalities out of 12 people in the team. So we got some cultural comparison analysis from Hofstede’s web site and reviewed together with management team members. It was interesting and useful experience for all of us.
Hofstede conducted one of the most comprehensive studies of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture in 1980s. Many articles have been published by him in social science and management journals around the world. He is recognized internationally for having developed the first empirical model of “dimensions“ of national culture. I really recommend you to check out his web site. You can find some free information about 5 dimensions on different cultures and even cultural comparison between 2 different countries that you will select.
I would like to share some part of cultural analysis about Danish culture here as an example, because I am living in Copenhagen and still discovering the local culture here :)
Please find more details from this link :
http://geert-hofstede.com/denmark.html
Happy Reading
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Cultural Analysis of Denmark
If we explore the Danish culture through the lens of the 5-D Model, we can get a good overview of the deep drivers of Danish culture relative to other world cultures.
Power distance
This dimension deals with the fact that all individuals in societies are not equal – it expresses the attitude of the culture towards these inequalities amongst us. Power distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.
With a score of 18 points Denmark is at the very low end of this dimension compared to other countries. This matches perfectly with what many foreigners in Denmark express: Danes do not lead, they coach and employee autonomy is required. In fact, Denmark ranks highest amongst the EU27 countries in terms of employee autonomy. With a very egalitarian mindset the Danes believe in independency, equal rights, accessible superiors and that management facilitates and empowers.
Individualism
The fundamental issue addressed by this dimension is the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members. It has to do with whether people´s self-image is defined in terms of “I” or “We”. In Individualist societies people are supposed to look after themselves and their direct family only. Denmark, with a score of 74 is an Individualistic society. This means there is a high preference for a loosely-knit social framework in which individuals are expected to take care of themselves and their immediate families only. It is relatively easy to start doing business with the Danes.
Masculinity / Femininity
A high score (masculine) on this dimension indicates that the society will be driven by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by the winner / best in field – a value system that starts in school and continues throughout organisational behaviour. A low score (feminine) on the dimension means that the dominant values in society are caring for others and quality of life. A feminine society is one where quality of life is the sign of success and standing out from the crowd is not admirable. The fundamental issue here is what motivates people, wanting to be the best (masculine) or liking what you do (feminine). Denmark scores 16 on this dimension and is therefore considered a feminine society. In feminine countries it is important to keep the life/work balance and you make sure that all are included.
Uncertainty avoidance
The dimension Uncertainty Avoidance has to do with the way that a society deals with the fact that the future can never be known: should we try to control the future or just let it happen? This ambiguity brings with it anxiety and different cultures have learnt to deal with this anxiety in different ways. The extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these is reflected in the UAI score. With a score of 23 Denmark scores low on this dimension. This means that that Danes do not need a lot of structure and predictability in their work life. Plans can change overnight, new things pop up and the Danes are fine with it. It is a natural part of their work life.
Long term orientation
The long term orientation dimension is closely related to the teachings of Confucius and can be interpreted as dealing with society’s search for virtue, the extent to which a society shows a pragmatic future-oriented perspective rather than a conventional historical short-term point of view. The Danes score 46, making it a short term orientation culture, though very close to the middle. Societies with a short-term orientation generally have a strong concern with possessing and if A is true then B must be false. Focus in business life is very much on what is happening now instead of in ten years time.
Source : http://geert-hofstede.com
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