Culture DefinedJoin now to read essay Culture DefinedCulture can be defined as the specific learned norms of a society that reflect attitudes, values, and beliefs. Major problems of cultural collision are likely to occur if a firm implements practices that do not reflect local customs and values and employees are unable to accept or adjust to foreign customs. A very serious cultural mistake can negatively affect a firm’s relationship with the host nation.
Consistent with the notion that culture is the set of shared collective cognitions, Hofstede (1991) defines culture as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another”. He also emphasizes that culture is not a property of individuals, but of groups. Hofstede (1980) suggests that the relevant dimensions of culture should be identified and investigated when conducting international research. To examine national culture, Hofstede (1980) surveyed the values and perceptions in 53 countries and three multi-country regions: Arabia, West Africa, and East Africa. His data were collected from employee attitude surveys undertaken between 1967 and 1973 within IBM. Based on statistical analysis, he suggested that national cultures may be differentiated along four dimensions: power distance, collectivism vs. individualism, femininity vs. masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance. Power distance (PDI) is “the
females share a single category of values and norms. A high PPI (30% or more) implies a higher sense of individuality. The highest level of PDI ranges from a >50% to ≥100% (Wenderson 1981; Stegman 1984; Tippet 1992; Rabinovich-Smith 1995), though the highest PPI at >100% may include an appreciation of personality norms. Mean PDI of >80 is related to the average social level of the human group (Stegman 1984). Similar to Hofstede, this value may also predict individual identity, with mean PDI of >40% (Wenderson 1984: A-A). Rabinovich-Smith (1996) and Reichert (1994) suggest that differences in individualism and PDI as measures of sociability may also be relevant for the interpretation of culture. It is interesting to note that both Rabinovich-Smith and Reichert (1994) found that a high PDI is associated with greater social cooperation in a cross-national context, while other Rabinovich-Smith and Reichert (1994) found that a mean PDI can be associated with less sociability in a cross-national setting. The highest PDIs, in the context of cultural competence, were expressed as being >60% in countries with significant economic disparities. Rabinovich-Smith also found that both measures of social competence correlated with national identities and preferences and that both measures of psychological ability were correlated with national identities. Reichert (1994) suggested that national identities may reflect societal norms. As discussed above, the high PDIs in Saudi Arabia are not simply a result of the strong economic status of the country, but also reflect the relative lack of sociability. Some of the data used in Hofstede’s (1980) survey are available in the online version of Martin Rabinovich-Smith’s Statistical Methods Manual, available at: http://www.rabinovich-smith.com/publications/the-statistics/pisa_t.pdf. Both of these publications present the results of research conducted with a sample of 15,000 employees at a company in Saudi Arabia, and the results of such surveys are used in constructing the data, and in interpreting it to generalize findings. In this respect Hofstede’s (1980) series of surveys has been the first to examine factors associated with national cultures and national identity. Because this is a major advance in statistical studies of cultures, and because more than 300 qualitative and quantitative studies have been examined in the context of their own research, as well as in many other contexts, the results of the Hofstede (1980) series of reports should be viewed as a first step in extending the knowledge gained from Hofstede’s (1980) research.
Discussion
Since 1977, and especially since the founding of our country in 1982 to meet the growing demands of this important global challenge, the American intellectual and cultural resources that have come from the creation of our country over the last 50 years have been focused on understanding human culture. This critical research has been undertaken not only for a number of technical reasons, such as knowledge and understanding of cultural variation; but has also given rise to fundamental questions that remain unanswered by the international community. It would be of great benefit to the American public to begin to address the question of our cultural heritage once and for all. This would mean that the first-ever American citizen-association among individuals with a personal stake in their own national identity could begin to be conducted and conducted with the understanding that only in the name of that national identity can such an association occur. Since this is a major advance in statistical studies of cultures, and because more than 300 qualitative and quantitative studies have been examined in the context of their own research, as well as in many other contexts, the