Because these issues have become more pronounced in recent years, it is not surprising that efforts have been made to define these differences in an effort to measure them. In this regard, Hofstede (1980) identified five basic dimensions of culture as follows:
1. Power distance (focusing on the extent to which the less powerful expect and accept that power is distributed unequally);
2. Individualism-collectivism (focusing on the degree to which the society reinforces individual or collective achievement and interpersonal relationships -- highly individualist cultures believe individual is the most important unit, whereas highly collectivistic cultures believe group is the most important unit);
3. Uncertainly avoidance (focusing on the degree to which the society reinforces, or does not reinforce, uncertainty and ambiguity within the society)
4. Masculinity-femininity (focusing on the extent to which a society emphasizes achievement or nurturing -- masculinity emphasizes ambition, acquisition of wealth, and differentiated gender roles, whereas femininity stresses caring and nurturing behaviors, sexual equality, environmental awareness, and more fluid gender roles); and,
5. Confucian-dynamism (focusing on the selective promotion of a particular set of ethics found in Confucian teachings including thrift, perseverance, a sense of shame, and following a hierarchy) (cited in Nicholson, Sarker, Sarker & Valacich, 2007).
These cultural dimensions provide a general framework in which ethnic, cultural and gender-related differences can manifest in the workplace, but there is a consensus that there is no "one-size-fits-all"...
In multinational organizations, these issues can become powerful obstacles to performance and growth, making the need for sensitivity training in these areas an important component of an informed human resources management program.
References
Bardovi-Harlig, K. & Hartford, B.S. (2005). Interlanguage pragmatics: Exploring institutional talk. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Mann, GA. (2006). A motive to serve: Public service motivation in human resource
management and the role of PSM in the nonprofit sector. Public Personnel Management
5(1), 33-34.
Miner, J.B. (2002). Organizational Behavior: Foundations, Theories, and Analyses. New York:
Neff, T.M. (2002). What successful companies know that law firms need to know: The importance of employee motivation and job satisfaction to increased productivity and stronger client relationships. Journal of Law and Health, 17(2), 385-386.
Nicholson, D.B., Sarker, S., Sarker, S. & Valacich, J.S. (2007). Determinants of effective leadership in information systems development teams. JITTA: Journal of Information
Technology Theory and Application, 8(4), 39-41.
