An Analysis of Geert Hofstede's Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutes and Organizations across Nations

by Katherine Erdman

Overview

The Dutch anthropologist Geert Hofstede is recognized as a pioneer in the fields of international management and social psychology – and his work is a perfect example of the ways in which interpretative skills can help solve problems and provide the foundation for strong thinking and understanding both in business and beyond.

Hofstede’s central achievement was setting up an efficient interpretative framework for understanding the cultural differences between one country and another. Working for the international computing company IBM in the late 1960s, Hofstede noted that such cultural differences had huge consequences for international organizations. Up until then, while many inside and outside of business recognized the importance of these differences, little had been done to define precisely what cultural difference was and in what areas of life it was expressed. Hofstede’s insight was that if one could interpret and define the dimensions of cultural difference, it would be possible to measure them and act accordingly.

From a vast survey of IBM’s employees in several countries, Hofstede originally defined five dimensions of culture: every society could be rated for each dimension, providing a useful guide to the kinds of cultural differences at play. As ever, good interpretative skills provided the basis for better understanding.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780429939785
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/21/2018
Series:	The Macat Library
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	112
Sales rank:	975,324
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Katherine Erdman is a visiting scholar in anthropology and archaeology at the University of Minnesota. 

Table of Contents

Ways in to the text 

Who is Geert Hofstede? 

What does Culture's Consequences Say? 

Why does Culture's Consequences Matter? 

Section 1: Influences 

Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context 

Module 2: Academic Context 

Module 3: The Problem 

Module 4: The Author's Contribution 

Section 2: Ideas 

Module 5: Main Ideas  

Module 6: Secondary Ideas 

Module 7: Achievement 

Module 8: Place in the Author's Work 

Section 3: Impact 

Module 9: The First Responses 

Module 10: The Evolving Debate 

Module 11: Impact and Influence Today 

Module 12: Where Next? 

Glossary of Terms 

People Mentioned in the Text 

Works Cited