Measuring culture

Today I will talk about the how we can measure culture? Sounds strange ,isn´t  it? .But yes I can be possible, I will explain two theories that help us to differentiate one culture to another. The objective of this post is that after you read these two theories you can use one  or both to differentiate for example the culture of brazil and other from Japan. I did a really nice activity in my class and we get a conclusion if you use different theories you will get a different approach and results. So let’s begin.

Hostede Dimensions  

Gerard Hendrik was the inventor on this theory  , the objective is to that to measure the cultures around the world and the have a special characteristic that differentiate  and help as international negotiator improving our abilities in  intercultural management. There are six dimensions that I will explain, just below:

1. Power distance Index : explain how separate are the manager from the workers, how easy is for a worker to give and idea and enter in the sedition making process .Also can show inequality in social status inside the company .in and the differences  in income depending the position. For example Colombia  have a high power distance index ,all the sedition in the majority of the company are taken by the owner or manger and for example a manager can earn 15000USD by month and a worker earn 250 USD .In the other hand ,European countries have low power distance instead due to the is common to integrate all the company the incomes are no big deference.
2. Individualism and collectivism : how is the work in the cultures, some cultures work together as a team and do a better performance if they are more than 1 person such us Japanese and South Korean. In the other hand are the ones that prefer to work individual or if they are working in group tent to de individual and he work is not  so much more efficient ,for example Brazilians
3. Uncertainty avoidance index: explain how we worried about the future: the activities that we have to and the control that we have. I found a really good definition of Hostede Center that said: “members of a society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity” (The Hostage Center) . let’s see o examples : with high UCI is Russia and low is China.
4. Masculinity Vs. femininity : Explain in which gender are more reference in society for achievement, who is the want that put the rules and the most  how important is the success graded on material thing (cars. Houses) or other thing  that love in the other hand as graded of succeeds , searching for an example to clear the explanation, I found to extremes for the masculinity is Japan (The Hostage Center) and for femininity is Iceland (Sofeminine, 2015)
5. Long term and short term orientation: Means how the people work and think, short is related with past and present and long is with the future. Let’s see the next image a comparison between Colombia and South Korea 

The culture map

It is another theory by Eric Meyer, She divided the cultures in 8 dimensions (Lubin, 2015):

1. How is the communication in the country
2. How people give  the feedbacks soft or direct to the point
3. When is the moment when people persuade in the first moment or after
4. How is the leadership is the same for all  or hierarchical  
5. How is decision making consensual or only small group
6. How he trust the other, depending on the task that  have been well or in the relationship between people
7. If the people normally confront or try to avoid
8. If people is doing their schedule they are flexible or structured

How Colombia is based on Hostede´s dimensions?

I found that Colombia have one of the highest score of the countries, saying that the culture think that inequality is normal and they are having this. Colombian culture is collectivizing similar to Panama, that means they belong to a group are very family persons and it difficult to be independent a leave the house. Also, they are masculinity oriented, that means that the country is very materialize, and we have success if we have big apartment big cars. In addition, in UAI, Colombians are worried about to control the future. Also, they are short term, they think in the past and present  And in the last dimension ,they are indulgent  they are free to think and there are not to many social rules. (The Hostage Center)

References:

Lubin, G. (2015). These 8 Scales Reveal Everything You Should Know About Different Cultures. Business Insider.

Sofeminine. (2015). Women’s rights worldwide: Top 10 feminist countries. Obtenido de http://www.sofeminine.co.uk/personal-life/women-s-rights-worldwide-d50167c584736.html

The Hostage Center. (s.f.). Recuperado el 2015 , de http://geert-hofstede.com/dimensions.html