Cross Cultural Management

Lecture 7-Cross Cultural Communication: Critiques of Hofstede & Lived Experiences

November 2021 Mahdieh Zeinali

• To appreciate the need to critique Hofstede model
• To be active in searching for criticisms
• To make clear that Critiques of Hofstede links to section 3 of
your module assessment
• To think about alternatives such as ‘lived experiences’ approach
and how these may improve our learning and understanding of
culture
Hofstede

According to Geert Hofstede

culture is more often a source of
conflict than of synergy
PRC, • ‘Cultural differences do exist between the
PRC, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Overseas

Hong Kong, Chinese. They may identify themselves with

the same values, but differ significantly in the
way they interpret and apply them. Reasons
Taiwan & for these differences can be traced in the
political and economic systems and
Overseas historically, they are further compound by the
western influences which vary greatly in each

Chinese region. This may be another interesting area to

explore’ Yin Fan (2000)
• Yin Fan produced a revised list of Chinese
Values as part of his PhD Thesis
Studying culture is
important and needs to
acknowledge how
change impact on
cultural values

• China has changed over the past 20

years and is still changing. So are
the nation’s cultural values.
Economic reforms and opening
doors to the west have not only
changed the social landscape, but
also reshaped the value system.
Future research needs to study the
evolution of culture, and in particular,
the interaction of the three elements
of contemporary Chinese culture, as
well as each individual value within
the system (Fan, 2000)
 • Increasingly,
• Criticisms Hofstede's depiction of
of enduring national
culture or cultural
Hofstede differences is being
by Holden challenged
2002 • Holden deplores the
fact that it seems to be
generally ignored that
the data were gathered
over 30 years ago and
therefore apply to a
world which no longer
exists.
Holden 2002
• Apart from changes in the political
environment (e.g. the end of the Cold
War and the decline of communism),
values in the work place have seen many
changes as well.
• Organisations worldwide, he argues,
now emphasise cooperation and
knowledge-sharing, encourage
• Characterisation of national
empowerment and localisation.
• Above all, however, he criticises
Hofstede's essentialist concept of
culture which has long been abandoned
by the field of anthropology where it
originated.
• Research method:
– Use of attitude-survey
questionnaires > use of a
single method approach not
valid
– Representative nature of
respondents > assumption of
homogeneity within IBM
cultures:
– The independent nature of
the dimensions presented >
interaction?
Hofstede’s response
• Research surveys are suitable but should not be the only
method used.
• Nations are not always appropriate but they are the
only unit available.
• IBM was homogeneous in nature: shared one organisational
and occupational culture, so allowed allowed comparison of
cultural values across subsidiaries.
• Research was thorough and detailed (well-matched samples,
correlations with other data), many replications.
• If others can find more than ‘his’ five dimensions that
are independent and can be validated – fine! ‘Candidates are
welcome to apply’.
Cultural dimensions according to GLOBE

GLOBE Research programme (House et al., 2004):

• Examines practices and values at industrial,
organisational and societal level.
• Has developed dimensions of societal cultural
variation in addition to those of Hofstede:
– Humane orientation
– Assertiveness
• Gender egalitarianism
– Future orientation
– Performance orientation
 Culture construct definitions and
sample questionnaire items (1 of 2)

Source: House et al., 2004: 30 (Table 3.1).

 Culture construct definitions and
sample questionnaire items (2 of 2)

Source: House et al., 2004: 30 (Table 3.1).

Societal culture practices
• Follow-up: GLOBE’s extensive research
(Chhokar et al., 2008)
This study:
• examines historical, social and economic
development of 25 countries.
• compares the scores of a country with the
scores from the original list (2004).
• Table 2.8 on societal culture gives an overview of
country rankings on the GLOBE dimensions.
Questions used: ‘As Is’ and ‘Should Be’
• The questions asked concerning the dimensions were
first phrased in terms of ‘is’ and ‘are’ so that the
responses would indicate actual practice, that is
‘the way we do things’.
• The same questions were later rephrased using ‘should’
and put to the respondents at a later stage to enable a
response that indicated the value(s) held by each
respondent (i.e. ‘the ideal way of doing things’).
 Table 2.8 Societal culture ‘As Is’ and
‘Should Be’

Source: Chhokar et al., 2008: 993 (Table 27.6)

 Table 2.8 Societal culture ‘As Is’ and
‘Should Be’ (Continued)

Source: Chhokar et al., 2008: 993 (Table 27.6)

What can we hope
for when
understanding
culture?
•Culture does not exist in a
tangible sense; it is a product of
our imagination and is only useful
in so far as far as it helps us
understand and predict
phenomena in the real world.
•National and organizational
cultures are quite different
phenomena: national cultures
belong to anthropology,
organizational cultures to
sociology.
•Management can never change
a national culture; it can only
understand and use it. It can
create and sometimes change an
organizational culture.
•The concept of culture does not
apply at the level of individuals.
Individuals have personalities,
only partly influenced by the
culture in which they grew up.
Lived experiences

The term lived experiences is often

used amongst qualitative researchers.
It is believed that Lived experiences can

But can live experiences help us

understand culture?
What Lived
experiences offer us?
A direct, first-hand account of experience

Perceptual engagement with one’s

environment that creates ‘in the
moment’ experiences and mutually
shapes the behaviours of the people
involved
“The way that a person experiences
and understands his or her world as
real and meaningful. Lived meanings
describe those aspects of a situation
as experienced by the person in it”
(Van Manen, 1990, p. 183
What Lived
experiences offer us?

Is experience that is not

second hand. It
is experienced in how an
individual perceives,
describes, feels, judges,
remembers, makes sense
of, and talks about
the experience (Patton,
2002)
What Lived
experiences offer us?

https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/
lived-experience/17273
What Lived
experiences offer us?

https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/lived-
experience/17273
Some conclusions on culture
• Survey data can be useful to provide an
overview
• Hofstede’s model is useful but we need to
be mindful and indicate our awareness of
some of the changes that have taken place
• It is advisable to use more than one
dimension of culture from Hofstede’s
model when comparing cultures.
• Google scholar is a good place to search
for criticisms of Hofstede’s model
• Yin Fan’s work illustrates the need for
additional research on culture in his
doctoral research on Chinese culture
• The term ‘Lived experiences’ is
important to students of cross
cultural management and to any
future students interested in a
dissertation in this area or related
areas
• Live experiences are
acknowledged as a way of
informing our understanding of
the complexities of culture and
their experience of culture as
lived experiences
Some useful references [but please use
google scholar to identify criticisms]
• Holden, N. (2002). Cross-Cultural Management – A Knowledge
Management Perspective. Harlow: Prentice Hall.
• Yin Fan (2000) A Classification of Chinese Culture, PhD Thesis,
Lincoln School of Management
• Hofstede, G. (1986). Cultural Differences in Teaching and
Learning. In: International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 10,
301-320
• McSweeney, B. (2002). Hofstede's model of national cultural
differences and their consequences: a triumph of faith - a failure
of analysis. In: Human Relations, 55 (1), 89-118.