Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory

Hofstede had to manage a global team with people from different countries and cultures. So, he knew that the language and the culture could be a problem to have a good communication between the members of the team, and he wanted to discover the differences between countries to understand the different behavior of people from each country and to do his work effective. He observed the way of working of employers from a specific company in more that 50 countries, and he distinguished 6 dimensions that englobe different culture traits:

•        Power Distance Index: this refers to the degree of inequiality that exists between people with and without power.
• .      Individualism vs Collectivism: it considers the degree to which societies consider the goals like personal goals or team goals.
• .       Uncertainty Avoidance Index: it describes how people react when is in anxiety situations. People with high score in that dimension are so stressed when they are in uncertain situations, and if they think they can’t get something, they stop trying; but people with low levels are more relaxed.
• .       Masculinity vs Femininity: it refers to the distribution of roles between men and women. If the score of masculinity is high, the society looks competitive; but if it has high levels in femeninity, it looks more emotional.
• .       Long-Term Orientation vs Short-Term Orientation: it refers to the time horizon people in a society display. Countries with a long-term orientation focus their goals on the future, and they get short-term goals to get the main goal; however, countries with a short-term orientation focus their goals on the near future, giving more importance to live the present.
• .       Indulgence vs Restraint: it refers to how a society control it impulses and desires. Countries with high socre in that dimension are more emotional and allowed feedback and free gratification related to have fun; but countries with low levels suprress gratification of needs and have stricted rules.

Finland

If we analyze Finnsih culture following this six dimensions we see that Finland is a country where control is disliked and power is descentralized ; it is an individualism society, where the mates of a group are expected to take care of themselves and they focus in their own goals; it is considered a Feminine society, so the focus is on working in order to live; they avoid uncertainty, they get stressed when are in different or weird situations; they focus on quick results and they don’t save for the future; and finally, they have a positive attitude and have a tendency towards optimism.

    

Spain

However, if we analize Spanish culture, we observe that is a country where power is focus in one person who controles everything; it is collectivist and give so importance to communication and emotional health; it is the second noisiest country in the world; it has also so many rules and Spanish people get stressed in weird situations, like to live the moment, and they are a bit pessimist.

   

How can I adapt myself to Finnish culture?

If we compare both culures we can see that they are not very different, but there are some traits whose differences are so important. For example, Spanish people are so noisy and they used to be very sociable, and it can be perceived as aggressive by countries like Finland. Further, in Spain the power is centralized in only one person, so for a Spanish person is a bit difficult to work in a team where everybody can lead.

So, to make my work effective I must be less talkative or emotional and I must try to lead in a cooperative way. This model is so effective to know how to actue in a different country!