Cultural Dimensions in the Workplace

In 1980, Dutch management researcher, Geert Hofstede, identified four dimensions of culture based on a study of more than 100,000 IBM employees in 40 countries. The following section explores Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. An understanding of these dimensions will increase your interpersonal skills and confidence when interacting with the various individuals you will encounter in the workplace.


Individualism versus Collectivism

In an individualistic culture the interests of the individual is more important than the interests of the group. Workplaces with an individualistic culture tend to be highly competitive, encouraging employees to perform their best work and reach their individual goals. In the individualistic workplace, the employer-employee relationship is based on contracts. Promotions and hiring are based on skills and rules. For example, many organizations have an established hierarchy in which certain people are given the task of hiring and firing (Jandt, 2013). Employees in an individualist culture tend to be highly productive and self-motivated. Although some may thrive in this environment, others may feel increased stress, insecurity, and anxiety. Leaders can help communication efforts by encouraging training sessions that feature teamwork and collaboration.


Conversely, collectivistic cultures value the benefit to the group over the benefit to the individual. In collectivist cultures, the employer-employee relationship is perceived in moral terms, like a family. Hiring and promotions are often based on what is best for the group. For example, if an employee is being considered for a job, a company with a collectivist culture might take a vote on whether or not to hire the person (Jandt, 2013). The values, motivations, views, needs, and goals of the organization are placed above those of the individual. Being a team-player, therefore, is highly valued in collectivistic cultures. One of the down-sides, however, is that a collectivist culture is more likely to exist in a homogenous (people of the same kind) environment.


Masculinity versus Femininity

Consider the following statistics on gender diversity in the workplace (Perry, 2020):

  • Only 40% of women feel satisfied with the decision-making process at their organization

  • Men are twice as likely to get hired, regardless of the hiring manager’s gender; while women are more likely to be hired with blind applications

  • Only 7.4% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women

  • Companies with equal men and women earn 41% more revenue


Another dimension used to evaluate cultural differences is as masculine or feminine. While some may argue these labels are outdated and reinforce stereotypes, Hofstede found that the roles of men and women vary from culture to culture, but the role of women varies less. Cultures that place high value on characteristics such as assertiveness, competition, and material success are said to stress masculine traits

while feminine cultures are described as those who place high value on quality of life, interpersonal relationships, and concern for helping others (Jandt, 2013). Given the statistics provided above, an understanding of this dimension of culture is important for women working or traveling to other countries. As you may have already determined, the United States is a masculine culture, although considered moderate in its orientation. Countries like the US demonstrate value for women in their roles; however, as Perry (2020) describes, cultural beliefs may lead to unequal and discriminatory practices in the treatment of women in the workplace.


Power Distance

Power distance refers to the distribution of power in a culture. How does a culture perceive inequalities? In high power distance cultures, respect for power and authority is highly valued. In a high power distance workplace, employees and employers do not consider themselves as equal. A wide gap in salary between those at the top of the ladder and the people at the bottom of the ladder can be expected and accepted. Employees in a high power distance workplace accept that those individuals with more power make the decisions, and questioning their authority is rare.

In a low power distance workplace, employees expect leadership to be more democratic. For example, you can expect subordinates might take part in decision-making and be consulted on certain issues (Jandt, 2013). In a low power distance workplace, it is more likely to find an “open door” policy when it comes to having discussions with superiors with the people in higher positions being more open to listening to their subordinates. Supervisors and leaders are approachable, even to the extent of literally leaving their office door open. A negative impact of a low power distance organization is that sometimes decisions are not made swiftly, actions are not executed quickly, and efficiency may suffer.


Uncertainty Avoidance

Hofstede describes uncertainty avoidance as the extent to which people in a culture feel threatened by uncertain situations. People express that feeling through nervousness, stress, and the need for written and unwritten rules. Work cultures that are strong in uncertainty avoidance have employees who have an inner need for hard work, rule-following, and punctuality. A workplace low in uncertainty avoidance, has employees who work hard when they have to, do not have a desire to have more rules than necessary, and precision and punctuality are learned behaviors (Jandt, 2013).


The influence of context within these dimensions can further help us understand how to communicate within a global workplace. Let’s return to Priya, the newly hired manager of a global work team. She would be wise to make note of whether the countries of origin for her teammates are part of a high-context or a low-context culture. Priya could discover through a simple Internet search, for example, that Japan and China are at the top of the list of high-context countries. In the next section, we will discuss how communication preferences in the workplace are determined by high- and low-context cultural dimensions.


High Context versus Low Context Cultures at Work

In a high-context culture in the workplace, much of the information communicated is implied by the environment or comes from within the individual person. Underlying meaning and tone are crucial to understanding where meanings are often inferred. Instructions and descriptions are kept at a basic level in order for more people to be able to participate in a way that makes sense to them personally. You can also find this to be more likely in a very diverse workplace. The World Population View website offers additional information on high-context countries.

In low-context cultures, verbal messages are very specific, detailed, and possibly redundant. Verbal abilities are highly valued. An employee can expect that their expectations, such as job description will be explicitly stated, in order to avoid any confusion.