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Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind (Paperback)
Power Distance; Uncertainty Avoidance; Individualism & Collectivism; and finally Masculinity & Femininity
http://www.amazon.com/Cultures-Organizations-Software-Geert-Hofstede/dp/0071439595/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257618080&sr=1-1
34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent, June 24, 2005
By Layla (Dubai - UAE) - See all my reviews
Hofstede is, of course, the pioneer of culture studies in business and organizations. This book is a simpler and more accessible version of the more comprehensive - but also more difficult, 'Culture's Consequences'.
He begins with an excellent overview of culture and its levels and explains the concept of cultural `dimensions' - aspects of culture that can differentiate and measure differences among different cultural groups. The book then proceeds to present the four dimensions of culture that he identified as a result of a massive survey he conducted on IBM employees in 72 countries in 1968 and again in 1972. Additional data was later collected from other countries and populations, outside IBM, and used to verify and enhance the original results.
However, in this book, Hofstede discusses his four original dimensions of culture: Power Distance; Uncertainty Avoidance; Individualism & Collectivism; and finally Masculinity & Femininity. The fifth dimension which was later added based on results from the Far East and Asia - Long- versus Short-Term Orientation - is not discussed in this book. Despite that, it remains a very valuable and highly readable introduction to the topic from the man who pioneered the field and popularized it among business people, multinationals and business researchers alike.
Hofstede also uses these dimensions of culture to 'classify' organizations to different types according to where they fall on the Power Distance vs. Uncertainty Avoidance grid. The discussion is highly informative and touches on Mintzberg's theories as well typical models of organization in different cultures. In Part Four, he discusses how intercultural encounters are affected by these dimensions and how awareness and acceptance of these differences can yield more effective results. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
Monumental piece of work on dealing with differences in cultures, August 12, 2005
By Gerard Kroese (The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
Geert Hofstede is Emeritus Professor at Maastricht University in The Netherlands. He was Professor of Organizational Anthropology and International Management at the University of Limburg (which was later re-named Maastricht University). He is the founder and first director of the Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation (IRIC), where a lot of the research used in this book comes from. This paperback version was published 3 years after the hardcover and includes some updated references to political events. This book is largely an extension to Hofstede's 1980-book `Culture's Consequences'. The book consists of 4 parts.
Part I - Introduction, consists of one chapter, and lays the foundation for the remainder of the book by introducing the meaning of `culture' and a small vocabulary of essential terms. He also discusses the objective of the book: "to help in dealing with the differences in thinking, feeling, and acting of people around the globe. It will show that although the variety in people's minds is enormous, there is a structure in this variety which can serve as a basis for mutual understanding." With reference to the definition of culture, we need to understand the book's subtitle first. `Software of the mind' is patterns of thinking, feeling and acting (which were learned throughout a lifetime). Hofstede's definition of culture is "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another." It is important to note that he believes that culture is learned and not inherited. He continues with a brief discussion on the 3 levels in human mental programming: 1. Human nature (universal; inherited); 2. Culture (specific to group/category; learned); and 3. Personality (specific to individual; learned and inherited).
Part II - National Cultures - is the largest section of this book with 6 chapters and deals with differences among cultures at national levels. Chapter 2-to-5 describe the four dimensions empirically found in research across more than 50 countries: (1) to wit power distance; (2) collectivism versus individualism; (3) femininity versus masculinity; and (4) uncertainty avoidance. Each of these 4 chapters follows the same structure: description of dimension, the scores of the various countries, the consequences of the dimension for family life, school, workplace, organization, state, and the development of ideas. Chapter 6 looks at the consequences of the national culture differences in the way people in a country organize themselves, combining the dimensions from the previous chapters. The next chapter introduces a fifth cross-national dimension, which is long-term versus short-term orientation. This reveals deep differences between Eastern and Western thinking.
Part III deals with differences in organizational culture and consists of only 1 chapter in which the author describes the insights collected in IRIC's research project across 20 organizational units in Denmark and the Netherlands between 1985-1987.
Part IV - Implications - consists of 2 chapters and discusses the practical implications of the culture differences and similarities. The first chapter of this part discusses what happens when people from different cultures meet. It discusses phenomena, such as culture shock, ethnocentrism, stereotyping, differences in language and in humor. It also discusses the development of intercultural communication skills. The final chapter of the book summarizes the message of the book and translates it into suggestions for parents, managers and the media. There is also a speculation on future political developments, based on the cultural processes.
Yes, this is a monumental book on the `software of the mind'. I believe that this book is a fantastic piece of work on this subject, based on strong research, and is probably the starting point for anybody interested in this subject. I must warn people that the book is not a simple, fast read, since the information is very intense and the wide range of information covered. However, the writing style is good and there are plenty of tables, diagrams, figures to make the reading somewhat `easier'. Highly recommended to all people interested in this subject, from parents through to managers. (Where is the 6-star button?) Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
The most insightful studies of cultural differences ever, October 16, 2000
By Carl Scheider "Carl Scheider" (Woodbury, MN USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cultures and Organizations, Software of the Mind: Intercultural Cooperation and its Importance for Survival (Paperback)
I found this book to be of tremendous value. I have had some experience with different cultures -- Italian, French and East African. This book helped me understand all of them better, and gave me a much deeper understanding of the problems I had encountered.
Each of the cultural difference dimensions is based on real research -- not just a theoretical idea. Each of them is introduced with a telling anecdote, that is almost as powerful as the statistical study.
I found lots of new information here, lots of new understanding. Most amazing to me is the fact that relatively close cultures have profound differences -- such as France and Sweden. Also amazing is the fact that these differences are of extreme duration -- reaching back thousands of years.
The author recognizes the problems that these differences bring to business and politics in an international setting. There do not appear to be any easy answers.
I highly recommend this book!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Monumental Book Well Worth the Read, March 5, 2007
By Edward J Vasicek (Kokomo, IN USA) - See all my reviews
The father and son team of Geert and Geert Jan Hofstede have done a remarkable job breaking down the (measurable) elements of the world's cultures, usingt the somewhat antiquated IBM studies combined with more recent (less comprehensive) studies. The end result is that nations can be evaulauted on the basis of criteria such as "uncertainty avoidance," "individualism" and "power distance from superiors."
The work is enlightening and helpful to anyone who works internationally. It is also useful to break down one's own nation (for example, some Americans lean toward the British way of thinking while others are more German-like). The same criteria that divide nations also divide families within a society.
Businessmen, missionaries, pastors, counselors, journalists, and social scientists should devour these materials!
This should be required reading for anyone planning to live overseas or anyone who deals with internationals. In short, this book is relevant to our modern "shrinking" world and quite well done.
Like most significant works, this volume has its weak points.
Although the authors claim to espouse a "values neutral" position (which I have always argued is an impossible and illogical position), their Dutch/Swedish preferences ring out loudly and clearly (humanistic, environmnetalist, etc.). Although the authors do make a serious attempt to look at things from other perspectives, they simply cannot divorce themselves from their own cultural preferances. This is not bad -- they simply need to be above board and stop pretending to take the role of the neutral outsider (at least to better influence those of us who are American conservatives; we are big into distinguishing between fact and evaluation of fact; these evaluations are always done through a person's own personal gridwork).
The authors also have occasional trouble connecting a few dots. For example, on the bottom of p. 355, the Hofstedes are tactfully scolding the U.S. for its lack of foreign aid (again, showing their own bias), but on the top of p. 356 they add, "Looking back to half a century of development assistance, most observers agree that the effectiveness of much of the spending has been dismal." They then say those countries which did improve did so because of their cultural values, not foreign aid. But they seem incapable of concluding that good intentions (and even money) is not the most effective way to solve these problems. They just don't get it.
The same is true with contributions through governments to Tsunami relief. It should be expected that individualistic countries would be more prone to give as individuals, not as collective societies. Rather than look at total giving (or perecentage) OF A SOCIETY, they authors confuse a society with its government. Lots of missed "dot connections" in this work.
Despite the books weakspots, it is overwhelming strong and rich with fascinating content. It is a "mind opening" work -- well worth the read. You simply must read this one!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
develops individual skills for a multi-cultural environment, April 18, 2000
By G. Bhardwaj "hungryjack75" (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cultures and Organizations, Software of the Mind: Intercultural Cooperation and its Importance for Survival (Paperback)
An important book for developing the skills needed for an individual for working in a multi-cultural environment. Through the course of reading the book i realized a few things (in fact a lot of things) that will help me work better in a global organization. It is also useful as a tool if one plans to work with people from different cultures. In all, this book gives you revelent information in uderstanding this topic! Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent insights while entertaining to read, May 23, 2007
By K. G. Phelan (Hewitt, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
Having just survived a merger of two companies, I was searching to find the right words to explain the differences in cultures I was experiencing. Although this book focuses on national cultures, I found the explanations of the dimensions of culture and how they manifest themselves in different behaviors appropriate for corporate situations. The last few chapters deal explicitly with corporate culture, but I found these chapters less insightful than the others. The book is very well written and organized, with tables summarizing key concepts and entertaining anecdotes to illustrate the points. Because I've traveled internationally for business, I was familiar with other works on culture, but none were as helpful as this book. I now have the vocabulary to articulate the differences I see. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Pioneering work, April 23, 2006
By Rana Sinha, Dot-Connect http:www.dot-connect.com (Finland) - See all my reviews
This is a pioneering book, which provides a generalist approach to dealing with cross-cultural issues with many excellent examples. Hofstede was one of the first to bring the study of how culture affects human interaction in the field of business. The quantifying approach is very similar to what cultural anthropologists use. As with all pioneering works there is some criticism about conflict resolution as other reviewers have pointed out. Another central criticisms of this model has been that nation state and culture are always presumed to be the same. Local culture does not follow political boundaries. Globalization has also changed some of the observations initially made by Hofstede.
Some readers might be tempted to think of people in simple categories or stereotypes, which is precisely what Hofstede counsels that we should attempt to avoid. Cultures and organizations gives good insights on how "Groupthink" controls our lives and how we could improve interaction.
Hofstede's tools for understanding different national cultures are widely used by cross-cultural trainers all over the world and taught in many fields.
This is a good book for international managers and students of culture. HR-practitioners working in multicultural organizations might find this a bit theoretical but nonetheless useful for understanding underlying causes for human behaviour. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Cultural Sensitivity Learning, January 11, 2009
By Stephen Parry "Author of Sense and Respond" (Lean Service Transformation Designer London) - See all my reviews
I have found this book very useful for new change consultants who are venturing out into a global environment, this at least prepares people to think about cultural norms and the way in which certain societies generally view the world, get along with each other and make decisions.. Be cautioned this is not an approach to stereotype cultures, rather to provide the student with an understanding of the normal cultural drivers.
It is not a cookbook of how-to's. It a research report into how cultural differences underlay everything you want to accomplish.
While the book is titled Cultures and Organisations, it is really about ethnic cultures, not corporate cultures.
If you are working in a multi cultural or international environment then this is a must. Success in an international environment only occurs when you possess cultural sensitivity. This book is a fantastic introduction into the world of international cultures Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Objective & structured study of culture, November 23, 2008
By Souvik Mitra "S!" (Bangalore, India) - See all my reviews
The greatest value that comes out of this book is the ability to articulate exactly what we mean by culture, what are its various dimensions, & how a culture is manifest at the macro or national level- while stressing every now & then to separate a national culture from the individual value system of its citizens.
The first seven chapters elucidate on the meaning of culture, its dimensions, & the comparative scores of various different countries in each of these dimensions - what these scores mean in terms of the family, school, workplace, the state, & ideas. This consistent structure gives the reader a very nuanced point of view on different cultures & the way they manifest. In the latter chapters, Hofstede also considers scores on two cultural dimensions & explains the combined effect of these as a whole.
Chapter 8 does a great job of differentiating Organizational cultures from National ones & clearly articulates that values do not differ across organizations in the same country; what differs are the practices these values translate into. The book did not have as extensive research on Organizational cultures, but manages to establish what is, or should be, understood by Organizational cultures. And it also has interesting notes on how some of these Organizational culture dimensions corelate with national culture dimensions.
The final two chapters are notes on implications of these differences & the elements of culture shock & how to go about handling these at the level of family, school, etc.
So while this was one of the great books I read this year, I still think that the title of book is misleading - for organizational cultures is not the mainstay of the book; national culture is.
But Hofstede's very organized & structured prose adds a great deal to a very intangible soft topic like culture. I think I understand the world a little more having read this book & can try to differentiate the broad national culture traits in the people I work with from their own individual value systems.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A culture's values explain its behaviors , December 14, 2008
By C. M. Conover "U.S. / Dutch nationalities" (The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
Without this knowledge most of us continue to judge other cultures from our own perspectives not realizing our own thought patterns are as deeply ingrained as any other culture's. Much of who we are is learned unconciously and if we are to negotiate with other cultures and countries, it is wise to understand each other.
Until I read this book and taught a college course based on Hofstede's research, I was unaware of what I didn't know. I now also understand culture in the U.S. and have a framework on which to hang differences between other cultures.
Hofstede's dimensions can be applied not only to the business world, but politics and global issues which concern us all.
