Joshua Kaupp

Professor Temple
BCOMM-310
Analysis Paper
Hofstede generated a study in which he found that how values in
the workplace are influenced by culture. A lot of the time people look
at culture as a way for us to categorize ourselves and differentiate
from each other. How do cultures differentiate from each other?
Through the use of Hofstedes six dimensions of national culture. His
six dimensions are: power distance, individualism, masculinity,
uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence. Through
the use of his data and how he scored each country I saw just how
similar the United States was with a lot of countries. The United States
came about from people who were from England and various parts of
the United Kingdom. As the United States grew and promoted
themselves to be the land of the free with liberty to all, we saw how
much culture was coming into the United States. Suddenly, the United
States was a melting pot of culture with people coming from all
different parts of the world. This begged the question just how different
culturally is the United States from its motherland the United Kingdom?
Power Distance is simply the fact that since we all are different,
we all are unequal. Specifically, the less powerful members of society
expect and accept how the power is distributed unequally. Within
Hofstedes analysis we see that the United Kingdom sits at a 35 while
the United States is only five points above with a forty. Both of these

scores were low and in fact I was surprised to see the United Kingdoms
power distance was lower than the United States. Especially since
seeing how the whole reason the United States was founded was to be
the land of liberty and to stray away from a belief that inequalities
amongst others should be put to a minimum. Especially since
historically, the British have been very class oriented. I could see how
time progresses and it makes countries shift their culture a different
way. This makes me feel that the United States could be shifting there
own culture the wrong way especially within the power distance aspect
of it. We see more and more that there is a huge lower class, a good
sized lower class, and then a very small tight-knit high class. How is a
countries power distance supposed to express the minimization of
inequality amongst others when there is such an obvious class-system
within place?
One of the problems that can be attributed to the class system
within these countries is that Individualism is so present within both
these types of cultures. We see that the United States has a score 91
and the United Kingdom is right up there with an 89, both very
individualistic societies. What is individualism? It is the degree of
interdependence a society maintains among its members. In this type
of society we are only supposed to look at our immediate family
members and ourselves. We see that both the United States and the
United Kingdom believe that children should be taught from early on

that we need to think for ourselves. Personally fulfilling ourselves will

lead to happiness and that we can do it on our own. I see this and think
once again did we really stray that far away from the United Kingdom
in 1776?
The next of Hofstedes principles is masculinity. A masculine
society is one that is driven by competition, achievement, and success.
This is opposed to a society that is considered feminine which would be
a society in which liking what you do drove society. What these two
parts of Hofstedes principles are trying to accomplish is finding out
what motivates a countries culture? Within the United States culture
we find that they scored a 62 while the United Kingdom scored a 66.
Seeing this we can tell that the United Kingdom is very success
oriented and driven. Even though the United States only scored 4
points lower, I feel that they are a lot less masculine than the United
Kingdoms culture. A lot of the times I hear do what makes you happy.
Constantly, I see it online, in the movies, and even my parents tell me
to do what makes you happy or at least enjoy what you do. So I feel
the United States should be rated a little less than what they were. Yet,
I still can understand that masculinity is highly rated within the United
States because people are so motivated to be successful and come
here from other countries to be successful. The ratings are still similar
and I see that the United States is still very similar to the United
Kingdom culturally.

Uncertainty avoidance has to do with the way that a society

deals with the fact that the future can never be known. Both the United
States and the United Kingdom scored below average in this dimension
with the US scoring 46 and the UK scoring 35. If a society has to deal
with the fact that the future can never be known it can lead to its
citizens feeling threatened due to vagueness and this makes the
people anxious. This makes different societies deal with the concerns
in many ways, especially when it comes to implementing new ideas.. In
the United States there is a good amount of people open to new ideas
and innovation but this is because of the freedom of expression along
with the fact that Americans are less emotional when in comparison to
other cultures. In the United Kingdom we see how there even more
optimistic when it comes to newer ideas. I found this surprising when
comparing how different the United States should be to the United
Kingdom because I see the United States as much more open to ideas
because of the freedom of expression.
Next, we compare the long-term orientation of the two cultures.
Long term orientation is how every society has to maintain some links
with its own past while dealing with the future of their society. Those
who score high within this dimension encourage efforts in preparation
for the future and modern education. The United Kingdom scored 51
while the United States scored a 26. This dimension was the furthest
apart when scoring between the two societies. With the United

Kingdoms score of 51 there is no dominant culture present. This means

that the United Kingdom doesnt really stick with their traditional
norms from the past and that they just look towards the future. In the
United States we see a low score of 26 and this shows that the United
State honors tradition while also maintain an outlook for the future. I
thought that this was incredibly interesting considering we came from
Britain and that their culture doesnt uphold their own traditions as the
United States would. Why? Because most of the tradition the United
States have stem from the British. Or could they be talking post 1776
traditions exclusively?
Lastly, we look at Hofstedes last dimension which is indulgence.
Indulgence is very simple and is exactly the way it sounds. It is the
amount which people try to control their desires and impulses. A higher
score would be looked at as more indulgent while a lower score would
be seen as less indulgent. The United States scored a 68 while the
United Kingdom scored a 69. These are both above average scores and
shows that both societies indulge themselves. People have a much
higher regard for enjoying life and willingness to take part in these fun
amenities.
The United States became its own culture when they declared
independence from the British in 1776. They declared independence
with the idea that everyone is free to do as they please and everyone
has their rights. From whats shown between the two and Hofstedes

dimensions it surprises me how similar both the societies are. The

British use to be a very structured and class oriented society in which
there was not much change. That is what the United States are exactly
not and yet both of these cultures are so alike. It makes me think that
the United States have grown further and further away from the United
Kingdoms type of society and that the United Kingdom started to
follow the culture of the United States. This shows me how the UK grew
because of the USs ability to become a dominant culture.

Work Cited
"National Culture." Dimensions. Mediacom, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2016. <http://geerthofstede.com/national-culture.html>.
"What about the USA?" United States. Mediacom, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2016.
<http://geert-hofstede.com/united-states.html>.

"What about the UK?" United Kingdom. Mediacom, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2016.
<http://geert-hofstede.com/united-kingdom.html>.
"Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions." Clearly Cultural. Clearly Cultural, n.d. Web. 09
Mar. 2016. <http://www.clearlycultural.com/geert-hofstede-culturaldimensions/>.