Soft Skills Training for Global Business

How to Use Cultural Dimensions in the Management of Diversity

Jun 2, 2009

In today's intercultural work places, management must take account of the dimensions of culture in order to build a more productive work force.

North American cultures tend to value work places that have little or no hierarchy, flexible rules and policies, room for individual development, and, in Canada, a socially nurturing environment. In the USA workplaces with more orientation to personal achievement and economic rewards are valued. These traits correspond to the cultural dimensions identified by Geert Hofstede in his ground-breaking work “Culture’s Consequences” [1].

Long-term Orientation

East Asian cultures influenced by Confucianism tend to value a long-term orientation; that includes a high concern for relationships based on trust and mutual understanding, with a correspondingly lesser emphasis placed on rules, policies and explicit frameworks for different types of work.

These characteristics are also found in some Latin American and Northern European countries, even without historical connections to Confucianism. According to Hofstede, cultures with a long-term orientation tend to value thrift, adaptability, hard work and persistence, while those without this emphasis place more value on maintaining tradition, social prestige and a good use of leisure time [Hofstede, 2001, pg. 360].

Build Relationships Based on Trust

Not surprisingly, people from other cultures organize their social and work lives according to their own values dimensions, and workers and workplaces in other countries take account of different needs and concerns. A manager supervising a multicultural workforce in today’s global business needs the so-called “soft” skills of understanding the varying motivations of many actors and contacts.

Collectivism vs. Individualism

Cultures that place a lower value on individualism tend to look at the groups, clans, ethnic groups and associations that a person is a member of in order to get to know that person better. Hofstede observes that in such cultures, a high value is often placed on harmony in the workplace, and colleagues are discouraged from open disagreement and conflict [Hofstede, 2001, pg. 241].

In work groups of mixed ethnic background, those from collectivistic cultures may hesitate to speak out, especially if their more individualistic colleagues are vying for “air time”. A competent group leader will pay attention to members who are keeping silent, and look for ways to get their input, rather than assuming they have none.

Values Matter in Business

Managerial literature frequently emphasizes the importance of “motivation”, but if the understanding of what motivates employees is based on only one culture’s model of work and business, then the advice offered to managers is likely to work only in that culture. Members of other cultures are motivated by different values and will at best ignore, or even actively resist, “motivation” given from a different cultural framework. Therefore the manager of a global, multicultural workplace must learn to take the cultural values of employees into account.

Uncertainty Avoidance

One of the most important of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions is the extent to which a culture values the avoidance of ambiguity or uncertainty. Managers need to train themselves to take account of employees’ levels of tolerance for ambiguity, and give support to those whose stress levels are markedly increased by situations where uncertain outcomes are common.

In general, US and Canadian workers have a high tolerance for uncertainty, which translates into a value on individual initiative and creativity, and less regard for rules and set policies. Cultures and persons who tolerate less uncertainty, however, tend to feel a need for greater explicitness in working rules and regulations, and to expect more instruction and oversight from management [Hofstede, 2001, pg. 165].

Managers should observe employees’ response to work rules and policies, and encourage workers to take greater initiative if uncertainty avoidance is not valued in the work place. Those from cultures with a lower tolerance of ambiguity may need more training to function well in a low uncertainty avoidance environment.

Master the Soft Skills of Intercultural Management

Taking account of employees’ cultural backgrounds and personal orientation towards cultural dimensions can enable management to leverage the potential energy of a varied work force. Balancing various groups’ dependence on such considerations as a long-term vs. short term orientation, collective vs. individualistic sense of identity, need for achievement vs. social nurturance, avoidance of uncertainty, and orientation towards power will enable managers to channel the productive energy of their staff into a wider variety of achievable business objectives.

[1] Hofstede, Geert. Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2001.

The copyright of the article Soft Skills Training for Global Business in Soft Skills Development is owned by Nancy Longatan. Permission to republish Soft Skills Training for Global Business in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.