Understanding Power Distance is essential in Cultural Awareness Training. In this short video I explain what some consequences can be when different cultures with a different score on this dimension interact, or work together.
Even up to 80% of all cultural friction is attributed to Power Distance! There are 3 dimensions of culture more, but let’s first focus on this one.
Let us start with a definition, so we are all on the same page:
“All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others” George Orwell
Or to put it in a more official way, Power Distance is the: “Level of acceptance of people, whom have no power, of the unequal spread of power in their society.” Read More
In this informal, forty minute interview he explains, in his own words, the 5 dimensions of Culture, being:
After having done a presentation on Personal Cultural Awareness Training in Amsterdam last month for Talk about IT, I was asked to comment on what 3 things some one can do to better understand “the other” culture.
Watch this short 2 minute video… (please Click the Read More button) Read More
Do you leave eachother alone and respect eachother’s privacy, or is the neighbor more of a neighborhood whereby you might even keep in touch with neighbors from a long time ago?
From a western perspective it is one of the most difficult dimensions of Hofstede to comprehend; What is Individualism versus collectivism?
Professor Geert Hofstede even wrote a whole book on it (Individualism and Collectivism: Theory, Method, and Applications (Cross Cultural Research and Methodology)). In more simple (and his own) words it is explained in this short video below.
One of the easiest dimensions to understand in Cultural Awareness Training from Professor Geert Hofstede’s 4 dimensions of culture is Power Distance. Sometimes attributed to as much as 80% of all the “difficulties” people experience when working internationally.
In this short video professor Hofstede explains the essentials of one of his dimensions called Power Distance.
The reason for this is so other sitting passengers will stand up (if they can, due to the crowded train!), and let the pregnant women sit down.
But… why does she not just say she´s pregnant, or why do (typically men) not stand up out of them selves? Or people will eventually see she is pregnant!
Japan is a country with a collective society (score 46 on the Individualism dimension from Hofstede). One of the characteristics of collectivism is that your opinion is secondary to that of the group; in this case you do not claim your seat.
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Cultural Awareness Training & Teaching Culture
