Johannes Kepler University

Cultural Dimensions by Trompenaar and Hofstede & Practical Examples

by

Elisabeth Luger

Table of contents

1. Introduction 3

2. Trompenaars´s seven Dimensions of Culture 4-11

3. Hofstede´s five Cultural Dimensions 12-26

4. Conclusion 27

Bibliography

1. Introduction

In the globalising world where multinational organisations work across borders the question of cultural differences and mutual understanding seems to be highly relevant and has been discussed by many researches in the last decades. National culture can be viewed as the norms, values and beliefs shared by individuals from a particular nation that distinguish it from other nations (Nový I., Schroll-Machl S. et al. (2001): Interkulturální komunikace v rízení a podnikání). Our cultural environment is natural for us but people from other cultures may not be comfortable with it or may not understand. The behaviors that are consistent with the norms of one culture may violate the norms of another like for example: the time that the German account executive expects the Mexican manager to arrive at their 12:30 lunch appointment is 12:30. When the Mexican manager agreed on 12:30, he didn′t know that she would be annoyed by him not arriving or calling before 1:00 (http://tbs-intranet.tees.ac.uk/international/ccd/ccd_block2.htm ,19. 6. 2002).

Therefore when we talk about differences between cultures, then we are speaking in generalities. Therefore we should be aware of expectations that every idividual will behave in a manner consistent with those generalizations, because even within cultures, people differ from each other. Why do we study national culture anyway? The study of human behavior and the practice of leadership and management continually require the use of generalizations. It is still worth to search for models that predict human behavior, even if those predictions can′t always be accurate. Some of the most popular models are Hofstede′s Theory and the model of Trompenaars.

2. Trompenaars

There are some similarities in Hofstede′s findings and Trompanaars′s findings but on the other hand Trompenaars identified a different set of cultural dimensions. He identifies seven fundamental dimensions of culture:

· Universalism vs. Particularism,
· Individualism vs. Communitarianism,
· Specific vs. Diffuse Cultures,
· Affective vs. Neutral Cultures,
· Achievement vs. Ascription,
· Sequentional vs. Sychronic,
· Internal vs. External Control.

2.1 UNIVERSALISM VS. PARTICULARISM

Universalistic cultures believe that general rules and values have a priority over particular needs and claims of friends and relations, thus the same rules apply on all members of society and the exceptions are not allowed. Those cultures tend to use contracts, formal systems, and procedures to convey what they expect from others. The US, Australia, Germany and Switzerland are examples of countries high in universalism.

Over against, particularistic cultures see the priority in human friendship, extraordinary achievement and situations and in intimate relationships. The "spirit of the law" is more important than the "letter of the law". The rules are needed, but the exceptions are allowed. People from these cultures will want to develop a relationship with the other party before making a business decissions or contracts. Venezuela, the former Soviet Union countries, Indonesia and China are examples of nations high in particularism.

Czech and Austrian culture

According to Trompenaars (Trompenaars, 1994), Czech and Austrian culture are both rather universalistic (Austrians have 80% and Czechs 82% where 100% stands for extreme universalism in the "car and pedestrians" example) and Czechs seem to be even more universalistic (Austrians have 69% and Czechs 79% in a "bad restaurant" example). We suppose the high universalism on Czech culture is caused by the time the Trompenaars study was made - before the revolution.

Schroll-Machl and Nový use the terms Personal vs. Rules Orientated Control, where the personal oriented control approximate to particularism whereas rules oriented control approximate to universalism. Czechs tend to personal oriented control while Austrians use the principles of rules oriented control. Of course, it is impossible to say that Czechs always use control based on personal relations but the best description is: The norms and codes are respected when it is not avoidable and profitable. Austrians are more like Germans but with one exception, they are not so strict with applying rules in control. This result correlates with the conclusion of Trompenaars is case of Austrian culture but is in contrast to the Trompenaars conclusions about Czech culture. Another surprising fact is that Germany is according to Nový even less universal than Austria (63%) in this specific example.

2.2 Individualism vs. Communitarians

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