A cross-cultural working environment has become common for numerous industries, and companies of different sizes tend to have a culturally diverse workforce. Hofstede’s dimensions of culture have become a useful tool to address culture-based issues that arise in organizations. The researcher and his colleagues claim that people behave based on their cultural peculiarities that are most prominent in certain domains. The analysis of the differences may help in creating the necessary bridges for employees. The framework encompasses the focus on such areas as power distance, masculinity versus femininity, uncertainty avoidance, collectivism, individualism, and long-term orientation (Dowling et al., 2017). Thus, people from collectivist cultures (predominantly Asian region) tend to place the most value on working collectively on goals and developing social links. People in other societies (the UK and European countries, and so on) prefer individualism and cherish personal freedoms and privacy to a greater extent. In the cultures with a high level of masculinity (the USA, and European countries, among others), competition is seen as a norm, and achievement is the major goal. All these values shape the way people interact in cross-cultural settings.
Being a cabin crew member, I have witnessed the way such dimensions are manifested in different situations. I have worked with the representatives of various cultures, including Americans, New Zealanders, Asian and indigenous people. Airline companies have international crews, which is beneficial for addressing the needs of our customers but can be rather challenging in terms of organizational aspects. Based on my experience, working with the representatives of collectivist societies with a high level of femininity is more comfortable as these people are more effective team workers compared to more individualistic employees. When working with Asian people, I appreciate their focus on relationships rather than pure attention to the task. At the same time, having representatives of cultures with a high level of masculinity is important in a time of change. When our company was undergoing substantial organizational transformations, the major change agent was an American who led the change in our team, and his focus on performance and competition proved to be effective. Hence, I can now tell that the collaboration of people with different cultural backgrounds is important for making the company innovative and competitive.
The application of Hofstede’s paradigm is helpful for understanding the processes and interactions that take place in organizations. The cultural dimensions can be instrumental in creating effective training strategies to ensure the development of the staff (Bennett, 2018). In airline companies that are characterized by high cultural diversity, people need to receive training that entails the use of Hofstede’s findings (Bennett, 2018). People need to understand the orientation of their colleagues and the nature of their attitudes and perspectives. Clearly, the framework has its limitations, and all individuals need to be treated as persons with their backgrounds rather than pure representatives of this or that type of culture. By applying Hofstede’s dimensions, it is possible to predict the most probable behaviors or views. When working in teams, this knowledge can help in assigning roles and distributing tasks. The creation of staff training and development plans can also involve the discussion of cultural dimensions. However, the use of Hofstede’s model alone can also be harmful to multicultural companies, so a set of theories and frameworks should be utilized in international human resource management.
References
Andresen, M., & Bergdolt, F. (2017). A systematic literature review on the definitions of global mindset and cultural intelligence – merging two different research streams. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(1), 170-195. Web.
Bennett, S. A. (2018). Aviation crew resource management – A critical appraisal, in the tradition of reflective practice, informed by flight and cabin crew feedback. Journal of Risk Research, 22(11), 1357-1373. Web.
Dowling, P. J., Festing, M., & Engle, A. D. (2017). International human resource management. Cengage Learning.