The Hofstede's Cultural dimension

The Hofstede’s Cultural dimension illustrated in the scenario at the airport is the long versus short term orientation. In countries where the culture is oriented to the long term, people tend to practice modesty. Obligation and virtues are highly valued in society. In societies where the culture is oriented to the short term, people tend to have strong convictions, people tend to ask for the reason why things are done in a particular way. Unlike the long term orientation societies where the obligations and virtues are highly emphasized, the short term oriented cultures tend to emphasize on rights and values. The person meeting the woman in the airport comes from a society where the culture is oriented to the short term. The person believes that to be taken seriously in a formal setting one should be formally dressed and is unwilling to compromise as displayed in his reaction on meeting the woman dressed informally. The person has a strong conviction that people should be dressed formally. The woman comes from a society where culture is long term oriented. She dresses modestly but in an informal manner and is willing to compromise. The compromise of the woman may not be certain to the foreigner.

Hofstede’s Cultural dimension illustrated in the scenario at the airport is the uncertainty avoidance index (UAI). The people in the meeting have never met before implying that they come from different cultures. The meeting is supposed to be in a formal setting. In formal settings, there are particular ways in which people are supposed to behave and dress to establish the necessary decorum. The high scoring in the UAI for the person meeting the woman is displayed in the reaction he/she has when she sees the woman dressed informally. The person meeting the woman at the airport has a high score of uncertainty avoidance index as he tries to make life controllable and predictable as possible. The woman comes from a culture where low uncertainty avoidance index scoring is low. In such kind of societies, the people are more inclusive, relaxed, and open-minded. The open-mindedness of the woman is displayed by deciding to dress informally to a formal meeting. These behavioral attributes of the people meeting support the claim that the dimension is the uncertainty avoidance index. When the person meeting the woman cannot control how she dresses, he states that she is probably the one he will be meeting which means that the meeting is still going to take place despite the informality of the woman.

The Hofstede’s Cultural dimension