Measuring cultural differences

James Manktelow has just published an interesting article about measuring and understanding cultural differences. It's based on Geert Hofstede's work on cultural dimensions.

Hofstede has identified five key dimensions which can be used to classify and understand local cultures. His analysis is based on a data base collected by IBM in the 60's and 70's surveying the values of employees in more than 70 countries.

Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions

Hofstede analyses culture in these dimensions:

• Power Distance
• Individualism
• Masculinity
• Uncertainty Avoidance and
• Long-Term Orientation

It looks as if these measures would form a useful framework for analysing and understanding the culture of the organisations we work for.