1|Page

Business Communication Report

PGDM – International Business

The 6 Dimension Model of Nation Culture

( Country- North America )

By

Anand Jolly ( Roll No. 10 )

Karan Kumar ( Roll No. 25 )

Prishita Jain ( Roll No. 40 )

Harsh Thakkar ( Roll No. 55 )

2|Page

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the cultural aspects of various countries of North America based on the six dimensions of cultures
with graphical comparison given by Professor Geert Hofstede.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A country’s culture is a blend of various factors which come together to create a country with unique
characteristics. Each country has its own features which makes it different from others. Culture is defined as
the collective mental programming of the human mind which distinguishes one group of people from
another. This programming influences patterns of thinking which are reflected in the meaning people attach
to various aspects of life and which become crystallised in the institutions of a society. In today’s era, the
entire world is like close knit family because of globalisation. Professor Geert Hofstede conducted a
comprehensive study to show how values in workplace are influenced by culture. So he categorised the
culture of a nation into 6 dimensions and compared the countries on the basis of these dimensions. In this
report, Hofstede’s dimensions are studied for six countries of North America- United States of America,
Canada, El Salvador, Dominion Republic and Trinidad and Tobago are studied using Culture Compass tool.
On the basis of the score in each dimension, countries of North America are compared and a final conclusion
regarding North America is derived.

Terms of Reference

Culture; Individualism; Collectivism; Power Distance; Orientation; Indulgence; Restraint;

Masculinity; Feminity; Uncertainty Avoidance.
3|Page

Table of contents

Title Page No.

Objective 2

Executive Summary 2

Terms of Reference 2

Table of Contents 3

Introduction 4

Contents 5

1) Individualism v/s Collectivist - 5

2) Power Distance - 6
3) Long Term v/s Short Term Orientation - 7
4) Indulgence v/s Restraint - 7
5) Masculinity v/s Femininity - 8
6) Uncertainty Avoidance - 9

Bibliography 11
4|Page

Introduction

Cultural dimensions are globally applicable and are reflected in all aspects of life, including family life, child-
rearing practices, education, employment, and health care practices. Psychologist Dr. Geert Hofstede
published his cultural dimensions model at the end of the 1970s, based on a decade of research. Since then,
it's become an internationally recognized standard for understanding cultural differences. It describes the
effects of a society's culture on the values of its members, and how these values relate to behaviour. In this
report we are trying to measure certain factors such as individualism, power distance, indulgence,
masculinity, orientation and avoidance for 5 of the North American countries.
5|Page

Individualism VS Collectivism

This is the first dimension of Hofstede’s 6d cultural dimension model. In Individualism culture, people are
supposed to look after themselves and their direct family only and they are not supposed to take care and
maintain the relationship with other, While people belong to in groups that take care of them in exchange
for loyalty comes under collectivist societies.

Individualism
100 91
90 80
80
70
60
50
40 30
30
19 16
20
10
0
United States of Canada Dominion Republic El Salvador Trinidad and Tobago
America

From 5 countries of North America, The United States of America and Canada characterized as the
Individualist culture, whereas other 3 countries have low scores in Individualism.

In The United States of America and Canada, The society is associated in which the expectation is that people
look after themselves and their immediate family only and should not rely on authorities for support. In the
business world, employees are expected to be self-reliant and display initiatives.

As relationships matter very much, a lot of time is spent on building up trust. The communication style is
very indirect. From that, we can say that The Dominion Republic, El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago are
considered as the collective society.
6|Page

Power Distance

This is the second dimension of Hofstede’s 6d cultural dimension model. Power is defined as the degree to
which a person is able to influence other people’s idea and behaviour. Power Distance shows us how much
less influential people feel that there is inequality prevailing in society

Power Distance
70 65 66

60

50 47
40 39
40

30

20

10

0
United States of Canada Dominion Republic El Salvador Trinidad and Tobago
America

From 5 countries of North America, The Dominion Republic and El Salvador occupy the high position in Power
Distance culture, whereas other 3 countries are having slightly low Power Distance culture.

In The Dominion Republic and El Salvador, There is a hierarchical society, this means people are dependent
on power holder as there is centralized authority and inequalities amongst people are also acceptable. Status
symbols of power are very important in order to indicate the social position in Power Distance culture.

The United State of America, Canada, and Trinidad & Tobago score relatively low in power distance culture
which means that power is decentralized, the hierarchy in the organization is established for convenience,
equal rights for any kind of people, superiors are always accessible and managers rely on individual
employees and team for their expertise. Communication is direct and participative.
7|Page

LONG TERM ORIENTATION V/S SHORT TERM ORIENTATION

This is the fifth dimension of Hofstede’s 6d cultural dimension model. long term oriented societies are those
which mainly focus on the future while maintaining some links with their own past. The cultures who scores
high on this dimension have a logical approach, they accept the change in the modern world and go along
with it. while on the other hand, short term oriented cultures score low on this particular dimension, they
dwell in the past and do not encourage the societal change.

Long Term Orientation Index

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

0
Trinidad & Tobago USA Canada Dominican Republic El Salvador

With the low score of 13, both Trinidad & Tobago and The Dominican republic, and with a score of 20 (El
Salvador) represents normative culture. Their main focus lies in achieving quick results and they live in the
present without worrying about the future.

With scores like 26 and 36, The United State of America and Canada also represent normative culture. They
have great respect for their traditions and are inclined to achieve quick results.

INDULGENCE V/S RESTRAINT

The dimension of indulgence v/s. restraint identifies the extent up to which the society allows free
gratification of human desires such as having fun and spending leisure time in contrast to the society that
controls gratification of desires and provides strict norms. The societies which are indulgent in nature are
considered to be happier whereas restraint societies are surrounded by the feeling of helplessness. In
indulgent societies, people grow with the feeling that they have control over their future decisions. But in
8|Page

restraint societies, people live their life according to the prescribed societal norms and hence their decisions
are guided by the society.

Indulgence v/s Restraint Score

100
89
90
80
80
68 68
70
60 54
50
40
30
20
10
0
United States of Canada Dominion Republic El Salvador Trinidad and Tobago
America

All the five countries in North America have their Indulgence vs Restraint score greater than 50 which implies
that maximum countries in North America have indulgence culture.

The United States of America and Canada have indulgence score of 68 which means the people in these
countries are relatively free to indulge in their desires and fulfil their dreams according to their wish.

El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago have high indulgence score of 89 and 80 respectively which implies
there is high level of freedom provided to people in the way they are raised. People are optimistic in nature
and they place high degree of importance on leisure. The Dominion Republic has a score of 54 which means
it is slightly indulgent.

Masculinity v/s Femininity

A high score on this dimension indicates that the society will be striving for achievement and success, with
success being defined by the winner tag. Here the destination is more important than the path taken. This
value system is imparted right from the schooling, and things usually taught in school tend to stick with us
9|Page

throughout our life. Femininity is somewhat the opposite of this. Given below are the masculinity of 6 north
American Countries.

Masculinity
70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
United States Canada El salvador Dominican Trinidad and
Republic Tobago

In the masculinity index we can see that countries like United States, Dominican Republic have high
masculinity in the range of 62 and 65 respectively. These countries are somewhat highly competitive and
striving for success. Trinidad is also somewhat masculine in nature having an index of 58.

Canada is some what a relaxed country. The competitive is spirit is quite less compared to other 2 mentioned
above. El Salvador is less masculine or more feminine. For them participation itself is more important than
just winning.

Uncertainty Avoidance

This is something just as the name suggest, an uncertainty about the future and how the countries deals
with them. Some might feel threatened by this ambiguity while some countries are ready for any change.
The extend to which the countries feel threatened by an unknown situation is given below in the graph;
10 | P a g e

Uncertainity Avoidance
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
United States Canada El salvador Dominican Republic Trinidad and Tobago

El Salvador index for uncertainty avoidance index is 94. It means that the country highly worried about the
future. It always recommends everything be documented so as to avoid any issues in the future. Trinidad
has also a score above 50 which means that the country is a little anxious of what is to come. The rest of
the country are more ready to take on the uncertainty or prepared for the consequences of it.
11 | P a g e

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. https://geerthofstede.com/culture-geert-hofstede-gert-jan-hofstede/6d-model-of-national-culture/
2. https://www.hofstede-insights.com/models/national-culture/
3. https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/