The Criticisms Of The Hofstedes Model Business Essay

The Criticisms Of The Hofstedes Model Business EssayHofstedes baffle indicates 5 dimensions, which argon Power distances, Individualism, Uncertainty avoidance, Masculine and Long-term orientation (Hofetede, 1998), to distinguish shade in dis sympathetic countries. Many presidential termal managers claimed that Hofstefe pretence is successfully comparative different nicety in different countries. However, close towhat scholars argued that it is risk to apply Hofstede model due to validity and reliably to fork nicety such(prenominal) as perception of husbandry, systemology, and his dimensions. Therefore, the purpose of this report is to critic of Hofstedes model and claim how outlying(prenominal) we agree of his model.2.0 National civilisation vs. Non-Cultural factorsCulture is Customs and beliefs, art, way of a ac admitledgeness and social organization of a peculiar(prenominal) country and group (Hornby, 2009) .However, Hofstede selected unless one companys (IBM) st affs as sample to evaluate the countrys pagan measurement. This raises the check up on of how off the beaten track(predicate) each IBM part can be measured cultur completelyy proxy of the country in which it is base. (Mcsweeney, 2002) A poll infatuated plainly on a company can non probably offer depth to a sweep through countrys culture (Sondergaard 1994) .As William (2002) stated this can be considered to a trait of a company, the particular occupation, or the occupation in the particular company alternatively than to justify a topic culture Trompenaar (1993) agrees with Williamson (2002). His research has successfully lessen Hofstedes evidence, where he has tested important differences among national cultures for the import of irrelevant factors such as gender and occupation.As a matter of fact, the model is non representative be bring it is merely drawn from one company involving nonwithstanding particular middle-class workers. However, Hofstede (1980) insinuate ed out that the map of a single outside(a) employer eliminates the effect of the embodied policy and management practices from different companies influencing behaviour differently, leaving only national culture to explain cultural difference. While Williamson (2002) argues that, national, organisational and work-related cultures argon not dependant issues. Hence, based on criticisms from the scholars which show that, even after eliminating corporate policy and management practices, there still exist different levels of cultures in a country. Therefore, Hofstedes assumption of culture differentiation of the country by canvass only IBM Companys stuffs cannot be justifiable.There are a broad renewing of factors which affect culture including non cultural factors and human nature which are institutional fascinates, social structures and economic condition (Williamson, 2002). However, Hofstede tends to neglect the significance of coalition, and the variation of the community aff ects (Papamarcos et. al., 2007). For example, Some European countries alike(p) Britain, German, Italy and France having common political views and economical breeding needs formed European Union. As aneconomicandpolitical union with 27 member states, it has its own council, commission, court and bank which mean these 27 member countries share European Unions culture (Europa, 2009).It is able to be seen that culture is a complex and subjective conception. However, Hofstede only use limited watch to explain the values of the particular group or country. For instance, the rank of tolerance for ambiguity overly can partially describe the general risk-taking inclination of an orbit of businessmen. (Erdem, 2001). Thus, diverse study questions relied on cultural method need to be inquired on big sample and relative researches.3.0 Critics of Homogeneity of Country CultureOn the some other hand, Hofstedes research supposes the domestic population as a homogenous whole (Jones, 2007). Hofstedes model gives comparisons between different national cultures to compass 5 dimensions which are established on selective nurture from 50 countries and 3 regions (Mead Andrews, 2009). However, the model ignores nation is consisted of different ethnic units having different cultures. It is not aim to say that one nation has one culture. For example, in China, there are 56 ethnic minorities. Different ethnic minorities have different style, custom and beliefs. It is far-fand so forthed to believe there is one culture in China, because they are all Chinese. (Gov.cn, 2009) In addition, it is withal hard to differentiate between the main culture and subcultures. For instance, relations between main cultures and subcultures are shifting by catch of political, economic, or historical factors. (Mead Andrews, 2009)4.0 Dimension4.1 SimplicityIt is critical that Hofstedes dimension is also simple-minded and few to differentiate the diversity of cultures in a country. For inst ance, such as training opportunities, satisfactory working conditions and possibility of fully using skills and abilities on the job in collectivism was not qualified to scram dead on target country scores for a remodel. (Papamarcos et. al., 2007). However, Williamson (2002) defended that Hofstedes model has the beauty of familiarity has shown the large part of its appeal and success within the functionalist paradigm. Yet, Mc Sweeneys (2002) protest of Hofstedes simplify model has pointed out the national culture of an appropriate proportionateness between parsimony for partful communication and power of explanation.4.2 Bilateral modelThere are debatable of relevancy in applying a zygomorphous model apply by Hofstedes dimension to a global organisation as a number of cultures are interacting and probably influencing each other (Mead Andrews, 2009). For example, there is only high or small(a) level in power distance dimension of Hofstedes model. Therefore, the ability of the dimension to measure is restricted, which does not response the flips of different culture (Papamarcos et. al., 2007). Baskerville (2003) continued that why the validity of Hofstedes dimensions of culture had not been widely used in sociology and anthropology. In line with McSweeney (2002), the study contention over Hofstedes work is that culture does not equate with nations. Hence, it could not generalise the culture of a wide range of country and it is level-headed only if human societies are isolated from each other. However, people live in societies with intensifying ne dickensrks of ex swap and communication (Baskerwille, 2003). Therefore, it shows that the differences of culture are to by measuring of the degrees rather than bilateral gives.4.3 Labelling IssuesLabelling issues of the Hofstedes dimension is also being concerned. found on masculine and feminine dimension does not recommend to the domination of sexual category and the indistinct labelling of the dimens ion may create muddiness (Jones Alony, 2007). It gives the level to which masculine behaviours like power, belligerence and achieve are favorite(a) to feminine features like personal relationships, quality of tone and welfare (Williamson, 2002). Hence, it is sweet with Adler (1997) that these indicators should change the dimension to career success or quality of life rather than using the sexist indicators.5.0 MethodologyFrom Hofstedes method most info collection, it is shown that the survey he used is only to cultivate the 5 dimensions. This has been argued that Hofstede used one survey method to measure dozens of different national cultures which is un real(a)istic and not reliable. McSweeney (2002) have also agreed that collecting appointee from questionnaires is too limited and not reliable to determine and measure cultural discrepancy.Hence, Hofstedes cultural survey fails to meet requirement for nomothetic research where national culture is not identifiable from his questionnaire (Williamson, 2002). For instance, Individualism and collectivism could not be effectively defined by 3 items each. The 3 items associated with Individualism were sufficient time for family life and freedom to adapt to ones own work style, and for communism it was training opportunities, satisfactory working conditions and possibility of fully using skills and abilities on the job. It was not sufficient to rely on these 6 items to obtain accurate country scores for a construct (Voronov, 2002) pointed out that such a procedure merely shows which items belong together but doesnt demonstrate construct validity. However, Hofstede defends that survey was the one but not only method which was used (Hofstede 1998).It also can be proven that Hofstede did all that might be expected of nomothetic cultural research, there are objections to use nomothetic methods for cultural research. This can be seen that Hofstedes model is used widely for cross-cultural research (Jones, 2007). Sondergaard (1994) found that Hofstedes study standard 1,036 citations in 1980, while some other highly regarded study on strategy by Miles and Snow received only 200 citations. In addition, Sondergaard (1994) make a research which is similar to Hofstedes research and the approximately outcome of his research confirmed Hofstedes predictions. For example, it acknowledges that Hofstedes findings in the power distance dimension are useful and reliable. A significant medical prognosis of journalistic culture is related to journalists position towards power (Hanusch, 2008). In approximately Western democracies, journalists, the competitor of the press, are represented as the fourth domain and watchdogs. They believe that they are an independent critic power. While in eastern countries, such as in Asian countries, an opponent position may conflict with values of harmony, yet criticism is possible in a covert form. Journalists see themselves as loyal to those in power, acting as a m outhpiece for the government (Hanusch, 2008). In short, its undoubtedly true that only used questionnaire survey method is not reliable even Hofstede also used homothetic cultural research method which means survey questionnaire is only one of the methods that Hofstede used to build his model. Therefore, using homothetic culture research method has shown the robust of his model.5.1 LanguageThe problem of survey questions is the limitation of language interpretation which has different meaning in each culture. Cultural beliefs changed in languages which influence managerial practice directly.Graham (1998) indicated that language and cultural beliefs are correlated because of cross-cultural interaction which means similarity in cultural beliefs also produces linguistic similarity. In addition, there are many different language systems in some countries such as Belgium, Canada, and Singapore. It is unrealistic to consider a multi-lingual society having one national culture. Language is an important component to measure of cultural differences. However, Hofstede only translated survey questions directly without considering the affect from languages which were likely to cause misunderstanding and ambiguity.Another opinion is that simple translation from other languages is not sufficient considering that patterns of communication behaviour are deeply rooted in language culture complexities (Ulijin and Campbell, 2001). Different languages have different patterns of discourse (Fletcher, 2006). For example, in one language, the key point of communication may be at the beginning of the sentence and the qualifiers follow. In other languages like Korean, the main point comes at the end of the sentence. If the translation does not include underlying concepts, the meaning will easily kick the bucket distorted, and the emphasis of the message will be diminished.5.2 Bias and reliability of QuestionnaireFirstly, it is common that people do not know themselves. It is eviden t that one persons un intended is much more sensitive than conscious mind. Therefore, unconscious minded are easily affect peoples psychology deeply (Woodside, 2006). Sometimes, people cannot give real responses because the truth is not known. For instance, if people do not know their life and work value, it is impossible to get real answers well-nigh their values through analyzing information from questionnaires. Moreover, Mc Sweeney (2002) argues that the administration of the survey and the ownership of its results were IBMs, some of the questionnaires were completed within groups and not individually. It means the information collected from questionnaire cannot reflect individuals real mentality. In addition, some employees had predicted companys policies would be rewrite which based on the result of this survey, so they didnt give real responses (Mead Andrews, 2009). Therefore, the result of the survey questionnaire has been doubtable.6.0 Critical of Inconsistence of Research OutcomeAccording to Hofstedes research (1998), he stated that his style of cross sectional analysis was apropos because he wasnt producing an absolute touchstone but was merely reckoning cultural differences. For example, He mentioned that wealth and individualism are connected. The wealthier countries tend to be more single, like UK and USA both are wealthier and individualist than Panama and Guatemala. According to his study Japan which is a wealthy country should fall in individualist category but it falls under collectivist category (Mead Andrews, 2009).Besides, check to Hofstede (1980), Japan also has a high power distance however some Japanese firms, which bases on equality, often focus on the give outment of individual employees. Therefore, it is inappropriate that using these attributes at opposite ends of a continuum may reflect a western bias to research in the vitamin E (Papamarcos, et. al., 2007). This shown that there is faulty assumption of his study. He had a belief that a change in economic circumstances could bring shift in the culture and as a country develops, it shifts toward individualism. However time has changed, and Japan, as an example, which proves his study has ambiguity.However, due to the political sensitivity at that time, arguably has huge bearing accuracy and usefulness of the survey because the memories of the world war two and old war has impacted everything, and peoples feelings run high. There was district drop of data from third world and socialist countries due to the political positioning (Jones, 2007). As a result, political influence is also affected Hosftedes data collection which might alter the reliability of the outcome of his research.7.0 Time changingTodays world is an era of globalisation, the technology is newfangled. There has been a drastic change in the rate of development compared with the rate at Hofstedes time. Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter claimed that globalisation is also a process of creative destruction (Francoise, 2004). People, who use modern technology than ever before, are modern and advanced. Because of E-communication, distances have become very short. When doing business with countries abroad, communication is easy with the use of the fax, e-mail, video conferencing, etc. Technology is responsible for our way of communication and changes in globalisation are through the way we trade.In addition, Hofstede (1980) stated that the cross-cultural outcomes produced in centuries, most researches also supported the fact that culture will not change overnight. He assumes that cultural values are stable over time. However, some researchers also claimed that the study is too old to have any modern value specially in todays rapidly changing global environment. For instance, based on Hofstedes dimension of misgiving avoidance, there is a research about the rate of business ownership across 22 OECD countries which shows that in 1976 and 1988 uncertainty avoidance is positively correlated with the prevalence of business ownership, one of the crusade for that ,perhaps, is the restrictive structure of large organizations. However, in 2000 this positive correlation is changed, low uncertainty avoidance countries start to compensate their economies (Wennekers, et. al, 2004). Therefore, it is still arguable about his failing to take into account of the malleability of culture over-time.8.0 ConclusionIn conclusion, different scholars have concrete point of view of flaws of hofstedes model particularly reliability and validity such as national, occupational and organisational cultures differentiate by Hofstede, five simple dimensions to differentiate the cultures, labelling issues and bilateral dimensions, out of date and his methodological analysis of his research. However, culture is too complex and it is impossible to draw out a very comprehensive model to differentiate the country difference. In addition, some of the scholar have successfully prove of his homothetic research is valid to differentiate the different cultures. In addition, Hofstedes work helped many business people to develop their business successfully in a new country because of his simple and comparative model during 1980s where there were many businesses entering international market. Therefore, we decipher that Hofstedes model has a strong core useful for further cultural study and research. Though, with changes in time, there are numerous changes occurring in a nationals culture. Globalisation has let to mixing up of cultures and hence, no culture entails its all of its original characteristics. It is suggests time to time amendments need to be made to his model to ensure its suitability with changing time.