Communication and the Global World
The most salient features of the American society are those relating to individualism and perception of various inequalities existing within the nation. Such attitudes undoubtedly come from the American Revolution of independence and liberty which facilitated the enactment of the relative constitutional rights and freedoms spelling out the pursuit of happiness as the main guaranty for all individuals residing in the country. Due to these observations, the United States holds a very high score on the individualism indicator and a relatively low position concerning the “power distance” (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.; Hofstede, 2011).
According to Hofstede’s survey results, American companies, whether small or big, introduce a bureaucratic subordination and hierarchy only for the necessity of interacting with colleagues, implementing strategies and plans and distributing tasks efficiently. Along with these cultural characteristics, American people tend to be a masculine nation pursuing success, career promotions and social leadership as ultimate goals in their lives. Because of the masculinity feature, American citizens “work hard and play hard” which results in a quite high position on the “indulgence”. By the way, the United States possesses relatively low indicators regarding the “uncertainty avoidance” and “long term orientation” – 46 and 26, respectively (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.).
Mexico, China, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates:
Cultural Similarities and Differences in Comparison to the United States
Above is a bar graph exhibiting similarities and differences in cultures of Mexico, China, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates as compared to the United States. Since the given comparison is being conducted with the aim of finding prospective partners with more or less similarities in cultures, they constitute a paramount point in the survey. Hence, Israel proves to be the best match for the American business in terms of the power distance and individualism indicators – this country scores 13 and 54, respectively. This may constitute a considerable advantage to business relationships between America and Israel (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.).
However, all five countries hold relatively equal positions in the masculinity dimension: US – 62, Mexico – 69, even more than the US, China – 66, Israel – 47, and the UAE – 50. What concerns the uncertainty avoidance, the United States appears to share more similarities with China which scores 30 (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.). Within the business framework, a moderate emphasis on punctuality and accurateness, as well as respect for traditions and rules shared by two cultural teams will be contributory.
Nevertheless, China extremely differs from the United States in the “long term orientation” indicator – Chinese people turn out to be very pragmatic, welcome modern trends and new ideas and look to the future with great hopes for the best. By the way, the American nation may be characterized by somewhat skeptical treatment of everything new which triggers multiple checks of data and information and appropriateness of new approaches and tools. Within this index, the United States may fit Mexico focusing on getting quick accomplishments, including financial ones. The same issue can be concluded respecting the “indulgence” dimension: American and Mexican societies make a good match in the field of realizing desires (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.). Unfortunately, the Hofstede indicators on the “indulgence” are absent for Israel and the UAE, as the “long term orientation” is for the UAE.
Survey Results
Relying upon the survey findings, the countries with more cultural similarities in comparison to the United States may be ranked as follows: Israel, Mexico, China, and the UAE.
References
Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing cultures: the Hofstede model in context. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1). Retrieved from http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=orpc
The Hofstede Centre, (n.d.). Cultural dimensions. Retrieved from http://geert-hofstede.com/national-culture.html
