Cultural Context of IHRM
Intercultural Management Studies Our world is filled with many different and unique countries, all with their own customs and cultures. In International Human Resources Management, it is the IHRM Department’s job to educate any expatriate about the foreign country they will be moving too. The main reason to do this is preventing cultural shock causing a smoother transition for the expatriate. Culture can be defined as “the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time” or is a more business related sense “a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in a place or organization.” Throughout the years there have been many intercultural management studies and there are four most widely accepted theories: The Hofstede study, The GLOBE study, The Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner study, and Hall & Hall’s cultural dimensions. These studies broke down cultures and behaviors around the world and are valued resources for IHRM departments. First, there is the Hofstede study. Geert Hofstede was a professor who conducted an extremely comprehensive study of how different cultures place value in the workplace. It was Hofstede who first made an empirical model and had different dimensions of national culture. These dimensions were: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, femininity vs. masculinity, individualism vs. collectivism, and long-term orientation. Each different country would get scores in each section and from these scores one could better understand the country’s way of doing things. To gain a better understanding, below is a comparison between the United States and Portugal. The first of the dimensions is power distance Power Distance. Power Distance “refers to the way in which power is distributed and the extent to which the less powerful accept that power is distributed unequally. Put