Cross Culture in Business Environment - Essay Example

Managers, therefore, have to understand cultural differences in order to operate effectively in the tough business environment. Managers are required to motivate their employees and they can only do that if they know the differences between the cultures of employees.

Awareness of cultural differences is a must in order to manage employees from different backgrounds. For example, Japanese and Indian working together will have different needs in Japan lunch is the main meal of the day while in India dinner is the main meal. Now a manager has to decide upon the lunch timings so that both the needs of Japanese and Indian employees can be satisfied. This is why cross-cultural training is important both for employees and managers.

Hofstede's cultural dimension PDI

Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory gives six dimensions of values across which people differ from each other. One of those dimensions is the Power Distance Index or PDI. Power distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. PDI represents inequality in an organization or in a country. A culture that has low PDI is more democratic and people are considered equal. A culture that has high PDI is autocratic and people accept inequality.

Brazil has a 69 on PDI which is very high. The world average PDI is 55 which means that Brazil has a higher PDI compared to the average. This means that Brazil is a relatively autocratic society with greater inequalities. Brazil’s PDI is very similar to Latin American countries. In Brazil, people accept that organizational hierarchies exist and also accept lower pay relative to supervisors. A tradition of giving in to authority exists in the country.

Hofstede's cultural dimension INV

Another dimension of Hofstede’s theory is individuality versus collectivism. It is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. In individualistic cultures, people focus on personal achievement and individual rights. On the other hand in collectivist cultures people have more emphasis on groups and people are considered a member of society.

Brazil is rated 38 on the IDV scale. This means that Brazil is relatively collectivist in its cultural orientation. North American countries are highly rated on IDV which means that they are highly individualistic. The average Latin American population has a score of 21. This means that Brazil is more individualist culture-wise than its Latin American counterparts.

The level of group loyalties is high in Brazil compared to the Western World but it is lower compared to the other Latin American countries. Touching arms and elbows in Brazil is quite common and this is evidence of its collectivist culture (Cyborlink.com, 2008).