Cross-cultural Communication and French Culture
Individual Assignment: “Euro Disneyland”
1. Using Hofstede’s four cultural dimensions as a point of reference, what are some of the main cultural differences between the United States and France?
PDI: Power Distance
IDV: Individualism
MAS: Masculinity
UAI: Uncertainty Avoidance
PDI: Power Distance
IDV: Individualism
MAS: Masculinity
UAI: Uncertainty Avoidance
The main cultural differences when using the Hofstede dimensions are in the dimensions Power Distance and Uncertainty Avoidance. It is clear that French culture accepts and welcomes a relatively big power gap. This means that it is hirarchical country where power and the flow of information is determined much more by hierarchy then in America, where this gap is less accepted by people with less power. The other big difference is France’s hight level of uncertainty avaoidance. The French would like to control the future as much as possible, they are not risk takers. The Americans on the other hand have low uncertainty avoidance that makes them risk takers, this coppeled with extremely high indiviualism and very low power distance makes them very entrepreneurial. They act on their own and are less likely to accept the status quo when someone has more power then them. French culture also has low masculinity which means it’s a femini culture. This means that soft skills and the family are very important in France. This can be seen by France’s extensive social welfare systhem.
2. In what way has Trompenaars research helped explain cultural differences between the United States and France?
Trompenaars research is based on 46000 managers from over 40 countries who answered questionnaires based on their experiences in many different cultures. Trompenaar and his colleague Charles Hampden-Turner (“The Seven Dimensions of Culture” 2012) created a model where national culture is determined by 7 dimensions. First an important dimension is the individualism –
1. Using Hofstede’s four cultural dimensions as a point of reference, what are some of the main cultural differences between the United States and France?
PDI: Power Distance
IDV: Individualism
MAS: Masculinity
UAI: Uncertainty Avoidance
PDI: Power Distance
IDV: Individualism
MAS: Masculinity
UAI: Uncertainty Avoidance
The main cultural differences when using the Hofstede dimensions are in the dimensions Power Distance and Uncertainty Avoidance. It is clear that French culture accepts and welcomes a relatively big power gap. This means that it is hirarchical country where power and the flow of information is determined much more by hierarchy then in America, where this gap is less accepted by people with less power. The other big difference is France’s hight level of uncertainty avaoidance. The French would like to control the future as much as possible, they are not risk takers. The Americans on the other hand have low uncertainty avoidance that makes them risk takers, this coppeled with extremely high indiviualism and very low power distance makes them very entrepreneurial. They act on their own and are less likely to accept the status quo when someone has more power then them. French culture also has low masculinity which means it’s a femini culture. This means that soft skills and the family are very important in France. This can be seen by France’s extensive social welfare systhem.
2. In what way has Trompenaars research helped explain cultural differences between the United States and France?
Trompenaars research is based on 46000 managers from over 40 countries who answered questionnaires based on their experiences in many different cultures. Trompenaar and his colleague Charles Hampden-Turner (“The Seven Dimensions of Culture” 2012) created a model where national culture is determined by 7 dimensions. First an important dimension is the individualism –
Bibliography: graph (http://geert-hofstede.com/dimensions.html) -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. http://geert-hofstede.com/france.html