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Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind By Geert HofstedeGert Jan Hofstede ( McGraw-Hill )
Release Date: 2004-06-01
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Product Description
The landmark study of cultural differences across 70 nations, Cultures and Organizations helps readers look at how they think--and how they fail to think--as members of groups. Based on decades of painstaking field research, this new edition features the latest scientific results published in Geert Hofstede's scholarly work Culture's Consequences, Second Edition. Original in thought and profoundly important, Cultures and Organizations offers vital knowledge and insight on issues that will shape the future of cultures and nations in a globalized world.
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 A culture's values explain its behaviors
Without this knowledge most of us continue to judge other cultures from our own perspectives not realizing our own thought patterns are as deeply ingrained as any other culture's. Much of who we are is learned unconciously and if we are to negotiate with other cultures and countries, it is wise to understand each other.
Until I read this book and taught a college course based on Hofstede's research, I was unaware of what I didn't know. I now also understand culture in the U.S. and have a framework on which to hang differences between other cultures.
Hofstede's dimensions can be applied not only to the business world, but politics and global issues which concern us all.
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Objective & structured study of culture ( souviksdrift )
The greatest value that comes out of this book is the ability to articulate exactly what we mean by culture, what are its various dimensions, & how a culture is manifest at the macro or national level- while stressing every now & then to separate a national culture from the individual value system of its citizens.
The first seven chapters elucidate on the meaning of culture, its dimensions, & the comparative scores of various different countries in each of these dimensions - what these scores mean in terms of the family, school, workplace, the state, & ideas. This consistent structure gives the reader a very nuanced point of view on different cultures & the way they manifest. In the latter chapters, Hofstede also considers scores on two cultural dimensions & explains the combined effect of these as a whole.
Chapter 8 does a great job of differentiating Organizational cultures from National ones & clearly articulates that values do not differ across organizations in the same country; what differs are the practices these values translate into. The book did not have as extensive research on Organizational cultures, but manages to establish what is, or should be, understood by Organizational cultures. And it also has interesting notes on how some of these Organizational culture dimensions corelate with national culture dimensions.
The final two chapters are notes on implications of these differences & the elements of culture shock & how to go about handling these at the level of family, school, etc.
So while this was one of the great books I read this year, I still think that the title of book is misleading - for organizational cultures is not the mainstay of the book; national culture is.
But Hofstede's very organized & structured prose adds a great deal to a very intangible soft topic like culture. I think I understand the world a little more having read this book & can try to differentiate the broad national culture traits in the people I work with from their own individual value systems.
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comment from a chinese
an indepth description of the mental programming of human. worth buying. but it is expensive for me, especially the courier.
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 Wonderful framework for thinking about cultural differences ( miguezapa )
A must-read for anyone interested in the subject area.
The new and revised content also relate Hofstede's original groundbreaking research to the more recent work of other renowned scholars in the field (such as Ronald Inglehart of the Univ of Michigan and the World Values Survery). These links make his work even more compelling and make you start to think that we may be inching closer to a more universally agreed upon framework for thinking about cultural differences.
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A must have resource for highly effective multicultural / multinational leadership...
As a combat tested USAF E3 AWACS command pilot (over 1900+ hours of total flight experience), this book is a potent resource for anyone seeking to gain insights on how best to manage a multicultural / multinational workspace.
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