Cultures and Organizations: Software for the Mind: Software for the Mind

I have found this book very useful for new change consultants who are venturing out into a global environment, this at least prepares people to think about cultural norms and the way in which certain societies generally view the world, get along with each other and make decisions.. Be cautioned this is not an approach to stereotype cultures, rather to provide the student with an understanding of the normal cultural drivers.

It is not a cookbook of how-to's. It a research report into how cultural differences underlay everything you want to accomplish.

While the book is titled Cultures and Organisations, it is really about ethnic cultures, not corporate cultures.

If you are working in a multi cultural or international environment then this is a must. Success in an international environment only occurs when you possess cultural sensitivity. This book is a fantastic introduction into the world of international cultures

I rarely write reviews of books on Amazon, this one however has made me want to recommend it.
The authors have managed to sum up some key differences between cultures, describe them clearly and advise on how to handle them based upon these 'dimensions' such as the extent to which a culture is individualist or collectivist.
In my travels I have picked up a lot of the data presented here through personal experience, but I could not present it back clearly into 'when in Rome do as the Romans do' type advice.
This book does. Simply and clearly, as soon as you've got past the data and the language style, there are some gems to be found.
The second best in this topic area (following in first place Trompenaars work 'Riding the Waves').

Hofstede is, of course, the pioneer of culture studies in business and organizations. This book is a simpler and more accessible version of the more comprehensive - but also more difficult, 'Culture's Consequences'.

He begins with an excellent overview of culture and its levels and explains the concept of cultural `dimensions' - aspects of culture that can differentiate and measure differences among different cultural groups. The book then proceeds to present the four dimensions of culture that he identified as a result of a massive survey he conducted on IBM employees in 72 countries in 1968 and again in 1972. Additional data was later collected from other countries and populations, outside IBM, and used to verify and enhance the original results.

However, in this book, Hofstede discusses his four original dimensions of culture: Power Distance; Uncertainty Avoidance; Individualism & Collectivism; and finally Masculinity & Femininity. The fifth dimension which was later added based on results from the Far East and Asia - Long- versus Short-Term Orientation - is not discussed in this book. Despite that, it remains a very valuable and highly readable introduction to the topic from the man who pioneered the field and popularized it among business people, multinationals and business researchers alike.

Hofstede also uses these dimensions of culture to 'classify' organizations to different types according to where they fall on the Power Distance vs. Uncertainty Avoidance grid. The discussion is highly informative and touches on Mintzberg's theories as well typical models of organization in different cultures. In Part Four, he discusses how intercultural encounters are affected by these dimensions and how awareness and acceptance of these differences can yield more effective results.

Geert Hofstede is Emeritus Professor at Maastricht University in The Netherlands. He was Professor of Organisational Anthropology and International Management at the University of Limburg (which was later re-named Maastricht University). He is the founder and first director of the Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation (IRIC), where a lot of the research used in this book comes from. This paperback version was published 3 years after the hardcover and includes some updated references to political events. This book is largely an extension to Hofstede's 1980-book 'Culture's Consequences'. The book consists of 4 parts.

Part I - Introduction, consists of one chapter, and lays the foundation for the remainder of the book by introducing the meaning of 'culture' and a small vocabulary of essential terms. He also discusses the objective of the book: "to help in dealing with the differences in thinking, feeling, and acting of people around the globe. It will show that although the variety in people's minds is enormous, there is a structure in this variety which can serve as a basis for mutual understanding." With reference to the definition of culture, we need to understand the book's subtitle first. 'Software of the mind' is patterns of thinking, feeling and acting (which were learned throughout a lifetime). Hofstede's definition of culture is "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another." It is important to note that he believes that culture is learned and not inherited. He continues with a brief discussion on the 3 levels in human mental programming: 1. Human nature (universal; inherited); 2. Culture (specific to group/category; learned); and 3. Personality (specific to individual; learned and inherited).

Part II - National Cultures - is the largest section of this book with 6 chapters and deals with differences among cultures at national levels. Chapter 2-to-5 describe the four dimensions empirically found in research across more than 50 countries: (1) to wit power distance; (2) collectivism versus individualism; (3) femininity versus masculinity; and (4) uncertainty avoidance. Each of these 4 chapters follows the same structure: description of dimension, the scores of the various countries, the consequences of the dimension for family life, school, workplace, organisation, state, and the development of ideas. Chapter 6 looks at the consequences of the national culture differences in the way people in a country organize themselves, combining the dimensions from the previous chapters. The next chapter introduces a fifth cross-national dimension, which is long-term versus short-term orientation. This reveals deep differences between Eastern and Western thinking.

Part III deals with differences in organisational culture and consists of only 1 chapter in which the author describes the insights collected in IRIC's research project across 20 organisational units in Denmark and the Netherlands between 1985-1987.

Part IV - Implications - consists of 2 chapters and discusses the practical implications of the culture differences and similarities. The first chapter of this part discusses what happens when people from different cultures meet. It discusses phenomena, such as culture shock, ethnocentrism, stereotyping, differences in language and in humour. It also discusses the development of intercultural communication skills. The final chapter of the book summarizes the message of the book and translates it into suggestions for parents, managers and the media. There is also a speculation on future political developments, based on the cultural processes.

Yes, this is a monumental book on 'software of the mind'. I believe that this book is a fantastic piece of work on this subject, based on strong research, and is probably the starting point for anybody interested in this subject. I must warn people that the book is not a simple, fast read, since the information is very intense and the wide range of information covered. However, the writing style is good and there are plenty of tables, diagrams, figures to make the reading somewhat 'easier'. Highly recommended to all people interested in this subject, from parents through to managers. (Where is the 6-star button?)

This book was recommended to us in a cultural awareness course.
Interestingly, the subject has been most valuable to me in my
multi-country technical projects! The KEY usefulness of
this book is that it arrives at a numerical 'score' for various
components of 'culture'. It doesn't say "Americans are more
individualistic" as an opinion. Rather, "Americans are more
individualistic because they score X in the Individual VS
Collective Index" Isn't that brilliant?? The country profiles
are therefore objective, based on scientific, numerical method.
Not based on opinion, like most other books on the topic of 'Culture'. Great stuff.