Lesson 12: What Is Culture?
Learning Objectives
Define culture as a social construct.
Lesson Introduction
The people around you, your family, your friends, your coworkers, and those in your extended community help set and reinforce your culture. Have you ever said a phrase and thought that it sounded like a parent’s or grandparent’s words of wisdom told to you many times over the years? That is part of your culture.
Recognizing how cultures differ and knowing how to bridge the differences from one culture to another demonstrate cultural intelligence.
Photo by Author, Pixabay is licensed under Pixabay License
Growing up, your family may have participated in regular behaviors, including things like Sunday dinner, game night, movie night, and going to church. These activities were familiar. They were approved activities that may have occurred in approved and familiar locations. You may even have had some rules in place, such as not being allowed to speak with food in your mouth or leaving your electronics away from the dinner table, or perhaps it included determining the rules for who gets to choose the movie or game to play. You may even continue to do some of these things because you learned over time what was acceptable within your culture.
Think of culture as the modeled behaviors, beliefs, and values that are shared from one person to another. Your grandparents and parents modeled for you how to ask for something by prompting you to include the words “please” and “thank-you.” Your teachers may have modeled how to listen and ask questions of others. Your boss may model the importance of meeting your agreed-upon deadlines. Your friends model the kind of language used to communicate with them. Seeing these modeled behaviors over a significant period of time taught you to also think, act, or behave in a way that conforms to these standards. Your culture becomes a major part of who you are as an individual and who you are as part of society, as well as how you live your life.
What Is Cultural Intelligence?
If culture is constructed from what you do, how you live, who you live with, and what you have seen or heard over your lifetime, you may recognize that many different factors contribute to what you identify as your culture.
What about the parts of your culture that you do not see—things like the ingrained beliefs you learned while growing up? Culture can be viewed as an iceberg, where only a little of the culture is visible, but many parts of it are hidden from view. As a result, many cultural issues or problems are never addressed.
Culture is
learned
shared
dynamic
systemic
symbolic
One danger about being around people of your own culture is that blindspots occur, which can lead to groups of people thinking alike and ignoring any alternatives. This is known as group thinking. It can hamper creativity for both the individual and the group.1
Have you ever been in a meeting where everyone was in agreement on every issue, all the time? What do you think the reaction would be if you were not in agreement and wanted to put forward a new, unique solution? Would others be open to accepting your input?
Consider what you would do and how you would change your communication as your thinking expands beyond the groupthink mentality.
Essential Video
Question
Watch the video “Understanding Culture” (opens new tab) from LinkedIn Learning. Recognizing where our cultural beliefs come from is an important first step toward attaining cultural intelligence (CI).
In discussing culture, it is important to know how your own culture is created so that you can understand how other cultures are also created. While you watch this video, think about the assumptions that contributed to your own culture and identify where some of your cultural norms come from.
I watched it.
Essential Reading
Question
Read Chapter 2 (opens new tab) from Leading with Cultural Intelligence.1
As you are reading, think of where parts of your culture sit on the iceberg metaphor. Can you identify any issues or problems the hidden cultural values, beliefs, or attitudes might cause for someone unfamiliar with your culture? What kinds of actions will you take to uncover those same hidden cultural systems?
I read it.
Hofstede’s Six Dimensions of Culture
Geert Hofstede is a Dutch professor of organizational development and management. He is cofounder and the first director of the Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation (IRIC) in the Netherlands.
The world consists of diverse cultures within cities, states, countries, and continents.
Photo by Author, Unsplash is licensed under Unsplash License
Hofstede and his researchers identify six issues that they call “dimensions of culture,” which they believe must be addressed in order for society to be considered organized.1 To define these dimensions, Hofstede evaluated many (but not all) countries using a 0–100 scale and summarized the findings into six world maps that demonstrate the distribution and variation of each dimension. Keep in mind that this is not a narrow look at each dimension, and there may be variation even within a country that may not be addressed by the maps.
In the following short videos, Hofstede explains each dimension.
Hofstede’s Dimension
Meaning
Collectivism—Individualism
This dimension is about how independent people feel, rather than being dependent or interdependent on others. Do individuals expect to be able to make their own choices and decisions, or do they expect to have them made for them?
Collectivism also means the members of society know their place or social standing within the group and often consider the group welfare before their own.
Power Distance Indicator
Power distance is the extent to which less powerful members of an organization not only accept but also expect power among members to be unequal.
Think about this in the context of your own family. Did one parent or guardian have more control than other members of your family? When your parent(s) made a decision for the family, how was it accepted with you, your siblings, and your extended family? Did you expect one of your parents to make decisions, so you only asked that parent for permission or advice?
Femininity—Masculinity
This dimension is not about gender; rather, it is about how a society functions. Masculine society is more competitive, with great value placed on winning and coming out ahead regardless of gender. Feminine society is seen as less competitive, more emotionally close, and sympathetic.
Uncertainty Avoidance
Uncertainty avoidance or acceptance is not about risk; rather, it is about the degree to which the unknown is accepted. It is how you measure the avoidance of uncertainty. As with the previous dimensions, there are two poles: those who avoid risk and those who accept it. Hofstede suggests that most societies rest somewhere in the middle.
Long-Term Orientation—Short-Term Orientation
Long-term orientation refers to how society views future rewards such as persistence, thrift (savings), and change. At the other end of the scale is short-term orientation, which sees fostering virtues of the past and present. These virtues are described by Hofstede as national pride and respecting traditions.
Indulgence—Restraint
In the indulgence dimension, Hofstede suggests that indulgence is about the good things in life and being free to make the choices to enjoy them. It is about doing what you want to do, as well as when and how you want to do it. At the opposite end is restrained culture, where the norm is to feel that everything in life is hard, and you act out of duty rather than desire.
“10 Minutes with Geert Hofstede on Individualism versus Collectivism” (11:58)
Watch this video with Geert Hofstede discussing the individual versus collective culture dimension.
Hofstede, G. (2014). 10 minutes with Geert Hofstede . . . individualisme versus collectivism 10112014. Retrieved from https://geerthofstede.com/culture-geert-hofstede-gert-jan-hofstede/6d-model-of-national-culture/
“10 Minutes with Geert Hofstede . . . on Power Distance 10112014” (11:27)
Watch this video with Geert Hofstede discussing the dimension of power distance.
Hofstede, G. (2014). 10 minutes with Geert Hofstede . . . on power distance. Retrieved from https://geerthofstede.com/culture-geert-hofstede-gert-jan-hofstede/6d-model-of-national-culture/
“10 Minutes with . . . Geert Hofstede on Masculinity versus Femininity 10112014” (10:55)
In this video, Geert Hofstede discusses the masculine and feminine cultures and how each is demonstrated within society.
Hofstede, G. (2014). 10 minutes with . . . Geert Hofstede on masculinity versus femininity. Retrieved from https://geerthofstede.com/culture-geert-hofstede-gert-jan-hofstede/6d-model-of-national-culture/
“10 Minutes with Geert Hofstede on Uncertainty Avoidance 01032015” (15:26)
Watch this video to hear Geert Hofstede discuss the implications of cultures that are risk averse and those that embrace uncertainty.
Hofstede, G. (2014). 10 minutes with Geert Hofstede on uncertainty avoidance. Retrieved from https://geerthofstede.com/culture-geert-hofstede-gert-jan-hofstede/6d-model-of-national-culture/
“10 Minutes with Geert Hofstede on Long versus Short Term Orientation 01032015” (10:52)
In this video, Geert Hofstede discusses how this new dimension was researched and introduced as the long-term versus short-term orientation. This particular dimension is about the virtues of the future and future rewards as well as preservation of the past, such as national pride.
Hofstede, G. (2014). 10 minutes with Geert Hofstede on long versus short term orientation 01022015. Retrieved from https://geerthofstede.com/culture-geert-hofstede-gert-jan-hofstede/6d-model-of-national-culture/
“10 Minutes with Geert Hofstede on Indulgence versus Restraint 01032015” (9:33)
In this video, Geert Hofstede explores happiness as it pertains to the amount of control, or lack thereof, that individuals have over their lives, what is important and valued, and moral discipline.
Transcript
Hofstede, G. (2014). 10 minutes with Geert Hofstede on indulgence versus restraint 01032015. Retrieved from https://geerthofstede.com/culture-geert-hofstede-gert-jan-hofstede/6d-model-of-national-culture/
Cultural Intelligence versus Cultural Quotient
You are heading into an important sales meeting when you see your manager getting off the elevator. When she catches your eye, she nods her head slightly to the right. Having worked with her for the past three years, you know this means she would like a quick and confidential chat with you in her office, so you follow her in.
She does not need to direct you to follow because you know it is expected of you and you have learned this unspoken request and action over time. You interpret this gesture the way it is intended because it is familiar to you. In her office, your manager advises you that you have been selected for a one-year position in the new Munich, Germany, office. You will be helping the office recruit and hire a team just like yours in the United States.
When you arrive in Munich, you are picked up at the airport by the director of the Munich office. He greets you with a nod, introduces himself, and grabs one of your bags. As he starts to move away, he shrugs at you. While it is not quite the same, it feels like the nod from your manager back at home, so you follow just as his own staff would have done.
You have just demonstrated cultural intelligence, and it will serve you well as you work cross-culturally and across borders with your new team.
Cultural intelligence is not just about knowing where you come from and what makes you, you. It goes beyond awareness of diversity and what makes people different or the same. It is more than being sensitive to the different cultures that make up a group. Cultural intelligence is the skill of being able to work with different cultures effectively.
Gozzoli and Gazzaroli (2018) discuss four capabilities, or quotients, that make up a cultural intelligence framework. The four cultural quotients (CQs) are motivation/drive, cognitive/knowledge, metacognitive/strategy, and behavioral/action. These are used to measure your competency with cultural intelligence.
CQ drive (motivational CQ): The level of interest you have, and your determination and confidence, to function effectively within a culturally diverse situation.
CQ knowledge (cognitive CQ): Your level of understanding of cultural similarities and differences.
CQ strategy (metacognitive CQ): Your ability to plan for interactions in a culturally diverse interaction, your ability to remain present during the interactions, and your ability to be aware of potential cultural differences, as well as critically evaluating the interaction to ensure your next interaction is as good or better.
CQ action (behavioral CQ): Your ability to apply a broad range of skills (emotional intelligence, empathy, communication skills) and behaviors (active listening, genuine curiosity, polite inquiry) during culturally diverse interactions.
When you look at these CQs in a work context, it means being able to use each of them to hone the specific skills needed to be motivated, knowledgeable, strategic, and able to take appropriate actions and behaviors with cross-cultural work situations. As an employee, using these skills effectively helps your organization adjust to and accept employees’ cultural differences and may result in an open and innovative corporate culture.
To be considered highly culturally intelligent means that you are more than self-aware; you are aware of the differences between people, and you approach people with a deep understanding of their cultures, beliefs, and norms. You actively engage in learning about and integrating into other cultures. This will not happen overnight. This develops over time and as a result of exploration, interaction, and practice (Gozzoli and Gazzaroli, 2018).
Being culturally intelligent means adopting all four cultural quotients in your daily interactions.
Cultural intelligence. © 2019 WGU.
Diversity
What do you think about when you hear the word diversity?
Do you think of a group of males and females, or perhaps it is a group of people from different ethnic backgrounds? Diversity is more than sex or race; it is about acknowledging, accepting, and embracing the things that make people different, and ensuring that a group of people includes those differences. It could be any of the following: age, sex, ethnicity, religious beliefs, ability, or sexual orientation. Whatever it is, whatever the differences, diversity means including a range of those differences.
Think of the things you really enjoy that come from being integrated into a diverse community. Maybe it was a type of food, a style of music or dance, or fashion. How would you feel if you were never able to have that food, listen to that music, or wear those clothes again?
Being part of a diverse community offers you an opportunity to step outside of your comfort zone, broaden your thinking, and open your mind to the potential of new experiences and learnings.
Diversity in organizations offers many of the same benefits. Watch the video “Diversity Is Beneficial” to hear how some organizations are benefiting from diverse work teams.
Essential Video
Question
Watch “Diversity Is Beneficial” (opens new tab) from LinkedIn Learning.
Diversity is an important factor for businesses today and will be even more so in the near future.
I watched it.
When organizations want to expand to global markets, having employees who understand and represent the new target market may contribute to the organization’s expansion efforts. Bringing people together from different age groups, ethnicities, and cultures provides unique life experiences that contribute to new ways of thinking, bring forward new ideas, promote creativity, and help organizations become more innovative. Problem-solving can get more creative when diversity is a factor.
Employee engagement may increase when diversity is made a priority because employees feel valued, appreciated, and included, which may also improve employee retention. This provides even more benefits to the organization through reduced costs associated with turnover and improves hiring results by attracting applicants from a more diverse talent pool.
Essential Video
Question
Watch “Uncover the Reasons for Diversity” (opens new tab) from LinkedIn Learning.
Diversity is an important factor for businesses today and will be even more so in the near future.
I watched it.
Diversity means more than representing gender and race.
Photo by Author, Pixabay is licensed under Pixabay License
Ultimately, a diverse workforce can lead to an organization’s competitive advantage. What does this mean to you? It means knowing the major cultural differences in different regions of the world and in different communities within those regions can help you succeed in business.
Globalization has been creating jobs and wealth for individuals and nations. Some of the business benefits of globalization include the following:
Increased productivity. Productivity grows when countries produce goods and services; as a result, standard of living rises faster.
Global competition and inexpensive imported goods keep prices down and attempt to curb inflation.
Innovation and new ideas from abroad are encouraged.
Through investments of foreign capital and technology, global trade provides poor countries with the chance to develop economically by spreading prosperity.
When your business is looking to expand globally, having employees on the team from target countries can assist in getting into the market, speaking the language of the local consumer, and providing support for products and services in their language.
More information is shared faster between businesses thanks to technology. This includes information about local cultures and customs, which encourages sharing collected knowledge in order to compete in a global market.2
“International Business—Cross-Cultural Communication” (6:21)
The speaker in this video uses real-world examples while outlining the dimensions of Hofstede. He discusses the fundamental variables that can be used to recognize cultural differences in business settings. This is an excellent recap to this lesson.
Transcript
The Embodiment Channel. (October 11, 2012). International Business – Cross-Cultural Communication. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at7srdUiRfM
Learning Check
Question
Which factor contributes to how a new employee correlates their own personal culture to that of the social construct seen at the new company?
The employee’s personal perception of the company’s future
What the employee has seen or heard over their lifetime
The experiences of past coworkers
Which business goals are carried forward from the previous company
Nextquestion
Lesson Summary
Culture is a social construct—it happens naturally through interactions with your family and your community. From birth you are informed about what are acceptable beliefs and behaviors, such as saying “please” and “thank-you,” holding the door for an aging grandparent, and not bringing a smartphone to the dinner table. You learn your culture through the sharing of information from others.
Hofstede studied people around the world and found that there are six main dimensions that influence culture. These dimensions are collectivism/individualism, power distance indicator, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence/restraint.
Being able to recognize and understand these cultural dimensions demonstrates your CQ, which is made up of drive, knowledge, strategy, and action. When you look at these CQs in a work context, it means being able to use each of them to hone the specific skills needed to be successful within cultural exchanges.
This lesson also covered the following:
Cultural intelligence (CI) is the ability to display intercultural competence within a given group through adaptability and knowledge.
Recognizing and understanding your own culture contributes to your overall cultural intelligence.
Diversity is a range of different people (age, sex, ethnicity, religious beliefs, ability) being included in something.
Diversity in organizations provides benefits, including opportunity in global markets, new ways of thinking, promoting creativity and innovation, as well as engaging employees and reducing staff turnover costs.
A diverse workforce can contribute to an organization’s competitive advantage.
Attributions and References
1. “Leading with Cultural Intelligence” by Mai Moua is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 and has been modified by WGU
2. “Introduction to Business” by OpenStax is licensed under CC BY 4.0 and has been modified by WGU. Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/4e09771f-a8aa-40ce-9063-aa58cc24e77f@8.6.
Blinkist. (2019). Diversity is beneficial [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/learning/dream-teams-working-together-without-falling-apart-blinkist-summary/diversity-is-beneficial?u=2045532&auth=true
Caligiuri, P. (2018). Understanding culture [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/learning/managing-globally/understanding-culture?u=2045532&auth=true
Gozzoli, C., & Gazzaroli, D. (July 10, 2018). “The Cultural Intelligence Scale: A Contribution to the Italian Vatican.” Frontiers in Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01183/full#B29
Hofstede, G. (n.d.). “The dimensions explained.” Retrieved from https://geerthofstede.com/culture-geert-hofstede-gert-jan-hofstede/6d-model-of-national-culture/
Johnson, S. (2018). Uncover the reasons for diversity [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/learning/diversity-and-inclusion-in-a-global-enterprise/uncover-the-reasons-for-diversity?u=2045532&auth=true