Compendium
Intercultural competences

Uncertainty Avoidance — the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambigjus or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these.

Countries exhibiting strong UAI (high-risk aversion) maintain rigid codes of belief and behaviour, and are intolerant of unorthodox behaviour and ideas. They also expect formalities. Weak UAI (low-risk aversion) societies maintain a more relaxed attitude in which practice counts more than principles. Also they are tolerate outside opinions, welcome change and there is lower level of bureaucracy.

World is changing! So also culture evaluate! Especially countries which went thought transformation – political, economic or social. How much you know about your own culture?

The fundamental issue addressed by this dimension is the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members. The high side of this dimension, called Individualism, can be defined as a preference for a loosely-knit social framework in which individuals are expected to take care of only themselves and their immediate families. Its opposite, Collectivism, represents a preference for a tightly-knit framework in society in which individuals can expect their relatives or members of a particular in group to look after them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.

How societies handle inequalities among people? Power Distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.

You do one thing at a time or you prefer to do several things at a time? How do you deal with time? Sequential time perspective views time as a giant cosmic clock ticking away. Synchronous views time as recurrent or cyclical.

Woman in Multinational Organizations. Cultural dimension Masculinity vs Femininity was introduced by Geert Hofstede, Dutch social psychologist. The fundamental issue here is what motivates people, wanting to be the best (Masculine) or liking what you do (Feminine). Remember that this dimension is not about gender but about values and preferences.

Is your culture rules or relationships oriented? Have you ever considered how this can influence your work in a multinational environment? People place a high importance on laws, rules, values, and obligations or believe that each circumstance, and each relationship, dictates the rules that they live by.