TROMPENAARS V. HOFSTEDE

Geert Hofstede and Fons Trompenaars are Dutch academics who have spent considerable time over the past 30 years thinking about cultural diversity and its effect on business.

While each is critical of the others’ work, both men have come up with a series of ‘cultural dimensions’ that they use to consider how national culture affects organisational behaviour.

These dimensions are particularly helpful to communicators with a global employee audience.

By analysing where your audience fits in these dimensions, you can better structure your communications so that they elicit the response you desire.

There is no doubt that these cultural analyses can seem confusing at first, but it’s the role of a competent and expert translation and localisation provider to put it in context for you.

Here, we’ve summarised the main points to make it easy to grasp an understanding. There’s also a reading list at the bottom for those who wish to learn more.

Trompenaars’ four types of corporate culture

Trompenaars developed a cultural diversity model for application in business by considering the effect of national cultures on the notions of ‘person v. task’ and ‘centralised v. decentralised’ organisation structures. He came up with these four types of corporate culture:

Guided missile – a project-oriented approach; concerned with results. This group looks for practical solutions to shared challenges via multi-disciplinary teams. The UK and US fit into this group.

Eiffel Tower – a role-oriented group in which hierarchy is important; top-down management style. To manage change, the business would have to change rules and procedures. France and Germany score high in this model.

Familial – this is a power-oriented model in which a ‘family’ approach is taken. Power comes from high but is well known and there is a deep concern for all members. Japan and Belgium fit into this model.

Incubator – fulfilment-oriented group who see all members as ‘co-creators’. A relatively egalitarian structure in which individuals are given the freedom to improvise. Silicon Valley is a good example of where this has worked to great effect.

Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions

Hofstede’s is perhaps the best-known model for analysing the impact of national cultures on organisational behaviour. He talks about six cultural dimensions:

Individualism v. collectivism (IDV) – this relates to the relative importance of individual rights over the wellbeing of the group or community. The countries that score highest on the IDV are the US, Australia and UK.

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI) – the extent to which a culture values uncertainty or lack of structure. Countries with a high UAI deal with uncertainty by creating strict laws, rules and procedures. Greece scores highest here, followed by Portugal and Guatemala.

Power distance (PDI) – this relates to equality and how well the less powerful accept that power is distributed unequally. Malaysia scores the highest in PDI, while Australia scores among the lowest. Masculinity v. femininity (MAS) – ‘masculine’ cultures are considered assertive and aggressive, whereas ‘feminine’ cultures are modest and caring. Japan leads this list while Netherlands is towards the lowest.

Long-term orientation (LTO) – refers to how time is perceived and what extent the group invests in the future or can patiently wait for long-term results. China scores the highest here, followed by Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Further reading:

Hofstede, Geert. ‘Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations’. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2001.

Trompenaars, Fons and Hampden-Turner, Charles. ‘Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business’. Nicholas Brearly Publishing: London, 1997.