Culture is not cuisine or language but the invisible computer code that governs our action, feeling, and thought. It’s human know-how shared, systems of belief, and approaches to doing things that give a group its identity. As the globe is connected but increasingly divided, it’s no longer merely etiquette for traveling but economic, political, and social need.
Defining the Invisible Code
In its most basic sense, culture is a system which answers the big questions of human existence. It governs our values, structures our communication, and comprises our society. Anthropologist Edward Hall has notoriously broken down culture into two broad realms:
- High-Context Cultures: Based on the nonverbal, the shared experience, and the implicit knowledge. The unwritten can be greater than the written. Japan, China, and all Middle Eastern and all Latin American countries are these. Known on known trust and relationship-based is business known.
- Low-Context Cultures: Communication is direct, explicit, and relies primarily on words written or spoken. It is clarity- and efficiency-oriented. Germany, Switzerland, the United States, and Scandinavian nations are examples. Deadlines and contracts are higher up the list than individuals.
This efficient-and-minimalist difference has a colossal effect in a job interview all the way to international diplomacy.
Hofstede’s Dimensions: Mapping the Mind
It is likely the most effective system for examining cultural variation in the workplace of any that has ever been developed, and that would be Geert Hofstede’s theory of cultural dimensions. These dimensions are an effective system for examining societies being the way they are:
- Power Distance Index (PDI): Measures how a culture deals with differences in status and power. High PDI countries (such as Malaysia, Mexico) are accepting of a hierarchical framework where everyone is in his or her rightful place; juniors will accept to be told. Low PDI countries (such as Austria, Denmark) are focused on equality and need explanation of power disparities.
- Individualism vs. Collectivism (IDV): Whether self is defined in terms of “I” or “We.” Individualist countries (e.g., U.S., UK) emphasize personal achievement, independence, and nuclear family. Collectivist countries (e.g., most of Asia and Latin America) emphasize group harmony, protection, and extended family or community.
- Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI): The extent to which a culture handles the fact that the future can never be certain. High UAI cultures (e.g., Greece, Portugal) are anxious in situations of uncertainty and create strict rules, regulations, and bureaucracies to minimize uncertainty. Low UAI cultures (e.g., Singapore, Jamaica) are less anxious, more flexible, and prefer flexibility.
- Long-Term vs. Short-Term Orientation (LTO): A culture orientation to preserve the past and solve today’s and tomorrow’s issues. Long-Term cultures (i.e., East Asia) seek persistence, thrift and future saving. Short-Term cultures (i.e., West Africa, parts of the West) seek respect for tradition and Quick Results.
These facts prove that what is purportedly “bad business” or “rudeness” in one culture is exactly the normal practice in another.
The Challenge of Cultural Globalization
While the net and mass media existentially disseminate a supposedly universal homogenized culture (with Western dominance of music, cinema, and jargon), all is not well. Such global communication engenders two significant phenomena:
- Hybridization (or Glocalization): That is the bringing together of the global and the local culture. Take McDonald’s launching a Maharaja Mac in India or a Teriyaki Burger in Japan—the company is global, but the brand is localized to be sensitive or in harmony with local culture. That is an example of cultural flexibility and adaptability but not compromise.
- Cultural Backlash: On the other hand, forced imposition of global (usually Western) values also generates a violent backlash and leads to movements willing to protect traditional identities aggressively against perceived outside dangers. This usually manifests itself as political nationalism or protectionism.
Keep in mind that globalization does not destroy culture; it merely compels culture to make a noise and to fight back.
In the world of rapidity in communication and uncontrolled mobility of people and ideas, understanding of and sensitivity to such deeply embedded cultural codes are essential. Command over this limitlessness of cultural space—beyond caricature and into one of richness—is the hallmark of 21st century leadership, diplomacy, and citizenship.