A country can only be discussed once for the original post, so be sure to review your group mate’s posts before making your original post. Students who duplicate a country that has already been discussed by a group mate will receive a 20 point grade deduction.
Cultural differences exist between regions in the United States, so it is no wonder that cultural differences are very often more pronounced between different countries. Hofstede spent decades exploring these differences and the information gleaned from his research can be found on the Hofstede Insight website.
Original Post: (worth 75% of grade)
Visit Hofstede Insights – Compare Countries (Links to an external site.) to use the Compare Countries tool. In the search box, you can choose several countries to compare in regards to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.
Choose the United States and then choose a country that is VERY DIFFERENT from the US cultural dimensions. Once you’ve chosen two countries you’ll see a bar graph pop up. It will be immediately evident how similar or different the countries are when looking at the bar graph. Australia, the UK, and Canada are almost identical to the US, so they are not acceptable choices. I’m sure there are others that are very similar, so be sure the country you choose is dramatically different on a majority of the cultural dimensions.
Once you’ve made your country choice, click the button below that says ‘Read more about chosen countries’. The information provided will give you insight into the differences in the cultural dimensions of the country you have chosen to compare to the US.
In your original post, discuss how the differences in each of the six cultural dimensions would impact a company’s management practices when compared to how it would operate in the US. In your discussion, list the dimension along with the score for the US and the country you’ve chosen at the beginning of your discussion for each cultural dimension.
There are certainly differences in US business practices, but there are a good number of similarities as well. For instance, how companies manage benefits, promotions, vacations, raises, family leave, family time, work/life balance, diversity, work week schedule, etc. all have norms here in the US. What might employee expectations be in the other country compared to the US? How might managers be expected to interact with their employees? How might employees be expected to interact with managers? A robust discussion on the differences in the differences in the six cultural dimensions is expected.
Response Post: (worth 25% of grade)
Include the name of the comparison country of post you’re responding to. This assists me with grading. Do your own research on one of the countries chosen by your classmates and discuss the following:
Add at least one cultural difference between the US and that country that your classmate did not cover in their post and how that would impact management and employees.
What cultural difference discussed by your classmate would you personally find most challenging as a manager in that country? Explain your reasons.
DO NOT PICK:
Egypt
Portugal
Russia
Nigeria
Bulgaria
El Salvador
Kuwait
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