Assignment A.
1. Every nation or in another words social units share unique attributes and norms within it that can be seen as important obstacle in communications across nations and social units. For introduction propose definition of culture should be stated.
“Culture is a set of shared values, assumptions and beliefs that are learnt through membership in a group, and that influence the attitudes and behaviors of group members.” (Ghemawat & Reiche, 2011)
If we analyze Russia according to Hofstede Model, we can get good outlook of its culture and compare it with USA and France culture in order to understand the degree of difference among the cultures.
Graph 1. Hofstede’s cultural dimension scores for each country Source: 2010 Geert Hofstede’s Dimension Data Matrix, http://www.geerthofstede.nl/dimension-data-matrix
Power distance
This dimension describes cultural hierarchy in Russia. It has score 93 point out of 100 meaning it managers very distant from
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Individualism
Individualism is the other side of collectivism. The index shows degree to what extent individuals are integrated and related into groups. (Hofstede, 1980) Clearly we can see Russia has the lowest score 39 between USA and France reflecting the footprint of communism that lasted for more than 70 years in past century. Again, we contemplate polarity between the West and the East. Family values are much higher in Russian society then in the US and France. However, now people in Russia are changing, they favor to take individual responsibilities, be part of small teams, work in startups where individuality.
It is important to understand individualism and collectivism if not it can lead to, for instance, earlier return of expatriates, fail in negotiation on investment etc.