Fons Trompenaars Essays

Ethnography studies the customs of a particular culture. For those who study culture, one popular research method is the participant observation method. Participant observation is a method used in ethnography. The goal of participant observation is to learn a culture through close interaction and personal observation with a particular group of individuals. To have close interaction with the group, the researcher will take the role of a “player” in the group. As a “player” they live in the community

Geert Hofstede, a Dutch researcher, used five dimensions of culture to explain differences in behaviors from one culture to another. His work is based on questionnaires completed by IBM employees from 70 countries, one of the largest studies in international management ever conducted. Hofstede,s five dimensions are individualism and collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity and femininity, and orientation. Individualism and Collectivism Hofstede identified individualism versus