Yamkham

Hofstede Theory

Business Negotiation involves in critical role to exchange information and knowledge will lead to success in international business. In 21 century, it is important for international managers to adapt the different situations, basically, cultural diversity in order to smooth in negotiation process and succeed in new markets. When managers form high context culture (Japan) and low context culture (United Kingdom) collide in business meeting, they need to aware of difference in communication style, body language, background and etiquette in advance for avoiding conflicts.

For analyzing cultural diversities, Geert Hofstede developed the five dimensions to measure the different values of cultures in 72 countries including Japan and UK.

1. Individualism vs. Collectivism:
2. Power Distance:
3. Masculinity vs. Femininity:
4. Long term vs. Short term Orientation:
5. Uncertainty Avoidance: a society’s reliance on social norms and procedures to alleviate the unpredictability of future events.

Hofstede’s framework makes clear in differentiation of national culture. The reason for choosing this theory is Hodstede’s research explains the similarities and differences of multi-cultures and able to compare the facts so business people from Japan and United Kingdom will understand the diversities.  By using this dimension, it is clear to identify the cultural differences and values between Japan and United Kingdom.

Theory relate to Japan and UK’s Business Cultural Diversity

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(Source: http://geert-hofstede.com/japan.html )

Individualism vs. Collectivism– The UK got high score, 89 in dimension represents a community where people are focus on individual performances and tend to protect individual rights whereas Japan displays strong in collectivism with 46 scores. Individualist culture has fewer social norms and regulations to follow and value the open society. This individualism style affects the ways of British thinking:  made decisions by using inner thoughts, judgments.

People from Japan are more likely to keep relationships rather than tasks. According to the collectivist culture, they tend to say the word “WE think….” refer to their group’s opinions during meeting and take step-by-step discussions in a group before they set final decisions for actual actions. Moreover, Japanese are consensus based decision makers and encourage teamwork. In consequence, the British business manager should notice that convincing just one person is not sufficient to lead successful negotiation, may require to consider the whole group of partner while interacting with Japan business people.