Exploring Culture

by Hofstede, Gert Jan; Pedersen, Paul B.; Hofstede, Geert

• ISBN13: 9781877864902
• ISBN10: 1877864900
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-08-01
• Publisher: Quercus

Summary

A masterpiece in intercultural training!

Exploring Culture brings Geert Hofstede's five dimensions of national culture to life. Gert Jan Hofstede and his co-authors Paul Pedersen and Geert Hofstede introduce synthetic cultures, the ten "pure" cultural types derived from the extremes of the five dimensions. The result is a playful book of practice that is firmly rooted in theory.

Part light, part serious, but always thought-provoking, this unique book approaches training through the three-part process of building awareness, knowledge, and skills. It leads the reader through the first two components with more than 75 activities, dialogues, stories, and incidents. The Synthetic Culture Laboratory and two full simulations fulfill the skill-building component.

Exploring Culture is suitable for students, trainers, coaches and educators. It can be used for individual study or as a text, and it serves as an excellent partner to Geert Hofstede's popular Cultures and Organizations.

Author Biography

Gert Jan Hofstede, son of Geert Hofstede, is a senior researcher in Information Technology at Wageningen University in the Netherlands Paul B. Pedersen is Professor Emeritus at Syracuse University in the Department of Human Services, School of Education Geert Hofstede is an international authority on cross-cultural social psychology and is cofounder of the Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, where he also serves as a senior fellow

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction	xv
Part I: Stories and Exercises	1	(88)
Worlds Apart in One Village	3	(26)
Awareness, Knowledge, Skills	5	(2)
What Do You See?	7	(5)
How Would You Feel?	12	(2)
What Would You Do?	14	(3)
Observation and Interpretation	17	(1)
Cross-Cultural Communication Barriers	17	(3)
Culture Shock	20	(4)
Exercises	24	(3)
Conclusion	27	(2)
Culture: The Rules of the Social Game	29	(60)
The Best Country, a Fairy Tale	30	(4)
Five Basic Problems of Society	34	(6)
Major Aspects of Culture	40	(6)
Awareness of Culture Differences	46	(27)
How Would You Feel? (Revisited)	73	(5)
What Would You Do? (Revisited)	78	(5)
Attribution Exercises	83	(4)
Conclusion	87	(2)
Part II: Synthetic Cultures	89	(78)
The Ten Synthetic Culture Profiles	91	(24)
How to Interpret the Profiles	92	(2)
Profiles: Identity Dimension	94	(4)
Profiles: Hierarchy Dimension	98	(3)
Profiles: Gender Dimension	101	(4)
Profiles: Truth Dimension	105	(4)
Profiles: Virtue Dimension	109	(4)
Conclusion	113	(2)
Getting to Know the Synthetic Cultures	115	(20)
Cross-Cultural Encounters	116	(2)
Guess the Synthetic Culture	118	(2)
Workthink	120	(6)
Synthetic Cultures versus Real Cultures	126	(8)
Conclusion	134	(1)
Dialogues in Synthetic Culture Role	135	(26)
Dialogues: Identity Dimension	136	(5)
Dialogues: Hierarchy Dimension	141	(5)
Dialogues: Gender Dimension	146	(5)
Dialogues: Truth Dimension	151	(5)
Dialogues: Virtue Dimension	156	(4)
Conclusion	160	(1)
Summing Up	161	(6)
Part III: Group Work and Simulations	167	(62)
Group Work for Cross-Cultural Learning	169	(16)
Framework for Group Work	169	(3)
Synthetic Culture Acculturation Exercises	172	(4)
The Synthetic Culture Laboratory	176	(9)
Using Synthetic Cultures in Simulations	185	(26)
Simulations on the Market	185	(7)
The Synthetic Culture Approach to Simulations	192	(6)
Selecting and Preparing for a Simulation	198	(3)
Introducing the Simulation	201	(3)
Facilitating the Simulation	204	(2)
Debriefing the Simulation	206	(5)
The Trade Mission	211	(6)
Follow-the-sun Global Technology Team	217	(12)
References	229	(4)
About the Author	233