Cultural Psychology Holfstede's Cultural Dimensions Essay

Based on the competitive nature of the business environment, strict formalities had to be kept up in order not to go beyond the boundaries of good business ethics and practices.

The final dimension was created after the first initial four and later adopted by Holfstede into his dimensional structure of cultural organizations. This dimension is associated with the group being more associated with long or short-term orientation. Companies with more long-term associations have employees and group members who have been a part of the particular organization for an extended period of time. Typically, these types of organizations present a collected look to the future on behalf of all of the members. This is based on the idea that the members expect to still be a part of the group in any particular point in the future. Therefore, long-term strategies can become fruitful, with several group members working hard for a delayed gratification. However, this was not the case in BB. BB was an organization that more associated with short-term orientation. Thus, BB embodied typical short-term traits that were more associated with the present day and its opportunities and challenges, rather than long-term future developments. With such a large turnover rate, BB and its management team were more individually focused on a primary group of long-term members which were then augmented by the presence of short-term employees that floated through and conducted the grunt work of most of BB's operations. Most people did not last long in BB, and that left more focus for management strategies to be on the immediate present and how both productivity and profits could be maximized now.

The understanding of these dimensions has helped give clarity to specific organizational environments. With the understanding of the levels of the dimensions as comparisons between two polar opposites, one can see a much clearer picture of one's own experiences within any given professional environment. Thus, Holfstede's work can be implemented in understanding common patterns as they appear within individual experiences.

References

Holfstede, Geert, (2001). Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations…