Analyzing the Culture - Hofstede's Method

The notions, culture and society are closely related. Culture is defined by Tylor as a complex thing which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man (meaning human, a man or a woman) as a member of society. Society consists of people living in the same territory who share a common culture. Culture is created from people of society; also it outlines the way people act together and understand the world around them. We are all witnesses of changes on societies and countries, because people are moving in a continuous way. They change places, or they emigrate from one country to another. While the immigration the only thing that a man (woman) can take with himself (herself) is a culture.
Sometimes for some reasons we are interested to know more about our culture or the others culture. There are few authors that describe how to do that, like E.T. Hall, Geert Hofstede, D. Pinto, W. Shinkel etc. But the best way of knowing yours or the other countries culture is by applying the Geert Hofstede’s method. This method analyzes the culture in depth and explains it in more details, in such a way you can do statistics and make conclusions which gives you a clear idea about naming culture. In his study G. Hofstede demonstrated that there are national and regional cultural groupings that affect the behavior of societies. Even though sometimes we mistakenly tend to think that deep inside all people are the same, they are not. So we have to keep in mind that there exist differences between the average of the country and the individuals. This model has been quite often correct when applied to the general population, but we should be aware that not all individuals or region groups represent that population, because sometimes the group might not be representative. According to G. Hofstede there are five dimensions to analyze the culture of one society:
• Power Distance Index (PDI)
How much the less powerful members of institutions and organizations expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. In some democratic countries the distance is low like for example in Germany, but in Arabic countries this distance is high.
• Individualism – collectivism
Individualism is the one side versus its opposite, collectivism, that is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. Western countries are individualistic countries because everyone looks only after him/herself and his/her immediate families, while Arabic countries are collectivist countries.
• Masculinity – Femininity
Masculinity versus its opposite, femininity refers to the distribution of roles between the genders which is another fundamental issue for any society to which a range of solutions are found. Woman’s values differ less among societies than men than men’s values.
• Uncertainty Avoidance
Uncertainty avoidance deals with a society’s tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity; it ultimately refers to man’s search for Truth.
• Long term orientation – short term orientation
o Long term orientation
-persistence
-ordering relationships by status and observing this order
-thrift
-having a sense of shame
o Short term orientation
-personal steadiness and stability
-protecting your ‘face’
-respect or tradition
-reciprocation of greetings, favors, and gifts

From my point of view, I prefer Hofstede's method the most because for example if you have to visit, do business, study, or only travel for whatever reason in another country, all you have to do is to check on the net and find out easily, and have a clear idea for the culture of that place before going there. I liked the other methods from the other authors as well but if I compare Hoftede's method with Pinto's there are differences, because with Pinto's method first you have to visit the country of your interest, and only then you might discover the culture of that place, but you cannot do it without being there and see it with your own eyes. So I think that Hofstede's method takes advantage over the others in this aspect and from this point of view.