International And Intercultural Communication

International and Intercultural Communication

[Name of the Writer]

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International and Intercultural Communication

Geert Hofstede identified five dissimilar cultural dimensions concerning particular countries and assigned a numerical score to each per their beliefs about each of the cultural dimensions. The five cultural aspects are power distance (PDI), individualism (IDV ), masculinity (MAS), uncertainty avoidance (UAI), and long term orientation (LTO).

Syria

Syria has a score of 80 in PDI which is high. This means that Syrian people accept a hierarchical order. In other words, businesses in Syria should tend to be centralization as people of Syria will presume that they will be told what to do. The ideal manager would be benevolent and an autocrat (Whalen, 2016).

IDV with a low score of 35 means that Syrian people are not into individualism and collectivism prevails in the region. Loyalty is paramount and strong relationships are valued more than other things. People prefer to work for the betterment of a group, society as a whole or their families. Businesses here would need to treat people as a family.

MAS score of 52, means that there is no clear dominant inclination concerning masculinity and feminism.

A high score of 60 in UAI means that Syrian people prefer avoiding ambiguities. The society here maintains inflexible codes of convictions and is intolerant of nonconformist behaviors and philosophies. People like to be busy and work hard, accuracy and reliability. Innovation may be repelled.

A low score of 30 in LTO means that Syria is a normative nation. People prefer absolute Truth, exhibit excessive respect for customs, a relatively small tendency towards the future, and an emphasis on attaining rapid outcomes.

The U.K

At 35 in PDI, the UK is in the lower rankings. It means the people here believe that inequalities among people should be reduced. In this culture, people feel that everyone should be treated justly and fairly.

IDV score of 89 is very high. This means that the society here is exceedingly individualist and secluded. People prefer to think for themselves and uniquely contribute to society. Personal fulfillment is the goal here.

MAS at 66 the UK is a slightly Masculine culture, which means people here are achievement oriented and ambitious. They are more likely to spend extra hours at work. Students will be more concerned about their exam marks and ranking so to achieve success.

At 35 in UAI. It means that the people of this country are comfortable with uncertainty; and are flexible and entrepreneurial (Mooij, 2017)

A score of LTO being 51 is midways score; therefore a prevailing preference here cannot be determined.

Here the U.K and Syria are quite the opposite to each other concerning Intercultural Interpersonal Communication or cultural dimensions. The only cultural aspect that is somewhat similar is Masculinity. In Syria, Masculinity dimension is in the middle whereas in the U.K it is a bit high at 66, which means people in the U.K are little more achievement-oriented and ambitious and are more likely to spend extra hours at work as compared to Syrians.

If there are two organizations, one in Syria and one in the U.K, who wants to do business with each other, they must bear in mind the two nations or cultures are entirely different from each other; they have to operate or communicate with each other in accordance with these differences (McLean, n.d.). For instance, the organization in the U.K should take care of the fact that Syrian people are more family oriented and they would choose options that have mutual benefits for their organization or community; also they would like to be told what is to do rather than giving them a free hand. Syrian people prefer avoiding ambiguities and are intolerant of nonconformist behaviors and philosophies. Therefore, businesses should take place in such a way that their ideologies, beliefs or codes are not damaged or forced to change. Lastly, long-term objectives might not work well with the Syrian organization as they would expect rapid outcomes. The Syrian organization must know that the U.K is the opposite of their culture and should collaborate in accordance. They should not be forced to do something and given more or options to bring in something new.

References

de Mooij, M. (2017). Comparing dimensions of national culture for secondary analysis of consumer behavior data of different countries. International Marketing Review, 34(3), 444-456.

McLean, Scott. n.d. Business English For Success. 1st ed.

Whalen, J. M. (2016). The Hofstede model and national cultures of learning: a comparison of undergraduate survey data (Doctoral dissertation, Colorado State University).