Hofstede’s Five Dimensions of National Culture, Latvian Culture and Cultural Differences

Hofstede is a researcher who analyzed culture at different levels starting from family, which is our first learning institution, to school and workplace, ending with the state, including its history, political ideas, ideology and religions. In result, five dimensions were separated: power distance, collectivism versus individualism, femininity versus masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation in life versus short term orientation in life. As individual mind needs to compare in order to understand and evaluate things, Hofstede’s five dimensions help not only to understand country differences in general, but also our own Latvian culture. His cultural analysis allows us to communicate better and derive our business more efficiently.
The first dimension of Hofstede is power distance, which can vary from small to large. Power distance characterizes the dependence relationships in a country and how society handles with inequality. It can be defined as “the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally” (G. Hofstede, 1991, p.28). …