Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind: Intercultural Cooperation and Its Importance for Survival

By Gert Jan Hofstede and Geert Hofstede

Book Overview

The revolutionary study of how the place where wegrew up shapes the way we think, feel, and act--with new dimensions and perspectivesBased on research conducted in more than seventy countries over a forty-year span, Cultures and Organizations examines what drives people apart--when cooperationis so clearly in everyone's interest. With major new contributions from MichaelMinkov's analysis of data from the World Values Survey, as well as an account ofthe evolution of cultures by Gert Jan Hofstede, this revised and expanded edition: Reveals the "moral circles" from which national societiesare built and the unexamined rules by which people think, feel, and actExplores how national cultures differ in the areas of inequality, assertiveness versus modesty, and tolerance for ambiguityExplains how organizational cultures differ from nationalcultures--and how they can be managedAnalyzes stereotyping, differences in language, cultural rootsof the 2008 economic crisis, and other intercultural dynamics This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0070293074
• ISBN13: 9780070293076
• Release Date: October 1996
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 279 Pages
• Weight: 0.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Monumental Book Well Worth the Read

The father and son team of Geert and Geert Jan Hofstede have done a remarkable job breaking down the (measurable) elements of the world's cultures, usingt the somewhat antiquated IBM studies combined with more recent (less comprehensive) studies. The end result is that nations can be evaulauted on the basis of criteria such as "uncertainty avoidance," "individualism" and "power distance from superiors." The work is enlightening...

Monumental piece of work on dealing with differences in cultures

Geert Hofstede is Emeritus Professor at Maastricht University in The Netherlands. He was Professor of Organizational Anthropology and International Management at the University of Limburg (which was later re-named Maastricht University). He is the founder and first director of the Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation (IRIC), where a lot of the research used in this book comes from. This paperback version was...

Excellent

Hofstede is, of course, the pioneer of culture studies in business and organizations. This book is a simpler and more accessible version of the more comprehensive - but also more difficult, 'Culture's Consequences'. He begins with an excellent overview of culture and its levels and explains the concept of cultural `dimensions' - aspects of culture that can differentiate and measure differences among different cultural groups...

The most insightful studies of cultural differences ever

I found this book to be of tremendous value. I have had some experience with different cultures -- Italian, French and East African. This book helped me understand all of them better, and gave me a much deeper understanding of the problems I had encountered.Each of the cultural difference dimensions is based on real research -- not just a theoretical idea. Each of them is introduced with a telling anecdote, that is almost...

develops individual skills for a multi-cultural environment

An important book for developing the skills needed for an individual for working in a multi-cultural environment. Through the course of reading the book i realized a few things (in fact a lot of things) that will help me work better in a global organization. It is also useful as a tool if one plans to work with people from different cultures. In all, this book gives you revelent information in uderstanding this topic!