Cultures and Organizations
Author: Geert Hofstede
List Price: $24.95
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ISBN: 0070293074
Publisher: McGraw-Hill (01 October, 1996)
Sales Rank: 13,489
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 3 out of 5
Cultural conundrums
Culture matters - that is surely the case, but the issue is whether it matters in the specific ways posited by this book, and it is not at all clear that it does. Setting aside the problematic nature of the notion of "national" culture in multiethnic societies (plus issues of class, generation etc.), Hofstede argues on the basis of surveys given to IBM employees circa. 1970 that national cultures can be understood along four (or possibly five) dimensions. He has a tendency to invoke anecdotes as ex post rationalizations of whatever statistical result he obtains. Although Hofstede must be given his due as a pioneer in this field, subsequent research attempting to validate this analysis has yielded mixed results, and by and large Hofstede's IBM data has been superseded by the more extensive World Values Survey data. Readers with a more scientific bent who want to examine in detail the evidence that underlies (or does not underlie) the arguments that Hofstede makes are directed to the companion volume, "Culture's Consequences." Nevertheless, it is a fast and easy read, presumably one of its attractions in management courses.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Great: The jargon only prevents perfection
Together with Nancy Adler's 'International dimensions' is one of the best sources of cross-cultural social and business behaviour.In some points, the jargon is excessive though. Highly recommendable for cross-cultural analysts.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Wow!!!!Headache....
This book is excellent on showing how countries and states where influenced by each other. The only problem I had with it was it was a college level book and I am still in high-school. So i did have to go back and reread paragraphs every so often. But this book asks many important questions and gives great insight on how and why the different world cultures spread. Similar Products
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