An Empirical Study of Cultural Dimensions and Their Applications

An Empirical Study of Cultural Dimensions and Their Applications

Reichenbach, E.A.

Technology, Policy and Management

MAS

Management of Technology

2015-08-31

This report presents an empirical study on cross-cultural analysis, focusing on the applicability of cultural dimensions theory in a professional work environment. This study is one of the first to test cultural dimensions on practitioners. The goal is to find out how practitioners make use of existing theory and how this can be improved. Through a series of twenty one-on-one interviews with practitioners at engineering services provider Atkins Aerospace, the following results have been obtained: Current awareness of cultural differences and knowledge of cultural dimensions theory is low; practitioners of various experience levels showed good understanding of the theory when introduced to it; useful dimensions were in particular Geert Hofstede’s Individualism, Power Distance, and Indulgence; and practitioners showed keen interest in further learning, but were inconclusive on preferred teaching methods. Recommendations are that organizations should increase their efforts to train people on cultural dimensions, while theorists should improve the accessibility of their models. Pragmatism is required from all parties, and dimensions that are defined and labeled in a simpler way are more likely to be used by practitioners.

Cultural Dimensions

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:453fcf4e-822f-433e-9eaa-7f5e1e9b0026

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2015 Reichenbach, E.A.