Sheila, you're using Power Distance scores to compare individuals in your message; I thought you said we couldn't do that. A societal culture value dimension mean (average) has all the meaning and lack of meaning that means have had since they were invented. A mean represents a cultural milieu of a society based upon some set of items of some sort.
We use means to accommodate the problem you state, along with medians, modes, standard deviations, skewness, and kurtosis.
Romie F. Littrell, BA, MBA,PhD, FIAIR, An fánaí fiáin
AUT Business School N.Z., romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz
http://www.romielittrellpubs.homestead.com/
http://www.crossculturalcentre.homestead.com/
Facilitator, Leadership & Management in Sub-Sahara Africa Conferences
Contents copyright Romie F. Littrell
--- On Mon, 21/4/08, Sheila Christina Gowans <gowanssc@UNIMELB.EDU.AU> wrote:
From: Sheila Christina Gowans <gowanssc@UNIMELB.EDU.AU>
Subject: Re: Cultural distance - more confused than before: FYI!
To: IMD-L@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
Date: Monday, 21 April, 2008, 5:45 PM
Hi Peter, My second go at this issue - realised I wrote Hofstede's dimensions were developed at org. level - they were developed at org. level (IBM) but for clarity - are cross-cultural dimensions so 'societal' or 'cultural' level is correct. However, this too is problematic because it assumes one metric for a particular culture (eg. Indonesia has a power distance of 78). This does not take into account the cultural hybridisation which is an inevitable consequence of globalisation. Consider whether an Indonesian with an MBA from an Ivy League university, working in a US-based multinational, will have the same view of authority as his colleague in Djakarta, with a local degree, who has only worked for the Indonesian government. Regards
From: International Management Division Discussion [mailto:IMD-L@AOMLISTS.pace.edu] On Behalf Of Lou Carrier
Sent: Sunday, 20 April 2008 1:54 PM
To: IMD-L@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
Subject: Re: Cultural distance - more confused than before: FYI!
This (unpublished?) article may be of use to you! http://www.victoria.ac.nz/psyc/staff/ronald-fischer/files/Fischeretal2.doc I have used cultural dimensions (Hofstede & GLOBE), metaphors and paradoxes to assess at national, organizational and individual levels. (:>) Lou Carrier I recently asked a question about calculating cultural distance at the individual level – I received several conflicting suggestions. I am new to this field and, now, more confused than before. Can we or can we not use Hofstede's dimensions at the individual level? If not, how do we calculate 'cultural distance' at the individual level? Any help will be appreciated.
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