Exploring Culture: Exercises, Stories and Synthetic Cultures

by Gert Jan Hofstede, Paul B. Pedersen, Geert Hofstede

A guidebook book to Hofstede's five dimensions of culture (power distance, collectivism versus individualism, femininity versus masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and long term versus short term orientation) and derivative synthetic cultures. It provides more than 75 exercises, dialogues, stories and simulations for trainers, educators, and students.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Business, Cultural

228 pages, Paperback

First published August 2, 2002

Reviews

[Noah Skocilich · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because the designers in my company were reading it, and even though I’m not a designer they said I could join their book club.

Otherwise, I’m sure this book never would have come to my attention and the concepts it articulated would very likely never have come to my attention.

I’m glad they did though, and glad to have read this brief and enjoyable book giving the basics of a certain discipline of how to analyze national cultures, and hence, to empower oneself theoretically and also practically to be able to work across cultures.

I feel like I would like to hear a Marxist critique of the one dimensional concept of national culture presented in the book, but other than that the axes of consideration ring true to me based on my own personal experience of living in China for a number of years and also generally interacting a lot with communities from other countries.

[Mirjam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een toegankelijk boek over het omgaan met cultuurverschillen. Met concrete voorbeelden, dialogen, modellen, simulaties en zelfs spellen!
Als je wil weten waarom Aziaten altijd zo stil op je reageren of waarom je projectgroep nooit doet wat je zegt, dan is er een grote kans dat je de sleutel tot het antwoord vindt in dit boek.
Het leest als een trein, maar dat neemt niet weg dat Hofstede bouwt op jaren van zorgvuldig onderzoek en experimenteren. Je merkt het direct: als een virtuoos neemt hij je mee door alle aspecten zonder je ook maar een moment te laten vervelen.

[Flip · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was good and informative. It used synthetic cultures as a way to learn how to be more open and diverse when dealing with people from other real-world cultures. What they had to say was good, though it did begin to drag on after a while. The book has many stories and excercises to help individuals and classes productively encounter various cultures. All in all, a good...but not great, introduction.

[Mojca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful little book for everyone really, not just those of us studying management, offering interesting insight into synthetic cultures and their 10 dimensions.
All interspersed with interesting examples in form of stories and exercises.

An interesting book that will need a re-read every once in a while.

[Rui · Rating 4 out of 5]

Depois da teoria do pai a prática do filho. Útil.

[Chai Eng · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for all those interested in Culture studies.