ENHANCING CULTURAL AWARENESS IN THE WORKPLACE: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL MODEL AND THE GLOBE PROJECT DIMENSIONS

        The Global Project, which has identified nine different dimensions and cultures, has a significant contribution towards cultural awareness in the workplace (Canestrino et al. 2020). It has identified several dimensions such as “future orientation”, “uncertainty avoidance”, “collectivism societal and in-group”, “gender egalitarianism”, “assertiveness”, “power distance”, “humane orientation”, and “performance orientation” (Dorfman et al. 2021).
Gender egalitarianism
        The degree primarily focuses on people and their priorities of promoting fairness and equality between different genders. Understanding and supporting this idea allows people within an organisation to value different genders at work (House et al. 2004). Additionally, it also influences the process of creating policies and regulations to maintain gender inequality, which creates a positive and supportive environment in the workplace.
Collectivism-group
        The degree represents how much individuals feel connected and proud of their families and organisations. The idea is about showing the togetherness and loyalty that individuals show towards the group they are working with (Javidan & Walker, 2012). The degree plays a significant role in enhancing the bonding within a workforce, which not only increases the work efficiency of the group but also increases its productivity.
Collectivism-societal
        The degree focuses on how much an organisation and society rewards and motivates the sharing of resources and working together (Zwikael et al. 2022). It involves practises where governments support the “joint distribution of resources”, which is also can be seen in the system of socialism (Javidan & Walker, 2012). The degree plays a significant role in increasing group performance and also provides rewards in collectivist cultures. It helps the employees learn about the cultural values of various societies from their “collectivism-societal” aspects.
Power distance
        The degree concentrates on which members of a group or society expect the power to be distributed equally. Understanding the concept of this degree helps in influencing the process of decision-making, which allows it to match with the cultural expectations by the way power is required to be distributed (House et al. 2004). It also ensures decision taken by the authority respects the cultural views of the organisation on power distribution.
Assertiveness
        Assertiveness is the way individuals strongly and confidently express themselves. The way of expressing can be in both a “confrontational” or “aggressive manner”. Having ideas about assertiveness helps in adjusting the way people communicate and operate business (Gupta & Govindarajan, 2002). This idea is about adapting the style of communication and approaches of the business, which can be suited to the cultural preferences.
Uncertainty avoidance
        The dimension is about how much society depends on rules, procedures, and social norms, which play a crucial role in dealing with the unpredictability of the future (House et al. 2020). Knowledge about this dimension can help shape strategic decisions and organisational processes, which fits with cultural preferences that contribute towards maintaining order, structure or flexibility.
Humane orientation
        The degree highlights how much a society promotes values such as altruism, care, generosity, fairness, and kindness among individuals. The knowledge regarding the humane orientation helps organisations to build cultures, which appreciate and promote fairness and kindness (House et al. 2004). The degree also plays an essential role in creating environments, which value and encourage these humane qualities to create a positive culture within a firm.
Future orientation
        The degree is about how much individuals focus on and engage in behaviours such as planning and investing, which are especially oriented towards the future (Benson et al. 2020). Having a strong grip on this degree helps companies adjust their planning processes to match cultural attitudes. It also guides firms to prepare for risk-taking and long-term planning for the future (Dorfman et al. 2021). It also helps the employees to gain an understanding of the attitudes of colleagues from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Performance Orientation
        The dimension is about the value that society gives to high performance. The awareness of performance orientation allows firms to decide and measure the performance of employees (Gupta & Govindarajan, 2002). In addition, it also promotes continuous improvement within the workforce. Focusing on the performance of the workforce increases overall productivity, which leads to increased profitability.
Global leadership
        The Globe Project has also identified 6 different global leadership segmentations, which also play significant roles in influencing cultural awareness. Charismatic or ‘value-based leadership” reflects the quality of motivation and inspiration, which expect high performance based on core beliefs (Osland, 2017). This leadership helps in understanding leadership styles across cultures, which allows organisations to adapt specific leadership approaches that align with cultural expectations. The “team-oriented leadership” dimension prioritises effective team combination and implementation of common purpose and goals within the organisation. It allows organisations to make culturally diverse teams, which play a crucial role in promoting collaboration. “Participative leadership” is a specific degree, which allows managers to involve individuals related to the organisation in the process of decision-making (Wang et al. 2022). It plays a significant role in influencing organisation culture by creating a democratic culture within the firms, where diverse perspectives are valued.
        Furthermore, the global mind-set refers to the ability to scan broader perspectives and look for unexpected trends. Developing a global mind-set plays a significant role in cultural awareness. It allows individuals to understand and give importance to diverse perspectives, which creates effective cross-cultural communication (Osland et al. 2012). Similarly, global leadership is also important for leaders to gain skills such as dealing with uncertainty and understanding diverse situations, which contribute to building a positive culture.