PMGM7002 Chap.2 Kluckhohn-Strodtbeck and Hofstede Frameworks
Kluckhohn-Strodtbeck and Hofstede Frameworks
Two instruments for describing difference
After defining culture, the course gives you two ways to describe how cultures differ. One comes from sociology and asks a small set of questions every society has to answer. The other comes from psychology and rests on a very large employee survey.
They are complementary rather than rival: the first names disagreements about nature, time and human character that the second does not measure, while the second supplies comparative scores the first does not.
The sociological framework
Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck describe six value orientations, each with three variations.
A society relates to nature through subjugation, harmony or mastery; orients to the past, present or future; sees human nature as evil, mixed or good; values being, thinking or doing; organises relationships individually, by group or by hierarchy; and treats space as private, mixed or public.
The orientations are useful because they name what managers argue about without realising the argument is cultural.
Hofstede's dimensions
Hofstede's framework came from questionnaires completed by 116,000 employees of IBM in more than seventy countries.
It began with power distance, individualism and collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity and femininity, since renamed motivation towards achievement and success. Long-term orientation was added later and reframed as pragmatic against normative, and indulgence against restraint came most recently.
The chapter sets out what each end of each dimension looks like inside an organisation, from centralised hierarchies under high power distance to thick rulebooks under high uncertainty avoidance.
Using scores without stereotyping
The course stresses that country scores are relative and can only be used meaningfully in comparison.
It also stages a debate about whether deference in a cockpit hierarchy contributed to aviation accidents, and asks whether you agree. The chapter uses that debate to separate a tendency in a population from the behaviour of a particular person, which is the distinction a strong case analysis has to keep.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Six value orientations and their three variations
- 02
The survey basis of Hofstede's framework
- 03
Power distance and organisational structure
- 04
Individualism and collectivism
- 05
Uncertainty avoidance and rules
- 06
Achievement and success values
- 07
Long-term orientation and pragmatic thinking
- 08
Indulgence and restraint
- 09
Why scores are relative
Worked example · free
Design one appraisal for two power distance settings
- 2Name the dimension and define it.
- 2Predict how each unit would read a participative feedback meeting.
- 2Recommend what to standardise and what to localise.
Key terms
- Value Orientation
- One of the questions every society answers in the Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck framework, such as its relation to nature or its view of time.
- Power Distance
- How readily people with less power in institutions and organisations accept that power is shared unequally and defer to those above them.
- Collectivism
- The tendency to belong to groups that protect their members in return for loyalty, so that identity is defined as we.
- Uncertainty Avoidance
- How uneasy members of a culture feel when facing ambiguity or situations they cannot predict.
- Confucian Dynamism
- Another name for long-term orientation, identifying whether a region's culture builds on Confucian teaching.
- Pragmatic Orientation
- The long-term pole of the fifth dimension, in which people adapt tradition to new conditions, save and persevere.
- Indulgence
- A society that gives relatively free rein to natural urges to enjoy life and have fun.
Kluckhohn-Strodtbeck and Hofstede Frameworks FAQ
How many dimensions does Hofstede's model have now?
Six in the version the course teaches. Four came from the original IBM survey, a fifth covering long-term orientation was added through later work and reframed as pragmatic against normative, and a sixth on indulgence against restraint was added more recently. Older readings that list four or five are describing earlier stages of the same model.
Can I say a country is high in power distance?
Only with a comparison attached. The course states that culture scores are relative and meaningful only by comparison, so the defensible sentence names both cultures, for example that one subsidiary's setting shows higher power distance than head office. A score used without a comparison also invites stereotyping of individuals.
When is Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck more useful than Hofstede?
When the disagreement in a case is about something the survey dimensions do not measure. Arguments over whether staff can be trusted without supervision concern human nature, and arguments over long plans against quick fixes concern time orientation. Naming the orientation lets you treat the dispute as a difference in assumptions rather than a clash of personalities.
Assessment move
Draw the six-by-three orientation grid from memory, then list Hofstede's six dimensions with one organisational signature for each end. Test yourself by reading a short news story about a company abroad and naming every dimension it describes without using the word.
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