CULTURAL DIMENSION in UK

England is one of four distinct regions of the United KINGDOM, which also includes Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. England’s population is approximately 47 million.

It is important to note that the Scots, Welsh, and Irish are not English, and are often offended when referred to as such. Additionally, citizens of the U.K. do not consider themselves European. Unfortuantely, they are usually grouped as such, due in part to their membership in the European Union.

The English are very proud of their heritage and history. Along with their contributions to the world of today, several famous writers came from England. Some of the most famous are Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot, and Chaucer. This century, England has seen many influential daughters and sons. The Beatles, Winston Churchill, and Queen Elizabeth II have all played a tremendous role in England’s presence in the modern world.

The United Kingdom is a unitary state under a constitutional monarchy. Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state of the UK as well as monarch of fifteen other independent Common wealth countries.

Power Distance• This dimension relates to the degree of

equality/inequality between people in a particular society.

• A country with a high Power Distance score both accepts and perpetuates inequalities between people.

• A low Power Distance indicates that a society does not emphasize differences in people’s status, power or wealth. Equality is seen as the collective aim of society and upward mobility is common.

In the United Kingdom• At 35 Britain sits in the lower rankings of power

distance index – a society that believes that inequalities amongst people should be minimized.

• The PDI score at first seems incongruent with the well established and historical British class system and its exposes one of the inherent tensions in the British culture.

Example 1

For example: British Prime Minister David Cameron goes to work every day on the subway.

• Example 2Britain's Prince William and the Duchess Catherine went to watch a basketball game like normal people.

Uncertainty AvoidanceThe dimension

uncertainty avoidance has to do with that a society deals with the fact that the future can never be known: should we try to control the future or just let it happen?

At 35% the U.K has a low score on uncertainty avoidance which means that as a nation they are quite happy to wake up not knowing what the day brings and they are happy to “make it up as they go along” changing plans as new information comes to light. As a low UAI country the British are comfortable in ambiguous situations – the term “muddling through” is a very British way of expressing this.

In work terms this results in planning that is not detail oriented the end goal will be clear but the detail of how we get there will be light and the actual process fluid and filexible to emerging and changing environment.

Planning horizons will also be shorter. Most importantly the combination of a highly individualistic and curious nation is a high level of creativity and strong need for innovation.

Speakers’ Corner in London

Royal Family and Government

Individualism- Collectivism

• At a score of 89 the UK is amongst the highest of the individualistic scores, beaten only by some of the commonwealth countries it spawned i.e. Australia and the USA.

• . The British are a highly individualistic and private people.

Individualism-Collectivism

• Children are taught from an early age to think for themselves and to find out what their unique purpose in life is and how they uniquely can contribute to society.

• Collectivist cultures are where group interests prevail; tightly integrated; indirect style of communication.

Examples

Masculinity-Feminity• Williams did an investigation about

roles of genders in United Kingdom, in 1977. And at the end here is the differences:

• Male: autonomous, offensive, exposure, dominant

• Female: nourishing, warm, humanist

• Depending on Hofstede’s research; UK is masculine above 66 points.

Example

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