Question One
According to the Hofstede cultural dimensions ranking, and Amazon’s operations in the United States, United Kingdom, China and Australia, the results are a portrayal of the subject countries’ cross –cultural communications analysis framework (The Hofstede Center, 2013). The option of the four countries can be used as a description of the major continents where the firm has interests and conducts active operations. The exclusion of Africa is to be considered non-vital in the course of trying to understand the main issue of cross-cultural communications from Amazon’s perspective since the concept of digital trade on the continent is relatively new and irregular. However, this should not be taken to mean that the company is absent in Africa. Amazon runs successful offices and has profitable operations in parts of eastern, northern, and western Africa, South Africa.
From a Hofstede rating viewpoint, we find that the system uses five dimensions to examine cross-cultural communications. These are; Individualism (IDV), The power Index (PDI), Masculinity (MAS), The Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI), and Long Terms Orientation (LTO). IDV means the extent to which the society is willing to recognize individual and collective achievement. According to our choice of countries, China scored just 15, while United States scored 91. These examples show how the U.S. society is strengthening achievements regardless of whether they are individual or out of collective effort. The second dimension, PDI, refers to a society’s general degree of equality, or inequality. In this dimension, Asian countries such as China score very high because of a high degree of inequality in the otherwise communist state. On the other hand, due to a level playing field and access to the capital resources, the largely capitalist Western states score low on this dimension. The third dimension, MAS, refers to the degree to which a society is ready and willing to accept the traditional male model that exudes power, achievement and control. Here we find that the western and eastern ratings are relatively equal, with the exception of the United Kingdom.
The fourth dimension refers to the level of tolerance within society for confusion and ambiguity. The Western countries score highly, due to their egalitarian orientation, according to the ranking of our four nations. The East, however, is more superstitious and wishes to be more in control of its future results. Finally, with the LTO, or a society’s willingness to overcome obstacles with time, we see that China scored very highly, while the Western countries scored so low. That means Westerners are not empowered to influence their actions as their Eastern counterparts are doing. Chinese delays in closing deals are a good example of this intolerance to the times.
Among the ways that a United States manager can modify his behavior to communicate better with foreign associates, especially those from Asia, is to adopt a cultural integration strategy. This would include attempts to learn language signs, communication methods and structures, as well as cultural practices from the other nations. Additionally, the U.S. manager could also identify differences that could lead to a clash between them. The Western communications style, for example, employs the liberal use of jokes while the Eastern one is more respectful. Such destructive communication skills might need to be toned down. There might also be a need to change the environment in which he communicates as this has a profound effect on the results. For example, Europeans might be comfortable with an informal setup, whereas Asians prefer more formal set-up. As is the case, the communication dynamics usable in these two settings would have to change in order to keep the new associates happy.