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Cultural Values And Cultural Value Orientations

Decent Essays

As we become immersed in our own culture, it can be challenging to grasp the difference in cultural pattern taxonomies orientations of other cultures. Cultural pattern taxonomies has been defined in the textbook, Communication between Cultures, “as the dominant beliefs and values of a culture.” Cultural value orientation varies among cultures and ultimately affects the way we communicate interpersonally.
To better understand the differences as well as the similarities in cultural value orientations, Geert Hofstede’s Values Dimensions have broken down the concept of diverse cultural patterns that explains perceptual and communication differences using 6 categories: individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, masculinity/ femininity, long-term/short-term orientation, and indulgence/ restraint. The purpose of this analysis is to compare the affect on intercultural communications using the cultural value orientations of New Zealanders and the culture that I identify with, the U.S. American culture.
The first of Hofstede’s dimensions deals with power distance. Hofstede’s description of power distance is the degree in which less-superior members of an organization within a country tolerate the unequal distribution of power, for instance, between managerial roles in a company and the employees. New Zealand has a score of 22 in this dimension, which is considered very low. A very low score depicts that equality is a predominant cultural value within the

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