Why is culture the software of mind?

Summary:"The revolutionary study of how the place where we grew up shapes the way we think, feel, and act with new dimensions and perspectives. Based on research conducted in more than seventy countries over a forty-year span, Cultures and Organizations examines what drives people apart-when cooperation is so clearly in everyone's interest. With major new contributions from Michael Minkov's analysis of data from the World Values Survey, as well as an account of the evolution of cultures by Gert Jan Hofstede, this revised and expanded edition reveals the 'moral circles' from which national societies are built and the unexamined rules by which people think, feel, and act. Explores how national cultures differ in the areas of inequality, assertiveness versus modesty, and tolerance for ambiguity. Explains how organizational cultures differ from national cultures, and how they can be managed Analyzes stereotyping, differences in language, cultural roots of the 2008 economic crisis, and other intercultural dynamics"-- Provided by the publisher

Print Book, English, 2010

Publisher:McGraw-Hill, New York, 2010

Geert Hofstede, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of Organizational Anthropology and International Management at the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands.

Gert Van Hofstede, Ph.D., is a biologist and professor of Information Systems at Wageningen University, the Netherlands, and the son of Geert Hofstede.

Michael Minkov, Ph.D., is a lecturer at the International University College and at the University of Sofia “St. Kliment Ohridski,” Sofia, Bulgaria.

Top reviews from the United States

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Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2000

I found this book to be of tremendous value. I have had some experience with different cultures -- Italian, French and East African. This book helped me understand all of them better, and gave me a much deeper understanding of the problems I had encountered.
Each of the cultural difference dimensions is based on real research -- not just a theoretical idea. Each of them is introduced with a telling anecdote, that is almost as powerful as the statistical study.
I found lots of new information here, lots of new understanding. Most amazing to me is the fact that relatively close cultures have profound differences -- such as France and Sweden. Also amazing is the fact that these differences are of extreme duration -- reaching back thousands of years.
The author recognizes the problems that these differences bring to business and politics in an international setting. There do not appear to be any easy answers.
I highly recommend this book!

Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2012

very good condition, loved it., needed it and the price was nice, could not ask for more. Will buy again

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2017

Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2014

This book is a thorough and useful exploration of the ramifications of culture on national and organizational differences.

In comparison to Hostede's book "Culture's Consequences", this work is intended to be more accessible and less of a professional research text. While I'm sure the author attained this aim, I still find "Cultures and Organizations" to be a very dense read: many of the best conclusions are to be found buried between tables and outlines of research surveys. Even as a mathematician with a strong background in statistics, wading through this material was arduous, and I found myself frequently skimming in order to locate some of the many helpful observations and conclusions that Hofstede does offer. My concern is that I undoubtedly missed some of his gems as a result of my need to hop and skip through some paragraphs and passages.

I read this book in order to stimulate my thinking on cross-cultural issues of followership (the complementary idea to leadership). It has filled that purpose, but I will have to do much to further distill and simplify Hofstede's presentation for my own readers.

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 1999

This is a slow read, but take heart, read it all and also read "Corporate Culture and Performance" by Kotter and Haskett. The tools for making your organization run smoother, more efficiently and be more fun to work in are documented here. It is not a cookbook of how-to's. It is the research report into how cultural differences underlay everything you want to accomplish. If you are in the international arena or have a diverse workforce you absolutely need to read this book.
Knowing the differences in cultures and how to use them to everyone advantage is critical to your company's success. Ignore this one at your own peril, because at least one of your competitors is starting to implement the knowledge already. We started using the information by the time I got through the second chapter. Our Executive Coaching business is highly successful in changing corporate culture to produce the maximum benefits and returns with the resources available to top management because we factor in these differences. This book has become an indispensable reference for several of our programs.

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2001

This book is excellent on showing how countries and states where influenced by each other. The only problem I had with it was it was a college level book and I am still in high-school. So i did have to go back and reread paragraphs every so often. But this book asks many important questions and gives great insight on how and why the different world cultures spread.

Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2002

Together with Nancy Adler's 'International dimensions' is one of the best sources of cross-cultural social and business behaviour.In some points, the jargon is excessive though. Highly recommendable for cross-cultural analysts.

Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2003

Culture matters - that is surely the case, but the issue is whether it matters in the specific ways posited by this book, and it is not at all clear that it does. Setting aside the problematic nature of the notion of "national" culture in multiethnic societies (plus issues of class, generation etc.), Hofstede argues on the basis of surveys given to IBM employees circa. 1970 that national cultures can be understood along four (or possibly five) dimensions. He has a tendency to invoke anecdotes as ex post rationalizations of whatever statistical result he obtains. Although Hofstede must be given his due as a pioneer in this field, subsequent research attempting to validate this analysis has yielded mixed results, and by and large Hofstede's IBM data has been superseded by the more extensive World Values Survey data. Readers with a more scientific bent who want to examine in detail the evidence that underlies (or does not underlie) the arguments that Hofstede makes are directed to the companion volume, "Culture's Consequences." Nevertheless, it is a fast and easy read, presumably one of its attractions in management courses.

Who defined culture as the software of the mind?

Who suggested the idea that culture is a collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group of people from another?

What is culture according to Hofstede?

What are Geert Hofstede cultural dimensions?