CONFLICT AND HOFSTEDE!

There was a conflict, and shortly afterwards I found myself reading about Hofstede. Some of you will know that Hofstede came up with a set of cultural dimensions to help understand how people from different cultures communicate and relate to each other. Now I had read the theory in the past, but then I came across a website which ranks different countries and it is fascinating, I really encourage you to take a look and notice how different even neighbouring countries are to one another, UK and Ireland for example. Read about Hofstede here.

I am probably something like this

Anyway my interest of course is Nigeria where I find myself, and the UK, where I have become the person I am. The main differences I notice between Nigeria and the UK are the Power Distance (PD), and Individualism (IDV).  This basically means peoples ability to challenge authority and whether they behave as an individual or as a group. The UK has a PD figure of 30 compared to 72 in Nigeria, and an IDV figure of 85 compared to 15 in Nigeria. In low individualism countries “harmony may be more important than honesty.” Being an individual I chose to challenge the power rather than maintain the harmony this resulted in CONFLICT! Check out your country here 

The people I am working with are probably something like this!

There is even a place on the website where you can compare where you are from with where you are working, check here.