Individualistic or Collectivist ?

 Culture refers to the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music, religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it, our language, marriage, music and is different all over the world. In addition, it also refers to values and beliefs that exist in a society. To summarize, I think it is a style of what or how we live, what we think, and how we react to others. For instance, if you greet strangers with a smile on the street, you may get very different reactions from people who come from different countries.

According to the book Business Communications for Success, by Scott McLean, people in individualistic cultures value individual freedom and personal independence. For example, Amazon's stock soared recently, triggered many online media to post articles about it to get attention. Most of them are focused on how much money the CEO Jeff Bezos is earning per day, how worthy Jeff Bezos becomes, or what percentage does Jeff Bezos increasing his rich. These newspapers authors, editors, or publishers are reflecting their cultural viewpoint.

According to Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory, a framework used to understand the differences in culture across countries and to distinguish between different national cultures, the dimensions of culture, and assess their impact on a business setting, Hofstede identified six categories that define culture. Collectivism vs. Individualism is part of Hofstede's identified six categories.

Culturally speaking, I reckon that I am both individualistic and collectivist, I would say that I am kind of a hybrid personally. I value the autonomy of the person and creativity but not self-reliance. Some collectivistic cultures that I have are stronger bonds to my groups. I am more likely to talk about my likes and dislikes, personal goals, or accomplishments but also likely to define myself in relation to others sometimes.

Since I am kind of a hybrid, I value the autonomy of my employee and their creativity. However, I would like to lead by example and build some collectivistic within my business. I think it is my responsibility to take care of my employee and bring them a better future. Therefore, I would hire more collectivist people since they are more attached to my organization and have more permanent attachments to it but I would also manage and train them to respect diversity. We reward good performance but this benefit is both comes from individual and group effort, not purely group or purely individual.

Personally, I think my communication pattern tends to be collectivistic with low-context languages. Because I think most of the time, relationship prevails over task. And if the relationship is bad, the task is likely to be bad as well. Although people from collective cultures tend to use high-context language which means they are sensitive to their surroundings, I think language competency and expression can strongly influence other people's understanding. With low-context languages, messages can be received more correctly. However, some adjustment is always needed to reduce the chance of conflicts.

It seems complicated at first. However, I think most of the people or events are fall somewhere in between, not purely evil or purely agreeable. Therefore, purely collectivism will limit the creativity of individuals, and purely individualism will lead to a workplace that lacks empathy and responsibility for operating a business.

Reference

Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory. Corporate Finance Institute. (2020, June 1). Retrieved January 28, 2022, from https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/other/hofstedes-cultural-dimensions-theory/ 

McLean, S. (2015, November 25). 18.4 Divergent Cultural Characteristics. Retrieved July 31, 2020, from https://open.lib.umn.edu/businesscommunication/chapter/18-4-divergent-cultural-characteristics/