Culture′s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations 2nd Edition

The publication of the original edition of Hofstede's Culture's Consequences was, within the field of cross-cultural research, comparable to the work of Darwin in evolutionary theory. Now, with a second edition, practitioners and theorists alike have a rich quarry to mine for many years to come.The second addition notably adds references to a number of corroborating studies that have been collected over the more or less twenty years since the first edition. As an example, Appendix 6 contains references to well over 50 statistically linked research papers from other authors. The result is the collection in a single volume of a growing body of literature in the field, work that continues to define a kind of mental geography of culture.When I first come upon Hofstede's research in the 1980's I was immediately taken with the extraordinary relationship between his mental geographies (charted by developing ratios between his four, now five, dimensions) and the physical proximity of real countries. In other words, the countries in his dimensions tended to cluster in similar ways to how countries cluster geographically. Of course there are counter-intuitive examples (e.g., Germany), but in many of those cases, the data helps break cultural stereotypes widely held about those countries.Hofstede's original research focused on over 115,000 questionnaires provided to the worldwide employees of IBM. The premise behind using one company worldwide is that because the company is held constant, the data that can be examined for differences that can be attributed to country cultures. If IBM employees had been compared to, for example, government workers in different countries, organizational culture would have been implicated.More recent studies (for example Michael Hoppe's dissertation work) tend to revalidate the country positions on the dimensions, showing only slow shifts in the data over time.Over the years that I have used Hofstede's research in my practice, I have found it to be a touchstone by which people of all backgrounds can understand how culture influences business and other fields. I know that many, many other practitioners rely on his research approach as well.The book is a compendium of much of the substantive cross-cultural research of the past half-century; it is an essential reference for students, teachers, researchers, and practitioners alike.

It delivered fast.But the corner of the book was little bit folded.

Another excellent book that is simple, deep, and easy to read. I love this book that brings the best of every culture to conform geat organizations like the International Business Machines (IBM). I simply love it.

The folks at Amazon.com are great. I mistakenly ordered the book from a different supplier and found out that it would not be delivered for 10-15 days. I needed the book asap, so amazon shipped me the book, minus the shipping cost. I received the book the very next day. That's what I call great customer service!

I'm using this book as a reference for my organizational leadership degree completion program. It is touted as the best of its kind in one of our textbooks, and I have found it useful as a factual source for research papers.

In good condition, just some high lighter.

Great throretical model book that is still important today. Has scales that are still used and that are validated.

A classic that lives up to its reputation and is foundational to understanding organizational culture and values.