1、 Thoughts after Watching Shanghai Calling I remember those words from the end of Shanghai Calling : Shanghai is a city that is always changing. Why should the people who came to Shanghai be different? These two sentences make me think Hofstedes cultural dimensions theory a lot as following. We can s
2、ee so many cultural differences from the movie. Cultural differences are one of main factors the failure of intercultural communication and cross-cultural management. Hofstedes culture dimension theory is to analyze cultural differences. Cross-cultural management is not a new thing, it originates in
3、 the ancient international commerce. Cross-cultural management as a science is truly in the late 1970 s gradually formed and developed in the United States. Hofstedes cultural dimensions theory is put forward by Hofstede and is used to measure the framework of cultural differences among different co
4、untries. He thinks that culture is under environment where people have similar psychological procedures and can distinguish others with something. Here Im going to talk about long-term orientation and short-term orientation dimension. Long-term orientation and short-term orientation dimension refers
5、 to culture of delaying satisfaction that the physical, emotional and social demand would be acceptable. This dimension shows moral life is worth pursuing, and does not require any religion to prove its rationality. Long-term orientation index and national economic growth has a strong relationship.
6、Some scholars believe that long-term orientation dimension is one of main reasons for promoting development in late 20th century. Different conceptions of short-term and long-term contain some Confucian concepts .In my view, long-term orientation dimension is like the Confucian idea, which is a conc
7、entrated expression and characterized by a positive entrepreneurial spirit. This refers to a person long-term or short-term idea in the life .The main character of entrepreneurial spirit is tough, relentlessly pursuing goals, and goals will meet many difficulties no matter what those goals are. Diff
8、erent conceptions of short-term and long-term orientation dimension contain some Confucian concepts, for instance, “personal constancy“, it refers to peoples behavior and keeps predictable. Nowadays, western countries gradually attach great importance to thrifty, perseverance and traditional spirits
9、 of eastern countries. All the values are taken straight from the teachings of Confucius, however, the values on personal steadiness and stability are orientated towards the future and are more dynamic, while the values on the second axis are orientated towards the past and present, thus are more st
10、atic. Note that one orientation is not good and the other way is not bad they are simply orientations towards life. The short-term orientation is also identified with Truth, while the long-term orientation is identified with Virtue. Confucius dealt with Virtue but left the question of Truth open. Ou
11、r interpretation of the Truth is how we in the West view religion, science, and management. Thus, when information is manipulated or held to obtain a certain result, then one is simply going after the short-term orientation. There may be truth to the results, but the virtue of it has been removed. H
12、owever, when we take the long-term view, we can practice Virtue without seeking the Truth, we can mix religion with Confucian, we can mix Eastern management styles with Western management styles. Meanwhile, in recent years, China attaches great importance to anti-corruption work, and constantly stre
13、ngthens work of the anti-corruption campaign. However, effectively carrying out anti-corruption work must clear reasons of corruption at first. As for causes of corruption, domestic scholars have analyzed theirs from various aspects. At this point, I will analyze reasons of the corruption in China f
14、rom Long-term orientation and short-term orientation dimension. Hofstede compares culture to mental programming of human. It is behavior, emotion and potential of personal inner thinking patterns, and points out the significance culture level only can partially decide peoples behavior .He thinks tha
15、t this kind of “mental programming“ is a group of members to distinguish a reflection of the other group members of collective thoughts. It seems that culture is a system of group Shared values. The group culture is like individual characters. Hofstedes work established a major research tradition in
16、 cross-cultural psychology and has also been drawn upon by researchers and consultants in many fields relating to international business and communication. It continues to be a major resource in cross-cultural fields. It has inspired a number of other major cross-cultural studies of values, as well
17、as research on other aspects of culture, such as social beliefs. As for long-term orientation and short-term orientation dimension, China has the strongest long-term orientation dimension, which means China has a long-term vision to nurture and encourage perseverance, thrifty and oriented character
18、in pursuing future returns. Many corruptive officials could have many psychologies such as they feel having today status is very not easy, so they dont miss any opportunity to corrupt; In other words, some people take the civil servants long-term goal is corruption as an examination. Long-term orien
19、tation and short-term orientation dimension can explain psychologies of corruptive officials well. In total, outside exchanges in the modern society are essential for everyone. We know all kinds of cultural differences and more effective cross-cultural management and communication, which can provide
20、 a new perspective from Hofstedes cultural dimensions theory. At the same time, engaging in theoretical research and practical application in the field of cross-cultural management avoids opening new era and a scientific revolution management. As a result, a kind of new culture and management paradigm becomes popular in the theoretical circle. Hofstedes cultural paradigm provides a theoretical basis for international business and effective cross-cultural management.
