So, after the brief presentation on the main cultural concepts. Now, let’s have a look on how the researchers score the countries.

I will compare here the results on France, the Netherlands and Vietnam. You can find more scores on other countries in: http://geert-hofstede.com/countries.html.

1, About the Power-distance dimension:

• France: 68
• the Netherlands: 38
• Vietnam: 70

We can see that Vietnam has the highest score on power distance, France has a lower one but almost the same. About the Netherlands, it has a way lower power-distance. Indeed, this cultural difference can be seen through the relation between teachers and students. For instance, in the Netherlands, we call our teachers directly by their first names and not their family names, nor with a ‘Monsieur/Madame’ or ‘thầy/cô’ (‘teacher’ in Vietnamese): our teachers are Rob, Harro, Loes, etc. and not ‘M. Williams’, ‘M. Leupen’, ‘Mme. Damhof’ or ‘thầy Rob’, ‘thầy Harro’, ‘cô Loes’ like in French or Vietnamese. When we meet the Dutch teachers, we say ‘hi’ and not ‘bonjour Monsieur/Madame’ or ’em chào thầy/cô’ (‘hello Mister/Misses’). Moreover, when we discuss with the teachers, we feel more free to say our thinking and feel that the teacher is rather a ‘guide’ than someone who imposes their ideas. Furthermore, the Dutch society is usually described as having the ‘average culture’: at school, they prefer ‘average student’ with ‘average mark’ and other social or sport activities than the ‘excellent student’ which is usually considered as ‘arrogant’, ‘distant’. The ‘nice teacher’ is more lovely than the ‘excellent teacher’.

Of course, I understand that these are just some examples and basing exclusively on them is not sufficient to conclude that the Dutch society is more equal than the French or the Vietnamese one. However, on the one hand, I think that school is also a ‘small society’, it’s where we are raised and ‘socialized’. On the other hand, I believe that this conclusion can be supported by many other greater social practices and facts, which might be hard to list here or I personally don’t know yet.

Actually, what intrigued me was the close index distance between France and Vietnam. Indeed, I had thought before that French society was way more equal than the Vietnamese one. Anyway, equality is written in French motto (‘Liberté, égalité, fraternité’), right? Through my two-year experience, I’ve realized that French society is also very hierarchical. However, I didn’t expect only 2 points of difference between the two society.

2, About the Individualism index:

• France: 71
• the Netherlands: 80
• Vietnam: 20

Okie, here, we can see the closeness between France and the Netherlands, as well as the big difference between them and Vietnam. And well, one more time, I agree with the researchers. Indeed, in Vietnam (like in other Asian countries, I suppose), the others (parents, grand-parents, relatives, teachers, etc. ) have an more important influence on an individual’s personal life and choices. I once asked my Dutch friends about their career choices, they answered me that it was them who made the choice, and their parents did not try to influence them. In the meantime, Vietnamese parents really care and have a heavy word on their children’s affairs like which school to go, which career direction to follow, when and with who to get married, etc.

3, Masculinity index:

• France: 43
• the Netherlands: 14
• Vietnam: 40

With the three indexes under 50, all the three countries are classified as ‘feminine’. In other word, in all the three countries, the relationship, the caring between members are more present; the people focus on “working for living” than for reserve; compromise and negotiation are preferred in conflict situations, etc. In addition, the Netherlands are the most ‘feminine’ of the three. Moreover, the differences between the three scores of this dimension are quite close to the score of the Power-distance index, aren’t they?

Looking around me, I can see that my Dutch friends are very nice and have a well-balanced life. They don’t only focus on school but also join the students association, organize parties, and spend time with friends. For instance, one of the Dutch guy in my Game On! team can tell with us very openly about his weekly outings with his girlfriend and her family. Or another guy tells me that every weekend, he comes back at his parents’ house (in another city), joining his primary-school-old friends and hanging out with them. He also adds that his friends from the village study in different cities but usually come back to the village in the weekend.

4, The Uncertainty avoidance index:

• France: 86
• the Netherlands: 53
• Vietnam: 30

Uncertainty avoidance index is about whether the society accepts unknown things that are waiting for it or is stressed to predict and control the future. For instance, before having a trip, do you do a lot of research on the place, arrange the journey in details or have the attitude of ‘let’s go and see what’s waiting for me’?

With 86 points, France has one of the highest uncertainty avoidance score. ‘In management structure, rules and security are welcome and if lacking, it creates stress. Therefore planning is favored, some level of expertise welcome, when change policies on the other hand are considered stressful’, says the research. Does this have something to do with the famous complicated French administration and law system, doesn’t this ? 😉

5, About the Long-term orientation index:

• France: 39
• the Netherlands: 44
• Vietnam: 80

As far as I understand, a Short-term orientation country has a high respect for the tradition, and prefers absolute norms that are already defined. At work, the Short-term orientation characteristic is translated as the fact that work effectiveness is based on short-term results. In the mean time, a Long-term orientation has the attitude to adapt the tradition to the modern context as well as the propensity to save and invest.

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Because I can only find the scores on these above-mentioned dimensions on the website, we don’t have the data about others. However, about the Low-context communication versus High-context communication dimension, in a general way, the Dutch are well-known as being very direct. Personally, I classify the French and Vietnamese society as having ‘high-context communication’, while the Dutch one as having ‘low-context communication’, although some Dutch that I’ve met are the counterexamples of my opinion. Indeed, the Dutch that I’ve had chance to work with don’t discuss much. Facing a task, their first reaction is reading the requirements description, thinking quietly by themselves, then divide the work, then work by themselves. For the same task, an international team might have a meeting of hours, while a Dutch meeting would last for 10 or 30 minutes.

In addition, there is another dimension that you should be attention to: the Dutch are Monochronic. This means, unlike the Polychronic cultures who see the time as a repeated circle, the Dutch culture sees it as a light. Deadlines are deadlines (and are usually at 12:00 on Friday): if you hand in your assignment on time, even if you fail, you can do it again. But if you miss the deadline, you get an 0,1. Moreover, the Dutch are on time: they even usually show up 15 minutes before the meeting. Even for students, they plan their time: the team meeting can be at 12:30 and they plan to meet their friends at 14:00, thus, the meeting has to be productive, there is no time to have long discuss.

To end this article, I highly recommend Hofstede center’s site: http://geert-hofstede.com. Check it out and you can find many interesting information, as well as explanations on cultural dimensions of most of the countries in the world.