HOFSTEDE'S CULTURAL DIMENSIOS

Before I left to Korea I was told about a web page that shows Hofstede's cultural dimensions for each country and even compares them for you between countries. (You can find that page here.) Now that I have spent some time here in Korea I thought I'd post a quick comparison here as well. You can see from the picture that Finland and South-Korea differ from each other in every dimension, sometimes even quite dramatically.

   

Power Distance
- Power Distance is defined as "the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally". South-Korea is a slightly hierarchical country, but compared to Finland, a lot more hierarchical. It means that in Korea, people accept a hierarchical order in which everyone has their own place and which needs no further justification. For example age is a very important factor here, since the way you speak to a person older than you or even act around them differs from how you talk or act with your peers. In Finland there are more equal rights and independence. 

Individualism

-  Finnish culture as a Western culture is more individualistic, whereas Korean culture is more collectivistic. This creates differences in whether people´s self-image is defined in terms of “I” or “We”. In Finland it is common for people to just take care of themselves or perhaps their closest family, but in Korea close long-term commitments to member groups, like family, extended family, or extended relationships, are important. Loyalty is essential, and it even over-rides most other societal rules and regulations, which is very far from Finnish culture. Management in companies differs also, since in Finland it is seen as management of individuals, whereas in Korea it is management of groups.

Masculinity
- Regarding masculinity/feminity, the two countries are most alike in this comparison. The question here is what motivates people; wanting to be the best (masculine) or liking what you do (feminine). Both countries are feminine, Finland a bit more. In feminine countries the quality of life is the sign of success and standing out from the crowd is not admirable. In Finland's case, this holds true but in my opinion, in Korea it is more acceptable to show around a bit and stand out if you are, for example, wealthier. In feminine countries, "an effective manager is a supportive one, and decision making is achieved through involvement".

Uncertainty Avoidance

- This score reflects "the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these". Korea's high score (85) means that it is actually one of the most uncertainty avoiding countries in the world. Further quoting from the page: "In these cultures there is an emotional need for rules (even if the rules never seem to work) time is money, people have an inner urge to be busy and work hard, precision and punctuality are the norm, innovation may be resisted, security is an important element in individual motivation." This could not be more true in the case of South-Korea. Security at my university's campus dormitory is really high, there are many guards in every lobby and the gates to the dorms need your password and scan your wrist every time you enter and exit them. There are a lot of rules and directions, but still things never seem to go as planned. We already have an inside joke about that among some exchange students here. Finland also scores rather high on uncertainty avoidance, but in my opinion Finnish rules and directions seem to be better planned out since they usually work. Also in Korea it is usual to be a little behind from schedule in almost everything, whereas in Finland punctuality is more appreciated. One thing where Koreans are more punctual is the subway and transportation, it's almost never late! Whereas in Finland I feel like I'm always waiting for a bus that's running late.

Long-Term Orientation
- This dimension describes "how every society has to maintain some links with its own past while dealing with the challenges of the present and future". Korea's score is 100, which means it is one of the most pragmatic and long-term orientated countries in the world. People live their lives guided by virtues and practical good examples, and for example companies' first purpose is not to make money every quarter for the shareholders, but to serve the stakeholders and society at large for future generations. Finland on the other hand is normative, which indicates great respect for traditions, a relatively small propensity to save for the future, and a focus on achieving quick results.

Indulgence

- Indulgence here means "the extent to which people try to control their desires and impulses, based on the way they were raised". Weak control is 'indulgence', and strong is 'restraint'. South-Korea, not surprisingly, is a restrained country, where people believe their actions are restrained by social norms and feel that indulging themselves is somewhat wrong. In my opinion, this is true in everything else except in drinking alcohol. In that area, I think Koreans have a more "work hard, play hard" -attitude, since Koreans do love their drinks. During the first weeks here I've been asked many times what is the maximum amount of soju (Korean rice liquor) I can drink in one night. I still haven't figured out the answer, something to look forward to I guess :D In comparison, Finland is an indulgent country. We as a country place a higher degree of importance on leisure time and mainly act as we please. In our case I can't agree with the statement of high indulgence countries possessing a positive attitude and having a tendency towards optimism though. I don't see Finnish people as highly optimistic or positive, so that's how we differ from other indulgent cultures.