People in collective societies are often born into extended families, clans, or tribes
that support and protect them in exchange for their allegiance. As events in Iraq,
Afghanistan, and Libya continue to demonstrate, tribalism is an important social fac-
tor in many Middle East nations and African societies.“African thought rejects any
view of the individual as an autonomous and responsible being.”^57 Collective cultures
emphasize group membership, and the individual is emotionally, and in some cases,
physically dependent on organizations and institutions. Organizations and the groups
to which individuals belong also affect private life, and people generally acquiesce to
group decisions, even if they are counter to personal desires. The importance of the
group in collective societies is reflected in a Chinese proverb:“No matter how stout,
one beam cannot support a house.”As is the case with all cultural value patterns,
collectivism influences how communication is used. For example,“following tradi-
tional Korean values, communicating to become part of an in-group and to
strengthen intragroup bonds is more important than communicating for information
exchange and persuasion.”^58
Collectivism is also contextual. In a learning environment, a collective class-
room will stress harmony and cooperation, often through group activities, rather
than individual competition. In the healthcare setting, a hospital patient is likely
to receive a continual stream of visitors consisting of family members and friends.
The sense of collectivism is so strong among the Japanese that following the March
2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident disaster, a national consensus of
self-restraint quickly developed. The population as a whole voluntarily became
more conservative in their consumption and entertainment activities, wishing to
evince a sense of selflessness and a feeling of solidarity with the disaster victims.
A similar phenomenon occurred in South Korea in the wake of the tragic ferry
sinking that claimed the lives of almost 300 individuals, most of them high school
students. A sense of“collective grief and guilt”led the South Korean public volun-
tarily to cancel or significantly reduce most entertainment events and leisure
activities.^59Uncertainty Avoidance
Although you may try, you can never predict with 100 percent confidence what
someone will do or what might happen in the future, and this is the core of uncer-
tainty avoidance—the future is unknown. As used in Hofstede’s research, uncertainty
avoidance can be defined as“the extent to which the members of a culture feel
threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations.”^60 As you will learn below, cultures
vary in their ability to tolerate ambiguity and unpredictability.High Uncertainty Avoidance. High uncertainty avoidance cultures attempt to reduce
unpredictability and ambiguity through intolerance of deviant ideas and behaviors,
emphasizing consensus, resisting change, and adhering to traditional social protocols.
Relatively high levels of anxiety and stress often characterize these cultures. People
with this orientation believe that life carries the potential for continual hazards, and
to avoid or mitigate these dangers, there is a compelling need for laws, written rules,
regulations, planning, rituals, ceremonies, and established societal, behavioral, and
communication conventions, all of which add structure to life. Social expectations
are clearly established and consistent. Nations with a strong uncertainty avoidance
tendency are listed in Table 6.5.Hofstede’s Value Dimensions 225Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).