TASK # 2 " Femininity and masculinity: A Dimension of Cultural Differences

When getting into the international business field, we can realize how different people act in one culture or another. That is why Professor Geert Hofstede from the Maastricht University has made a research on cultural differences in order to be more efficient interacting with people in other countries. One of these cultural dimensions is the Masculinity/femininity Dimension in which Hofstede made a distinction between a Masculine society and a Feminine society; where the first one man are assertive, focused on material success and tough and women are tender, modest and concerned by the equality. In femininity society men and women tend to be both tender, concerned about the equality, modest and both care about others. The following table shows the differences between masculine and feminine society

taken from:

Hofstede, G. 1999. Masculinity and femininity: The taboo dimension of national cultures

For instance, In Germany even though there is a M

asculinity society, sometimes the femininity dimension is reflected. In the business area it is very often the team work in order to improve the productivity within the company that can be considered as a feminine characteristic because it is related with the good relationships among partners to accomplish some task. One good example of this team work is the automotive industry more specifically the German Auto Industry Mercedes- Benz in which within a plant there are several different teams and within each team there is a team speaker, nevertheless the team speaker has no more power than other team members, so decisions are made by everyone.

As we have seen, that way some German enterprises apply femininity model in order to success in the business management structure.

Masculinity societies are seen very often in most of the countries; men taking care of external affairs like military, administrative and trade matters,

women at work tending to be more concerned about their relationship with others, at home tending to be more devoted for their family.it shows the tough, assertive and material succes features of a man, The t

ender, concerned about their family and caring about relations, features of woman in a masculine society.

Taken from:

http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/blogs/startingABusiness/2007/10/15/mom-and-entrepreneur-are-you-among-the-growing-number

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2007/07/19/slick_mad_men_visits_madison_ave_at_dawn_of_the_60s/

References:

Hofstede, G. 1999. Masculinity and femininity: The taboo dimension of national cultures