Culture has a lot of dimensions, Popular writers, for instance, Geert Hofstede (1980, 1983, 1986, 1991, 1995),

a dutch Psychologist, who was working for IBM, collected data on IBM's operations in 70 countries, with over 116,000 questionnaires (Rugman and Collins, 2006) has isolated four (Later five) dimensions of culture. Power distance the acceptance of the unequal distribution of physical and intelligent capabilities within a society will determine the level of power distance. Uncertainty avoidance As the name supposes it is the extent to which an organization will go to avoid uncertainty. this culture is reflected in the workers attitude to job security, retirement benefits, etc. Individualism/collectivism Individualism is the tendency of people to look after themselves and their immediate family only (Rugman and Collins 2006: 135) Masculinity / Femininity A societal or organizational value towards assertiveness and materialism determines the masculinity or femininity of the culture. Long term orientation Hofstede and Micheal Bond and his associates (Chinese cultural connections) used an innovative technique to add this framework (Luo, 2004). A group of Chinese socialists named 10 basic and fundamental value, and this was used to produce a list of 40 values that was used in a survey of 22 countries. In Nov 2006, Jeanne Brett, Kristin Behfar and Mary C. Kern, writing in the Harvard Business Review, highlighted the challenges managers face with multicultural teams. They categorized four challenges: Direct versus indirect communication Different cultures have different ways of communicating, the westerners are direct in communication and their opinion is known to be clear. Nonwesterners would prefer to speak indirectly and politely pass their opinion across through inferences and not outright renditions Trouble with accent and fluency This problem is similar with

all multicultural gathering, one will feel very out of place when meeting with a group of Indians and a joke is cracked in Hindi and everyone laughs, save you, and your Indian friend that invited you, translates the joke, and every one looks at you as you try to grin to the 'cultural joke' that is only funny in Hindi Deferring attitude towards hierarchy and authority In some cultures team members are seen to be equal while others must have a leader. if dealing with a team that has a leader a team member from a equal culture will feel underestimated. And if in a flat team an hierarchical member exists, he will feel that the team is not being held up. Conflicting norms for decision making An example was given of an American company negotiating to buy Korean products after discussing 3 points on the first day the American company (accustomed to quick decision making) felt point four will begin the next day. the Koreans asked that the initial 3 points be discussed again. negotiating with teams could pose a challenge, in some cultures negotiating are done the hard way (China) but others believe in subtle decisions (France).