What Is Culture: Essay

Introduction

Our reality today is overly multicultural and diverse. Every day we interact with people from various cultural backgrounds. People we interact with have distinct mindsets and carry unique values, norms, and beliefs in their backpacks. Effective communication among representatives of different cultures is way too complicated if people are not culture-aware and do not display cultural understanding. Speaking the language is never enough as we should be aware of subtle aspects of the culture in order to to avoid social blunders. However, it is almost impossible to dive into a number of foreign cultures and adopt every single norm and value. That is why people should develop cultural understanding and be more tolerant of foreigners to have effective intercultural communication.

What is culture? Kluckhohn (1951) defines culture as “patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values”. Hofstede (1998) considers culture to be “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another”.

I define culture as a mindset that has been nourished by values, norms, and beliefs since we were born and though subconsciously but determines our every single step.

Hofstede examined the cultural values of different nationalities by surveying over one hundred thousand managers in multinational organizations. Those managers were representatives of 50 countries. In view of all the data, he distinguished between four dimensions: power distance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity uncertainty avoidance Hofstede (1998). Based on his further research on Chinese employees, he added the fifth dimension and the sixth one was added in 2010: long-term orientation versus short-term normative orientation, and indulgence versus restraint.

The aim of this paper is to prove that cultures are dynamic, and constantly change, and so does the Armenian culture. Most of the traditional views are no longer relevant.

In this paper, I discussed Armenian culture in relation to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. I identified what groups the countries that we discussed during the lecture belong to based on the theoretical material from Hofstede’s work, called “Attitudes, Values and Organizational Culture”.

Armenia Through Cultural Lenses: a comparative study

Power distance is the dimension of national cultures which shows the strength of hierarchy within a culture. The power distance index is calculated. The index value is 0 for small-power-distance countries and 100 for large-power-distance countries. In those countries, generally, bosses do not treat their subordinates as equals. They are autocratic or paternalistic. In the case of the family unit, children should be obedient to the elders of the family. Parental authority continues to be important as long as parents are alive. The main value is respect. In these cultures, employees themselves do not prefer to take part in the decision-making process. Subordinates do not usually object to their managers. Decision-making in large-power distance cultures is the responsibility of the head. There are two possible reactions that subordinates can have in this type of culture: preferring dependence, or rejecting, which is known as interdependence. The latter refers to dependence with a negative attitude (Hofstede, Hofstede, Minkov 2010).

On the other hand, in small-power distance cultures, heads treat their subordinates as equals. Employers usually adopt the consultative style of decision-making. There is an interdependence between the two sides (Hofstede 1998).

Years ago, Armenia could be considered a large power-distance country with quite a high score, whereas today Armenia is somewhere between large-and small-power distance countries. In Armenian culture, respect towards the elders and authorities is quite high. Within families, children should obey their elders. Parents and grandparents usually make decisions for them until they turn 18, as this is the age of officially becoming an adult. Those decisions are usually not negotiated. Unfortunately, there are cases when even after 18, adults follow the decisions made for them by their parents. Of course, this is not something absolute and depends on what family you come from: whether it is a deeply rooted traditional family or an open-minded family that carries Armenian values but is reasonable enough to treat a child like an equal and support him/her so that he/she is brought up to be responsible for his/her own actions and get prepared for today’s reality.

The head and subordinate relationships used to be more formal and complex. The general image of such relationships we could form by simply looking at the authorities that governed the country. Armenia was considered a “democratic” country, however, our reality was way too far from a democratic system and was more like a dictatorship for twenty years. Whoever spoke against them was imprisoned. The image was just like this in the case of the head-employee relationships within an organization: if the employee questioned the decisions made by the head, he/she got fired. I do believe that this was the influence of the Soviet Union. Fortunately, our generation has been struggling against that kind of reality, and “The Velvet Revolution” in 2018 put an end to this kind of relationship. Today the head of our republic shares his concerns, and plans and answers questions from the citizens every day via live streaming on Facebook. An exciting point is that after his initiative almost all governmental figures started doing the same and the head-employee relationships are getting more and more informal. It was a great leap not only in the governmental system but also in our culture. Today we move towards the small power distance countries and I do believe that it does not necessarily mean losing respect towards elders but doing that in a reasonable way. Brazil, Japan, Russia, Iran, China, Syria, and Cuba are large-power distance countries. Mauritius is a small-power distance country.

The next dimension refers to the individualism or collectivism of national culture. Representatives of individualistic cultures highly value privacy. They stand for their personal rights. People from this culture greatly value freedom and innovation. They carry out their responsibilities appropriately. From their early years, children brought up in individualistic culture are encouraged to voice their own opinions, thus developing self-expression. Individual goals dominate over the needs of in-groups (Hofstede 1998).

. Conversely, collectivistic culture refers to group orientation. Representatives of this culture value collaboration and cooperation. They are working for the public good. Collectivistic culture bearers usually share interests and maintain traditions. As group-oriented people value relationships, face-saving is of utmost significance for them. Within this type of culture people distinguish between in-groups, namely “we”, and out-groups, namely “they. Collectivistic people are born in extended families or clans, they strongly rely on their relatives who support and encourage them. For them, individualism yields to the needs of in-groups (Hofstede, Hofstede, Minkov 2010).

Armenian culture is typically collectivistic, and this is one of the most wonderful aspects of the Armenian people. Armenians love traditions and never lose a chance for a family gathering. They share interests, opinions, love, and affection toward each other. Armenians are willing to share their bread with strangers and help them in case they need it. The word in Armenian that stands for the word ‘nation’ is the same as the word that stands for the ‘extended family’: nation= extended family= ago (this is how it sounds in Armenian). If you have an Armenian acquaintance or even your friend’s acquaintance, then there is no need to book a room in a hotel if you visit Armenia. No matter how small the house is, you will sleep in the best room in the house if you are a guest. If there is not enough space for everyone, one of the family members will sleep at a relative’s house to make everything comfortable for the guest. If you are in Armenia, do not get confused if a stranger addresses you as ‘my brother’ or ‘my sister’, no matter if he/she is a taxi driver or someone who asks for directions. In these aspects I consider Armenians to be very much like Brazilians, Iranians, Chines, Syrians, Cubans, and Mauritians. As far as Russian and Japanese people are concerned, they are individualistic if we look from the collectivistic point of view, whereas they are collectivistic from the individualistic point of view.

Masculinity and femininity form the third dimension. In masculine cultures assertiveness is highly valued. Work is more significant than family in such cultures. Strong people are usually admired. Women are not preferred to hold political positions. People of this culture believe in God or gods.

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In feminine societies, both men and women are expected to be modest and caring. Work is never perceived as of utmost importance. Family is also an essential part of their societies. Thus, there is a balance between them. Weak people are always taken care of. Facts and feelings are for both parents. Boys and girls are expected to cry but not struggle. Mothers are the ones to decide on the family size. Women hold political positions. They do not believe in certain gods, but rather in fellow human beings (Hofstede, Hofstede, Minkov 2010).

Armenian culture is more feminine but not absolutely. It carries masculine aspects as well. For Armenian people, family and work balance is quite significant. People support those who are not strong enough. Boys are not expected to cry and both genders carry struggling and rebelling souls. Women were not preferred to be active in politics, but now they are encouraged to be. Armenian people believe in God. In official records Russian is considered a feminine culture, however, having lived in Russia for a short period of time I realized that Russia is too large and heterogeneous to ascribe to one of the groups. However, I would say that today Russia is more masculine than feminine. Japanese culture is masculine which is obvious if we consider even a single fact: they do not like to show affection even towards their kids. According to the descriptions of the countries we heard during the lectures and some individual research, Brazil is somewhere between feminine and masculine cultures, China and Syria bear masculine cultures, whereas societies in Cuba, Mauritius, and Iran are more feminine.

Weak and strong uncertainty avoidance refers to the culture's attitude toward ambiguity. It reveals whether the culture is comfortable with unstructured, unplanned, and surprising situations or not. Weak uncertainty-avoidance cultures are also referred to as uncertainty-accepting cultures. Such societies accept each day as it comes without having it planned beforehand. They are comfortable with the fact that each day can bring new surprises to them. Such cultures do believe that life is itself uncertain. As a result, their stress and anxiety levels are relatively lower, scoring high in health and well-being. These all result in a high level of self-control. For such societies difference is interesting, chaos is comfortable, job shift is not a problem, and rules are disliked. Teachers do not avoid saying ''I do not know''.

On the other hand, in strong uncertainty avoidance cultures ambiguity is seen as something to fight against. Stress and anxiety levels are relatively higher resulting in emotional behavior. As a result, people's health and well-being suffer. They stay in the same job even if they are not comfortable with it. Such societies require rules and norms to be organized, even if those rules are not followed appropriately. They are led by absolute truth and grand theories (Hofstede, Hofstede, Minkov 2010).

Armenians like plans and ponder over every step they or their close people take. That is why they do not like when things occur spontaneously and quickly as they do not have time “to measure seven times to cut once” (Russian idiom, used by Armenians as their own). Stress levels are relatively high in Armenia and with considerably low-income rates uncertainty about the future is quite high. We can put Armenia among strong uncertainty avoidance cultures. Cuba, Mauritius, Brazil, Japan, Syria, Russia, and Iran are also among high uncertainty avoidance countries, whereas China has a low uncertainty avoidance culture.

Further, long- and short-term-orientated societies come. For short-term oriented societies, past and present events are the most important ones. Satisfaction should be immediate for such cultures. Good and evil are defined precisely. Spending and consumption are encouraged instead of saving. Problem-solving is usually unplanned and random.

Long-term-oriented societies do believe that events of utmost importance will happen in the future. They do not need immediate satisfaction. Good and evil depend on context. Shared tasks lead family members. Children are taught not to waste money, and instead save and invest. Problem-solving seems to be based on mathematical formulas. Businesses are focused on what position they will take in tomorrow's market (Hofstede, Hofstede, Minkov 2010).

Armenian society is definitely long-term oriented. Children are not usually given much money so they get used to saving. Armenians always think about tomorrow. Thinking about tomorrow is good, but sometimes we are concerned about tomorrow’s day so much that we forget to live today. We seem to be on an endless quest for something with a hope for a better future. I consider this to be a consequence of the disasters and constantly being under the threat of war. I adore the Armenian habit of making preserves of jam, jelly, compote, and literally anything that is possible on Earth to be ready for long and cold winters and connect it with being long-term oriented. Brazilian culture is on the borderline of two groups. Mauritians, Chinese, Japanese, and Russians are long-term oriented, whereas Cubans, Syrians, and Iranians are short-term oriented.

The sixth dimension draws a distinct line between cultures that value either indulgence or restraint. Indulgence refers to the tendency of freedom to enjoy life and have fun. In such societies, people more often experience positive emotions. These people describe their personal health as ''very good''. Indulgence is strongly connected with optimism. In its turn, happiness, health, and optimism influence the number of children in society. In such societies, friends are of great importance. People representing this type of culture are usually extroverts. They truly admire entertainment, especially foreign music or movies. Those societies are more satisfied with family lives. Household tasks are usually shared between partners. They are quite sporty people. E-mail and the internet are used for private needs. They interact with foreigners on the internet more than people from restrained cultures. In wealthy indulgent societies, obesity is relatively lower. Gender roles are obscure. In such societies, people drink more soft beverages and beer. Smiling comes as a norm. Great importance is attached to freedom of speech. Order in the nation is not a priority for them. Finally, they have fewer police officers per 100.000 people.

Conversely, restrained cultures possess a very low percentage of happy people. In such cultures, people attach very little importance to having friends. They are less likely to experience positive emotions. Instead of a positive attitude, they display cynicism. The percentage of people who feel healthy is very low. These societies disapprove of foreign music and culture. They are usually not satisfied with family life. Such societies do not pay attention to the equal share of household tasks. People from this kind of culture are not engaged in sports. They do not use e-mail or the internet for personal needs. Interaction with foreigners via e-mail is not common. Soft drinks and beer are not of great consumption. The obesity rate is very high in wealthy restrained cultures. Smiling people are always suspected. Freedom of speech is not favored. Order in the nation is of utmost importance.

Armenia is among restrained countries but there is a tendency of moving towards indulgent countries. The percentage of happy people is not that high as the percentage of people who do not feel healthy is high as well. This is mainly a consequence of expensive healthcare services and expensive medicine. Most of the household tasks are done by women and men obesity rates are quite high. Smiling people are not suspected but a passer-by will not smile at you if you are a stranger: something that Belgian people usually do. The percentage of people who are engaged in sports is not high but luckily, I can clearly see the tendency of rising. Cuban and Brazilian cultures are considered indulgent, whereas Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Iranian cultures are restrained.

Conclusion

Culture nourishes our mindsets until we are reasonable enough to shape the culture ourselves. In this paper, we revealed that cultures are in constant movement. Every single human being adds his/her share to the incomplete set of values, norms, beliefs, and attitudes.

In conclusion, Armenian culture is collectivistic, moving towards the pole of low-power distance countries. Armenian society bears feminine aspects whereas surprises are not welcomed, and uncertainty avoidance is considerably high. People here always think about the future and unconsciously ignore today. Armenian culture is restrained but not absolutely and with a high possibility of changing into an indulgent society.

If we look at the bigger picture, Armenia has quite many common features with all the countries discussed: Brazil, Cuba, Russia, Japan, China, Syria, Iran, and Mauritius.

Bibliography

1. Hofstede, G. (1998). Attitudes, Values and Organizational Culture: Disentangling the concepts. Organization Studies, 19(3), 477.
2. Kluckhohn, C. (1951) Values and Value-Orientations in the Theory of Action: An Exploration in Definition and Classification. In: Parsons, T. and Shils, E., Eds., Toward a General Theory of Action, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 388-433
3. Liu, Y. and Sudweeks, F. (2003) Culture, technology, and teamwork: a case study of a Mauritian organization. In: 4th International We-B (Working for E-Business) Conference, 24-25 November 2003, Perth, W.A.

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