A warning for managers everywhere—motivation theories are culture-bound.

American psychologists and scientists developed the theories in this book for the American workplace, and the American culture dictates the behaviors described. Managers working for international companies with remote international teams may find it challenging to apply the suggestions of these theories to everyone on their team.

For instance, Maslow’s theory suggests that humans follow a hierarchy of needs from the need for safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization; this is a typical American point of view. Greece and Mexico, countries with cultures that look for a significant set of rules and guidelines, might have safety at the top of their pyramids. In contrast, Scandinavian countries, well known for their nurturing characteristics, might have social needs at the top of theirs. If these differences are well understood, leaders can adapt accordingly and understand that group work is more critical for their Scandinavian workers, and so on.

What other theories fall short when you stand them up against different cultures? The need to achieve and the concern for performance is found in the US, UK, and Canada, but it’s almost non-existent in countries like Chile and Portugal. The equity theory is embraced in the US, but in the former socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, workers expect their rewards to reflect their personal needs and performance. It stands to reason that US pay practices might be perceived as unfair in these countries.

Geert Hofstede, a Dutch social psychologist, professor at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, and a former IBM employee conducted pioneering research on cross-cultural groups in organizations, which led to his cultural dimensions theory.

Hofstede defines culture as the unique way people are collectively taught in their environments. He aims to compare and understand the collective mindset of these groups of people and how they differ. He concluded that cultural differences showed themselves in six significant areas. Hofstede created an “index” for each category to show where individual cultures fell along the spectrum:

• Power Distance: This index describes the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. (Latin, Asian, and Arab countries score on the high side, while Anglo and Germanic countries score low. The US is in the middle.) A higher index number suggests that hierarchy is established and executed in society, while a lower index would indicate that people question authority in that culture.
• Individualism measures the degree to which people in a society are integrated into groups. The United States scores very high in this category.
• Uncertainty avoidance: this is defined as a “society’s tolerance for ambiguity.” Cultures scoring high in this area opt for very defined codes of behavior and laws, while cultures scoring lower are more accepting of different thoughts and ideas. Belgium and Germany score high, while countries like Sweden and Denmark score lower.
• Masculinity vs. femininity: in more masculine societies, women and men are more competitive, while in feminine societies, they share caring views equally with men. Anglo countries like the UK and the US tend to lean toward masculinity in their cultures, while Scandinavian countries tend toward femininity.
• Long-term Orientation vs. Short-term Orientation: This measures the degree to which a society honors tradition. A lower score indicates traditions are kept, while a higher score indicates that society views adaptation and problem-solving as necessary components of their culture. Asian cultures have a solid long-term orientation, while Anglo countries, Africa and Latin America have a shorter-term orientation.
• Indulgence vs. restraint is a measurement of happiness if simple joys are fulfilled. Indulgent societies believe themselves to control their lives, while restrained societies believe that external forces dictate their lives. There is less data about this particular dimension. Still, we know that Latin America, the Anglo countries, and Nordic Europe score high on indulgence, while Muslim countries and East Asia score high on restraint.

The Hofstede Insight website takes the guesswork out of comparing countries’ cultures and can help you understand the collective viewpoint of their people as they relate to these six indices.

When you compare Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, one can see where cultural differences shift the order of needs on the pyramid. We mentioned above that Belgium and Germany score high on the uncertainty avoidance dimension—they don’t like social ambiguity; they want to control their futures and feel threatened by the unknown. So it would make sense that, while “safety” is the second rung of the pyramid in the United States, it’s a more significant need to satisfy in German culture.

Hofstede’s cultural dimension highlights the importance cultures place on different needs. These dimensions can be used to determine differences in individual needs based on their cultural teachings and beliefs.

Not all motivational drivers are culture-bound. For example, the desire for interesting work appears essential to all workers everywhere. Growth, achievement, and responsibility were also highly rated across various cultures. The leader of an international team doesn’t have to approach everything differently. Keeping in mind that cultural differences drive individuals’ needs will help a manager create motivating circumstances for all their workers.

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• What is Motivation? Authored by: Freedom Learning Group. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
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