Helal Murshed (helal@mail.

ru)
T. Ivanova B. research supervisor
Peoples Friendship University of Russia
Comparison of Hofstedes cultural dimensions between Russia and Bangladesh
What is Culture? Culture is the characteristics of a particular group of people, defined by
everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. According to the
Oxford dictionary Culture means The arts and other manifestations of human intellectual
achievement regarded collectively (1)
Culture is learned, not inherited. It derives from ones social environment, not from ones gens.
Culture should be distinguished from human nature on one side, and from an individuals
personality on the other:
The Hofstede Model distinguished cultures according to five and this model provided scales
from 0 to 100 each dimension, and each country has a position on each scale or index, relative to
other countries. These five dimensions were empirically verifiable, and each country could be
positioned somewhere between the poles.
Hofstede empirically found four dimensions of culture in research across more than 50
countries. The dimensions are: power distance, collectivism versus individualism, masculinity
versus femininity and uncertainty avoidance. Bangladesh was not within his first survey IBM
studies. Hofstede later adds a new dimension, long- versus short term orientation, based on the
student sample of 23 countries around 1985 (2). Bangladesh was included in this new survey. In
Hofstede's first survey many other Asian countries like India and Pakistan were included. Since
Pakistan and India are the countries nearer to Bangladesh and Bangladesh was a part of Pakistan
until 1971 and as these countries have the same nature of history since the British rule and
having the same socio-economic, political and cultural features.
The Hofstede Model distinguished cultures according to five and this model provided scales
from 0 to 100 each dimension, and each country has a position on each scale or index, relative to
other countries. These five dimensions were empirically verifiable, and each country could be
positioned somewhere between the poles.
Table 1: Scores of 5D Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions(3)
Country
Russia
Bangladesh

IDV
39
20

PDI
93
80

MAS
36
55

UAI
95
60

LTO
40

IDV-Individualism
PDI- Power Distance Index
MAS- Masculinity
UAI-Uncertainty Avoidance Index
LTO- Long-Term Orientation

Chart 1: 5D Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions between Russia and Bangdesh

From the chart above we can compare five cultural factors of Russia, Bangladesh.
Individualism versus collectivism is one of the important aspects of culture's unstated
assumptions'. The assumption that we are bound together into tight groups of interdependent
individuals is fundamental to collectivism.. Hofstede describe Collectivist as the vast majority of
people in our world live in societies in which the interest of the group prevails over the interest
of the individual and Individualist as a minority of people in our world live in societies in which
the interests of the individual prevail over the interest of group (4). His Individualism Index
(IDV) score measures the level of individualism and collectivism in a particular culture.
Countries scored low in the IDV are characterized as collectivist.
Scoring 20 of 100 we can say Bangladesh is a less individualistic country. Bangladeshi people
have very close ties their extended family person, within which is unquestioning loyalty. Major
decisions of life for example education and marriage are dictated from within this group, and
family protection will continue in exchange for absolute allegiance.
On the other hand Russia is also a collectivist country, as far as Russian historian N. Berdayev
wrote The Russian people have always loved to live in the warmth of collective(5) If

Russians plan to go out with their friends they would literally say We with friends instead of I
and my friends, if they talk about brothers and sisters it may well be cousins, so a lower score of
39 even finds its manifestations in the language.
Power distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and
organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally' (6). Most of
the Asian countries under the survey of Hofstede are found having large power
distance. Bangladesh scores high on this dimension (score of 80) which means that people accept
a hierarchical order in which everybody has a place and which needs no further justification. As
a Bangladeshi, I can say that it is not very difficult to notice inequality between people in
government, in organization even within the families.
The score for Russia is 93, which means that the distance is particularly important for the
communication in the society. Hofstede states that it is due to extreme centralization of the
country (most of the foreign investments go into Moscow; the capital is economic, financial and
cultural center.)
Hofstede define masculinity as pertains to societies in which social gender roles are clearly
distinct i.e., men are supposed to be assertive, tough, and focus on material success whereas
women are supposed to be more modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life,
femininity pertains to societies in which social gender roles overlap i.e., both men and women
are supposed to be modest, tender and concerned with the quality of life.(7)
Bangladesh scores 55 on this dimension and can be considered a a masculine society. In
masculine countries people live in order to work, managers are expected to be decisive and
assertive, the emphasis is on equity, competition and performance and conflicts are resolved by
fighting them out.

The score 36 for Russia indicates that the society sees the quality of life as the measure of
success. That is totally true for most of the country. Two main goals in the life of average person
are: good (preferably very expensive) car, and big apartments or a private house fully furnished.
The Uncertainty avoidance scores are much higher for both of the countries.
A standard score in Long term orientation shows that Bangladesh is one the way of its
development.
Russia is the biggest country of the world, where Bangladesh is a small country with a huge
population. So, There are differences between two countries in terms of culture. However, the
big difference in cultural behavior between two societies does not mean that it is impossible or
extremely hard for them to do business together. Especially it is true for the world we currently
live in: with extremely rising globalization the young generations behave quite similar all over

the world. Russia is country where two generation of people are living. It can influence to change
of cultural scores in short time.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Oxford Dictionary
Hofstede 2001, p. 351
http://geert-hofstede.com/
Hofstede 1997, p. 50
Berdyaev N. The Psychology of the Russian People. The Soul of Russia. (1915-#7)
Hofstede, 1997:28
Hofstede 1997, p. 82