Five Dimensions

In the twenty-first century, it is not uncommon to find an American living and working Mexico. The signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1992 has increased commercial trade dramatically between Mexico and the United States (Calaya & Swift, 2006, p. 232). Due to the increased globalization between countries, Calaya & Swift (2006) noted that the presence of American managers in Mexico is significant.

According to Northouse (2010), globalization has created two needs: the need for leaders to become competent in cross-cultural awareness and practice, and the need to understand how cultural differences affect performance (p. 335). In an attempt to better understand the differences of attitudes that can arise amongst different cultures, Dutch researcher Geert Hofstede analyzed the dimensions of culture. Hofstede studied 160,000 managers located in sixty countries. Hofstede found five dimensions on which cultures differ. These dimensions include: uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, power-distance, career success/quality of life, and Confucian dynamism (Adler, year, p. 51).

Uncertainty avoidance is difined by Adler (year) as “the extent to which people in a society feel threatened by ambiguity” (p. 56). Triandis (2004) further expanded this definition by noting that uncertainty avoidance is related to the extent to which the people are tight or loose(p. 92). People in a tight culture adhere to many rules and norms. Therefore, there is a certain behavior that people follow, and in turn, they expect others to follow as well. On the other hand, individuals in a loose culture do not adhere to the norms. They are more likely to ignore standard practices.

The citizens of Mexico have high uncertainty avoidance, therefore, they are considered to be a tight culture. There is low tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. Adler (year) noted that Mexicans look at their organization as a pyramid where everyone knows to whom to...