Regarding Hofstede’s six cultural communication dimensions, the United Kingdom and the United States have near similar scores in the dimensions of power distance, individualism, masculinity, and indulgence. Power distance is used for measuring the extent of power inequality that exists and is accepted both by people with power and those without power in a country (Mazanec et al., 2015). The power distance indices in the UK and the US are 35 and 40, which are low. The low power distance indices indicate that unequal power distribution is generally not accepted by the members of the society. Power is largely shared. The individualism dimension measures the strengths of ties among members of society. Essentially, it measures the degree of interdependence among members of society. The UK and the US have scores of 89 and 91 respectively on the individualism dimension. These high scores show that both the UK and the US emphasize equal rights as well as close relationships and dependency between employees and managers in the workplace setting (Walther, 2017).
The masculinity dimension assesses how roles are divided between men and women in society. On masculinity, the UK and the US have scores of 66 and 62 respectively, which are high enough to indicate that both cultures are highly masculine. They are hierarchical societies which attach high value to the aspect of status and also consider money and achievement to be very important (Mazanec et al., 2015). The aspect of indulgence assesses how much a society allows free gratification of human drives, both basic and natural, mostly related to having fun and enjoying life. The UK and the US have indulgence scores of 69 and 68. The high scores on indulgence for both the American and British settings show that the members are generally optimistic, exercise freedom of speech, and attach great value to personal happiness.
Contrasting the UK and the US
The UK and the US differ slightly in the dimensions of uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation. Uncertainty avoidance looks at how well-prepared members of a society are to cope with anxiety. The UK and the US have below average scores of 35 and 46 respectively, but the higher score for the US shows that it is a more rigid, conservative, structured, and expressive society than the UK. However, the below average scores for both countries shows that they are still open to change and innovation, and also encourage open-ended learning (Walther, 2017). The long-term and short-term orientation dimension measure the time horizon displayed by members of society. The UK has a score of 51 while the US has 26. The above average score of the UK yields a long-term orientation, hence a pragmatic, more thrifty, and modest society. The low rating of 26 for the US generates a short-term orientation, hence the emphasis on principles, truth, and consistency, as well as more nationalism and religiosity.
Where a British organization is to do business with an American one, communication will play a significant role. Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions indicate that the two countries are primarily similar because of near similar scores in at least five of the aspects (Walther, 2017). There cultural gap between the two countries is almost nonexistent, which means that the two organizations will communicate clearly and easily to each other and either agree or disagree to do business depending on the outcome of the communication.
References
Mazanec, J. A., Crotts, J. C., Gursoy, D., & Lu, L. (2015). Homogeneity versus heterogeneity of cultural values: An item-response theoretical approach applying Hofstede's cultural dimensions in a single nation. Tourism Management, 48, 299-304.
Walther, J. B. (2017). The merger of mass and interpersonal communication via new media: Integrating metaconstructs. Human Communication Research, 43(4), 559-572.