Social Science HOMEWORK

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Week 1 Reflective Essay

Select two of the Trompenaars dimensions that are listed below (and explained on the document posted above under the Week 1 Content link) and write an essay about how those dimensions were reflected in an environment you lived and/or worked in:

· Universalism - Particularism

· Individualism- Communitarianism

· Specific - Diffuse

· Neutral – Affective

· Achievement - Ascription

· Past Present Future

· Internal - External

Use information available in this week's readings and other course materials to help inform your essay. Write your essay in APA format with a Title page, Reference page, and with correct spelling and English grammar.

To earn full credit, the essay must show evidence of reflection on the class experience/material and is required to be a minimum of 2 full pages of content (not including the title page, abstract and/or reference page), yet not more than a maximum of 3 full pages. An abstract is not required. Past due Reflective Essays cannot be made up/late submissions will not be accepted.

Submit your assignment as an attachment.  Assignments submitted through other means (i.e., email, etc.) will not be accepted.  Additionally, please be sure to review the assignment description in the syllabus and the grading rubric in Brightspace for additional guidance in earning maximum points on this assignment.

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Trompenaars Cultural Dimensions Explained

Universalism - Particularism:

The dimension universalism-particularism concerns the standards by which relationships are measured.

Universalist societies tend to feel that general rules and obligations are a strong source of moral reference.  Their members are inclined to follow the rules - even when friends are involved - and look for 'the one best way' of dealing equally and fairly with all cases. They tend to assume that their standards are the right standards, and often attempt to change the attitudes of others to match their own.

Particularist societies are those in which particular circumstances are more important than rules. Bonds of particular relationships (family, friends) are stronger than any abstract rules. Response to a situation may change according to the circumstances and the people involved. Particularists often argue that 'it all depends'.

Individualism- Communitarianism:

This dimension is about the conflict between an individual's personal desire and the interests of the group to which he/she belongs. Do people primarily regard themselves as individuals or as part of a group?

In a predominantly individualistic culture, people are expected to make their own decisions and to only take care of themselves and their immediate family. Such societies assume that quality of life results from personal freedom and individual development. Decisions are often made on the spot, without consultation, and deadlocks may be resolved by voting.

In contrast, members of a predominantly communitarian society are firmly integrated into groups which provide help and protection in exchange for a strong sense of loyalty. In such cases, people believe that an individual's quality of life improves when he takes care of his or her fellow man. The group comes before the individual, and people are mainly oriented towards common goals and objectives. Negotiation is often carried out by teams, who may withdraw in order to consult with reference groups. Discussion is used to reach consensus.

Specific - Diffuse:

Generally, people from specifically oriented cultures begin by looking at each element of a situation. They analyze the elements separately, then put them back together again - viewing the whole is the sum of its parts.

Specifically oriented individuals concentrate on hard facts.

People from diffusely oriented cultures see each element in the perspective of the complete picture. All elements are related to each other. The elements are synthesized into a whole which is more than simply the sum of its parts.

This dimension also concerns our degree of involvement in relationships. Specifically oriented individuals engage others in specific areas of life, affecting single levels of personality. In specifically oriented cultures, a manager separates the task relationship with a subordinate from the private sphere. Diffusely oriented individuals engage others diffusely in multiple areas of life, affecting several levels of personality at the same time. In diffusely oriented countries, every life space and every level of personality tends to be interwoven.

Neutral – Affective:

This dimension focuses on the degree to which people express emotions, and the interplay between reason and emotion in human relationships. Every culture has strong norms about how readily emotions should be revealed.

In cultures with a strong affective orientation, people freely express their emotions: they attempt to find immediate outlets for their feelings.

In emotionally neutral cultures, the society norm is that such feelings. are displayed for others to see.

Achievement - Ascription:

The dimension achievement-ascription focuses on how personal status is assigned. While some societies accord status to people on the basis of their performance, others attribute it to them by virtue of age, class, gender, education, position etcetera.

While achieved status refers to action and what you ‘do’, ascribed status refers to being and who you ‘are’.

Past Present Future

Explanation of the dimension of time:

The time orientation dimension has two aspects: the relative importance cultures give to: 1) the past, present, and future, and 2) their approach to structuring time as sequential or synchronic.

If a culture is predominantly oriented towards the past, the future is often seen as a repetition of past experiences.

In a culture predominantly oriented towards the present, day-by-day experiences tend to direct people's lives.

In a future-oriented culture, most human activities are directed toward future prospects. In this case, the past is not considered to be vitally significant to the future.

People who structure time sequentially view time as a series of passing events. They tend to do one thing at a time, and prefer planning and keeping to plans once they have been made. Time commitments are taken seriously and staying on schedule is a must. People structuring time synchronically view past, present, and future as being interrelated. They usually do several things at once. Time commitments are desirable but are not absolute and plans are easily changed.

Internal - External

The internal versus external control dimension is concerned with how people relate to their environment.

People who have an internally controlled (or mechanistic) view of nature, tend to believe that nature can be controlled and usually take themselves and their own internal perspective as their starting point for determining the ‘right’ action.

In contrast, cultures with an externally controlled (or organic) view of nature believe that powerful others, fate, or chance primarily determine events. As such, they tend to adapt their actions towards the reality of their environment and are more comfortable with ‘going with the flow’.