What are Good Examples of Uncertainty Avoidance?
Since this is (or at least I think it is) one of the most difficult dimensions of Professor Geert Hofstede to explain, it makes sense to give some extra context and examples of Uncertainty Avoidance. If you’re not familiar with this uncertainty avoidance index at all, I strongly suggest you read this article first. It will give you a good overview of the breadth of this Hofstede cultural dimension.
If you’re just interested to see a wide range of examples of uncertainty avoidance, read on.
What is Uncertainty Avoidance and What Isn’t?
To understand what uncertainty avoidance index is and what it isn’t let me use a question and a multiple choice answer.
The question: “Would people from countries that score low on this dimension be more likely to bungee jump?”
- Bungee jumping has nothing to do with uncertainty avoidance
The correct answer is 3. Bungee jumping has nothing to do with uncertainty avoidance. Bungee jumping falls in the category of so-called “calculated risks”. Sure enough, there are risks involved when you bungee jump, but there are also risks involved when you drive a car or get on a plane. Driving a car and getting on a plane are also calculated risks.
Starting your own business is not a calculated risk. Even if you create a business plan, as soon as you start executing it, reality gets in the way and unpredictable things will happen.
Therefore entrepreneurship is part of uncertainty avoidance and bungee jumping isn’t.
Correlations with Uncertainty Avoidance Index
I found that to best understand this Uncertainty Avoidance index it works to link real-life examples (or phenomena) to these dimensions in terms of correlations.
Below you see an image with an incomplete (!) list of correlations with Uncertainty Avoidance. I’ll explain them below the image. So in a culture that scores high on Uncertainty Avoidance (in the image uncertainty avoidance is abbreviated as AA which stands for Anxiety Avoidance; the vertical axis), people will do/show/consume/etc. more of the points listed.
- Showing of Emotions: Compare a minor head-to-tail car collision in Rome with one in London. Most likely there will be more “Emotional Fireworks” in Rome!
- Highway Speed: Correlates directly with Uncertainty Avoidance. The higher the score on this dimension, the faster people are (legally) allowed to drive, but also drive fast(er), even when it’s not allowed. The “need for speed” is in this dimension.
- Alcohol Consumption: The higher the score on this dimension, the more alcohol people consume. The Brits (low scoring culture) are by far not the highest beer consumers in the world… The Czechs are, followed by the Germans.
- Smoking: Something that is slowly banned in the Western World, but still there are significant differences in cultures and smoking.
If you consider smoking, alcohol consumption, and speeding, you can see that they are all in some form or shape a way of expressing one’s emotions. The point here is that “showing of emotions” does not mean that people scream and shout all the time or go about life crying all the time. There are different ways of expressing your emotions.
- Medicine Consumption: Same as the previous point; whereby France tops the list in the EU.
- Designer Clothing: As they say “Better to be overdressed than to be underdressed“. Italians spend the most on designer clothing in the EU. They also score high on Uncertainty Avoidance.
- Expertise: This is where people put importance on official and academic titles. E.g. the “Herr Dr. Dr.” in Germany.
- Euro to Local Currency: In a couple of European countries (e.g. France) the prices in supermarkets are mentioned in Euros, but also in the old currency (French Francs in this example).
- Coronary heart disease: This is an inverse or negative correlation. In other words, countries that score high on Uncertainty Avoidance and let out their emotions suffer less of coronary heart disease. You could say that blowing off steam is good for your health.
- Subtitles: Also a negative correlation. What this means is that high scoring cultures audio-dub TV programs, rather than subtitle it. Example: James Bond speaks German in Germany. There are exceptions (e.g. Flanders in Belgium).
I can think of more examples of uncertainty avoidance and the challenge here is for you to decide which way they correlate: positive or negative:
- Drinking bottled water instead of tap water?
- Securing WIFI networks?
See the Scores of All Countries on Uncertainty Avoidance Index.
I hope that with these examples of uncertainty avoidance this dimension has become a bit clearer.
If you’re interested in seeing an overview of all the countries in the world and their respective score on this dimension, go here.
Examples of the dimension hierarchy or power distance can be found here.
What did I miss? Comments? Leave them at the end of this post
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Ni Mifano Gani Nzuri ya Kuepuka Kutokuwa na uhakika? Kwa kuwa hii ni (au angalau nadhani ni) moja ya vipimo vigumu zaidi ya Profesa Geert Hofstede kueleza, ni mantiki ya kutoa baadhi ya muktadha wa ziada na mifano ya kutokuwa na uhakika kuepuka. Kama wewe si ukoo na hii index kutoroka kutokuwa na uhakika wakati wote, mimi vikali kupendekeza kusoma makala hii kwanza. Itakupa mtazamo mzuri wa upana wa kipimo hiki cha utamaduni wa Hofstede. Kama wewe ni tu nia ya kuona mbalimbali ya mifano ya kutoridhika kuepuka, kusoma juu. Ni nini Kuepuka Kutokuwa na uhakika na Ni Nini Si? Kuelewa nini ukosefu wa uhakika kuepuka index ni na nini si <unk> basi mimi kutumia swali na jibu chaguo nyingi. "Kwa mfano, ""Je, watu kutoka nchi ambazo zina alama ya chini katika kipimo hiki watakuwa na uwezekano mkubwa wa kuruka bungee?"" - Bungee jumping haina uhusiano wowote na kuepuka kutokuwa na uhakika." Kuruka kwa bungee hakuhusiana hata kidogo na kuepuka kutokuwa na uhakika. Kuruka kwa bungee huanguka katika jamii ya kile kinachoitwa "hatari zilizohesabiwa". Ni kweli kwamba kuna hatari nyingi unapoweza kuruka kwa kutumia bungee, lakini kuna pia hatari unapoweza kuendesha gari au kupanda ndege. Kuendesha gari na kupanda ndege pia ni hatari zilizohesabiwa. Kuanzisha biashara yako mwenyewe si hatari iliyokadiriwa. Hata kama una mpango wa biashara, mara tu unapoanza kutekeleza, hali halisi inakuja na mambo yasiyotabirika yatatokea. Kwa hiyo ujasiriamali ni sehemu ya kuepuka kutokuwa na uhakika na bungee kuruka si. Uwezekano wa kuepuka kutokuwa na uhakika (UUnequivalency Avoidance Index) ni kiwango cha juu cha kuepuka kutokuwa na uhakika (Unequivalency Avoidance Index) ambacho kinaonyesha jinsi watu wanavyoweza kuepuka kutokuwa na uhakika (Uncertainty Avoidance Index). Chini unaweza kuona picha na (!) orodha ya uhusiano na Uncertainty Avoidance. Nitawaeleza chini ya picha. "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, ""Ukimbizi wa Kutokuwa na uhakika"" (kwa Kiingereza: Uncertainty Avoidance, au AA) ni kifupi cha ""Ukimbizi wa wasiwasi"" (kwa Kiingereza: Anxiety Avoidance, au AA) na inamaanisha ""kufanya, kuonyesha, kutumia, au kutumia.""" zaidi ya pointi zilizotajwa. - Kuonyesha Hisia: Linganisha mgongano mdogo wa magari huko Roma na ule wa London. Yaelekea zaidi kutakuwa na "Moto wa Moto wa Hisia" zaidi huko Roma! - Highway Speed: Inahusiana moja kwa moja na Uncertainty Avoidance. Zaidi ya alama juu ya mwelekeo huu, watu wa haraka ni (kisheria) kuruhusiwa kuendesha, lakini pia kuendesha haraka (er), hata wakati ni <unk> hauruhusiwi. "uhitaji wa kasi" ni katika mwelekeo huu. - Matumizi ya pombe: Kadiri alama ya juu katika kipimo hiki, ndivyo watu wanavyotumia pombe zaidi. Waingereza (utamaduni wa alama ya chini) kwa mbali si watumiaji wa bia wa juu zaidi ulimwenguni... Wacheki ni, wakifuatwa na Wajerumani. - Uvutaji sigara: Kitu ambacho kimepigwa marufuku polepole katika Ulimwengu wa Magharibi, lakini bado kuna tofauti kubwa katika tamaduni na uvutaji sigara. Kwa mfano, kama unashikilia sigara, unakunywa pombe, au unaendesha gari kwa kasi kupita kiasi, unaweza kuona kwamba mambo hayo yote ni njia ya kuonyesha hisia zako. Jambo hapa ni kwamba <unk>kuonyesha hisia<unk> haimaanishi kwamba watu hupiga kelele na kupiga kelele wakati wote au kwenda juu ya maisha ya kulia wakati wote. Kuna njia mbalimbali za kueleza hisia zako. - Matumizi ya dawa: Sawa na hatua ya awali; ambapo Ufaransa inaongoza orodha katika EU. - Mavazi ya mtengenezaji: Kama wanavyosema <unk>Bora kuwa overdressed kuliko kuwa underdressed<unk>. Waitaliano ndio wanaotumia pesa nyingi zaidi kwa nguo za mtengenezaji katika EU. Pia wanapata alama ya juu katika Kuepuka Kutokuwa na uhakika. - Utaalam: Hapa ndipo watu wanapotoa umuhimu kwa vyeo rasmi na vya kitaaluma. Kwa mfano. <unk>Herr Dr. Dr.<unk> nchini Ujerumani. - Euro kwa sarafu ya ndani: Katika nchi kadhaa za Ulaya (kwa mfano Katika nchi za Ulaya, bei za bidhaa za kawaida katika maduka makubwa ni katika Euro, lakini pia katika sarafu ya zamani (Franc ya Ufaransa katika mfano huu). - Ugonjwa wa moyo wa moyo: Hii ni uhusiano wa kinyume au hasi. Kwa maneno mengine, nchi ambazo zina alama ya juu katika Kuepuka Kutokuwa na uhakika na kuruhusu hisia zao kuteseka chini ya ugonjwa wa moyo wa moyo. Unaweza kusema kwamba kupumzika ni jambo zuri kwa afya yako. - Subtitles: Pia uhusiano hasi. Hii inamaanisha kwamba tamaduni zenye alama ya juu huongeza sauti ya programu za televisheni, badala ya kuziweka maandishi. Mfano: James Bond anazungumza Kijerumani nchini Ujerumani. Kuna ubaguzi (kwa mfano Flanders katika Ubelgiji). Unaweza kufikiria mifano zaidi ya kuepuka kutokuwa na uhakika na changamoto hapa ni kwa ajili yenu kuamua ambayo njia wao kuunganisha: chanya au hasi: - Kunywa maji ya chupa badala ya maji ya bomba? - Kulinda mitandao ya WIFI? Angalia alama za Nchi Zote kwenye Kiashiria cha Kuepuka Kutokuwa na uhakika. Natumaini kwamba na mifano hii ya kutoroka kutokuwa na uhakika mwelekeo huu imekuwa kidogo wazi. Kama wewe ni nia ya kuona muhtasari wa nchi zote katika dunia na alama yao husika juu ya mwelekeo huu, kwenda hapa. Mifano ya safu ya vipimo au umbali wa nguvu inaweza kupatikana hapa. Nilipoteza nini? Maelezo? "Kama unavyoona, Chris Smith ni msemaji wa TEDx, na anajulikana sana kwa ""Kushirikiana na Wasomi"" na ""Usimamizi wa Utamaduni na Uhamasishaji"" na ""Usimamizi wa Utamaduni na Uhamasishaji"" na ""Usimamizi wa Utamaduni na Uhamasishaji"" na ""Usimamizi wa Utamaduni na Uhamasishaji"" na ""Usimamizi wa Utamaduni na Uhamasishaji.""" 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Kwa sababu ana miaka na miaka ya uzoefu wa maendeleo ya biashara ya kimataifa kuungana nguvu kwa hiyo tu alionekana mantiki. Akiwa mzaliwa na kulelewa nchini Uholanzi, ameishi katika nchi zaidi ya tisa ambazo nyingi zilikuwa katika Amerika ya Kusini. Hivi sasa anaishi Atlanta, Georgia (USA) na familia yake. Unaweza kupata maelezo zaidi katika https: www.expan360.com au kupata kile Peter anaweza kufanya kwa ajili yenu hapa.