WORKING IN FRANCE - CultureShock! A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette: France - page 202

offers i ve dimensions of cultural values which inl uence
behaviour in the work place. And he then measures each
culture's position on a scale of one to 100.
The i rst dimension is PDI, the extent to which the less
powerful members of institutions and organizations expect
and accept that power is distributed unequally. The French
(68) are far more accepting of this concept than their Anglo-
Saxon neighbours, the English (35), or the Americans (40).
They are similar to Hong Kong (68) ofi ce workers, in this
regard, accepting the power of others, simply based on where
they are situated in the hierarchy.
While there are generalisations in such an analysis, it does
ring true. For example, while the French may grizzle about
it, they accept that most of their political leaders come from
one elite grand êcole .
Hofstede's second measure of cultural dimensions is IDV,
individualism vs. collectivism. This is the extent to which a
person expects to stand up for himself and choose his own
afi liations, or alternatively to act predominantly as a member
of a life-long group or organisation. France ranks high (71)
in the regard, compared to Hong Kong (25), but lower than
the UK (89) and the USA (91), who are among the most
individualistic cultures in the world.
In Hofstede's model, masculine cultures value compe-
titiveness, assertiveness, ambition, and the accumulation
of wealth and material possessions, whereas feminine
cultures place more value on relationships and quality of
life. In MAS terms, Japan is considered by Hofstede to be
the most 'masculine' culture, Sweden the most 'feminine'.
Anglo-Saxon cultures are moderately masculine (62 and 66
in the USA and UK respectively). The French score below 50,
of course, valuing quality of life and relationships more than
the accumulation of possessions. One of many good reasons
to hang out in France.
Uncertainty avoidance (UAI) is the extent to which a person
attempts to cope with anxiety by minimising uncertainty.
Cultures that scored high in uncertainty avoidance
prefer rules (e.g. about religion and food) and structured
circumstances. For example, employees tend to remain