Comparison Of Communication And Culture In Mongolia And Usa Using Hofstede’S Taxonomy
Introduction
Mongolia is a country in East Asia, known as nomadic. The population of Mongolia is around 3. 4 million, but 70% of them live in a city while 50% of them live in a capital city, Ulaanbaatar. Therefore, only 30 % of people in Mongolia live in nomadic life which means western city lifestyle is growing in Mongolia. Mongolia is neighbor with Russia /north/, and China /south/. Mongolia has spent around 300 years under Chinese control. After the 1921 revolution, Mongolia declared independence from China and came under the control of the Soviet Union (Russia). From 1989 anti-communist revolution came up then in 1990 Mongolia became a democratic country. Although Mongolia is a democratic country; there is still communist cultures are dominating. In terms of religion, 53% of the population are Buddhist. In fact, in the research of 2003, 25 % of the population was atheist but in 2010, it is increased to 41%. Those events, revolutions, religion changes, and other elements affect Mongolian culture and communication.
The United States of America, on the other hand, is a big country with a large population. The western culture is widespread in the United States of America even have a multicultural background. Through its history, the United States of America has a large scale of migration from many countries so that now have a diverse cultural background. The largest religion in The United States of America is Christianity 73. 7 % and 18. 2% of the population have no religion. The USA is a totally different country than my own country. Thus, it has been an interesting situation to know about the communication and culture of a country that is so distinct from my country. Moreover, I can learn a lot from the analysis by using Hofstede 6D taxonomy.
Power distance
- America - 40
- Mongolia – 18
Mongolia is an unstudied culture in Greet Hofstede’s dimension. But, Purdue University faculty members carried a research project titled “Mongolia: A Cultural Portrait using the Hofstede 5-D Model”. According to the data shows that Mongolians are low in PDI index /18/ of Hofstede. America is high on PDI /40/ compared to Mongolia.
United States of American and Mongolia are quite similar in this regard. Reason is might be both of country more democratic as now. There is not whole lot of difference between them as far as power distance is concerned and both of these countries somewhere in the middle on PDI. In American culture, say a unionized work force or a legal services organization. There is a strong expectation of equality in power in decision making in benefits and other work conditions. The group is more considered and more flat which means a flatter organization. There is little bit difference in Mongolia. Every person has a defined place and role even low on PDI. In terms on business situation power distance is quite low. On the contrary, in terms of family issue, power distance is quite high in Mongolia. From the ancient time, Mongolians have a traditional culture that respect elders. Reason is elders have more life experience than young generations so that sharing their experiences and ideas became their responsibility. But it does not mean elders do not have to respect young people. They treat children as equal but in some way they teach children obedience.
Individualism
- America - 91
- Mongolia – 71
Everyone knows Americans only focus on themselves. American are thought to be individualists, stimulated by what is good for them personally, and self-reliant and independent. The movie is one of the distributers of culture. I did not live with Americans, personally, but I have noticed American’s culture more than once from the movies. For instance, when the children reach 18 years old, they make their own decision without relying on others. In Mongolia, however, children became adult, their family influence on their decision somehow. In terms of the divorce of family, there is a big difference in the decision between individualistic country versus collectivist country. In the collectivist country, even though they want to divorce, they cannot divorce because they feel sorry about their children. They accept the situation and do not think about themselves. But in the individualistic country, like America, it seems like no big deal. Although the future of the children is important, also it is primary for individuals to live their lives as an individual.
According to Purdue University research, Mongolia is a 71 on the individualism-collectivism scale, meaning it increases slightly more toward individualism than collectivism. However, the communist society replaced, the collectivist character still exists. Elders are collectivist because they lived in a communist society. Nowadays, the young generation began to become the more individualistic cause of the impact of materialistic and industrialized society. There was no private ownership in the communist society. Their motto was “One for all, all for one. ” As a result of democracy, individualism has been increasing from when private ownership came up.
Uncertainty avoidance
- America - 46
- Mongolia – 92
According to the Uncertainty Avoidance Index posted by Geert Hofstede in his website USA scored 46 which is quite low. The lower Uncertainty Avoidance Index in USA compared to Mongolia /92/ revealed that Mongolians are generally more tolerant to risk and uncertainty. Mongolia and the United States are far more distant on this index. Mongolians tend to mention things in general. On the contrary, Americans prefer to be very clear and specific; they do not tolerate uncertainty. In fact, during the tour to Terelj, Mongolian students asked from teacher “When will we back?” teacher said “Tomorrow morning”. Mongolian students went to their ger /yurt/ without other questions but American students asked teacher from “What time?”. On the other hand, the schedule is important so that everything must be planned and prepared on time. In contrast, uncertainty in Mongolia is a normal phenomenon. Therefore, Mongolians have high ability to adapt to new challenges and take the risk. When it comes to facing unclear situations Mongolian are more comfortable than lower uncertainty country. Americans are honest tells about what they think and what they feel. Mongolians usually hide their emotions in order to not hurt other’s feelings. In summary, America and Mongolia are totally different country for the reasons mentioned previously.
Masculinity
- America - 62
- Mongolia – 103
MAS index result reveals that masculinity seems to play an important role in Mongolian and American culture. Even though there is a law that indicates when employers hiring someone they must not discriminate others by genders, usually most leaders are men. That is why men paid more than women, however, the position is the same. One of the gender issues is wage inequality. According to the research of “Pew research Center”, in the United States of America, women paid 83 % of the salary men receive. Otherwise, if the women work 44 more days, they will receive same as men. However, the good news is that young women aged 25-34 receive equal to 90% of a men salary.
A survey conducted on 'LeanIn' website, the gender ratio of men has been increasing while career position increasing. For instance, in the United States of America 54 % of the lower work position is men, 63% of managers are men, 71 % of the executive directors are men, and 80% of the CEOs are men. This is directly related to men's view of promoting male workers in workplace.
In terms of the education field, especially in science technology, men dominated. Mongolian women have higher education than men. Nonetheless, women are less likely to participate actively in the labor market using education, skills, and ability that they acquired. In the past few years, there has been a lot of activities happened in the field of science and technology, in order to raise awareness of girls. Some side has been done successfully. For example, in the LETU Mongolia American University, there are female students majoring in airplane pilot. Most people think that women should not be involved in politics because they are too flexible and vulnerable. Nevertheless, recently, many women are work successfully in politics.
The Mongolians taking these types of actions due to decrease the masculinity. Firstly, eliminate the difficulties faced in ensuring equal participation of man and women in political, in economic, and in social life. Otherwise, developing their active participation is important. Then, Mongolians trying to encourage the development of family which is a primary unit of society. All in all, it aims to prioritize gender inequality in the decision making level.
Long-term orientation
- America - 26
- Mongolia – 41
The data indicate that Mongolia is a short-term time oriented culture with an LTO score of 41. Even though, it is more long-term oriented than the USA /26/. American businesses measure their performance on a short-term basis, with profit and loss statements being issued on a quarterly basis. This also drives individuals to strive for quick results within the work place. Likewise, there are many employees who want to promote quickly, in Mongolia. Mongolians’ short term oriented side noticed during the Tsagaan sar celebration. Tsagaan sar is a biggest national holiday in Mongolia. Giving gifts each other and visiting one another is a tradition of culture, but at the same time, especially for the family, the cost of the Tsagaan Sar bears on them quite seriously. In order to prepare for the all gifts to give visitor and food supplies for numerous guest, cost of the Tsagaan sar quite high. Therefore, people loan money in order to celebrate the holiday as well as good. As a matter of fact, people, in anticipation of the Tsagaan sar taken loans from banks, and after celebration they would think twice before spending their money. In addition, Mongolians have little concept of saving money, they just spend all their money. May be these facts can reveal Mongolians are really short term oriented culture.
Indulgence
- America - 68
- Mongolia – no data
American society allows relatively free gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun. However, the IVR is recently adopted and there is no data found for this dimension in Mongolia. But I think Mongolians less indulgent than America. As I mentioned in introduction, in 1990 Mongolians shifted into democratic society. Some researchers believe that this change influenced people hugely. For instance, changes bring more opportunity of financial, and educational for men than women. These types of gender challenges and economic changes influenced people’s indulgence. In addition, students of Mongolia really worry about their grades rather than learning something, because workplaces hiring somebody based on their grade. Employees live for work while divorce rating has been increasing. As an evaluation, Mongolians are more restraints compared to America.
Conclusion
Mongolia is a country not included in Hofstede’s data set. Based on research, Mongolian culture can be characterized as being low in power distance, high in individualism, very high in masculinity, high in uncertainty avoidance, and short term in its time orientation. Based on dataset, America is low in power distance, high in individualism, middle in masculinity, high in indulgence, low in uncertainty avoidance, and short term in its time orientation. There are several shades of the Mongolian research studies relative to the United States of America. In Mongolian culture, one might expect to research more power sharing with individual people that may be considered to be more competitive and assertive. Nonetheless, compared to United States of America, Mongolians would likely to be less initiative to change and guidance because Mongolians prefer formal rules and policies to ensuring stability.
