Activity #3 Hofstede Cultural Dimentions

Country	Abbreviation	GNI/cap	PDI	IDV	MAS	UAI	LTO
United States	USA	34,870	40	91	62	46	29
Ireland	IRE	23,060	28	70	68	35	43
Sweden	SWE	25,400	31	71	5	29	33

The United States has a lower than average power distance, a very high individualism rating, a slightly masculine society, a average-slighly weak uncertainty avoidance and is a very short term oriented culture. The low PDI indicates that most Americans consider themselves equal, and any social inequality is slight (most likely the very poor and the very wealthy) This allows for relationships between employers and employees, parents and children, and teachers and students to be more on the casual end, with more social interaction than in a high PDI culture. Ireland and Sweden have even lower PDI scores than the U.S. revealing that their societies are even less hierarchal based and individuals are considered more equal. These nations are more likely to be open to entrepreneurship because markets are constantly changing, in contrast to a culture with a high PDI where established companies will be more successful based on good reputations.

All three of these cultures are considered to be individualized. The USA, however has one of the highest out of any nation. I feel as though this can be credited to the way we raise our children to "be whoever you want to be" and to stand up for yourself. Unfortunately, this mindset is imprinted in young children and usually manifests into selfish behaviors and thinking. We most definitely live in an "I" conscious society, where we are all always right and every other belief is wrong. This is counteracted by the universalistic behaviors that are so common in out society. We tend to gravitate towards peers of our same manner of thinking and beliefs, allowing us to believe that everyone feels the same way that we do. This has made us intolerant to other cultures and beliefs.

Both the US and Ireland are more masculine societies than feminine. This accounts for "The American Dream" where we all work really hard to achieve the ultimate success. Due to Ireland's similar MAS score, and talking to locals while on the trip, they appear to have the same mindset. Sweden however, is a very feministic society. The values in Sweden revolve around improving the quality of life and caring for others.

All three nations have below average Uncertainty avoidance ratings but the US has the highest of the tree. In just comparing the US and Ireland, I can see a huge difference in emotional behaviors. Here in the States, everyone is so overcome by emotion at all times. People are easily offended and angered by little things that realistically mean absolutely nothing. In Ireland, everyone is much more easy going and tolerant in comparison. If Sweden's UAI rating is even lower than Ireland, it can only be assumed that they would be even more tolerant nation with a lack of strong emotion.

Of the three countries, Ireland has the highest LTO score, but it is still below average. This is surprising to be because I felt as though Irish culture was very long-term oriented. At meetings that we went to while on the trip, it was made clear to us that a majority of government investment goes to education to create a better future for the nation as a whole.

Activity #7- Monochron/Polychrons

The results are in! I am....(drumroll please)...Moderately Monochronic. I 100% agree with this based on the assessment given in the description of this classification. 

Everything I do in life has an organized approach. I take my organization skills very seriously. I have planners for everything from school work, assignments on my job and even social plans. My finances are kept very organized as well, tracking every dollar I make and spend. I almost believe that I have OCD when it comes to organizing my time and resources. Although I may not be the best at getting things done in advance, I always get them done on time (ie. the assignments for this course in particular) and prioritize accordingly. 

Some would say that I overanalyze my tasks and break them down to a point that my entire life revolves around whatever my priority is at the time. I take the information given to me and take it one step further by researching EVERYTHING, even when it may not be necessary. 

When I am "in the zone" on an assignment, I cannot be bothered by anyone. I do not get distracted by interruptions easily because I tend to concentrate so hard on what I'm doing that nothing else in the world exists. This of course can be altered depending on what the situation is. For example, things such as family dinner or discussions about the work I'm doing can be welcomed during my time, but other social interactions such as phone calls/text messages do not matter while I am doing what I need to be doing. (Of course as I'm writing this, my phone is going off and I am happily ignoring it, perfect example) When I do have to explain things to people I am always very direct and do not leave anything up to implications. This is partially due to my view on the world as "if you want something done right, do it yourself." I feel as though leaving anything up to other people allows for my plans to be altered, so my directions are always direct and logical. 

I feel as though this has been an eye-opening self analysis, which makes me out to be  complete control-freak, but its absolutely the truth, so I am proud to me a Monochron.

Activity #2- Virtual Visit

For this assignment I actually looked at two companies. The first I observed was Apple. The USA Apple website is my homepage every time I open my internet browser, so I am very familiar with the page and all that it entails. I thought that for myself, it would be easy to compare something that I see every day to Ireland's version. Unfortunately for the sake of this assignment I was wrong. The websites were entirely identical with the exception of a link to watch a TV advertisement on the US site.

The Apple homepage for America

The Apple homepage for Ireland

This specific example falls in line with the global advertising paradox (pg. 7-8) where global advertisers tend to create universal advertisements rather than focusing on the needs of a specific culture. This creates a shared culture between the two nations and the marketing strategies throughout the corporation as a whole. This standardization of advertising may have been used to cut costs and time after the death of Steve Jobs, or it could simply be due to a lack of reason to advertise differently in these two regions. I did, however, find it a bit ironic that the TV ad was only seen on the USA homepage, further proving the laziness of our nation (ie. we couldn't read the information on the new MacBook Pro, but had to have the instant gratification of watching a 30 second commercial overviewing its features.)

Because I found no significant differences in Apple's websites, I decided to look into Coca-Cola. I knew already that Coke was a bit different in Ireland than in the States (real sugar, bottle shape, serving size) so I thought that the websites would market different aspects of Coke...fortunately for the sake of the assignment, I was 100% correct. 

The Coca-Cola homepage for America

The Coca-Cola homepage for Ireland

Although both pages mention the Olympics, I have to disregard it as a similarity because the entire world participates and obviously the USA page talks about Team USA and Ireland's page talks about Team Ireland. The American page is focused mainly on the competitiveness of the Olympics, along with branding (Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Freestyle) and prizes. The Irish page's main focus is charity and recycling. This could potentially be due to different marketing techniques in the nations based on value and lifestyle research via the Research paradox (pg. 9-10)

Pub Life

Ireland is known for its drinking, so of course it would only make sense that we experience the cultural phenomena by going to pubs and talking to the locals. Our first experience occurred at lunch at the pub next door to the Camden Court called “The Bleeding Horse.” Here we had our first Irish beer. Many of us had previously tried Guinness at home and didn’t like it so we ordered Irish beer called Carlsberg. This was basically the equivalent of Budweiser in America, but slightly more bitter. We also ate potato bites with cheese and bacon and had some buffalo wings which didn’t taste any better or worse than at home.

A group of us then decided to take some advise from Ida and walk down the canal. It was a beautiful day, which was very rare. We walked along and saw a huge crowd of people in the street. Everyone was buying drinks from the bar (“The Barge”) and sitting around the canal hanging out. We found a few friendly locals and asked them what was going on.  Expecting to hear there was some sort of festival or event occurring, we were happily surprised with the response. A gentleman told us “In Ireland there are two reasons to drink: We’re either depressed because the weather is so sh*tty or we celebrate because its nice out.” This mentality was so simple, but looking around we could tell that he truly meant it.  We joined the celebration and indulged in a few Bulmers, which are hard apple ciders. They were very refreshing and light, which was perfect for the occasion. 

After a dinner break we headed down to the Temple Bar area. Due to the “Bank Holiday,” none of the bars were packed so we went exploring. After poking our heads in and out of a few pubs, we ended up at “THE Temple Bar.” We stayed for several hours because we were so mesmerized by the amazing live music. They played everything from Irish folk to American oldies to classic pub songs. The entertainment was so talented and we felt so at home. I really wish that live music was just as important in the U.S. that it was in Ireland.

Arriving in Dublin 6/4/12

Travel Log

6/4/12

Arrival in Dublin

            I began to see differences between Ireland and America the second we stepped off the plane. The first thing I noticed were signs.  The exit signs were green and white and the symbol looks like a person jumping out a window.  There were two languages on every sign. One was English and the other we soon found out to be Gaelic. More often than not in America, we see signs in both English and Spanish, so this element of Irish culture was not a new concept to us; it was only the Gaelic language that was unfamiliar.

Proceeding out of the airport we realized that there were actually very few differences between Ireland and home. Our guide, Ida had an accent but besides that she seemed just like anyone you would meet in the states. She had a very sarcastic and grim sense of humor and she asked us just as many questions as we asked her.

After we dropped our luggage off at the hotel we had a short bus tour around Dublin and went to see The Book of Kells at Trinity College. I, myself am not a religious person so the significance was lost on me, but the library inside was incredible. After we toured the exhibit, our jetlag began to catch up with us so we sat out on the lawn in the courtyard and people-watched until it was time to leave. We noticed no significant differences in behaviors. Kids ran and played as their parents watched from a close distance. People talked on the phone and drank their coffee and laid in the grass.

We then took a trip to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The history and architecture was incredible there. Ida did inform us about the religious conflict in Ireland. There is a vast mix of Protestants and Catholics. She told us that the Irish people have sort of morphed their own religion by combining beliefs/rituals of both.  This is a definite difference from the U.S. because we have so many different religions.

Bathrooms

Travel Log 4

6/8/12

Restrooms

            Since we’ve been in Ireland, I’ve noticed some peculiar differences in the bathrooms. I obviously did not have the pleasure of experiencing what the inside of the men’s room looked like, but the multiple ladies rooms I have used thus far have been an experience all their own.

            I’ll begin with the size of the stalls. Everyone here in Dublin seems to be very slender in size, yet their bathroom stalls are enormous in comparison to stalls in the States. For example, you can actually open the door ALL THE WAY, walk inside, and not have to jam your body between the wall/toilet and the door in order to close it. It seemed much more sanitary, not to mention reducing the stress of fitting your body inside a claustrophobic box to take care of business. The extra room in the stalls allowed for some leg room which made the bathroom experience somehow more relaxing.

            Then of course there were the dispensers. In America, us ladies use the restroom in a public establishment and find a giant vending machine plastered to the wall. Although typically rusted through and empty, they contain feminine sanitary products. Sometimes if we’re really lucky, they have cool stuff like chap-stick or gum, but even that’s a rarity these days.  In Ireland, however, not only do you get all that, but also with some added bonus gifts! We first noticed this at The Bleeding Horse on the first day when we saw a condom machine in the ladies room. This mystical condom dispenser is only something that I have heard of to exist in the depths of the men’s rooms in only the most upscale nightclubs. It was so mind-boggling that I had to take a picture.

            Now of course this was our first public bathroom experience in Ireland, leading to many more interesting dispensers, including one exclusive to sex toys.(soon to come: my blog on open sexuality in Ireland vs. the U.S.)

Guinness in the Irish Economy

Travel Log

6/5/12

The Economy & Guinness

This afternoon we took a trip to the Guinness Storehouse. We walked through the exhibits that taught us how Guinness makes its beer, which was really interesting but I would have preferred watching workers actually do it rather than set up exhibits about it. The building itself was gigantic and was shaped like a giant pint glass.

It seems as though Ireland really prides themselves on the production of Guinness. There has not yet been a street without a Guinness advertisement or restaurant that doesn’t use Guinness in at least on of their recipes.  I haven’t tried Guinness beef stew yet, but I definitely plan on it.

Its just so crazy how the entire country seems to revolve around the production and consumption of a single type of beer. The company has hundreds of workers, and without it, unemployment rates would sky rocket higher than the extreme high they are already at.