Gert Jan

Geert Hofstede passed away Geert Hofstede passed away on 12 February 2020, at the age of 91 years. He was ready to go, and surrounded by his family. Cross-cultural understanding Geert is one of the scholars from the 20th century whose work will endure. It is being used by tens of thousands of students and … Read more

Hofstede archive Geert Hofstede was thorough and read widely. He also did not leave any loose ends. During his long career, he created a vast wealth of documentation.  Guided by Geert, Iekje Smit and colleagues at Groningen University library collected the works and made them public. Opening ceremony 14 February 2020 Do you want to … Read more

White rhino versus tiger As a child, I asked my father which was stronger, a white rhino or a tiger. Vexingly, I never got a direct answer. Today, students ask me which is stronger, national or organizational culture. I give them a question in return: “Which is stronger, the climate or the weather?” Weather versus … Read more

In this BOSS blog 6, I (Gert Jan) want to raise the issue of whether shared values are necessary in order to work together in an organization. I take the case of Joburg and South Africa. Johannesburg As a visiting professor, I sometimes come to Joburg / Johannesburg, South Africa. To me, this is a … Read more

BOSS Blog 5, Gert Jan Hofstede,  2010 07 27 Hothouse Earth arriving North-Western Europe has just spent a week in the throes of the worst heat wave within living memory. In an email exchange with fellow researchers, us Northerners complained. A (Flemish) lady living in Rome replied: “PS. on the heat: I feel a bit … Read more

Britain’s Brexit crisis on BBC – a cultural reading Gert Jan Hofstede 2019 07 20 On 18 July 201, BBC One Panorama brought ‘The Brexit crisis’, a documentary in which Nick Robinson talks with many of the proponents in the unfolding Brexit story (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006wj2). This documentary could be a good classroom exercise on cultural differences … Read more

The third edition of Cultures & Organizations: Software of the mind has been translated into Chinese by Professor Zhang Wei and Dr Wang Shuo. It was published by Century Wave Culture Development Co. Ltd. Here is a picture from the launch ceremony in Beijng last month, facilitated by our partner ODE Consulting. Dr. Bart Hofstede, … Read more

In BOSS Blog 1, I mentioned the authoritative study by Beugelsdijk and Welzel (2018) on cohorts of people born in over 100 countries from 1900 to 2000 that found there is substantial change in national culture. In terms of Hofstede dimensions: Across the 20th century, individualism goes up (and power distance goes down) Across the … Read more

Culture change’s consequences This is Gert Jan Hofstede speaking, with the second blog in my BOSS series (Basics of Social Science). In BOSS Blog 1, I mentioned the authoritative study by Beugelsdijk and Welzel (2018) on cohorts of people born in over 100 countries. The study found that from 1900 to 2000 there is substantial … Read more

This is the first of a series of blogs I intend to publish here. I call them BOSS for Basics of Social Science. They are intended for a general audience of people who need science to help them solve real-world issues. The aim is to address topics that I think are important, with a view … Read more