Report on a Bulgarian community member’s reflection about Hofstede’s dimensions

This report is based on the Montreal community member interview conducted in terms of English course CEEN-402-781 January 27th, 2012. Its goal is to discover the interviewee’s opinion on Hofstede’s four dimensions describing intercultural differences attributed to each country: Power distance, Individualism, Uncertainty avoidance, and Masculinity.

I selected to interview a friend of mine, which belongs to the Bulgarian Montreal community, because this culture – having the same Greek Orthodox and Eastern European cultural roots – is very similar to Russian one. On the other hand, we speak different languages and have many other differences in historical background, economic and political situations, etc. So, it is interesting to find out subtle differences in regards to the four mentioned-above criteria.

Stanislav, 28, lived in Sophia, the capital of Bulgaria; he is married to a Bulgarian woman; he is a programmer; he has been living in Montreal almost two year by the moment.

The interview was conducted at the Stanislav’s apartment in a relaxing atmosphere where two friends can drink a bit of wine and share their opinions in a free form. Some important results of this one hour dialogue are summarized below.

Being provided with my short introduction, Stanislav was very interested and excited about the Hofstede’s approach to discovering intercultural differences. He believes that the modern Bulgarian society belongs to the low power distance class. Although the Bulgarian king (tsar) came from the emigration back to the country and gained some popularity and power via democratic elections, the equality is seen as a common value. Laid aside the corruption aspect, we can say that the upward mobility is not limited due to some power or wealth factors.

The degree of individualism depends on the place where people live. Say, in the countryside people are more collectivists than in the cities. In general, Stanislav estimates this score as 50/50 saying with a smile ‘there are troubles between three Bulgarians.’

I asked him a few of very tricky questions to evaluate their society’s uncertainty avoidance: what a person would choose between calling the police and staying away if he or she were a witness of a crime; between giving a bribe and staying within the law to save a friend from prison, etc. Based on his answers, the Bulgarians tend to count on themselves more than on the police and the legal system.

It is very rare to see women among bus drivers in Bulgaria; nevertheless, women are dominant among trolleybus drivers! Little by little women become more numerous at manager positions. For example, two last Sophia’s mayors are women: Maria Boyadzhiyska, Yordanka Fandakova, the second term.

Imagining the situation when he should choose between two candidates for his own IT business, he would hire a woman because of the female way of thought that can make more profit nowadays.

Among other interesting information Stanislav explained how difficult it was to him to change his head movement when he moved to Canada: in Bulgaria nodding means shaking one’s head no.

Unfortunately, I had no time to interview his wife, Bella; otherwise, the results would have been more accurate. However, based on the Stanislav’s answers, we may consider Bulgaria as a culture with low scores in Power distance and Uncertainty avoidance, average degree of Individualism, and still high score in Masculinity.

All in all, it was an outstanding experience that enriched my interpersonal skills and gave me a reason to introspect my own Russian culture.

Language as a key to culture

I believe that the term ‘culture’ could be defined as a set of abstract ideas (religious beliefs, moral principles, intellectual concept, philosophies etc.) that are commonly adopted by a social group and used by this group – consciously or not – as a basis for its behavioral patterns.

Of course, this paradigm is much larger but I try to highlight the most important part of it to understand the difficulties one may encounter when it comes to intercultural communication. Evidently, it is not a big problem to adopt your own culture even without understanding it – just do what everybody does around you, and everything will be okay. A child is capable of exploring the world, true; however, the most important information that finally forms culture is provided to him or her by means of language. This is the point: language is a medium of culture; therefore, it is a key to understanding any culture, even your own.

As to the principles of my culture, they are very easy to name. Briefly, I am Russian. Russia is a mix of regional cultures, different languages and religions, so am I. I am not religious but I was brought up on the Russian Orthodox Church and Soviet moral principles. Sometimes, it sounds like an oxymoron but it is true, nevertheless. I can spend more time dreaming about a bright future than doing something for it. I can be a bit unpredictable and spontaneous (I am not sure if it is either related to culture or personality). I am very open with my friends but usually aggressive to strangers. I tend to underestimate myself. I do not really care about feelings – more about thoughts and deeds. I try to walk the talk and take one’s word.

Given that Russia is very similar to Canada in many ways, I easily settled in Montreal’s multinational environment. Despite the city is a citadel of immigrants from the every corner of the world; I can distinguish Canadian culture from all the rest. I see that the culture was founded a few hundred years ago by early settlers with French, English, Irish, and Scottish roots has now been shaped by
newcomers with different, sometimes even opposite, cultural patterns in mind, and I see the difference– it is huge.

I share Christian values; so, I accepted the majority of cultural patterns in Canada. No doubt, I have some problems understanding the differences I have been encountering in the new environment. Some of them come from the Canadian society’s norms, like those in the part of homosexual tolerance – I am not a homophobe but I cannot accept it as a norm. Others relate to communicating with immigrants from other countries.

The most important for any immigrant is to get a job but it is impossible without the ability to get along with people from different cultures. Sure, I am talking about the language – French, first of all. I had spent eight months learning it before I landed my first job. To be honest, I got my first job in an American company in the second week – in English, of course, but I resigned after a three weeks' training because… because I was ashamed of my English! Now it is in the past, and I communicate very well on business topics but I still quail when it comes to small talk, or, more important for me, humor and f-words.

To summarize, my priorities are the Canadian/Quebecois/Montreal cultural nuances, the Chinese approach to business communication, and the art of joking without making anybody offended.