Briefly describe Hofstede's dimensions of national culture.

Geert Hofstede first researched the role of national culture within the organisation in a study of more thousand IBM managers. He recognized a framework of four dimensions which he argued largely accounted for cross-cultural differences in people's belief systems and values, referring to them as:

• Uncertainty avoidance
• Individualism
• Masculinity
• Power-distance

Later he added a fifth dimension, long versus short-term orientation or 'Confucian dynamism'.