United Kingdom Business culture

1. The hidden dimension of culture

Environment
Britons have an mixture of control and harmony orientations in which they merge the new
with the old and they oftenly combine desire to shape environment with maintaining good
relationship.
Time
Their culture is monochronic, adopting a preference for a single focus strategy. Also they
have a fixed approach to time, with great stress being laid on punctuality, meeting
deadlines and schedules. A past orientation allude to past models and traditions, and
display scepticism in the face of novel ideas, innovative concepts, and proposed changes.
Action
United Kingdom have a doing-oriented culture, being task-centred. They tend achieving
external measurable accomplishments, reaching goals and improving standards of living.
Communication
Britons are low context, indirect and instrumental communicators. They tend to believe
that written messages and detailed documentation have more value and significance than
information that is conveyed orally or personally. Also they know how to be vague in order
to maintain politeness or avoid confrontation. In instrumental cultures, displays of emotion
are perceived as a lack of professionalism or reason.
Space
Great Britain have a private oriented culture so they perceive distance as intimate,they
avoid close proximity and physical contact with others.
Power
They adopt hierarchical structure where the organizational structure is vertical and all
important decisions are made at the top.
Individualism
Britons obtained a big score related to individualism, which means they are motivated by
self-improvement, they work on their own and personal achievements are emphasized.
Competitiveness
Most of the populations have a competitive orientation, where high value is placed on
ambition, performance and speed. An important aspect is put on emphasizing
achievement, results and goals.
Structure
Require a lot of information, data, and time for contemplation in order to make decisions.
This order orientation is characterized on need for detailed preparation before meetings,
presentations, and negotiations.
Thinking
They have inductive and linear-thinking orientation, being interested in discussing case
studies rather than theories and asking for examples to illustrate a given idea.

2. UK companies cultural mistakes

Umbro the UK sports manufacturer had to withdraw its new trainers (sneakers) called the
Zyklon. The firm received complaints from many organisations and individuals as it was
the name of the gas used by the Nazi regime to murder millions of Jews in concentration
camps.
Sharwoods, a UK food manufacturer, spent 6 million on a campaign to launch its new
'Bundh' sauces. It received calls from numerous Punjabi speakers telling them that
"bundh" sounded just like the Punjabi word for "arse".
3. UK in comparision with Romania from Hofstede dimensions point of view

4. Conclusions
=> Britons place diplomacy before directness in communication
=> Meetings are formally structured
=> Teamwork remains important
=> Decision-making tends to be a slow, deliberate process but punctuality is very
important