Culture and influence in the workplace: Collectivism vs Individualism

Culture is a singular factor that can have an influence on people’s behaviour at the workplace. The notions attributed to collectivist and individualistic cultures are well recognised and frequently pitted against one another. These two cultures may seem different, but they’re not enemies! Cross-cultural psychologists study how people work together, finding both unique traits and surprising similarities.

When comparing the United States and China, there is a huge difference in Hofstede’s individualism-collectivism dimension. On the individualism index, the United States has an index number of 91 out of the full score of 100, whereas China has a significantly lower index score at 20.