india's culture charactaristics

India's civilization is one of the world's oldest living civilizations (Messner,178). The Indian society, as seen through the prism of the six-dimensional paradigm, provides a description of the main drivers of Indian culture in comparison to other cultures around the world.
The power distance dimension is based on the fact that everybody in society is equal. It reflects the culture's stance toward inequality. It is the degree to which the less dominant in society accept the existence of fair power-sharing. India has a good score in this dimension, with approximately 77 percent of the population supporting the top-down hierarchical system of the community (Hofstede,Geert,123). It presents a society that the bosses are the unquestionable source of direction. Un equal rights for the power privileged compared to the less privileged. Here communication is top to down and usually taking a directive form with negative feedback not an option up the ladder. The employees always depend on clear directions as to what is expected of them with the managers expecting a clear formal attitude from those below their rank.Masculinity and femininity Masculinity is described by mostly male ways of conduct which involve a society running on competition, success and achievement while femininity describes a society dominated with values considered to be feminine like, caring for others and good qualities of life(Hofstede,Geert,78). Here success and power are shunned. India has a higher rate of masculinity thus considered a masculine society. The Indian culture highly values ambition, competition and assertiveness. India is characterized with high rate of power and success show off. India is also a religious state, commanding a large number of religious philosophies. Being an ancient country with one of the oldest cultures which emphasize on values such as humility and abstinence. The citizens are therefore discouraged from indulgence in masculine show offs, this has helped reduce the level of masculinity in India.Collectivism versus individualismIndian society celebrates a collective characteristic. This indicates a general preference for being a member of a large social network by the members of the society. Individuals are expected to always act in ways preferred by their groups. Most members of the Indian society have a prescribed future mainly by their government, religious groups or their families(Hofstere,Geert,167). In this situations the individual decisions and actions are directly influenced by opinions of their families and the rest of the society they are associated with. In a collective society relationships are very important as it extends even to the jobs where hiring and promotions are always based on relationships.Avoidance of uncertaintiesThis is seen as a measure of the extent to which a society belonging to a culture feel threatened by future unknown situations and their preparedness to tackle the situations. India with a score of 40 is seen have a low preference to avoiding uncertainties(Hofstede,Geert,205). In India there is tolerance to imperfection since no everything has to be perfect or preformed as planned. People are usually reluctant to taking initiative actions but easily settle for the established duties and routine. The culture is always to adjust to the changing situations and it has contributed to some of the country’s breakthrough in seemingly impossible situations.IndulgenceThis is a dimension to measure the extent to which people control their desires. On this India is seen as restraint. Such societies do not value much leisure time, there is a feeling of being restrained by social norms and indulgence is wrong.Orientation to long term issuesA measure of how cultures maintain links to past issues wile dealing with the present. India has an average regard on long term issues, time not being a very important issue in India and the fact that they believe in existence of a wide range of truths they tend not to link the past to the present.Comparison of U.S.A and India’s culturesPower distance In power distance U.S.A has a lower score meaning power is properly distributed while India has a higher score meaning there are large gaps between the locals and the ruling class.Collectivism versus individualismU.S.A have a high rate of individualism thus it has a culture where the members of the society mainly operate independently while India has a culture of communism.Masculinity and femininityBoth U.S.A and India have masculine cultures. This indicates that both values competition, power and success.Avoidance of uncertainties Both U.S.A and India scores low in this, meaning their actions are always based on the current issues not future expectations.IndulgenceWhile Indians are restraint in their culture, U.S.A has a very indulgent culture.Orientation to long term issuesAmericans have a normative culture thus always relate to the past while the Indians do not really relate much to the past.Summary These cultural dimensions as measured in India can have effects in a decision to open a business in the country. Large power distance can affect the consumption of services since it must be according to different classes. Restraint culture leads to low consumption. Masculine culture can provide good environment for business. Communism can cause low consumption for outsiders. Low uncertainty avoidance culture is not agog business practice. Finally, low long term st for business. orientation can work beWorks citedMessner, Wolfgang. Working with India: The Softer Aspects of a Successful Collaboration with the Indian It & Bpo Industry. Berlin: Springer, 2009. Print.Hofstede, Geert H, and Gert J. Hofstede. Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005. Print.