MGMT 453 – Week 10 Blog
I had the opportunity to study abroad for four months during fall term in Vienna, Austria, and if I was presented with the chance to return for work, I would highly consider it. I loved the people, the culture, and the central location in Europe that made it easy to travel and experience several other countries. Austria’s culture is not too dissimilar from that of the United States. I utilized Hofstede’s Insights country comparison tool to compare the United States and Austria along Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Compared to the US, Austria has a relatively low power distance, which means there is a low degree of inequality among people (Swift). Austria has a moderate individualist culture whereas the US has a highly individualist culture. This means that Austrians act more as a group than individuals in comparison (Swift). The US and Austria both have masculine cultures, but Austria is relatively greater. Both countries embody more masculine than feminine qualities (Swift). The US has a moderate uncertainty avoidance, and Austria has a high uncertainty avoidance. This means that Austrians have a smaller tolerance for ambiguity in comparison to the US (Swift). Finally, Austria’s long-term orientation is much greater than the US, which means that Austrian’s act in ways that will support goals in the future (Swift).
From my experience, I would argue that the most noticeable differences between the two countries were power distance and long-term orientation. I found the long-term orientation easy to adapt to, likely because I consider myself to have a long-term orientation. The most challenging aspect of living abroad was living apart from my boyfriend. We live together, so going from seeing each other everyday to not seeing each other at all was difficult. The time difference made it even more challenging, and we both had to make sacrifices in order to make time to talk to one another. Family pressures are the primary reason that expatriates return early, and I think it is also what I would struggle with the most (Swift). Before accepting an offer to work internationally, I would need to consider the duration of time spent abroad, how taking the offer would impact me in my return to the United States, the support I would receive upon arrival, and the repatriation process.
References
“Compare countries.” Hofstede Insights, https://www.hofstede-insights.com/fi/product/compare-countries/. Accessed 31 May 2022.
Swift, Michelle. International HRM. 2022, file:///Users/kaymbreebecker/Downloads/Outline%20-%20International%20HRM%20-%20Tagged.pdf.
