Using Hofstede insights we discussed our countries and our cultural differences. The results were not that surprising for the guys to be honest. Both Andrew, Girts and Pawel knew that all nationalities are individualists by them self. The masculinity gap were a little surprising but we came to conclusion not every nation can be like Braveheart. The gap in “Uncertainty in Avoidance” was really interesting, guys realized that people living in Scotland are way more calm when they wake up every day because they know what to expect from the upcoming day. High score of 69 indicates that the British (Scottish as well ) culture is one that is classified as Indulgent. People show willingness to realize their impulses and desires with regard to enjoying life and having fun.
With regards to Hofstede’s ideas of high and low context cultures we discussed what category Scotland, Latvia and Poland would fall under. We concluded that all countries have low context cultures, even though Scotland and Poland are closer to the middle of the scale. In Latvia it is not necessary to give a lot of background information and it could lead to irritation if you try to give too much of an explanation. In Scotland people tend to communicate in a direct manner and even though they enjoy chatting about nothing in particular we concluded they fall on the side of low context. The same can be seen in Polish culture although it depends on the setting, for example if the meeting is informal Polish will tend to tell a whole story around the topic and then get to the point. However we also found out that when is comes to communication in a more formal or professional setting Polish tend to be more low context.
Latvia and Scotland Culture Blog 