Book Review: Geert Hofstede – Cultures and Organizations
Brandon Ching
3/17/09
Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., & Hofstede, G. (2004). Cultures and Organizations: Software of
the Mind. McGraw-Hill.
Geert and Gert Hofstedeʼs book, Cultures and Organization: Software of the Mind, is an incredibly thorough and thought provoking analysis of cultural differences
and behavior within the contexts of organizations and groups. Based on original and associated research in a number of countries around the world, the Hofstedeʼs
addresses the impact of five core measures of cultural dimensions and uses them as explanatory means of national behavior and relations.
A New Approach to IT in Government – Open Source Code Reviews, Part 1
With our new Executive administration settling in at the White House, I thought I might pass an idea by all you intelligent readers out there. Obama’s election platform was based on change and one these much touted changes was transforming the federal government from eight years of Orwell’s Ministry of Truth to a transparent distributor of information. In the spirit of that push for transparency, I would like to present my idea for transforming information technology (specifically application adoption and development) in government. I have decided to do this in three parts: (1) briefly argue that the mainstream methodology of software procurement and development is incompatible with the philosophy of a transparent and democratic government, (2) present my solution to solve this problem, and (3) counter some concerns and issues that might arise from implementing my idea.
